So, I was right about 1 and 2, but got FLorida and New Jersey confused. Big Deal.

Toronto traded for John-Michael Liles and I was surprised not to see the Avs go out and get some defence, but if they feel that we can cope, we can cope. We're thin on the Left wing, though that's not quite as bad as in net. Perhaps we'll have a rookie getting rid of Budaj next season - we need something to get us going.

welp, time to actually follow hockey rather than watching games here and there while getting wasted.

At 7/29/11 09:38 AM, Cubone wrote: welp, time to actually follow hockey rather than watching games here and there while getting wasted.

Yeah, because there's nothing else for 13 year old kids to do in Manitoba, other than get wasted.

But seriously, it's good to see another franchise north of the border. I'm wondering how things will shake up in the East / West conference, as you'd expect the Jets to slot into the Northwest division, with Minnesota pushed to the Central. Does this mean that someone like Detroit jumps back to the East, shifting the balance of power?

Maybe Columbus or Dallas shifts across? If Dallas shifted, I'd say Colorado moves to the pacific division. With Columbus or Detroit shifting to East, I'd say that Buffalo could end up in the Southeast division.

Or maybe I'm reading too much into this?

Im from the UK and really want to get into hockey but its so confusing.
Actually, there is just 2 things i need to know.
1. icing?
2. offside?

Im getting into the british league, my local team is like in the top division here.

At 7/29/11 06:48 PM, Fuzi0n wrote: Im from the UK and really want to get into hockey but its so confusing.
Actually, there is just 2 things i need to know.
1. icing?
2. offside?

Im getting into the british league, my local team is like in the top division here.

Icing is, in the simplest term, shooting the puck down the ice, to the opposite end, when there's no players there. It's allowed during penalties, but not during 5-on-5 play because it's a waste of time.

Offside is when a player enters the offensive zone before the puck.
I'm bad at explaining these, but I hope it helps.

Ah thanks, i get it. I had a general idea but without that little push towards th right way i was completely lost.

Ive been playing an NHL demo on the ps3 to try and get used to it lol

Also, how come during play all of a sudden about 3 or 4 players might just jump over the barrier and join the game.
And why is fighting allowed?

At 7/29/11 07:07 PM, Fuzi0n wrote: Also, how come during play all of a sudden about 3 or 4 players might just jump over the barrier and join the game.

It's a line change. Trust me when I say this, hockey is very tiring, so on a line change, 3 or 4 will come to the bench for a breather, and the same number will jump off. A "line" is a group of players who are to be on the ice at the same time; usually a team has 4 lines.

And why is fighting allowed?

Because it always has been, and it does sort of make it more exciting. Plus, it lets players settle grudges and blow off steam.
It's not as bad as it used to be... See: this.

Whoa, hockey seems more brutal than UFC.
why do americans all think football is better? hockey seems awesome lol

i wonder how brutal and competetive the british league is, should be going to a game in september.

At 7/30/11 07:26 AM, Fuzi0n wrote: why do americans all think football is better? hockey seems awesome lol

Best spectator sport in the world imo.

At 7/30/11 10:54 AM, tyler2513 wrote: Also now that Winnipeg's a Canadian team let's see them slowly but surely start to make their way up to the top.

They're still the Atlanta Thrasers, roster wise, who couldn't make it in the Eastern conference, I wouldn't count on any immediate success when they get bounced to the far more competitive West.

Predictions for 2011-12 season

East

1. Washington
2. Carolina
3. Montreal
4. Pittsburgh
5. Florida
6. Boston
7. Tampa
8. Buffalo

West

1. Nashville
2. Detroit
3. Minnesota
4. Dallas
5. Vancouver
6. Edmonton
7. San Jose
8. St. Louis

Thoughts?

At 8/7/11 03:34 AM, Triumvirate wrote: Predictions for 2011-12 season

East

1. Washington
2. Carolina
3. Montreal
4. Pittsburgh
5. Florida
6. Boston
7. Tampa
8. Buffalo

I can safely say that this is definitely a bit of a stretch. I don't see Florida being close to the playoffs anytime soon, plus I don't really see how Carolina would be the second best team in the East {more like a 5-7 seed team at best.} and Tampa is a much better team than 7th, I would expect them to compete with Washington for the Southeast Division.

West

1. Nashville
2. Detroit
3. Minnesota
4. Dallas
5. Vancouver
6. Edmonton
7. San Jose
8. St. Louis

I don't know where you're getting this from, but I don't see Minnesota or Edmonton becoming serious playoff threats anytime soon. Vancouver, Detroit and maybe San Jose will compete for the number 1 seed, while the rest of them would probably fight it out to determine the rest. I don't know how Nashville ended up as your number 1 seed, TBH.

Now I get that picking teams at this time {2 months or so before the regular season begins} is not an exact science, but some of the teams listed here are not playoff caliber teams. Then again, who knows if any bad team from last year might make a surprise run?

I don't know if anyone knew or cared but a KHL team were killed in a plane crash. Generally I don't care about hockey league outside of NHL but the tragedy that happen is really sudden.

At 9/7/11 12:14 PM, Canas wrote:

At 9/7/11 12:10 PM, Idiot-Finder wrote: I don't know if anyone knew or cared but a KHL team were killed in a plane crash. Generally I don't care about hockey league outside of NHL but the tragedy that happen is really sudden.

Pavol Demitra, Karlis Skrastins, Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei, Brad McCrimmon?

I think it's a pretty big tragedy

It is, not to mention some of the players are 21 and one is 19.

It's a sad day in hockey world.

"It said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The ministry was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew, and two people survived the crash."

Very tragic day indeed.

At 9/7/11 01:36 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: Very tragic day indeed.

It brings back memories of 1958, when Manchester United Football Club was returning from a European Cup tie in Yugoslavia. Their plane made two or three abortive attempts to get airbourne, but then crashed on another attempt. That wiped out about 2/3 of the team and they had to go begging to teams across the league to get a squad back, in time for their next match.

This is bigger, as the overall majority of the team has been involved and there are less survivors. I feel really sad about this and not just because we've lost 2 former Avs in Karlis Skrastins and Ruslan Salei, but because one of my favourite NHLers has passed in Pavol Demitra. This does not make the passing of any of the others any less tragic.

At 9/7/11 01:36 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: Very tragic day indeed.

R.I.P. Demitra and company. What a horrible offseason for hockey.

At 9/7/11 04:06 PM, Coop wrote:

This is bigger, as the overall majority of the team has been involved and there are less survivors. I feel really sad about this and not just because we've lost 2 former Avs in Karlis Skrastins and Ruslan Salei, but because one of my favourite NHLers has passed in Pavol Demitra. This does not make the passing of any of the others any less tragic.

Well said, when it comes to what happened, it'll also be hard to know how the team will recover as well. This is a tragic day in hockey in general.

At 9/7/11 09:31 PM, Idiot-Finder wrote:

At 9/7/11 04:06 PM, Coop wrote:

This is bigger, as the overall majority of the team has been involved and there are less survivors. I feel really sad about this and not just because we've lost 2 former Avs in Karlis Skrastins and Ruslan Salei, but because one of my favourite NHLers has passed in Pavol Demitra. This does not make the passing of any of the others any less tragic.

Well said, when it comes to what happened, it'll also be hard to know how the team will recover as well. This is a tragic day in hockey in general.

It does seem like the NHL can't really catch a break during the summer, what with the death of Derek Boogard and the other 2 players who were current players, now with the plane crash in Russia of a KHL team with players who played in the NHL. This is definitely a tragic summer for hockey, no matter what side of the world it is in.

At 9/8/11 05:03 PM, orangebomb wrote:

It does seem like the NHL can't really catch a break during the summer, what with the death of Derek Boogard and the other 2 players who were current players,

Those two other players being Rick Rypien and Wade Belak... this off season succcckkkkksssss

At 9/7/11 09:31 PM, Idiot-Finder wrote:

At 9/7/11 04:06 PM, Coop wrote: This is bigger, as the overall majority of the team has been involved and there are less survivors. I feel really sad about this and not just because we've lost 2 former Avs in Karlis Skrastins and Ruslan Salei, but because one of my favourite NHLers has passed in Pavol Demitra. This does not make the passing of any of the others any less tragic.

Well said, when it comes to what happened, it'll also be hard to know how the team will recover as well. This is a tragic day in hockey in general.

Cast your mind back to Wiki and the 6th of February 1958 Manchester Utd FC were flying back from Belgrade, Yugoslavia and crashed on takeoff, claiming the lives of 22 people, many of whom were players.

The team went cap in hand to other organisations to get new players and donations received from the fans were staggering. They set up a team of reserve and youth players for the rest of the season and struggled through, though made one or two signings, to bolster the ranks and still made it to the FA Cup final that year (though they lost 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers)

Lokomotiv will survive this and they will return to the ice. A lot of people involved with the team will want to do it for the memories of those that lost their lives.

At 9/9/11 03:32 PM, MattTheParanoidKat wrote:

At 9/8/11 05:03 PM, orangebomb wrote: It does seem like the NHL can't really catch a break during the summer, what with the death of Derek Boogard and the other 2 players who were current players,

Those two other players being Rick Rypien and Wade Belak... this off season succcckkkkksssss

Yes, there have been tragedies. No-one can deny that, nor would anyone try to.

But on the bright side, a franchise rose from the ashes this summer - Atlanta no longer the Thrashers and now north of the border in Winnipeg. (How poetic it would have been to make a Phoenix from the ashes reference, had the Coyotes moved as originally mooted)

There have been some exciting moves made in trades, free agent signings and drafts, so we're getting ourselves ready for a new season. I'm not trying to take away from the loss that we all feel here, but I;m trying to stop the mood from being so god-damned sombre. We're less than a month away from the puck dropping on the careers of a whole host of rookies (Landeskog and Siemens in particular will be worth watching from my point of view), the new homes of dozens of players (Philly will look completely different) and hope for franchises that always begin by saying "this is our year" (I'm looking in the direction of both New Yorks and Toronto here, in particular)

Let's remember the stars that have now left in tragic circumstances in the way that we should. Let's drop the puck, play hockey, play hard and raise a beer to them after the game!

hit me up i'm down for some fantasy

I'm up for it, but you know me - ambitious, but rubbish.

10 team mock. How'd I do?

At 9/16/11 02:58 PM, Canas wrote: Still waiting for Dobio to respond with the password for the league.

So badger him with pm's and emails and all that

Duly noted, I might have to go on AIM if Dobio is really inactive.

Does anyone know what channels the preseason games are on? I found a couple on the NHL network these last few days.

According to the Wings schedule on nhl.com, some are NOT televised.

At 9/23/11 02:05 PM, Canas wrote: ATTENTION NEWGROUNDS HOCKEY LOVERS

Join us for fantasy hockey this season on Yahoo!

League ID is 30217
Password is newgrounds

We need far more people to lose this year. Think you know shit about hockey? GUESS AGAIN

Join now!

http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/ho ckey

It's all full up..... D:

Missed the boat, unless if the commish increases size...

Alright, let's do this. I'm looking at you Canas. Goats from Mars vs. Semin Demons.

Bring it on.

I tried a 14 team mock. I think I did alright.

I already have a bunch of fantasy teams, so I wasn't going to play this year, but fuck it I'm in.

Prepare to lose boys.

If I talk about my school's hockey program here, will there be a major problem? Miami University has a great program and I'd love to be able to talk about it here like I like talk about their football program in the "American Football Discussion" thread.