Wednesday, October 05, 2005

An Iced Quickie Between Beers

Just some notes about the opening of the NHL season, about which I'll post more next week, since the games start in a half hour.

What to expect this season:
Penalties, and lots of 'em. Remember last year when the NFL instituted that "let receivers fly" rule, where they couldn't get chucked more than 5 yards off the line? Yeah, it's like that. They're once again cracking down on obstruction penalties to speed up the flow of the game. Unfortunately, this means a bunch of stoppages and 20 penalties combined between the two teams. Of course, there's a silver lining to this raincloud: more penalties equals more power plays. Which equals more goals, or at the very least more excitement.

Look for historically bad teams to rocket to the top of the standings and vice versa. Remember, there was a huge roster shakeup this year, so the team in your area, no matter whether you know the team name or not-- in Nashville, I'm guessing not-- could make a playoff run fairly easily.

Ticket sales are already up. Season ticket holders in some markets have been given personalized jerseys, free concerts, first dibs on other stadium events, lap dances, you name it. Well, I made that last one up, but my point is that this league is serious again. They're struggling to maintain their "major professional sport" moniker, because they've finally realized they could lose it.

Do do yourself a favor this year. Make a hockey player happy. You won't regret it.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, my old geezers's winter league starts this Friday, so definitely take that last point to heart.

2 Comments:

At 10/06/2005 11:49 AM, Blogger michelle said...

It was great watching 4 hockey games last night! There wasn't as many penalties in the Canucks/Phoenix game as I thought there would be. Some teams out there are really going to surprise and impress!!!

 
At 10/06/2005 1:18 PM, Blogger Stacie said...

I'm very excited for the new season. Unfortunately, they will not be showing games on a station that we have in Idaho. PFT. Maybe they'll still show the Avs games on FSN. *grumble grumble*

 

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