The Hockey Thread

[Black Cat]

Feb 19, 2009 9:22:47 GMT -5 Simey said:

Is that GM (Place) as in General Motors? I wish these places could have proper names. I know sponsorship is crucial, but things like the O2 Arena in London....well, it's a shame it couldn't have a more cultural, less money-oriented name.

Yes, that's the General Motors Place (nicknamed The Garage), but for the duration of the Olympics, it will be renamed Canada Hockey Place because the IOC doesn't allow such sponsorship en venues.

True that in today's professionnal sports, the venues named after something other than some big companies are rare. If we take a look at the 4 major sports in NA (122 teams), there’re 26 venues without a corporate name (some venues host two professional teams though, so let’s say there’re 110 different venues). Among them, some are about to be replaced (i.e. Giant Stadium in NY) or might be renamed because of the naming rights being sold (i.e. Rose Garden in Portland). Some venues do seem to have a name paying homage to some people (Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay and the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis), but they are names of corporations that bought the naming rights.

Madison Square Garden in NY is one very interesting case since it is not even located on Madison Square and is the 4th building named like this. However, the company owning the venue (and its tenants, the NY Rangers of the NHL and the NY Knickerbockers of the NBA) is named Madison Square Garden, L.P., which also owns the Madison Square Garden Network. In fact, it’s like one big company.

[Simey]

Oh, boy, do you learn something new every day! ;D

How does a venue manage to host the NHL and the NBA when both leagues run at the same time? They can't keep taking the ice up surely? Or is it that big that it has two stadiums?

[Black Cat]

Feb 19, 2009 17:16:54 GMT -5 Simey said:

How does a venue manage to host the NHL and the NBA when both leagues run at the same time? They can't keep taking the ice up surely? Or is it that big that it has two stadiums?

Didn't you know that the Knicks play basketball with skates?

Naw, seriously, the ice stays there. They just cover it with a rubber floor and they remove the boards. And then, they just put what is needed for the upcoming event: wooden floor for basketball, a carpet for the dog show, more seats for concerts, etc. The Madison Square Garden is the second busiest arena is the world (in terms of tickets sold annually, so the more events you have, the more tickets are sold) after the MEN Arena of Manchester. Sometimes, two events can take place on the same day.

I remember last year when a circus made a show at the MSG on one evening, and then there was a basketball game the following afternoon, followed by a hockey game in the evening. The TV crew for the hockey and basketball game (which was the same since MSG Networks broadcast almost every sports events in NY) left a camera taping the conversion from a basketball setting to a hockey one (it took approx. 4 hours) and then ran it in fast forward on TV. Quite amazing.

[Simey]

Woah!

And there's really ice underneath during basketball games and all these other events? Kind of amazing. And weird that they can manage to keep the ice cool enough while having the arena above be warm.

And is the busiest arena in the world really in Manchester? I certainly didn't know that. Manchester really is a rather cool city that I'd rather like to visit again, having only passed through fleetingly on a few occasions before. And they do have one of the Elite League teams there, although I believe the rink they play on is somewhere outside the city.

[Black Cat]

Feb 23, 2009 15:12:59 GMT -5 Simey said:

And there's really ice underneath during basketball games and all these other events? Kind of amazing. And weird that they can manage to keep the ice cool enough while having the arena above be warm.

Problem is, the more the arena is used for other events than hockey, the less the ice is of good quality. It becomes harder, so its hard to skate and the puck jumps a lot.

There's nothing magical in the fact that the ice stays cool while the rest of the building is relatively warm. It's all thanks to the cooling system underneath the ice sheat (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_rink#Artificial_ice_rink)

[Simey]

I repeat: you learn something new everyday!

I did wonder how rinks got their colour exactly - I couldn't've imagined that the paint is simply layed on the first layer of frozen water.

To quote from just beneath that article: 'Official NHL rink size 85 feet (26 m) x 200 feet (61 m) The dimensions originate from the size of the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Canada.'

So it all comes back to Montréal once again - truly a historic city with regards to ice hockey, and not just because of the Habs, though they must be the Number One reason. With Canada laying claim to the invention of ice hockey, does it get any more specific than that? Is there any particular place that saw the game take an official, standardised form that allowed it to develop into bigger sport?

And talking of Montréal, and further, of the Habs - what is going on!? I'm a few days out of date, but their recent record is pretty bad - the last I saw they were tied at 66 points with three other teams and with very little separating those teams from Pittsburgh and Carolina below them. Having been fairly comfortably in a Play-Off spot for most of the season - though never really challenging for the top spot in the conference, what with Boston having been on fire for months - the Canadiens are going to have get things together for the rest of the season or they could quite easily slip below eighth place. Pittsburgh have way under-performed this season considering the make-up of their team, and it is all too easy to imagine them getting things together and making inroads into the teams just above them.

[Black Cat]

True, the Habs have been horrible during this month of February. They lost 8 games and won only 4 times (they did won their last two though). In fact, the slide started in January when they lost 4 of the last 5 games during that month.

In the recent weeks, there also have been some serious talks about different things that happened to some players of the team that has nothing to do with hockey:

-A lot of pictures of the players in bars have showed up on the web, suggesting they weren't in good physical shape because of the numbers of parties they were taking part in.

-Alex Kovalev, one of the Habs superstar, has been asked to stay at home for two games. People started saying that he was done for in Montreal and that he would be traded very soon.

-It has been revealed that three players of the team had befriended a guy that was arrested a few weeks ago because he was a member of organized crime.

Several distractions... that's not good for a team. However, Kovalev is still with the team and plays better than never, nothing proved that the guys doing parties weren't taking hockey seriously and the three players never knew that their friend was a member of organized crime. All in all, since the last weekend, the Habs are playing way better. They'll need to be good this Friday as they take on the Flyers in Philadelphia before playing the following day in Montreal against the Sharks, the best team in the league.

That's funny. NHL.com has put a video showing the 10 best goals of the week in the league. In #10, we see a goal of the Habs against Pittsburgh, and in #7, another Habs goal against Ottawa. But then, goals #2 and #1 of the last week are goals made by Malkin and Ovechkin against the Habs...

[jan]

Just because I have nothing important to do now (well... actually... I don't want to work right now... *cough*), I just wanted to show how important ice-hockey is in the region where I life. Because we're possessed with ice-hockey (and cross-country skiing... we say that people here are born with skis... I mean the cross-country skis). So - ignore me if you're not interested.

There are two old and traditional factories around (ca 20 kms far), manufacturing ice-hockey relating things:

"Tohos" (hockey sticks): www.hokejky-tohos.cz/
(well, the webpage looks like for my old Atari 800XL, and it's not in English, but it's really a very small factory established there before WWII, still in the same old beautiful building)

"Botas" (skates): www.botas.cz/en/products/ice-hockey/



And there is also a ski-producing factory about 10 kms from my hometown, established more than 100 years ago... it used to be the world's second largest producer of cross-country skis!
"Sporten": sporten.cz/eng/about-us/our-company



So I have everything I need directly from a factory!

[Simey]

So Coventry Blaze haven't won the Elite Ice Hockey League this year.

They've just been a too inconsistent, and while the team is a good one, it doesn't seem as though it has ever really gelled properly, though the changes the coach made in January do seem to have helped. The Sheffield Steelers have won the league and really do deserve it because they've been the ones who haven't flagged at all during the season.

Coventry didn't help themselves on Sunday night when they lost to Edinburgh 2-4 after being 2-0 up, but it was a good match and Edinburgh did play a very good, fast-paced game. So I've been four times this season and not seen the Blaze win once, even though they have of course won the vast majority of their matches overall.

Now Coventry are battling for second place with Nottingham and Belfast, and I'm going to the Blaze's last home game on Saturday night in the hope that it being against Belfast, it will be an exciting finish. Finishing second in the league will likely see them play a fairly weak team in the Play-Off quarter finals, whereas finishing third would probably put them up against Cardiff, who are doing quite well of late and are a very dangerous team at their best.

So the big prize has gone to Sheffield, but the consolation prize of the Play-Off trophy is still well worth fighting for, and since Sheffield won it last year after Coventry won the league, the Blaze will be wanting to turn the tables having come up a little short this season.

It's nearly all over, and then there'll be no more live hockey to go to until September!

[Simey]

I have finally witnessed a Blaze victory this season!!!! ;D

And what a match! Coventry 5 - Belfast 4 (OT). Belfast equalised with about a minute to go and, though it seemed somehow inevitable, we could hardly believe it. But Coventry finally made a successful final push, which I've not seen myself yet this year, and came out on top. Whew!

Whether it will be enough to place them second in the league is still open to question given that they still allowed Belfast a point and Nottingham were still very much in the mix after last weekend. So tomorrow's matches will probably prove crucial also.

But having finally seen them win - and in a terrific match, too - I'm happy!

[Beowuuf]

Lol,well done - I believe the Bisons have een poor this season!: (

[jan]

The Czech ice-hockey "Extra-League" is in its semi-finals now. Has been a beautiful hockey so far!

[Black Cat]

Meh, and the Habs are falling in the standings... 8th place with only one point over the Panthers. They might miss the playoffs on the year of their 100th season (well, it's the 99th season in fact, and the 100th anniversary will only take place next season).

[Simey]

Mar 22, 2009 3:02:13 GMT -5 Beowuuf said:

Lol,well done - I believe the Bisons have een poor this season!: (

Sadly, I believe that's putting it mildly.

Need a couple of points, and want to up your goal difference? Play Basingstoke - Home or Away, probably doesn't matter.

Let's hope they can put together a better team for next season.

Meh, and the Habs are falling in the standings... 8th place with only one point over the Panthers. They might miss the playoffs on the year of their 100th season

Argh! I failed to see the hockey this week, so have been behind. What is going on in Montréal!? I heard they'd fired Guy Carbonneau - has that just made things worse? It's not like they haven't got good - nay, terrific - players; is it like I think Coventry's problem has been this season, trying to make a good roster gel properly?

Channel Five are showing Montréal vs. Atlanta on Wednesday (Thursday here), so here's hoping for an improvement at that fixture.

[Black Cat]

Ever since the story came out about the Kostitsyn brothers having ties with a criminal, things aren't going well. Many rumors have popped out: one of the brothers has a problem with cocaine (which would explained why he was sent to Hamilton, to be far from the dude giving him the powder... and also far from the journalists), Higgins was supposedly involved in a rape (accusations were never made because the team's direction bought the silence of the victim), Price is having fun with underage girls...

My colleague also works for the local sports network and confirmed that most of these "rumors" could be easily verified. Problem is, the said network is broadcasting all the 82 Habs games of the season, they have several Habs-related shows and have very close ties with direction of the team. Would they make all these stories public, they would lost all the previleges they have.

Same thing goes for the newspapers: nobody would bring these stories out because they fear they would not be welcomed anymore at the Bell Centre. Heck, it explains why it's the normal news department of one of these newspapers that came up with the story involving the Kostitsyn brothers and not the sports department.