A Tight Race to the Playoffs

I decided to check on the standings tonight and boy was I surprised at how tight the race to the playoffs is.  The first place team in the Eastern Conference has 86 points while the eighth place team has 78.  That is only an eight point difference and when the average amount of games left is twelve, anything can happen.  We could see a swap at the end of those twelve games with the current first place team being in eighth and the current eighth place team being in first.  This tight race is also prevalent in the Western Conference with the exception of the team from Detroit who is way beyond everyone else.  Besides them though, you have another tight race.  I remember last year I was starting to put money down on the playoffs and it looks like this year I will probably have to wait until the playoffs start since there are really no guaranteed teams as of now.

Where Should the Next Outdoor Game Be?

There are nine cities currently vying for next years outdoor game.  Those cities include Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, Denver, New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.  All are great cities with large fan bases for their NHL teams but in my opinion it should be New York.  Of course this could be some hometown/favorite team bias but it also makes a lot of sense in a historical perspective.  The venue that would host the game would be the current Yankees Stadium.  The game would be the last sporting event in the Stadiums history.  Now I can see that this will not settle well with strictly Yankees fans, who feel that the last sporting event should be a Yankees game but come on who wouldn’t want to see this game.  Even better make the game the New York Rangers versus the Boston Bruins and build the hype on the whole New York, Boston rivalry in one of the homes of that rivalry being Yankees Stadium.  I don’t know how to explain this more, its pretty self-explanatory.  Plus having it in a baseball stadium would mean that the league wouldn’t have to deal with the possibility that the NFL needs the stadium or the occupying team doesn’t want their field ruined.  So Gary B. if your reading this (I doubt that you are) place next years outdoor game in New York City, the Big Apple.

5 Forwards, 1 Goalie and a Defenseman Sitting the Bench

Defenseman (noun) – a team member who plays a defensive position, especially in hockey.

Since when do you punish your defenseman for playing his position?  Well I guess you do now and this is a phenomenon that I do not get.  Now let me explain my problem.  Recently I have seen this situation happen often.  Defender A rushes the puck/goes deep in the offensive zone, the other team breaks the puck out and Defender A half-asses his way back to his defensive zone.  Defender B plays the point and rushes to play his position and cover Defender A’s ass.  Defender B gets punished by playing less and is sometimes benched.  WTF!?  Before I continue let me say that I am not against defenseman scoring or adding some offense, I mean the goal of the game is to score more goals than the other team.  But defenseman should focus on their position first and if the opportunity presents itself than go in deep or rush the puck.  But when the puck is being rushed towards your own goalie get your ass back there and defend your net like you are supposed to.  Yeah Defender A may have a ton of points, but usually the one I watched had shit for a +/-.  Defender B did not have so much in the way of points but his +/- was close to impeccable.  All I am trying to say is that there are three positions on the ice during a game of hockey offense, defense, and the goalie.  It should be kept that way unless you want a shitty season.  In that case go ahead and put five forwards on the ice.  Actually I guess this wouldn’t be a problem if your team was that much more talented than the competition but otherwise coaches should go back to the way hockey was started and have the offense produce most of the points and have the defenseman defend their net and goalie.

Welcome to Hockey Today

Hockey Today is a blog that focuses on all aspects of hockey including the pros to youth hockey, equipment, etc.  There are not many sites, magazines, or shows that cover hockey and the ones that do only cover specific aspects.   As mentioned before we cover all aspects.  That is the best explanation of this blog that I can give.  But you are not here to read about the blog, your here to read the posts so go on and enjoy.

Here is a little info regarding my involvement with hockey.  I have been a fan all of my life and have played/skated since I was two.  My competitive career/NHL dream ended last year as a Senior in High School.  You could say that I was not blessed with the gift of talent.  I did however discover through my years working at a local ice rink that I knew the game well and was better suited to coach and teach the game rather than play it.