Which Hockey team can bring me the same misery as a Houston sports team? Thinking about becoming a fan next season. Scouting my potential teams right now.
NHL playoffs are great this year. So glad to have fan-attended games. The Montreal-Vegas series is great! Solid win by Montreal last night. Fun to watch the Islanders too. One of my old co-workers got me into cheering for Chicago. But due to proximity, I'll start cheering for Seattle next season. I'd say roll with the Kraken. They're expansion...but might have the coolest mascot/nickname in all of sports.
Recently started getting into hockey, the last 3 years or so. My local team, the Avs, have given me quite the Houston experience. 3 straight 2nd round exits, and this year was while being the #1 overall seed. Kraken is a brand new team that looks cool though. I also think the Coyotes will end up in Houston eventually
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks, 24, dies after being struck by fireworks https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id...lie-matiss-kivlenieks-24-dies-tragic-accident RIP Matiss Kivlenieks
Pretty cool story from ESPN on The Stanley Cup... https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/31816443/the-ultimate-stanley-cup
Started really following hockey in the late 90s (Sabres/Stars Stanley Cup Series drew me in) and dove even further when they came back from the lost year in 2005 with a rookie Crosby and Ovechkin. During that whole time I have been an Avs fan. Lived in Michigan my whole life and my best friends were all Red Wings fans so I had to go against them and at the time the Wings/Avs rivalry was super heated ever since the Claude Lemieux dirty cross check of Kris Draper against the boards in the playoffs in 96. For this season Avs came in as the odds on favorite as they have built a great team these past 5 years or so that is right in the middle of their prime. As a previous poster mentioned earlier they have had 3 straight 2nd round exists which is underperforming for this team. In the west it looks like we have the same contenders with the Avs, Knights and Blues who have done a good quick rebuild on the fly to potentially put themselves back in this group. In the east I really like the Hurricanes as they just have a stacked young talented team. Their biggest question mark remain goalie as they made the switch to former Leaf Frederik Andersen. The East is much deeper than the west where I can see any team from the Hurricanes, Lightning, Bruins, Leafs, Capitals and Penguins finding their way to the Cup. I also like the Islanders but they have had a rough start to the season.
I have always been a Rocket/basketball only guy my whole life, but this last year and half was so damn depressing that I started watching UFC, soccer and baseball, after seeing the Astros get blown out, I even turned on Hockey and Football. Still can't get into football. My 2 problems with hockey are 1. I'm nearly getting a headache while whipping my eyes around trying to keep it on the puck. It moves so fast, it's so tiny, my vision can't focus half the time. 2. The fighting thing is really trashy. The sport itself is very high-paced and entertaining, and I appreciate that it's not weak with constant touch fouls that we get in other sports, but the fighting is a total distraction from the skill and art of the actual sport. I love UFC, that's what I'd watch to see dudes throw down.
I hear #1 a lot from those who try to get into the game. The only advice I would provide is the more you watch the sport and pick up on it the more you will naturally follow where the action is occurring. Its tough to explain but the more you get into it the less you worry about the puck and are able to follow the action which ultimately leads you to the puck. I would also add that watching the game live near center ice either in the upper portion of the lower bowl or the upper bowl creates a cool way of watching the game. When you get that bird's eye view you are able to see the play set up and can almost predict where the play will go based on the flow of players on the ice. Fighting was more a thing in the past. A lot of the rule changes in the sport since coming back from lockout in 05 has changed the game from size/grit to speed/skill. The only time you will see fights break out is when you get a cheap shot on the ice and the retaliation that ensues.
I've been watching a few matches here and there, I have noticed following the passing has been slightly easier the more I watch, but still get cross-eyed at times, definitely having a hard time following the shots lol. The highlighted part is what I don't get, all sports have cheap shots. Imagine if we ringed a bell mid-match and let LBJ and Curry tee off, same for soccer, nfl, baseball, entertaining for sure but has nothing to do with the sport. I think the rest of the sports have it right in making it no tolerance with an immediate attempt to break up. All that being said, I hate coming off as a dictator to a sport I don't even really watch, just my little personal opinion, any true hockey fans opinion >>>'s my own.
I hear ya. I don't care for the fights in game either. At this point I think its just a leftover from a previous era where teams relied on it to get them going if they needed momentum during a game. Refs today are pretty good about breaking things up before it gets out of hand. Most fights today are guys holding onto one another, a few punches thrown and then someone takes the other down and the refs separate them. For the rare fights that stay on their feet refs have also gotten better and stopping things before they get out of hand. Last thing I'll say is that when the playoffs begin things get exponentially better. Add to that when you get overtime playoff hockey there are very few things better then the natural drama where it seems like games either end in the first 5 minutes of ot or your in for a multi ot event which living in the eastern time zone can make for some long nights.
https://es.pn/3dOXlWt So this whole Arizona Coyotes thing, I’ve seen a few places suggesting the franchise could be on the move and the top destination is Houston. Anyone with more knowledge on the situation have a clue on how viable that is?
Let's get ready to rumble!!! NHL with the best playoffs of the four major sports! No clue who is going to win it all this year. I've been zeroed in on Seattle all year...as a rooting interest. Would like to see a Canadian team take home the Cup. Just want to see some ridiculous numerous 3 or 4 overtime games this year. Love staying up until 1am waiting for that elusive goal.
Pulling for my Avs. Team is absolutely loaded and the betting favorites. But expecting another choke job.
That was a straight curb stomping. 5-0 in the first 15 minutes. They looked super confident. Cale's goal was ridiculous. Makar and MacKinnon play like basketball players. They are the 2 that really got me into the sport.
I thought it was awesome that Pittsburgh had a journeyman goalie come in to take over DeSmith...who was absolutely standing on his head. I just knew Domingue was going to give up a goal on the first shot he faced. But that guy totally rose to the occasion. I mean that was the biggest moment of his hockey life and he was straight up balls. I'm sorta hoping he has to fill in for DeSmith and ends up beating the Rangers. He'll go down as legend...and MSG will face a complete meltdown.
Avs looked great. Guys who have been injured or out of the line-up down the stretch like Landeskog, Rantanen, Kadri, Toews and Byram are all back and as a result the team is set up perfectly with a great mixture of top end talent, middle pairing skill and lower pairing grit. The other thing that will work in their favor this postseason is the discrepancy in talent in the East compared to the West. In the West outside of Colorado, Calgary and St. Louis are the only other teams to remotely worry about while the East is stacked where even the last two teams in the playoffs (Bruins and Capitals) are probably as good as the Flames and Blues with the top 6 being at or near the Avs level. So while the Avs should have a nice path to the Cup, whoever comes out of the East will have gone through three grueling series.
Avs put up another 7 goal performance. Going for the sweep Monday. Hope D'arcy Kemper is ok. Looked like he was in a lot of pain, but he's been on fire lately. https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id...e-darcy-kuemper-struck-eye-stick-exits-game-3 Glad to have Francouz off the bench, dude seems to always step up when needed. That right handed glove is also always a good changeup for the opponent.
