Olympic Hockey is Better

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Tundra

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Oct 20, 2005
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Prone to trap dominated games?? Not conducive to a North American cycle game??? Its all excuses as far as I'm concerned. I'm American & would take the International game over the NHL's bland version 365 days of the year. Theres more room and in the initial stages of games, the pace is heightened. You can keep the NHL's "hockey in a phonebooth" with the inevitable grabbing that eventually ensues.
 
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thebodyczech

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Tundra said:
Prone to trap dominated games?? Not conducive to a North American cycle game??? Its all excuses as far as I'm concerned. I'm American & would take the International game over the NHL's bland version 365 days of the year. Theres more room and in the initial stages of game, the pace is heightened. You can keep the NHL's "hockey in a phonebooth" with the inevitable grabbing that eventually ensues.

I also enjoy the Olympic games more than the NHL counterparts. There's more at steak here than money: pride, tradition and honor. Plus, the bigger ice surface tends to lend itself to more creativity from all teams involved, and allows skaters to really test their endurance and speed. It's a pleasure to watch.
 

Choice

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Vikke said:
Olympic playoffs > NHL regular season.
NHL playoffs > the moon landing.

Agreed. The reason these games today were awesome is that it was one and done and everyone was playing for their lives. NHL regular season games are meaningless in comparison. You can't tell me you were on the edge of your seat for the final games of the preliminary round. As for the big ice surface, how many teams have been sitting back and letting the offense make turnovers, using the big ice surface to slow the game down.

NHL Playoffs are a better comparison, and I think I might have to go with NHL playoffs because they are 7 game series rather than one and out.
 

sarge88

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I would take an Anaheim - Phoenix afternoon game after both were eliminated from the playoffs over what I was subjected to today and in this tournament.
 

Force

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sarge88 said:
I would take an Anaheim - Phoenix afternoon game after both were eliminated from the playoffs over what I was subjected to today and in this tournament.

And you are sure you don't need medical care? :help:
 

sarge88

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Force said:
And you are sure you don't need medical care? :help:


Sorry, this brand of hockey just doesn't excite me. I dislike the large majority of those involved and those I don't dislike I don't care about. Therefore I can't find a real reason to root for any of them.

I guess if Sweden had to win I'd hope Axelsson scored the game winner. But in the end I dislike Forsberg and most of that team more than I like P.J.

Finland? Koivu = Montreal Captain -- Don't want to see him win a game ever.

Russia - Where to start? Kovalev, hate him. Ovechkin, Kovalchuk - ditto.

I guess I dislike the Czech team less than the others, so if someone put a gun to my head I'd probably have to root for them.

Ultimately, it's just something to watch until the NHL starts up again.
 

escapist

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Feb 18, 2006
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sarge88 said:
I dislike the large majority of those involved
ehh? so you dislike the best players on the four best teams in the world? you are a true hockey fan indeed
 

Balej20*

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sarge88 said:
I would take an Anaheim - Phoenix afternoon game after both were eliminated from the playoffs over what I was subjected to today and in this tournament.
Were you watching a re-run of the womens games?
 

vitogor

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sarge88 said:
Sorry, this brand of hockey just doesn't excite me. I dislike the large majority of those involved and those I don't dislike I don't care about. Therefore I can't find a real reason to root for any of them.

I guess if Sweden had to win I'd hope Axelsson scored the game winner. But in the end I dislike Forsberg and most of that team more than I like P.J.

Finland? Koivu = Montreal Captain -- Don't want to see him win a game ever.

Russia - Where to start? Kovalev, hate him. Ovechkin, Kovalchuk - ditto.

I guess I dislike the Czech team less than the others, so if someone put a gun to my head I'd probably have to root for them.

Ultimately, it's just something to watch until the NHL starts up again.

Wow, that's a lot of dislikes for one post. Are you sure you like hockey?

Personally, I love the Olympic playoffs just as much as I love NHL playoffs. I'll take NHL regular season over Olympic preliminaries any day of the week, but playoffs is a whole different story. I was on the edge of my seat for 5 straight hours today, as a hockey fan you can't ask for much more than that.
 

VladNYC*

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Im def a bigger fan of international hockey.

They should make a Earth Hockey League. Where teams for different conference ( north american conference, russian conference, scandinavian conference, european conference, etc) would play against each other and the top few from each conference would play each other for the world titles.
 

Wisent

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VladNYC said:
Im def a bigger fan of international hockey.

They should make a Earth Hockey League. Where teams for different conference ( north american conference, russian conference, scandinavian conference, european conference, etc) would play against each other and the top few from each conference would play each other for the world titles.
All for it.
 

Dig Out Your Soul

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Drop The Gloves said:
I can't wait till the NHL is back. This Tournament was boring for the most part.

I agree. I was not impressed at all with this tournament. I thought the majority of games were boring.

Usually, international hockey has its own charm and I love it for different reasons than the NHL, but this one hasn't done it for me so far. That may change in the next couple of days though if the remaining teams put on a good show (and stop trapping?).
 

vitogor

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Drop The Gloves said:
I can't wait till the NHL is back. This Tournament was boring for the most part.

Yes it was. Up until the quarterfinals. Now it's going be Game 7 every single game as far as I'm concerned. Three more GREAT hockey games ahead of us :yo:
 

Jazz

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I hope everyone understands what I am going to say..

Most of you know that I like watching hockey players play the world level, that I have defended the NHL participation in the Olympics, heck, I'm even an admin an International Hockey forum....The intensity here is almost unmatched

That said, I will say that I do not like the big-ice hockey (with the 100 feet wide rink). There is simply just too much space and I saw seeing more trapping play here than I have in the entire NHL season to date...However, I do think that the NHL size (85 feet wide) is too small. I think that using the compromise used in the Finnish leagues (~94 feet) or maybe slightly less would be the way to go, for both the NHL and the IIHF.

Additionally I think that the game has gotten too fast for only 1 ref, there should be 2 refs, and I do hope this is something the IIHF will consider along with all the rule changes they are bringing in for the 2006-07 season.
 

TheFinalWord

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I didn't much care for the games this year. I only watched the Canada games, so I can't comment on how the others were to watch, but I found there was a ton of trapping. It really wasn't very exciting. You would think that a trapping game would play into the hands of the teams that have the most NHLer's but that wasn't the case. Too often Canada couldn't figure out how to penetrate the zone and keep pressure on.

I would love to see the NHL move to Olympic size surfaces, however. There may have been trapping, but there would have been much more on a smaller sheet of ice. On the big ice you have to be able to skate to trap effectively.

As far as it being better than the NHL, keep in mind these are the best players in the world playing on a handful of teams. In the NHL, you get to watch AO with nobody and Sid with pretty much nobody and Sundin with nobody, etc. Here they have more players to complement their abilities. It's great to watch and it really brings out national pride, but I prefer the style of play the NHL has bee utilizing this year over the way the Olympic games were played this year.

Of course I'd also like to see NHL rules when it comes to fighting and such, so that running a goalie is not as easy.
 

Raimo Sillanpää

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Mar 11, 2003
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Jazz said:
That said, I will say that I do not like the big-ice hockey (with the 100 feet wide rink). There is simply just too much space and I saw seeing more trapping play here than I have in the entire NHL season to date...However, I do think that the NHL size (85 feet wide) is too small. I think that using the compromise used in the Finnish leagues (~94 feet) or maybe slightly less would be the way to go, for both the NHL and the IIHF.

Additionally I think that the game has gotten too fast for only 1 ref, there should be 2 refs, and I do hope this is something the IIHF will consider along with all the rule changes they are bringing in for the 2006-07 season.

There actually isn't a standard size in the Finnish league. Some arenas are bigger (TPS +/- Olympic size) some almost NHL (HIFK, Blues)..

Valid points though.
 

twelve

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May 19, 2005
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The trap isn't the super weapon it is made out to be.

I don't see why there is such an uproar about it. It only works if the other team goes into the game unprepaired and unwilling to pick up the pace. Every riddle can be solved, the trap too. There are ways around/through the trap and all a team has to do is use the right tactics.

As you have more space, overcoming the trap is - believe it or not - easier on the big ice.
 

TheFinalWord

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Apr 25, 2005
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twelve said:
The trap isn't the super weapon it is made out to be.

I don't see why there is such an uproar about it. It only works if the other team goes into the game unprepaired and unwilling to pick up the pace. Every riddle can be solved, the trap too. There are ways around/through the trap and all a team has to do is use the right tactics.

As you have more space, overcoming the trap is - believe it or not - easier on the big ice.

Of course teams can overcome the trap. They do quite often. The problem is that playing the trap slows things down in the neutral zone. That equates to a less exciting game because players aren't able to fly in from the neutral zone as easily as in a non-trapping game.
 
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