What Do You Miss Most About 'Old Time' Hockey?

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Some good suggestions.

Add: organs during the games as opposed to music or similiarities (example: "Everybody clap your hands.")

 

[John Flyers Fan]

The biggest change i would make is to go back to the divisional concept in the playoffs:

Atlantic

Flyers
Rangers
Islanders
Devils
Caps
Canes
Bolts
Panthers

North East

Bruins
Habs
Sens
Leafs
Sabres
Pens
Blue Jackets

Central

Wings
Hawks
Blues
Preds
Thrashers
Stars
Avs
Wild

West

Canucks
Oilers
Flames
Kings
Ducks
Sharks
Yotes

Teams in the Atlantic and Central would play:

5 games vs. division opponent - 35
2 games vs. rest of league - 44
3 bonus games

Teams in the Northeast and West would play:

6 games vs. division oppenent - 36
2 games vs. rest of league - 46


Top four in each division make the playoffs. Playoff within your division.

I also liked when all the arenas weren't uniform size. The players are too big and fast now to go any smaller than 200x85, but I would allow teams to build rinks any size they wanted from 200x85 up to 200x100.

 

[revolverjgw]

Reasonably sized equipment and no corporate eyesores plastered all over everything

 

[Franck]

I miss the times where someone could get hurt in a game without there being a massive media frenzy over it.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

Some good suggestions.

Add: organs during the games as opposed to music or similiarities (example: "Everybody clap your hands.")

I have no issue with recorded music replacing organ music, but the use of hip-hop, dance, and and generic-sounding hard rock must end. And yes, "Everybody clap your hands *clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap*" must die.

 

[Slapshooter]

I guess 80's (and early 90's) NHL is not really 'old time', but what I miss:

-a genuine animosity between the teams and players
-all the rough stuff (more fights, bench clearing brawls, cheapshots, trash talk, battles in front of the net etc.)
-less organized defense which lead to more exciting run and gun hockey.
-a greater diversity in players size, speed, strenght and skill (now players are more like cloned robots)
-smaller goalie pads
-less teams which were packed with stars
-less to no commercial breaks which led tired players going nuts if the game was intensive
-not so much fuss about injures and accidents
-Terry O'Reilly and Mike Milbury climbing into the stands and beating a spectator with his own shoe

 

[Marotte Marauder]

Chicago Stadium

Helmetless players

Norris Division

Home and home series game.

Players having off season jobs!

 

[NJDEVILS17*]

I just miss the players that played in the 80s and 90s. No disrespect to the current guys in the league, but the older guys just had more of an identity.

 

[Big Phil]

Some good suggestions.

Add: organs during the games as opposed to music or similiarities (example: "Everybody clap your hands.")

I've always wanted them to have a mixture of organ music with rock. I know today the NHL is so obsessed with entertaining the fan non-stop that you barely have a break to soak up the atmosphere without loud music blasting in your ears. Our society is more of an attention-deficit society but if you watch an old Habs game even as recent as the 1980s and early 1990s everything was simpler. The atmosphere of the Forum more than made up for it, but there was just simple organ music in the background and yet somehow people were still entertained.

 

[Mayor Bee]

DUREEN JERSEYS!!! I HATE POLYESTER!!!

Interesting target to zero in on. Personally, I was never a durene fan; I like some of the old looks, but that material....yeesh.

I think I miss the old ice sheen by Hi-Li (remember that stuff? Early 90s IHL) more than durene.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

1. People not whining and moaning about every "headshot". As soon as you see a big hit now, you know that's all the sports stations will talk about the next day.

2. Obstruction hooking and holding. Yes, I'm serious. I think the defensemen should be able to grab you down low or pummel you when you're standing in front of the goalie. The game moves too fast today IMO. Slow it down a little.

3. Pre-lockout uniforms. These Reebok things are just attrocious. Thankfully none of the original six teams really made any alterations. Unfortunately, my Oilers skate around in practice-looking jerseys now.

4. This is a personal one, but a competitive team in Edmonton. March used to be the most exciting time of the year, at least for my generation (too young for the glory days). We always were frustrated that the team could only manage to scrap and claw for a 7th or 8th seed. Turns out sometimes you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. My mood used to be determined by whether the Oil won or lost the night before. Now I don't bother watching most of their games.

 

[FiveForDrawingBlood]

Cheap seats be my first miss. Also, no cheap/head shots like today. No helmets was cool, could recognize the players from away. Bobby Orr or Guy Lafleur down the ice with blond hair flowing. Cool. Old time announcers...Foster Hewitt or Danny Gallivan. Those famous arenas. Many things

 

[clockwise]

Organ tunes. There were some great organ players back in the day, they could play a ditty for any situation.

Also players without lids streaking down the ice with the mop flow'n (or hair piece in Lafleur or Hull's case)

 

[Pog Form]

Perhaps. But hockey players today are much stronger and faster. The movement to "wussify" the game, as you call it, is neccesary. Imagine if players were running around with no helmets and 50s padding today. There'd be guys in the hospital after every game.

The new rules on obstruction have really sped the game up as well. When guys are flying around as fast as they are nowadays, they have no choice but to wear the ridiculous gear that they wear. As a result of the speed and gear, the collisions have become way more dangerous than they were 20 years ago when guys wore tiny shoulder caps and clutched and grabbed guys up and down the ice.

I still love the game, but I do agree there is a certain charm that seems to be missing. Then again, it might just be nostalgia playing tricks on me.

 

[Section337]

There was some ignorance is bliss in not knowing everybody's contract details.

 

[SealsFan]

Interesting target to zero in on. Personally, I was never a durene fan; I like some of the old looks, but that material....yeesh.

I think I miss the old ice sheen by Hi-Li (remember that stuff? Early 90s IHL) more than durene.

Well I could have gone full tilt and added that I also wanted WOOL jerseys, but that might have been too over the top for some! But generally I'll take any jersey material from the early 70's backwards, because that was PRE-POLYESTER!

 

[Steelhead16]

Unique buildings
Division rivalries
Open ice hits
Hip checks
Being able to deliver a hard check without it starting a fight
Players playing their whole career for one team
Playing defense and not having it be a penalty.

 

[Huffer]

Players getting rocked with a clean check, and not having the stupid clownshow we have today.

In "Old Time Hockey", if you rocked a player on team A, they just took your number. Later on, you would have been held accountable with a massive check.

Now, as soon as someone is rocked, even if it's clean, teams think they need to "defend" their players and we get ridiculous scrums.

Pulllease. Just check the number and get him back later.

 

[straka91*]

Respect from player to player, emotion, passion, fighting with reason, some of the jerseys, tradition, organ tunes, less stat obsessed fans.

 

[scribe114]

-Discussion of the game during intermissions on TV
-When the was no such thing as a "Skill Player" "Power Forward" (Basketball Position) "Offensive Defenseman" you were a Hockey player, plain and simple.
-When players did not wear a sweater number higher than 27, you could tell what position a player played by looking at his jersey Goalies 1 or 30, Defense 2-10 (But never 9) Forwards 6-27 now you would think the NHL was outfitting a Football team or running training camp all season with all the Linebacker sweater numbers.
-When Goalies wore #1
-Paul Morris and the other monotone Public Address announcer at Chicago Stadium.
-White at home, Dark on the road.

 

[nutbar]

No internet.

you had to rely on reading on the papers, the Hockey News, radio, TSN's sportsdesk.

 

[Crosbyfan]

Net to shoot at...

...even when the goalie is properly positioned out square to the shooter.

 

[vancanucks16]

I'm only 17 so I never got to see the good "Old Time" hockey but I always watch videos on youtube about it. Being a Canuck fan I love to read and watch videos about the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals run by the Canucks with Linden, Bure, McLean & the rest. It just looks so much better, the videos of Bure going vs Richter in a penalty shot in the finals and the crowds going wild & the announcers sound classic it is just epic. Also Bourque winning the cup with Colorado is something I like to look at, I got to see some pre-lockout hockey but not enough to get my fix.

 

[mrhockey193195]

-Unique, distinct arenas (Montreal Forum, Boston Gardens, Maple Leaf Gardens, etc.)
-CCM Jerseys
-Low scoring playoff games where practically no penalties were called. Let the players play and see who wants it the most. Some of the most epic games of all time end up with a 1-0 score.
-Acrobatic goalies (i.e. Richter, Hasek, Fuhr, Joseph, etc.). Nowadays, goalies are big enough and have enough equpiment that they don't need to make many saves, the puck just comes to them.
-Players staying with the same team for long periods of time. There is too much player movement in today's game. Though, we might see this crop of young guys stick with their teams for a while (Crosby, Ovechkin, Toews, Stamkos, Kopitar, etc.)

 

[WheatiesHockey]

Money and player contracts were never discussed. There was never any talk about whether or not a player was a good signing.
Players playing most or all of their pro careers with the team they started with.
Wooden sticks with names like Victoriaville, Sherwood and Northland that didnt crack in half during a power play.
Players with white tape wrapped on their stockings and tendon guards.
Stand up goalies with narrow pads stuffed with horse hair.
Spontaneous unstaged fights.
Players without beards and moustaches.
Long gloves and tube skates.
Coaches wearing fedoras.
Smoking in the dressing rooms and arenas.
Players having jobs in the real world in the offseason to support their families.
Only one coach on the bench running the team.
Giving players time to actually develop a game.
Dynasties.
Not talking about hockey markets and the league foot print.
White boards.
Tough guys on the first line.