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

[bigd]

I miss the battles for position in front of the net. In the old days the D-man would postion himself behind the forward and crosscheck the **** out of him and the forward would throw his elbows into the D-mans head. Now the D-man positions himself in front of the forward and tries to block the forward from getting to the puck. I think they should have a battle zone in front of the net where anything goes. Like the 3 point half circle in Basketball but you have to be inside that half circle instead of outside. Let them hack and whack as long as it's not above the shoulders. JMO.

 

[WingsFan95]

Yeah.

Seriously though, just more grit.

 

[Sens With Benefits]

I miss the battles for position in front of the net. In the old days the D-man would postion himself behind the forward and crosscheck the **** out of him and the forward would throw his elbows into the D-mans head. Now the D-man positions himself in front of the forward and tries to block the forward from getting to the puck. I think they should have a battle zone in front of the net where anything goes. Like the 3 point half circle in Basketball but you have to be inside that half circle instead of outside. Let them hack and whack as long as it's not above the shoulders. JMO.

agree with this. there should be pushing and shoving, no head contact and no taking out legs but pushing and cross checking.

 

[whatname]

Man, I miss the goons. Peter Worrell, Donald Brashear, Tony Twist, Rob Ray, Tie Domi, and so on.

 

[RabbinsDuck]

.....i would love to see blank boards again though....never going to happen.

In Madrid, Spain, I used to attend a lot of bull fights when I lived there. Before the actual event they would take down all the advertisements on the boards in the arena - it's amazing how that simple act seemed to transport you back in time.

 

[tjcurrie]

Character
4 divisions and divisional playoff format
Affordable and simple hockey card collecting
Less about business, more about the game
Less teams

I find that they implement too many rules and regulations now in some attempt to perfect the game, which in turn actually ruins it.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

It is human nature to romanticize the past. Especially if it is one's first memories of an event during an idealized and innocent time in their life.

The "good ole days" syndrome... 20 years from now, there will be hockey fans yearning for the way the game was way "back in the day" in 2012. Bet on it.

The game is just fine today. I agree that there has been a little too much tinkering as the $ started rolling in but you take the good with the bad. Change happens. It is futile to try to revert back to the past.

 

[Fehr Time*]

One of the things that always gets me when watching tapes of games from 20 plus years ago is that there are so many more blue collar fans at games than now. Especially at Leaf games. The older buildings were more unique and had a better atmosphere as well. Other points:

-Less 'system' and robotic play. Far more free flow and 'emotional' play.
-No instigator rule
-No salary cap
-Possibilty of dynasty teams

 

[Bear of Bad News]

One of the things that always gets me when watching tapes of games from 20 plus years ago is that there are so many more blue collar fans at games than now. Especially at Leaf games.

Forty years ago, everyone wore a suit and tie to the games. I'm not sure that what you think you're seeing isn't just an anomaly.

 

[Ogopogo*]

One of the things that always gets me when watching tapes of games from 20 plus years ago is that there are so many more blue collar fans at games than now. Especially at Leaf games. The older buildings were more unique and had a better atmosphere as well. Other points:

-Less 'system' and robotic play. Far more free flow and 'emotional' play.
-No instigator rule
-No salary cap
-Possibilty of dynasty teams

The beauty of the 70s and 80s was that players made a more reasonable salary that all teams could afford thus, a salary cap wasn't necessary to preserve competitive balance.

If players are willing to take a 75% pay cut across the board, not having a salary cap would be fine.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

The Montreal Forum: it could just be that I was forced to watch the Leafs every Saturday night as a kid despite being a Habs fan, but there was something awesome about watching games played there - hearing Dick Irvin instead of Harry Neale, the skyline shots of Montreal that they'd show at the intermission. The game took on an entirely new dynamic for me when it was at the Forum

This most of all. That place was magical. The atmosphere when you sat down in the blues or reds was incredible...electricity jumped out at you. The hot dogs have not been replicated, just a fantastic place to watch a game and to play there? I cannot imagine the impact the ghosts and atmosphere would have on a player.

Going to go back to physicality/interference as well, you can't even touch players these days let alone give them a clean, hard hit before the nanny state comes out and wags its fingers at you.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Forty years ago, everyone wore a suit and tie to the games. I'm not sure that what you think you're seeing isn't just an anomaly.

Fourty years ago people had the common decency to wear a suit and tie everywhere. Even blue collar guys would dress up to go out.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Fourty years ago people had the common decency to wear a suit and tie everywhere. Even blue collar guys would dress up to go out.

True - that was part of my point (which I admit that I didn't state very well); it would be hard to know the demographic mix of games back then.

 

[DisgruntledGoat*]

In no particular order:

* I miss when dirtiness and meanness were considered laudable assets in player, not something that made messageboard fans throw hissy fits. Players gave guys like Messier, Potvin or Clarke wide berths, and that only made them more effective.

* I miss when players were colourful and the league was full of characters. Wendel Clark was the tough, no-nonsense farm boy that would score a goal and then beat up your enforcer. Theo Fleury was the fiesty, ferocious little guy that never backed down. Ulf Samuelsson was the villian that would cheapshot your team's best player every time his back was turned. Claude Lemieux was the Darth Vader of hockey; the guy that would throw a cheapshot, turtle, and then score the OT winner all in the same game. Nowadays, most players play cookie-cutter styles within cookie-cutter systems, all while completely ensconsed in hard plastic equipment.

* Similarily, I miss lunatic goalies like Hextall and Smith or even Burke (who fought Stu Grimson once).

* I miss when the crease was the domain of only the toughest of the tough, and the battles there were epic. I remember Chris Pronger saying post-lockout that there were guys showing up in the blue paint that he thought had retired years ago.

* I miss genuine hate between teams that lasted for years, not a couple of games or until three or four players switched sides through free agency.

* I miss when you couldn't watch a prospect's every shift on youtube or see his game dissected on TSN 1000 times before the draft. There used to be a mystery and excitement about these guys, some of whom (especially the Europeans) you wouldn't see before they made the NHL. You'd just hear about this guy in Quebec whose destroying Lafleur's records, and plays like Gretzky except he's huge. Or this Russian winger who skates like the wind and scores goals in bunches.

* I miss the 'real' power-forwards. For me, a power-forward is and always will be a 50-goal, 200 PIM winger who periodically loses his **** and pummels guys. Johan Franzen and Peter Forsberg were never power-forwards in my book.

* I miss the old leather equipment when ferocious bodychecks didn't mean putting a players health at risk.

 

[um]

crazy good teams, were very lucky to see crosby and malkin on the same team