Official Hockey Discussion Thread

[Melyssa56]

This day in Flyers' history:

Birthday: Keith Acton (1958)

Games:

Regular season:
1993: Flyers beat Buffalo 7-4 helped out by a hat trick by the coach's son, Kevin Dineen.

Playoffs:
1977: Flyers beat Toronto 4-3, as Rick MacLeish scores the game-winner at 2:55 of overtime, after tying the game with 38 seconds left in regulation.

[M2nFarisFan]

Stopped watching the game when it was 3-1 Flyers. Absolutely disgusting play by the Pens. Still love the Pens no matter what, and the Flyers still suck although I think if they play this well, I don't foresee how they could lose a series. But with their success comes the price of the other 29 fanbases hating anything related to them....from a Pens fan, mark my words.

[racingchick1020]

Anyone else think Furlatt and/or St. Laurent will be reffing any games in the second round after the performance they put on in Philadelphia? I heard a rumor that senior refs were going to take care of games one and three, so this might have gone out the window.

EDIT: In other hockey-related news, Norfolk of the AHL won tonight's game and finished off the regular season by winning their last 28 straight games. They broke a record of games in which they got a point (28; original record was 27) and they tied the AHL record for consecutive road wins (13).

[M2nFarisFan]

I'll just say this has been the worst officiating job I have ever seen in terms of consistency. A lot of times, I hear about how the refs let Crosby do what he wants, that Bettman wants the Penguins to win, etc. I think it's just been generically bad on both sides in terms of missed offsides, odd penalties, a lot of fights, etc. It doesn't excuse the Pens from poor play, but still, I hope that it doesn't continue because if it does, there's going to be a lot of unhappy fans.

[racingchick1020]

I'll just say this has been the worst officiating job I have ever seen in terms of consistency.

This game was out of control. To say it was the "worst officiating job" might be an understatement. It was piss poor. They had to jump in and separate people. When that happens, you know the game turns into complete (s-bomb).

[MDCSWildcats86]

Toronto Maple Leafs fan here.


The Leafs went 0-for the 2011-12 season against Boston. That's what cost us in the end.

[MDCSWildcats86]

As a Leafs fan, I have no problem with you guys (we went 2-1-1 againt the Penguins in 2011-12).


It's Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, and to a lesser extent, Vancouver, the Strangers and the Dead Wings that cause our temperatures to go above 0C during the season.

[TheNewNeko]

I thought you were a 'lanche fan, Nate.

Well, the Leafs sealed their own fate, far as I'm concerned. They got a better coach but still couldn't pick up the pieces.

Oh yeah, this just in. Two players of the Penguins franchise are going to face disciplinary hearings for their cheap shots during Game 3 yesterday. Story here.

[M2nFarisFan]

One thing is for sure, too: I think this should really separate wheat from chaff in terms of the puckbunnies and bandwagoners. Keep in mind the Pens have won one series (against Ottawa in 2010) since the Cup win. I'm willing to bet that there's not going to be as many people jumping off as some people think. But you know, I'm indifferent to it....I don't care when they picked the team as long as they picked the right one

[TheNewNeko]

One thing is for sure, too: I think this should really separate wheat from chaff in terms of the puckbunnies and bandwagoners. Keep in mind the Pens have won one series (against Ottawa in 2010) since the Cup win. I'm willing to bet that there's not going to be as many people jumping off as some people think. But you know, I'm indifferent to it....I don't care when they picked the team as long as they picked the right one

I don't think so, Steve-o. Keep in mind that the puckbunnies and bandwagoners only care that Sidney Crosby is part of the team. You'll find the true trade-off point when the team actually either:

A) Misses the playoffs three or more years in a row, or
B) when Crosby gets traded to another team.

By the way. Do you want to guess which city has the biggest bandwagon jump? It's not who you think, let's clear the elephant in the room right now by stating that. One thing that's helped that is the fact your guys go to Steelers games fanatically, in spite of the Penguins attendance jumping by 50% between 2004 and 2008. But what city had a jump in attendance of 423% over the last 5 years, making it by far the BIGGEST bandwagon city? In fact, the bandwagon was so big it was across all four pro sports...















(Jeopardy think music plays for Steve-o and anyone else who wants to play)








































Chicago. They had the biggest jump right at the point where they were getting good, in all four sports.

[M2nFarisFan]

I'll agree with you on that one mostly, although I'll stick by the bandwagon comment. As a thought, though, wouldn't the "three year clause" kind of make some of the statements about Flyer fans' allegiance by the metric of attendance a little bit inconsistent? Mostly because they haven't had that three-year break in playoff runs, just the one bad season in the past 15 or so. Not to start a fight again, but I'm welcome to hear your opinion on that, because I said many moons ago that there's not really a control statistic on that. Toronto and Montreal? Yup, but you have to remember that Canadian hockey fans put both our teams to shame.

[TheNewNeko]

By the way, I got a present for you. The NHL attendance for the 2011-12 season is on our hot little hands. By percentage of attendance, we have the following as the top teams:

1. NY Rangers (102.4%)
2. Philadelphia (101.4%)
3. Chicago (101.0%)
4. Pittsburgh and Toronto (tied) (100.2%)
5. Boston (100.0%)

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance

As for your other question, to be honest, the Flyers are too good to go that long. The fans would go the first year (as demonstrated in the 2007 season) but then they'd be demanding better progress by the 2nd year.

[Melyssa56]

This day in Flyers' history:

Birthday: Garry Galley (1963)

Games:

Regular season:
1993: Flyers beat Hartford 5-4 in overtime to finish the season one day late (due to the Blizzard of '93) with 8 straight wins and no playoff berth, resulting in the dismissal of coach Bill Dineen.

1995: Flyers beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in overtime on (for the only time in team history) a 2-man advantage goal (thanks to Oaf Samuelsson), after tying the game with 20 seconds left on a major penalty (Troy Murray boarding) which was part of the overtime goal as well.

Playoffs:
1968: Flyers beat St. Louis 2-1 in double overtime to tie the series at 3-3, after tying the game with 15 seconds left in regulation.

1987: Flyers beat Rangers 5-0 to clinch their first-round series, with Ron Hextall recording his second shutout of the series.

2003: Flyers beat Toronto 3-2 in triple overtime on Mark Recchi's goal; the Flyers outshot the Leafs 75-38 (37-10 in regulation).

[Melyssa56]

By the way, I got a present for you. The NHL attendance for the 2011-12 season is on our hot little hands. By percentage of attendance, we have the following as the top teams:

1. NY Rangers (102.4%)
2. Philadelphia (101.4%)
3. Chicago (101.0%)
4. Pittsburgh and Toronto (tied) (100.2%)
5. Boston (100.0%)

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance

And our beloved Flyers somehow lead in home attendance percentage at 107.4%. I wonder if the Winter Classic was factored in.

Also, Phoenix is last in home attendance because (1) the weather's too hot, and (B) no one knows what time it is there.

[MDCSWildcats86]

I thought you were a 'lanche fan, Nate.
.

That's in the Western Conference. Toronto is my Eastern pick/second favorite.


Their lone meeting was at Air Canada on October 17, 2011. The Avs won 3-2 in OT.

Looking forward to next season, where they are guaranteed a visit to the "Rocky Mountain Soda Can".



Colorado's rivals in order are Dallas, Phoenix, Detroit, and New Jersey.