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The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 13 2018 01:00 PM

New Islanders goalie is a manic depressive alcoholic, and hopefully, a big improvement. Beat a case-a-day beer habit! https://theathletic.com/522117/2018/09/ ... -my-brain/

Ceetar Sep 13 2018 01:03 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

I'm still a little angry.

seawolf17 Sep 13 2018 01:03 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Beat a case-a-day beer habit! I'm *trying*, but my family is always like OMG DAD ENOUGH WITH THE BEER ALREADY

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 13 2018 01:21 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Ceetar wrote: I'm still a little angry. Did someone make you read a newspaper? Joking. About Taveras? Screw him. He's a GREAT player but really ran low of gas last year, and its the Islanders FO's fault for not trading him when they should/could have. I don;t get fans b;laming him. He's not signed till he signs. I like the Islanders now.

seawolf17 Sep 13 2018 01:21 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I like the Islanders now. Come on. Nobody actually likes the Islanders.

Ceetar Sep 13 2018 01:27 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Ceetar wrote: I'm still a little angry. Did someone make you read a newspaper? Joking. About Taveras? Screw him. He's a GREAT player but really ran low of gas last year, and its the Islanders FO's fault for not trading him when they should/could have. I don;t get fans b;laming him. He's not signed till he signs. I like the Islanders now. Mostly that's him trying to do everything and the team failing to ever have the right supporting pieces. They ran him ragged. I mean, I'm not blaming him, I guess I'm not really angry, I'm just bummed about it. The silly halfway in LI halfway in Brooklyn thing is annoying too.

d'Kong76 Sep 13 2018 07:19 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Beat a case-a-day beer habit! Is 24 beers a day considered a lot? I try every year to get into NHL hockey, can't muster any passion for it unless I'm watching it with people who care about it.

Frayed Knot Sep 13 2018 07:46 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

There's a neighbor of mine who I can see walking from his car to home most days, and EVERY day I see him (and so I assume on the days I don't see him also) he's carrying a case of beer. I don't think I've ever seen him come back from a shopping trip or home from work without a cardboard rectangle under his arm. They look to often be 15 or 18 packs and only occasionally full cases, but still, 15 beers/day is a helluva nintake, even if he's splitting them with his wife. Not a large guy either.

d'Kong76 Sep 13 2018 08:50 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

We'll need a new thread, beer hoarding--its a thing.

Ceetar Sep 14 2018 07:28 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

he's clearly not hoarding if he's gotta buy every day! These people confuse me. the liquor stores are packed on Fridays. Did you not know the weekend was coming? Now my stock of beer on the other hand.. deserve's it's own thread.

seawolf17 Sep 27 2018 07:11 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

I am ALL IN this season on the Flyers, rekindling my dormant fandom.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 05 2018 08:03 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Islanders win in overtime in their opener but got badly outshot by a below-average opponent and turned the puck over about a million times. A power play 3 second before regular time expired was a huge help, as was an unexpectedly terrific game by Griess. They probably could have lost by 6 goals.

Ceetar Oct 05 2018 08:11 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

hey, 1-0-0 is a good way to start.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 01 2018 10:04 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

thriller tonight, Islanders 4th straight win, and 2nd vs. Penguins.

Mets Willets Point Nov 02 2018 08:11 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

I remember my uncle watching Islanders games when I was a little kid. They were really good back then.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 02 2018 09:38 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

They were. As I noted before hockey barely existed for me for the 30 years following the 4 Cups, till I started watching again in '17 and now I'm all geeked out and consdiering Islanders by the Numbers and stuff. Here's some last-night action. Islanders tie it on a shorthanded breakaway, a beautiful clear/bank-pass. Then in OT: [youtube:2pjirzdy]ZvGZJkCXKZI[/youtube:2pjirzdy] Finally won it in shootout.

Frayed Knot Nov 02 2018 01:12 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Winning is a shootout is only sort of winning in my book. You played to a tie and then won the coin flip.

Ceetar Nov 02 2018 01:20 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Frayed Knot wrote: Winning is a shootout is only sort of winning in my book. You played to a tie and then won the coin flip. and when it's against a rival who you also gave a point to. But still, it's two points. 4 in a row.

Frayed Knot Nov 02 2018 01:31 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

The problem (just one of many for the NHL) is that broken tie games generate three points whereas games won in regulation only two, a situation which gives both teams an incentive to play conservative 3rd period hockey since a point per/game pace gets you into the playoffs and the 50/50 shot at an extra point beyond that is a bonus if it falls your way that night. They'd be better off with a soccer-like 3 points for a win system and then going 2 & 1 if they want to continue to reward the eventual losing team for at least forcing the OT/shootout. But having some games essentially be declared as more important than others, especially when it's based on nothing more than chance, is kind of stupid. I'm not implying the Islanders should give the point back of course, just that it's less satisfying to me than an actual win, especially considering the randomness of shootouts.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 16 2018 06:23 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

The conservative play referenced above doesn't always work for the Islanders who know how to lose late leads and ties. If they were only a little better at that they'd be leading the whole conference, probably. Rangers are fast skaters and relentless but they paid a price as the banged-up Islanders erase a 2-0 deficit and win 7-5 with help from Anthony Beauvillier's 1st hat trick. Isles have won something like the last 12 games these teams have played, I think they said.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 25 2018 09:45 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

The Buckets took in last night's Islander-Carolina game at the Barclays Center... It was an unusually decisive victory for the home team, which jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 8 minutes, stretched to 3-0 then 4-0 and won easily 4-1. Islanders I think are now 9-1 vs their division. We even won the fight. Islanders' goon Ross Johnston hasn't lost one with his fists yet. I think this was the 1st one in which he was challenged. [youtube:2pqyasle]u7hd9fDoJ_M[/youtube:2pqyasle]

Frayed Knot Nov 30 2018 07:42 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Although they are currently one point out of 1st place in the (looking it up) 'Atlantic' Division, the Buffalo Sabres were in a rare position the other day when they were tops in points in the entire league through 25 games played after finishing DFL in the league the previous season. That's a pretty wild turnaround and it's the first time it's happened in the NHL in like 800 years or something. The NFL mafia within the sports media like to claim that this kind of 'worst-to-first' transition only happens in their sport. But of course they say this with the full knowledge of being right because they don't follow any other sports except hoops (where it never happens) so they wouldn't have any idea that this is currently going on right now in hockey any more than they'd have the slightest idea that the Braves won 90 games this past year after losing 90+ in each of the previous four seasons.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 04 2018 01:31 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

NHL approves as-yet-unnamed Seattle expansion franchise to begin in 2021-22 season. They are to join the Pacific division, and Arizona to the Central

Mets Willets Point Dec 04 2018 01:43 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

The Seattle Metropolitans were the first team based in the USA to win the Stanley Cup in 1917.

Frayed Knot Dec 05 2018 05:28 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

They may be considered the fourth sport in this country -- and a distant fourth at that -- but the NHL continues to expand itself. Bigger now in number of teams than both the NBA and MLB and will be equal to that of the NFL once this team is added. I'm not sure that's always the smartest move they can make, but there's no reason for that league to start making only smart decisions now. Or, as Bill "The Big Whistle" Chadwick often used to put it long before the Gary Bettman era; 'This must be the greatest sport in the world to keep surviving considering the idiots who run it'. Mets Willets Point wrote: The Seattle Metropolitans were the first team based in the USA to win the Stanley Cup in 1917. Yeah, the so-called "original six" teams were neither original nor limited to just six.

Mets Willets Point Dec 05 2018 10:17 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Yes, the NHL had more than six teams and teams that no longer exist, but the Seattle Metropolitans were not among them. The Stanley Cup was originally a challenge cup for amateur teams. Then it became the prize for winning a postseason series between the champions of competing professional leagues, much like the original World Series. The Metropolitans won their Stanley Cup representing the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) against the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey Association (predecessor of the NHL). The Stanley Cup became the defacto NHL championship only in 1927.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 06 2018 10:18 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

The cup is just the "cup" on top, btw. The gigantic part is the base holding it which has changed over the years.

Mets Willets Point Dec 06 2018 11:11 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The cup is just the "cup" on top, btw. The gigantic part is the base holding it which has changed over the years. The "stovepipe" cup of the 30s and 40s is so humorous in comparison to the present version. You can tell this is a long time ago because it's being held by a Maple Leaf.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 19 2018 05:28 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

So in addition to watching the Islanders I'm also now reading about them. WE WANT FISH STICKS is right up my alley; it's a book about the infamous fisherman jersey era, how and why it came to be and what went wrong for the club in addition to the unfortunate rebranding. You won't be surprised to learn it was bad ownership and bad management! But I never realized how bad. Sheesh. Anyway, that 95-97 era has become something of the Islander fans' equivalent to the Mets 77-79 (or any of a many additional dreadful stretches). Porn for Ranger fans I guess. One issue with the Fishstick jersey was that the club was determined to take inspiration from Billy Joel's "Alexa" video but to me the idea of a fisherman symbolizing Long Island never really rung true. The lighthouse was a much better design idea, since everybody sees em when they go to the beach, and everyone on Long Island goes to the beach. Anyway, I'm only halfway thru but its a fun book so far.

Frayed Knot Dec 19 2018 06:19 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Just the whole series of Islander ownership debacles could fill a very large book just by itself. The first owner -- the original Nets owner as well -- turned out to be too broke to actually run sports franchises - leading, among other things, to his need to sell Julius Erving in order to pay the NBA entrance fee rights. The second (Pickett) hit the jackpot with the Cup-winning era of sellouts and one of the earliest and best cable TV deals in all of sports. But he then moved to Florida and became an absentee owner and, in doing so, made some of the worst deals by giving up huge chunks of the merchandising, parking, etc. monies to the firm he hired to run all that stuff in his absence. Also, a la Doubleday, the cable deal ran far too long so by the time it ended it was way at the back of the pack. He eventually sold out to a group of real estate investors who thought their connections to corrupt Nassau County insiders would get them a free arena. But they found that there were too many hands out, none of which could agree on how to split up all the graft. Then they sold to a guy, John Spano, who turned out to be a flat-out fraud; nice vetting process NHL. It eventually wound up with the recently deceased Charles Wang whose heart I believe was in the right place but he didn't know hockey or even sports so well so his term had more than its share of management & personnel mistakes. Plus he wasn't one of the favored insiders -- despite being Nassau county's largest land owner at one point -- so he kept butting heads with the byzantine county and local government bureaucracies in his effort o replace what was by then possibly the worst arena in North America to the point where he just got too frustrated and threw in the towel.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 19 2018 11:40 AM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

Yeah, it's a nutty story with more fuckups than Wilpons, probably. I'm just opening my eyes to now to coach/GM Mike Milbury -- a complete dick, seems like, who seemed to do everything on some whim he'd explain away by being a good quote. I can't believe just based on his 1st year how he lasted so long. This story takes place during the "gang of 4" L.I."businessmen" era. Two of them were partners in a corrupt hedge fund, one was put in the slammer for 20 years based on testimony from the other partner, who himself got 10 years in the federal penalty box. The book seems to finger the first guy -- Walsh -- for leading the whole fisherman fiasco. They of course were looking for quick $$ as a result.

Frayed Knot Dec 19 2018 12:29 PM Re: The Ice Is Nice: 2018-19 Hockey Thread

The 'Gang of Four' were the ones I was referring to as the real estate investors. I never knew all the details on them and have forgotten most of the ones I once knew, but suffice to say that the results never matched the lofty promises and, most notably, the Coliseum never got replaced on their watch even with all the fixes that were supposedly in. The ownership of that team has not only been worse than the Wilpons but it's been like a succession of sub-Wilponian owners.