The Crane Pool Forum

Season gets started this week.

Devils have already swept Buffalo in a doubleheader in Prague
Rangers opened last night killing Pittsburgh 6-0
Islanders open tonight hosting the Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Arizona Coyotes, formerly the Winnipeg Jets, soon to be the Utah Yeti)

New F1-style documentary series on Amazon, saw a few eps

I did not know the Coyotes moved ,I fell out of love with the NHL , that doc looks good though

Rangers went to the conference finals last year but can't afford to pay their goalie without wrecking their team.

Devils had many injuries and missed the playoffs but they're young, healthy and have a new coach and new goalie-- they are a trendy pick to go all the way.

Islanders broke up their famous (but slow and counterproductive) "identity line" and intend to be a high scoring team with a dynamic 1st line. Nobody expects much of them this year but I'm hopeful.

We will attend a few AHL games here in town which are fun. Cheer for the home team, it's not too complicated. My daughter likes to attend in the hopes of seeing good fights and for the snacks. My wife, who is perpetually cold, less so.

wow

Oh i forgot hockey sucks. Cancel this thread

Islanders: 9 games, 1 win in regulation (3-4-2 overall). They really made only 1 move in the offseason to improve and he pulled a groin & is out for 4-6 weeks.

They're hard to watch. The rest of the league is all about youth speed and explosiveness. The Isles have a wonderful skater in Barzal but that's about it.

I'm about ready to pull the plug on this generation of Islanders and start over

In '22 - '23 the Boston Bruins had a (sort-of*) record setting regular season earning 135 'points' on a 65-12-5 record (Wins x 2 + Overtime/Shootout Losses x 1)
before being bounced from the playoffs in the very first round after jumping out to a 3-1 lead. Last year they had a good season [47-20-15] before losing in round 2.
This season, after a 1/4 season (20 games) and a 8-9-3 record, they fired coach Jim Montgomery who led them the past two years.

No other sport seems to churn through coaches like the NHL. It's as if coaching success is considered an alchemy thing as much as it is X's and O's and strategy
coupled with a heavy dose of 'what have you done for me lately' attitude.





* I say 'sort of' because the addition of OT/SO in regular season hockey means more standings points are awarded as compared to the era where no OT existed.
I'd certainly consider Montreal's 1976-77 record of 60-8-12 to be superior to what the Bruins did two years ago [8 losses vs 17] even if it produced fewer points.
I'm not even sure it was the Bruins best season ever: the 1970-71 57-14-7 season, also a 1st round playoff exit, was superior even if sandwiched between their
two Stanley Cup winning years. The '22-'23 Bruins season under no/OT rules produces a 54-12-16 record

Calgary Flames rookie winger Matt Coronato grew up in Greenlawn on Long Island. I was in junior high with his dad.

Wow!
Hockey-ref lists him as born there and drafted at age 18 in 2021 but doesn't mention HS, only that he subsequently went to Harvard and played for an amateur team in Chicago.
Couldn't have been at Harvard for long because he played his first NHL game at age 20 in April of '23
Not a big guy by today's NHL standards [5' 10" / 183]

He went to a Catholic school, the same as his dad for high school. If I'm being honest Dad was a very smart guy but a little smug too.

Played last night vs. the Islanders, the team he grew up rooting for. Has a wicked quick shot but did not figure in the scoring in a boring 2-1 shootout loss

Frayed Knot wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2024 9:55 pm This season, after a 1/4 season (20 games) and a 8-9-3 record, [the Bruins] fired coach Jim Montgomery who led them the past two years.
No other sport seems to churn through coaches like the NHL. It's as if coaching success is considered an alchemy thing as much as it is X's and O's and strategy
coupled with a heavy dose of 'what have you done for me lately' attitude.

As if we needed a little more proof of the cement mixer that is coaching in the NHL: the StL Blues [9-12-1] became the second team to fire their coach thus far
this season and have hired ... the one the Bruins fired just five days earlier!!

Ob-Lah-Di, Ob-Lah-Da life goes on Bragh ... La La how the life goes on

Failing to come from behind in the 3rd period vs the Islanders is a firable offense

A fun hockey weekend. Saturday night we went to Detroit for a promotional event with the Red Wings. The giveaway was a Zombini-shaped gravy boat. Very cool.

Then tonight we had another promotion with the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, the Griffins. Our mascot got to ride the Zamboni and engage in assorted hi jinx with the Griffins’ mascot. Plus we gave out thousands of co-branded knit caps!

A goal, an assist, ... and 40 saves!!


Penguins goaltender, Alex Nedeljkovic*, recorded an empty net goal late in the 3rd period, assisted on a power play goal in the 2nd period, while also
making 40 saves during a 5-2 Pittsburgh win over Beefalo on Friday night.
It's the 19th goal** recorded by a goalie in NHL history and is the first G + A game.


* No, I don't know how to pronounce it. He's from that faraway land of Ohio and I don't speak the native tongue.
** by 16 different goalies. ex-NJD G Martin Brodeur has three of them

Went to UBS Arena last night for Isles-Sharks. Really great arena and cool atmosphere. It was HoF induction night for Brent Sutter so they gave away commemorative coins, but his speech was wayyyy too long. Good guys win, 4-1.

I watched that gamehere at home. You saw a rare home victory for the Isles. Barzal's goal was fantastic