Tampa Bay Lightning baby......
Went to opening night last night. A great celebration, raised the eastern conference banner and the 2004 Stanley Cup Championship banner. It was really neat.
Re: the new rules. Lots of new rules, you really have to keep them in mind when watching the game. There is very little leeway on hooking and grabbing. The blue lines being closer to the center creates more room in the scoring zone. There is extra room behind the net which promotes more action behind the net. It really makes for and end-to-end game. Not a lot of slogging through the center ice area. While the red lne is still there, it is not used in determining a two-line pass. A defenseman can now pass from near his own face off circle to a streaking winger beyond center ice. There are lots more breakaways. The rules were put in place to promote scoring and they will certainly do that. However, fans also like lots of hard hitting and checking and it doesn't seem like the rules promote this at all. The rules should favor teams like the Lightning who are young, fast and excellent skaters. It will put teams that play a trapping defensive style of play at a definite disadvantage. There was lot's of input from players and ownership when designing these rules and I think they are generally good but I guess time will tell.
Great to have hockey back !!!!