lunchbox

Some of you may recall the "blue ice" thread posted here before.

It was proposed by the Buffalo Sabres that to make the puck more visible they use light blue ice and orange "blue lines."

well they decided that's not all. they've come up with a new idea for increasing scoring.


here it is:




to me it looks like they're going to make scoring go down because i'd not be able to shoot the puck at that. I'd be averting my eyes because of how hideous that thing is. Your thoughts?

__________________
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

-Douglas Adams

00111000

Changing the size of the nets is not the answer imo. High scoring games are not the problem in hockey these days. The problem is too much defensive play and not enough enforcement of holding and other minor penalties. Some of the most exciting games are low scoring end to end hockey. With todays systems of getting one goal then playing defensive hockey the whole time you hardly see great plays develop. Sure, more scoring will attract a larger crowd but the way the game is played needs to change in order for hockey to become the great sport it once was.

I really think they should look at some of the rules and alter them to better reflect the current game. Get rid of the two line pass so you can encourage a faster breakout. Change the way icing is called to either no touch or have the ref make a decision on if the defensive player could have actually made a play rather than taking the icing call. Changes like this, to me, would bring the game back to the fast paced up and down hockey I fell in love with, not this boring tippy-tappy hockey.

If this new goal is implemented you will have higher scoring until teams and goalies adjust to the new format. If you don't change the way the game is called you'll still have low scoring defensive hockey.

Just one goalies opinion....

__________________
- And so he says, 'I don't like the cut of your jib.' And I go I says, IT'S THE ONLY JIB I GOT, BABY! -

Spartak

Exactly get rid of the clutch 'n' grab and the 2 line pass, also maybe trim down on the goalie's equipment, right now you've got a damn Zeppelin in goal.

__________________
I can read your mind... looking at you... I can read your mind...

Coppertop

Yeah, that's one fugly net. I say take out the red line and let the breakout passes fly. And this coming from a defenseman.

CityOfAngels

How about this for a rule?: "In order for the NHL to legitimately be a professional sports league, it's teams and their respective players must actually play hockey."

__________________
The words "love" and "life" go together. It is almost as if they are one. You must love to live, and you must live to love, or you have never lived nor loved at all.

Janey

i like that last rule. I think removing the redline would be too drastic. and would look weird. Goalie equipement circa early to mid '80's in size would be nice.

Daoust

The nets thing won't fly. Not only do they look stupid, nobody wants them, and everybody agrees that more scoring isn't what's needed. The clutching, grabbing and neutral zone trap are what's wrong with the game. Get rid of that, and we'll have a better game. I"m not necessarily an advocate of the bigger ice surface, either. I think it's fine as it is. Watching the Canadian Womens team play (and win convincingly, already up 25-0 gf/ga in this tournament) I have found that the big ice surface makes the game more loose and more boring. I dont' know why that is, but it's what I find.

__________________
I have faith in a few things - divinity and grace
But even when I'm on my knees I know the devil preys

the_marq

After watching the World Jr's this winter with the 'no-redline rule.' I was finally converted. I didnt like it before but now I see how it can lead to some really exciting breakaways and game turn arounds. BTW Janey, the redline is still there, just ignored when it comes to offsides. It's still a factor in icing.

I'd also like to see the rules removed on stick curvature. Plenty of guys are already ignoring this rule anyway, but let 'em bend it all they want, it will lead to harder, more accurate shots on net. The only reason stick curves were limited in the first place was so the goalies (in the 1950's) wouldn't get broken bones from hard fast shots, now that they are wearing the equivilent of ballisitc body armour this is no longer an issue. Let the hard ones fly.

Finally, a bigger net is fucking retarded, the idea that a higher scoring game would make the game more marketable is the dumbest thing ever. Look at soccer, the most watched sport in the world, its very rare for a team to score more than 3 goals in a game (and that net is fucking huge). It's not the number of goals that attracts people, its the intensity of play.

__________________
The Truth:

Johnny Cash could have kicked Bruce Lee's ass if he wanted to.

#3 in a series

Kurant

I'd rather see hockey back in session before they make ridiculious things like that. I do like the idea for the redlines though.

More scoring isn't going to get hockey better ratings though.

c172g

How to make hockey more interesting? Cut the salaries & get some players who really WANT to play. We are getting a junior A team here in our town next year. They played two games here, I went to both. Awesome hockey. Young kids who DO have something to prove, living with folks in the town who have an extra room, working 20-30 hours a week as well as hockey practice every day to try & make the college teams. Intensity. Desire. Drive. All things that the NHL doesn't have anymore. I'd rather go watch the juniors any day compared to the Red Wings, and I'm from Michigan.

Bigger nets would only screw up my already high goals-against-average, so I'm against them!

silent_jay

These new suggestions are getting more and more rediculous by the day. That net looks like shit plain and simple, have they not figured out by now that it isn't the nets or the colour of the ice that is wrong with hockey, its the fact they keep on making these new rules such as clutching and grabbing, yet they never call it. I'm disgusted with the game at the moment, I'll be watching the OHL and the QMJHL from now on, hell when and if the NHL comes back who knows if I'll watch it again, I'm just sick of it.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

lunchbox

I'll watch, but I agree they need to stop this bullshit clutch and grab. teams like the Calgary flames from last year have no business in the stanley cup finals clutchers and grabbers with just a few scorers. I'm glad the cleaner of the two won, but some teams just don't even get a shot because of how bs these rules are. My opinion is that scoring would go up by as much as 20% if they just claned up the grabbing. Then again I am a proponent of getting rid of a few teams too so if they did either scoring would go up just as much and if they did both the scoring would go up at least 50% there's too many bs players in the league and too many non-calls. I'll watch till I die, but they do need changes.

__________________
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

-Douglas Adams

CandleInTheDark

How about when the goalie leaves the crease, you can hit him? That would rock.

__________________
Where there is doubt there is freedom.

stevo

A lot of good points.

no more 2-line pass rule.
No more limitations on the curvature of the blade.
Smaller goalie pads.
And hitting the goalie if he leaves the crease.

Exactly what the sport needs. If they come back next year and implement these rule changes, I'll watch.

But if they come back next year and don't change anything I find it hard to believe the NHL will get much coverage. ESPN2's ratings are way up this season since the cancelled hockey season has caused them to show more college basketball. They'll stick with it if it brings in mo money...

__________________
"If I am such a genius why am I drunk, lost in the desert, with a bullet in my ass?" -Otto Mannkusser

lunchbox

I find it HYSTERICAL that you guys keep recommending that you should allow goalies being hit again...Mr. Bettman was a part of that rule getting added. Hehheh.


I do believe he is the worst thing that ever happened to any sport, ever.

__________________
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

-Douglas Adams

00111000

Allowing the goalie to get hit will probably never happen, it would add more problems than solving them I think. First thing I could think of is that most goalies are the smallest and lightest guys out there and taking a hit from todays power fowards would be crippling to say the least. A head on hit would most likely knock the goalie flat on his back and snap his head into the ice when he lands. Most goalies today where masks that are designed with deflecting shots from the front and sides and they only have a small plate on the back with minimal padding and the result there would be many more concussions.

I would like to see more restrictions placed on when and where the goalie can play the puck like the lines they have in the AHL. Regulating goalies is low in the NHL's list of things to fix in the game. Change the rules that everyone agrees on and open the game back up, bring back the game I love not this trapping defensive play.

__________________
- And so he says, 'I don't like the cut of your jib.' And I go I says, IT'S THE ONLY JIB I GOT, BABY! -

silent_jay

I don't think they should take away the 2 line pass, it just promotes cherry picking. People sitting out by the other teams blueline and waiting for a break away pass. Hitting the goalie while I would have loved to during my playing days the fights that would start because of it would be so many that the next thing you know they'd be trying to get rid of fighting again.

Drop a few teams get the talent level back up to where it used to be instead of this second rate talent that plays 1 shift a game. The rules aren't the problem where scoring is concerned it's the talent of the league or should I say lack of talent that is the problem.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder