brownky

Getting back to the topic at hand here. Jason Statham.

Invoking CDC history... Negatives... do we really need them?

It feels a bit "Milton" from office space. "Just stop paying him (kill the links) and the problem will go away" That or it was just a ****up. One or the other.

It's a good first step. The ads themselves aren't going anywhere, but the shills get dumped at least. Next step, treat them like cigarette ads. Nowhere to be seen.

Jovo / Tanev would have been an absolutely deadly pairing. So (3)Miller / Linden(4) / Smyl (2) Jovo(3) / Tanev(3) Miller (2)

Watching some of those hits at the end... wow. Predatory head hunting at its finest. Slewfooting. Kneeing. High elbows. Running guys headfirst into the boards. Running goalies intentionally. There were a couple of clean, good hits in there but mostly stuff that I'm glad gets penalized now. People say "oh guys had more respect back then"... clearly not, looking at that. Still, thanks for the blast from the past. In return, my favourite play of the last 21 years. And it'll be the last 22 years next year.

Important to note: Quality dictates quality, not price. Lots of expensive *garbage* out there (not just in hockey land). "You get what you pay for" to a degree most of the time though - but consider that for 'gear', only your blades 'touch the ice' - like tires on a car - it's worth it to step up. Lighter and better quality materials make a world of difference - if you have 'great' skates and then go 'put on rentals' or other crap ones, you'll notice how heavy your feet are in the crap ones. You'll likely have a better quality fit, more ankle/foot support, and potentially better glide out of the steel post-sharpen. If you skate a lot, and have had the same ones for almost 15 years, I would say go for some higher end skates. Try to see if there's any last-ditch "summer" disposal sales of good gear from last year, you can do pretty well sometimes.

Depends where you live. I know a guy (and played with other AHL guys who figured the below out early that they weren't going to make it and got out) who played in the Tampa farm system a few years, so close to that ticket to the show and his minors salary barely covered the costs associated with living in Norfolk. The AHL grind is rough too, lots of 'road time' - you still have to pay all the same bills, but you're on a bus a LOT, and the road per diem for the A is not what it is for the NHL. The issue is these are guys who USUALLY went straight from junior - no college or anything. So their only knowledge/education/experience when they age out of hockey - in their late 20s/early 30s - is high school education and 'how to play hockey pretty good'. While the rest of 'us' were getting experience working or perhaps college/uni degrees, they're "10 years behind" as it were. Sure they made $80-130k a year pre tax as a 20-something. But often in a high COL area, and considering hockey players are not usually the brightest knives in the bowl, there's not likely to be very much if any of that left - and they're left with recurring/nagging body pains from 20 years of hard hockey for the rest of their life. For some, that's worth it, I'm sure. But I've seen the results of 'not' making it and that life isn't what it's cracked up to be, at least in my own opinion / observations.

That was Carmageddon. Which really needs a remake imo.

The boarding, elbowing and charging calls are what went uncalled. And you are correct, the bigger team does stay healthier - when they can do that sort of thing. The panthers were stick pric*s so they weren't angels by any stretch. And I certainly didn't want them to win based on their antics. This is the first SCF where I actively wanted both teams to lose. But the differential in the calls - Vegas could do the boarding / charging (watch their hits) with impunity. Florida didn't have the size to do that, and when they did try, they got gooned AND lost the penalty swing too. No win situation, just like 2011. I'm more salty about Vegas winning because it's clearly about the money. Gary can say "Hey, look, successful team off the bat. Pony up" the next time an expansion or sale rolls around. Double down with how the Campbell thing was with the Canucks 10 years ago - documented and proven favouritism, the NHL is bush.

When you're allowed to beat the s**t out of the other team and not take penalties for it, it makes it easy to drop the other teams to attrition. They had 6 guys on the ice for Vegas jerseys and 2 guys with orange armbands all year. Easy to look good like that.

When a team like Vegas gets zero penalty minutes until late in the third (when it was a puck over the glass) in any game (The previous game), it means there's f**king shenanigans. And this game... 2 minutes all game. So 2 penalties for Vegas in the flow of play over two entire games. Ignoring the 'end of game tack on' penalty minutes that mean absolutely nothing, penalties from the flow of game play... a team that plays like Vegas does... they've gone remarkably clean all of a sudden. So yeah, you can build a lineup like theirs knowing they won't get called for whatever they do. See: Boston. Put Myers on that team he still wins because he can run guys and dome them and he won't get called like he does here. It's that simple. Add in the BS with Chicago getting that pick, this is monetized entertainment like wrestling. I have zero confidence that any of this is at any time above board. It's about the money. Thinking there's sport here is just disappointing. And for the record **** the Panthers too. I wanted both of them to lose, but watching it be gifted with so many non-calls, it's just dogsh*t.

So if you got 28 how many did your roommate do?

People like to make fun of Murzyn's skating but if anybody went near the net or hacked at the goalie, he made sure they didn't do it again. And you are right, the team could really use some of that. If you are going to take a penalty, make it *worth* taking the penalty.