Kool-Aid Spill, Aisle 2
Normally I love positive pieces about the NHL, especially on ESPN.com from someone not named Buccigross or Melrose, but Page 2’s David Fleming lays it on a little too thick for me:
With a handful of key rule changes, this league has boldly remade the sport, not just saving it but making it 1,000 times better. I grew up in Detroit, watching old Red Wings games on Channel 50 at a time when, if your team went down 2-0 you could go to bed, game over. In the old NHL, with a two-goal lead, every guy who brought the puck up over the blue line was mugged by three defenders and left in a bloody scrap heap in the corner. Now you’ve got guys flying up the ice, down by four, with a chance to score on almost every rush. The NHL has legislated speed, scoring and the pure joy of hockey back into their game – and it should be commended.
This is what we saw a ton of at the beginning of last season. Thankfully most people woke up and realized it’s just not so. Considering scoring is up marginally, thanks to power play after power play, I think most fans know what’s really going on. Fleming means well, and I like that this is towards the top of his column, but I think the “New NHL” love is dying overall. He’s right that the NHL should be commended for making changes to help the game - as long as they don’t stop now.
Fleming’s comments didn’t come out of nowhere though, so to put it into context, here was the first part of his “30-second” answer:
Is there anything better in the world of professional sports couch potato-ing on Monday nights than setting your remote on MNF and the NHL game on Versus and then using your “last channel” button to flip back and forth? This week during the Bears-Rams game, the young, explosive Penguins came back from a 4-0 deficit against the Caps and killed a four-on-three power play in the OT before winning 5-4 in a shootout while the Pens players on the bench wore their helmets backward, rally-cap style. This was, by far, the most compelling and enjoyable sports event I’ve watched on television this year.
Hey! A Versus mention on ESPN! How’d that get past the editors? Fleming better take it easy or he’s going to be out of there faster than you can say “Harold Reynolds, hug machine”.
I can’t, and don’t want to deny the Pens-Caps game was good (and I will continue saying Versus broadcasts are getting better and better), but this game was not indicative of the typical NHL game this season, even with Pittsburgh going 3 for 9 on the power play.
Next entry: A Brooklyn Rebirth?
Previous entry: Randomness: Dec 12, 2006
Comments