CANADA WINS!!!!!!

[Shallow]

I got my tickets for the junior's here in Vancouver..21 games..bring on the Finnish women

Shallow, I've never watched the summit series, only that famous 2 minutes when Henderson scored that goal. I never saw the hit? You gotta remember in the 70's the Red Army was feared, the wholle USSR was something to be scared of. And a country like Canada, not backing down, and taking it to them..was somthing to be proud of 

Gretzky got hit  mario got hit  ..the game is the same as it was in the 80's...its just the goalie pads are bigger now and the net moved up..i think they should reduce both.

I don't care how many people watch the NHL, or the ratings and stuff. Im a fan of HOCKEY, and I love to see it. If the americans don't, want to watch the Stanley Cup Finals, thats ok. I like All-star games cause their's enver hitting, and they never take things seriousily. But with no hitting, you're going to eliminate passing..i gurantee it. All them puck handlers who don't like to pass, wont..so thats gonna get rid of role players.

I see it what you're saying, but that's gonna kill the game and ruin it.

The 70s Russians never hit until the later games of the series when they got really fed up with the bullshit. Clarke didn't hit Kharlamov, he took a homerun swing to his ankle and took him out. It was a joke of moment. Even Henderson finally came out and said he was ashamed.

I never meant to say that Gretzky never got hit, even though you weren't allowed to hit him hard. I read a story once about sa guy that hit Gretzky hard in juniors and his own coach benched him. It was a clean hit. In the NHL if you hit Gretzky you had to deal with McSorely. Well anyway, what I meant was the Gretzky would not hit. He would concentrate on the puck, the pass, and the shot.

To say the game is the same now as it was in the 80s is just plain wrong. Watch the Oilers vs the Islanders then and compare it too the Devils and Flyers now. It's all defensive traps now, and getting cruched everytime you turn your head.

You love it the way it is because you were raised that way. If you were to see the Red Army in their hey days you'd come to appreciate the art of hockey.

[AlerG]

yo shallow you need to get off this clarke shit, you're making yourself sound like a broken record...since you're dick riding gretzky, what do you say to the 93 playoffs in game seven when gretzky highsticked gilmour(he also drew blood so it should've resulted in a five minute penalty and game misconduct no questions asked) for the leafs in a tied game int he third period and it wasn't called...then he later scored the game winning goal thus knocking the stanley cup favorites if they would've advanced out...was that not a cheapshot, well only gretzky knows for sure (i'm sure it wasn't anyway) but you don't hear me crying sour grapes over some shit like that...now my point is how are you gonna piss and moan over ONE play that happened well over thirty years ago like it's still relevant...another question for you shallow, what were the ratings for the stanley cup finals when gretzky played for edmonton, i bet they weren't much better than they are now if they are at all, and also you are judging from series and games played 20 years ago, it's a different game...it's adjetating agueing points you are making, expecially a fellow canadian...when the game started a hundred or so years ago there was hitting, so you're saying we should change it now because people have act like they have sand in their vaginas because of the hitting...a hard clean hit is as good if not better than scoring a goal, if you're team is down at the moment and the adrenaline isn't there that's when a guy like tucker or domi steps up and knocks a guy on their ass and it really does pick up a team...it's like an interception in a football game or or a powerful dunk in basketball...these are the guys that make it over some others who may be more talented, they don't have the CHARACTER, character is a very important thing to have in the dressing room, you ask sundin if he thinks domi or tucker is replacable he'll laugh at you for asking such an idiotic question and he isnt' from north america thus making most points you've been trying to prove irrelevant...i'm done for now, looking foward to hear more from you on this topic, good discussion by the way from two people with different opinions, peace.

[Shallow]

yo shallow you need to get off this clarke shit, you're making yourself sound like a broken record...since you're dick riding gretzky, what do you say to the 93 playoffs in game seven when gretzky highsticked gilmour(he also drew blood so it should've resulted in a five minute penalty and game misconduct no questions asked) for the leafs in a tied game int he third period and it wasn't called...then he later scored the game winning goal thus knocking the stanley cup favorites if they would've advanced out...was that not a cheapshot, well only gretzky knows for sure (i'm sure it wasn't anyway) but you don't hear me crying sour grapes over some shit like that...now my point is how are you gonna piss and moan over ONE play that happened well over thirty years ago like it's still relevant...another question for you shallow, what were the ratings for the stanley cup finals when gretzky played for edmonton, i bet they weren't much better than they are now if they are at all, and also you are judging from series and games played 20 years ago, it's a different game...it's adjetating agueing points you are making, expecially a fellow canadian...when the game started a hundred or so years ago there was hitting, so you're saying we should change it now because people have act like they have sand in their vaginas because of the hitting...a hard clean hit is as good if not better than scoring a goal, if you're team is down at the moment and the adrenaline isn't there that's when a guy like tucker or domi steps up and knocks a guy on their ass and it really does pick up a team...it's like an interception in a football game or or a powerful dunk in basketball...these are the guys that make it over some others who may be more talented, they don't have the CHARACTER, character is a very important thing to have in the dressing room, you ask sundin if he thinks domi or tucker is replacable he'll laugh at you for asking such an idiotic question and he isnt' from north america thus making most points you've been trying to prove irrelevant...i'm done for now, looking foward to hear more from you on this topic, good discussion by the way from two people with different opinions, peace.

There is a difference between a spur of the moment high stick and a planned attack with the intetion of taking a player uot of the series.

As for Gretzky era numbers. It's not just TV raings in the finals. It's season averages and packed houses. In Gretzky's day the league was trying to expand at every turn. Today they're wanting to contract. People who go to Hockey in the States treat it like a second rate sport, and nothing more than an evening out. (except in some markets). I truly feel if the art of Hockey were to showcase itself to the masses the game would become better. Have you ever seen an all Russian game from the 70s and 80s?

Domi and Tucker are needed in today's game. Just like McSorley was need to protect Gretzky. However if the game had no aggression and only the skill came into play, then Domi would be playing amateur Soccer and Tucker would be working a regular job. Look at world Soccer. To make it on those teams it's all about skill. They don't look at yor ability to take down oppnents, and they don't come to see violence. Violence happens in the stands, but that's it. In hockey the highlights aren't even part of the game. I turn on Sportcentre on TSN or Espn and I see more Hockey fights being glorified than Hockey goals. The fact that Hockey is the only major North American sport that needs to showcase the fighting to attract an audience proves to me that the game needs help. THere is so much unbelivable talent out there that can do so many great things with the puck and really build an audience with that, but a few elbows, dropped gloves, and come from behind checks discourage even trying those moves. Michael Jordan would be nothing right now if the guys defending him were allowed to knock him down. What I mean by this is that if the checking and bumping were to disappear it leave so much room open for some real highlights that are truly dazzeling.

I respect your view on the sport and understand why you like it the way it is. I don't blame you. I just prefer a different style. Just because something has been a certain way for years doesn't mean change would greatly improve it. Look what the 3 point line did for basket ball. Guys didn't wear helemts in hockey until the last decade or so. They made them mandatory for safety reasons. I ask to ban intentional contact for safety reasons aswell. The difference is that my proposed change also make the game a lot more fun to watch.

[eS El Duque]

"The difference is that my proposed change also make the game a lot more fun to watch"

for who? for the those people who never watch hockey? or those who do watch hockey?

Ask ANY REAL hockey fan..cause i doubt you are, have you even played hockey (i doubt it cause all you do is beat those millions of RPG games )? Taking out hitting is...well, just plain stupid.

[Shallow]

"The difference is that my proposed change also make the game a lot more fun to watch"

for who? for the those people who never watch hockey? or those who do watch hockey?

Ask ANY REAL hockey fan..cause i doubt you are, have you even played hockey (i doubt it cause all you do is beat those millions of RPG games )? Taking out hitting is...well, just plain stupid.

LOL, so because I played video games as a kid I couldn't watch or play hockey too. I've already answered whether I played, and the answer was yes I used to. I used to like the hitting to until I saw the Russians play in the old world hockey games. They were so articulate and skilfull they made everyone else look stupid. Look at the Series man, it was '72 and it was the best pro players in the world, minus Bobby Hull (Orrwasn't there either but he had injuries), the Russians came into Canada and beat us 7 to 3. It's not like Canada wasn't ready, they scored 2 goals right off the bat. Then Russia scored 4 unaswered until Canada scored in the 3rd, followed by 3 Russian goals. So what happenned? Canada got humilaited in their own country and got mad. They brought out the big hits because they couldn't score the big goals. Russia still kept it close though, losing by 1 game, and it could have been a tie if game 3 had an OT. Russia was a bunch of soldiers who played for fun. Canada was a bunch of pros that played for a living. They were supposed to destroy Russia, not resort to taking out their best guy to get a win. You guys can callme a broken record all you want but if this shit happenned today where Wiemer  and the Coach admitted to planning an injury on Lecavailer and won because he couldn't play the last two games, it'd have been the biggest thing since the 1919 World Series. I mean fuck, when a figure skater does it, it's a national outrage, when Bobby Clarke does it he's a hero. The bottom line is that a bunch of amateurs gave the supposive best players in the world a run for their money.

 Have you ever seen the way the Russians used to play with each other? The game looks incredible.

Oh and of course I'd want to attract non hockey fans, that's how a sport grows. By attracting new fans. Otherwise you wouldn't be a fan. There aren't enough "real" fans for the owners to care about. The only market that matters in Canada is Toronto and the idiot fans here would watch 5 squirrels go up and down the ice with sticks taped to them as long as they're wearing Leafs jerseys.