Don't know if there are many hockey fans here. It's the last sport I'll pay any attention to. Anyhow nearly half way into the season now with the all star game next weekend. I'll be seven miles out on a frozen lake next weekend hopefully putting walleye in a frying pan so I'll miss all the fun. Always loved the skills competition. I like how my Wild are playing they are different than all the past wild teams but as a long suffering Minnesota hockey fan my confidence in success is not easily given.

You guys in Florida must be brimming with confidence between the Panthers and Lightning!
Bring you're takes!

ETA: Not interested in hearing negative takes on whether the NHL is woke or not. we all know and realize any entity in the public eye is woke to one degree or another.

Although technically a "Florida" guy now, I'm from MA and I'm a huge Bruins fan! I can sit and watch any NHL game (thank you Center Ice package), the same can't be said for any other major sport.

Hockey has always been my favorite sport to play and watch live. Not the best on tv but just a great sport. And the Blues finally won a cup in my lifetime. Go Blues!

Let's go Caps!

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, definitely a Penguins fan. Can't stand any of the other pro sports, or the "fans" who worship them.

My dad worked at the Igloo, the Pittsburgh Civic Arena from the day it opened until when he passed in 1997. I played mostly baseball growing up, but played pee wee starting in 1974. Back then, there were 4 rinks in the entire metro Pittsburgh area, now there are multiple complexes with 4 (or more!) rinks in one building.

The deal I had was if I finished my homework, my dad would let me tag along when he went to work at the arena. When he was done working, we would watch the rest of the games together. Back then there were always plenty of empty seats for the Pens. So I grew up loving hockey, loving the Penguins and playing goalie. First Mario came and I've never seen anything like the way he owned the game. Glad I was able to share the first two Cup wins with my dad, it was something that we never imagined way back in the early 70's.

My social life these days is with my son, watching every Pens game and trying to get to a few each year.

The Wild are playing great this year, I think the Pens missed out in letting Bill Guerin go into that GM role. Great hire by the Wild.

quote:

I like how my Wild are playing they are different than all the past wild teams but as a long suffering Minnesota hockey fan my confidence in success is not easily given.

It looks like your Wild and our Blues will duke it out the rest of the way for playoff positioning. The other will probably get a wildcard. It will be fun to watch.

Really enjoyed the Winter Classic!

The wild struggle with the Blues for whatever reason. I feel the Blues are the new Blackhawks when it comes to the Wild advancing in the playoffs.

I started dating a girl strictly because she lived right across the street from the old Met stadium where the Twins played and the Civic center was right next door where the North Stars played. We would walk across the street on nice evenings and watch the Twins. Her mom was a bartender in the stadium club which meant free beer. Same when the north Stars played. Walk across the street and be at the game.

That girl who I dated for strictly selfish reasons is now my wife for over 40 years!

As a Flyers fan...they suck this year. The had Craig Berube as an interim head coach. He went to the Blues and won a cup.
Flyers cant catch a break.

FLORIDA guy here too......The Great 8! Go Caps!

By the way, did you guys hear Henrik Lundqvist's farewell speech at the Garden? What style & class this man has!!!

Loving how the Wild are playing this year! Suter (and to a lesser degree Parise) were a cancer in that locker room. The All Star game is typically when the team either falls apart or when they start playing well (getting our hopes up for the post season). Guess we'll see how this year goes.

Avid Ducks fan.

Didn't renew my season tickets this year and my rep asked why. I politely told him I wasn't going to renew because the NHL went woke and BLM.

I continued by saying my family is LEO and when the BLM conversation starts with, "Shut up. Cops are wrong." I was tuning out any organization that catered to those beliefs.

He later stopped by my office and gave me Selanne and Kariya autographed pucks to renew. He gave me other autographed pucks too. Offered me free Kings/Ducks tickets more than once. I declined and said principles matter more than entertainment.

After about 2 months of trying to get me to return he called me from his cell and said he was calling me privately to say he thought the NHL went overboard and around the league they'd heard the same message and were dialing it back. I told the rep they'd forever lose me as a ticket holder if I ever saw a player take a knee for the national anthem.

I thanked him but said I wasn't renewing this year but would reconsider for the 22/23 season.

Attendance at Honda Center is down around 25% and they are desperate for fans. I still listen to the games and follow them but I'm not spending money on the team. I miss attending and hopefully the NHL sees that fans just want to see hockey and not be berated with BLM plastered in the arena or on uniforms.

That said, TBL looks good. NYI collapsed like no one could imagine, EDM is crap outside of their top line, LVK look like contenders, PHI is just bad, my Ducks have young talent but are at least a year away of going deep into the playoffs and Ovi is a machine.

Avs are the hottest team in the NHL right now. But, they've been winning ugly lately. Their PP is okay, but their PK is horrible. Plus, if we're lifting a cup this year goal tending is going to have to be better.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
Avs are the hottest team in the NHL right now. But, they've been winning ugly lately. Their PP is okay, but their PK is horrible. Plus, if we're lifting a cup this year goal tending is going to have to be better.

Yeah you're goal tending is the weak link for the Av's. We gave up on Darcy Kuemper here in Minnesota awhile ago and shipped him out. I've heard it rumored Marc Andre Fluery could wind up in you're net before the trade dead line.

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
<snip>
I started dating a girl strictly because she lived right across the street from the old Met stadium where the Twins played and the Civic center was right next door where the North Stars played.
<snip>

When I first moved to MN I lived on the I-494 frontage road in Richfield, just a bit NW of Met stadium where the Twins and Vikings played. The North Stars hadn’t yet arrived.

I was never a fan of the North Stars, but had season tickets for both editions of the Fighting Saints. They played in the St. Paul Civic Center.

I sure miss walleye – the freshwater equivalent of halibut. It’s offered at Red Tracton’s here in San Diego, but it’s poor – has been frozen.

^^^

Try the Gulls.

Oh, and Sportmen’s Seafood down at Mission Bay.

Pens fan here, I try to make it to 2-3 games a year as I live a few hours from Pittsburgh. I hate the Flyers with a passion and I enjoy the misery they've suffered the past few years, well ok 47 years.

Flyers fans do have one thing going for them. Yesterday was the final bracket at Over The Boards Hockey's facebook page for: "Who has the most annoying NHL fan base?". The Flyers won it easily over the Bruins in a bracket scenario.

Congrats on a win Flyers fan's, we know you will carry this title with honor.

Long suffering Flyers fan here. They’ve been ver6 hard to watch this year. Again.

At least I saw them win two cups, even if I was only 11 and 12 years old.

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
Avs are the hottest team in the NHL right now. But, they've been winning ugly lately. Their PP is okay, but their PK is horrible. Plus, if we're lifting a cup this year goal tending is going to have to be better.

Yeah you're goal tending is the weak link for the Av's. We gave up on Darcy Kuemper here in Minnesota awhile ago and shipped him out. I've heard it rumored Marc Andre Fluery could wind up in you're net before the trade dead line.

Fluery sure did stone us in the second round last year. The Avs have never drafted and developed a starting NHL goal tender. Justus Annunen just might be the exception. Time will tell. I think even with Makar the blue line needs more depth. Gerard is a good D man but his size makes him easy to exploit. Eric Johnson is in twilight. Byram looks like he's going to lose the entire season to concussion protocol. Now it seems the Avs have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to forwards, but the first line players have difficultly producing playing on different lines. Which makes it easier for good teams to match up. Solving this problem is the key to future Cups. If you remember on our Cup teams Sakic and Forsberg both had multiple 100 point seasons mostly skating on different lines.

I remember those Av's from 20+ years ago. Sakic, Forsberg, Roy, Drury, Blake,Foote, Lemieux - heck - you guys even had Bourque for a couple of years.

Fun watching that conference rivalry with Detroit.