NDFlyer

Huh? Who cares if you lose? Fighting back is the point. Someone will take him out sooner or later. BTW, when did Punkobitch become the Bob Probert of college hockey? Some of you act as if he is invincible should be given all the space he wants. Two words follow that type of attitude: Game Over.

Two of the most idiotic and ridiculous things I have ever read on any internet hockey board have occurred in this thread: 1. Congratulations, you have brought Geoff out of hibernation. 2. What if someone wants to fight Paukovich and loses? ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never have I seen such pu$$y, loser, gutless, spineless, weasel talk anywhere. The posters who said these things should hang out on some NHL boards and try to spew that crap. You'd get laughed out of existence. Have you guys ever heard of the concept of standing up for your teammates? LOL!!!!!!! Cracking me up.

Which leads to my point: why do you guys trust those who lack the will to enforce the rules? And please stop with the "I hate fighting" crap. 99% of you love it.

You are somewhat close to understanding my point. Keep working on it. Please, choose the type of hockey you want: (A) I'll let the official protect the players. Yeah, watching your team's players being carried off the ice onto strethcers is REALLY, REALLY fun. I can't get enough of it. or (B) Allow fighting back into the game. LOL! Some of you guys crack me up. Every time there is the slightest scrum at a UND game there are 11,500 people on their feet screaming and cheering. Yeah, that is pi$$ poor entertainment, isn't it. How many of you guys have ever walked out of an arena because of a fight? Please, I'd really like to know.

Avs are free to do whatever they want. They can send some out to challenge Bertuzzi or they can do nothing. I don't care either way. If they want to allow their players to be brutalized on the ice that is their decision. If I am running a team I would want to send a message to all other teams that we will NOT tolerate our best players being run legally or otherwise. Some of you cry about referees missing obvious minor penalties but then you trust them to protect the players when there is an obvious major penalty. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! How are they going to do that when they are incompetent in the first place? Case in point: Mr. Don Adam. One thing is certain: the players had much more respect for one another before the damn instigator rule and before visors and full masks became mandatory. Today it is nothing but high sticks and checking from behind and all the little rule changes in the world are not doing anything to stop it.

Here is what the NHL and NCAA should do: remove any type of ban on fighting; remove any additional penalties for fighting (ie. The Gary Buttman Package: 2, 5 and 10); let the player decide whether or not he should wear a full mask, visor or just a helmet. Unofrtunately, none of this will happen because too many people like Gary Buttman and Greg Shepherd are running things in hockey and are destroying the sport. You cannot expect competence at lower levels when you have morons in charge in the first place. Why should we expect a ref or linesman, who doesn't know a hook or hold from a traveling call ................why should we expect them to have enough brains or guts to protect a player from a cheap shot? We can't. Who hires the on ice officials? Yup. The bigger idiots hire the lesser idiots. Think about it--- cheap punks get away with so much because they can hide behind a full mask or visor. There is no doubt in my mind that players and coaches at the college or pro level will tell you that the players on the ice are in a better position to police the game then the idiotic officilals both on and off the ice. The leagues yap about zero tolerance on cheap shots, headhunting, blah, blah, blah, but has it worked? Not that I care what happens to Jaromir Jagrl, but what did Ruutu get for taking off his head? Game misconduct and a 1 game suspension? LOL!!!!!!!! Big deal. Forcing Rutuu to fight if he is gonna take runs at people is much more of a deterrant than any match penalty or crap like that.

I have no idea where DaveK comes up with this stuff. If he wants to watch pu$$ hockey let him watch the women play. Yeah, DaveK, the leagues really do a superb job protecting players from cheap shots. I'm absolutely certain that the players are deterred from checking from behind because of the harsh actions taken by the league when a guy is cheapshotted. LOL!!!!!!!! Yeah, right. If Steve Moore fights Bertuzzi immediately the whole situation is finished. If Paukovich had to fight every time he cheap shotted a guy his incidents of cheap shots would go way down. Rag doll him once or twice and he'd be as timid as a little teddy bear. he wouldn't go near the corner. More people have had their careers shortened or ruined because of cheap shots than those who have eben hurt in fights.

Most fans agree with you and want the old orange away jerseys back. Getting sick of every team having a black alternate jersey.

Flyers fans have been fairly pleased with Hatcher's play this season. He has never been able to skate or move the puck but we only need him to remain healthy. He is able to eat up a ton of ice time and still likes to hit. Depth on the blueline killed the Flyers during their last palyoff run and is killing them this year as well. For the past two months they have had to play 2-3 minor leaguer defensemen every night because of injuries. These guys just aren't ready yet. Thus, a healthy Derian Hatcher is a godsend in spite of his immobility. If his plastic knees go during the next two months it is all over. I'm just waiting for Forsberg to shred his groins during the next two days. Fookin olympics.

Oh no. I am 100% serious about hoping that Chelios plays for the teams I hate most in the future. Anything which would make them weaker is fine with me.

It was a very fun team to watch. Feel free to edit any of my posts; they generally need it. I am not a very good hockey fan. For me it more of a cult thing. I love one team and hate everyone else. I just have more malice for the blue skirts and debbies.

I will bet my life that Chris freekin Chelios will still be playing when he is 60 years old. I only hope that it will be for the Rangers, Devils or Maple Leafs.

I totally agree with stickboy on this one especially the structured ice time vs unstructured ice time issue. Kids around here spend way more time traveling than they do on the ice and that includes practicing and games. To me, a 10 year old kid would benefit more from staying at home and spending several hours on the ice having fun than he would be traveling to/from Duluth for a couple of games over the weekend. It is certain that games are important but learn the fundamentals first. Frankly, I blame the parents. It seems to me that the 8, 9 and 10 year old kids around here don't spend a whole lot of time on the ice just having fun, skating around playing wide open pond hockey. My bro-in-law in the Twin Cities has his 4-5 year old kids in organized hockey----which every red blooded parent in MN/ND does....but they have too many damn coaches on the ice and they are having these poor kids running drills. LOL! Shouldn't they learn how to skate and handle the damn puck before they start running drills? Who knows. We all have different opinions.

Zach Parise? You see, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone said this. I understand he is GOD around here but in the large scheme of things? At THIS stage of his career? He would have been no more effective than any other USA forward.

Listen, there is nobody who despises the idea of sending NHL players to the Olympics more than I. Simon Gagne hurt his knee yesterday and if Peter Forsberg shreds either groin in the next few days I am going to be pi$$ed off mutha. The only way it could get worse is if Mike Knuble got drunk last night and cut his kneck on a broken beer bottle as the Chelios' Elimination Day Drunk Party or if Nittymaki blows a hammy during warmups. I totally agree that it would be more exciting if we sent college kids to the Olympics. We have Mr. NBA, Gary Buttman and the NHLPA to thank for it. My point is that the US is not churning out world class players on pace with some of the countries in this tournament.

One more thing....we are NOT talking about winning the American college hockey title..we are talking about playing against and BEATING the best players in the world. A rather substantial difference between the two, wouldn't you say?

Had we more WCHA players (former or present) on this year's Olympic team would the results have been different? This IS what you guys are trying to say, right? If so, how do you know?

And if you are 18, 19 or 20 years old playing in the NHL and racking up a ton of points you have more talent than anyone in college hockey. I understand the obvious bias toward college hockey on this board, but, c'mon, get real here, fellas.

Look at some of the best young Russkie players or Canuck players. Then, tell me which Americans come even close as far as talent?

In this type of competition the team you put out there needs more than just heart and a willingness to put out 100% every shift. The team also needs TALENT. Where are they going to get that?

Among Flyers fans Esche is known as Robert "Red Light" Esche or Mr. Rebound. He had a couple of decent playoff rounds two years ago and now he thinks he is Bernie Parent. He is an average goalie with an above average mouth. I wouldn't mind seeing him traded. The only thing he should be doing in Philly is opening and closing the gate on the bench when backing up Antero Nittymaki. The few USA Hockey fans left in the world have Mr. Pat Waddell to thank for not having Ryan Miller on this team.

Vokun was having a good year in the NHL and I wouldn't consider replacing Hasek with him to be a huge step downward, although Vokun let in a very, very bad goal in the first. Losing Elias hurts them but my point is the rest of the team has to find a way to step up and win. Sitting around crying about injuries and blaming your team's play on injuries is nothing but loser, pu$$$ talk.

redwing, My point is that it probably doesn't matter who the USA throws out there in this type or competition. I don't believe USA is as deep or talented as some of the other teams. If the Canucks start rolling and get everyone skating hard and giving 100% then they will be unstoppable because nobody is even close to them as far as depth and talent goes. Still, at this level you can't take off a single shift because it could cost you. The Finns have been successful because every single one of them is skating hard and moving and giving everyting he's got. Plus, they are getting stellar goaltending. It's a good recipe for success. Russkies? Unbelievable talent up front but from the blue line back are questionable. Swiss have gotta be running out of gas pretty soon. Czechs are really pu$$ing out---big time. Lots of talented forwards who are doing nothing.