National Hockey League 2013-14

[Guest John Hancock]

The new NHL season starts this Tuesday, will anyone be watching or caring or even following ice hockey for the first time? If you're a hockey fan, who's your team and, if you just like talking sports, who's the team you just this second decided to support?

 

This could be a relatively interesting season because, firstly, there isn't a f*cking strike this time, and, secondly, they've changed all the divisions around. Like NFL and MLB and most American sports, there's a ridiculously over complicated divisional system for no reason. If you don't have a team, or don't new the new set up, these are the teams and divisions we'll be seeing this season;

 

Pacific Division;

 

- Anaheim Ducks

- Calgary Flames

- Edmonton Oilers

- Los Angeles Kings

- Phoenix Coyotes

- San Jose Sharks

- Vancouver Canucks

 

Central Division;

 

- Chicago Blackhawks

- Colorado Avalanche

- Dallas Stars

- Minnesota Wild

- Nashville Predators

- St. Louis Blues

- Winnipeg Jets

 

Atlantic Division;

 

- Boston Bruins

- Buffalo Sabres

- Detroit Red Wings

- Florida Panthers

- Montreal Canadiens

- Ottawa Senators

- Tampa Bay Lightening

- Toronto Maple Leafs

 

Metropolitan Division;

 

- Carolina Hurricanes

- Columbus Blue Jackets

- New Jersey Devils

- New York Islanders

- New York Rangers

- Philadelphia Flyers

- Pittsburgh Penguins

- Washington Capitals

 

For the record, I support the Islanders, but I'm also fully aware that they stink, so I keep the Maple Leafs in my back pocket come play-off time.

[Maxximus 353]

I'm an Avalanche fan. I like the Penguins too and the Blackhawks.

 

HATE Boston. Hate 'em!

[Guest John Hancock]

You've really got to hate Boston in every sport. Red Sox (mostly for spelling socks with an X), Bruins, Patriots, they've just got all the most hatable teams, at least the Yankees are self aware enough of their evil to be pretty bad-ass. F*ck the New England Revolution too, just 'cus.

[The Fury 65]

Let's go penguins!

[dsrchris 190]

I'm a Rangers fan, although I don't follow the hockey very much any more.

[Guest Boyo]

Coyotes fan here. Love watching the NHL but very rarely get to see it. Do Sky even show it or do you have to shell out for another channel?

 

Cheers!

[Guest Jayfunk]

Anaheim Ducks, but they haven't been the same since Emilio managed them, they have been not so mightly

[Guest Magic]

Washington Capitals, though I'm not a Hockey expert by any means. I only picked my team last season, but I'm looking forward to getting into a lot more this season.

[Guest John Hancock]

Coyotes fan here. Love watching the NHL but very rarely get to see it. Do Sky even show it or do you have to shell out for another channel?

 

Cheers!

 

Hockey coverage in the UK absolutely sucks. There's some stupid channel, Premier Sports or something, some premium bullshit, but they show like a quarter of the games, and hardly any of it's live. I'd say just get a First Row seat at one of those new fangled streaming sites. Not that I could name one.

 

It's pretty cool that everyone supports a completely different team here.

[Guest Boyo]

Yeah I've been to a few NHL matches in my time, mainly Coyotes in 2001-02 but also some Avalanche more recently.

 

I also try to catch a few Swindon Wildcats matches as the rink is a 10 minutes wizzalk from my house. Perennial "just a bit better than crap" teams, both the Coyotes and Wildcats, but whatever :P.

 

Cheers!

[Guest John Hancock]

I've been to the Islanders and the Rangers (going to Islanders vs. Boston for my birthday), but I really want to see a game in Canada. Seeing the Maple Leafs live would be a dream come true, but I'd still be super happy seeing the Canadiens, who I like a lot too, or even the Flames, just for the history.

 

I went to a game in London, in f*cking Lee Valley of all places, don't even remember the teams playing. There were more people on the ice than in the stands, the only fight of the night was in the parking lot, and someone half-arse attempted to mug me before just giving up and walking away. I knew how he felt.

[Guest Magic]

Capitals lose 6-4 to champions Blackhawks in the first game. I caught the highlights this morning. Think we can come away with our heads held relatively high. It was a close game, and even led 4 - 3 at one stage. Keeper was at major fault for their fifth and the last was a open goal penalty when we were pushing late on. I seen enough to think that it should be a decent enough season.

[Guest John Hancock]

Islanders took the Devils 4-3 away, which is a great result, considering they're the local team, and it's an away game. If the Islanders can consistently out perform the Devils, they can finally start looking at the Rangers. Great start to the season.

[Dead Crow 370]

GDPR Edited March 26, 2019 by DraVen

[Guest John Hancock]

If you're sticking with the Chicago theme, you're a Blackhawks fan. They're really good, relatively popular, and CM Punk loves them, so they're the instant internet wrestling favourite.

 

The most historic sort of franchise teams are probably the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames. The Flames also have the Hart family in their corner, if you care about that sort of thing.

[Dead Crow 370]

I'll stick with the Blackhawks. I'm sure Michael Cole likes them, if I recall the JBL and Cole podcast correctly, which could be good or bad. But they seem good enough for me to get into.

 

My only memory of the NHL is owning NHLPA '93 on the Sega Mega Drive. I think I played as LA a lot, but Philadelphia rings a lot of bells too. Beyond that, I have nothing.

[Guest John Hancock]

You can at least justify wearing this awesome shirt;

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Chicago-Blackhawks-Black-Flag-Punk-Hockey-XL-T-Shirt-Ltd-Ed-SST-Kane-Rollins-KBD-/00/s/NTAwWDM3NQ==/z/-6UAAOxyKsZRxk-F/$(KGrHqNHJBMFGv70gVzcBR)k-E6Luw~~60_35.JPG

[Dead Crow 370]

No word of a lie, I would buy that and wear it every day.

[Guest John Hancock]

Just got back from my first game of the season, seeing the Islanders shock the world and batter Boston 3-1. Marvellous result, great atmosphere, solid early birthday present. To any football fans going to America and wanting to see a live game, I can't recommend hockey enough. A very similar flow of the game to football (just a lot faster), similar crowd atmosphere (chanting, a sense of humour, noise, a mild air of potential violence), and much cheaper tickets than everywhere else. Also, it's totally acceptable to get f*cking obnoxiously wasted.

[Guest John Hancock]

I forgot to mention, Islanders fans have officially co-opted the Sanchez/Bryan "Yes!" chant into their post-goal chant routine. Seeing that it follows the more traditional Ric Flair "woo"-ing, it's probably more to do with Bryan than Sanchez.