NHL Hockey thread

[Valmy]

Really Maryland and Virginia? Bunch of fucking traitors.

[Barrister]

Not the nhl, but Canada just won the world juniors for the 20th time in a OT winner over the Czech Republic.

I hadn't watched any of the tournament, but wound up watching the last bit of the gold medal game because my oldest son (Tim, 12) wanted to.

Anyways... we watched Canada score the winning goal by Canada in 3-on-3 overtime.  My middle kid (Andrew, 10) who was half watching asks Tim who scored.  Dylan Guenther, he says.

To which Andrew says "Oh yeah - he played for the Oil Kings, and was selected 10th overall by Arizona".

What the fuck - who did he know that?  Actually it was 9th overall, but yes played junior for the Oil Kings and selected by Arizona.

Anyways - yay Canada!

[Barrister]

So some NHL drama from last night.

Before the start of the Philly-Anaheim game, the Flyers had a Pride Night.  The players come out for warm-up in rainbow jerseys, and sticks wrapped in rainbow tape, which are then auctioned off to support LGBTQ+ causes.

One player did not come for the warm-up - D-man Ivan Provorov.

He said he didn't come out "because he wanted to stay true to myself and my religion".  His religion is Russian Orthodox (he's from Russia, obviously).

Now look - no offence to AmScipio if he shows up, but the Russian Orthodox church under Patriarch Kirill is a garbage church, and has definitely taken anti-LGBTQ positions (I have no problem with orthodoxy generally).  And of course Kirill has also taken the rather un-Christ-like position of being in favour of killing Ukrainians.

So there's a bunch of terrible takes on Twitter, many being how brave Provorov was being, or of course how Provorov should be run out of the league.

I saw one take I liked.  It said "we only want LGBT allies to wear rainbow colours.  If he wants to show the world he isn't an ally, then the whole world can see what kind of person he is".  That seemed sensible to me.

Generally, I'm mostly supportive but occasionally mixed on pride week/rainbow flags and the like.  I'm 100% supportive for equal rights for LGBTQ people, but sometimes Pride supporters drag in a lot of unrelated political matters under the rainbow flag - for example when they started disallowing police forces to march in pride parades.

That being said... There has never been an openly gay NHL player.  Not current, not retired.  Out of thousands and thousands of players.  So don't tell me that NHL doesn't have some level of problem of homophobia.  If I were an NHLer (ha!) I'd wear the freaking pride jersey.


(there is one kid - Luke Prokop, from Edmonton.  3rd round selection by the Predators in 2020 and signed to an NHL contract that year.  Came out as gay in 2021.  To date he has never played an NHL game however.  If he makes the team he'll shatter that barrier.  If he doesn't, I suspect there will always be lingering questions if his sexuality had something to do with it)

[Valmy]

The Russian Orthodox Church has been nothing but a department of the Russian Government since 1700 or so (with a small break from 1917 until 1941). I have to think that is somewhat damaging to its spiritual authority in the eyes of the rest of the Orthodox world.

[Valmy]

It is interesting to me that the Pens and Caps are declining at basically the same rate and same way and are basically tied as the #7 and #8 teams in the East. It always seems like we are linked.

What the hell is happening in Boston? I thought they were also declining with age but now look awesome.

Meanwhile everybody is sucking trying to get Connor Bedard. Sorry GF, the Habs suck but they don't suck enough.

[viper37]

It is interesting to me that the Pens and Caps are declining at basically the same rate and same way and are basically tied as the #7 and #8 teams in the East. It always seems like we are linked.

What the hell is happening in Boston? I thought they were also declining with age but now look awesome.

Meanwhile everybody is sucking trying to get Connor Bedard. Sorry GF, the Habs suck but they don't suck enough.

Pens and Caps have had success at aroumd the same time and their players climbed to the top, leaving less room for new recruits.

They always make the playoffs so they get average choices at the draft, and the they trade their best hopes for vetersns that can lead them far away on playoff season, but it's never enough.

As for thr Habs, I don't knoe what they'e trying to do.  Everyone was omboard their reconstruction plan.  But then, they started to wim early on and produce some quality hockey for the first trio and everyone started dreamimg at the cup again, players included I guess - or - the players have discovered that Montreal does have a nightlife, and unlike New York, being a young hockey player makes you popular with the ladies.  Which could explain why so many on the team look so tired.

Or the higher ups realized they needed to lose some games to imcress their draft lottery chances

[crazy canuck]

Not sure if anyone is noticing what is happening in Vancouver-I mean why would you.  But they can't even fire their coach properly.  In the process, they turned him into a beloved martyr.

My main measure of how the Canucks are doing is how many calls I get from clients asking for tickets.  These days we have clients turning down offers to give them tickets.

[Grey Fox]

Luckily, the Habs also get the Panthers odds for Bedard.

[viper37]

Not sure if anyone is noticing what is happening in Vancouver-I mean why would you.  But they can't even fire their coach properly.  In the process, they turned him into a beloved martyr.

My main measure of how the Canucks are doing is how many calls I get from clients asking for tickets.  These days we have clients turning down offers to give them tickets.

We did.  We even got news article covering this.  For our newspapers to report about anything else than the Habs, it has to be big news.

[HVC]

Good. Canucks fans deserve nothing but the worst.

[Admiral Yi]

So some NHL drama from last night.

Saw that elsewhere.

If I were a Russian player I would just keep my mouth shut for a couple of years.  You can't win if you open your mouth and start opining.  On anything.

I gotta imagine he and his agent had some heated exchanges about his decision.

[Barrister]

Good. Canucks fans deserve nothing but the worst.

Canuck fans are the good guys in this story.  It's Canucks management that are Teh Baddies.

[Valmy]

RIP Bobby Hull.

[Grey Fox]

No.

Fuck that Nazi POS.

[Valmy]

No.

Fuck that Nazi POS.

Oh. I was unaware he was a Nazi POS. What is up with the Blackhawks and horrible people?

Granted my favorite club is Team Z.