Have you been following the Stanley Cup? I was going to make a thread about it but my Elite League thread got blanked so I assumed we didn't have any other hockey fans around.

I was backing St. Louis Blues this time. I've never had an NHL team, it's always been my intention to move abroad after my PhD so I was just going to support the team of whatever city or state I ended up in. But I wanted to follow the cup and it's always nicer to be supporting a team. I've fallen for the Blues now, anyway. Who do you support?

Did you watch USA get beaten by Finland in the IIHF Championships yesterday?

I'm a Flyers fan. When I was a child I wanted a hockey jersey, and the only person my parents could get one from lived in Philadelphia, so I've liked them ever since. They got completely outplayed by the Devils so I jumped on the Coyotes bandwagon.

It's a real shame to see their cinderella story coming to an end. Shane Doan's been with the team for 17 odd years and has never played in a conference final. Sad to see him and his team get eliminated. What made you a Blues supporter?

I didn't see yesterday's championship match, but watched both of today's semi-finals. Russia looks like the clear favourite to win the championship. Malkin is on fire and I doubt that Slovakia can stand up to their powerhouse offence.

>>3944
Ah, fair. I was dragged into hockey by my friend who's been playing since he was a kid. I've been playing the sport for almost two years not but I've only just recently started watching NHL having acquired my friends GameCentre details. I must remember to give him a couple of quid next time I see him, I've been using it a lot lately.

I've currently jumped on the Kings bandwagon because I figured if your team's gonna get knocked out it might as well be to the guys that lift the cup. As for the Blues, I picked them almost at random. I had a Be A Pro career on NHL11 where I got drafted by the Blackhawks but they traded me to the Blues even though I was top points scorer. I've always kind of liked the Blues ever since, I have a bit of a thing for underdogs so it was especially nice to see them have such an amazing season.

I ended up watching it after seeing a link on /int/. Haven't caught any of the rest of the tournament as studying is seriously encroaching on my hockey time.

Have you got a British team? EIHL? EPL? I guess mine is Stingrays but I've only been to a handful of games, fuck paying £15 for a ticket (actually I have a thread further down the page about them, but I didn't name them). I was toying with the idea of getting a season pass for them next year because my uni team usually train after their games so I'm gonna be at the rink at some point anyway. Plus, I think it works out really cheap for a season pass holder.

Noice. How difficult is it to start playing hockey? I've been thinking of taking it up, but the only skating skill I have is going forwards without falling, and my stick-handling skills are nonexistent. What kind of level do you need to be at before joining a recreational hockey team?

As a Flyers fan, it would be nice to see Mike Richards win the cup with the Kings, but part of me really doesn't want Jeff Carter to share in their success. Back in 2010, in game six of the Stanley Cup final, he had the game winning goal right on his stick and could've taken it to game 7 in Philly, but he shot low and the Blackhawks ended up scoring and earning the trophy. I can certainly understand affection for a team through videogames. I played two full seasons in NHL 09 as an elite forward in the AHL, but for some reason my team never wanted to promote me to the NHL. The Maple Leafs were the only ones to offer me a one way contract straight into the big leagues, and I've had a soft spot for them ever since.

As for a British team, I guess I support the Steelers. There aren't any teams in London, and I'm a bit of a Yorkshireboo. I don't really follow the EIHL closely - It's hard to keep track of the league since matches aren't broadcasted, and match highlights seem just as hard to find. My knowledge of the EPL is even worse. Does it have any teams close to or in London? I suppose the team closest to me would be my best bet since I could actually see their matches in person.

LETS GO RANGERS

>>3946
I'll admit it is difficult. I'm lucky in that I skated aggressive inline for most of my teen years so I already had the balance and dead nerve endings. I'm not sure what kind of level you'll need to get to before joining a rec team but nobody will have any problem with you going down and training, I shouldn't think. Depending where you are in London there's a few mixed ability teams, I think. I don't suppose you're at uni, are you? The uni league is the perfect gateway into hockey, the standards range from NHL drafts (allegedly) in the top league to absolute beginners in the third league. Were it not for uni hockey, I would never have gotten into the sport. Speaking of uni hockey, you could try out unihockey (floorball) to get your stick handling and shooting up to speed.

Yeah, I find myself scowling at the Blackhawks for trading me away.

Ah, Steelers. They're a good team but I'm not really allowed to say that being from Hull. There's been a bit of drama over in Sheffield lately with players trading between Steelers and the EPL team, Steeldogs. It is a bit difficult to follow the British ice hockey. Sky Sports do "The Elite League Show" weekly throughout the season which shows all the results and highlights, but I think it's on at some ridiculous time. It's rare that a full game gets put on the telly. Wikipedia was nice enough to provide this map of teams in the EPL. Looks as though your nearest teams to London are Slough, Bracknell or Guildford.

>>3948
Shush, you. I still haven't forgiven them for beating Mystery.

>>3945
>I guess mine is Stingrays

>>3949
>I'm not really allowed to say that being from Hull

Two separate people? There's an awful lot of fellow Hull posters on .gs of late. On topic, I haven't watched an NHL game in years, but I support Buffalo, solely from playing the likes of NHL 98. Can you still fight on the NHL games?

>>3962
Nah, it's only me. There is a few of us nowadays, though.

My mate supports Buffalo, too. And yes, you can still fight on the NHL games.

I've always been a fan. Used to play when I was 16 or so, in a proper team in a proper league and everything. I hugely regret giving it up. I was a goalie, and had quite a reputation for shutouts. I always really wanted to be a forward, though, which I suppose is why I lost interest. I'd kill to be a tender now though, fickle as I am. I miss skating in general more than anything. It's such a shame we're not into it over here, I could join about six thousand footy teams in my local area, I don't even think there's an ice rink in Leeds at all, except the one they put in millennium square in winter, but they don't like it when you body check your mates on that one. I heard rumours of a roller league around these here parts, maybe I'll have to dust off the inlines and have a peek.

Anyway, I am a Rangers fan as I have family in NYC. Lundqvist is the fucking king, though the rest of the team's performance is incredibly unpredictable, I find that only adds to the excitement of the game.

>>3970
You could always go to Bradford's ice rink. It's above a Mecca Bingo and below a block of flats.

There's a fuckton of roller teams around, all my mates play it. Seems to be more popular over here than ice hockey.

>>3942
I used to follow it religiously when it was on late night Channel 5 (same goes for Baseball) and would routinely get shitfaced with my Canadian neighbour and end up playing roller hockey at 5am.

I've always been a sucker for tradition in sports as it's the one constant that gives sport a real meaning. Because of this, I've always had an affinity for the Original Six. Montreal are my team because I just love the Quebecois attitude to hockey, it truly is a spectacle. Visiting Montreal and watching the Habs beat Toronto was a memory I will forever cherish.

As for British league, I tried to follow the Nottingham Panthers whilst at Uni, but course requirements fucked it all up. Knew most of the team mind, so If I could go then free tickets were had. Loads of mates in the Nottingham Uni team, but they were shit and would get routinely twatted by Trent.

Anyway, have some delicious history.

https://www.youtube.com/v/gMVczlhrp78
https://www.youtube.com/v/k74iUt5bKNs
https://www.youtube.com/v/sMjTasGGnoQ
https://www.youtube.com/v/Dn-WkhJB_vQ

>>4044
The Nottingham team in the BUIHA are pretty good, it's a combined thing.

bump for the new season

>>5157
Who's your team, lad? I have longed for regular hockey talk here.

>>5158

Flyers fan here. Second worst record in the league so far, best player hasn't scored a single goal since the start of the season, and a general manager who might be suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's. At least the off-season is never boring when you follow the Flyers.

Who do you support?

>>5159
St. Louis. Can't really argue with having the league-leading goalscorer. Coach Hitchcock's approach to hockey is just to play everything really simple and set up a play from the Ds which is perfect for me to watch as a learning hockey player.

I've got a fantasy team this year on Yahoo! which is in part to make sure I watch other teams that aren't the Blues because I tend to neglect everyone else.

Are you into British ice hockey as well?

>>5160

> St. Louis

Ah, are you the same lad from the second post in this thread? I'm that very same Flyers fan. I'm also now a learning hockey player (well, barely one) - finally decided to take up the sport after much procrastination. Fun stuff, even if my skating is abysmal and I spend too much time falling down. I've been thinking of investing in some roller hockey skates to be able to train for free in the park, but any money spent on them would probably be better utilised to pay for ice time and skating lessons.

What streams do you use to watch hockey? I've been using livetv.ru, but oftentimes the quality is too poor to even bother watching the game.

I'm still not that into British ice hockey. There aren't any Elite League teams near me, and the Premier League gets woeful coverage.

Hurricanes fan here. Glad to see a hockey topic on here. I rarely check /spo/ though so I only have myself to blame for that.

It's one of my goals to go to a Hurricanes game at some point, it's just a shame the tickets are so expensive. I was actually in Toronto when they played the Leafs earlier this month, but I couldn't afford to go.

>>5161
I wrote a full reply last night but closed the tab a little too hastily after pressing submit as I wanted to hit the hay.

I am that very same Blues fan from earlier in the thread, I had a suspicion it was just the two of us.

I'm glad you've started skating! Are you training with a team or just a rec scrimmage? Rollers are worth having if you know of any sessions in the area, I wouldn't recommend skating practice in the street because you'll seldom be doing more than skating straight forwards. The advantage of finding a roller team to skate with is that they can train more or less any day because they're not bound by shitty rink staff. The downside is they'll have all been skating together for the past ten years so they'll be best mates and great skaters - I don't doubt you can find someone welcoming, though, if you move in those circles.

As for streaming, I have NHL Gamecentre so I'm sorted on that front, can't help you there. My mate used to proxy into American and Canadian sports channel websites and watch direct from there, I know that much.

>>5162
I watched a few Canes games this year as I have Alexander Semin and did have Cam Ward in my Yahoo! Fantasy team. Can't really argue with the start they've had!

No surprise you couldn't afford that! Aren't Leafs tickets the most expensive tickets in all sports? I'm sure I read that somewhere. I wonder if they'll consider doing NHL games over in the UK at the NIC in Nottingham like they have done with NFL and NBA. I know that Gary Bettman is keen on making ice hockey more worldwide, I read a really interesting article about the effect moving the sport further into the southern states has done for the players' experience last year when the league was locked out and it mentioned he even wanted an "NHL Europe" with teams from each country. A pipe dream and mass Americanisation which a lot of people are vehemently against but I wouldn't mind having a team or two over here as part of a Europe-wide league. It might even give more of an in-route for British-born players into the sport at a professional level. But probably not.

Also, welcome to our delightful hockey thread, glad to have you here. Do you skate?

LADS!

Your teams played each other last night. Did either of you watch it? The end was tense as fuck. Very rare an NHL game goes on at 0-0 for so long.

>>5164

It was just embarrassing for both teams - sloppy play all around. I hate to keep watching the Flyers letting down Mason, who's been their only good player since the start of the season. Makes me paranoid that one day he'll just snap, and regress back to the mediocre goaltending of his Columbus days. The rest of the Flyers team is an absolute travesty. There's absolutely nothing positive to say about them.

Regarding the NHL in Europe thing, it seems that Russia is trying to beat the Americans to the punch. The KHL already has a bunch of teams from the ex-commie sphere, and they recently added a team from Finland's top league. Seems like their plan is to keep moving westwards.

>>5168
Meanwhile, the Blues are top of the power rankings. Took a bit of a spanking when Ovechkin came to town but luckily had Buffalo in the next tie to get an easy ego boost.

I don't have a single Flyer on my fantasy team and, as such, haven't even watched a game of theirs this season.

What do you reckon to the stadium series? Gimicky. Just seems flat-out dangerous to me in the case of Kings/Ducks... Outdoor ice in Southern California? Fair enough in Vancouver or New England where they have the climate for it but I'd hardly say Dodgers Stadium was going to support a healthy patch of ice. The Winter Classic jerseys for Leafs and Wings are fucking beautiful, though.

Are the other NHL fans still posting here? Would love to get this chat going again.

I will not stop bumping this annually.

Any newlads hockey fans?

>>7628
I watch it sometimes, but the puck moves too fast for my eyes. I try hard to follow it, and then miss all the movements off the puck.

But thanks lad, anyway, whenever you bump this thread, I watch a couple of matches.

PIRATES PIRATES PIRATES

Not a completely horrific first season in the EPIHL, at least we didn't come last. Lost one of the better English kids today though, which is a shame as when it's a 4 EU-only import league, you need your locals to take up the slack. Not like the Elite League with your 10 international imports.

I really want the proposed franchise in Las Vegas to succeed. I don't care if it'll fail miserably like the Arizona Coyotes or if the allure of being Las Vegas' first professional sports team will make it succeed, but there's something about an ice hockey team in the middle of a scorching desert that just screams "you're living in the future!" to me.

>>7629
You're welcome, lad. Stanley Cup officially starts tonight, I'd recommend the New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins unless you can be arsed to stay up and watch St Louis Blues vs Chicago Blackhawks.

>>7630
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeessssss Hullfa.gs! I haven't yet gone down to a Pirates game on account of no longer living in the city of culture, but I'm glad they're doing well, there was a pretty extended period where they hadn't won a game. Just had a check who you were on about and I'm glad to see it's Towner. I've skated with him a few times on rec sessions and with the uni teams and he's a great player, he deserves to be going elsewhere. Wouldn't be surprised if he gets snagged up by an Elite League team if he's moving somewhere that has one.

>>7631
I also want the Las Vegas expansion team to become a reality, on account of the fact that I'm moving there next week and would love NHL hockey on my doorstep. There's been a lot of sponsorship of the league from Visit Las Vegas this year (the top prize for playoff bracket predictions is an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas), so it's looking pretty odds on.
http://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-expansion-projecting-las-vegas-2017-18-roster/
This article is complete speculation, of course, based on who would be out of contract and who the current 30 teams are likely to protect, but I'd be quite happy to go and watch that lineup every week.

So the World Cup of Hockey kicks off tonight at 20:30 with Team USA vs Team Europe (basically a hodge podge of European players who aren't Finnish, Russian, Swedish, or Czech).

I hope the NHL doesn't plan to replace olympic hockey with this world cup stuff.

>>7951
Where can I watch it?

>>7952

http://www.streamhd.eu/nhl/team-usa-vs-team-europe-live-stream-415.php

>>7953
Thanks mate!

It is so fast. How can anyone even keep up with it? The goalie grabbing something going so fast. I am impressed.

Also, all that body checking.

>>7954

The more you watch it the better you get at following the puck. Better quality streams help:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjDuVdyRHEXEmeCpWaLkF_g/live

Unbeaten, top of the league, bloody brilliant. Home game against Sheffield Steeldogs next Sunday, going to be rowdy no doubt.

Britain made it through to the IIHF world championship for the first time since 1994. We're playing Germany tomorrow at 15:15.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/ice-hockey/47308076

It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming- hockey's coming home.

>>7954
It's one of those sports (like cricket) that you can't really deeply comprehend unless you have been physically present in a stadium and understood how fast, distant, difficult the shots are.

A single day at Lords will completely change your view of Test Match Special on Radio 4, as you'll have a deep understanding of what they're describing - I think it's the same with hockey and basketball on video, you don't really understand or appreciate what is going on until you've seen the entire picture in person.

Hockey is easier to understand on TV, as they actually explain what a power play is if you're new to the rules and you get to see the same replay the ref sees during call challenges.

I regularly go watch EIHL games and I'm a Glasgow Clan fan. The British team is managed by our manager, Pete Russel.

Stanley Cup bump. Really hope the Bruins suffer an upset.