Back To Good

By: Patrice L. Leonard

As the oft-dreaded Olympic Games have come, we find ourselves looking back on the beginning of the 2005-2006 NHL season. A season of rebirth for the league, its players and their fans. With new rules and a new attitude, there is a lot to assess here. Around the league there appears to be a renewed interest in the sport. And, quite honestly, that interest seems to have never waned.

You will always have the die-hards who would probably sit in the stands, in the dark, just to be able to smell the ice. I place myself in this group. A year without hockey was like bread without butter, Christmas without Santa Claus, and Brendan Shanahan without his playoff beard. Alas, we all conceded to the truth. There was going to be no NHL hockey for a whole season.

We did have other outlets for our hockey withdraw symptoms, though. We could watch AHL games, or if you were lucky, the beer league in your hometown. However, we all knew. It was nowhere near the same thing. We got through it just fine, most of us with our sanity still in tact. Therefore, after a long hiatus, we at last have NHL hockey, for what it seems, at its very best.

In an off-season of big name free agent signings, and the dealings of team GM’s, this is slated to be the most exciting, most gratifying season to date. Therefore, now we can look back and evaluate the first half of this long awaited NHL season.

Of course, there are the rule changes and the differences in the dimensions of the playing surface. Everyone seems to be talking about them. Some agree with them, some do not. Nevertheless, for the most part, the new rules have resulted in positive changes in the game. I, for one, am most grateful for the elimination of the trap. Was there anything worse than watching any game involving the New Jersey Devils? I cannot recall anything duller than watching them play “coward’s hockey“.

Now that the playing surface is vaster, passers like Peter Forsberg can work their magic without the fear of a two-line pass call. There no longer is a red line. There is an additional four feet in each offensive zone. That means more room for Alexander Ovechkin, Rick Nash, and Eric Staal to show the world what brought them out of the minors and into the big leagues.

The new instigator rule is somewhat arcane though. I do think that a one game suspension is a bit excessive. But now, self-proclaimed “tough guys“ like Tie Domi will no longer be able to prod other players into losing their temper in the last five minutes of play without receiving a minor, a major, a game misconduct, and a one game suspension. Although the fined assessed to the offending player’s coach is somewhat confounding. (Unless, you are Scotty Bowman, then you probably told your player to do it.) This rule, I am sure was put into place in order to keep the flow of the game at a fever pitch until the final horn. With less players inclined to start a fight or participate in one at that late a stage in a game, they can revert to assaulting the net, or crashing the boards.

The diving rule in a way, goes along with the afore mentioned. The NHL is no place for actors and there are definitely no Oscars handed out. So why does it seem that so many players like to feign being tripped or hurt? Just ask Mats Sundin. He seems to have perfected the art of the dive. It is infuriating to watch a great power-play attack be interrupted by a player lying on the ice, grabbing his face, and looking up at the referee begging for a penalty. Then only seconds after his “injury” caused by a “trip”, he returns to the ice to score a game winning goal. Just what will the Tom Cruises of the league do with all of the extra time they will now have? Maybe they can start grabbing sticks and begging for a hooking call. Oh wait, they already do that too.

There are a few other additions and changes to the NHL this season. Offside, icing, and delay of game are slightly different now. The resizing of goaltender equipment may cause some momentary problems for even the league’s most gifted goalies. But, the most exciting change of them all is the inception of the shootout. Here you have all the excitement of a penalty shot. Two teams send their best shooters out on the ice to go one-on-one with the opposing goaltender. The crowd on its collective feet, the noise is deafening. The players standing, banging their sticks against the boards. Even a team having a bad game, but was in it enough to tie, can win in a shootout. The one thing I am not in agreement with is that the losing team still gets a point for making it to a shootout. This is what a team was awarded when a game would end in a tie under old rules. So, you ask, why do we now have the shootout? We have a shootout because the game of hockey needed the excitement brought back.

After a year off, some fans dabbled in other sports. Some may even have chosen a new favorite. This was the league’s way of saying, “Hey, we’re still the most electrifying professional sport out there. Now, we’re going to prove it to you.”

Overall, the NHL has proven its point ten-fold. Let me just say this, first and foremost, as a hockey fan, the “New NHL” has more than made up for the lock-out. You can still feel the electricity in the arena, the enthusiasm is tangible. Maybe there IS something to the old sayings, ’absence makes the heart grow fonder‘, and, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’. Because, when it’s gone, you have to watch baseball.