Rick Rypien
- Thread starter Kakato
- Start date
If you stepped on the ice with any of todays players, and got hit, not by a bodycheck, but only by
one of them bumping into you, at the speed they skate, you would be dead.
what you said above makes no sense whatsoever.
a highly skilled man, about 6ft 3 in., weighing around 220 lbs, skating at a high speed with nine
other men of similar height and weight, all at full speed, bumping, hitting, shooting has about as
much comparison to parks and recreation hockey as ballet does to football.
Market share. When a little city like Moose Jaw (50,000) can get 3500 out for a WHL game you'd figure a city 10X the size should theoretically sell out it's arena of 15,000 every game but then again it's not $250 a ticket to sit in the lower bowl.
I still play and I'm not a little guy either at 6 foot and 210lbs. We play for blood and with everything we've got.
Kreskin has to compare apples and oranges in order to try and make a point. The fact is that the NHL is hurting now. there are 15 or 16 teams south of the border that are losing money. That is a result of the game. Some will point to the economy but there are lots of sports doing well so it isn't that.
Hockey is't a lifestyle in those southern markets. In a little Sask town of 500 you'll get 200 out people to watch the kids play.
If you want to fit in in a small town out here there are three things that you have to do, support hockey, the legion bingo and go to church.
I lived two towns over from Kelvington SK.
How hardcore is hockey in Kelvington?
If you want to fit in in a small town out here there are three things that you have to do, support hockey, the legion bingo and go to church.
I lived two towns over from Kelvington SK.
How hardcore is hockey in Kelvington?
I'm trying to make sense of your apples and oranges. You said the junior game was more exciting and then said you determine entertainment by ticket sales.
It's not nonsense. I was talking about whether hockey was better in the 80's or today. The NHL was in better financial shape back then. Major junior hockey has nothing to do with it. The only mention I made was that I personally like major junior over the NHL. I don't expect the Dub to sell out every game because I like it.
By the way both the Pats and the Hitmen are playing neither of us will be cheering for our teams during the Memorial but that doesn't make going to a game any less fun.
Do you think they'll make it past Ded Reer? In the eastern div my money is on the Warriors. Being only 35 mins away it's like having two local teams.
I certainly hope so. The Tigers got off to a slow start this year but have been getting better (8 wins in there last 10 I think).
the poor turnout in the south has nothing to do with the quality of the game, basketball and football are
priority in most of those cities, hockey is a game they don't put first.
bettman has tried to thrust our game into those cities and hopes if finally does succeed, it might in
a hand full of cities, but not in most, they are going to support what they have supported for generations,
and hockey isn't part of that.
You aren't going to change the tradition of the sports in those cities, so don't try to pass it off as
something it is not, you have to spew that crap to people who don't know, and that is not here.
The game of hockey is fine, very healthy and doing well in all the cities it has always done well in.
The economy has affected some of them, detroit being one, as michigan is probably the most hardest hit
of all the states, and the red wings are very aware of that, and doing their best to make it easier for
fans to attend games.
The junior A and major junior leagues are great, I love junior hockey, but to compare that to NHL is
silly, all of those players in the NHL, (excluding the ones who went the college route) played in
those leagues, and some graduated up to the NHL, they all complement each other, and no junior player
will ever think that junior hockey is better than the NHL, exactly the opposite, it is what they strive
for, and know that it is a big step up from wht they play, and would love to be there.
When you watch the NHL you are watching all of your past junior players, as men, who have made it to the
top, and good for them.
The energy on the ice is far better in the Jrs. Playing for a pay cheque is not even close to playing on testosterone. Once you are signed you don't have to push yourself as hard.
I don't believe that for a minute, juniors are playing to get to the NHL, the NHLers have to play
hard to stay there, same but different, they never stop playing at their best, and if they do, theyare gone. I might agree with a very 'few' who have signed for big dollars, then can't live up to it,
and they are not gone right away because of money invested, but even those players are not sluffing
off, they just can't do it any more, others are always coming in, younger and faster and the older
ones do finally begin to slow down, that is just the way life is.
lets use naslund for an example, he got the big contract, (for what he had allready done), then the
lock out came, bertuzzi mess, etc., and he could not keep up any more, and if anyone tried, he did,
and he stressed out over it, and worried about it, but it was the new age of hockey, younger faster,
and he had to retire.
that business of not pushing oneself very hard is rubbish, they want it just as bad, and they know
if they don't push hard all the time, there are players waiting to jump right into their spots.
the fans just don't understand professional sports, most fans are hung up on the money, but the
players are not.
I read it here all the time, money, money, money, that is the hang up of the fan not the player.
They negotiate for a contract, agree on something, and play. They got there because of their drive
and love of the game, that doesn't go away. Injuries play a big part.
As soon as a junior player signs as a pro, the FANS change their view of him, that has nothing to do
with the player, it is all about the fan and the money. They always connect the money to the player
and the play, and there is really no connecton, the player wants to stay there as long as he can,
it is very competetive, and very hard to have a long career in the NHL, if they get ten to fifteen
years they have done well, and if you want to figure out the money over a lifetime, and the average
player who makes about 2 million a year, that doesn't make him a lifelong millionaire, so they have
to figure out how to invest and use their money well, so that they have a successful working life
after hockey.
The money has always been the sore point with me- most others in this country are struggling, while we have 20 year olds earning a $million+ a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the rest of us who are struggling SHOULD be able to have the expectation of being able to take their family to a hockey game for a $50 bill. Christ, these guys are earning more than plumbers! :lol: