Watching an NHL game on TV, on the runway, or on ice are three different experiences. Analysis is more obvious over television as you benefit from description, commentator’s opinion, multi-angle viewing, incredible comparisons and covers.
From the bridge you have to be careful. There are pitfalls. Matches can lack sturdiness and even speed when they don’t. Also, the difference between taller and shorter players is less obvious. The quality of the ice and even what is happening on the players’ benches are more difficult to perceive.
It’s not the height of the ice. The collective strategies are certainly less obvious, but the number of elements that make the difference between this top-performing circuit and the rest is impressive. The National League is the top.
The speed of the athletes has become phenomenal. The game has never been so fast. The ice skating of the players, but also their reaction time, acceleration, speed of the passes, the hardness of the checks and their skill in a confined space make this sport a unique spectacle.
They became supermen in an 82-game regular-season schedule, half of which occurred miles from home, traveling at night, living in hotels and training almost daily, while being on the ice almost every day under the watch of journalists on television and the analysis of Boy Scouts. A lot of people don’t keep up and that’s normal.
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Did you know that only 45 players out of more than 900 played in their team’s 82 games last year? You read that right.
I’m always surprised when I hear connoisseurs, fans, or fans disillusioned or disappointed with the NHL. We’re not going to see hockey like we used to, where players could carry the puck from one end of the rink to the other, where goalies were slowed down by slapshots from very long range, or fights between tough guys. Spectating in front of the nets, where it often gets wild and dangerous, or along the ramps when counter-checks are applied behind the back, could be improved, risky and irresponsible, but otherwise it’s a spectacle.
You even have to appreciate a significant drop in slap shots as players accelerate and take the surprise wristshot, and without warning. The flexibility of the sticks was a game changer. The increase in single shots after a good east-west exchange also contributes to the new qualities of ice hockey.
The only aspect I would personally like to see added is Olympic skating rinks, as we have done at the Center Georges-Vézina in Chicoutimi, the country of Réjean Tremblay.
From the enclave
- Only one Canadian player has played in every game this season and that’s the captain Nick Suzuki. He was also the only one who attended all of his team’s meetings last year.
- When we see the quality of preparation of the young players coming from Rocket, we have to pay tribute to the work of the trainer Jean Francois Houle downstream.
- Next Thursday when the Panthers are at Bell Center, the announcer Michael Lacroix celebrates his 46th birthday at the Canadian’s microphone. Well done Willy!
- Nicolas Deslauriers holds first place in the league since the start of the season and is still the most penalized in the NHL. Nevertheless, austin watson, of Senators, has played one more fight (12) than Nick.
- On March 25, 1901, a fight took place in Montreal that was later called ridiculous Ludwig Kyr and the huge bowsprit. Despite being 8 feet and three, Edouard Beaupre was in poor health and the confrontation only lasted 3 minutes thanks to Cyr who was not even at the peak of his performance. Beaupré died of tuberculosis. He was only 23 years old.
- The fastest man in the world is still here Usain Bolt. The Jamaican has already slightly exceeded 43 km/h. Besides, what a nice guy.
- Glad to see that the popularity of Kim Clavel stays high even though it has suffered a setback. His return to the ring in April is encouraging. To cheer !
- Of the 899 players who have played in the NHL this season, 702 are 6 feet or taller. And 474 players weigh less than 200 pounds.
- In ice hockey, the referee can use 28 different gestures to indicate a penalty to the announcer bench and the public.
- Montreal hosts the NHL’s weakest club this season tonight. We don’t know if Johnny Gaudreau regrets his decision to move to Columbus from Calgary.
- How many are on the ice with their scratching post in their skates when an offside occurs at NHL games? They are eight companions.
- The agent Claude Lemieux, which has about thirty clients in the NHL, has no Canadian player, nor does it have a Quebecer. Claude, the little guy from Mont-Laurier, has his offices in Los Angeles.
- Copy-pasted, it’s the incredible resemblance between Patricia Rose Brisebois and her father Patrice. She is 20 years old and a student at McGill while her older sister Alexandra, 23, now lives with her boyfriend in Victoria, British Columbia.
- Natalie Richard (daughter of Henri) and her partner Daniel travel to Cuba to Melia Las Americas… for a week of golf.
- It was 2:25 am on March 25, 1936 at the Montreal Forum when the longest game in NHL playoff history ended. Detroit beat Montreal (Maroons) 1-0 by one goal Modern Bruneteau 16 min 30… from the sixth overtime.
