SDS

I don’t have a lot of experience punching hockey helmets and I only have a few youthful experiences punching human heads, but I can’t imagine one would choose to preferentially hit a hockey helmet. It also goes against the tradition of each taking off their helmets, which I have always understood as means to protect each other’s hands (as well as not get criticized for protecting their head).

Well, rumory news.

Cal is on a hot streak. This mainly concerns me and I’m not mad at all. It’s just a strawman argument. But forgive Cal because he gets a lot wrong. Now that it is 2021, I would like to see the last remaining professional league punish fighting like every other sports league in the world. I don’t think it is inherent that the game of hockey requires people to punch other people, regardless of who enjoys it. 2nd, I vehemently disagree that an act that who’s frequency is already down 80-90% has any of the grandiose affects attributed to it. It has been proven those benefits don’t exist, and the coaches and the players, whom already moved away from this on their own, have agreed by phasing it out through their coaching and player selection. 3rd, what I haven’t said before, but it is worth pointing out, is that with fighting effective removed in most every level except the NHL, it is more dangerous. Players user to throw their helmets off to protect each other’s hands. Go watch the video of your #7 draft choice repeatedly pounding his right fist into a solid helmet and let me know if that’s intelligent. I’m not mad. I have a philosophy on sports/life and I’ve accepted the evolution of the game, which moved away from this stuff long ago.

It was not discussed in detail. The larger point was that the Sabres are a “low event“ team (define as shots for and against) when we have personnel that should be more wheeling and dealing and therefore it’s a extremely bad mismatch between personnel and system. He claims that the Sabres are often told to stay behind the play and aren’t really activating people forward to join the rush. doesn’t think that any coach would do wonders with this roster, but we’re getting the least out of them. Points to the fact that everyone is slumping is a sign of something more systemic.

Are these the only points worth noting or is there another reason to listen to that?

To be fair I probably haven’t seeing all the highlights, but the impression burned in my mind is Peters grabbing someone’s jersey and spinning in circles for 45 seconds and then throwing his celebratory hands in the air on his way to the penalty box.

Larger arguments about the game and associated interpretations aside, Cozen’s fight last night was “better” than the highlight reel of Andrew Peter‘s entire career.

But 0.5 never represented playoffs anyway. That’s what I find confusing. What you’re proposing actually means something worth noting. 0.5 doesn’t mean anything other than it’s the benchmark for using the phrase winning or losing records.

0.5 is half of something. Half of the wins does not equal half of the points. Pick a metric and move on. Why are you defining half as being equal to getting into the playoffs? it’s the important metric, but I don’t know what that has to do with 0.5.

Do you include “exchanging messages back-and-forth“ as a form of repercussion?

I know it’s common place to rag on Okposo, but I thought he has played much better recently than he has in a very long time. I mean, he’s equally as ineffective as anyone else on the ice, but not more so. What you just posted doesn’t surprise me at all.

Nope. If this were the SAT: The Sabres are to losing as… A. Oxygen is to a pickle B. A microwave is to an orange C. Cal is to getting things wrong D. All of the above

Oh yes. Call people ignorant for something they never said. Hey look everyone – it is say whatever you want day and it doesn’t matter if it has any relation to reality! You just think it and you say it!

This quote is pretty damning to the fight club crowd in the interpretation of last night. It’s readily apparent that Cozens is actually not Braveheart. He doesn’t live by a hockey code. He didn’t go out there to defend his space and do what’s necessary. Contrary to his natural playing style and inclination, he deliberately had to think about starting a fight sometime in the future. He had to wait for the right time because, I’m guessing, players don’t actually just throw the gloves down and start pounding on peoples faces because it’s your job and that’s what hockey players do in 2021. Last night was performative. Manufactured. He forced himself to do it once. You probably won’t see it again for the rest of the season. His teammates then gave performative responses to his performative fight. All the while, each and everyone of them could start a fight at any time for any reason and none of them do it. Why? Because it’s all performative words for a microphone stuck in their face. They don’t believe it. If they believed what they said they would do it themselves.

It’s not actually their job to punch people. If I was tell the story more carefully, I guess I don’t actually really remember what sparked the incident. I do remember there were three guys standing around him shoving him from person to person. Honestly, given the reaction it was probably his fault. Lol (I apologize for the sloppy retelling of the story). Regardless, I was completely in the wrong. And I spent a decade playing with amateur dickheads reliving their Ty Domi dreams. It was an eye-opener and it changed my opinion over time.

Nah. I had a learned behavior and I learned to question the underlying attitudes over time. It’s OK to challenge orthodoxy.

Yes. I was born in WNY and grew up with all the WNY attitudes. This was also 2007. I only mentioned it to state that I also once believed all this tough guy stuff and how the game was played. Thankfully I didn’t hurt the guy, who was an adult, poorly skilled, amateur athlete like me, who I’m sure has a job (and probably a wife and maybe kids) that he needed to go to on Monday morning. “But that’s the way the game is played.“ Nah. That’s what a bunch of people marketed to us over the years. And now it’s going away. I was wrong then. I don’t think I’m wrong now.

Side story. Someone mentioned beer league a few pages back. During a tournament I got a penalty and was sitting in the box. Someone cheap shotted our captain and I jumped over the boards and tackled the guy. The raft looked at me and asked, incredulously, did you just come out of the box? Lol I’m pretty sure I got thrown out of the game. Maybe out of the tournament. And I paid for that privilege. It was not money well spent. No one was taught a lesson. We got our ***** kicked. And all I got is this ***** story 12 years later.

Oh. Am I getting in the way of your 10,000th post on why the Sabres suck? Were you going to dazzle us with a fresh new take on suckiness?

Oh. I am absolutely claiming the moral high ground. I will own that all day long. It is 2021 and every year that passes it becomes a worse abomination in my eyes. I’m not trying to be edgy. I’m stating an opinion that should be on the Classic Rock channel by now. WNY is cheering a guy that barely has hair on his nuts for getting in a fight. A fight I bet he felt pressured into. It’s embarrassing. I am also well aware that my style absolutely sucks. I own that too.

I forgot to mention this in my other comment. Did you read the ESPN article I linked? I think there’s a solid argument that the only reason fighting isn’t banned is quite simply it’s kept on life support for this older generation that demands that of their hockey and they want the eyeballs.

It’s just my feeling, but it felt more contrary than anything. No one is remembering this game for any reason. There are way bigger fish to fry.

Lol. I didn’t realize it was circle jerk time. I completely understand that I am fighting a one person battle here, but it’s much less an indictment on me as it is on the lingering attitudes of the WNY fanbase reminiscing about days gone past. Do you think all those words you wrote speak ill of me or do you think (if true) that maybe it says something more about someone who remembers a game, not for the sport that’s actually played, but for a dying performative sideshow act after the whistle? Why yes... Our hockey memories should be filled with things that aren’t actually hockey. 🙄 Nicely written does not mean it was a great analysis. Maybe you can explain to me like I’m five about this ballet of raw violence in competitive sports because you pluralized the word “sports”. It only happens in one. It’s not accepted anywhere else. It’s been on the decline for 40 years and the removal pace is accelerating. As for a plastic potato. You’re the second person in this topic that has no idea what was actually announced. I suggest you go to the Company website to read what happened.

it appeals to the nostalgia of men of a certain age. It’s also happens to be that our community skews that way too. I’m in that age group, but I have a radically different perspective of a game and a lot of things from western New York. it’s almost as if the people here don’t think they’re actually talking about human beings. How many of you get up every day and physically punch your coworkers? What do you think that would do to you if you routinely had to go to work doing something you love and had to have a performative altercation? It’s been going away for 40 years and when this older generation dies off, it’ll be out of the game for good. From Matthew Barnaby: "I loved the era that I played in and miss the rivalries that were formed," he said. "There were a lot of afternoon naps that were filled with sweaty palms, but the game has never been better and safer. Some fans are always going to miss the way it was, but I'll take watching unreal skill over the fights." https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/27283018/the-new-normal-why-fighting-nhl-dropped-historic-lows%3fplatform=amp