That Damn Hockey Blog

That Damn Hockey Blog: Was Shawn Thornton Really That Bad?

It’s that ol’ debate again. Goonery. Thuggery. The Code. To protect your team-mates.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzZvG5O9Rg0[/youtube]

That video has caused controversy and sparked debate, as Boston’s Shawn Thornton scruffed Brooks Orpik of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and pummeled him on the ice, earning himself a 15 game suspension, offering flashbacks to the Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore incident that ended Moore’s career. But is what Thornton did that bad? Well yeah it is, but it’s not like Orpik didn’t deserved it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvteW6mvasA[/youtube]

This was earlier in the game. Brooks Orpik cheap shotting new Bruin Loui Eriksson. Which is what you could say what triggered what Thornton did to Orpik. Orpik didn’t get suspended, even though he cheap shotted a member of the opposing team, even though it’s as dirty, if not dirtier than what Thornton did, and therein lies the problem. Cheap shot artists.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhnptY29ZZM[/youtube]

Steve Moore cheap shotting Markus Naslund, and after declining fights from Canucks Brad May, Sean Pronger, Jarkko Ruutu and Todd Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi took it upon himself and got revenge on Moore for what he did to Naslund three weeks earlier. Was what Bertuzzi did right? No. However, if Steve Moore didn’t cheap shot Markus Naslund, or stood up for his actions and copped the beating he deserved, the incident wouldn’t of happened, and that’s the same with Orpik and Thornton.

If Brooks Orpik had of gotten into a fight or two, and taken his beating from the Bruins, then Shawn Thornton would not of gone after Orpik the way he did. The NHL is trying to stop headshots, and yet let’s Orpik get away with hitting Eriksson the way he did. There’s a simple solution to all this. Stop the cheap shots. Get the deliberate cheap hits out of the game, and ugly incidents like Thornton/Orpik will cease to exist.

Some people don’t understand ‘the code’, but there are some hockey players who believe in it, and will follow it down to the last letter. Hits won’t leave the game. Headshots won’t leave the game, (well, unless hockey becomes non-contact, and even then accidental headshots will probably happen). The best way to go after this, is target those who live by the cheap shot. You get rid of the cheap shot, you get rid of the ugly incidents. It’s that simple NHL, it’s that simple.

That Damn Hockey Blog

That Damn Hockey Blog: Captains, Brawls and Blues! Oh My!

Jamie Benn and Mark Giordano have been named Captains of the Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames respectively. They replace Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla, who were both traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins toward trade deadline last season.

Giordano, 29, becomes the 19th Captain in Calgary Flames franchise history, and will have Mike Cammalleri and Curtis Glencross as his Assistants, whereas Benn, 24, will be the sixth Captain since the Stars moved to Dallas in 1993, where Ray Whitney and Stephane Robidas will be the Assistant Captains.

How do you make pre-season exciting? Have a line brawl.
How do you welcome your brand new 5.5 million dollar contract with your new team? Get yourself suspended for ten games.

The Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs decided that pre-season games were boring, and decided that an all-in brawl was the best way. It started when John Scott of the Sabres decided that he needed to stand up for his team-mate, Corey Tropp, was mis-matched in a fight with Leaf Jamie Devane and was going to fight the first person he saw after the faceoff. The Maple Leafs countered this, by trying to move the game on, by sending out their big guns, leaving franchise forward Phil Kessel to fight Scott. This started the brawl, which ended with Kessel showing off his wedge skills on Scott’s shin, Goalies Ryan Miller (Sabres) and Jonathan Bernier (Leafs) having a fight of their own, and David Clarkson, who signed from New Jersey in the off-season, came off the bench to get involved. This is a no-no, and coming off the bench in that nature, leads to an automatic 10-game suspension. Way to go Clarkson, way to gooooooo.

Oh, here’s the fight in question..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frrFsXdhKZ8[/youtube]

Brenden Morrow has signed a 1-year, 1.5 million dollar deal with Dallas Stars 2.0, the St. Louis Blues. Morrow joins former head coach Ken Hitchcock, former GM Doug Armstrong, VP of Business Operations Brett Hull, who scored the cup winning goal for the Stars’ 1999 Stanley Cup victory, and fellow off-season Free Agent signing Derek Roy, as former Dallas Stars applying their trade in St. Louis. Morrow looks like being a third-fourth liner for his new franchise.

General, Hockey Media

NHL 14 – Goalie Contact! Incidental Contact! Contact!

CONTACT!!

The developers of NHL have released more details on their upcoming NHL 14, scheduled to release September 10 in North America.

Details have been released about CONTACT! Namely Goalie, and Incindental contact.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpiRhCqae20[/youtube]

This means that you can clean up the goalie Milan Lucic style and not get penalized for it. Although penalties have become stricter, especially in the interference and charging areas.

Full details on the Be a GM and GM Connected modes, can be found at the link below:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-goalie-and-incidental-contact

Don’t forget to pre-order NHL 14 for exclusive pre-order content at your favourite game retailers! Details on NHL 14 pre-order bonuses can be found at the following link:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-pre-order

 

General, Hockey Media

NHL 14 EA Sports Hockey I.Q. Gameplay Improvements Trailer

The developers of NHL have released more details on their upcoming NHL 14, scheduled to release September 10 in North America.

Details about the new Gameplay Improvements – Hockey I.Q. can be found by watching the following trailer:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ1IUtI96B4[/youtube]

Full details on the new EA Sports Hockey I.Q. can be found at the link below:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-gameplay-improvements-hockey-iq

Don’t forget to pre-order NHL 14 for exclusive pre-order content at your favourite game retailers! Details on NHL 14 pre-order bonuses can be found at the following link:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-pre-order

General, Hockey Media

NHL 14 NHL ’94 Anniversary Mode Gameplay Trailer

The developers of NHL have released more details on their upcoming NHL 14, scheduled to release September 10 in North America.

Details about the new NHL ’94 Anniversary mode have been released!

NHL ’94 ANNIVERSARY MODE TRAILER

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8pLV4-RImk[/youtube]

Full details on the new NHL ’94 Anniversary Mode trailer can be found at the link below:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-nhl-94-anniversary-mode-revealed

Don’t forget to pre-order NHL 14 for exclusive pre-order content at your favourite game retailers! Details on NHL 14 pre-order bonuses can be found at the following link:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-pre-order

General, Hockey Media

NHL 14 Goalies Gameplay Improvements Trailer

The developers of NHL have released more details on their upcoming NHL 14, scheduled to release September 10 in North America.

Details about how the Goaltenders have been improved, have been revealed in the following gameplay trailer..

NHL 14 GOALIES GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS TRAILER

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFhIG7UEfq0[/youtube]

Full details on the new Goalie Gameplay Improvements can be found at the link below:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-gameplay-improvements-goalies

Don’t forget to pre-order NHL 14 for exclusive pre-order content at your favourite game retailers! Details on NHL 14 pre-order bonuses can be found at the following link:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-pre-order

General, Hockey Media

Trailers! Trailers! NHL 14 Trailers! Part Two

The developers of NHL have released more details on their upcoming NHL 14, scheduled to release September 10 in North America.

Details about the new enforcer engine, and the Official E3 Trailer have been released upon the masses of hockey fans.

NHL 14 ENFORCER ENGINE TRAILER

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMxd8W6r3hA[/youtube]

OFFICIAL E3 NHL 14 TRAILER

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRdHDI4f2IM[/youtube]

 

Full details on the new Enforcer Engine can be found at the link below:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl14-developer-diary-enforcer-engine

Don’t forget to pre-order NHL 14 for exclusive pre-order content at your favourite game retailers! Details on NHL 14 pre-order bonuses can be found at the following link:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-pre-order

General, Hockey Media

Trailers! Trailers! NHL 14 Trailers! Part One

The developers of NHL have released more details on their upcoming NHL 14, scheduled to release September 10 in North America.

Two aspects, the new collision system, and gameplay aspects, have been revealed in the past weeks.

NHL 14 COLLISION PHYSICS TRAILER

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6tggtJBe7c[/youtube]

NHL 14 ONE TOUCH DEKES TRAILER

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjJd6-9I2oM[/youtube]

Full details can be found at the links below.

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news/article/nhl14-developer-diary-one-touch-dekes-t-p-s

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news/article/nhl14-developer-diary-collision-physics

Don’t forget to pre-order NHL 14 for exclusive pre-order content at your favourite game retailers! Details on NHL 14 pre-order bonuses can be found at the following link:

http://www.easports.com/nhl/news-updates-gameplay/article/nhl-14-pre-order

Hockey Media

Bad Hockey Media presents..

You know NBA Jam don’t you? Of course you do. Everyone loves NBA Jam. With it’s BOOM SHAKALAKA and it’s ‘You’re on fire!’. But what if, you want to play NBA Jam, but don’t like basketball? Maybe you’re a hockey fan? Imagine, NBA Jam, but on the ice.. Sounds awesome right? Well..

Released into arcades by Midway in November 1995, and ported to Playstation (1996) and Windows (1997), 2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge brings all the fast paced action that NBA Jam provided, onto the ice, allowing for big checks, ridiculous shots and goal nets that catch fire.

26 teams consisting of 3 or 4 players to select from make up the rosters. However, with the Playstation and Windows versions, the Winnipeg Jets are replaced with the Phoenix Coyotes, as well as various roster moves that happened in between the arcade and console/PC versions, with commentary on all versions, albeit not the greatest commentary, from then Chicago Blackhawks announcer, Pat Foley. (who by the way is a secret character in the game, but more on that shortly)

This game is very fun to play. It’s not the best graphically, but this is more about the fun than the look, even though from the Playstation version I was using, I am positive I could see the likenesses of Mike Modano and Jaromir Jagr, just to name a few. Even in a single player experience, it’s extremely enjoyable, and even though the periods are only three minutes long, this is more than enough time, due to the sheer fast-paced nature. Defensive skills can be left at the door, as this is all about scoring more goals than your opponent.

The abundance of secret characters has continued from NBA Jam, however with a different mix. Gone are Bill Clinton and Al Gore, enter the creator of Mortal Kombat Ed Boon, and ‘Mr. Hockey’ Gordie Howe. These, as well as many more secret players, can be accessed using the initial system used to keep records of previous matches.

Overall, 2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge may not be the best and greatest hockey game in the marketplace, but it could very well be the most fun you and up to 3 of your friends will have with a hockey game. Now if only they made a 2013 version..