The rink is tiny and the whole game is just a fast paced clusterfuck with no real set plays or strategy.
Its hard as fuck to score from a slapshot because of how small the goal is and the fact that goalies have huge pads. Even the best players can rarely score from an open shot. Compare that to basketball where a skilled player like Curry or Durant hit open shots at around 50%.
Most goals are come from lucky redirections or deflections. This is true in soccer as well, but at least in soccer its very hard to get a dangerous scoring chance cause of how big the field is. In hockey you can literally just smack the puck at the goalie as hard as you can and you will have a dangerous scoring chance. The proof is that lower seeds in hockey win the championship far more than any other sport. Why would anyone watch a sport where luck matters far more than skill.
>implying a fast-paced clusterfuck isn't fun to watch You're welcome for this (You) though, 4/10 bait
Tyler Davis
people find crapshoot sports interesting because it's unpredictable unlike the nba
to each their own I guess, there's definitely strategy involved though. I just don't like hockey because there's so much going on at once it's hard to know what to focus on until well after the play happened.
Oliver Ramirez
>Luck is more apparent then skill >Lower seeded teams have lots of skills >Top teams sometimes use luck
Pick two but not three
It's a great sport, atmospheres are usually amazing, and the players aren't bad off the ice
Jayden Torres
This.
Hockey teams seem like they're the closest off the ice/playing field/etc.
Unlike apehoop where they're all egomaniacs who only care about muh stats
>randomly hitting pucks you either don't watch hockey at all or you're just funpoasting for (yous)
soccer is so horrifically boring and slow compared to hockey. not to mention they're all flopping pussies. in tonight's game Aberg literally went face first into the ice and got a concussion and then proceeded to score the game winning goal minutes later. if that was soccer he wouldn't been taken off on one of those pansy stretchers
Jonathan Reed
Soccer is also interesting only every 4 years or so, or some team in England is playing well, or TSUUUUUU is coming to America.
It's anemic, boring, and you need patience. It also doesn't help that the players have some of the worst jerseys in all sports, and the fans are either great or a pile of shit
Henry Hughes
Also, basketball only has 3 "good" teams and the rest can't beat them at all. Plus your favorite player may go to the evil team just because of money
Andrew Evans
Even if this is bait, I came here to say that it's by far my favorite sport to play and watch. I also firmly believe hockey fans are the only good people on Sup Forums
If you read through any game thread during the regular season you'd see tasteful bantz, discussion of the game's events as they're happening, and generally fun discussions. Rarely does anyone call one another a faggot or a nigger randomly. At the end of the games, I say shit like, "GG Laffs/Broons/Snes Bro" and they respond with "see you in 3 weeks fucking HabsBro."
Hockey fans don't think they're watching the best sport. They know it. Which is why even though my favorite team got beat by the Rags in the first round, I've still watched the rest of the playoffs.
>The proof is that lower seeds in hockey win the championship far more than any other sport. Why would anyone watch a sport where luck matters far more than skill.
Only insofar as they copy the nba verbatim and let way too many teams in after a horribly long regular season. With a few exceptions, you have to be at least decent to make mlb or nhl. Being a .500 gives you a good chance in nba or nhl. From there, yeah it can be a crapshoot, playoffs are largely just a marketing scam to reset the field and extend the season.
The flipside of your argument can be made that the regular season in the NBA is the largest exercise of pointlessness in human history.
Carson Martinez
>Its hard as fuck to score from a slapshot because of how small the goal is and the fact that goalies have huge pads. >You can literally just smack the puck at the goalie as hard as you can and you will have a dangerous scoring chance.
Isaiah Ward
>You now remember radko gudas scoring a goal at center ice >You remember the blunder of the Hawks because of the preds >You remember the isles blowing a 4-1 comeback with 2.7 seconds >You remember the kings elimination day >>Rags
Matthew Edwards
Go look up Wayne Gretzky. I'm sure you've heard of him. He could see 20 moves ahead. That's why he was good, because he had the strategy. He didn't just get "lucky" a bunch of times.
Also, strategies in hockey are mostly about the type of game played, or line pairings.
Actually watch a game, notice how near the end when one goalie might be pulled, and the play is stopped, the coach gets out a whiteboard and draws up a play for the faceoff. (a conditional play, where there is a decision for winning the faceoff and one for losing it) There is far more strategy in hockey than you can even comprehend. But by now I've already realized you don't watch hockey. You listed basketball players but no hockey players.
On a mathematical note, randomness does NOT imply uniformity, you dip! Randomness means that from one moment to the next, it is not possible to deterministically predict the outcome, but over time there is still a distribution, hence a 7-game series. Simply because there is some luck that does not mean any team can win at any time. Oy, this is what idiots think about evolution, too, I find.
>The proof is that lower seeds in hockey win the championship Lower seeded teams win when they adapt their play style to beat the opponent's weaknesses. On top of that, the league has taken measures years ago to increase parity, and it worked. What you see is not merely just randomness but the fact that teams are much closer to each other in terms of skill. Being an 8th seed doesn't mean as much as you think, seeding is more of just a label now in some circumstances.
Isaiah Hernandez
Hockey players and hockey fans can be goons but seem to be generally good people. Seems like the tightest fraternity of all the sports
>pic related, injured Preds watching game together at hospital tonight
>Compare that to basketball where a skilled player like Curry or Durant hit open shots at around 50%. Stopped reading here, you're retarded for comparing 2 different sports like that
Colton Thompson
one thing I can't stand about hockey fans is they always feel the need to jerk off how tough their players are
nobody's denying how tough you have to be to play hockey, doesn't make your sport any more fun to watch
Jackson Foster
Matt Martin is such a respectable guy off the ice, yet is nasty as hell on ice
John Scott is humble and knows he was memed into the ASG, yet he is ruthless and doesn't do Shit on ice
If you look after the playoffs and see just how hurt these guys are, it's insane. I think Ben bishop actually played in the final with a torn groin
Nathaniel Sullivan
It makes them more likeable. All the flopping in soccer and basketball is absolutely pathetic. I have tons of respect for motherfuckers who can get teeth knocked out or bones broken and continue to play.
For example, the game winning goal tonight was scored by a young minor leaguer who had his tooth knocked out minutes earlier
Logan Kelly
This. The Red Wings Av's rivalry was literally gang warfare. Goons and elite players on both sides. Tons of long-time and even single team players. Even the fucking goalies fought each other. Everyone knew everyone on the other team and they all hated each others guts. Everyone had each others back.
I saw interviews where years later it was still sore and it took a long time just for some of them just to be in the same room, even after they had retired.
Evan Russell
Islanders could play their prospect over Tavares and still could have made the playoffs and posed a threat to Washington minus Tavares! Too bad we won out and Toronto won that ever crucial game
Easton Roberts
>For example, the game winning goal tonight was scored by a young minor leaguer who had his tooth knocked out minutes earlier Also smacked his head on the ice. Did he get concussed?
Why do Australians always need to tell you what is and what isn't a knife?
Wyatt Hernandez
>with no real set plays or strategy. kek Guess it's just too fast for you to understand, Clem.
Benjamin Bailey
I don't think we're necessarily tougher. We're just less weird about the aggressive nature of contact sports. Fight in basketball or football and you're suspended and probably hate that guy forever off the field/court. Fight in hockey and you spend a little time in the box (or go grab a drink if it's a pick up game) and go right back to playing. 9 times out of 10 you'll see that guy you fought after the game and shake his hand. There's less genuine bad blood, it's just passion for the game.
Adrian Smith
It stops the sport culture from getting out of hand where players change their name to World Peace or where college age players' fathers try to profit off their sons brand by marketing shitty $500 shoes before they're even drafted
Jaxon Young
I think my favorite thing in sports is how after 7 games of in an absolutely brutal and violent hockey series they shake each other's hands like men and there's a mutual respect.
In the NBA the "hate" and "rivalries" are forced, artificial, ESPN-memed. All the superstars are buddy-buddy with each other and it all seems so fake.
In the NHL you get the sense they'd die for a teammate or some shit
Wyatt White
hockey has some of the funniest bloopers
Caleb Scott
Say faggot in baseball and suspended two games. Say faggot in the NHL and suspended for a game
Never understood that
Anthony Nguyen
Not sure yet, he got taken out after the goal and never returned though. Dude's a warrior
Xavier Torres
There's genuine hate for some teams in the NHL like Chicago and Detroit and Boston, but they'll let their anger out, then continue playing. It's even better when a rivalry happens in the playoffs. We need another Philadelphia Pittsburgh series
>Halak tipping in a goal
Best one
Ian Sanders
Some maple leaf from the 1950's scored the cup winning goal on a broken leg.
Also, Gordie Howe fractured his skull on the boards once.
John Long
It's especially confusing to me because in all my time playing sports growing up, I only ever had two openly gay dudes on my teams and they relentlessly called us faggots.
Henry Ross
jfc
Aiden Ward
>and the players aren't bad off the ice
My buddy is a longtime sports reporter.
His ranking:
NBA -- worst assholes, arrogant MLB -- assholes NFL -- many assholes, many just distant, some good guys NHL -- some distant, many down-to-earth, many good guys
Jackson Cox
It's stupid as fuck, but it's because of the PC police and how people get offended over anything. At least hockey is still good even with some teams being forced to wear the gay pride Shit.
Also, remove Bettman the Jew
Juan Phillips
noice
Wyatt Gray
>MLB >All assholes
Pretty much minus pitchers. Bumgarner, Fernandez(RIP), degrom, and Colon are some to name
Dominic Ross
I feel like in terms of /goodguys/ the MLB is closest to the NHL. They self-police much like the NHL does, lots of unwritten rules, etc.
Colton Rivera
Patches played a good chunk of this season with a broken foot.
> lol DAE LE pc police ruining everything fucking SJWs
> Put those fucking kikes and faggots in gas chambers
John White
I didn't say put Bettman in an oven. I just want him gone because he's meddling with a league to the point of stupidity. Another desert team, another season of lackluster views, and another season of Bettman trying to get a team that isn't in Quebec
Elijah Perry
> have watched NBA most of my life >by this point hate basically everything about the sport: lack of parity, egotistical players, officiating, social media teenager fans, resting, too much scoring, etc >start watching NHL playoffs this year because NBA is so bad > NHL is exciting as hell > no idea the rules, players, and no history with hockey, but would like to start following it
I do agree that it's kinda annoying how clusterfucky the sport is where you basically can't see the puck until it's in the net and how around the goal becomes a mass of players until the puck squirts out but it's way better than basketball
Landon Green
If anything, look at the worst teams. Their just fun to watch because it's like torture in the finest of ways. New Jersey and Arizona are teams you should watch, but winnipeg Is also a team on the "rise"
Aaron Green
>9 times out of 10 you'll see that guy you fought after the game and shake his hand. There's less genuine bad blood, it's just passion for the game. absolutely 10 times out of 10 in my experience the only time I've seen animosity carry after the game was with teens, and even then only twice. If someone were to angry after a game it would just be weird, like you'd have some other issues, you know?
Austin Campbell
If you watch hockey live it's so much easier to follow the puck. Literally the best sport live and I say that as someone who likes all the big 4 here.
William Rivera
If you you're watching in anything better than 720, your eyes will find the puck soon. What's awesome is when you really start to watch on a regular basis, you'll start picking up on off the puck activity which is honestly even better sometimes.
Welcome to /hoc/ brother
Christopher Clark
This guy gets it
Jonathan Cooper
Joe Thornton literally played a series on a blown out knee. Tore his ACL and MCL and finished the season. Holy fuck
Henry Gonzalez
>social media teenagers This. "NBA Twitter" is insufferable. The NBA is pretty much "First Take: The League"
The clusterfuck aspect to hockey (usually the scrums and piles around the net) offer a lot of excitement in my opinion. You can't always see the puck but that can almost make it more entertaining and nerve-wracking
Carson Baker
Didn't ovi play a series with a broken foot and how Duncan Keith is hurt beyond belief yet played well in the finals?
Pretty much
Caleb Jones
Same, but with the NFL. Worst part is that I live in Red Wings territory. And they were absolutely the team of the decade growing up. I kind of blew it, but I'm a big fan now. I will still claim to have always been a fan, because I could remember Yzerman, Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Fedorov, and even Holmstrom. I just didn't get to see them (never on my TV) very often.
John Bell
>you basically can't see the puck until it's in the net
it comes with knowing the game. you jut sort of know where the puck should be, and it's easier to see, I guess. I know where the puck is almost always, but when I watch with my gf she's always confused. lol (no offense, the more you watch, the more you'll understand, especially if you can watch with guys who know the game)
Dylan Sanchez
holy fuck that check
Joseph Sullivan
It's like the NBA is predictable and has no parity, yet the NHL has teams that can at least beat the top teams. Oilers beating the wins in 2006 or this years sweep of Chicago at least shows that the league can be different, meanwhile we have two teams that are unbeaten in the basketball playoffs
Jack Cruz
>lol xd CURRY Fuck off underage
Carter Turner
Federov and Datsyuk were so fun to watch
t. Preds fan. I miss that rivalry
Michael Powell
Yes. My instinct as I found out is to look at the goalie/net most of the time. There is something about the stationary object that with my periphery I can understand where the puck is. Otherwise the rapid eye movements make things lost. Also, you get to see goals like .04 seconds before everyone else.
Jason Thomas
The very last seed sweeping the top seed just doesn't happen in the NBA. The superteams have ruined that league for the forseeable future.
Grayson Lewis
>Preds fan. I miss that rivalry Lol, wings were rivals with everyone in the west.
Lincoln Torres
Literally the only boring thing in the entire NHL is board play, and even that can be entertaining because of how aggressive they are.
>Its hard as fuck to score from a slapshot because of how small the goal is and the fact that goalies have huge pads. Even the best players can rarely score from an open shot.
>luck matters far more than skill.
yfw you just don't understand the game
Nolan Sanders
I know Red Wings had better rivalries, but for us in Nashville that's who we saw as our biggest rival. Along with the Blackhawks and Blues (which makes those postseason series wins even more satisfying)
Brayden King
...
Adam Bailey
I saw a shirt that said something along the lines of "hockey is Canadian therapy" and as silly as that is, it's sort of true. I have had beers with guys that punched me in the throat that same night.
Also, in your experience, do you agree with the following? Not many "significant strikes" land in a typical fight (particularily pick up games/high school/college)
I still have all my teeth. I never broke anything. Worst I got were some forehead gashes. I feel like most guys just want to get that hand in your sweater quick so they can throw some haymakers, which usually catch your helmet or pads.
Colton Gonzalez
>be me >live in the bay area >fucking hate the warriors >fucking hate seeing how every person in this shit area has warriors gear now, but no old style gear, but the new logo stuff that they adopted right before they got good >this entire area are fucking bandwagoners >people know i like sports and ask me how i feel about the playoffs and how good the warriors are >have to restrain myself from saying how much basketball sucks and how the warriors have ruined the already shitty sport because then they will be pissed off at me since everyone is a warriors fan now >just say "hehe yeah theyre doing well, i watch hockey more though" >"oh hockey? yeah i dont really watch that, but man the dubs are sooo good" >just smile while i feel my blood boiling
Landon Nelson
Let that anger out user. Just leave the Bay Area or tell the plebs that basketball is boring as fuck
Elijah Brooks
LOL. I've been watching hockey too man. I think it's because I started watching the World Cup, but Hockey is actually a cool sport to watch.
The NBA is just too "favored" now for me to enjoy.
I too live in the Bay Area. I know how you feel, just ignore it.
Cameron Garcia
I live in the city and everyone cares more for the Mets and Yankees then the islanders and rags. It sucks, but at least it's better then apehoop being discussed, yet I see people on the train wearing warriors shit and probably only know the current team
Daniel Morgan
...
Cooper Walker
GET
Isaiah Perez
Anyone one who played hockey growing hockey knows the comraderie on a good team is something super special, when the boys are firing on all cylinders, joking with each other and you know everyone has each other's back. It's unlike the other sports I played growing up
Chase Bell
this
I started watching a few years back. It gets easier. I don't follow the puck rather than the movement of the players. That gives me a solid idea on where the puck is.
Caleb Sanders
i started going in with a coworker about basketball sucking. he was like "wow why do you think it sucks?" and i told him a list of reasons and basically all he said was "yeah, i mean i wish the games were more competitive but im a "dubs" fan so if they are winning i dont care if its boring"
what sucks is that i know warriors fans before 2013 were really devoted but a small fanbase. they were basically like A's fans (I'm an A's fan myself), not very prevalent but devoted.
i swear, in 3 years that the warriors have been good, i see every 4-5 people wearing warriors gear, but i think i can count on one hand the number of times i have seen a piece of their old orange and blue color scheme gear.
ive been seeing the niners ugly ass burgundy gear (from when they were bad) for years now but never warriors gear. because they are all bandwagoners.
not to mention it also annoys me that three teams play in the same parking lot (warriors, a's, raiders) yet pretty much most warriors fans are 49ers and giants fans. at least i can respect the warriors/a's/raiders fans
Adrian Murphy
As a huge hockey fan myself, the reason there isn't any meme-faggotry is because it has a relatively small, passionate fanbase. I'm sure if it ascended to the heights of NBA popularity with every kid in the ghetto watching, it would turn to a joke.
Joshua Jenkins
...
Bentley Ortiz
...
Robert Howard
That won't ever happen, hockey is too expensive for folks in the ghetto
Nathan Walker
For me, it's mainly not an arguement because the city is filled with basketball wannabes who think they'll be the next curry. I can't say hockey is better because there's barely any ice rinks in the city. I'm at least glad I'm a Mets/Isles/jets fan, even when they suck total ass. Islanders could be on top yet nobody will bandwagon them here. It's such a good feeling, and Barclays is a dump that we are leaving in a few years. Also, Long Island is comfy AF
Liam Lewis
Thankfully, that won't happen. Blacks in the NHL are respectful, and ghetto kids don't like that.
>Garth snow got assblasted 6-1 >He's our manager still >He started up the fire that is the 2008-2012 drafts
God help us
Logan Diaz
i would hate becoming a hockey fan if it meant associating with most of the racists who make up the hockey fanbase of this website and a good number of hockey fansd in general
i dont really care about the ghetto aspect of basketball, because i understand that basketball is a really cheap sport to pick up so a lot of poor kids play and look up to other guys who came up poor as well.
what i do hate is the demographic that the nba purposely markets itself towards. im a liberal myself, but i hate how the nba so is obsessed with broadcasting how socially progressive it is because the league is 85% black and how much emphasis they put on being "hip" to social media and rap music and how they have to make everything into "drama" like all nba fans are reality tv show kardashian watching monkeys
Christian Cooper
Nah man. Lebron legitimately wants to destroy Curry's soul.
They arent allowed to fight because guys have gotten career ending injuries from single punches before. NBA centers are enormous people and its not safe for them to punch guys
Jose Sullivan
I know, like golf, it's a generally a game that invites more of the "gentleman" type. Not saying that there aren't a huge share of goons in hockey, but you never hear about domestic abuse cases or gang affiliations in either sport. Lmao.
Luis Gomez
>NHL has racist fans >You are a liberal
Like pottery. How many times has subban been called a nig by players? How many by shitposters? There's your answer
Chase Lee
Will yanks/leafs ever get off their high horse and just admit that Smashville is and has consistently been a fun atmosphere?
Daniel Cooper
Not necessarily when there's beer and alcahol being sold at hockey games, yet in golf you'll have some scotch and some light drinks. Also, the only place where the front rows are filled with buisness suits are in MSG and air Canada center
Benjamin Wood
oh please, enough with the handshake crap. i like hockey and all but that "muh respectable handshake" is just another thing that makes hockey fans annoying with their flase sense of superiority over fans of other sports
Anthony Morgan
Didn't say it made hockey "superior."
But there's something to be said for being in a brutal fist fight one minute and then shaking that man's hand the next. It's a goodnight tradition. In basketball they just walk off the court.
Gavin Walker
Fuggin autocorrect. Good* tradition
Blake Foster
...
Isaac Jones
Great OP. I cant see how ANYBODY would watch stickfight over the NBA playoffs.
The only reason anyone would is because of some kind of latent racism. White boys think hockey their sport because all the players are white. Fact is brothers would dominate that shit to if they cared.
Hockey seem to favor lateral quickness and sprint speed and core strength when shooting them shots. All traits brothers dominate in.
We just aint silly enough to play that shit and chose the far superior sport of basketball.
Hockey playoffs also cant beat dog shows in the ratings!
Nathaniel Anderson
see
Nathaniel Martinez
Why can't the NHL draw like the NBA, Sup Forums?
Connor Ward
Triggered
Hunter Watson
Seems like the southern team with the best fans desu senpai
Mason Gomez
I dunno why it cut off, he scores there
Isaac Reyes
while i dont think tv ratings are worth shit, i do find it kinda funny how nbc will literally air stanley cup final games on nbc sports network to not tank nbc's primetime ratings
gee i wonder why the sport thats basically only popular in the north and northeast gets worse ratings than the nationwide popular sport
