A game of glorified shinny

January 23, 2009 by chuq · Comments
Filed under: Two for Elbowing: Hockey & Sports

So what to do about the NHL All-Star Game, which started as a nice idea (as a fund-raiser for the injured Ace Bailey in February, 1934) and once upon a time, actually bore a reasonable facsimile to the way the game of hockey is played: With passion, intensity and in a hard-edged physical manner.

Now of course it’s an entirely different animal – a game of glorified shinny that some players choose to skip if at all possible. It’s seen by them as one more obligation in a season that stretches endlessly for the very best teams – from the September start up to the June celebrations, if you’re lucky enough to be the last team standing.

via globeandmail.com: A game of glorified shinny.

the NHL network, which is the background noise here in my office when I’m working at the computer and there’s nothing else on, has been showing the 1980 All-Star game from Detroit this evening. That’s the one that was Howe’s last and Wayne’s first, with Phil and Tony Esposito, Larry Robinson, Marcel Dionne (my guy!) and Bossy and Gainey and Shoenfeld and a bunch of others, most of whom you’ve probably heard of and many of whom are significant players in today’s hockey management on various teams.

Funny thing is, watching this game, what do I see? A bunch of players skating at 3/4 speed, maybe stick-checking, effectively no physical play, no body checks, no significant forechecking, and lackluster defense.

Sound familiar? Yeah, it sounds a lot like the modern-day All-Star games everyone is whining about and complaining that they aren’t like they used to be in the old days. The only difference I see is the score: there is, in fact, a bit more of an attempt at defending the slot — but mostly what I see different about that game from recent All-Star games is that modern All-Stars are a lot faster skaters, and when you’re skating at 3/4 speed, it’s a lot easier for a faster skater to go around you, so there’s more undefended high-percentage shots. No wonder there’s more scoring now.

But it sure doesn’t look to me like the players then were playing anything close to a “real” NHL game, and it sure isn’t the kind of physical fest you’d expect with guys like Bill Barber in the game. it looks like — gasp — an All-Star game.

you don’t suppose that, just maybe, the problem is over time people have come to remember the All-Star games as better than they really were? The big difference I’m seeing is that players then played at 3/4 speed on both offense and defense, while today’s players are ramping it up on offense in the game — and honestly, unless you want Craig Ludwig to come out of retirement, is there any player in Montreal that’s going to go down in front of a shot to block it this weekend?

It really looks to me taht the only significant difference between this year and 30 years ago is that the players today are faster and better shooters, not that the players in the earlier games cared more or worked harder…