Nostalgia Night

Well, win one for the Gipper.

Quite a night with goals by Roenick and Ozolinsh.

The cruel fates! Really ironic that Roenick, after stating that he'd
never score his 500th in an open net, had it occur, in some respects,
in an even more ignominious manner, with the goalie batting it into
his own net on a harmless dump-in to the corner. Just shows that the
gods can always choose to smirk at our best-laid plans.

Was nice to see an old-time blast from Oz. That brought back
memories.

One thing I have noticed is that, with the blue lines now having been
removed so far from the goals, the defensemen would be much more
effective if they cheated in, not held back, and set up the power play
puck circulation closer to the goals. This would force, faster and
better puck movement, because the defenders would be closer by, but,
I'll bet if that occurred and defensemen got off more shots, like
Oz's, they'd score lots more goals.

Aside: I always thought the NHL's decision to make the offensive zone
bigger to enhance offense, by moving blue lines, would have the
reverse effect by placing defenseman too far from the goals and, at
the same time, in better position to stymie opposition breakaways,
etc. So far, I've been proven correct in this matter, I believe.
It's made the game more defensive, not offensive.

Similarly, the elimination of the red line hasn't assisted scoring (or
excitement) at all. It's made the defensemen play even more
cautiously and defensive-minded, as the need for opponents to pass in
the zone in front of the red line, while breaking out, has been
eliminated. Think about it, when's the last time you've seen a real
breakaway? They rarely happen anymore, while in the old days, they
were an elemental and exciting part of the game.

"tack" <thetacker.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1194771598.155810.64990@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
> Well, win one for the Gipper.
>
> Quite a night with goals by Roenick and Ozolinsh.
>
> The cruel fates! Really ironic that Roenick, after stating that he'd
> never score his 500th in an open net, had it occur, in some respects,
> in an even more ignominious manner, with the goalie batting it into
> his own net on a harmless dump-in to the corner. Just shows that the
> gods can always choose to smirk at our best-laid plans.
>
> Was nice to see an old-time blast from Oz. That brought back
> memories.
>
> One thing I have noticed is that, with the blue lines now having been
> removed so far from the goals, the defensemen would be much more
> effective if they cheated in, not held back, and set up the power play
> puck circulation closer to the goals. This would force, faster and
> better puck movement, because the defenders would be closer by, but,
> I'll bet if that occurred and defensemen got off more shots, like
> Oz's, they'd score lots more goals.
>
> Aside: I always thought the NHL's decision to make the offensive zone
> bigger to enhance offense, by moving blue lines, would have the
> reverse effect by placing defenseman too far from the goals and, at
> the same time, in better position to stymie opposition breakaways,
> etc. So far, I've been proven correct in this matter, I believe.
> It's made the game more defensive, not offensive.
>
> Similarly, the elimination of the red line hasn't assisted scoring (or
> excitement) at all. It's made the defensemen play even more
> cautiously and defensive-minded, as the need for opponents to pass in
> the zone in front of the red line, while breaking out, has been
> eliminated. Think about it, when's the last time you've seen a real
> breakaway? They rarely happen anymore, while in the old days, they
> were an elemental and exciting part of the game.
>
Let's not forget, the final tally was Sharks Tired Old Retreads 2, Sharks
Energetic Young Rookies 2. Nice to see that as well.

If this team is going anywhere, they probably need breakout years from 2 of
the 3 young F (putting Pavelski in there as well.)