It's been a long time coming

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy and I haven’t had much time to get on here. I have, however, been keeping up with events in the NHL as best I can and just wanted to share my two pence worth on a few ‘issues’ that have sparked debate in the last couple of weeks.

Flyers @ Lightning

There was much discussion following the Flyers unusual tactics in this game - particularly as it was being screened on TV across America. While there have been calls to change the rules to stop this kind of play I have to say I don’t have a problem with it. I suppose it depends which way you look at it – is the sport an entertainment business or a results business?

If it’s entertainment then obviously these kind of tactics do not lend themselves to high scoring, fast paced games. I’d never seen anything like this before in my fledgling NHL watching career so it was a surprise to me, but if I’m honest not one that I think should be outlawed.

There appears to be a lot of pressure on North American sports to provide entertainment – far more so than there is over here. I can’t tell you how many awful, awful 0-0 or 1-0 football matches I’ve been to. But for me, sometimes that’s sport. In the Premier League the smaller teams will frequently set up defensively against the bigger clubs, hoping to earn a draw and a point rather than going on the attack and losing five or six nil. For me the Flyers were just using tactics that they felt would best helpt them to win the game – which surely has to be the ultimate objective. If the coach paraded exciting, end to end hockey each game but lost 9-8 every time fans would soon be calling for his head. In my opinion if the coach feels that is the best way to go about winning the match then so be it.

To an extent you could compare it to the way Stoke City play in the Premier League over here. For anyone that hasn’t seen them they employ a midfielder (Rory Delap) who has an unusually long throw and whenever the opportunity arises they pack the area in front of the keeper and let Delap chuck it in there and see what happens. It’s hardly beautiful to watch, but more often than not the ball ends up in the back of the net and they get results. In my opinion, while sport does obviously entertain, it is ultimately a results businesses and coaches and players should do whatever they can – within the laws of the game – to win.

Milan Lucic on Ryan Miller

Another contentious incident from the last couple of weeks was the Milan Lucic hit on Ryan Miller and the fact that Lucic escaped suspension from ‘Sheriff Shanahan’. This is difficult for me to comment on having a pretty small frame of reference on these kind of things, but for what it’s worth I don’t think the hit was worthy of a suspension. Miller had made the decision to come out of his net and must have known he was on a collision course with Lucic and the end result was inevitable. Goal tenders certainly need protection, but when they come out of their area in this kind of situation they need to be prepared to go head to head with the attacker. In football goalkeepers are far too protected these days - if any forward goes up for a challenege with a keeper 99 times out of 100 the goalie will win a free-kick.

What was mind boggling was the lack of retribution that was dished out on Miller’s behalf on the ice directly afterwards. I should imagine the next game between the Bruins and the Sabres will be a little bit spicy!

Consistently inconsistent

Frustrating. Pretty much sums up what watching the Canucks is like right now. I’ve managed to have seen at least highlights of every game so far this season and it’s impossible to predict which Canucks side is going to turn up. The defense has struggled throughout the season – perhaps down to the changing partnerships and lack of consistency of the line up.

Going forward the team has really only fired in four or five games. I’ve been particularly disappointed with what I’ve seen from Ryan Kesler so far this season. I know he’s coming back from injury so he must be given time, but to date he hasn’t been influential during games and the second line has struggled to pick up the slack when the Sedin line isn't firing.

Some people are already saying we will be lucky to scrape into the play-offs, but it’s still early in the season and I’m confident that at some point we will get on a run and push on up the conference table. I can but hope!

Why can't we be friends?

Having never actually been to an NHL game this is going to be slightly difficult to write, but since I started watching hockey I've been wanting to compare the fans and the atmosphere of hockey games with the English football matches that I'm more used to. There are some very clear differences which I should think make the two experiences quite different.

For starters, in the Canucks games I've watched so far and from what I've been told on Twitter (thanks @a3minuterecord), there is no segregation between fans of opposing teams in the NHL. This makes for an entirely different atmosphere in the arenas - whether or not it's better though is hard to say.

As I've mentioned before I'm a Portsmouth (Pompey) fan and while I've not watched nearly as much football this season as I normally would, I still closely follow Portsmouth. Over the years I've seen Pompey play at some of the biggest stadiums in the country and some of the lesser known venues that I'd imagine most people reading this won't have heard of. Anyway, the one thing that is the same no matter where you watch a game in this country is that you will be in the stands among your fellow fans, segregated (often by lines of stewards or police) from the opposing team's fans.

It's almost unimaginable to have the two sets of fans mixed together. In fact I've recently bought tickets to see Portsmouth host south coast rivals Southampton (warmly known as scummers to Pompey fans) in December. There will be around 16,000 Pompey fans at the game and 3,000 scummers. ALL of the Southampton fans must travel on official club coaches and will be given a police escort into the ground. Anyone found making their own way on public transport or in their own cars won't be allowed in. There is a long history of violence and hooliganism between the two sides and normally dozens of arrests are made when they face each other.

That's why I find it so unusual to see NHL fans from opposing sides sat next to each other at games, particularly with the intense and violent nature of hockey. I know the fans have the same passion for their teams, I've read this blog post from @TheStanchion and I know that feeling, wanting your team to win so badly that you can't even watch their fate unfold. With emotion from fans running that high I honestly think it's impressive that every game doesn't end in a riot (I am aware that one game did earlier this year, but we don't need talk about that).

With football you have to ask the question whether the hostile treatment visiting fans receive from stewards and police actually entices violence - there's even a group who protest the treatment of away fans by police and stewards. Sadly there's a history of hooliganism in our national game and it's an unwanted tag that will, in all probability, never be shaken. For what it's worth, I've been going to games since 1992 and have never been involved in an altercation which suggests there is only violence there if you go looking for it.

But maybe segregation does provide one upside. While fans being separated can emphasise a nasty side of the game, what it also does is help to create an electric atmosphere. Visiting supporters, normally the more die-hard fans, will usually sing and taunt their opponents for the full 90 minutes, while the home side will unite against them dishing out the chants they are famous for. In Portsmouth's case the 'Pompey Chimes' is the most famous (if you've ever heard a clock chime they'll be familiar). While we're talking about fans and noise I feel I need to shoe-horn in one of my favourite YouTube videos which demonstrates the atmosphere at Fratton Park at its best. For me, it's never been better than this.

At the Canucks games I've watched so far there have been moments of noise from the crowd but not the continuing wall of sound that you tend to get a football games (not that I'm saying it's a good thing that we have to put up with this guy ringing a bell and blowing on a bugle for 90 minutes). Songs seem to be few and far between too. I've picked up on the 'Go Canucks Go' chants that surface once in a while, but haven't heard anything other than that. I also haven't heard any songs or chants that put down Vancouver's rivals. At dull Pompey games fans generally revert anti-scummer songs which I wouldn't want to repeat here - the sort of songs you wouldn't sing in front of your mother, let's put it that way.

Of course the hockey I've watched so far has mainly been early regular season stuff, so I wouldn't expect the atmosphere from the fans to be too intense. And I'm hardly an expert on these matters with my massive four weeks experience of watching hockey. If there are any songs or derogatory chants out there that I've missed I'd love to know about them!

Earlier this week I did sit down and watch Game 7 of the series against the Blackhawks from last season and the increase in noise and excitement was obvious. When Burrows unleashed this rocket, the place erupted. I'm certainly looking forward to the post-season where it looks like the atmosphere ramps up considerably. Although the Canucks will have to get there first!

One month down, eight to go

Three weeks ago when I decided to make an effort to start watching NHL and write this blog, I didn't really know what to expect. In all honesty I thought I'd write a couple of posts, get bored of it and go back to watching football - but it hasn't been the case. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching a new sport, am understanding it a lot quicker than I expected and will definitely be following for the rest of this season and in all likelihood beyond.

I already find myself examining the stats online on the train to work in the morning, or trying to watch video highlights on Chiltern Railways poor excuse for wi-fi. I've even changed my homepage on Google Chrome from BBC Sport to NHL.com and I reckon I understand at least 60 per cent of what the commentators are saying during games now. To sum up, I'm getting into it!

The Canucks' start to the regular season has been a little hit and miss, they've been up and down more than the Grand Old Duke of York! Games they (can I say 'we' yet?!) should have walked through have been lost, yet there have been flashes of genius, particularly in the 7-4 romp over the Caps this weekend. I guess it's only to be expected that the team wouldn't be the fastest out of the blocks this year after the traumatic end to last season but there are certainly signs that things are going in the right direction.

While much of the early debate this season has been around Roberto Luongo, the hard cold facts show that the offense not firing has been the root of the problems. As they say in football 'attack is the best form of defence'. Saturday night's seven goals should go some way to instilling confidence in the forward lines and will hopefully be the start of a free-scoring run with the team off on another road trip this week.

One thing that impressed me in the win over the Capitals was the depth of the squad. Each line looked threatening and I was particularly impressed with Chris Higgins who looked dangerous playing on the third line. I'm still not sure that Cody Hodgson is suited to playing out wide alongside Ryan Kesler and David Booth but given time hopefully he'll come around. As long as the forwards continue to fire then the heat will come off Luongo a little and hopefully allow him to get some confidence back and find his best form. It can't be easy for the guy constantly being one bad move away from a chorus of boos from his own fans. Right now he needs support and, for the good of the team, that's what the Canucks faithful should give him.

I'm obviously learning a lot following this sport and I'm particularly enjoying the speed and sounds of hockey. I'm trying to stay linked in with the rest of the league as much as possible and was glued to the highlights of the Jets Flyers game which was either superb or terrible, depending which way you look at it. I like the fact that there are more goals in hockey than there are in football. The unpredictable nature of the game means it's pretty rare to see a 0-0 or 1-0 score-line which makes the action more exciting. Claude Giroux's goal against the Canucks proved that at any moment you're just one lucky bounce away from putting the puck away.

One other thing that I like is the disciplinary board videos which explain why decisions are made and why suspensions are enforced. It's a great idea which can help fans and players understand the decision making process and something a number of British sports should sit up and take notice of. There appears to be a lot more respect for officials in this game too, in football I'm used to the ref being surrounded by whinging players after almost every blow of the whistle. From what I've seen of the NHL they just get on with it, even if the decision is dubious. It's good to see and sets a much better example to young supporters than our spoilt brats do in this country.

It's fair to say I've enjoyed every minute of my first taste of hockey, bring on November and a surge up the conference!

Hats off

I've seen hat-tricks scored before in soccer and in field hockey but never before have I seen a hat-trick goal which is followed by spectators throwing their hats onto the playing surface.

Well, until now.

Last night Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put three past Robert Luongo and the fans reacted by chucking their own hats onto the ice. While I thought it was a tad bizarre at first it was also kind of fantastic - it's finding out about these quaint traditions that makes watching a different sport even more endearing. I don't think it's something that would happen in soccer - firstly because us English are far too tight to throw our own hats away (is there some poor guy who has to collect the hats and return them to their owners?) and secondly because if one of the hats struck a player they'd go down like they'd been shot in the face. We've all seen THAT Rivaldo video on YouTube - if not go check it out. You'll probably find it by googling 'Rivaldo' and 'Cheat'.

So that's one thing I've enjoyed about NHL this week, even if it did somewhat interfere with play. Last night Vancouver completed their four-game road trip with a win at the Oilers and are now 2-1-2 for the season (check me out using the stats). Exactly the same start as last season I'm told and a run which has seen them face the Red Wings, Penguins and Flyers - all expected to make the post-season. Having watched a few games now I've started to form a few opinions on certain players. Two of my favourites thus far are Keith Ballard and Cody Hodgson. Ballard, because he seems like a battler, scored a classy goal in the season opener and made Darcy Horichuk eat his words to the press by sticking him on the floor after five seconds. Hodgson meanwhile is an exciting prospect who I understand has had a slow start to his career with the Canucks, suffering from injury and spending time out at an affiliate. He certainly doesn't look out of place on the ice now and will hopefully play a big part as the season progresses.

Another player it is impossible to notice is Robert Luongo, mainly because whenever the Canucks are playing he's trending on Twitter. There are two obvious camps, the 'LUONGO MUST DIE' cyber warriors, and the 'hey, lay off Lou' supporters. It's obviously early in the season and even I can tell he's had a couple of moments - there's been a few times when he's on his belly and does resemble a beached whale. However it is way too early in the season to not be backing a goalie who, so I believe, performed excellently during last year's regular season even if he did lose form in the seven-game Stanley Cup series against the Bruins. I was pleased he was involved in his first win in Edmonton, hopefully that will instill some confidence and lead to some of the haters backing down. Or at least waiting until a month into the season before calling for his head!

The European Blackout of the NHL has finally lifted, although the network which has the rights in the UK is Premier Sports - which I've never heard of, doesn't come under my regular 'Sports' package and costs £8 a month extra. Early reviews of their coverage are pretty poor so I'm thinking I'm going to stick with catching up with games after they happen - seeing as I'm sleeping while most of the games are going on anyway. You have to think the NHL kind of missed the point by staging a couple of games in Europe at the start of the season but failed to televise them to anyone in Europe. Whether the blame lies with AMI/Medge who bought the rights or the NHL itself for choosing them to sell to is one of opinion, but I would much prefer to get my fix via ESPN, Sky Sports or one of our free to air terrestrial channels who have a fair bit more experience of sports broadcasting. It would appear that the ridiculousness of TV rights is one thing soccer and hockey have in common!

Road trip

One of the most confusing things for a new NHL fan to get their head around has got to be the structure of the league and trying to understand how the divisions and conferences work. It's doubly hard when you're used to watching a sports league where each team plays each other just twice a season, home and away. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Anyway I think I have now worked out that the Canucks sit in the North West Division and are part of the Western Conference and that they play a phenomenal 82 regular season games. 82! And that doesn't even include the post-season. To me that's an incredible amount of action and it makes the footballer's moans about playing too many games in this country seem pretty ludicrous.

With playing so many games comes another unknown to this new, naive fan - road trips. In most British sports teams play no more than two away games in a row at any one time and for the majority of the season they play home, away, home, away and so on. I guess that with a country the size of the US it makes sense to go to an area of the country and get a whole host of fixtures done. One unanswered question I do have is around away fans, as far as I can see fans don't travel to away games, or perhaps don't during this early stage of the season. This may be something that I'll work out with time (or after asking a load of embarrassing questions on a message board). Either way the crowd at the Canuck's latest game seemed pretty thin - but I'll put that down to the Blue Jackets fans putting on a poor show.

Back on the ice the Canucks have begun a four-game road trip of their own and they've started it off with their first win of the season. I've already found that stats make up a big part of this game and in the build up to this match I learned that Vancouver had beaten their opponents four times out of four last season. So when they went behind twice in the first two periods I felt as though my will for the Canucks to win was somehow bringing the side down, like there was some kind of Karmic force looking down and shouting 'hey kid, you don't know anything about this game and you don't deserve to support a winning team'.

Fortunately that wasn't the case and for the second time this season Vancouver staged a fight back, only this time they secured a 3-2 victory to get this particular road trip off on the right foot. I'm going to reserve more in depth analysis until I can a) remember more than four of the players name, b) have some idea of what makes a good play/performance and c) work out what 'the slot' is!