Hockey, equipment, and skills

 The year is 2023 and times have certainly changed in the National Hockey League. Back twenty to twenty five years ago, the league was run by enforcers who loved to check and rack up the penalty minutes. That is how it was, an extremely tough sport that only a select few can handle. There were fights every day and relentless body checks were a normal occurrence. Now, the league is filled with a ton of smaller skilled players who do not really like to throw the body around, check, or fight. The art of the brute play style is slowly fading away. It is becoming more difficult for these players to stay in the league as no team wants a player that is going to rack up over a hundred penalty minutes a season. It just does not fit into the play style of the modern era. It is sad to see but understandable. Hockey separates itself from the others by allowing players to fight each other. That art form is slowly dying out of the game. However, a brute player is still needed to protect a team's...

 In almost every level of hockey, players are required to wear some type of face protection. The protection can either be a face cage or a bubble screen. Growing up, I always wore a face cage and never a bubble. I had many teammates that have worn both throughout their careers. It all comes down to personal preference. Players elect to choose the face bubble because there are no metal wires obstructing their field of vision. As this is somewhat true, I have heard about a prominent problem regarding face bubbles. That problem would be that the face bubble would fog up quite frequently when the player starts to breathe heavily. It also starts to fog up when the player gets sweaty, causing condensation on the inner part of the bubble. Although this is not a huge issue, it can be an annoying one. I have come across a few solutions to this issue. One solution may be bringing a towel on the bench, and wipe the bubble down quite frequently while you are not skating. This provides a short ...

 In the past few years, hockey has made its return to ESPN. In the beginning we all thought this would be great for the sport, but we might have been wrong. ESPN is the largest sports broadcaster, and everyone knows about them. The company tends to treat hockey like they do not even care about it. I read a lot on social media how the broadcasting team for regular games during season is just lackluster. It kind of seems like people are always complaining about it. During intermissions, people seem to enjoy the intermission shows, so they have that going for them. Another thing that bothers the public is how ESPN prioritizes other sports over hockey. For example, during a recent playoff game ESPN showed a split screen game of the playoff game while also showing a blowout game occurring in the MLB. This angered a lot of fans. People were calling for ESPN to move either of the games to their secondary channel, EPSN2. They did not listen and waited for the MLB game to end to show the ho...

 It is now that time of the year, the Stanley Cup finals will officially be underway in a few days! The Florida Panthers will be battling out the Vegas Golden Knights for the most coveted trophy in sports, the Stanley Cup. The Panthers have had one of the most magical runs in recent post season history. It started with them making playoffs by a margin of one point! They currently sit at 12-4 eliminating three of the best teams in the league by pure muscle with a hint of luck. Vegas has proven themselves as solid contenders with a postseason record of 12-5. With all factors coming into play, I predict the Florida Panthers will win the 2023 Stanley Cup, beating the Golden Knights in a series record of 4-2. The Panthers just have the perfect recipe of grit, skill, luck, and finishing ability. Their goalie is playing at an extremely elite level, while the entire offense of Florida has gelled at the perfect time. All their players are adding what they need to in order to win, whether it...

 I cannot stand how expensive this sport is! Every company producing gear should be ashamed of themselves. It is ridiculous that a "top of the line" hockey stick costs around 350 dollars. It is just blasphemy. On top of that, new skates are around 600 dollars without them morphing the skates to your feet, which is even more money. Shopping for a goalie is even worse, with the grand total of equipment can be around 3000 dollars. With these prices, many families are steering clear of this sport, which is sad. A player could fall in love with the game but would never get the opportunity to play because of the insane cost of everything. For all we know, the next generational hockey player could be out there but would never get the chance to play because the cost of equipment alone is too much. Historically, hockey has been a very expensive sport, and that needs to change. The hockey world has been trying to grow the game, and it starts with making the cost of playing less expensi...

 This time of the year for hockey is by far the most exciting with the playoffs coming to an end soon, so I decided to read around and see how other people are feeling about the current state of hockey. The one that suck out the most to me was "NHL late nights starts hurt fans, players, and more" by Sam Nestler. Here's the link so everyone can understand what I am talking about. " https://www.sportskeeda.com/ice-hockey/nhl-late-night-starts-hurt-fans-players " One thing that stuck out a lot to me was when Nestler said basically a game did not start at least until 9:30 PM eastern time, which is rather late to start a game. Since the playoffs started in April, I did notice a few games having this same start time. I understand if there is scheduling conflicts with television deals and time slots with other sports like MLB and the NBA, but for people on the eastern time zone must dislike this approach. Every NHL game is at least 60 minuets long, what is going to hap...

 Every once in a blue moon there is a generational talent that emerges in the NHL Draft that can change a franchise forever. In recent history, we have seen a few of these players emerge and become forces in the NHL. Those players were Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Patrick Kane. The new generational talent on the chopping block is Connor Bedard. Connor has become a North American sensation with his elite skating and skillset. His rise to superstardom began when he was only 14 years old by becoming one of 7 players allowed to compete in the junior hockey league in Canada. For reference you can start playing juniors at the age of 16, that is how prolific Connor is. Connor quickly began earning status by playing at an elite level at the highest level possible that is not professional. Then, Connor got to dominate for Team Canada at the World Juniors event earning them gold in 2023. During that same season he was the best player in the WHL posting insane stats and creating flashy ...