Fraters Libertas

This Bird You'll Never Change

A couple of NHL players are now saying the new rule changes have wussified the sport and I have to agree.

Dan Hinote of the Avs (and a MN boy) had these strong words for the new, improved NHL:

"There's no testosterone in the game right now," said Hinote, a veteran right winger for Colorado. "They've taken a lot of the physical aspects out of the game. It's predominantly special teams now.

"There's no more battling in the corners. I won't say there's none, but there's a lot less. There's no scrums in front of the net."

I have many fond memories of watching those great battles in front of the net where guys like Dino Ciccarelli, who went a mere 5'8" and 170 would stand directly in front of Blackhawk's netminder Murray Bannerman while defenseman Doug Crossman worked over Ciccarelli like a ragdoll with crosschecks to the small of his back, slashes, punches--anything to move him out of there. And all the while Dino gave as good as he took. It was incredibly entertaining.

But since the NHL powers started listening to the wussies who attend focus groups and decry the "Violence" that "My child" has to watch, the game has gone downhill.

Hinote continued:

"There's far less hitting. You play a more tentative style because you don't want to put your team down," Hinote said. "On the other side, I think it is more entertaining for people to watch. From my point of view, the type of game I have to play, they've taken a lot of that part away.

"Now, is the league better because of these new rules? Perhaps. Maybe the fans like it more. And if that's what we're geared toward, then they're doing their job right. But there's a lot of hockey fans, fans who have been watching a long time, that are going to miss that part of the game."

Former Wild Andrew Burnette agreed with this assessment and took it even one step further with a true diss:

"I think they've taken away a little bit of the battles," Brunette said. "It's part of hockey. If not, it's kind of roller hockey. Roller hockey, that's not good."