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Jlg-28 · Quote #1 November 9th, 2003, 11:43 AM

Source : NHL.Com - Ice Age

Boring? Hitch says get a clue

Boring? What's boring?

That's Ken Hitchcock's response when anyone complains about how defense has made hockey boring.

"I'm sick of hearing that," the Philadelphia Flyers coach told reporters before his club laid a big time hurtin' on the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday. "I know 15-year-old goalies now who are more schooled than those that came out of major junior. The kids are so structurally sound, they're just better.

"The coaching is better," Hitchcock said. "I only knew one way to play in junior, and that was all-out, force the puck. Now there's positioning, angling and all the things that are taught. It's made the game sounder, more error-free."

Hitchcock contests the argument that a hockey game has to be 8-7 for it to be fun to watch. He points to a 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 30 as a prime example.

"The game now is so intense and so emotional, at times, it's great," Hitchcock told Wayne Fish of Phillyburbs.com. "Everyone talks about more scoring, but to me, the games that are boring are the ones where there's no hitting, no front-of-the-net battles, no corner battles. No one-on-one, I'm-mad-at-you, in-your-face battles. That (lack of hitting) makes for boring games. You almost fall asleep. Nobody complained about the lack of scoring in the Flyers-Leafs series last year. Everybody thought it was a wonderful series, but there wasn't a lot of scoring."

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin agreed that last spring's first-round series won by the Flyers in seven games was a tense battle that boiled down to the "team that cracked first."

"The problem is when you try to put the skill ahead of the work the workers control," Hitchcock said. "But if you have a skilled player who's prepared to fight for his space, it's impossible to control him.

"It can happen a lot," he added. "That's what makes New Jersey the champions. Their skill players work. Their players all look the same. That's what gives them the big advantage at the end of the night."

good read , so what if scoring is down , makes the game intersting

Drew · Quote #2 November 9th, 2003, 12:39 PM

Great article....

Wins are wins, I don't care what style of hockey is being played. You don't win the Stanley Cup on being pretty, you win it with WINS.

TonyFatt · Quote #3 November 9th, 2003, 02:45 PM

Agreed. Sure, some high-scoring games are fun to watch, but those are the ones with hitting/battles included. I've watched 1-0 games where I couldn't turn away.