March 30, 200521 yr How does the NHL plan to fight shrinking revenue when games finally resume? Inflating the nets is one possibility. The league will showcase two versions of enlarged nets before an assembly of team general managers in Detroit early next month, according to a report on The Hockey News' Web site. NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell told The Hockey News that the league is looking at two prototypes to replace the six-foot by four-foot nets that have been the standard since the NHL's inception in 1917. One of the new nets is two inches wider and higher all the way around and the other is the same six-foot width at the base of the posts, but bows out as it goes up, making for a bigger scoring area. The hope is, more goals would translate into more fans, something the league desperately needs. "It is as simple as asking, 'Is it a viable alternative and will it enhance the game?' " Campbell told The Hockey News. "Hockey purists may say no, and I was in that group six months ago. But I now think we need to at least consider ways to increase scoring chances." Campbell, who did not return a message left by the National Post, said the new nets could make their debut in an East Coast Hockey League game before the end of this season. While no NHL games have been played this season thanks to the owners' lockout, the league has been concerned about reversing a trend of lower scoring that has persisted since the early 1990s. According to one study published midway through last season, the average number of goals per game dropped from 7.2 during the 1992-93 season to just five up to that point in the 2003-04 season. In 1981-82, when Wayne Gretzky set an NHL record with 92 goals in a season, the NHL averaged just more than eight goals per game. John Davidson, an NHL goalie turned television analyst, said hockey needs more scoring now. "I think one of the great things that I remember as a hockey fan was Guy Lafleur streaking down the wing, taking a slapshot and scoring a goal. You don't see that any more," he said. "You can go back in time where we had butterfly goaltenders -- the Glenn Halls and the Mike Palmateers and the Tony Espositos -- those guys were sensational to watch. Now, the butterfly goalies are the guys that just close everything and the puck hits you. If they need to move from A to B, they move across and the puck hits you." Davidson said the bowed-out nets would be easier to adopt because they fit on to the existing anchor pegs that hold the posts in place. Changing the width of the moorings would require new holes being drilled in arena floors, a task that becomes more difficult when one considers the varying patterns of pipes underneath the different ice surfaces. Another goalie turned analyst, Kelly Hrudey, said new nets should be a last resort after restrictions on the size of goalie pads are given time to work. "I've not ever really been in favour of the net changing its shape or dimension, I'm more in favour of getting the equipment in line," said Hrudey. "There's nobody that would argue that players are a lot bigger than the ones those nets were first designed for and maybe that's something we might go to in time." Davidson agreed equipment is one of many things that need fixing first. "Look at trapper gloves: You can go to small creeks in British Columbia and get some beautiful cutthroat trout with those things. They're like baskets. It's gone too far." http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...f7-7f75e3c6ea94
March 30, 200521 yr Author They need to decrease the size of goalie equipment, not increase the size of the goals :thumbdown .
March 30, 200521 yr Author Two inches all the way around doesn't sound like much of a difference to me. 724348[/snapback] It's a huge deal. Hockey, like most sports is a game of inches and if this happens it means every single shot that hit the post last season would have been a goal had these new nets been in use. They need to decrease the size of goalie pads back to the sizes they used to be during hockey's prime in the late 80's where a goalies performance was determined by his athleticism and skill level, not how by how big his chest protector or leg pads were.
March 31, 200521 yr it's certainly a smart thing to do. i hate hockey, but i'd find it much more entertaining if it were higher scoring.
March 31, 200521 yr It doesn't matter how big a goalie's pads are. If a goalie has bigger pads then you make him move side to side, because he will be slower and choppier with his movements.
March 31, 200521 yr It doesn't matter how big a goalie's pads are. If a goalie has bigger pads then you make him move side to side, because he will be slower and choppier with his movements. 724607[/snapback] Are you serious? Of course it matters. Just look at the size of the pads the past 15 and see how much they are growing. Instead of changing the size of the goal by two inches all around shave the size of the pads by an inch all around. On a side note, how high scoring does everyone like games? I think about 7 goal a game average is a good about, which would probably be a goal and half average higher than what it is now. Goals dont really make the game that exciting to the knowlegdable fan, but they do to the casual fan.
March 31, 200521 yr It doesn't matter how big a goalie's pads are. If a goalie has bigger pads then you make him move side to side, because he will be slower and choppier with his movements. 724607[/snapback] Are you serious? Of course it matters. Just look at the size of the pads the past 15 and see how much they are growing. Instead of changing the size of the goal by two inches all around shave the size of the pads by an inch all around. 724698[/snapback] Until you put that stuff on, you have no idea what it is like. As most people know on here, I play college hockey as a goalie and I can tell you that smaller pads make you quicker and more agile. Using bigger pads make you bulkier and more uneasy, not to mention once you hit the ice you can't slide like you can in other pads which have less friction because they are smaller. For now, if you have a goalie in big pads, you make them move side to side. If you make the pads smaller it will be tougher just to score from moving side to side and you'll need to penetrate again, but they do enforce those crease violations like nobody's business now a days. If anything you can make the pads shorter, if you want, if you feel that would make a difference. But I think making goalies wear tighter jerseys and maybe a smaller glove before smaller leg pads. Stuff has not changed THAT much in the last 15 years when it comes to pad size, trust me. The tallest leg pads are allowed to be are 38 inches I believe and I use 36 inch ones and I am 6'1", I am sure there are taller goalies in the NHL who need all 38 inches.
April 1, 200521 yr I am all for it. 2 inches is just right where it doesn't increase scoring too much. Goalie pad size doesn't matter.
April 1, 200521 yr Author I wish the NHL kept track of how many times the puck hit the posts in a game.
April 1, 200521 yr Forget bigger goals, they need to expand the rink to the size used in Olympics. Then we'll see a better game.
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