Mountainous Cleavage

Woo, Marlies!! 1st intermission, and Gardiner's got a beauty of a goal, followed by a great passing play leading to a Hamilton goal to make it 2-0! Gardiner looks great tonight, and his shot looks to have improved a bunch, as has the rest of his skills. D'Amigo is working hard tonight too, from what I've seen.

NEW YORK -- The National Hockey League announced today the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through October 24. A total of 82 regular-season games were scheduled for Oct. 11 through Oct. 24.

The cancellation was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players' Association and the NHL.

- http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=642785

And so it truely begins..

I agree, I can't blame Allaire for not wanting to return, just as much though as I can't blame Burke for not wanting to bring him back. Hasn't really worked for either party so it's probably best to go separate ways.

Hockey's a 'what have you done for me lately' type of sport (more so to the players aspect, but still), and while Allaire did win a cup back in '07 with Anaheim, that's a good 5+ years ago and in Anaheim. Lately, he hasn't really done much for Toronto, so I hope for the best in the future with a new change.

Give him some credit, he stuck it out through 7 losses without rage-quitting.

I think if you are young and elite, you can handle an additional style or drastic style change. But you have to come in at 18, 19.

That's why JS Giguere had success back with Allaire. He came back, and played well. Then he had a rough second season behind an abysmal team and battling injury.

The fundamental point I think we're disagreeing on here is that you think all goalie coaches should be able to coach all styles - whereas what I'm saying is that Allaire can't do that. Allaire teaches the Franky Allaire style. You don't go to a karate guy and ask him to teach you jiu-jitsu because he's a "martial arts teacher".

Allaire may not have been the right guy in Toronto - but you can't put those goalies with that coach. Either bring in different goalies or don't bring Allaire into that role. Go and get Kari Lehtonen. Heck, Luongo would have been a great fit I think.

I agree with mostly everything you've said here, especially the bolded part as I never really thought about it like that. Mind you, I'd say there's a bigger difference between Karate and JJ than between a butterfly G and a hybrid G, but I definitely get the point your making.

However, the 'Franky Allaire' style is the style that's proven to be flawed in nowadays NHL. Like TGWL said, Lehtonen was mentioned alongside Quick, Rinne & Lundquist as goalies who have evolved with the sport (became hybrid goalies) who, while still retaining the fundamentals of the style Allaire teaches, evolved and improved in the areas that were exposed in modern day NHL. Allaire on the other hand continues to teach his style as if it were 10, even 5, years ago, and unlike the goalies themselves, hasn`t evolved his style. For a strictly butterfly goaltender, I`m sure Allaire may be a great coach for them, but that`s the point that Burke is making is that the butterfly goalie style is not as strong of a style as it used to be. If Allaire was able to tweak/hybridize his style to patch at least a few of the holes that were exposed, he may still have had a job with the Leafs (as awful as that is ) and may have had better results on his record for the past couple years.

At the end of the day though, we both I'm sure can agree that either Allaire wasn't the best choice for G coach, and/or the goalies brought in for him were a bad move by the scouts. I just think that Allaire, given how highly he's regarded by most, should have been able to do something with what he had.

@Toe: I'm kind of worried about the same thing. Gus may very well be a beast in Detroit.

The interference from the other coaches was due to Allaire basically refusing to change something that was proven to be flawed, as Burke says (see the last few season's goaltending stats). What Allaire teaches did indeed work well in the past, but things have evolved and his style now has holes in it, hole's he refused to patch so Burke was forced to have the other coaches step in.

Plubby, I did indeed read what you had posted, and I agree with what you said about not bringing someone like Gus in to work with Allaire. That is not the smartest move by the scouting staff by any means. That being said, if Allaire was that great of a coach, he should be able to at least tweak his teachings to the point that it doesn't interfere with or go completely against the natural style a goaltender has. Yes, I'm sure if you gave him a goalie that was a perfect fit for his style, you may have gotten better results out of him (and quite possibly not as well). But at the end of the day, Allaire I'm sure knew what types of goalies he was working with and still continued to push his style, it didn't work, and now he's got to find a new job basically because of it.

The way I think about it is like this;

Goalie's played hockey growing up, throughout the levels, and developed a style he was comfortable with and did well with. Goalie improves his style, gets to the point it's like second nature to him and is comfortable, confident, and doesn't have to think about what he's doing anymore. Goalie gets his break into the pros/NHL, where he's suddenly a pupil to a coach who preaches a completely different style than he's played throughout his career. Wanting to stay in the big league, Goalie wants to do anything he can to be able to, including doing his best to learn a brand new style. Suddenly, Goalie is faced with having to think about what he's doing all over again, basically re-learning how to play goalie. Because he's having to think about this new style so much more now as opposed to just doing his thing as he was used to, Goalie increasingly makes mistakes, and confidence also takes a hit from it. Bascially, all Goalie had learned up to the pros becomes useless to him as he's forced to now form himself to this new style.

Now I guess I can't exactly blame Allaire that he was hired, and goalies were brought in that didn't fit his style, but like I had said above, if he was as great a coach as he's preached to be, you'd think he'd work with what he had and not what he wanted them to be. Just my opinion, I guess.

You've been missing the point or spot on goaltending for the better part of twelve months.

Really? Because it sure seems to me, from Burke's comments, that Allaire hasn't been brought back due to what I was saying in those 'twelve months' - he forces goalies into his style instead of expanding and growing their strengths. I guess (whenever this next season starts), we'll see how far 'off the mark' I've really been.

I get the guy helped make Patrick Roy, but just think WHAT IF Patrick Roy was destined to be great REGARDLESS of being taught by Allaire. I'd say it's a bit unfair to Roy to say he owes all the success of his career to the teachings of Allaire.

Gonna go out on a limb and predict that our goaltending stat rankings (GAA, S%) will be improved from the past years come the end of the season (when/if it starts, next season if there isn't one this year.) Shoot me if I'm wrong.

You know, I missed the spot where I said we'd take home the cup.

Gonna go out on a limb and predict that our goaltending stat rankings (GAA, S%) will be improved from the past years come the end of the season (when/if it starts, next season if there isn't one this year.) Shoot me if I'm wrong.

Game. Set. Match. on my Allaire argument a ways back.

Here's a link to what TGWL posted above, on the Leafs site. Has a little more about it but TGWL has the jist of it.

http://blog.mapleleafs.com/burke-blasts-performance-of-francois-allaire/

Francois Allaire will not return to the Toronto Maple Leafs this season to serve as the club's goaltending coach.

...oh wait, there may not be a season.

To add to the 'great work' that EA's done, beside's that issue..

Unfortunately, I know. I don't remember NHL12 being this buggy though when it came out, so I gotta give them soooome credit.. last year. This year, I'm all aboard the Fuck EA train.

What I have is a minor glitch.

What you have is a giant vagina that bleeds every time your precious time isn't spent scoring goals in a hockey video game.

Rather, what I have is a giant vagina that bleeds when I've spent good money on a clearly unfinished game, and a douche like you tries telling me it's not broken.

To add to the 'great work' that EA's done, beside's that issue..

-I, among others on the EA forums, haven't received our pre-order bonuses, despite entering our codes and them now being invalid.

-Online has/had insane video frame-rate issues (not just lag, literal frame rate issues. I say has/had as I expect this to be fixed if it's not already)

-Visual settings seems to not be saved/not load at times, causing you to reset them. (Minor irritation compared to the rest, especially if you haven't changed them then you wouldn't notice.)

What's really annoying though is you spend more time 'simming to next shift' in BAP then playing for christ sake. Every whistle you get taken off the ice, regardless of whether you literally just stepped off the bench or not. It also loves to murder your +/- rating, and throw you out right as the other team is scoring a goal. I just love the hard work EA has put into this game.

I think the game literally tells you in your first game that you have to earn your ice time by playing the way that the team wants you to.

No shit, I'm not new to this series. I'm also the 1st line C, so it's not like I'm complaining about the minutes a 4th line C plays.

What I'm saying is you can get put onto the ice, take ONE STRIDE down the ice and a goalie happens to cover the puck. The ensuing faceoff, you're right back on the bench and simming to your next shift. Or, you win a face off to your D-Man in the offensive zone, he shoots, goalie covers, and you're back on the bench simming to your next shift.

Take your attitude and shove it. I'm playing first line center as well and I get a shit ton of ice time. Sometimes I get pulled off the ice a bit too soon - or so it feels, and I'm back simming to my next shift.. which averages to be about less than two minutes later. I've had zero problems with ice time. Fuck with the sliders to make your fatigue recover faster if you're not getting put out soon enough - that might work, I suppose. I don't know where the problem is coming from, I just don't see it.

I'll gladly shove my attitude as soon as you realize you gave me attitude first. Lucky you that it seems to be working fine for you, but how about I direct you to the tons of people on the EA forums having the EXACT SAME PROBLEM AS ME. Luckily they've fixed every shift starting with a faceoff, so hopefully they can do something about this too.

This is a weird Be A Pro thing - 1/3 of my shifts, I'm coming on ice as a replacement and the puck is sitting behind the other side's net and no one is making a move for it.

Oh, what's that, not working fine for you? Forgot to mention that was one of EA's other fuck ups with this game.

What's really annoying though is you spend more time 'simming to next shift' in BAP then playing for christ sake. Every whistle you get taken off the ice, regardless of whether you literally just stepped off the bench or not. It also loves to murder your +/- rating, and throw you out right as the other team is scoring a goal. I just love the hard work EA has put into this game.

I think the game literally tells you in your first game that you have to earn your ice time by playing the way that the team wants you to.

No shit, I'm not new to this series. I'm also the 1st line C, so it's not like I'm complaining about the minutes a 4th line C plays.

What I'm saying is you can get put onto the ice, take ONE STRIDE down the ice and a goalie happens to cover the puck. The ensuing faceoff, you're right back on the bench and simming to your next shift. Or, you win a face off to your D-Man in the offensive zone, he shoots, goalie covers, and you're back on the bench simming to your next shift.

This game frustrates me to no end at times, but I'm starting to find my niche.

Playing HUT last night, I had an all grinder line centered by Konopka that I got a feel for using, so I started a BAP as a Grinder C. Me and the Saint John Seadogs went to the Memorial Cup Final against the Edmonton Oil Kings, but ended up losing 2-1. I managed to rack up 11pts (2g, 9a) in the 5 games we played, and ended up being drafted by Philly in the 1st round, 20th overall pick. Hopefully I'm able to keep myself on the big team and not end up in the AHL.

Also, HUT 'disconnecting from EA' mid-game is a fucking piss off, especially because not only do you not get the pucks you just about won, you also lose that game off all your players contracts. Fuck you EA, fuck you.

What's really annoying though is you spend more time 'simming to next shift' in BAP then playing for christ sake. Every whistle you get taken off the ice, regardless of whether you literally just stepped off the bench or not. It also loves to murder your +/- rating, and throw you out right as the other team is scoring a goal. I just love the hard work EA has put into this game.

Finally getting to play this now after being shut down by EB Games last night with no midnight release. Top that with having to get my wisdom teeth (+2 more) pulled today.

All I have to say so far is you know your HUT team sucks when your best player is Scott Gomez.

Demanding a thread title change to ECHL CONDORS WHAT THE FUCK?!

Justin Bieber offered contract by ECHL Condors

He'll definitely lead the team in hits.

Teenage pop star Justin Bieber has been offered a contract by the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL.

"Yes, we would play him if he was up for it," coach Matt O'Dette told NHL.com. "I have seen video on him and he does have some hockey skills."

According to the team's website, "The Bakersfield Condors and Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Matt O’Dette announced [Tuesday] that they have offered hit-recording artist/RW Justin Bieber an amateur tryout contract for the upcoming 2012-13 season."

Bieber, 18 years old, is described as having "soft hands, a good skating stride, and a devastating wrist shot capable of beating NHL caliber goaltenders."

"He appears to be strong in shootouts as well," the team's website says.

"I would compare him to Mike Ribeiro, formerly of the Dallas Stars, whom I played with back in the AHL with Quebec," O'Dette told NHL.com. "And Mike Ribeiro was a pretty good dancer, if I remember correctly."

Bieber grew up in Stratford, Ontario, and has practiced with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"Very rarely do you see this combination of skill and toughness," O'Dette said on the team's website. "We share a common Canadian heritage since we both hail from Ontario. I’ve scouted some video of him online skating with my hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I think he could provide some elusive speed up front for us. Plus, he’s a right-handed shot which we’ve been looking to add. I think if we paired him on a line with (Robby) Dee and (Peter) Boyd, we’d be tough to beat."

Bieber's upcoming tour will be in nearby Fresno, Calif., on Oct. 5.

"So he could swing by for a tryout. And we'd be happy to have him," general manager Matthew Riley told NHL.com.

Bieber, whose musical hits include "Baby" and "Boyfriend," has almost 28 million followers on Twitter. A Best New Artist nominee at the 2011 Grammy Awards, he is ranked as the world's third most powerful celebrity by Forbes, trailing only Jennifer Lopez and Oprah Winfrey.

"Plus, his sick flow will fit right in with a Condors team known for their style," the website says.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=641260

Demo will be out in t-minus 10 minutes (6:00am EST). So, probably by t' time you're reading this, it's already out.

What are you still reading this for? GO GET IT!

EDIT: Looks like it may be later on for PS3 users (around 6pm I've heard ) Meanwhile, for 360, IT'S OUT! GO GET IT!

Demo will be out on the 21st. Of course I'm going to Niagra Falls on the 22nd

EDIT: Oops. DP

That's awesome Rocky, your son probably loves playing it with you. I had to laugh at him trollin you though, hiding in the hole.

Can't wait, gonna be sick. Still playing NHL 12 but now in an online organized league (that has NHL, AHL and PHL for those that didn't make the cut to the big 2). Next year is going to be very interesting to play D, and should be funner to be a G.

I was walking through Zellers one day, who are going outta buisness and having clearance sales all left and right. Came across a bin of pairs of headphones on sale for $5. Looking at them now, they don't have a single bit of writing on it besides the left & right marks so I can't tell you the brand, but they're actually pretty good though, and they've got a couple cool little bonuses with them.

It's got slots on the outside of each 'ear-cover' if you will, that you can plug an iPod/mp3 player into and have it sit inside the headphones while you listen.

It also came with the standard headphone cord, along with an input for it on both the left and right headphones, allowing you to switch the side the cord comes from. The cool thing that I noticed about that, mainly due to my curiosity, is that you're able to plug in another set of headphones into the other input and it plays through both sets. Would be very handy if you ever wanted to have someone else listen to your iPod at the same time as you.