OffThePost.org

https://theathletic.com/3253800/2022/04 ... anley-cup/

This is a great piece done by Dom Lucyzyznznzn of The Athletic. Basically he breaks down "heavy hockey" in an analytical fashion vs. skill, and concludes that, yep, especially in recent years, you gotta have size and grit in the postseason, and smallish skill guys really suffer once the refs put away the whistles. This is even more pronounced than it was when smaller teams like the Blackhawks were taking home the Cup.

Heavy, Ogre!

Teh Gritz!!!

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

As this season progressed I feel the league has been moving towards calling the penalties that cause or prevent a likely scoring chance or change possession. Sure let the scrums and stuff have more leeway in playoffs but it is ridiculous to handcuff the skilled players in favour of the grinders. The real test is will they be willing to call twice as many penalties on a team two games in a row when they deserve it? I doubt it.

Game management was definitely in effect, insofar as something that wasn't a penalty five times previously was suddenly a penalty, but IMO that's just something teams and players have to be wary of.

I was somewhat impressed with the refs in these first games, they actually called quite a bit. Some stuff was missed but I didn't really see any egregious errors so far.