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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:03 pm 
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Big in Japan
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Specifically, it's about Steve Montador, who died at 35: http://montrealgazette.com/sports/hocke ... e-montador

But it's also an opportunity for Ken to write about the future of the game relate to head injuries. He proposes two rule changes in the book:

1. Get rid of "finishing your checks" as a mentality and penalize hits without the puck. He says the check finishing thing started in the 70s as a way for expansion teams to compete against their more talented Original 6 brethren. That's when the rise of forechecking happened, which didn't exist before because guys were too slow to play that style.

2. Penalize all hits to the head. Doesn't matter if they're accidental or not.

I totally agree with him. Looking forward to reading it this holiday season when I have time.

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:50 pm 
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I would LOVE it if they got rid of late hits. I fucking hate the notion of "finishing the check." There was no nonsense about that when I played. You hit the guy with the puck, you didn't if he didn't have it. In fact, it was a good thing to make the opposing player make a blind pass or panic play before you ever even got there, which of course means nothing if you're too busy laying a meaningless hit.


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:58 pm 
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Big in Japan
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Ken astutely observes that finishing your check rewards the slower player who gets to the puck last. How does that make the game better?

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:21 pm 
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Finally figured out how to change this!
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Sounds like an interesting read, and with how well educated he is, I'm sure it's really well researched.

If he does an audiobook, I hope he doesn't read it himself. He reads The Game at a snail's pace. I kept thinking I'd accidentally set it to read slowly. Nope. I sped it up after a few chapters.

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2017 1:26 pm 
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I got the audiobook, ready by Dryden, and it's much better done than The Game.

As you'd expect from Dryden, it's got tons of info in it, makes some great points, and was really well researched. The last chapter, almost an hour in the audiobook version, is Dryden knocking Bettman and all the changes he's made to the game. Dryden basically says Bettman has done everything to speed the game up, which does make for more entertaining games, but he takes no responsibility for the increased injuries, concussions specifically, that come from that increased speed. He compares Bettman's refusal to admit concussions are a problem in hockey to Big Oil ignoring climate change's existing, let alone being tied to fossil fuel burning, and Big Tobacco ignoring the link between tobacco use and cancer. He also says it's not just the NHL that Bettman is hurting, but says how the entire hockey world looks to the NHL for rule changes, etc, and so he kind of stretches to say it's Bettman's fault that children are getting more concussions in youth hockey around the world. Overall, a very good read/listen.

Said I wouldn't do this, but I was backlogged with credits on my audible.com account, so I actually got Avery's book. Started it yesterday. It's kind of funny. He opens by admitting he knows he acted like a dick 99% of the time in the public eye, and says he won't apologize for it.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:55 pm 
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Not sure if Dryden touches on this or not but the thing with blaming Bettman is that...he's hired by and takes directions from the owners/BOG. Hopefully Dryden's taking them and the dinosaurs in the head office(and the competition committee?) to task. The whole lawyer-speak/complete denial though with the concussion issue...fuck off Bettman.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 5:27 pm 
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Bosc wrote:
Not sure if Dryden touches on this or not but the thing with blaming Bettman is that...he's hired by and takes directions from the owners/BOG. Hopefully Dryden's taking them and the dinosaurs in the head office(and the competition committee?) to task. The whole lawyer-speak/complete denial though with the concussion issue...fuck off Bettman.


He does make it very clear that Bettman works for the owners, and answers to them. He says early on in the rant against him that Bettman is mainly there to make the owners money, and has really excelled at that. He also says the owners look at players as assets or liabilities, and talks about how the owners want to keep younger players around, since they demand less to play in the league, and older guys typically want more, so the owners care less about them. So he does take them to task some, but he really takes Bettman behind the woodshed for most of that chapter, saying he should also be looking out for the players, aka, talent in the league. And Dryden also discusses how the owners can't save themselves from themselves, which is why there have been lockouts a salary cap, and yet we still have overpaid players... So he says Bettman ought to be the one keeping things better for everyone for the long term, ie., concussion reductions.

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 1:36 am 
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I don't remember Stephen Peat but his Dad's story is heart breaking

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/21/sports/hockey/stephen-peat-concussions.html

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