PunBB

loved watching the replay of the pens 2nd cup win on tsn tonight....brought back some great memories...man was mario dominant back in the day

Man that was bad hockey. No defense and the players were all tiny and the goalies wore next to nothing. No wonder the scoring was so high. I think I could have played in that era.

bad hockey compared to todays game? i don`t know what you`re on but please,please give me half. its all i can do to sit through an entire game nowadays...i`ll take the early 90`s version where players could actually show off their talent anyday

I gotta agree with tigerthelion. Watching games from the early 90s, 80s, and 70s is a painful, painful process. I've watched a fair amount of "Classic" games on the NHL Network and it is pretty clear to even the casual fan that players today are way, WAY better than ever before - especially goaltenders. Players are bigger, they are faster, and they are well coached. I think the biggest reason scoring is down over the last few years compared to two decades ago is the size and speed of the players. They are so much bigger and faster now that they close the gaps in a hurry.

If the NHL wants to get scoring back up they'll need to widen the ice surface - but owners would never agree to eliminate those pricey seats.

Looking at bits of that game, I can't believe how much room there seemed to be on the ice. It's still 5 on 5 today, but you'd swear that the ice surface shrunk with the size the players are today (equipment included) Maybe going to the international ice surface is the key to higher scoring games. Especially this year, where a record amount of games have ended in 0-0 ties!

I just think that today's hockey players are leaps and bounds better than in the 80's and early 90's. The game was too wide open and slow in the early nineties. See, I don't just want to see pretty passes and pretty plays. I don't want to watch a Stanley Cup final that looks like an All Star game. The play today is ten times faster. It looked like a game of shinny or something.

It's funny because when I was a kid and watching those old games I thought they were great. Now, when I watch them I am amazed by how slow the game was. Honestly though, I don't find every game nowadays exciting but the level of play is definitely higher even with the Darby Hendricksons and Nik Antropovs of the league.

tigerthelion Wrote:It's funny because when I was a kid and watching those old games I thought they were great. Now, when I watch them I am amazed by how slow the game was.

Same here!

I think it was Phil Esposito who said that in his day the regular season was to get in shape for the playoffs. Imagine trying to do that today?

Yes the Pens did rule once in the long long ago...........

i think that maybe the reason i am biased towards thinking the 90`s version of the game is better is because my favorite player and team were just so good compared to the team the pens have iced over recent years