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dekedangle_rpfanonThis is the sixth post of Deke Dangle RPF Anon, a community for all your ice hockey anon meme needs.
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THE RULES
1. Mods retain the right to delete, freeze, and/or screen threads and comments.
2. Meme rules do not require warnings.
3. Respect flock. Do not repost or share information from private tumblrs, locked twitter accounts, flocked LJ posts, etc.
4. No linking fans to their real life identities.
5. No looks bashing or body shaming. This applies to players and people associated with those players and their clubs, as well as fellow fans.
6. No embedded music.
7. No embedded images.
8. No spamming the meme, whether through repeated comments or other means.
Meme rules do not require spoiler cuts. However, this layout does allow for them. Any of the following tags will create a spoiler cut when closed: <div cut>, <span cut>, <font cut>, <font color="white">
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Next post opens at 5,000 comments.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Also, if you think the entire team has been running on luck alone for years, then you haven't been paying attention. Yes, it sometimes feel like luck swings their way and that they've got this weird teflon coating around them in the playoffs, but they're a really highly skilled team on top of that. You cannot win multiple cups in a short span of time through luck alone.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Oh jeez, I really am sorry anon. I didn't mean to trick anyone! Sadly you're right, there are some people who really do think league average = terrible. I should have slapped a /sarcasm tag on at the end there, because in retrospect my comment was all too believable as sincere.
I do have to say, though, that the staunch defense of league average goalies in general and Crawford in particular has really warmed my heart. You would think that Hawks fans would rally behind their Cup-winning goalie, but no. When he lets in a goal, like clockwork it's always, "Trade that scrub, he's a sieve! Put Darling in net! Call Raanta up and stick them both in net AT THE SAME TIME!!!!" It's completely unreasonable and it happens almost every single game. They don't know how good they've got it.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)No worries! I was going through flat meme and didn't think to parent up and read the other threads, haha. I have seen way too many people make those claims seriously, though, so it gets my dander up.
I'm pretty sure no one can hate a goalie quite as much as fans of their own team. Which is ridiculous, but there you have it. I am a fan of a team that has another league average goalie who gets a lot of shit, so part of me feels like I have to white knight for league average goalies everywhere. Because seriously, fuck the haters.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Completely agreed, I think scapegoating the goalie is my ultimate hockey pet peeve. Sometimes goalies make mistakes that do cost the team a game, but so does every single other person on the ice. A goal is ultimately a failure in defense (and the offensive skill of the other team, obviously, but leaving that aside), but I hardly ever see people braying for the blood of their D corps after a loss. In the WCF last year a puck deflected off Leddy and into the net, but everyone was crushed when he got traded. Desjardins deflected a puck in just last game and no one said a thing. Seabrook tipped in an own goal this season, and it's not the first time he's done it! League average goalies are fucking good goalies and I will die on this hill, no matter what team they play for.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)It probably depends on the team. In Nashville, multiple defensemen have been scapegoats, and everyone was ready to run Franson out of town on a rail long before the playoffs started.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Sometimes it's the goalie - which, as you noted, is annoying as fuck when the puck should've never made it to the net in the first place.
Sometimes it's whatever older and less-flashy player is (or is perceived as) blocking the New Shiny Prospect.
And sometimes it's clearly a case of scrambling to blame anyone but the Team Star, when it was the Team Star who fucked up in the first place.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)All true, and great points. I think because the goalie is the absolute last line of defense, beyond which there is no hope, they draw a disproportionate amount of ire in a lot of markets. We have our whipping boys amongst the skaters, but it's the goalie who gets blamed for far too many losses. Before his season was cut short, Roszival was the most disliked Dman for the Hawks for example, but no one singled him out for blame when the team lost. Crawford got that honor.
There's a weird ranking thing, it's true, with your top-tier star players getting cut a hell of a lot of slack and everyone else taking the fall on a scale that measures likeability more than actual skill, a lot of the time. And I'm sorry my examples aren't more diverse, but here's another one: I have watched Duncan Keith stand on the offensive blue line, perfectly still, and watch passively while a puck went on an unattended adventure deep into the neutral zone. Just stood there! But no one ragged him for it because he's a Norris winner and beloved by the fanbase.
To some degree the stars on a team get too much slack from fans, while every little lapse by someone lower on the fannish totem pole gets scrutinized beyond belief. I don't think it's fair at all.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)We can die on this hill together, then! I feel weirdly protective of goalies in general because they get so much shit, so even if I despise a team I will usually find myself defending their goalie if they're getting a lot of undeserved shit. Unless their goalie is Varlamov, and that has nothing to do with him being a goalie and everything to do with him being a total skeeze.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)I don't think how lucky the Hawks have been gets any play, though. It's all narrative about how elite and unconquerable they are due to experience and leadership.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Yeah to me it's weird that they have never really felt like a dominating force at all, but the media likes to pretend they are. They're certainly good but not so good that they seem exceptional compared to any of the other elite teams. Maybe the lockout season is the only one where that might have applied to them.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)I guess that's kind of my point. I don't really think anyone has dominated outside of short periods like LA in their first cup run and Chicago in the next year. To me none of the elite teams have significantly stood out from each other in terms of general fear factor and it shifts occasionally. Recently in about the last 5 years imo (and I might be forgetting someone, but this is just my immediate feelings which of course may be biased) I'd say the inarguably elite ones have been Chicago, Vancouver, San Jose, LA, and Pittsburgh. Then kind of on a secondary tier St. Louis, Boston (maybe they should move up to the first group but I'm putting them here), the Rangers, and Anaheim. Then a team like Tampa probably ready to break in on one of these if they can keep it up and they probably will.
I guess if you argue that Chicago is most dominant simply because they succeed more than the others, that's fair. But to me when I watch the games between top teams a lot of the time it is just kind of "shit happens" and usually a team will just win or lose without it being a big indication of something. It certainly doesn't seem like one team is outclassing all the others too often at least, which is what I would consider domination. I'm probably being too picky and literal about this though.
Re: Random hockey things
From: (Anonymous)It's true that there aren't teams that are a guarantee to win every single night - I don't think you can have that in modern hockey or possibly in any hockey, given how much luck can affect things and also given parity. But I don't really agree that there are no teams that are truly dominant (and I wouldn't put the Pens in that category).