Comments on Profile Post by Batosai

I'm assuming he's done watching it this season.

Why yes I do follow it Batosai! any reason in particular you ask?
And Negi since being a Habs fan I have started to follow it again to see what the Draft/Free Agency brings us! lol

I was a habs fan, then too many news stations and people follow the habs 365 days a year bringing me news of the camp preparations, how the camp is going, who should play on the first game this season months early.

So I got fed up and now I'm a Habs playoffs enthusiast.

@Negi, that's likely yeah :p

@kenny, i follow it slightly, not enough to answer my own question, but Pittsburgh winning it is kind of suprising isn't it? I don't know many people that follow American sports and it's kinda hard to get much information from Dutch sources. Just asking out of curiousity.

Actually I am not supprised they stumbled out of the gate but once they got a new coach they really steped up and played well....

I mean with a players like Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and to an extent Phil Kessel you should at least be a contender every year and they got a new goalie now that played real well..... so no I was not surprised at all

I see. I know about the potential their team has and the top players, but i can't remember them doing so well in the recent years.
Also, have you heard of Daniel Sprong? He was selected by the Penguins, i think at the start of this past season. He is born in The Netherlands and raised in Canada because his father wanted to see how far he could get in hockey. He's said to be a pretty big talent.

Yea I have heard of him from what I rembember he is pretty gifted offensivly.... Other than that I couldnt say much more about him...

Yea they were not doing badly the past few years but they definantly were not living up to theor potential the past few years ...
I think the coaching change and the new goaltender helped them alot ....

He has played 9 matches i think this season in the NHL, he has scored atleast one goal. I watched a documentary about the Dutch tv visiting him in Pittsburgh. Was pretty interesting. He said he wants to try to get into the Canadian national team, so that's too bad for the Dutch. He could really have given icehockey in Holland a boost.

Ya Problem with that is I don't think the Holland Squad qualifies to play at the worlds/Olympics.....

It's kind of the same thing with Anze Kopitar from Slovenia where he'd be by himself basically....

Yes that is one of the reasons he stated. Also because he's lived in Canada since he was like 8 years old and feels Canadian. He does appreciate his Dutch roots, so he's not completely against it. He had trouble getting his passport to play for Canada or something. The Dutch team plays at the 3rd or 4th level at the world cup stage. Nowhere near the main tournament.

That's the thing with country teams though, and i kinda like it. Not being able to buy players for tons of money. This is in football(soccer) too. Top players having to carry their national team and failing to do so because they're alone.
Hockey fans here wonder why it's not popular because we are good at field hockey and ice skating, so why not at the combination of the two? :p

wow wow wow there buddy slow down :P Firstly most Dutch people are not manly enough to play this man's game you should stick with Van Persey and his tea party's err I mean soccer :P I kid I kid!!

Seriously now though.

I think going from Ice Hockey to Field Hockey is one thing as everyone should know how to run... but going from Field Hockey to ice hockey would be a completely different thing....

Skating is a lot harder than running..... on top of that Pure skills is not all that is needed in Hockey.... You need a great vision and high IQ on the game in Field hockey i find everything moves slower than on the ice... you cant run as fast as you can skate.... now dont get me wrong field hockey players are tough SOB's and good at what they do but Hockey is just that much of a faster game...

Specially the North American style.... We love to demolish others lots of pent up anger I guess from all those cold winters....

but I do think Sprong if he has a healthy Career will help inspire more Dutch Hockey players! and that is only a good thing playing for Holland or on team Canada.....

Van Persie* :p I take it you are not a fan of soccer. Or association football as it is officially called. I guess you are 100% right on that. Ice Hockey is way more physical than the field version and obviously alot faster. And you play with 6 players at the time including the goalie, in field hockey you play with 11 i think. And the field is much bigger than the field on the ice.

Still though it's just not popular here. I think it's getting there slowly, but to become succesful in a sport you'll need years of developing good players. A tv channel here, Fox from America has started showing the games now. And a Dutch team from Tilburg has started playing in Germany and won a minor league in their first season there.

Sprong could indeed take it to the next level. I would love if The Netherlands would get into more sports, but it seems like an impossible dream.

I don't Mind soccer I actually used to play it in high school....
Soccer was my Summer sport and Hockey was winter...
I just don't like the softness of soccer and all the diving and pretending.

I once lost my 3 front teeth play hockey and did I cry and whine about it no I sucked it up and finished the game...... but in soccer not so much and thats what pisses me off about it.... but I digress

The thing about Hockey is unless you have the facilities than its never going to grow a lot.

soccer and field hockey can be pretty much played anywhere's that has a big field and the construction and maintenance cost are not as expensive as a rink.... like it or not Hockey is an expensive sport...

But if Sprong is to grow the game in Holland you will need the facilities or the weather how cold is it in Holland during the winter time enough to freeze a lake?

Also have you ever tried Hockey if not I implore you to do it...

Me and a buddy started this ice time for people that wants to play hockey but never played the game. Me and my buddy play nets while they go at it its pretty awesome to see grown men 30's 40's who never played the game have fun its an awesome time

I completely agree there. I love the sport, and i love to play myself, although i haven't played a match since i was a kid. I don't work well in a team and i got into fights so i quit when i was very young. I was talented so maybe it wasn't the best decission.

But i freaking hate how the sport has become now with all the diving, the acting, fucking pussies. Huge strong men crying when a fly hits them blaming the player closest to them. And all the teams hanging in front of the goal with 11 players killing off a game right after it started.

Lately i'm getting into basketball more. Been following it the last few years and i really like it.
That is pretty tough indeed. Is blood allowed on the ice? In most sports players are taken off when they bleed.
It used to be freezing enough back in the 90s to freeze a lake, but now the weather has been changing in recent years, we don't have real winters anymore and no real summers anymore.

It's annoying the shit out of me and no we can't freeze a lake anymore now. Haven't been on ice in like 10 years lol. I also have never tried hockey. I did play a game as a child where we used roller skates and sticks and played hockey, but that was a kids game.
That's pretty cool actually. I guess i'd need to visit Canada then and join in xD

Basketball is fun I like it, was never good at it doh lol....

When you bleed you come off puts some polysporin on that bitch and come back out as long as your not dripping blood or have any on your jersey your fine... the teeth part there was amazingly no blood just pieces of teeth! :P

Well atleast you have a concept of the game and seems like you can skate so its a start !! :) and sounds like you most certainly do! Hockey for life!!! :)

Yeah and to put a link to Canada, the Toronto Raptors had a very good season. They have one of my favorite players, Jonas Valaciunas.

I see, so the blood rule is like most sports. I gotta mention, one thing that kinda scared me in hockey are the horror scenes of players having their throat cut by another players skate. I know it's extremely rare, but that was pretty scary.
I am planning to start watching more from next season onwards, it's annoying that the season collides with the NBA season and most games are at night for me.