Any ice hockey fans out there?

First topic message reminder :

Just wondering if there is anyone out there who follows the NHL (I don't follow British hockey...) - the 2013 Draft was yesterday and it was quite an action-packed one!

GM Mode is like Career Mode in FIFA except in NHL you act as the GM rather than the coach. GM Connected is an online version where you can play through a career as a GM with up to 29 of your mates. Obviously means you have to arrange game times with everyone and if you keep a tight schedule it can be extremely time consuming if you're generally a busy person.

Ahhh ok. Not sure if I'd be able to do that as I'm not on the PS3 everyday at a certain time :/ Sounds pretty cool though to be fair!

Central Division Preview - http://betweenthepipespodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2013-09-11T15_53_30-07_00

So, as I'm still getting used to the USA's system of divisions, conferences etc, can someone explain to me (as simply as possible), how they decide who goes into which division and how they determine who ends up in the Playoffs at the end of the season?

Spoiler:

Historically the teams were in divisions based on rivalries and expansion. Then 20 years ago Gary Bettman became commission and reordered the league into more geographical divisions.

Two years ago Atlanta relocated to Winnipeg and were still in the Southeast Division so the league needed adjusting.

From around 2000 the divisions were as they were last season.

East
Atlantic - NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI & PIT
Northeast - BOS, BUF, MTL, OTT & TOR
Southeast - ATL (until 2011), CAR, FLA, TB & WSH

West
Central - CBJ, CHI, DET, NSH & STL
Northwest - CGY, COL, EDM, MIN & VAN
Pacific - ANA, DAL, LA, PHX & SJ

Now due to teams like Columbus, Dallas, Detroit and Winnipeg traveling multiple timezones to even play divisional games the league decided instead if just swapping one Western team with Winnipeg it needed another geographical shuffle whilst keeping some rivalries intact whilst also reuniting Detroit and Toronto who were fierce division rivals for years until 1993.

Now it's

East
Atlantic - BOS, BUF, DET, FLA, MTL, OTT, TB & TOR
Metropolitan - CAR, CBJ, NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT & WSH

West
Central - CHI, COL, DAL, MIN, NSH, STL & WPG
Pacific - ANA, CGY, EDM, LA, PHX, SJ & VAN

One of the biggest issues Detroit raised was that they are in the Eastern timezone which is 5 hours behind the UK and would quite often play regular season and playoff games in the Pacific timezone which is a further 3 hours behind than the Eastern meaning when it comes to the playoffs their fans would have to stay up until 10pm for a game on the road on the West coast. Similar reason put Dallas in the Central with closer teams.

Just for reference here's how it looked in 92-93.

Prince of Wales Conference (considered the Eastern)

Adams Division - Boston, Buffalo, Hartford (Carolina), Montreal, Ottawa & Quebec (Colorado now)

Patrick Division - New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh & Washington

Clarence Campbell Conference

Norris Division - Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota (Dallas now), St Louis, Tampa Bay & Toronto

Smythe Division - Calgary, Edmonton, LA, San Jose, Vancouver & Winnipeg (now Phoenix)

After this season Anaheim and Florida joined the league and Minnesota moved to Dallas.

Then, 1995 - Quebec Nordiques relocate and become the Colorado Avalanche
1996 - Winnipeg Jets relocate and become the Phoenix Coyotes
1997 - Hartford Whalers relocate and become the Carolina Hurricanes
1998 - Nashville Predators enter league
1999 - Atlanta Thrashers enter league
2000- Columbus Blue Jackets enter league. Minnesota Wild enter league
2006 - Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are renamed the Anaheim Ducks
2011 - Atlanta Thrashers relocate and become the Winnipeg Jets

Wow. CFCNick, thanks for the extremely detailed reply I actually understand it now haha!

Most of it was copy and pasted. But I'm glad to help.

Marek vs Wyshynski podcast back today. Listen live from 7pm here http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/590-news/click-here-to-listen-live-at-2pm-monday-friday/ or download it later. They've not done a show for two months. Thank God they're back. It. Is. The. Best. Thing. EVER.

Prediction Show available - http://betweenthepipespodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2013-09-25T12_27_25-07_00

Not an Ice Hockey fan but thought I'd post this. Truly horrific.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2521937/Sebastian-Courcelles-suffers-terrible-facial-injury-cut-ice-hockey-game.html

Here's hoping the Blackhawks win another series in the rematch against the LA Kings.

Will you be watching later Bull?

May try to, how about you?

I watch every game that starts before 2am. I'd like an LA win though.

Oh so technically we will be rivals then huh?

I've got no rooting interest. I'd like both teams in the final to be different than last year though.

I'm a Devils fan. As long as the Rangers don't win the cup I'm fine.

Ah right I see, personally would like to see a Hawks/Habs Final.

come on the kings

Lets Go Hawks!

Either you guys listen to the podcast?

Didn't know their was one dude. Haha

Blackhawks survive once more to take the series to a game 7!

It's made the same way as the other v2 podcasts. Skype and audacity. I record and edit it. I also make all the intros we use.

We're moving to a new site with 20x more storage after the next show. So subscribers may/will most likely have to re-subscribe.

This is the new site http://betweenthepipesblog.wordpress.com and that has been put through feedburner and submitted as a new podcast to itunes. Once it's approved I'll get itunes to remove the current podcast.

We'll mention this again on the next podcast so people are prepared.