As the phrase goes, “Hockey’s back.” I watched the first TSN broadcast of the new season tonight. My technical knowledge of hockey is so limited it’s not worth discussing. But, I did enjoy the play I watched, and the new rules appeared to work very well. The two line passes, in particular, were really exciting.
The Toronto and Ottawa game was settled with the first official NHL shootout. I enjoyed watching it, but I think its real benefit was displayed in the preceding overtime. The extra period had a lot of energy which I think was influenced by the fact that there will always be a winner (instead of evenly split points for a tie as in the past). Of course, it may have been due it being a Toronto-Ottawa game as well.
And, one comment not relevent to the actual game play: Gretzky’s suit was quite plain looking; I was kind of disappointed. Pat Quinn, however, was looking quite sharp even with the bruise on his face.