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From: ken@alberta.UUCP (Ken Hruday)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: Edmonton "No Class" Oilers
Message-ID: <479@alberta.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-May-85 13:40:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: alberta.479
Posted: Tue May  7 13:40:42 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 8-May-85 05:23:18 EDT
References: <5201@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Reply-To: ken@alberta.UUCP (Ken Hruday)
Distribution: na
Organization: U. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Lines: 50
Summary: 

In article <5201@ucla-cs.ARPA> rick@ucla-cs.UUCP writes:
><<< yum yum >>>
>
>I'm sure many people will call tonight's Oiler 11-2 victory over the
>Black Hawks an awesome display of firepower. I call it a classless
>act.  (oh oh, it is gonna get warm around here)  With a 3 or 4 goal
>lead you might expect a team to try protecting it. Not the Oilers, they
>aren't content to beat a team - they have to humiliate them. What this
>does is make the league look bad, and give other teams a reason to gun
>for them. To keep pressing as hard as possible with a 10 goal lead isn't
>good hockey, it is a sign of, well, immaturity. Who knows, maybe Chicago
>will get mad now.
>

Here is an article in a similar vein ...

I agree with Rick Gillespie whole heartedly - but he doesn't go 
far enough. As a whole there has been a definite lack of class 
shown by nearly all teams in the NHL. Take the New York Islanders
for instance, this team has shown the least class of any on
record.

Consider their so-called "drive for five". This team had already won
the coveted Stanley Cup 4 years in sucession but their greed caused
them to try for it again despite the fact that most of their players
were past their prime.

Indeed, even today - a year later - the superannuated veterans of this
team are still hanging on until they're asked to retire i.e. Trottier.
There is nothing sadder than watching an old Stanley Cup champion - who
has accomplished much in his prime - try to keep up with younger players.
If Trottier had any class he would retire before he's asked to and 
give a younger player a chance. I admit that the Islanders club should
be grateful to it's players for their past achievments but these veterans
shouldn't view the club as a retirement home for old hockey players.

Rick has definitely found a flaw in the character of some of the teams
in the NHL, but there must be some way to stem a team's desire to do
the best they can. Perhaps the civilized approach would be to decide
the Cup by a coin toss. This approach would allow all teams an equal
chance at the Cup and it would save teams such as the Black Hawks 
(or the Islanders) from humiliation. This approach would certainly
show a lot of class since it eliminates all the arbitrary calls made
by the referees (after all what do referees know anyway?), and it
prevents humilition at the hands of barbaric, ruthless teams such as
the Oilers.

Rick, I can't believe you're serious.

					Ken Hruday