It's Hockey to some, Ice Hockey to others, but it is played on an ice rink in both cases. Some countries are good at it, and others...well, not so.
I'm not a fan of hockey. Of course, this is also due to the fact that a) we don't have a tradition, and b) there's hardly any coverage of the game on our telly. But just today I caught a glimpse of the Dutch Eredivisie, and I felt the need to post. If only to point out that we DO play hockey, but it's pretty telling that the competition goes on while there's Olympics on the other side of the world...

Dutch Eredivisie comprises of 8 teams (yes, that's eight) that play a double competition (so each team faces the other teams 4 times). With only 4 (or 5) games to go, here's the current table:

# Team                                GP -  W - OTW - OTL -  L  = Pts  | Goals scored-conceded
1  Romijnders Devils Nijmegen 24 - 17 - 1 - 2 -  4 =  55 | 110 -  66
2  DESTIL Trappers Tilburg      24 - 16 - 1 - 1 -  6 =  51 | 121 -  68
3  HYS The Hague                  24 - 15 - 0 - 2 -  7 =  47 | 113 -  62
4  Ruijters Eaters Geleen        24 - 12 - 5 - 0 -  7 =  46 |  88 -  63
5  Hajé Flyers Heerenveen      23 - 13 - 1 - 2 -  7 =  43 |  96 -  70
6  Eindhoven Kemphanen        24 - 10  - 1 - 1 - 12 = 33 |  92 -  81
7  Amstel Tijgers Amsterdam  23 -  2 - 0 - 1 - 20  =  5  |  42 - 137
8  Groninger Grizzlies              24 -  1 - 0  - 0 - 23 =  3  |  74 - 189

GP = Games Played
W = Wins
OTW = Overtime Wins
OTL = Overtime Losses
L = Losses (in regular time)
Pts = Points

It's pretty clear that both Groningen and Amsterdam suck big time. In fact, Amsterdam didn't even bother to show up for their today's game.


Once upon a time we had a stronger competition, even participated in the 1980 Olympics. OK, so we lost three of our five group matches (against Canada, Russia and Finland, of all countries!), but we were there. Where the heck are we now? :-\\

Hockey is my favorite sport (no surprise, I'm Canadian)

The Hockey powers in Men's hockey, World cup tournaments, junior Hockey and Olympic Hockey have been pretty much the same six

Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, Czech Rep and U.S.A. That hasn't changed much in 30 years. I don't know why the Netherlands have not fielded a good team either.  :-\\

Hockey is my favorite sport (no surprise, I'm Canadian)

The Hockey powers in Men's hockey, World cup tournaments, junior Hockey and Olympic Hockey have been pretty much the same six

Sweden, Finland, Russia, Canada, Czech Rep and U.S.A. That hasn't changed much in 30 years. I don't know why the Netherlands have not fielded a good team either.  :-\\


Oh, I can tell you why: money. Or better: the lack of it.

Oh, I can tell you why: money. Or better: the lack of it.

maybe.
Anyways, I think Russia is the favorite to win the Ice Hockey thing. They have Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk and Datsiuk.

This must be the least popular thread ever started by me! ;D