Read The Best of Down Goes Brown Online
Authors: Sean McIndoe
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There's a romantic view of hockey as some sort of permanent, stable presence in the sporting world. And there's some truth to that. At its heart, the game that today's children lace up and play in rinks and on ponds around the world is similar to the one that past generations enjoyed.
But it's also true that modern hockey fans have seen the sport go through a seemingly endless series of changes in recent years. We've had expansion, work stoppages, new technology, improved equipment, and a constant influx of new rules that can make it hard to keep up with what's happening on and off the ice. In some sense, the current version of the sport is almost unrecognizable when compared to how the league looked just a half-century ago.
Just how different is today's NHL from the one our parents and grandparents enjoyed? Here are some of the key differences that have resulted from the league's continuing evolution:
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It's hard to think of two recent NHL superstars whose careers were more intertwined than Eric Lindros and Peter Forsberg. Both were chosen early in the 1991 draft, both won the Hart Trophy, both were considered the best player in hockey at some point, and both were plagued by multiple injuries that forced them to miss extensive time and ultimately cut their careers short.
The most famous connection, of course, is even more direct: the controversial 1992 trade that saw Lindros dealt from Quebec to Philadelphia in exchange for a package that included Forsberg, multiple players and draft picks, and $15 million in cash. In addition to being one of the most significant trades in NHL history, the deal all but guaranteed that the two players would be compared to each other throughout their careers.
But how similar were they? Let's take a closer look at the careers of these two hockey legends:
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While occasional “embellishment” has always been a hockey fact of life, recent years have seen diving elevated to an art form. It now seems like you can't go a week without players, coaches, and media complaining that certain opponents are taking the dramatics too far.
The problem has become so noticeable that last year the NHL reportedly issued a directive to officials to call more diving penalties. But that move just appears to have created more controversy, with some players being whistled for penalties even when they'd been legitimately hauled down.
It's all very frustrating. Short of using lie detector tests or hiring a mind reader, how can a fan really tell whether a player was diving?
Luckily, the league is on the case. Working with officials and forensic experts, they've put together this handy quiz for fans watching the game at home. From now on, if you think you may have witnessed a dive, simply take a few minutes to answer these questions and arrive at a definitive answer:
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