GoPro captures some sick NHL stickhandling. Amazing camera angles!

dat luongo save...dayyyyyam

Today's NHL players receive more specialized training with different coaches working with them on developing their skillset. You just look at the young and upcoming players from the junior leagues to see how fast kids develop their hand/eye coordination, skating, passing, and shooting compared to players from the 90s.

Today's NHL players skate faster, shoot the puck harder, and are more creative with the puck in terms of stick handling and playmaking. All their training using the latest methods throughout the year makes a huge difference.

I say that if you give the same wooden stick to an NHL player from the 90s and a player in today's league, you would see today's players showing a higher level of skill.

Pardon me, for NHL ALL STAR skills competition.


World cup hockey with Team Euro and Team north america under 23 :suspicious:

The biggest difference is the training and development that athletes get in today's time compared to the past. Very specific programs from nutrition, diet, sleep doctors, etc.

If players didn't grow up training with a wooden stick from "day one", then no, they wouldn't suddenly be able to play just as effectively with one.

But had hockey sticks never evolved past the wooden stage, players of today would still be superior with the benefits of better development programs.

My first hockey stick was a once piece solid wood with a straight blade, talk about heavy and hard to shoot. Yes the equipment has helped a lot but now the players train year round and are already conditioned before training camp when back in the day a lot of players haven't skated for months when the camp started.

There's also so many resources online for younger players now, kids nowadays can do crazy ass shit on the ice. Whereas, compared to the 90s era the players growing up in the 70s and 80s would have to rely on other resources for info .

They're way more skilled these days. Everything we saw was new to us in the 90's. Now these kids can't recycle the same old tricks because they'd be lame.

Basically the internet has helped us develop faster in any aspect from sports to video gaming to education. With YouTube, we have access to tutorials and an abundant amount of examples to learn from.

The only thing the 80's/90's have bragging rights over todays NHL:

Gretzky's records won't be broken for a looooooong time :lol

.

Don't think anyone can break Gretzky's single season record for goals assists and points...

This goes for career all time pts...

Wuuuuuuuttttt.. no way. The players today are way more skilled than in the 90s.

What I remember about the 90s was how good the top players (Gretzky, Lemieux, Bure, Mogilny, Yzerman, Hull, Selanne, Lafontaine, Robitaille and a dozen more) were relative to the average players out on the ice - these elite players stuck out. Today that gap has narrowed significantly. You see the kids coming out of AAA / Junior now and they can do thing with the puck that only the pure goal scores could do 20 years ago.

It's a different game today. Watch a 90s playoff game. Hell, watch the 94 Flames/Canucks series. The amount of clutching, grabbing, interference, and outright goonery is amazing - but that is the way hockey was then. 1st line.. pretty damn good, Linden Adams and Bure. 2nd line: Lafayette Craven & Courtnall. Pretty big drop off by today's standards. The bottom two lines had Hunter & Momesso on them each if IIRC.

Hell, in today's NHL Sestito can't even crack the Canucks roster - 20 years ago, he's probably a guaranteed pro until retirement. No comparison imo.

Not related to hockey, but I remember a few years ago, I saw this graphic chart of a track and field event (I forgot the exact event), but they were comparing average athlete times over the decades.

The gap between the Olympic runners time from the 60s were getting pretty close to college level track and field athletes of today, (or something like that).

I really wish I could find that image again so I can see the accurate comparisons as I don't remember the specifics, but I remember the point the chart was trying to make... athletes of today are on a different tier.

This one?
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...tml?hp&hp&_r=0

Just look at running the mile. Up until 1954, running the mile under 4 minutes was just a dream. Now the record is at 3:43.13.

As for hockey player skills level, it's not a fair statement as much of what we see today is a direct result of the evolution of the game. For example, the Forsberg one hand back handed goal against Corey Hirsch.

Another one is the lacross style picking up of the puck to score a goal. The first time this was done in a game was in 1996 by Mike Legg.

While you don't see this being used in a game too often, you see a lot of kids practicing this at home on synthetic ice or in practice.

As the game evolve, players will try new things and through practice, they get better.

Just look at what the Sedin twins have brought to the game. How many of their goals was a direct result of them out thinking game. The slap pass. Intentional icing to use the end boards as a bank pass to get a break away.

As players cross train with soccer, their feet eye co-ordination will improve and with time, we may see them translate that into scoring chances in a game situation like in Bure's goal against Boston when he played the puck into the skates before kicking it back up to his stick at high speed.

Big props to Ovie for his big heart.

Crosby has only been in 1 all star game in his career?

This is pretty darn cool and nice to see. Could only find a FB link sorry

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...type=2&theater

screw the goal, that Russian chick at 18 seconds :fuckyea:

think you watched too many pavel bure highlights, he is a beast of his own and will never be recaptured for a long time...... say your statement to patrick kane's face and he will prove you wrong on the ice.

Another thing to remember, the game itself has changed in the past 20 years but so has the coaching and coach mentality.

For example, when Pavel Bure first started with the Canucks, he was forced to wear a traditional number. The late Pat Quinn was part of the old boys mentality and hated the idea that players wore odd numbers like 96. But today it is the norm.

Before all the talk of concussions, players played hurt. No one ever talked about how they had their bell rung from a hit. Same thing with trying different skilled plays. If you were a rookie and tried an unorthodox play and didn't score or resulted in a chance going the other way, you can sure bet your ass was planted to the bench. A lot of what we see as skilled plays today has become more common and more accepted by the coaches.