NHL

Clay Davis · November 19, 2007

got into it recently, when i found a fiver outside ladbrokes and saw it as a sign so I put a random £5 bet on the New York Islanders to beat the New Jersey Red Devils and won. But regardless of winning about 20 odd quid I really enjoyed the game and have watched a few since.

A few questions though:

1. Are they actually allowed to fight? Sometimes the referees block it but other times they take their gloves off and proper belt each other with no intervention and if they win they get 'points'

2. What are the rules about the backs of the court i.e. behind the goals, sometimes they wait, regroup and carry on the game but other times the whistle is blown and theres one of those weird drop puck things in the round things that look like nipples.

3. Does the player actually have to shout that they're being hooked to get the call? I've seen some blatant 'hooking' that hasn't been given which is strange considering theres about 5 referees but i've some ambiguous looking challenges or fallings over that have been given as hooking when someone has shouted something.

4. If its a draw is it golden goal?

5. Powerplays - does this mean certain members of both teams can/can't go into areas they used to be allowed/disallowed to go into? They don't seem to give much of an advantage tbh because i've seen more goals for the other team during a powerplay than for the one with the advantage.

6. Why oh why is there so many f***ing adverts. How can you even stand to watch that for every sport?

7. Who's gonna win things.

Bo Benn · November 19, 2007