NHL Hockey Is Back!

   And for a full season too! After last year's strike/lockout, there will be a full 84 game season, plus the playoffs, which means the season will run for 9 months, until sometime in June. And what better way to kick things off than with an Original 6 match between old rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. The Leafs won that game, 4-3.
   And as die-hard fans start settling into their favourite couch or chair for the season, I got to wondering about something. Could one of today's teams beat an original 6 member if you could turn the clock back? I was wondering if, say, Anaheim or Phoenix..maybe even Edmonton or Winnipeg, could beat a Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Boston or New York Rangers team from their heyday?
   I know players today are bigger, stronger and have a strict training schedule to keep. But what if, just what if, we could transport them back 50 or so years. What would happen then? Technology has changed the game, with breathable uniforms, carbon fibre sticks and skates. Modern ice technology can micro-control ice surfaces, boards are better. Heck, even arenas have better climate control.
   Turn the clock back 50 years and put today's players in the old wool uniforms. With leather topped steel bladed skates and wooden sticks. Put them in one of the old barns when ice making wasn't as good as it is now. With older boards that bounced the puck back who-knew-where. Where arenas were not climate controlled. Against players who may not have been as fit as they are now, but just as good.
   Who would win? My heart says the 1960's team, since I grew up watching them on the old black and white T.V when we had just 2 channels, and to change it, you had to get out of your chair, walk over and physically change the dial. My head says today's team, even in the old gear, simply due to today's physical conditioning. But I'm sure it would be one heck of an interesting game!

TTFN