The NHL has created an out of control battle between fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.
The league?s All Star voting process has been tainted by fans and blog sites alike, to stuff the ballot box by any means necessary.
In a Nov. 11 home game against the Ottawa Senators, it was reported that the Canadiens heavily promoted all star voting during the game. One day ahead of the official start of voting.
When early results were tabulated, it was unusual to see all six Eastern Conference starters from the Canadiens
After these results, rumours surfaced that there was ballet box stuffing going on in Montreal.
Various news agencies investigated why the totals were so disparagingly high for Canadiens? players while other notable stars such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin were far off in the distance.
So, why were the votes so highly in favour of Les Glorieux?
Along with legitimate votes, a user on a Canadiens fans site urged people to vote using an automated program called Greasemonkey (a Firefox extension that allows the user to take control of a specific website browser). The program allows users to vote over and over again and this would explain why all six starters, at one point, were all Habs.
According to NHL voting rules, fans are allowed to vote, via internet and text messaging, as many times as they like but are prohibited from using automated voting machines.
?Use of automatic voting methods is prohibited,? says the NHL website. ?The NHL will have in place monitoring procedures designed to prevent individuals from unfairly influencing the outcome of the voting by generating significant blocks of votes using technical enhancements.?
The NHL moved quickly on this and eliminated thousands of votes from Canadiens? players, including 20,000 from Alexei Kovalev alone. The NHL took preventative measures and now the league claims that every real time vote you see has been cast by a real person.
Against the overwhelming number of votes, illegal or otherwise, going Montreal?s way, a popular Penguins blog site decided to do something about it.
On Dec. 10 fans were encouraged to vote and get Crosby and Malkin ahead of Kovalev and Canadiens captain Saku Koivu.
Whether this message had any effect on the vote standings is impossible to say but as of Dec. 25, Crosby and Malkin lead the Eastern Conference in voting, ahead of Kovalev and Koivu.
So far no rumuors of automated programs have surfaced from Pittsburgh.
Currently, Kovalev is third in voting; approximately 480,000 votes ahead of sixth-place Ovechkin, which brings another interesting facet to this debate.
The Penguins have entered into a relationship with the Washington Capitals to further drive this voting war.
The collective effort is called the ?Unholy Alliance? and they have made it clear what their intentions are.
?This one time only would bring Pens/Caps fans together to try and stun the world and get A.O. (Alexander Ovechkin) into the top three of the All Star voting,? said the Pens blog site.
?Yes, A.O. is a jackoff, but a Sid-Malkin-A.O. line in the All Star game would be a lot of fun on almost every level. Not to mention it would completely humiliate Habs fans.?
This isn?t the first time that ballot stuffing and agenda driven results have been effective.
Two years ago, 22-year-old Steve Schmid thought it would be a great idea to vote a hard-working, journeyman into the all star game. He chose Vancouver Canucks? defenceman Rory Fitzpatrick. The ?Vote for Rory? phenomenon was born.
Media outlets picked up on this and a few weeks later Canucks? players were wearing ?Vote for Rory? T-shirts. Rory?s supporters started promoting him with video montages on You Tube and soon after he was written about in publications like Sports Illustrated and the New York Times.
At that time, Fitzpatrick had nine NHL goals in his career. He had spent a month on the sidelines with a broken ankle and his name was nowhere to be found on any official NHL ballots.
On the strength of Schmid?s campaign, Fitzpatrick rose through the ranks to third in the Western Conference. He finished behind Nicklas Lidstrom and Scott Neidermayer.
To his credit Fitzpatrick backed out and never played in the 2007 All Star game in Dallas, Texas.
Any way you look at it the NHL has created a fair amount of publicity for itself. Although it?s hard to say if they wanted it through illegal voting. Judging by the desperate straits the league is in, they may take publicity any way they can get it.
The league?s All Star voting process has been tainted by fans and blog sites alike, to stuff the ballot box by any means necessary.
In a Nov. 11 home game against the Ottawa Senators, it was reported that the Canadiens heavily promoted all star voting during the game. One day ahead of the official start of voting.
When early results were tabulated, it was unusual to see all six Eastern Conference starters from the Canadiens
After these results, rumours surfaced that there was ballet box stuffing going on in Montreal.
Various news agencies investigated why the totals were so disparagingly high for Canadiens? players while other notable stars such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin were far off in the distance.
So, why were the votes so highly in favour of Les Glorieux?
Along with legitimate votes, a user on a Canadiens fans site urged people to vote using an automated program called Greasemonkey (a Firefox extension that allows the user to take control of a specific website browser). The program allows users to vote over and over again and this would explain why all six starters, at one point, were all Habs.
According to NHL voting rules, fans are allowed to vote, via internet and text messaging, as many times as they like but are prohibited from using automated voting machines.
?Use of automatic voting methods is prohibited,? says the NHL website. ?The NHL will have in place monitoring procedures designed to prevent individuals from unfairly influencing the outcome of the voting by generating significant blocks of votes using technical enhancements.?
The NHL moved quickly on this and eliminated thousands of votes from Canadiens? players, including 20,000 from Alexei Kovalev alone. The NHL took preventative measures and now the league claims that every real time vote you see has been cast by a real person.
Against the overwhelming number of votes, illegal or otherwise, going Montreal?s way, a popular Penguins blog site decided to do something about it.
On Dec. 10 fans were encouraged to vote and get Crosby and Malkin ahead of Kovalev and Canadiens captain Saku Koivu.
Whether this message had any effect on the vote standings is impossible to say but as of Dec. 25, Crosby and Malkin lead the Eastern Conference in voting, ahead of Kovalev and Koivu.
So far no rumuors of automated programs have surfaced from Pittsburgh.
Currently, Kovalev is third in voting; approximately 480,000 votes ahead of sixth-place Ovechkin, which brings another interesting facet to this debate.
The Penguins have entered into a relationship with the Washington Capitals to further drive this voting war.
The collective effort is called the ?Unholy Alliance? and they have made it clear what their intentions are.
?This one time only would bring Pens/Caps fans together to try and stun the world and get A.O. (Alexander Ovechkin) into the top three of the All Star voting,? said the Pens blog site.
?Yes, A.O. is a jackoff, but a Sid-Malkin-A.O. line in the All Star game would be a lot of fun on almost every level. Not to mention it would completely humiliate Habs fans.?
This isn?t the first time that ballot stuffing and agenda driven results have been effective.
Two years ago, 22-year-old Steve Schmid thought it would be a great idea to vote a hard-working, journeyman into the all star game. He chose Vancouver Canucks? defenceman Rory Fitzpatrick. The ?Vote for Rory? phenomenon was born.
Media outlets picked up on this and a few weeks later Canucks? players were wearing ?Vote for Rory? T-shirts. Rory?s supporters started promoting him with video montages on You Tube and soon after he was written about in publications like Sports Illustrated and the New York Times.
At that time, Fitzpatrick had nine NHL goals in his career. He had spent a month on the sidelines with a broken ankle and his name was nowhere to be found on any official NHL ballots.
On the strength of Schmid?s campaign, Fitzpatrick rose through the ranks to third in the Western Conference. He finished behind Nicklas Lidstrom and Scott Neidermayer.
To his credit Fitzpatrick backed out and never played in the 2007 All Star game in Dallas, Texas.
Any way you look at it the NHL has created a fair amount of publicity for itself. Although it?s hard to say if they wanted it through illegal voting. Judging by the desperate straits the league is in, they may take publicity any way they can get it.
Original Story:
flyerssuck said December 26, 2008
mushmouth said December 26, 2008
alwaysabruin said December 27, 2008
Goon48 said December 28, 2008
TheNCKid said December 29, 2008
mak7464 said December 29, 2008
lahabfan24 said December 30, 2008
THE ALL STAR GAME IS JUST SHINNY ANYMORE, NO SERIOUS CHECKING(THERE WAS A BIT AT ONE TIME, BUT RESPECTFULLY DONE) NOT MUCH BACK CHECKING, THE GOALIES GET POUNDED AND THE SCORE REFLECTS THAT OF A FOOTBALL GAME SOMETIMES. SO PEOPLE, THERE IS NO USE GETTING ALL BENT OUT OF SHAPE OVER A TOTALLY NON-SERIOUS GAME. I DID LIKE THE EUROPE VS NORTH AMERICA FORMAT THEY HAD FOR A FEW YEARS THOUGH, MAYBE THEY COULD CHANGE IT UP EVERY OTHER YEAR OR THIRD YEAR JUST TO MIX THINGS UP A BIT. ANY OTHER IDEAS OUT THERE?????
alwaysabruin said December 30, 2008
haneyboy said December 30, 2008
capsfan78 said December 31, 2008
Get over yourselves Penguins fans, as far as I'm concerned you can keep your Unholy Alliance. I'd rather see Ovechkin get snubbed in a stupid popularity contest and continue to light up lamps in every city he goes to.
I can't stand that the NHL and its constant beating of a dead horse marketing campaign of Sid the Kid.
There is a reason that despite the most injuries in the entire league, the Caps still have a 9 point edge over the Pens. A.O the Jerkoff is that reason.
Mantic said December 31, 2008
habs43v3r said December 31, 2008
alwaysabruin replied January 05, 2009
DEADPENS said January 01, 2009
Anyway, since the fans of the Ice Dodards have the luxury of dropping their "SAVE OUR PENS!" placards for a bit, let them vote how they please. After all, how would you feel if your team had to take the plunge every decade and swim through the sewer for top draft picks just to keep the U-Hauls away? Leave them be.
mhurley said January 01, 2009
The whole thing is a joke. $1200 for nosebleed tickets in the Bell Centre? They can keep it. I'll be on a cruise.
Eff Montreal.