How about celebrating a goal with a kiss à la Ziggy Palffy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZOu5zpz9Zw

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They are professional hockey players that have scored hundreds of goals in their life....i think they should act like they have done it before as well...no need to over celebrate.....i hate watching that....

The whole "show respect for your opponent" mentality is way old school in my opinion.

I for one enjoy the celebrations and the exuberance. Makes the game a lot more entertaining and shows that the players are passionate about their craft, which makes them more interesting. Yakupov's celebration was definitely over the top, but I have to admit... I definitely got kicks out of it, and it made a LOT of highlight reels which means more exposure for the league to new audiences and demographics.

This is one of the reason why leagues like the NFL are so much more marketable then the NHL. The player's personalities are so much more entertaining and you can build story lines around them (Tebow'ing anyone?). It all adds up to a more entertaining and marketable product. I love hockey to death, but the personalities are definitely robotic and boring. I love (or even love to hate) guys like Torts and Subban, and I think they are good for the overall product.

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Do people that rail against excessive celebrating ACTUALLY care? Or do you guys just say it because some old school sense of nobility says you should care? Hockey is a game, it should be fun shouldn't it? When things get purposely disrespectful, ya that's an issue. But when someone is really excited, sometimes they get carried away with their celebration.

As to the Yakupov thing specifically, I will bet you eleventy billion galactic credits that "ya, **** LA! I'm gonna go rub it in their faces!" never crossed his mind. He's a young guy who scored a tying goal with like 1 second left against the reigning Cup champs, I'd be pretty damn pumped too.

This Subban/Price thing is just stupid. It's not even a big enough deal to get worked up over. Sure it's dumb they can't high five each other, but it really doesn't matter.

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I have absolutely no problem with Yakupov's celebration. It's not about disrespect when they do that. He was excited. The only one I think might have been over the top in recent memory is Ovechkin's stick on fire. It was creative and funny, but I could see how people would see disrespect in that.

To be honest, guys who show they're excited and celebrate bring attention to the league and if we're all honest, the league needs as much attention as it can get that's positive in the minds of the sports fan that doesn't see much hockey. His celebration probably made it to ESPN, which is a huge boon for the sport. And when people get interested in it and watch more games, that's only good for the money side of the league. Which, if we remember, we were in a lockout and my hope is that good money (even though I thought it was there before this most recent lockout) could hopefully prevent one in 8 years if we have guys who draw casual and the uninitiated fans.

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Two of the posts above made points that I completely agree with and I want to emphasize. First, that hockey is supposed to be fun, and equally important, professional hockey is fundamentally an entertainment business. Those who assign high-minded ideals and talk about the "purity" of the game make the NHL more than it is.

There was nothing wrong with Yakopov's celebration. He's a kid who scored an absolutely huge goal in an emotional situation in front of 20k people. As long as the celebration does not: 1. Denigrate or humiliate your opponent; or 2. Take so much time that it becomes a show bigger than the scoring play itself, let it in.

Some of the TD celebrations in the CFL can become bigger than the play, and those are lame. But Yakupov's power slide wasn't about insulting LA, or seeking to be bigger than the game itself. It was a moment of joy and fun. That should be celebrated.

As for PK and Therrien....banning the ritual is beyond ridiculous. I personally think that too many hockey personalities unfairly target PK because he doesn't display the stereotypical contrition and (often false) humility that we're used to from our hockey players. I say let PK be PK. I love having "characters" in the league....hell, I still really miss Roenick!

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My all time favourites:

Doesn't matter what we think, the other teams care. LA will be headhunting Yakupov next game, guaranteed. Classless even if he wasn't thinking of disrespecting the Kings. The guy's a goof (in a bad way).

Head hunting a guy because he was excited about scoring a goal... and we say Yakupov is classless?

Oh the irony.

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Okay, so maybe nobody likes a cynic, but everybody f**king hates those perky optimists!

... and anyway, I make a damn good cynic.

People still cry and complain about athletes celebrating achievements? It's 2013, not 1945. Players don't score goals then coast to the bench with their hands folded in silence as if they were inside of a Church. You celebrate when you score. Period. Every single time unless of course you are getting smoked in a game. Celebration shows that you actually care about what you do for a living and as a fan, you want to see your players caring for the support.

I'll take skilled, Yakupov-esqe players who actually care about the game, care about winning, and are passionate about their fans, anyday over the scrubby fourth liners who bitch and moan about everything. They don't bitch and moan about the 1mil+ they make for doing absolutely nothing of worth though do they?

I'm lobbying for futbol type celebrations.

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Ah yes, third liners do "absolutely nothing". Please continue making such intelligent posts.