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Quick, someone tell me what the top team in the National Hockey League is right now.
No one?
OK, how about the leading scorer or goalie with the best goals against average?
Did anyone even realize that the regular season is under way? Or is it just that no one cares?
I guess this is the sad state that professional hockey is in right now. Blame it on the strike a few seasons back or on having a commissioner that probably couldn’t sell football in Texas, but either way, the NHL just can’t get people interested.
I may be a little biased having grown up in The State of Hockey, but I really can’t understand how people will stay glued to a TV, watching a three-hour baseball game — which, on average has a little more than 15 minutes of actual play — but can’t sit threw an NHL game.
Hockey is far and away my favorite sport, and it amazes me that it isn’t everyone else’s.
So, I thought that I would try to give people some inspiration to flip on Versus this winter (Yes, that actually is a TV channel and, yes, it’s what NHL games are on).
Here’s what I came up with: 10 reasons why everyone should watch hockey (in no particular order):
1. The Stanley Cup
It’s the oldest and most revered of any trophy in team sports. The Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893, given out to the champion hockey club of Canada by the Ottawa Amateur Athletics Association. Since then, it has become the symbol of hockey. If you don’t think that NHLers respect The Cup, just ask Detroit’s ancient defenseman, 46-year-old Chris Chelios, who threatened to smack down Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot for setting The Cup upside down During the “NHL Face-Off Rocks” show in Detroit to start the season.
2. The players
I’ve had the fortunate, and unfortunate, opportunity of meeting many professional and college athletes during my career, and I can honestly say that the nicest and most genuine players tend to play hockey. Sitting in the Colorado Avalanche locker room feels more like being at Stephen C. West for a rec league game rather than being with 20 millionaire athletes. Example: Superstar Sidney Crosby, 21, still lives in the basement of Pittsburgh Penguins’ great and owner Mario Lemieux’s family home, despite being one of the highest paid players in the league.
3. Effort
Hockey and football are really the only two pro team sports that, if a player gets lazy, they could be heading to the hospital. Because of this, NHLers play much harder on a night-to-night basis than their winter counterparts in the NBA.
4. Speed
Whether you like hockey or not, the one thing that everyone can always agree on is that there is no team sport that moves faster than hockey. The fastest players in the league can reach speeds of more than 30 miles per hour during play. Keep in mind that this is while wearing equipment, carrying a stick, moving the puck and trying to avoid being plastered to the boards by defenders. You’re telling me that isn’t exciting?
5. Wayne Gretzky
First off, he is far and away the most dominant athlete to ever play a team sport. Statistical proof is obvious — 1,000 career points more than the second best all-time — but the reason that no one can rationally argue against this is that the NHL changed rules and team’s changed styles of play because of him. But that’s not really why I put his name on here. Gretzky is the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, meaning that fans can still get a glimpse of The Great One anytime the Coyotes are on the tube. You can’t say that about any other sport’s all-time best player.
6. The Sounds
Again, this may be due to where I grew up and the fact that my dad taught me to skate when I was two years old, but there is just something about hearing skates cut through the ice or a shot ring off the post or a hit into the boards that just reminds me of my childhood. No other sports compare to hockey in this sense.
7. Crosby/Alex Ovechkin
The two best players in the game, right now. And unlike most over-hyped superstars coming into a pro league, they have actually lived up to the billing. Both have won a scoring title and an MVP award, and neither has even played four seasons yet. Needless to say, anytime the Pens or the Washington Capitals — Ovechkin’s team — play, you’d be a fool to miss it.
8. Shootouts
OK, I’m one of the first people to label this as a gimmick to sell tickets, and I hate the idea of games being decided by a skill competition. But anytime a game is in overtime, I find myself rooting for a shootout. I can’t help myself, because unlike in soccer where a shooter just steps and kicks a shot into the gigantic net while the goalie dives the opposite direction, a fan actually gets to see the skills of both the goalie and the shooter on each attempt. It’s flat out addicting.
9. The future of the game
Despite having one of the worst commissioners in pro sports — I can get into my reasons at a different time — hockey has made good strides to improve the game. Rule changes, such as eliminating the two-line pass, calling more obstruction penalties and limiting pad sizes for goalies, have helped to make the average game faster and more enjoyable. Add in that the NHL has the best crop of young players since I’ve been alive, it looks like hockey will only be getting better.
10. It’s not the NBA
I don’t mind basketball, and actually do enjoy watching it, but how many times a year can you sit for two hours and watch some of the world’s best athletes barely jog up and down the court? Can you put up with the whining, the me-first attitudes, the lack of defense for more than five games each season (not counting playoffs)? I can’t. So, why not combine the first nine reasons with this one and turn on Versus? That’s what I’ll be doing all winter.
Sports editor’s note: In case you actually do care, the top team in the NHL, going into Tuesday, was the New York Rangers, top scorer was Evgeni Malkin of the Pens and best GAA was Buffalo’s Ryan Miller.
Like it? Hate it? Have a better idea for a topic? E-mail Bryce at bevans@summitdaily.com.
No one?
OK, how about the leading scorer or goalie with the best goals against average?
Did anyone even realize that the regular season is under way? Or is it just that no one cares?
I guess this is the sad state that professional hockey is in right now. Blame it on the strike a few seasons back or on having a commissioner that probably couldn’t sell football in Texas, but either way, the NHL just can’t get people interested.
I may be a little biased having grown up in The State of Hockey, but I really can’t understand how people will stay glued to a TV, watching a three-hour baseball game — which, on average has a little more than 15 minutes of actual play — but can’t sit threw an NHL game.
Hockey is far and away my favorite sport, and it amazes me that it isn’t everyone else’s.
So, I thought that I would try to give people some inspiration to flip on Versus this winter (Yes, that actually is a TV channel and, yes, it’s what NHL games are on).
Here’s what I came up with: 10 reasons why everyone should watch hockey (in no particular order):
1. The Stanley Cup
It’s the oldest and most revered of any trophy in team sports. The Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893, given out to the champion hockey club of Canada by the Ottawa Amateur Athletics Association. Since then, it has become the symbol of hockey. If you don’t think that NHLers respect The Cup, just ask Detroit’s ancient defenseman, 46-year-old Chris Chelios, who threatened to smack down Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot for setting The Cup upside down During the “NHL Face-Off Rocks” show in Detroit to start the season.
2. The players
I’ve had the fortunate, and unfortunate, opportunity of meeting many professional and college athletes during my career, and I can honestly say that the nicest and most genuine players tend to play hockey. Sitting in the Colorado Avalanche locker room feels more like being at Stephen C. West for a rec league game rather than being with 20 millionaire athletes. Example: Superstar Sidney Crosby, 21, still lives in the basement of Pittsburgh Penguins’ great and owner Mario Lemieux’s family home, despite being one of the highest paid players in the league.
3. Effort
Hockey and football are really the only two pro team sports that, if a player gets lazy, they could be heading to the hospital. Because of this, NHLers play much harder on a night-to-night basis than their winter counterparts in the NBA.
4. Speed
Whether you like hockey or not, the one thing that everyone can always agree on is that there is no team sport that moves faster than hockey. The fastest players in the league can reach speeds of more than 30 miles per hour during play. Keep in mind that this is while wearing equipment, carrying a stick, moving the puck and trying to avoid being plastered to the boards by defenders. You’re telling me that isn’t exciting?
5. Wayne Gretzky
First off, he is far and away the most dominant athlete to ever play a team sport. Statistical proof is obvious — 1,000 career points more than the second best all-time — but the reason that no one can rationally argue against this is that the NHL changed rules and team’s changed styles of play because of him. But that’s not really why I put his name on here. Gretzky is the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, meaning that fans can still get a glimpse of The Great One anytime the Coyotes are on the tube. You can’t say that about any other sport’s all-time best player.
6. The Sounds
Again, this may be due to where I grew up and the fact that my dad taught me to skate when I was two years old, but there is just something about hearing skates cut through the ice or a shot ring off the post or a hit into the boards that just reminds me of my childhood. No other sports compare to hockey in this sense.
7. Crosby/Alex Ovechkin
The two best players in the game, right now. And unlike most over-hyped superstars coming into a pro league, they have actually lived up to the billing. Both have won a scoring title and an MVP award, and neither has even played four seasons yet. Needless to say, anytime the Pens or the Washington Capitals — Ovechkin’s team — play, you’d be a fool to miss it.
8. Shootouts
OK, I’m one of the first people to label this as a gimmick to sell tickets, and I hate the idea of games being decided by a skill competition. But anytime a game is in overtime, I find myself rooting for a shootout. I can’t help myself, because unlike in soccer where a shooter just steps and kicks a shot into the gigantic net while the goalie dives the opposite direction, a fan actually gets to see the skills of both the goalie and the shooter on each attempt. It’s flat out addicting.
9. The future of the game
Despite having one of the worst commissioners in pro sports — I can get into my reasons at a different time — hockey has made good strides to improve the game. Rule changes, such as eliminating the two-line pass, calling more obstruction penalties and limiting pad sizes for goalies, have helped to make the average game faster and more enjoyable. Add in that the NHL has the best crop of young players since I’ve been alive, it looks like hockey will only be getting better.
10. It’s not the NBA
I don’t mind basketball, and actually do enjoy watching it, but how many times a year can you sit for two hours and watch some of the world’s best athletes barely jog up and down the court? Can you put up with the whining, the me-first attitudes, the lack of defense for more than five games each season (not counting playoffs)? I can’t. So, why not combine the first nine reasons with this one and turn on Versus? That’s what I’ll be doing all winter.
Sports editor’s note: In case you actually do care, the top team in the NHL, going into Tuesday, was the New York Rangers, top scorer was Evgeni Malkin of the Pens and best GAA was Buffalo’s Ryan Miller.
Like it? Hate it? Have a better idea for a topic? E-mail Bryce at bevans@summitdaily.com.
