Like most, Spring is my favorite time of year. Snow melts, leaves bud on trees, flowers bloom and golf courses dry (yes, I got my first round of 18 in over the weekend). For me, Sports viewing is at its best. March Madness, The Masters, Opening Day and the NBA playoffs bring almost bring a daily water cooler conversation of “Did you see the game last night? ” or “Did you see that shot that Nash hit fading away from the basket ?” But what almost goes unnoticed is the possibly the most exciting playoffs of all – the NHL playoffs. It is safe to say that with any sport, the playoffs bring on a new level of intensity. With hockey, the levels of intensity border on a nightly heart attacks. But the problem is that for the most part, they are largely ignored.
As Casey, my parents and I were watching Manny and Co pull one out against the Rangers Saturday night, the score of Game 6 of the Bruins/Canadiens game flashed periodically at the bottom. 1-0…1-1… 2-1…..2-2…3-2….3-3….4-3…4-4… At one point, it seemed like they were flashing a new score every 30 seconds. The result: possibly one of the best 3rd periods in NHL playoff history.. and we missed it!! Partly because yours truly didn’t know what channel the game was on. But NHL playoff hockey has the ability to create moments/memories that can leave you weak in the knees and calling for an oxygen machine…. and a IV drip of caffeine. Memories such a Brett Hull’s questionable in the crease goal against the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 of the 1999 Stanley Cup. As Casey mentioned before – Pat LaFontaine’s 3 a.m. goal in the 4 OT of the Capitals/Islanders series in 1987. Bobby Orr flying through the air. Or Edmonton Oilers fans singing “O’ Canada’ without any help and leaving even people at home with chills. So many moments, but how much has been lost to no one seeing it?
Granted the NHL will never be as big as MLB, NBA or the NFL, but that doesn’t mean it can’t appeal to fans. It has everything to appease the average American fan – speed, agility, athleticism, and of course, violence. But yet, it struggles. Is that because the average or casual NHL fan can’t relate? Growing up in the Northeast, skating was almost a given. Winter came, ponds froze up and there was hours of endless skating. Toss in some cones, a hockey puck and hockey sticks – and you were good to go. As Bill Simmons pointed out in a recent article, that maybe the NHL by expanding has done itself a disservice. That people can’t equate hockey with cities like Anaheim, Nashville, Carolina and Tampa Bay. Maybe it turns fans off?
Other sports seem to have their rivalries.. Yankees/Red Sox, San Antonio Spurs/Phoenix Suns, and Dallas Cowboys/Washington Redskins to name few. But if you didn’t know anything about NHL history, would you know what the rivalries were between NHL teams? Have moving teams from Quebec ruined some of those rivalries?
So I am asking you… I am putting this to an open forum. How does the NHL save itself? How does the NHL insure that people see games like Game 5 of the Bruins/Canadiens series? How does the NHL get fans to watch the powerhouse in the making Pittsburgh Penguins? Can we help Gary Bettman? I hope so….
Why does the NHL need to do anything? Hockey is a great sport and might benefit from realizing its niche in the sports pie of the USA. How many sports can you watch that have such extended periods of play?
You can watch a hockey game, and the whistle won’t blow for 6:00 sometimes. Football? Have you ever timed how much actual play occurs in an NFL game. 60:00 on the clock but most of that is spent in the huddle. Baseball? How many plays actually last more than :10? In basketball you get about a minute to a minute and a half at most. Soccer is continuous, but not as fast.
By the way – if the Sabres were playing Saturday, you would have found the channel. If the Islanders were playing, I would not have been at your place. Yeah we missed a great game (although I was kinda thinking at one point: shouldn’t we be watching the Bruins/Habs game?) I have also missed plenty of great football, baseball, and basketball games. There is sooooooo much sports on tv it is impossible to see it all.
The NHL/hockey fails when it attempts to rub elbows with the NFL, MLB, and NBA. It just can’t sustain it. That doesn’t make the NHL a poor product. If anything it might add to the aura of hockey. There is nothing more annoying than a Super Bowl party where half the people in attendance have no clue as to the basics of NFL history. But football is popular, so it works. Hockey fans enjoy the sport not the event. I have respect for that.
This year’s Winter Classic is an example. Yeah it was an event, but 70,000+ braved the cold to watch an outdoor regular season hockey game. I know of NFL playoff football games that were blacked out in Buffalo because they didn’t sell out.
Instead of the chosen few, hockey fans are the few to choose. It is a brotherhood. If in the long run hockey players get paid less it will only add to the game. Instead of being celebrities, hockey players are just that – hockey players.
Yeah there are too many teams. Just as baseball does not have enough pitching to go around, and the NFL has about ten real quarterbacks, the NHL has about ….hmmmm…..15 goalies.
I would like to see the NHL adopt the ice size used for international play.
Gotta go – game 7 Caps/Flyers.
Similar to Casey, I don’t really know that we have to tinker with the NHL to “improve” it. What exactly are we trying to improve?
Yes … maybe it suffers from lack of exposure, BUT the playoff games have been on “Versus” or NBC on weekends and I’ve been watching when possible. I agree that the playoffs are terrific in the NHL. It appears NHL hockey has relegated itself to it’s core, and possibly only, market … the “real hockey fan”. Other major league sports capitalize on the “casual sports fan”, but hockey is not in a position to do that. But maybe that’s OK. They’ll make most of their money in the NHL cities the old fashioned way … through ticket sales and game receipts. They need to keep games exciting for the “real hockey fans” who actually attend NHL games. I don’t know this for sure, but I think they still have a “Hockey Night in Canada” TV deal which provides some revenue. Maybe this is good enough. I suppose you’d have to be able to access “Versus” to feel that way though. Even ESPN gives the NHL a decent amount of coverage even though they don’t broadcast games anymore.
I think the most important thing the NHL needs to do is maintain the rules that keep scoring up in the 5-6 goals per game area instead of the 3-4 range. There was a time when a 2 goal deficit was certain defeat … kinda like soccer … and I think that turned people off.
Wally
Wally,
Thanks for reminding me. Earlier I was thinking about Hockey Night in Canada: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/
A larger ice surface would certainly improve scoring.
Great article thank you