Hockey

Hockey has long been the red-headed stepchild of the four major professional sports, at least as far as Americans are concerned. Now maybe I'm a little biased because I can't skate well and all of my hockey knowledge is based on NHL 2002 for PlayStation2, but logically, this makes perfect sense. For starters, the South isn't exactly receptive to the sport for obvious climatic reasons. With year round pleasant temperatures, outdoor sports like baseball and football are king. So right off the bat, half the country is genuinely disinterested with the sport.

As for those of us north of the Mason-Dixon line (I honestly couldn't even tell you where that is), hockey is relatively hit or miss. Much of this has to do with the fact that hockey is a sport dominated by the affluent. Simply put, hockey is an expensive sport to get involved in. Helmets, pads, sticks, skates, etc. are not cheap. This economic barrier prevents many from developing an affection for the sport. The easy, cheap alternative (probably not the right word anymore) is basketball. Basketball's rise in popularity as a winter sport has decimated the potential for hockey to grow in America.

Despite the abundance of logical data that suggests that Hockey will continue to be the laughing stock of the four professional sports, I'm shocked that it doesn't have more of a following...and here's why.

We'll do it live

Now I can't speak from personal experience, but from everything that I hear, hockey is undoubtedly the best sport to watch live. Again, this makes perfect sense. Hockey is an action packed, high paced game. Professionals have both incredible speed and skill and I'm sure that both are only accentuated in person. The game is also very physical. In your average NHL game you'd be sure to see a handful of bone crushing hits, hipchecks into the boards, and perhaps even a fight.

I imagine that another great aspect of seeing a hockey game live is the atmosphere. I've been a part of many a crowd that has gone nuts after touchdowns, dunks, three-pointers, home runs, etc., but I'd have to think that the wildest eruption would be for a goal. They don't come around very often, but there are a whole bunch of chances that must make the payoff for a goal that much better.

Another intriguing part of the live hockey experience is the potential to see a shootout.

Playoffs? Are you kidding me?



The playoff beard is the single coolest thing going in professional sports. Watching grown men bond over a commitment to not shave their facial hair (it's only their facial hair, right?) until they are eliminated from competition is just plain awesome. Job permitting, I think it's also very cool if fans of a team grow a playoff beard as well.

Lord Stanley's Cup


Yes, the fact that pre-dyke haircut Hayden Penettiere licked The Cup makes it that much more tantalizing

The Stanley Cup is the coolest and most revered trophy in all of sports. No other trophy is even in the same ballpark. Yeah that's right Heisman trophy. Eric Crouch and Jason White really hurt your street cred.

What makes Lord Stanley's Cup so great?

1.) If you're on a team that wins The Cup, they carve your name into it. As cool as that is, if you win The Cup multiple times, your name is carved into The Cup multiple times.

2.) The Cup is presented first to the captain of the winning team, who seemingly always hands it off to a cagey, old veteran who has never won it.

3.) Since 1995, every member of the winning team has gotten to spend a day with The Cup. Which raises one of the best sports related questions out there. What would you do on your day with The Cup? I'm not sure that I have a complete answer for that, but if I was fortunate enough to be in that position The Cup would certainly come with me to the city of hopes and dreams and it would most likely make an appearance at the Syracuse Suds Factory.


So hockey almost unequivocally has the best product to see live, the best thing going in all of team sports (at least in terms of camraderie), and the coolest and most revered trophy in all of sports, yet somehow it's popularity is minimal in America. What else could Gary Bettman and the NHL do to increase the sports popularity?

Well here's an idea, the basis of which that I first heard mentioned by ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd, that would surely do the trick. Using pre-interleague play in MLB as our example, we would re-align the two NHL Conferences. No more Eastern and Western Conference. 15 teams would be placed in what would be known as the American League and 15 would be placed in the Canadian League. The two leagues would not play each other at all in the regular season, but every Stanley Cup Finals would be between an American team and a Canadian team.

All of the American teams would be in the northern half of our great nation because I don't think that teams like the Phoenix Coyotes are really all that practical. The 15 teams that would make up the American League would be:

New York Rangers
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
Boston Bruins
Hartford Whalers

Pittsburgh Penguins
Buffalo Sabres
Washington Capitals
St. Louis Blues
Columbus Bluejackets

Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
Minnesota Wild
Colorado Avalanche
San Jose Sharks

And the 15 teams that would make up the Canadian League would be:

Toronto Maple Leafs
Montreal Canadians
Ottawa Senators
Quebec Nordiques
Halifax Mooseheads

Winnipeg Jets
Thunder Bay Lightning
Regina Knights
Saskatoon Sasquatches
Sudbury Wolves

Vancouver Canucks
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
Karmloops Blazers
Victoria Grizzlies

PS- Congrats to the Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in nearly 50 years.