Posted on 05/23/2020 12:34:43 PM PDT by GuavaCheesePuff
The only hockey players most Americans can name from the top of their heads are Gretzky, Howe, Messier, and Lemieux.
I would rate hockey at the lowest of the 4 big sports.
Why doesn't it get much attention?
I lost interest in the NHL back in 1978. To many teams and to many regular season games.
Similar to the old "trick" question that asks: "Have you stopped beating your wife?"
They had a big rivalry with the Flyers. Remember the fog during the playoffs?
Hockey is a sport like lacrosse where the puck or ball moves and changes direction so fast that it is hard to see it and the whole picture at the same time. Both are very exciting to watch in person but not so good on television
now it would be because of lawyers and liabilities
the facilities required also are more expensive
On your first point, Gage Quinney might disagree with you.
“Obvious reason is you can’t play it in the back yard.”
I recall an SNL skit (I think it was SNL) but someone said hockey would never be as popular as soccer because it wasn’t “American”. LOL
I think there is a lot of truth in your statement from one standpoint. When I was young “soccer” was a laughingstock. No kid ever admitted to liking soccer for fear of ridicule. It was a “pansy” sport.
Then in the 1970’s youth soccer leagues began showing up and exposure grew. Kids were taught the game at schools started wearing Pele jerseys and acceptance grew. I happen to think it was largely because kids “could” play it in their backyards, parks or almost anywhere. They began to understand the game and realized it was fun.
To this day I don’t really understand either game rulewise but I understand hockey a bit more as I followed the Hurricanes feverishly in 2006 to winning the Cup.
Still, I feel if every backyard or park in America had a ice rink like they do a basketball hoop, it would be far more popular.
Because by and large, hockey fans are misfit geeks who never played organized sports and wear hockey jerseys in the summertime at the beach.
But the number one reason is rink time relegating youth hockey practice to 5am in the dead of winter.
Every Washington Capitals home game is sold out and tickets ain’t cheap.
The irony is back in the 70s, if you watched any soccer match, it was a rough game. Things that would get a straight red card today, weren't even called as fouls.
I had to look that up. An AHL player disagrees with me? Why?
Few American kids play.
Scoring is low.
ML/NJ
Midnight on Fridays...
Late teen years, could rent the rink cheap for 2 hours, 10 - 12 guys could split the cost easily...
The a-holes that showed up with beer breath were puking/sucking air in the first half hour...
Ain’t that the truth, back when Pele played, now they’re a bunch of prancing fairies.
I’m sure Ovi has something to do with that...guy is an assassin from the left circle. I should know...die-hard Rangers fan and I must have seen him whip it past Lundqvist about a hundred times from there.
Because he got a few games in with the Golden Knights this year, before the season was called, born in Vegas.
You can’t have a backyard skating rink in winter in most of the U.S. - where you can, hockey is popular.
I remember times like that. We use to play at this rink in NJ called Fritz Deitl’s. We’d rent the ice from like 2am-4am. Sometimes some of the guys couldn’t skate the length of the rink after about the first fifteen minutes. Used to blow by those boys and have breakaways all night...just had to bide your time.
Same here. I played high school hockey, and I have never liked soccer, and never will.
Some of the most exciting hockey games I’ve attended ended up 1-0.
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