I’am not a hockey fan. It’s well known that we don’t enjoy talking hockey on the show either (thats why Scooter does his “What The Puck” on the show). The only thing I enjoy about hockey is the NHL video games that I will play with a bunch of my friends after a night of shaking my ass and getting the hungover cobwebs out of my head.
Hockey has taken a bad turn in the United States over the last couple years since they were locked out for an entire season. ESPN dropped the NHL from their massive sports networks leaving the league without a home to air their top games. In steps a channel that many cable or satelite subscribers DON’T have in Versus and then add NBC to cover some of the top games including the Stanley Cup Finals. Add that all together and you get a recipe for disaster for the NHL.
If it wasn’t for Sidney Crosby I would have no idea that the NHL existed anymore. Even hardcore hockey fans know the league has been in trouble the last couple of years. But the NHL might have recieve the boost it needed on Sunday thanks to the Winter Olympics.
The stars aligned for the sport of Hockey on Sunday as Canada and the United States would head to head for the Gold Medal in the Mens Olympic Hockey finals. It was a game that I actually wanted to sit down and watch due to the importance of the game, something the common hockey fan (including myself) have not seen in a while when it comes to the sport of hockey. The only other game that could match this would be the Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals.
But this was much different. It was two countries, that are so close to one another, battling for olympic gold in the most important sport out of the entire Winter Olympics. The sport of hockey was on a grand stage in front of the entire world and they did not disappoint.
I do not know much about hockey, I don’t pretend to. Heck, I couldn’t even tell you even half of the players on both teams, let alone tell you which team they played for in the NHL. But for three hours they got me to to sit down and watch an entire hockey game from start to finish.
I have read that many people are considering it one of, if not the greatest hockey game of all-time. If thats the truth of many then it definately lived up to the name. It was exciting, it was fun to watch and it had people around the globe hooked into the matchup. It was the highest rated hockey game ever in Canada, that right there is enough said.
I don’t know where my NHL watching career goes from here but if I had to guess I won’t watch another full game until the Stanley Cup Playoffs or the next NHL Winter Classic. I applaud the sport of hockey for putting a show on in front of the entire world.
For all the hockey bashing we do on the show, it was an awesome game to watch.
