Sports

The real hockey fans

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Hockey: the best game

I became a hockey fan in 1963. I saw my first game at a friend’s house when I was a freshman in high school. He was a fan of the Chicago Black Hawks. I was always an avid fan of baseball and football, but hockey was different. It was like a tug of war. Sometimes the impulse changed from one minute to the next. Other times, one team would control the other and dominate it for entire periods. Players had different combinations of talent and toughness.

Like other sports at the time, many players were on the same team for their entire careers. Just name the player and the image of him will come to mind in his team’s uniform. This was the former NHL team of six. The Chicago Black Hawks, the New York Rangers, the Detroit Red Wings, the Boston Bruins, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Montreal Canadiens. I became a Toronto fan. The Maple Leafs were the focus of the Hockey Night In Canada telecasts. All the teams had proud and long traditions. Each had stellar players, better goalkeepers, great defensemen and at least one enforcer.

My favorite player was Frank Mahovlich. I loved watching him skate right over the blue line, finishing with a bang and launching the puck as if he’d been shot out of a cannon past the goalie. I thought, wow, so many players go through all that dipsy doodle and here this guy just blows that thing up. The Leafs entered into a contract dispute with The Big M and the Chicago Black Hawks offered the Leafs $1 million for Mahovlich. The Leafs first agreed and then refused. A year after the Leafs won their last Stanley Cup in 1967, they traded it to the Red Wings. That’s why I think the Leafs (who haven’t won a Cup since) are under “The Curse of Frank Mahovlich.” Of course, I became a Red Wings fan instantly and then in 1971 a Montreal Canadiens fan as Big M was traded again. Mahovlich won six Stanley Cups. The Black Hawks’ Bobby Hull was more similar to Mahovlich with the slap shot, and of course, the Canadiens’ Boom Boom Geoffrion perfected the slap shot and was only the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season. .

In 1968, the NHL added the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, and Oakland Seals. In 1970, dreams came true here in Buffalo, New York, when the Buffalo Sabers became members of the NHL. In 1974, the Philadelphia Flyers became the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup. The Montreal Canadiens then went on to win four Stanley Cups in a row just to show who really was boss. The Canada Cup Series and the Olympic Games created some of the greatest games in history.

Today hockey has 30 teams. The lack of a major television contract prevents the sport from gaining the popularity it deserves. Three teams are in California, two teams are in Florida, and one each is in Georgia, Texas, Carolina, and Arizona. The sport is beginning to cross racial barriers, and worldwide popularity is booming. They have a lot of great players and stars led by Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

I’m saying that if the sport were presented in its original form, it would flourish in America. Get rid of the fight instigator penalty. Hockey superstars were protected in the old NHL by one, two or three players on each team who would rack your brains out if you land a cheap shot, slice, spear or punch on one of the best skaters on the team. It added to the drama of the game. Today, open ice “legal” checks are causing more concussions and career-ending injuries than ever before. If someone handed over one of these “legal” checks in the old NHL, he would pay dearly for it by getting beaten up multiple times. Goalies can skate and go everywhere. I say if you come out of the crease with the puck, you’re fair game. I like the two lane pass rule.

The breakaways are fun to watch. Get rid of that crazy shooting. Let them go 5 minutes with 4v4 and then 3v3. A draw after that would not be a sin and should be allowed. I wear NHL leadership is listening to soccer moms instead of hockey moms. Stop the track presentation aimed at children. Your marketing people are ruining the game. The light shows are great, but the music is terrible. Make old organ music mandatory. Let the Fans start with the applause. Don’t produce them over and over again with pre-recorded crap. If your fans can’t generate their own team cheers, send them to a soccer game. Check out a Sabers-Leafs, Oilers-Flames or Rangers-Islanders game. They don’t need all that fake stuff to generate excitement.

One last note. If TV fans can’t see the disc it’s because they have no idea what’s going on in the game. It’s not the visibility of the fast-moving puck. True hockey fans know where the damn puck is, and usually where it’s going next. Let’s take out the hammers and hit the team bus. Let’s get the best game where it belongs: to true hockey fans.

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