Hockey World Juniors and the NHL's bigger picture

Wed Jan 05, 2005 7:49 am

Canada just won gold beating the Russians.

Despite there being a lockout, no one in the mainstream american media followed the tourney at all. Now here in Canada, its usually a decently big deal but because we're hockey starved it was mondo big this year.

So this leads to the inevitable questions about the NHL. Maybe this is the problem. You've got a consumer base (America) that just doesn't care about the game. They go to see the sensationalized aspect of the game (ie. the big names, the highlight reel plays) but they don't care about the actual game.

Bettman has tried to "football" it up by trying to appeal to the mainstream by trying to flash up the game. This obviosuly isn't working and now we just have a bunch of crappy teams in areas like Nashville or Atlanta where ice games just don't hold up. Should there be a major overhaul and bring hockey to the only places that actually care about the game like Canada and the Northern US... and before you answer that, try to tell me how many stories you heard about the United States national Team over the past month.

Wed Jan 05, 2005 7:41 pm

I am personally upset about the NHL lockout and I am an American. I am not big fan of most sports, but I love hockey. I have been watching more college hockey since NHL is having a lock out

Wed Jan 05, 2005 7:58 pm

Well the reason the tournament wasn't paid much attention to was probably because its with junior hockey players and not those from the NHL. I heard a lot about players going to Europe to play in league games there, if they showed that on tv I'd watch em . I watched the junior tournament but I'd like to watch some of my fav NHL players play and I'm sure others would too

I live in Canada, so I don't really care how well Team USA plays but again, it was a tournament for juniors and not NHL players.

Should there be a major overhaul and bring hockey to the only places that actually care about the game like Canada and the Northern US

Can't bring hockey where there is no money. That's mainly the cause of why there aren't a lot of canadian teams - they get paid based on US dollars, not canadian so its more difficult to finance a team.

btw, according to gretzky, if this stupid nhl lockout problem doesnt sort out soon..there might be a lockout next season as well..... damn greedy ppl wanting money :|

Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:15 pm

Well, I don't think it's just because they just ignore hockey. Mainstream media never really follows these junior/18 and under leagues for any sport.

I don't know about that major overhaul thing. I know Dallas has a decent fan base (frequently sells out at American Airlines Center), and I'm guessing the southern California teams and now Florida (with Tampa Bay winning the Cup) are the same. If you do keep those, you'll have some interesting tranportation problems.

Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:59 pm

Universal Senja wrote:Well, I don't think it's just because they just ignore hockey. Mainstream media never really follows these junior/18 and under leagues for any sport.

I would call it the equivalent of University football. Its one step down from the pros. That doesn't seem to have much of a problem making it on to the front page of a paper.

Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:55 am

hockey is not as mainstream as football is in the US. And there is college hockey. The World Juniors, I see as minor league. And that is rarely ever on for any sports useless you live in an area that has a team and even so it may not be on. We have an ECHL team here and it is on tv maybe twice a month if that on local stations.
Though with the lock out we are getting a lot of people coming to my hometown to see ECHL games. I guess paying $30 a ticket is cheap for these people.

Sun Jan 09, 2005 6:21 pm

I'm another that has defaulted to college hockey in the mean time. It also doesn't hurt that my school's team is a division I hockey east team.

In addition, this has sort of prodded me to do something I have always wanted to do and I have started playing hockey on the intramural team at school. They made me goalie!

I do want the NHL back, but at least while I'm in college, I'm fairly content with the alternatives while the NHL looks for it's direction. I think they may have to stop to figure out what makes the game great, then slowly rebuild the fan base.