By Aaron O'Connell
The first games of regular season play for the National Hockey League begins today, and if you aren't excited, you're missing out on one of the most entertaining experiences around.
The Pacific Northwest region of the United States pays almost no attention to professional hockey and I can find absolutely no reason why. It could be the poor reputation from which hockey suffers.
Perhaps that it is often typified and frowned upon as brutish and violent.
This is a flaw?
These sort of critiques are indicative of the intensity with which the athletes play.
Eddie Shore, a former defensemen for the Boston Bruins, traded checks and blows against rival player Billy Couto in practice. Later, the two collided in a primitive, testosterone fueled surge to assert dominance; Shore stood the victor, Couto lay crumpled on the ice, unconscious.
Shore was left with most of his ear torn off. Although most professionals recommended complete amputation, he found a doctor willing to sew it on, and, for some reason (maybe mistrusting the physician), refused anesthetic and insisted he held a mirror in order ensure his ear was stitched on property. Following the procedure Shore immediately resumed play.
Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins was checked in the face by Darian Hatcher in a rivalry game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Some of his teeth were broken and he received four stitches.
No big deal. He went back out on the ice and scored the game-winning goal in overtime.
Although all sports boast players of uncommon toughness and heart, this implied and stereotypical nature of hockey of rough and dirty is not an insult. It's a compliment which encapsulates the intensity professional hockey players play with.
But there are countless other ways in which hockey differentiates itself.
1. Every player on a hockey team has to be in uncommonly athletic condition.
Skating is awkward. Anyone on skates has to balance on a surface with reduced friction on blades about a centimeter wide. And ice is not a forgiving surface on which to fall.
In order to function, most people have to learn to run or at least walk. Hockey requires something different.
In addition, on a hockey team, every member of the team does the same core work: all players skate, handle the puck, shoot and check.
And due to this nature of hockey, it is a sport where obese persons are not successful. If you are on the ice, you are an athlete: you aren't merely gifted with uncommon size.
2. People get intense, competitive and violent when they play sports. Hockey embraces this. And the risks involved make the game more entertaining.
What happens when a basketball player or a football player punches someone else in the face? They are assessed, at bare minimum, a fine.
What happens when a hockey player hits an opposing player in the face? The crowd goes wild, the fight continues until there is a victor and afterwards (usually) the combatants only punishment is time to sit in a box and think about what they've done wrong.
And although the violent nature of the sport isn't necessarily why you should watch, it is considered an integral part of the game and adds a different sort of depth. As does the hitting.
It's a different sort of hit when two players collide on ice (which is already difficult to stand on) , moving at speeds sometimes in excess of 25 mph. Bodies fly.
Not only that, but each player wields composite or wooden hockey stick, which is useful for scoring, passing and incapacitating enemy teammates.
Most noticeably, there are blades attached to every players foot. These skates are certainly not meant to be used at weapons, but lacerations from them are not uncommon. Buffalo Sabre's goalie Clint Marlarchuk had his throat slit by one. Don't worry, he recovered.
3. The movie "Miracle"
It is not possible to watch this movie without getting pumped about America (and hockey). The U.S. hockey team beat the Soviets in a match-up which was far more than just a game.
4. The shockingly few amount of self-absorbed players.
Putting aside Patrick Kane's momentary indiscretion this summer (he may or may not have beat up a taxi driver over a sum of less than a dollar), the press is not constantly riddled with the crime, steroids and massive egos of the professional hockey community.
A hockey player has not been found guilty of steroid use since 2006 (shame on you Sean Hill), and their off-camera shenanigans do not find their way into sports news on a regular basis.
Although hockey is sometimes perceived as a collection of the athletic miscreants of privileged society, their egos seem to be some of the smallest, and their antics certainly don't top the charts.
Hockey is a sport people around the world partake in and view, and the most prestigious league in the world starts today in America.
Go Bruins.
Aaron O'Connell is the Sports Editor of The Beacon.
He can be contacted at
oconnell11@up.edu
