The Forgotten Sport

The first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs has arguably been the most entertaining hockey we have seen in recent memory, if not in the 95 year history of the NHL. We have had 14 games go into overtime, 4 of which  in games to decide the series. Big-name hockey teams getting eliminated in as early as 5 games in the first round. I'm sure that not too many people predicted that the Canucks, Sharks, Blackhawks, Red Wings, and Penguins would all be out this early.  In the NHL playoffs, the games are played defensively, brutally and with strict discipline. Goal scoring is sparse and the only goal that counts is the game-winning one. But the 2012 playoffs so far have been extraordinary. The playoffs so far can be described as high scoring, extremely physical and teeming with suspense. There have been nine suspension in this year’s playoffs and we are not even out of round one yet. The 2011 playoffs had just seven suspensions through all four rounds. The reason behind this surge of intensity in my opinion has been the lack of discipline. Players have missed defensive responsibilities and when engaging in the physical nature of the sports, players have gone out of bounds. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers series perfectly symbolizes the tone of this year’s playoffs. Game two of the series featured a score of 8-5, although the game was much closer then the score dictates. In game three, the Flyers won by 8-4, but in this game the referees handed 158 penalty minutes. It also saw star players Sidney Crosby of the Penguins and Claude Giroux of the Flyers duel it not just on the scoring sheet, but with their fists. While hockey coaches and the league will frown at the high pace and violence, fans love it. NBC reportedly drew a  2.3 rating for game three which is the largest audience in a first round game in a decade. 
Despite the 2.3 NBC rating and fast paced, high intensity , hard hitting hockey... America still does not get it. The position of the NHL in this country is straight up pathetic. When the 04-05 lockout happened, ESPN replaced the NHL with the NBA in their time slot. In the 05-06 season when the NHL came back they were abandoned. NBC has picked up some NHL games yes surprisingly they are covering every 2012 playoff game, but it doesn't seem to be helping. 




ESPN hypes up the NBA on Sportscenter to get people interested it. It pisses me off that they pile  ridiculous amounts of irrelevant clips and segments into their shows, and hockey fans will be lucky enough to get one 30 second highlight every other week. Hockey rarely makes the Top 10 plays, because every night there are at least 10 dunks better than anything that happens in the NHL. Dunk after dunk after dunk, its the same thing every time. Apparently Americans have a shorter attention span than I thought. 

I created this blog because of this topic. If anything could save hockey, short of an NBA lockout, it will be this year's playoffs.