By Rory Tell ’16, Staff Writer

The puck has dropped on another National Hockey League season, but, to this journalist, it seems like no one outside of Canada really cares.

The NHL has an identity crisis, as it is traditionally viewed as the fourth wheel in major American pro sports, behind football, baseball, and basketball. During the regular season, hockey is hardly ever on any of the major television networks, evidenced by NBC’s airing only 13 games last season. There aren’t enough high-profile Americans playing the sport, which leaves a void where role models might encourage young American kids to take up hockey. Additionally, there might be too many games. Kim McGrath ’16, an avid Devils fan, says, “nearly everyone makes the playoffs.” In truth, a whopping 16 of 30 teams advance to play for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Since the 1990s, the regular season has had 5 times the penalties for fighting than during the playoffs. Ken Daneyko, a former Devils defenseman, stated, “Fighting is definitely part of the entertainment during the regular season.” Though this fighting culture does attract a fringe minority of violence-enthusiasts and hockey traditionalists, it far more numerously repulses and repels casual, everyday sports fans who look elsewhere to watch sports wherein there aren’t any brawls that interrupt gameplay.

Lastly, when you go to see the New England Patriots play football, you know that Tom Brady will be under center for every offensive snap. However, in hockey, with different lines and shifts, a superstar player like Sidney Crosby only sees the ice for one-third of the game.

All that being said, there are two events in hockey that bring in the ratings, one of which is the Winter Classic. That game is played on an outside rink on New Years Day, and the venue changes each year. The contests have occurred at historic places like Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium. Last year, over 105,000 fans were at the Big House on the campus of the University of Michigan as the snow fell. That game also attracted the largest hockey television audience in 39 years!

The other great attraction for fans is the Stanley Cup playoffs because it produces fast-paced, tight hockey games, as evidenced by Brady Sheaffer ’18, who voiced “the fast gameplay is what makes the sport interesting.” There were 93 postseason games this year: 46 games decided by one goal and 26 went into overtime. That’s some exciting stuff! The Stanley Cup final between the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings, in which 3 of the 5 games went to overtime, was the just the fifth final in the last 20 years to average more than 5 million viewers. Ben Goodman ’16, a die-hard hockey fan, claimed that, “The Stanley cup playoffs was one of the most exciting periods in my life as a sports fan. Though my Rangers fell in the end, their memorable saga of highs and lows, of crushing defeats and thrilling overtime victories, reminded me why hockey has the best playoffs of any sport. You are on the edge of your seat for the entire two months.” If the NHL did a better job marketing their game and made the regular season more significant by having fewer teams make the playoffs, the league might see their share in the market place rise.

The favorites to represent the East in the 2015 Stanley Cup include the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Rangers. The Western Conference choices are the Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, and Anaheim Ducks. Devils fans are rooting for a fourth championship.

Perhaps surprisingly to members of the recently joined community, Newark Academy once had its own men’s hockey team. Mr. Gertler played on said team when he was a student at the Academy and commented that they were “pretty good.” While there was plenty of interest from the student body, the problem was the lack of ice time available. The team practiced at Mennen Arena in Morristown at 2 AM, and the cost to run the program became prohibitive as well; as a result, the team eventually was disbanded. When ten random people at Newark Academy were asked if they would watch a Newark Academy hockey game on a Friday night, only two people responded, “yes.” Josh Charow, a season ticket holder for the Devils, said, “While I would support Newark Academy hockey, I don’t think it would ever get the crowd that a basketball game gets on a Friday night.”

The one area in which hockey reigns supreme over the other three professional sports is in the movie industry. In my opinion, there isn’t a better sports film than Miracle.  You can’t help but have chills up your spine when Al Michaels asks, “Do you believe in miracles?” However, the NHL cannot rest on the laurels of Hollywood, as their marketing and presence needs to improve.

Interestingly, if Peyton Manning were to become a free agent, even at his age, ESPN would be covering that story day and night. Yet, Martin Brodeur, the greatest goalie ever to play in the NHL, is a free agent right now, and you hear very little about his plans for this season. Hockey is exciting, and it just needs a better television contract and a new commissioner with an innovative approach to garner more fans at the school and across the country.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/sports/hockey/snow-and-huge-crowd-for-winter-classic-in-ann-arbor.html

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/stanley-cup-final-on-nbc-rates-as-second-biggest-in-eight-years-1201221356/

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/06/16/2014-stanley-cup-playoffs-are-second-most-watched-since-2006/273978/