Can the Gold Medal Game be the NHL’s Savior?

by Peter Stenson

It’s normally like being in a smoky Church basement, gruff men and bloated women sitting in a circle, Twelve Steps hanging on the wall – I’m Peter, I’m a hockey fan. But not right now. Now I can sing it at the top of my lungs because the world just watched some of the best damn hockey ever played during the 2010 Olympic games.

But how long will it last, this hockey fever? Has it already passed? Has the average sports fan started brainstorming about sleeper teams for his March Madness bracket? Has hockey, the ugly bastard of the big four sports, already returned to the kids table? Is there anything the NHL can learn from the spectacle that unfolded on Sunday afternoon?

Let me just get a few facts out of the way. According to Nielsen Data, Sunday’s gold medal game was the most-watched hockey game in America since the 1980 US squad took gold against Finland (the game after the “miracle on ice”). 27.6 million tuned in this past Sunday. That’s a heck of a lot more than the one or two thousand hockey fans left in this country. That 27.6 million included my wife, who hates hockey, even the sound on TV. That included the woman with the mole at the coffee shop who told me it was the first game she’d ever watched. It included millions of casual fans, newbie’s, people who don’t know forecheeking from foreskin. That 27.6 million included people who may be turned onto the best sport ever thought of.

Forget “to be or not to be” – the question is how does the NHL carry the momentum gained in during the Olympics to aid an irrelevant league?

Yes, it is true no NHL team can skate players like Nash, Iginla, Crosby, and Pronger on the same ice surface at one time, as Canada did on Sunday, but there are still things the NHL could adopt to make their product more universally appealing.

Now in fear of offending any hockey purists, i.e. anyone in that big country above us, let me preface my comments by saying I love hockey. All aspects. I didn’t pay rent so I could get the NHL Center Ice package. I watch two games a night. I have three pairs of the same Minnesota Wild boxers, which often results in people asking if I ever change my undies. But, first and foremost, I want to see the sport survive. The suggestions I am about to offer should be read in that vein.

The thing that I could not get over while watching the hockey tournament this past two weeks was the speed. Speed on all sides. Blue-liners and forewords. Everyone. Quick passes and fast breaks. Some of this was of course due to the fact that the best players in the world were skating, but even more so, I believe, it was because the game was “cleaned up” a bit. There were less cheap-shots, fewer interference and holding penalties than the average NHL game. And no fighting. With every game being pivotal, and a suspension looming as the result of any thrown punches, the game was much more fluid, much more enjoyable. It didn’t stop for two minutes after every save while everyone paired up. The whistle blew. Then there was a faceoff. I never thought I’d say it, but I believe fighting should be phased out of hockey. In all reality, it does nothing good for the sport. It slows it. It makes it ugly and barbaric to the casual fan. And I sure as hell didn’t miss it watching the Olympics.

It has also been suggested that the lowered amount of commercials during the Olympics made the games much more enjoyable. I also believe this to be true. During the third period of the gold medal game, the play was uninterrupted. Now, the argument could be made that everything is better without commercials. I mean, you can’t tell me you aren’t annoyed when Jack Bauer is about to save the world yet again on 24, and then an ad for Refresh comes on. But maybe there is a compromise. Maybe, like many soccer matches overseas, there can be a rotating sponsor around the score ticker on the screen. Perhaps the first two periods could have their regular three TV timeouts, but the third could be played without stoppages. This, like the elimination of fighting, would create a smoother product, one that mimicked the fluidity of the game. This would be a good thing. This would help save a sport that is currently on par with arena football.

Oh, and as far as Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, possibly not allowing players in the league to participate in the next Olympics, don’t even get me started. It is free advertising, Gary. Use your head. Nobody knows the sport exists. But 27.6 million watched your players on Sunday. See the bigger picture, buddy.

One last thing – I hope all you betting folks out there paid heed to my advice and chose Canada for gold.

Sometimes I amaze myself, I really do.