Let's Not Give Up On Hockey Just Yet

There was a time when my favorite sport was, without hesitation, baseball. Recently, however, my interest in the game has been lost. Not because of a steroid scandal or the incompetence of Bud Selig, but mostly because the team I grew up cheering for, the Pittsburgh Pirates, has been a Major League Baseball team in name only and is currently working on its 17th consecutive losing season with no end in sight.

You might argue that makes me a fair-weather fan, but I disagree. My interest is so low that if, by some perfect storm -- like the rest of the National League halting operations and disbanding from the league -- the Pirates actually won something, I still probably wouldn't care as much as I should. I just don't care about baseball anymore, but I certainly don't begrudge those who still do. It's still a great game, even if my interest is at an all-time low.

In its place, over the past 10-15 years, the sport of hockey has quickly become my first love as a sport, and it seems to grow every season.

I grew up watching the dynamic duos of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov, and Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, not to mention individuals such as Pat LaFontaine, Alexander Mogilny, Pavel Bure and Teemu Selanne. I loved watching those guys. All of them. As I look at the NHL right now, I'm hopeful that the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Nicklas Backstrom can continue on their current paths and help bring hockey back into the national spotlight, or, at the very least, the same auditorium. This postseason we've seen flashes of interest. Thanks to the seven-game series between Pittsburgh and Washington, not to mention the other competitive second-round matchups, people are talking. On Thursday, for example, the first topic of discussion on ESPN's Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption wasn't the NBA playoffs, or news that Alex Rodriguez injected something new into his body, or that Brett Favre was contemplating another return to the NFL ... it was HOCKEY.

It's not much, but it's a start.

I'm not delusional enough to think that the NHL can ever overtake the monster that is the NFL, or even MLB, because that's just not going to happen. I accept that. What I won't accept, however, is that the NHL is destined to remain in the shadows, not even worthy of discussion south of the Mason-Dixon line or west of the Mississippi.


On Wednesday, one of our columnists here at FanHouse, David Whitley, rained on the parade that has been this fantastic NHL postseason, explaining why people in the South have no interest in the game. Frankly, I think there's some merit to the overall point (some new markets have failed, the TV deal stinks, hockey can't compete with football, etc. etc. etc.), but that it could have been argued without the same old cliches -- not understanding the rules and not being able to find the puck, among various other potshots.

It also ignored the fact that, in some cases, Gary Bettman's maniacal idea of expansion and reshuffling of franchises has actually worked in some of the non-traditional hockey markets. Even in the South.

The dire situation in Phoenix, as well as the rumors surrounding the future of the Atlanta Thrashers, make it easy to point at the NHL and laugh for ever thinking it could have two viable franchises in Florida, or one in Atlanta or Phoenix, and a look at the attendance numbers in those cities makes it easy to continue the snickering. But are those teams failing at the gates because people in the South don't care about hockey? Or are they failing because they don't have much interest in any sport, or, if nothing else, sports that can't provide them winners?

While it's true the Florida Panthers, for example, are near the bottom of the pile when it comes to attendance in the NHL, their average draw, per game, is right on par with that of the Florida Marlins, while the Atlanta Thrashers are usually on par -- or better -- when it comes to attendance than the Atlanta Hawks. Since 2001, the Tampa Bay Lightning have averaged more fans per game than the Tampa Bay Rays in six of the seven seasons (not counting the NHL lockout season of 2004-05). Funny, it's not just hockey that seems to be struggling at the gate in the South.

But let's talk about some southern markets that have actually succeeded. Let's start with Dallas.

Dating back to 2001, the Stars have ranked in the top half of the league in attendance every season, playing to 95 percent capacity this past season despite having a team that failed to qualify for the postseason, finishing 12th in the Western Conference. I reached out to Brandon Worley of Defending Big D to gain more insight on hockey's place in the Dallas sports landscape.

"When the Stars first arrived in Dallas, there were a few hockey rinks in malls scattered around the metroplex and a few adult and youth roller hockey leagues," said Worley. "Texans really didn't know what to make of the sport. But the Dallas Stars franchise really made a concerted effort to teach the region about ice hockey and make it a popular past time. The Stars have several 'Starcenters' around Dallas and Fort Worth; state-of-the-art ice rinks that provide venues for top-quality hockey leagues, as well as a place for the Stars team to practice throughout the season. What other teams provide a place for fans to go and watch their favorite teams practice?"

He continued: "Since 1993, when the Stars franchise moved to Dallas, over 200 ice hockey rinks have been built in the DFW metroplex. There are countless more roller hockey rinks and leagues. It's one of the more popular youth sports in the area and is starting to produce serious NHL prospects. Several Dallas-based teams have won North American and international hockey tournaments and Dallas is starting to become known as a hotbed for talented hockey programs and players."

Since arriving in Dallas from Minnesota, the Stars have been a rather successful team, winning the Stanley Cup once and playing in the finals another time, they've also missed the postseason just three times. Obviously, when you introduce a winning team into a new market, it's going to be easier to draw fans. For the most part, fans in Miami (Panthers), Atlanta (Thrashers), Columbus (Blue Jackets) and Phoenix (Coyotes) have known nothing but losing and, at times, incompetent management. That's a recipe for failure in any market, for any sport, regardless of climate or location on the map.

"You could say that when the Stars came to Dallas in 1993, there was a perfect storm in place for hockey to instantly become a big hit," said Worley. "The team that migrated from Minnesota was extremely exciting to watch: Mike Modano was a top offensive player in the NHL and the team was littered with violent, charismatic players that loved nothing more than to make a big hit and get into a good fight. Instantly, the Stars games became known as one of the most exciting ways to spend a night out on the town."

If we go beyond Dallas, the Houston Aeros, minor-league affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, have ranked in the top 10 in attendance in the American Hockey League the past four seasons, while youth hockey in the area is growing and traces of the game can actually be found within the city limits. And we're not even talking about an NHL market. Are people going to turn down Texas Longhorns tickets to attend a hockey game on a Saturday afternoon? No, they're not. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking the sport can't exist and grow.

Meanwhile, out west in San Jose, the Sharks have been playing to capacity crowds for the better part of the franchise's existence, as the team has become one of the premier franchises in the Western Conference. Like Dallas, this was a team that found almost instant success and quickly built a rabid fan base. If you're going to expand into new markets, you have to make sure the team is successful or it won't catch on, and this is true in any sport (see: Tampa Bay Rays, Washington Nationals, Charlotte Bobcats, Memphis Grizzlies).

Back in April, prior to the team's first playoff game in its eight-year existence, Blue Jackets beat writer Aaron Portzline explained how, at first, Columbus loved its expansion hockey team. Unfortunately, as the losses continued to mount, interest began to drop. It should be interesting to see how Columbus grows as a hockey market seeing as how, for the first time, it has a legitimate on-ice product that figures to be a mainstay in the playoffs.

In the early 1980s, the idea of Pittsburgh as a hockey market would have been similar to considering, oh, I don't know, Nashville, as a hockey market today. Laughable. The Penguins were simply the team that filled space between the Steelers and Pirates, mainly because they had nothing to draw people into the building (except obscure promotions, like picnic jugs), as the team was a perennial loser. Nearly 30 years later, it's one of the top markets in the league, currently riding a 110-plus-game consecutive sellout streak, maintaining a waiting list for season tickets, and shattering local television ratings. It all started with the arrival of Lemieux and, eventually, a successful team.

We've already seen the impact that Ovechkin has had in Washington for the Capitals. Perhaps, in time, he can do for hockey in D.C. what Lemieux did for hockey in Pittsburgh. Same goes for players like Rick Nash in Columbus.

This season has also seen the revival of once-dormant Original Six cities Chicago and Boston. For years, the Blackhawks were irrelevant due to horrible ownership while the Bruins, well, they just stumbled around aimlessly with no direction. It's all changed this season, as the Bruins were one goal away from playing in the conference finals while the Blackhawks are just eight wins away from, potentially, winning their first Stanley Cup since 1961. These are major media markets, and if they can maintain their current level of on-ice success (and a quick look at their rosters indicates that they could actually get better), it's only good news for the league.

It's not perfect. We know. There are still hurdles to clear and mountains to climb (like getting on TV), but this postseason has been the most national attention the game has received since, probably, the lockout. And this attention is for all of the right reasons. Once you get people in the building and show them a live game, and let them realize it's not just about guys with "switchblades on their feet pounding each other," they tend to want to come back.