It is the fastest team sport anywhere, the only one in which players can change on the fly, where players must combine speed, skill and physical ability to succeed. And did I mention it's on ice? Try putting Tom Brady or Shaq on skates to do their jobs. Hockey players possess an enormous amount of talent and toughness, and now we are losing it all as players go where they're in demand-often Europe. Yet no one seems to be bothered.
The most exciting event in all of professional sport occurs, or rather occurred, in hockey on a yearly basis: playoff overtime. It's sudden death-first goal wins, no commercial breaks and one mistake in any 20-minute period can end someone's season in an instant. Nothing else comes close. The action goes back and forth, momentum shifting constantly. First person to score wins in football, too, but with a coin toss, breaks between every play and frequent timeouts, overtime can be based on a heads or a tails and seems to last for an eternity. Not so in hockey, where the action starts at center ice and never stops. Basketball keeps going too, but in a sport where scores often reach triple digits, a single basket just doesn't have the same meaning as a goal in hockey, and overtime in basketball is a set time, with no suspense until the very end. In the Stanley Cup finals last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning came back from a 3-2 deficit in a thrilling series featuring scoring, goaltending and overtimes. Eight nations from North and South America played in the World Cup of Hockey late last summer, but can anyone tell me where? This wasn't even the NHL, and still no one bothered to pay attention.
Has anyone heard of the Miracle on Ice? That was hockey. It was in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid when a bunch of U.S. college kids beat the heavily favored Soviet Union team in the greatest sports upset ever (think Amherst football defeating the Patriots); it brought a sense of satisfaction and pride to the entire nation. During some of the darkest days of the Cold War, this victory generated patriotism in a way the government could not, by giving the nation something to rally around in common celebration. Since 1893 the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the best team in hockey, the oldest such trophy for professional athletes in North America. Each player on the winning team gets to keep the Cup for one day during the summer, allowing unrivaled access to a professional sports trophy. And now all of this history and all of these traditions are in danger of being lost. In players such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and Mark Messier, hockey has featured some of the best, most approachable and down-to-earth athletes. Now all that they have been playing for is in danger of extinction at a professional and televised level in America.
The NHL has some serious problems that must be addressed, and even the cancellation of the season would be understandable if only it served to fix what is wrong. Unfortunately, both sides make themselves appear hypocritical by claiming to love the fans but refusing to compromise and driving more people away. Young children around the world look up to hockey players and dream of one day donning the colors of their favorite teams. Now they are turning away from the game and their heroes, and the result may be devastating to the future of the sport.
When the NHL does restart it will be a game worth watching, with more offense and open play. What makes hockey great has not changed, and though it isn't America's favorite pastime, it is faster paced and more exciting than every other major North American sport.
The NHL has a legacy and a potential that are worth saving, and it is a tragedy that so few people care.
Schulman can be reached at eschulman08@amherst.edu