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Originally posted by mmm3587
So, I don't really follow this hockey thing....
P.S. Is there some kind of good article by King Kaufman or some general interest sports writer that tells me why professional hockey has any sort of redeeming sporting qualities? Because I get that the level of athleticism is awesome and all that, but they keep fighting all the time, and there are no real consequences. It's like watching professional wrestling.
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GWINKY and Thrasher Fan can give you better explanations but I'm a recent convert to the sport so I'll explain why I like hockey.
1. To really appreciate hockey, you have to see it live at the arena. Hockey on TV is passable but live is best. Hockey on the radio is for desperation measures.
2. My brother calls hockey "controlled chaos" and that is a big part of the excitement. I love the strategic nature of baseball and think it is a very cerebral sport. But hockey has both speed and limited predictability. Imagine basketball with a player in front of the basket to block shots and make it harder to score, more opportunities to steal the ball both by hooking it with a stick in mid-dribble or running into or glomming all over the person with the ball, player substitutions while play is on, and all this done most of the time at a dead run. Oh and make the ball about the size of a baseball.
3. The icing and offsides rules keep the action moving and all the players involved so teams can't just send one person down the ice for long passes or get the puck away from their goal by hitting it to the other end and making the other team skate away for it.
4. With the speed of play and the size of the puck, sometimes it is hard to keep track of the puck as a spectator -- the skill to do it while playing is pretty amazing.
5. It isn't all about the fights. My 15 yr. old nephew bemoans the decline in fighting. And there are consequences -- being on the wrong side of a power play at a critical time can mean the game, especially if the person in the box is one of your best players. And for really egregious violations, the player may be out of commission for 10 minutes -- a significant chunk of a period.
I got into hockey by watching my nephew through years of midget, bantam etc. leagues. (Last year was the first time I could watch him check and get checked without cringing.) I hope he makes the Junior Varsity team this year or I'll go into hockey withdrawal. As he got older, I took him to some Golden Gopher (U of Mn) games and a Wild game.
My advice: Go to a good college or NHL game with someone who knows the game and can explain what's happening.
