Why You Should Be Watching Hockey

NHL or just hockey in general is really exciting to watch with the fast-paced skating, big hits, crazy and creative goals, as well as the amazing teamwork you see in the sport. Most people, when they think of hockey, think of fighting and gigantic hits. I went around school with a survey asking if people watch hockey and what they know about hockey. Out of 124 students to fill out the survey and 55% of the students do not watch hockey and 67% said they only know about fighting and hitting in hockey. But hockey is more than just hits and fights, it is one of the most underrated sports that a lot of people do not watch. While I have no idea why, I’m going to give you some reasons why you should start watching hockey.

Sportsmanship

The sportsmanship is amazing, even though it doesn't seem like it with all the constant hitting and fighting. But after you watch someone get hit, you see him get right back up and play the game because you have to keep going. Hockey is a fast paced sport and there is no time to stop and trash talk, like you may see in other sports. For example football you may see a huge hit and next they might get in each others faces and start trash talking. But a big or dirty hit could lead to a fight.

Fighting

Fighting is probably what everyone knows about hockey, whether they watch it or not. Fighting has been a part of the NHL since 1922. This was when the NHL introduced Rule 56, which formally regulated fighting, or "fisticuffs" as it was called in the official NHL rulebook. Rather than ejecting players from the game, as was the practice in amateur and collegiate hockey, players would be given a five-minute major penalty. Fighting is also where you can find respect between two players in the game. After a fight you can see NHL players talking to each other which gives us the assumption that they are trash talking. However, in games where they are mic’d up you can hear them congratulating each other on the fight they just had. So, the big question about fighting is; why is there fighting in hockey? Well, there are many reasons why players may fight and here are a few: The person is angry, protecting their goalie (touching the goalie in hockey is a big no-no), or after a humongous hit and they want to protect the player and kind of show them they can’t hit their teammate like that again. Hockey can be a very finesse sport with the passes, goals, and the amazing footwork.

Goals and Celebrations

The goals in hockey can be some of the best highlights you have ever seen, and some of the celebrations after the goal are just as good. Hockey celebrations are honestly some of the best and most creative celebrations in sports. When NHL players score goals you may see a unique celebration because hockey is usually a low scoring game and a player in the NHL does not know when he will score again.

The Pace Of The Game

Hockey is one of the best sports to watch because of all the excitement that happens in just one game. Did you know that there are only 11 minutes of actual game action in an average NFL game? Sure, the plays are hard hitting and exciting, but the plays only last about five seconds. Baseball is the worst. The players stand around most of the game, and when someone does get a hit, the action is very short lived. Not so in hockey. The play is constantly back and forth, with very few stoppages of the clock. Everyone is constantly moving because they're on skates. No one is standing around in center field or crouched in a huddle drawing up plays. There's no time for that in hockey. Since we are speaking about how exciting hockey is, the NHL playoffs are full of excitement and thrills.

Playoffs

There is nothing in sports as intense as NHL playoffs. Not the Super Bowl. Not the World Series. An NHL stadium during the playoffs rocks with more raw emotion than any other arena in sports. An example is Nashville’s arena chants were so loud during their playoff games it would intimidate/make the opposing team distracted. Also, the playoffs is where you see heros born to help the team win. What is also exciting about the playoffs is where you can see rivalries battling to win the series or you can see rivalries born.

Rivalries If you are into huge rivalry games, then hockey is for you. How many times are rivalries used as selling points in sports? How often do those rivalries live up to the hype? Hockey, unlike those other sports, takes rivalries very seriously. Flyers-Penguins, Bruins-Canadiens, Sharks-Kings, and Blackhawks-Red Wings are just some of the teams with a serious beef between them. This isn't just something made up by the league or taken too far by the fans; these teams really do not like each other. If you want to see a game between teams that can't stand to be in the same building together, let alone play against each other, hockey is the sport for you. But overall hockey is just really fun to play/watch.

Conclusion

Look, I could go on and on with specific reasons why more people should watch hockey. I could pull out statistics or link videos. But the fact is that hockey is best explained if you just watch it for yourself. Better yet, go to a game sometime. Hockey is one of the view sports where seeing it live is an immense experience. I've been to a few baseball games before, and I found it was really easy to not pay attention to the game yet not miss anything. Hockey isn't like that. It requires your full attention and energy, but that's what makes it so much fun. The game is exciting, which gets the crowd fired up. The energy from the crowd pushes the players, and they play better and harder.