Now let me say this right off the bat: I will even pretend to be impartial about this Stanley Cup Final. Hockey is Canada's sport, and the NHL has robbed Canadians of a lot of joy. Far too much joy, frankly.
The last time that a Canadian franchise won the Stanley Cup was in 1993, when the Montreal Canadians defeated the Los Angeles Kings in five. Bill Clinton was then the new American president. Most people had not yet heard of the internet. Hell, most people had not even heard of Y2K yet. The year 2000 still looked too distant to worry about, and impossibly futuristic, even though it was rushing to meet us. The Cold War had fairly recently ended, and the Soviet Union had dissolved still more recently. There had been an attack on the World Trade Center earlier that year, but it had not registered too strongly on the radar of most Americans.
Oh, and Canada was still pretty dominant in hockey, despite only having a fraction of the franchises in the NHL.
Back then, I was just really getting into hockey for the first time. It, like other sports, felt like a respite from the pressures and stress of the real world. An escape, like any other form of entertainment. It was easy to get into it. Then, it started getting weird, and it was hard not to notice certain things. There was a trend growing by the time I really got into hockey fully, which would be 1995, right around the time that my two favorite teams - the Quebec Nordiques and the New Jersey Devils - were really starting to enjoy some bigtime success.
At first, the trend was not obvious. Again, hockey felt like a sport then that relied more heavily on traditions, and those traditions went longer than any other sport. You really could not escape the Canadian roots of the league. So it made sense that Canadian teams would be the very picture of success at the time.
Who knew that all of that was about to change?
Think about that, and think about the trends since then. Northern market teams - and especially those north of the border - seemed to be specifically targeted, as one northern city after another either lost their NHL franchises, or came uncomfortably close to it. The Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993. Then in 1995 it was the Quebec Nordiques, who were just getting really good and about the reward their loyal fans after years and years of losing, instead moved to Denver and hoisted the Stanley Cup for Colorado. In 1996, the Winnipeg Jets moved to the desert, to that noted hotbed of hockey, Phoenix, Arizona. In 1997, Hartford lost the Whalers.
Almost as bad were all of the rumors of seemingly inevitable moves, where northern cities would lose their franchises, inevitably moving further south. The New Jersey Devils won the Stanley Cup, which probably saved them from a move to Nashville which had previously seemed inevitable. It also sure seemed like the Buffalo Sabres would relocate in the early 2000's., and that still seems like a possibility at times Even the Pittsburgh Penguins almost moved to Kansas City.
Yet, the worst was that once again, Canadian franchises seemed to always be vulnerable. The Edmonton Oilers came uncomfortably close to relocating to Houston. The Canucks almost made a move to Seattle. And there were constant questions whether city of Calgary could afford to keep an NHL team. Ditto with the Ottawa Senators.
Then, as if all of that was not bad enough, the Calgary Flames seemed to be robbed of a Stanley Cup win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They were up 3-2 in the series and hosting Game 6. It was very late in a low-scoring game, the two teams nodded up at 1-1. Then, the Flames scored what sure appeared to be a Stanley Cup clinching goal.
But wait! Not so fast!
There was a long pause when the goal was reviewed, during which time NHL league officials were consulted. The goal was called off, taking the air out of Calgary's sails. The game went to overtime, and the Lightning took advantage and scored, forcing a Game 7, to be played in Tampa. And surprise, surprise, the Lightning won. The NHL had commercials showing the wild enthusiasm of these new fans in a southern market team. It was hailed as a huge success.
But you know what? Canadians felt a sense of betrayal, and they were not wrong to feel that way.
That, plus the strike in 2004-2005 that saw the entire season cancelled. Then the Edmonton Oilers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, and the Ottawa Senators lost to the Anaheim Might Ducks in 2007. That was more than enough for me. I pretty much lost interest in the NHL.
Here's the thing: hockey at it's best could be fun. I remember enjoying it in 1994 and 1995, and even for a few years after that. Even right up until the Devils dynasty more or less ended. Yet, I was feeling less and less comfortable with hockey as an escape, because it still felt like the league officials were trying to alter the entire landscape. And they were doing it for the most obvious reasons in the world: money.
You see, call me crazy, but I can really get into sports mostly as an escape from the real world. Once sports begins to remind me too much of the real world, it stops being fun. The NFL, for example, felt a whole lot more fun before there were constant reminders of contract negotiations, with suddenly nonstop newsfeed, at least on sports shows, which of course spilled over into sports conversations with friends and coworkers and such. Then, there were the domestic abuse issues, and players like "Big" Ben Roethlisberger being saved from suffering serious consequences for their own actions and very, very poor decisions. Also, there was the increased suspicion that the NFL was going to increasingly extraordinary lengths to try and minimize the story of the effects of concussions. And I find that I have not been able to get into the NFL nearly as much as I did when younger, when it felt more innocent.
With the NHL, it was the perception - and it felt like there were some very good reasons for this particular perception - that only money mattered. Fans did not matter, if those fans could not bring the NHL the most money. And Canadian fans evidently were regarded as a liability, it seemed. Probably fans of not so glamorous, northern market teams, as well, like the Buffalo Sabres, the Minnesota North Stars, and the Hartford Whalers. Probably the New Jersey Devils were saved from that, at least for a while, with their incredible success in the 1990's and early2000's. But once some Canadian franchises left for greener (in every sense of that word) pastures south of the border, NHL hockey stopped being fun for a lot of people. I'm not even Canadian, but that was about the point when I started to really lose interest, as well.
It's not just the money issue regarding the actual move of NHL franchises to non-conventional hockey markets in warm weather, southern cities, either. It is also who it will attract, which inevitably feels like...well, wealthier people.
Here's what I mean: there was a young man (I almost put down kid, but he in fact only reminded me of a kid) who actually was quite enthusiastic about the trends of new, non-traditional markets getting ice hockey franchises. He said that it was spreading interest in the sport. He waved away my arguments that places like Miami and Las Vegas and Arizona and southern California really never got ice.
"That's why they have indoor venues," he said, clearly pleased with his own logic.
But here's the thing: when I thought of old school hockey, the way it used to be, I thought of kids playing the sport on frozen lakes somewhere in Canada, or some northern American states, or perhaps Scandinavia or Russia. Like Pele learning to play soccer so well even though he was dirt poor, it did not require money. It just required the will to go play the sport at your local frozen lake. If you get good, and things grow more serious, than yes, surely there will be ice skating venues year round, and coaches, and all of that. But remember, all of that takes money. Hockey always felt at that time like the most grounded sport. A sport with the most regular, least glamorous guys of all four major North American sports. And it felt like that was going to be compromised once it became more of an elitist, niche sport, at least for the new fans in those warm weather markets. In other words, it would exclude kids who could not afford it. They would never learn to love the game in the same way that, say, Canadian kids learned to love the game, playing makeshift ice hockey games on their local frozen lakes or even ponds, perhaps using sticks and rocks, much like Pele used to use a rock and two sticks as a makeshift goal, as I understand it.
The fans from these new, warm weather markets would be kids with money. It would b polarizing, and open really only to affluent kids. Kids who could afford it. And that, too, felt like too much of the real world getting in the way of allowing hockey to simply be fun, like it used to be.
So my interest waned I mean, seriously waned.
There was a brief while in the late 2000's into early 2010's when I had a girlfriend who was really into going to Devils games. But even then, it did not feel as fun or magical as it once had. As soon as our relationship ended, so did almost all of my interest in really following the NHL.
I took a brief interest again when the Vancouver Canucks almost won the Cup in 2011. Again I took interest when the Canadiens made it in 2021, because it would hae been nice to see them win again. But they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights, who happened to make the Stanley Cup Finals a few years earlier in their very first season of existence. Somehow, they have been an elite team since they came into existence, and they won that series. Yet another warm weather southern city franchise defeating a Canadian franchise in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Now, once again, my interest flared briefly. Feeling a little bit like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football that would inevitably be pulled away at the last moment, I took some measured interest in Edmonton's run to the Stanley Cup Finals. Then they promptly fell behind, 3-0. True, they won the next three games, but something told me that ultimately, they would lose. Last night, that was exactly what happened.
Yet another warm weather southern city franchise defeating a Canadian franchise in the Stanley Cup Finals.
And you know what?
Fuck that.
Sorry, I don't mean to be crass on my own blog, but it grew old a long, long time ago.
So yeah. Frankly, fuck the NHL for making that the new reality of the league, one way or the other. It grew old and tiresome a long time ago.
They could take steps to change it. Make hockey accessible and enjoyable to those who consistently showed the most passion for the sport. I would be willing to bet anything that kids in Canada and some parts of the northern United States still play ice hockey on frozen lakes, like they did for many decades before. Try to appeal to those kids, instead of giving them every reason to turn away from ice hockey, in a world hat is rapidly filling up with more and more distractions. Remember that ice hockey's roots were in the northern United States and especially Canada, whether you like it or not. Bring back a reason for those kids to have passion for ice hockey again, instead of making it seem like you are turning them away.
Somehow, though, I don't see this happening. And I see the NHL continuing in the direction that it has been going it, rather than changing course. Money talks, after all.
So I am going to try to do my part. I have hardly been paying attention to the NHL in recent years, but now, I will make even more of a point of ignoring it. I went to my first NHL game in years (a playoff game, actually), but no more. There were games I actually watched this postseason, but again, no more. The NHL only pays attention to money, and so I will try to do my part in getting them to listen to my complaints by not giving them any of mine. Money talks, after all.
I have lost pretty much all interest in the NHL now. Let me finish by saying this: I will not watch another NHL game, much less review anything regarding the NHL, until this ridiculous "bad luck" streak that Canada is supposedly suffering through, but which in fact actually feels remarkably orchestrated, ends. Bring back the Quebec Nordiques. Stop blocking Hamilton from getting an NHL franchise. And most importantly, stop promoting the glory of new, warm weather southern franchises who suddenly get good and suddenly get strong fan support for the duration of their successful postseason runs. Do something to reward the most loyal fans, traditionally, in Canada.
Until I sense that this is happening, personally I have lost all interest in following the NHL.I would congratulate the Florida Panthers, but frankly, I just don't care anymore.
Fuck the NHL.
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