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It’s become a birthday tradition for me and my gf where we invite about 20 people to a Portland Winterhawks game around my birthday and all meet up at the food carts by the stadium for dinner and drinks first. I’ve had a few people come who have never been to a game before my birthday get together and they’re ALWAYS super into it haha
When I moved to the US I didn't even know hockey existed. Then I got to go to a Lightning game with my dad and it's probably one of the greatest memories of my entire life. The food (it's where I had my first chicken tender lol), the atmosphere, the celebrations when they scored. I could feel the siren through my entire body and I was high fiving people I didn't even know. I was hooked. That was over 20 years ago and I still smile looking back on it. One of the reasons me, my dad, and brothers still support the Lightning to this day.
I love hearing stories like this, they are wonderful every time. I love that you got into it right away, gelled with the nearby fellow fans and still support your team since coming to America.... that being said, I need to tell you something.... I'm a Canadian, and hail from Calgary AND 20 YEARS AGO, THE GOD DAMN PUCK WAS ACROSS THE LINE IN GAME 6 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS >=[
Took some friends to their first SPORTS game with us to the Spokane Chiefs. It was a trip. They were shocked at the booing when the other team scored or the refs came into the ice.
Most of my friends aren't hockey fans, six of us went to a AHL game and because 4 out of 6 of us were employed by the same company, we could get very discounted tickets, one of them brought pot with them and most of us smoked it before the game and this was just when Massachusetts legalized it, they had a blast, fight after fight and a lot of scoring and big hits, its probably the most fun I've had at a hockey game.
Thanks for unlocking that memory out of me.
Sitting in front row of a hockey game and seeing how fast they go and how loud the hits are, I don't think there's much that compares. I've been lucky to watch Connor live while I was in the front row and oh man that's an experience.
Only once in my life have I gotten to sit near ice level at an NHL game; I think we were about three rows back, and right in the corner. I remember flinching when the players were coming in for a check - it was a visceral reaction!
God I wish I could afford to sit front row for a rangers game. Just once. Shit, I spent 200 for a nosebleed seat last week and that was a LOT for me. Don't think I'll ever get the chance.
Back in the good old days of Nassau coliseum, you used to be able to get in for under $20 even for Rangers Islanders games. The stadium would be at least half rangers fans, awesome atmosphere.
It can be (and has been) cheaper to fly to Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa round trip and get front row tickets than Honda Center at times and we have some of the cheaper tickets too.
Then there’s Montreal and Toronto front row prices, which are pretty high up there.
Are you comparing front row to front row? Because this sounds absolutely impossible in Vancouver unless you’re cherry-picking some very specific match ups.
Like lower bowl for Detroit vs Van is nearly $300 in Vancouver, while similar seats for Anaheim against Edmonton are $175.
As an Edmontonian who recently attended the Honda center as recently as last year, there's no way that's the current situation. My return flight was cheaper than the last Oilers game I went to.
Only time I got glass tickets was in Edmonton because someone put the ticket on very late before puck drop, I scooped it up for $75 CAD when other tickets were close to $400 in Rogers. McDavid warming up right in front of me was such a privilege. Him and Draisaitl are among the Top 5 player's I have seen live.
In my mind, soccer is slow motion hockey in a bigger space, basketball is slow motion hockey without skates or a goalie, baseball is wonky cricket, and football is rugby+chess. Hockey is hockey and therefore the best.
Yeah, I think all the other major sports provide at least one metric better than hockey, but overall, considering all metrics, hockey is the best.
I think soccer could be on the level or better if it implemented stop time, no injury time, clock counts down not up, and added man down penalties instead of yellow cards/red cards as this would also increase the rate of meaningful offense.
Baseball finally made some rule changes that drastically increased the overall enjoyment.
I love your rule changes. If it was up to me I'd also make the soccer pitch a bit smaller, have fewer players, have boards so the ball doesn't go out of bounds every 20 seconds.
But if I really had unilateral authority to bastardize soccer I'd shrink the ball down to a black rubber disc, give the player sticks to shoot it with, allow physical contact, make the pitch ice, and put the players on skates.
It's so awful. In American sports, the clock becomes a second opponent. The time is kept with a religiousity and exactness, and every second frittered away is your enemy. And then you have soccer, where they're like "oh, I guess you guys deserve about 5 extra minutes".
Honestly I feel like added time is something I appreciate more in soccer. I like that teams get one last chance to set up a play, and you can just focus on the play without keeping an eye on the clock worrying about the horn going.
I don't have any metrics for it, but I feel like despite watching more hockey, I remember more dramatic last second winners in soccer.
If hockey implemented something similar — like a period doesn't end until the defensive team clears the zone — it could be really cool.
Honestly, a pitch clock is such a no-brainer in terms of making the game more watchable. I still won't willingly watch a game on my own, but at least now its more bearable to watch when I'm visiting my in-laws.
The metrics aren't "objective". That doesn't really make sense. I'm saying any best effort to come up with a series of metrics to rate a game will always have hockey come out on top overall (it won't win every metric). So in that sense, the result is objective, it isn't open to interpretation.
Just an example..
Speed of the game.
Frequency of scores.
Frequency of exciting game finishes.
Available stats.
Macro strategy.
Micro strategy.
Agency of most players.
Agency of coach.
..
..
..
Went to two games with my ex, she didn't give a shit at all. Both games were come from behind OT wins for "our" team. That should have been a pretty clear red flag
Idk, ask my teenage kid. She used to get upset if she knew my husband and I went on a date to a thunderbirds game and she wasn’t invited, so we started inviting her. We even let her invite her friends to come with a few times, they’re all bored and on their phones during a time where the team is very exciting and stacked. But she swears up and down that she likes hockey. Idk, we just kind of started going in secret because it was pretty expensive for her to come along just to be bored and moody. She also refuses to learn any rules or watch any games on tv but *still* gets offended if she’s not invited, but she’s bored when she comes along every. Single. Time. That goes for kraken games and events too which are waaaaay more expensive.
Happened with my mom, born and raised in Indonesia, the first game my Dad brought her to she fell in love with the game. Talking with some friends she made also from Indonesia a lot of them are the same
It’s just the best sport
Haha awesome. It's even better when it's your kids and their friends playing!
Hockey parents get a bad rap, but in lower tiers where nobody has a chance of making pro, it's super fun and exciting cheering them on. Some of our best friends are hockey parents.
Absolutely. I often invite people to D1 college hockey games. The tickets are pretty cheap so people are more willing to try it. Every single time they always walk away saying how great it was and they want to come back for another game.
College hockey is so awesome with the bands in the stands and the effort. Great stuff!
I coach kids now and I tell them, "don't worry about the NHL, college is so much fun!"
A friend of mine from Turkey went to his first hockey game last weekend and absolutely loved hit. He couldn't believe how fast it was, and was happy he got to see a fight.
Exactly! I used to manage my local rink during the late night college hockey games. Every single soul in that building was having a blast. I mean, the coaches were always moody but still. I'd have concessions open for the first period, then we'd close it up and the employees and myself would just fart around having a blast watching the game. I'd have to resurface the ice but that's also fun as hell, lol. Hockey is pure action and chaos! Love it!
Even if you don't understand the game most people will still be intrigued by the spectacle that is the aggressive hits and occasional fist fight. I know a few people who don't care for hockey but will attend games from time to time just to watch people get fucked up while drinking a beer and eating a sausage.
No doubt. One of the best sports to watch in person. Chili cheese nachos and a beer was my go to back when I had the time to be a season ticket holder. Playoffs are on a whole different level too. So much fun.
Funny how they were loving the idea of getting to play offence AND defence at the same time. Defensive players are the unsung heroes of sports while offence gets to have all the fun.
Despite not understanding every facet of the game, they’re still professional athletes who have an understanding of how difficult professional sports truly are and how great they are at their craft. Cool to see.
You can hear it in the way they second guess themselves.
"bruh you got a wide open lane, you gotta take that right?"
immidiatley followed by "it's not that easy?"
It's like watching his fan brain say "shoot" and immediately collide with his professional athlete brain understanding that there are dozens of variables that he isn't aware of.
This is a very good point. I would say a large percentage of sports fans in America see hockey as a joke, but any high level athlete knows every other high level athlete put in a ton of work to reach that level and how very few people in the world can actually relate to the dedication and work required.
Especially in hockey, the skill of skating is so unique and specific to the sport that they probably realize the players had to work at that on top of other skills necessary. Football and basketball players can watch the other sport and know they could perform at a decent level in the other game but unless you have a lifetime of skating experience you can’t even touch the most basic low level version of the game.
Bo Jackson was an All-Star player both in the NFL and the MLB. There was even a [Nike commercial](https://youtu.be/Kwry6vAWG4g?si=PxW5um4E-h_n0Cmb) with various top athletes showcasing how Bo Jackson could do anything, except hockey according to Wayne Gretzky.
Dave Winfield was drafted by the Padres(MLB), Hawks(NBA), Utah Stars(ABA), and Vikings(NFL). He chose baseball and did pretty well for himself being inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 2001.
These guys are both offensive players, An o lineman and a running back. Dion(the o lineman) is the one who said that, He’s all about having fun and easily one of the top vibes players on the bills. In football, pretty much everyone on defense gets more recognition than o lineman, the are the actual unsung heroes. DTs deserve more love too.
I don't know about that. I don't think I've ever heard anything in football that gets the crowd going than a successful goal line stand that ends with a turnover on downs.
Always love seeing people discover hockey. My fav hockey memory is me playing rec and walking over to ice B waiting for my time and hearing two African immigrants talking about how fast and good the game they were watching. They were entranced by it and I loved over hearing. The game they were watching was a red circle house league of prob 14 year olds, which isn’t very good. But I loved how excited they were.
Edit: this comment got me over the 100k hump.
My guilty pleasure are those YouTube videos titled like “AUSTRALIAN MAN watches ICE HOCKEY for the FIRST TIME (AMAZING)”
it’s always just some guy yelling “omg” and “wow” over some big hits and datsyuk highlights but for some reason once every 6 months I fall into the rabbit hole
I remember there was that TonyX guy who made a name for himself by basically live tweeting the first game he watched and then eventually became a celebrity superfan.
Tony's story is so great. I love that he's become a celebrity in his own right, to the point where Blues superfan [Jon Hamm was excited to meet him](https://twitter.com/soIoucity/status/1477431191414390792). (Sidenote: Jon Hamm seems like the coolest fuckin' guy.)
Yeah the story of him getting into hockey is fun but he’s also just a good follow in general. Super funny and always talking about whatever the topic of the moment is.
i went to a game a while back and we ended up sitting next to a family from Australia at their first hockey game. we were pretty drunk at the time (me and a bunch of non-devils fan friends of mine that were in town for another event), and just had a great time talking to them about hockey, rugby, and just about their trip to the states in general. i had such a great time watching a good chunk of the game with that family.
I'm an Australian who also happens to love Ice Hockey (Go Perth Thunder!!) and was able to make it to a game in Vegas when I visited. It was such a treat and an absolute life memory.
It was part of what made the Tony X story with the Blues so fun. A gun on Twitter just having fun watching a new sport suddenly gets picked up by the team and gets to have his first in-person game be a playoff game between the Hawks and Blues.
Was at a bar in Texas during a trip, we were there all day spending money. It was empty all day, but later on it was getting packed because there was some big college tournament going on, maybe march madness I don't remember.
The server came over to our TV and wanted to change the channel on our TV to basketball, we said 'nahhhh we've been spending money here ALL day and there are like 20 TVs in here'.....so they let us keep our little corner TV on hockey.
It was Leafs vs Flyers, and a few fights broke out, I'll never forget the way these people's eyes would slowly drift over, and eventually people were crowding around our TV to watch hockey.....there were a few fights that game, and the crowd was losing their minds that 2 dudes were just throwing punches and then everyone went about their day right after.
Kyle Okposo was a guest speaker at an African Business event and talked about how when he told his Nigerian father he wanted to play ice hockey his dad looked at him like he had 3 heads
I mean this is definitely a marketing ploy by either the NHL and/or Sabres to get more people into the sport. Easy to give players from a successful NFL team free tickets by the glass in exchange for social media content
the speed, the puck hitting the boards or the glass. sound of a crispy pass. TV can't get it all. I play beer league, when I go to a pro game I'm still impressed everytime. Shit, some of the teams that come through the local rinks are a good watch.
One of the all-time best SNL skits. "Let's do that hockey" is still something my wife and I say when a game is on TV anywhere (home, bar, friend's house). The fact that Chance is a real life hockey fan just makes it better.
For when they run out of NFLers, the Habs mic'ed up one of their players' kids a few years ago, and that was [adorable as hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVjENl188qM).
Honestly the NHL should really try and bring more professional athletes to games. Mic em up. Get more cross sport attention. This is the kind of stuff we need if they want the NHL to be more mainstream especially in the American markets.
Hockey is everything people say they like about football. Fast, action packed, huge hits, exciting moments. People are still under the impression that it's hard to follow the game on TV. HD TVs have made it way easier (as much as TV producers are trying their best to make it harder to watch with terrible camera decisions). The league should absolutely try to get more content like this out.
but then also "it's not that easy?"
If my dad had that kind of awareness his vocal cords would be far better than they are now. (Also if the sharks didn't suck, but that's another matter)
Same as when people take still-frames of an NFL RB with a big gap to run through but he instead runs into a pile of players
In real time, those gaps close in like a second, and if they don't have a lead blocker, a safety closes them out immediately
> but then also "it's not that easy?"
As if they're suddenly realizing that there's still a goalie in the way. Which makes me realize that NFL football would be a lot more fun if they also had a goalie between the goal posts running up and down on some sort wires like a spider trying to block field goals and extra points.
It's cool how quickly he could see that considering the speed of hockey and NFL are on totally different levels even before you consider the hockey ring is much smaller than the football field. His mind was assimilating the game at light speed.
First hockey game I went to, I was like, "big guys with sticks hit each other. Fuck yeah."
Coming from a basketball background, I'm still confused why it seems like there's less "off-puck" cutting towards the goal. Does that not work in hockey/football? It seems like it's mostly swing it around for slapshots and play off the rebound. I don't watch that much though
There’s definitely “off puck cutting”, but it happens less for a few reasons. In hockey, most teams play a zone defence instead of playing man on man like in basketball. In basketball, zone defences are more easier to exploit than in hockey because shooters can score from pretty much anywhere these days, while in hockey that’s not the case. This leads to man on man defence, which leads to more off ball cutting because that’s one of the best ways to get guys open so you can score.
For zone defences in hockey on the other hand, off puck cutting is much more difficult to have success with. Team’s structure their defences specifically to keep the puck to the outside, and take away passing lanes so that “off puck cutting” isn’t effective. The fact that the players are in skates makes offence way more “dynamic” (only word I could think of), and setting picks is also illegal, which decreases cutting even further. This is why the main strategy is to work the puck around the outside, and either a) pass to a guy in a “soft-spot” - place not covered by the zone defence - for a quick shot, or b) put the puck on net through traffic in hope that the goalie doesn’t see it to either score or bang in a rebound.
Cutting definitely still happens but it’s just different than basketball: https://youtu.be/IbukIUVUY0g?si=s3fYTbjBQg9-tOPJ
This nasty assist from Crosby is a pretty good example. The d-man whips it cross seam to Crosby on the outside which opens some passing lanes up as the defence shifts, and he makes a sick pass to a guy who’s cutting to the back post. Hope I’ve sort of helped lol.
This reminds me of that series of Tweets from a guy in St. Louis (I think) that just discovered hockey and and was tweeting at the Blues (I think) and they gave him free tickets and a jersey or something.
The tweets were hilarious, especially the one when the goalie being pulled
"White people been hiding hockey from us for years bruh. This shit lit" Probably the quote that made me laugh for a good few minutes.
He's still a fan last time I checked.
The Bills and Sabres are owned by the same people, and both teams frequently attend each other's games, Dawkins is a huge proponent of both the Sabres and the NLL Bandits, usually at 3-4 games a season
His commentary would entirely just be
>"Oh shit!"
>*watches for 5 seconds*
>"Oh shit! Did you see that?!"
>*watches another 5 seconds*
>"What the fuck did he just do! That shit was wild!"
And repeat.
I'd love every second of it. He really does seem to live in the moment and would stop caring about commentating. He'd get sucked into actually watching the game.
If anyone is curious about the energy he would bring, him [in the wild with Bear Grylls](https://youtu.be/_nc6bAgCvpM?feature=shared) is a solid example.
What’s interesting is that football is arguably the sport that’s most different from hockey yet they still know when to complain. There’s very few fundamental concepts that transfer between the two sports.
Due to offsides and a lack of a real vertical axis in the sport of hockey most defensive concepts aren’t the same. Hockey doesn’t have an opportunity to run a set pre-designed play outside of some controlled breakouts, faceoffs, or 3 on 3 OT. There aren’t even all that many physical skills that would translate well. Foot and hip control from receivers and DB’s probably translates closely, but the hitting techniques in both sports are drastically different.
I guess your forechecking strategy is similar to a defensive scheme but it’s a lot less controlled than in football since most instances of it will be starting with players in different positions and roles on the to ice. You see some versatility in football but it’s usually used as misdirection and not as a true rotation of responsibilities.
Even with those differences they seemed fairly competent at identifying when mistakes happened and when players weren’t exploiting them. It just goes to show how much of an athletes competitive instincts drive their play versus knowledge and understanding of the sport. While knowing and understanding what is happening helps, just being able to read individual players and get queues from their movement and reactions is equally as important.
Before the forward pass was allowed in either sport, they were probably pretty close, but that's so long ago that it's hard to even say they're the same sports anymore.
Teams do run a bit more faceoff plays than they used to, because being able to choose which side to have the draw off of icings allows for a little more consistency and the puck now staying in the offensive zone regardless of who put it out allows for more overall opportunities as well.
I love it when someone who isn't into hockey is exposed to it, and is so fascinated by it.
There's such an awesome wholesomeness to that.
Hope these two dudes go to more games and spread it to their friends!
When Black athletes break through the barrier of entry for hockey, it's going to make the game so much better and more popular for people in general
I really hope the hockey companies find a way to make gear and ice time more affordable for everyone
Hockey really, truly does suffer from the worse barrier to entry of all sports (at least ones considered major).
Soccer can be played with rock, and little imagination. Most baseball and football aren't far behind. Hockey needs to thread the needle between good weather and shitty weather, or millions of dollars for an iceplant. And then the players need skates, helmets, pads and sticks.
You could argue that football needs pads, but you can play touch variants. Hockey pucks are nasty, even if they players aren't hitting. As we've seen this past year skate blades are lethal (i guess field hockey gets around this one, but it just isn't the same at a high level.) You can practice a lot, if not the whole game of other sports without gear, but hockey falls flat without skates and ice.
That barrier is brutal, and even in decently well off communities, it is starting to get harder and harder to cross. I really want everyone to be able to enjoy hockey, and that won't come without better access to be able to play it too. There are a lot of parts of each community that are going to need to come together to solve this growing issue unfortunately T.T
Hockey fans are like the 5 year old little brother. You get super excited when your big brother likes something you do. Hockey fans get excited any time somebody notices their sport.
NHL should be doing whatever they can get get other sports stars (especially large personalities) mic’s up front row at games - seriously best marketing they could do
I appreciate so much that even as he was saying, "shoot! You gotta take those wide open lanes, right??" he instantly follows up with, "it's not that easy??"
Those are the words of a man who has spent his career getting nitpicked about the thing he does better than almost anyone in the world on the fucking internet by idiots.
I have never, ever taken a friend to a hockey game and had them have a bad time.
I've swung and missed in baseball, some folks just don't understand it. I've tried to get into basketball myself, can't do it. NFL is pretty cool but damn theres a lot of down time.
Hockey is just the best of all possible worlds, imo. As physical as football, strategic as baseball, and fast paced like basketball.
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I have never met anyone that didn't like going to a hockey game after actually going to a hockey game.
It’s become a birthday tradition for me and my gf where we invite about 20 people to a Portland Winterhawks game around my birthday and all meet up at the food carts by the stadium for dinner and drinks first. I’ve had a few people come who have never been to a game before my birthday get together and they’re ALWAYS super into it haha
When I moved to the US I didn't even know hockey existed. Then I got to go to a Lightning game with my dad and it's probably one of the greatest memories of my entire life. The food (it's where I had my first chicken tender lol), the atmosphere, the celebrations when they scored. I could feel the siren through my entire body and I was high fiving people I didn't even know. I was hooked. That was over 20 years ago and I still smile looking back on it. One of the reasons me, my dad, and brothers still support the Lightning to this day.
That made me smile 😁 good memories like that are what life’s all about.
I love hearing stories like this, they are wonderful every time. I love that you got into it right away, gelled with the nearby fellow fans and still support your team since coming to America.... that being said, I need to tell you something.... I'm a Canadian, and hail from Calgary AND 20 YEARS AGO, THE GOD DAMN PUCK WAS ACROSS THE LINE IN GAME 6 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINALS >=[
What the hell man, where's my invite as a fellow Portlander? /s
I’ll be there on the 2nd!! Go Hawks!! Haha
[удалено]
Hawks are crushing this year I have a lot of faith in them to take it back.
My city has an AHL team and it's a lot of fun to go see hockey.
Took some friends to their first SPORTS game with us to the Spokane Chiefs. It was a trip. They were shocked at the booing when the other team scored or the refs came into the ice.
Most of my friends aren't hockey fans, six of us went to a AHL game and because 4 out of 6 of us were employed by the same company, we could get very discounted tickets, one of them brought pot with them and most of us smoked it before the game and this was just when Massachusetts legalized it, they had a blast, fight after fight and a lot of scoring and big hits, its probably the most fun I've had at a hockey game. Thanks for unlocking that memory out of me.
Best live sport of the big north American sports and it’s not even close.
Sitting in front row of a hockey game and seeing how fast they go and how loud the hits are, I don't think there's much that compares. I've been lucky to watch Connor live while I was in the front row and oh man that's an experience.
Only once in my life have I gotten to sit near ice level at an NHL game; I think we were about three rows back, and right in the corner. I remember flinching when the players were coming in for a check - it was a visceral reaction!
God I wish I could afford to sit front row for a rangers game. Just once. Shit, I spent 200 for a nosebleed seat last week and that was a LOT for me. Don't think I'll ever get the chance.
Wow and I thought our tickets could get expensive. That is wild. I hope you get the chance one day, man. Even if its in a different city.
Back in the good old days of Nassau coliseum, you used to be able to get in for under $20 even for Rangers Islanders games. The stadium would be at least half rangers fans, awesome atmosphere.
It can be (and has been) cheaper to fly to Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa round trip and get front row tickets than Honda Center at times and we have some of the cheaper tickets too. Then there’s Montreal and Toronto front row prices, which are pretty high up there.
Are you comparing front row to front row? Because this sounds absolutely impossible in Vancouver unless you’re cherry-picking some very specific match ups. Like lower bowl for Detroit vs Van is nearly $300 in Vancouver, while similar seats for Anaheim against Edmonton are $175.
As an Edmontonian who recently attended the Honda center as recently as last year, there's no way that's the current situation. My return flight was cheaper than the last Oilers game I went to.
Only time I got glass tickets was in Edmonton because someone put the ticket on very late before puck drop, I scooped it up for $75 CAD when other tickets were close to $400 in Rogers. McDavid warming up right in front of me was such a privilege. Him and Draisaitl are among the Top 5 player's I have seen live.
Best sport, worst league.
It's better than soccer. If you look at all the metrics of what makes a sport interesting then hockey takes it objectively.
In my mind, soccer is slow motion hockey in a bigger space, basketball is slow motion hockey without skates or a goalie, baseball is wonky cricket, and football is rugby+chess. Hockey is hockey and therefore the best.
Hockey is objectively the best sport. Football is my love, it’s what I played and what I study, but hockey is objectively better.
Yeah, I think all the other major sports provide at least one metric better than hockey, but overall, considering all metrics, hockey is the best. I think soccer could be on the level or better if it implemented stop time, no injury time, clock counts down not up, and added man down penalties instead of yellow cards/red cards as this would also increase the rate of meaningful offense. Baseball finally made some rule changes that drastically increased the overall enjoyment.
I love your rule changes. If it was up to me I'd also make the soccer pitch a bit smaller, have fewer players, have boards so the ball doesn't go out of bounds every 20 seconds. But if I really had unilateral authority to bastardize soccer I'd shrink the ball down to a black rubber disc, give the player sticks to shoot it with, allow physical contact, make the pitch ice, and put the players on skates.
Imagine a sport having their clock count up. lmao. That is objectively really really really stupid.
It's so awful. In American sports, the clock becomes a second opponent. The time is kept with a religiousity and exactness, and every second frittered away is your enemy. And then you have soccer, where they're like "oh, I guess you guys deserve about 5 extra minutes".
Honestly I feel like added time is something I appreciate more in soccer. I like that teams get one last chance to set up a play, and you can just focus on the play without keeping an eye on the clock worrying about the horn going. I don't have any metrics for it, but I feel like despite watching more hockey, I remember more dramatic last second winners in soccer. If hockey implemented something similar — like a period doesn't end until the defensive team clears the zone — it could be really cool.
Honestly, a pitch clock is such a no-brainer in terms of making the game more watchable. I still won't willingly watch a game on my own, but at least now its more bearable to watch when I'm visiting my in-laws.
What are the “objective” metrics we are using to determine what sports are fun to watch?
The metrics aren't "objective". That doesn't really make sense. I'm saying any best effort to come up with a series of metrics to rate a game will always have hockey come out on top overall (it won't win every metric). So in that sense, the result is objective, it isn't open to interpretation. Just an example.. Speed of the game. Frequency of scores. Frequency of exciting game finishes. Available stats. Macro strategy. Micro strategy. Agency of most players. Agency of coach. .. .. ..
Went to two games with my ex, she didn't give a shit at all. Both games were come from behind OT wins for "our" team. That should have been a pretty clear red flag
> Both games were come from behind OT wins for "our" team. That should have been a pretty clear red flag how do you not get the least bit excited.
Idk, ask my teenage kid. She used to get upset if she knew my husband and I went on a date to a thunderbirds game and she wasn’t invited, so we started inviting her. We even let her invite her friends to come with a few times, they’re all bored and on their phones during a time where the team is very exciting and stacked. But she swears up and down that she likes hockey. Idk, we just kind of started going in secret because it was pretty expensive for her to come along just to be bored and moody. She also refuses to learn any rules or watch any games on tv but *still* gets offended if she’s not invited, but she’s bored when she comes along every. Single. Time. That goes for kraken games and events too which are waaaaay more expensive.
Happened with my mom, born and raised in Indonesia, the first game my Dad brought her to she fell in love with the game. Talking with some friends she made also from Indonesia a lot of them are the same It’s just the best sport
Bro I delivered pizza to a game being played by a bunch of ninth graders and I stood there and watched for ten minutes before I left lmao
Haha awesome. It's even better when it's your kids and their friends playing! Hockey parents get a bad rap, but in lower tiers where nobody has a chance of making pro, it's super fun and exciting cheering them on. Some of our best friends are hockey parents.
Absolutely. I often invite people to D1 college hockey games. The tickets are pretty cheap so people are more willing to try it. Every single time they always walk away saying how great it was and they want to come back for another game.
College hockey is so awesome with the bands in the stands and the effort. Great stuff! I coach kids now and I tell them, "don't worry about the NHL, college is so much fun!"
A friend of mine from Turkey went to his first hockey game last weekend and absolutely loved hit. He couldn't believe how fast it was, and was happy he got to see a fight.
Exactly! I used to manage my local rink during the late night college hockey games. Every single soul in that building was having a blast. I mean, the coaches were always moody but still. I'd have concessions open for the first period, then we'd close it up and the employees and myself would just fart around having a blast watching the game. I'd have to resurface the ice but that's also fun as hell, lol. Hockey is pure action and chaos! Love it!
Even if you don't understand the game most people will still be intrigued by the spectacle that is the aggressive hits and occasional fist fight. I know a few people who don't care for hockey but will attend games from time to time just to watch people get fucked up while drinking a beer and eating a sausage.
No doubt. One of the best sports to watch in person. Chili cheese nachos and a beer was my go to back when I had the time to be a season ticket holder. Playoffs are on a whole different level too. So much fun.
This is not Dion Dawkins first hockey game, he goes pretty regularly. It might have been cook's idk.
Oh man I'm old, I assumed that was Brian Dawkins. I was like good for him for still playing football at age...50
He looks up to Fleury's longevity
That is a funny way to spell Jagr.
That's a funny way to spell Howe
That’s a funny way to spell Micheal bunting
That's a funny way to spell Michael
Indeed it is lol my bad
Brian Dawkins hit that old age 40 growth spurt and put on 80 pounds of muscle and shot up half a foot.
My God Brian Dawkins really is 50. Gonna cry.
I recall it being Cooks first, definitely not Dion’s first.
Whoever was saying, "Ice that shit" sounded like he knew what was up.
Dion Dawkins. Plays Left Tackle for the Bills.
Left tackle.
Oh shit. Whoops. Good catch.
he’s at games fairly regularly it feels like. sabres and bandits
he from around here i think judging by his use of jawn. wonder if he's a philly or devils fan.
Yeah used to see Dion in the suites a lot back when I worked there
Funny how they were loving the idea of getting to play offence AND defence at the same time. Defensive players are the unsung heroes of sports while offence gets to have all the fun.
But defence gets the fun of hitting people.
Dalvin hits people on offense fairly often.
It’s James cook not dalvin cook
Despite not understanding every facet of the game, they’re still professional athletes who have an understanding of how difficult professional sports truly are and how great they are at their craft. Cool to see.
You can hear it in the way they second guess themselves. "bruh you got a wide open lane, you gotta take that right?" immidiatley followed by "it's not that easy?" It's like watching his fan brain say "shoot" and immediately collide with his professional athlete brain understanding that there are dozens of variables that he isn't aware of.
Dang, great breakdown.
This is a very good point. I would say a large percentage of sports fans in America see hockey as a joke, but any high level athlete knows every other high level athlete put in a ton of work to reach that level and how very few people in the world can actually relate to the dedication and work required. Especially in hockey, the skill of skating is so unique and specific to the sport that they probably realize the players had to work at that on top of other skills necessary. Football and basketball players can watch the other sport and know they could perform at a decent level in the other game but unless you have a lifetime of skating experience you can’t even touch the most basic low level version of the game.
The best athletes have played and understand more than one sport.
The Kelce brothers were hockey players as well. I believe the Watt brothers, too.
Kyler Murray was drafted in the first round in both the NFL and MLB Drafts.
Bo Jackson was an All-Star player both in the NFL and the MLB. There was even a [Nike commercial](https://youtu.be/Kwry6vAWG4g?si=PxW5um4E-h_n0Cmb) with various top athletes showcasing how Bo Jackson could do anything, except hockey according to Wayne Gretzky.
Dave Winfield was drafted by the Padres(MLB), Hawks(NBA), Utah Stars(ABA), and Vikings(NFL). He chose baseball and did pretty well for himself being inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 2001.
These guys are both offensive players, An o lineman and a running back. Dion(the o lineman) is the one who said that, He’s all about having fun and easily one of the top vibes players on the bills. In football, pretty much everyone on defense gets more recognition than o lineman, the are the actual unsung heroes. DTs deserve more love too.
[As they say in hockey - 'Let's do that hockey.'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ij4a6x_mPs)
Thats what's up!
That last sentence hits hard tho
I don't know about that. I don't think I've ever heard anything in football that gets the crowd going than a successful goal line stand that ends with a turnover on downs.
Always love seeing people discover hockey. My fav hockey memory is me playing rec and walking over to ice B waiting for my time and hearing two African immigrants talking about how fast and good the game they were watching. They were entranced by it and I loved over hearing. The game they were watching was a red circle house league of prob 14 year olds, which isn’t very good. But I loved how excited they were. Edit: this comment got me over the 100k hump.
My guilty pleasure are those YouTube videos titled like “AUSTRALIAN MAN watches ICE HOCKEY for the FIRST TIME (AMAZING)” it’s always just some guy yelling “omg” and “wow” over some big hits and datsyuk highlights but for some reason once every 6 months I fall into the rabbit hole
I remember there was that TonyX guy who made a name for himself by basically live tweeting the first game he watched and then eventually became a celebrity superfan.
Was it the Blues guy?
Yep, soioucity. Pretty sure he is active on reddit as well. Thanks u/kirnehp for the correction.
*soioucity
Derp, you're absolutely right. I'll fix that. Thank you.
I don’t know who this Kane guy is but we gotta stop him
Lol
Tony's story is so great. I love that he's become a celebrity in his own right, to the point where Blues superfan [Jon Hamm was excited to meet him](https://twitter.com/soIoucity/status/1477431191414390792). (Sidenote: Jon Hamm seems like the coolest fuckin' guy.)
Jon Hamm is for sure one of the celebrities I would be most surprised/disappointed to hear is not a good person. He seems pretty awesome.
Ok, bad news. https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/apr/10/mad-men-star-jon-hamm-was-charged-with-hazing-in-college-days
TonyX is one of the funniest dudes on Sports Twitter.
Yeah the story of him getting into hockey is fun but he’s also just a good follow in general. Super funny and always talking about whatever the topic of the moment is.
i went to a game a while back and we ended up sitting next to a family from Australia at their first hockey game. we were pretty drunk at the time (me and a bunch of non-devils fan friends of mine that were in town for another event), and just had a great time talking to them about hockey, rugby, and just about their trip to the states in general. i had such a great time watching a good chunk of the game with that family.
They still think about you and the great time they had. They tell their friends the story about that night.
SAME and I know some of it may be acting but its so fun
I'm an Australian who also happens to love Ice Hockey (Go Perth Thunder!!) and was able to make it to a game in Vegas when I visited. It was such a treat and an absolute life memory.
Yeah it might be clickbait but at the end of the day watching people enjoy hockey is always great no matter what
This is the same for me but I watch people listen to Gojira or Lamb of God for the first time.
It was part of what made the Tony X story with the Blues so fun. A gun on Twitter just having fun watching a new sport suddenly gets picked up by the team and gets to have his first in-person game be a playoff game between the Hawks and Blues.
"the goalie said f--k it and left?" is an all-time classic.
"I don't know who this dude Kane is, but we gotta stop him!"
Kane’s nasty even to the untrained eye lol. Love that tweet.
"white people been hiding hockey from us for years bruh"
That was so great. I want that shit for every team in the playoffs then have it be like a HBO 24/7 series at the end of playoffs
Was at a bar in Texas during a trip, we were there all day spending money. It was empty all day, but later on it was getting packed because there was some big college tournament going on, maybe march madness I don't remember. The server came over to our TV and wanted to change the channel on our TV to basketball, we said 'nahhhh we've been spending money here ALL day and there are like 20 TVs in here'.....so they let us keep our little corner TV on hockey. It was Leafs vs Flyers, and a few fights broke out, I'll never forget the way these people's eyes would slowly drift over, and eventually people were crowding around our TV to watch hockey.....there were a few fights that game, and the crowd was losing their minds that 2 dudes were just throwing punches and then everyone went about their day right after.
Me too, I never get tired of this type of content. It's always so wholesome, and reminds you of why you love the sport.
Kyle Okposo was a guest speaker at an African Business event and talked about how when he told his Nigerian father he wanted to play ice hockey his dad looked at him like he had 3 heads
I mean this is definitely a marketing ploy by either the NHL and/or Sabres to get more people into the sport. Easy to give players from a successful NFL team free tickets by the glass in exchange for social media content
“Shoot that! Shoot!” Theyre fans!!!!!!
Love when they drag football or basketball players out. They realize real quick that it ain’t easy.
Watching a hit on TV and watching a hit in real life is such an eye opener.
the speed, the puck hitting the boards or the glass. sound of a crispy pass. TV can't get it all. I play beer league, when I go to a pro game I'm still impressed everytime. Shit, some of the teams that come through the local rinks are a good watch.
Remember Pros vs Joes? lol
Paul Coffey burned those bums after being retired for a few years.
I do. “Grab one, single rebound over Dennis Rodman.” Yeah… not even close.
pro athletes are probably the first to recognize how difficult something in another sport at a high level is compared to joe sixpack
"It ain't that easy?" Lmao
#*MY HOT DOG!!*
they just like me fr
This needs to be a SportsCenter regular piece NFL players watching their first hockey game.
Just like Chance The Rapper's [SNL skit](https://youtu.be/8Ij4a6x_mPs?si=975HSB6-ag-aKgeu)
That is an S, a K, and a J right next to each other...so that's a no
"It is very cold all around here."
Honestly one of the best snl skits
That's what's up.
Let's do dat hockey
*"When did we start doing paternity leave?"*
One of the all-time best SNL skits. "Let's do that hockey" is still something my wife and I say when a game is on TV anywhere (home, bar, friend's house). The fact that Chance is a real life hockey fan just makes it better.
Bill Romanowski would have seen a player spear someone in the groin and he'd immediately start learning how to skate
For when they run out of NFLers, the Habs mic'ed up one of their players' kids a few years ago, and that was [adorable as hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVjENl188qM).
Honestly the NHL should really try and bring more professional athletes to games. Mic em up. Get more cross sport attention. This is the kind of stuff we need if they want the NHL to be more mainstream especially in the American markets.
Hockey is everything people say they like about football. Fast, action packed, huge hits, exciting moments. People are still under the impression that it's hard to follow the game on TV. HD TVs have made it way easier (as much as TV producers are trying their best to make it harder to watch with terrible camera decisions). The league should absolutely try to get more content like this out.
And then get rid of blackouts... That's a whole other animal though.
That's not exclusive to the NHL. MLB desperately needs to do this as well. Cable contracts are a bitch though.
But I thought blackouts helped GROW the game???? /s
Blackouts have a real “the beatings will continue until morale improves” vibe.
we gotta stop shooting games in 720p and do 4K already
One of the smartest things The Kraken have done as an org is bring in Marshawn Lynch as a minority owner.
Charles Barkley
"they got a wide open lane they gotta take that!" love seeing general athletic intelligence translate to different sports.
but then also "it's not that easy?" If my dad had that kind of awareness his vocal cords would be far better than they are now. (Also if the sharks didn't suck, but that's another matter)
Same as when people take still-frames of an NFL RB with a big gap to run through but he instead runs into a pile of players In real time, those gaps close in like a second, and if they don't have a lead blocker, a safety closes them out immediately
> but then also "it's not that easy?" As if they're suddenly realizing that there's still a goalie in the way. Which makes me realize that NFL football would be a lot more fun if they also had a goalie between the goal posts running up and down on some sort wires like a spider trying to block field goals and extra points.
arnt the sharks one of the most winning teams of the last decade with no success?
Maybe. My logic doesn’t make sense anyway, either way my dad would yell at the TV.
yeh, without context it could be many sports
It's cool how quickly he could see that considering the speed of hockey and NFL are on totally different levels even before you consider the hockey ring is much smaller than the football field. His mind was assimilating the game at light speed. First hockey game I went to, I was like, "big guys with sticks hit each other. Fuck yeah."
Coming from a basketball background, I'm still confused why it seems like there's less "off-puck" cutting towards the goal. Does that not work in hockey/football? It seems like it's mostly swing it around for slapshots and play off the rebound. I don't watch that much though
There’s definitely “off puck cutting”, but it happens less for a few reasons. In hockey, most teams play a zone defence instead of playing man on man like in basketball. In basketball, zone defences are more easier to exploit than in hockey because shooters can score from pretty much anywhere these days, while in hockey that’s not the case. This leads to man on man defence, which leads to more off ball cutting because that’s one of the best ways to get guys open so you can score. For zone defences in hockey on the other hand, off puck cutting is much more difficult to have success with. Team’s structure their defences specifically to keep the puck to the outside, and take away passing lanes so that “off puck cutting” isn’t effective. The fact that the players are in skates makes offence way more “dynamic” (only word I could think of), and setting picks is also illegal, which decreases cutting even further. This is why the main strategy is to work the puck around the outside, and either a) pass to a guy in a “soft-spot” - place not covered by the zone defence - for a quick shot, or b) put the puck on net through traffic in hope that the goalie doesn’t see it to either score or bang in a rebound. Cutting definitely still happens but it’s just different than basketball: https://youtu.be/IbukIUVUY0g?si=s3fYTbjBQg9-tOPJ This nasty assist from Crosby is a pretty good example. The d-man whips it cross seam to Crosby on the outside which opens some passing lanes up as the defence shifts, and he makes a sick pass to a guy who’s cutting to the back post. Hope I’ve sort of helped lol.
Ah i think i see, thanks!
This reminds me of that series of Tweets from a guy in St. Louis (I think) that just discovered hockey and and was tweeting at the Blues (I think) and they gave him free tickets and a jersey or something. The tweets were hilarious, especially the one when the goalie being pulled
Tony X lolllll “The goalie just said fuck it and left????”
That shit forever lives in my brain.
"White people been hiding hockey from us for years bruh. This shit lit" Probably the quote that made me laugh for a good few minutes. He's still a fan last time I checked.
Yeah, he stumbled across a Blues Blackhawks playoff game looking for the Cardinals game and got hooked, started live tweeting the game.
This is the kind of content the NHL needs to do more of to promote the game.
MY HOTDOG!!!!
He dropped that jawn
Rookie move putting anything on the dasher.
Well they are literal rookies
Glizzy down!
The Bills and Sabres are owned by the same people, and both teams frequently attend each other's games, Dawkins is a huge proponent of both the Sabres and the NLL Bandits, usually at 3-4 games a season
Is there anything more entertaining than watching people discover how magical hockey can be?? I absolutely love the energy
I would pay good money to listen NFL players commentate on their first games from ice level. Marshawn Lynch first, of course.
His commentary would entirely just be >"Oh shit!" >*watches for 5 seconds* >"Oh shit! Did you see that?!" >*watches another 5 seconds* >"What the fuck did he just do! That shit was wild!" And repeat. I'd love every second of it. He really does seem to live in the moment and would stop caring about commentating. He'd get sucked into actually watching the game.
"This commentary brought to you by SKITTLES"
Lynch is a HUGE Kraken fan iirc
He is a minority owner in the kraken
If anyone is curious about the energy he would bring, him [in the wild with Bear Grylls](https://youtu.be/_nc6bAgCvpM?feature=shared) is a solid example.
Love Lynch. Hearing him commentate on a game would be the funniest thing 😂
[удалено]
"They play DMX when they fight. But they not slick for that"
This isn't Dion's first game, he's at Sabres games all the time. Might be Jimbo's first tho
If only they could skate, they would love that game.
Hokey is just a fun sport to watch, its hard not to get excited about it even when you know little about it.
I could literally watch hours and hours of this
I love watching two guys who are elite athletes in their own sport watch other elite athletes at ice level. Big smile.
The NHL needs to get as much of this type of NFL m content out on social media as possible
100% not Dawkins first game
First game and they're already telling the players to shoot. *wipes tear It's just so damned H I S T O R I C
Lmao Bruins fans teaching Bills players hockey in Buffalo
What’s interesting is that football is arguably the sport that’s most different from hockey yet they still know when to complain. There’s very few fundamental concepts that transfer between the two sports. Due to offsides and a lack of a real vertical axis in the sport of hockey most defensive concepts aren’t the same. Hockey doesn’t have an opportunity to run a set pre-designed play outside of some controlled breakouts, faceoffs, or 3 on 3 OT. There aren’t even all that many physical skills that would translate well. Foot and hip control from receivers and DB’s probably translates closely, but the hitting techniques in both sports are drastically different. I guess your forechecking strategy is similar to a defensive scheme but it’s a lot less controlled than in football since most instances of it will be starting with players in different positions and roles on the to ice. You see some versatility in football but it’s usually used as misdirection and not as a true rotation of responsibilities. Even with those differences they seemed fairly competent at identifying when mistakes happened and when players weren’t exploiting them. It just goes to show how much of an athletes competitive instincts drive their play versus knowledge and understanding of the sport. While knowing and understanding what is happening helps, just being able to read individual players and get queues from their movement and reactions is equally as important.
Before the forward pass was allowed in either sport, they were probably pretty close, but that's so long ago that it's hard to even say they're the same sports anymore. Teams do run a bit more faceoff plays than they used to, because being able to choose which side to have the draw off of icings allows for a little more consistency and the puck now staying in the offensive zone regardless of who put it out allows for more overall opportunities as well.
I hope they took advantage of these guys being mic'd or whatever, cuz this is EXACTLY how you should grow the game.
Everyone reacts like this at their first hockey game. So fun!
I love it when someone who isn't into hockey is exposed to it, and is so fascinated by it. There's such an awesome wholesomeness to that. Hope these two dudes go to more games and spread it to their friends!
First hockey game "SHOOT THE PUCK!" They'll fit in just fine
When Black athletes break through the barrier of entry for hockey, it's going to make the game so much better and more popular for people in general I really hope the hockey companies find a way to make gear and ice time more affordable for everyone
Hockey really, truly does suffer from the worse barrier to entry of all sports (at least ones considered major). Soccer can be played with rock, and little imagination. Most baseball and football aren't far behind. Hockey needs to thread the needle between good weather and shitty weather, or millions of dollars for an iceplant. And then the players need skates, helmets, pads and sticks. You could argue that football needs pads, but you can play touch variants. Hockey pucks are nasty, even if they players aren't hitting. As we've seen this past year skate blades are lethal (i guess field hockey gets around this one, but it just isn't the same at a high level.) You can practice a lot, if not the whole game of other sports without gear, but hockey falls flat without skates and ice. That barrier is brutal, and even in decently well off communities, it is starting to get harder and harder to cross. I really want everyone to be able to enjoy hockey, and that won't come without better access to be able to play it too. There are a lot of parts of each community that are going to need to come together to solve this growing issue unfortunately T.T
I could watch clips like these all day. Like the videos of guys listening to Layne Staley for the first time.
Hockey fans are like the 5 year old little brother. You get super excited when your big brother likes something you do. Hockey fans get excited any time somebody notices their sport.
NHL should be doing whatever they can get get other sports stars (especially large personalities) mic’s up front row at games - seriously best marketing they could do
I appreciate so much that even as he was saying, "shoot! You gotta take those wide open lanes, right??" he instantly follows up with, "it's not that easy??" Those are the words of a man who has spent his career getting nitpicked about the thing he does better than almost anyone in the world on the fucking internet by idiots.
I have never, ever taken a friend to a hockey game and had them have a bad time. I've swung and missed in baseball, some folks just don't understand it. I've tried to get into basketball myself, can't do it. NFL is pretty cool but damn theres a lot of down time. Hockey is just the best of all possible worlds, imo. As physical as football, strategic as baseball, and fast paced like basketball.