Skatearound
I’ve got a few NHL thoughts to break up the football monotony. I’ll also have some travel talk eventually — bowl season is coming.
I’ve now posted photos from the Carolina Hurricanes’ 8-6 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers a few weeks ago — after the VT-BC game in Blacksburg, I drove to Raleigh for the Friday nighter at RBC. Hockey photos are hard to do successfully with a consumer-level digital camera: the camera tries to force colors into balance, but the expanse of white ice throws this off badly. But after some time with iPhoto 5, I’ve got a good number of them looking acceptable.
Speaking of those Southeast-leading Canes, Scott Burnside’s Around the NHL feature at ESPN.com took notice this week that with sagging numbers in quite a few traditional markets, perhaps Southern fans and teams have been unfairly maligned:
If we assume that “real” hockey towns would have embraced the new NHL instantly, as has been the case in Philadelphia, Detroit and all of the Canadian markets, then maybe we’ve misjudged the standing of the game in markets like Long Island, New Jersey and Buffalo. Or perhaps we’ve unfairly besmirched hockey fans in places like Carolina, Atlanta and Nashville.
I’ve beaten this drum for years, and it’s nice to see a traditional columnist echo my conclusion for once. Per the mainline hockey press pre-lockout, when a Canadian market had attendance problems, it was a sign of savvy fans refusing to accept a bad product (Calgary in particular). But when Carolina got low turnouts after falling from the ‘02 Cup Finals run to the worst record in hockey the next year, it meant that those NASCAR-loving rednecks would never learn to support this great game. News flash: hockey isn’t part of our culture like in Canada or Minnesota, but we can recognize crap when we see it. We’ve had pro teams and public rinks for the better part of 15 years now, and we’ll turn out given a game worth watching. The new NHL has met that standard, and that should be good news for everyone who loves hockey.
Eric McErlain at Off Wing Opinion got an invitation from Washington Capitals owner and AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis to watch Tuesday’s Caps-Lightning game from the owner’s box. The resulting column is a must-read if you’re interested in the shape of hockey in Washington, and worthwhile even if you’re just a fan of the game at large. Though I’m not a Caps fan, I have a lot of respect for the way Leonsis runs his organization and interacts with fans and the media. And as Eric writes, Alexander Ovechkin is a must-see. I went to the Caps’ season opener vs. Columbus last month, and in his first NHL game, he was simply the most compelling player on the ice.
Hoo preview soon — stay tuned.
17 November 2005 / 0 Comments / Tags: hockey