With USA Hockey's Hockey Weekend in America upon us, it seems like a good time to take inventory of the status of the game in each region of the United States.
Of course, the game is solid in virtually every place across Canada, but the health of the game varies from place to place in the U.S. The interesting thing is, in so many cases, the game is far more prominent in a region's day-to-day life than the media would portray.
In Southern California, the media often treats hockey as a second-tier sport, but the numbers indicate otherwise. There are nearly 20,000 registered players in California, and the state is second only to Michigan in total number of adults playing the game.
Aside from the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings, the region has a long history of minor league hockey. While that is on sabbatical this year following the demise of the Long Beach Ice Dogs, a new arena in suburban Ontario, California, is expected to host an ECHL team next fall.
Youth hockey is booming, and several of the region's major midget AAA teams are among the nation's elite. The Los Angeles Junior Kings, California Wave, and LA Selects have experienced significant success over the past decade, while newcomers California Stars and SoCal Titans show early promise.
As with many markets, ice time is an issue, but new rinks continue to pop up. The Toyota Sports Center, practice home of the NHL's Kings, is one of the premier small rinks in the nation. Quality and age of other rinks vary considerably, but things appear to be on the right path.
With increasing numbers each year, hockey is stronger in Southern California than many people realize. Yet at the same time, hockey is a rarity on bar televisions, in the local media, and in the day-to-day conversation of the average resident.
More than ever, this blog is meant to be interactive -- if you have the time, please post the status of the game as a whole in your region.
With or without Anze Kopitar, the Los Angeles Kings are playing some entertaining hockey.
Yes, those Los Angeles Kings. The team that has spent much of the season battling for last place in the Western Conference has been downright entertaining since Christmas.
And while they are not in the playoff race, their 5-4-7 since the start of February is not exactly embarrassing. Consider for the past several games, they have been playing without the services of Calder Trophy candidate Anze Kopitar, who continues to struggle with a nagging back ailment.
Since veteran goalie Sean Burke arrived on the scene, the Kings have been receiving solid goaltending from Burke and Mathieu Garon. Scoring goals has not been the problem, as Los Angeles has tallied a respectable 192 goals this season. The difference now is Garon and Burke are keeping them out of the net, something the squad struggled with through the first half of the season.
With forwards like Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, and Michael Cammalleri, Los Angeles will have plenty of firepower next season. If Patrick O'Sullivan improves on an often-shaky rookie season and develops as many expect, the Kings could be an offensive juggernaut within a couple of years.
Indications are highly touted blueliner Jack Johnson will leave the University of Michigan prior to next season in order to join the Kings. If Johnson signs ings and general manager Dean Lombardi can find a couple of solid free agents -- preferably one forward and one defenseman -- Los Angeles could become next year's Pittsburgh.
It's a Dogs' life
Okay, so the team is known as the Long Beach Ice Dogs. Still, it does not mean canines are big fans of the California ECHL franchise.
In any case, fans will be allowed to bring their dogs to Saturday's Ice Dogs game against Alaska. Teams such as the Utah Grizzlies and the now-defunct San Diego Gulls have tried this in the past, but generally, the negative feedback far outweighs positive feedback.
Thankfully, the teams typically limit the dogs to a certain part of the arena -- three sections in this case -- but there is a myriad of problems. Those with allergies will struggle, and since dander can last for several months, those seats could be off-limits for some time.
As any dog owner knows, it is not uncommon for dogs to start barking when they are around other dogs. Put a few dozen -- or few hundred -- dogs in one place, and it could be noisy. Not the type of noise that adds to a game, but the type of noise that distracts fans. That is, unless the dogs truly are fans and know when to bark. Considering this will be the first game for many dogs (if not all of them), that is unlikely.
What if a dog bites a fan at the game? In a lawsuit-happy world, this one seems a lot more legitimate than many other lawsuits. After all, a dog is not a normal or expected hazard at a hockey game.
The Ice Dogs struggle to draw large crowds, but this is not the way to improve attendance. Only two-legged fans count in the attendance numbers anyway.
Exclusively Showing Poker Network?
There is some discussion that ESPN actually carried some hockey highlights last week. Apparently, the Chris Simon incident got some airtime on the Exclusively Showing Poker Network.
Yawn.
Why does anyone care what ESPN thinks anyway? They have ignored hockey for years, and the coverage is next to nothing since the NHL broke off talks with the network and wisely bolted for Versus (then known as OLN).
Then again, maybe things have changed. Like many hockey fans, I have not watched ESPN in months, other than overseeing a bit of coverage in a bar.
To the folks at ESPN -- if you decide to cover hockey again, take out an ad in The Hockey News or on XM Home Ice 204. Until then, millions of hockey fans will not be watching.
It's Hockey Night in Canada. Why is it Hockey Morning in the United States?
On the topic of television -- is anyone watching NBC games that start at 9:30 in the morning on the west coast? Are hockey fans even awake that early after a long Saturday night of watching hockey?
NBC's game times continue to be the reason for low ratings. Hockey is a night game, not an afternoon game. And when games start at noon or earlier, forget about getting decent ratings. We are not NFL fans, we are not conditioned to drinking our morning coffee while watching the game, and we do not care to adapt.
The ramifications carry over beyond the day of the game as well. In several cases, a team playing early Sunday also was forced to play early Saturday in order to avoid a Saturday night-Sunday morning schedule situation. Even the teams that are not on NBC are getting a bad deal in this situation.
To top it off, hockey players are finely tuned machines and creatures of habit. The difference between a normal 7 to 8 pm start and the early afternoon start can play a major factor in the outcome. Several NHLers, including Anaheim's Teemu Selanne, have expressed their disdain for afternoon games, noting the games are often less intense and entertaining.
Hockey is a night sport. Looking at the prime time lineup of most major American networks, it is mindboggling they cannot fit in the NHL into an evening schedule. Forget so-called reality television which is nothing other than average people (in other words, not highly-paid actors) playing roles in a pre-determined outcome. The NHL, and sports in general, is true reality television.
And above all, it is a game meant to be played in the evening. Hopefully the NHL and NBC keep this in mind come playoff time.
It is hard to believe it is ten years since the United States Hockey League announced the league's newest franchise would be located in Lincoln, Nebraska. What is not hard to believe is ten years later, the Lincoln Stars continue to be a model junior hockey franchise in the heart of Cornhusker football country.
In February 1996, the USHL announced the Nebraska capital would have an expansion franchise for the 1996-97 season, and the announcement was not really that much of a surprise. After all, the Omaha Lancers, just 50 miles to the northeast, were in the midst of a 200-plus game sellout streak at 6,124-seat Aksarben Coliseum. Logic dictated a team in Lincoln would also be successful, but it was not without roadblocks.
First of all, the USHL had a rule that gave teams a 75-mile protected area, and all of Lincoln fell within 75 miles of Aksarben. Lancers owner Ted Baer waived the rule to open the door for Irv Dana, a friend of Baer's and a Lancer season-ticket holder, to start the Lincoln franchise.
After negotiations with the seemingly logical home of Pershing Auditorium, a 5,000-seat arena in downtown Lincoln, failed to produce any results, the team settled on State Fair Park Coliseum. There was only one problem -- the State Fair Park Coliseum was used for horse shows and had never seen ice other than in soft drinks. Still, the Stars cut a deal to renovate the facility and signed a 30-year lease to play in the converted horse barn, renamed the Ice Box.
By opening night, it was obvious the results could not be any better. Although the host Stars lost 4-0 to Omaha, the arena was packed, the crowd was crazy, and the atmosphere was unlike anything ever seen in junior hockey.
After losing the home opener, the Stars scored 10 goals in a dominating win over Waterloo the following weekend. With less than a minute to go, the Stars were a goal short of double digits, and the sold out crowd was screaming "we want ten!" When the tenth goal was scored, the crowd acted as if the team had won a championship.
For long time hockey fans, the only thing you could do was look around, smile, and just be glad you could experience this kind of enthusiasm. Incredibly, the best was yet to come. Although Lincoln started slow thanks to a schedule that saw them play most of their games on the road through the end of November, by the Christmas season, it was obvious this team was something special.
Three nights after Thanksgiving, the Stars pulled out their first magic act of the season. Losing 4-3 to the first-place Des Moines Buccaneers, the Ice Box crowd came to life with about two minutes remaining. Suddenly, all 4,231 fans stood and screamed, creating a deafening roar in the undersized facility with the wooden roof. With ten seconds to go in the third period, the Stars tied the game, sending the crowd into a further frenzy.
Overtime did not last long, as the Stars won the draw and put on 30 seconds of intense pressure before netting the winning goal. As a fan in the crowd that night, I recall saying "this is a championship team" as I walked out of the Ice Box. I also recall not being able to hear anything for about an hour -- not that I was complaining after an experience like that game.
Even on a night like that, an expansion team winning a championship seemed like an absurd idea at the time, as that feat was unprecedented in the USHL. As the season went on, however, people started to believe.
While the team piled up wins on the ice behind feisty Derek Reynolds and future NHLer Josh Langfeld, the crowd continued to evolve as well. The initial crowds were energetic and crazy, but as the fans learned more about the game, they became even more passionate. A tradition of shooting silly string in the air after goals got started, and while the USHL eventually banned the practice a few seasons later, fans would be covered in silly string after all goals the inaugural season.
The festive atmosphere went far beyond the colorful string, however. The Stars had installed a sound system that was second to none, and behind the likes of AC/DC, Van Halen, and Metallica, the building literally rocked. It was not an environment for those who dislike loud music, but nobody in the crowd seemed to complain. Several fans started dancing to particular songs and names like "Section C Guy" became part of the Ice Box vernacular.
Back on the ice, the Stars tore up the league through the season's final four months, finishing 40-13-1 and in third place overall. When the playoffs came around, Lincoln had little difficulty with Rochester in the opening round, then defeated arch-rival Omaha 4 games to 1 in the second round.
The Stars faced off in the Clark Cup against regular season champion Green Bay, and because of a scheduling conflict in Green Bay, the Stars opened with games one and two at home. After a win in the first game, the Stars took the second game to head north with a 2-0 lead. The most amazing part of the game, however, was the crowd. At the midway point of the second period, the crowd stood and went crazy, and they stayed that way until the end of the game. For more than 30 minutes of hockey action, not one person took a seat in the Ice Box.
The Stars won the next two games to capture the Clark Cup, and while they fell short at the National Tournament, a new tradition was born. Two years later, the Stars added nearly 800 seats at the Ice Box to bring the capacity to 5,010. Later renovations reduced the capacity to a little more than 4,600, but the Stars still routinely draw sellout crowds a decade later.
The atmosphere in the Ice Box has not changed much since the first season. The pregame introductions became even better the second season with the addition of a light show set to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck", and that tradition remains today. The crowd is still loud, the dancers still dance, and the music still blasts at a higher quality than almost any NHL arena. Fans no longer have to camp out for a week to purchase tickets, but do not count on being able to get tickets on game night either.
For those who were there a decade ago, however, nothing will ever top the 1996-97 season. Then again, when hockey and Lincoln get together, anything seems possible.
As a life-long hockey fan and sports fan in general, sports has always been a big part of my life. I have combined that with my interest in writing to create a long-term interest in sportswriting , something that has manifested itself in various sportswriting opportunities over the years.
