Viewers are dropping hockey faster than water through a sieve, something drastic has to be done to bring in new fans. The NHL is trying, they really, really are. New streamlined jersey's come out next year. Sidney Crosby is almost 1/30th as overexposed as Peyton Manning (*note: That's still alot). Gary Bettman needs a new approach. It is getting drastic, as some sportswriters have predicted the potential folding of the NHL within the next 15 years. So, without further ado: I have a suggestion that I strongly urge the NHL to take into consideration. Add a 7th player to the ice for each team, and equip him with a eight-foot wooden lance. Stick a hockey glove at the end of the lance and off we go!
Now, before you stop reading, hear me out. A player gets a breakaway, he is skating down the ice without fear when...suddenly he is taken out from nowhere by an eight foot lance with a hockey glove stuck at the end ( for cushioning the blow). The playing field has officially been levelled. The days of the dominance of the Red Wings is over! Having a lancer would be great because it would allow hockey to keep the lovable goons who are quickly becoming antiquated in the kinder, gentler, post-lockout NHL. George Laraque could play for another ten years. Tie Domi could make a comeback (watch out Rona Ambrose!). Better yet, the game would become more unpredictable than Mike Tyson hanging out with Dennis Rodman. Announcers would have to get used to the change, but saying "Federov gets lanced from behind!" would probably make up for it. So please, NHL, do something. Do something drastic! We need the NHL because it is truly a joy to watch the hardest working athletes around (Try playing basketball with knives strapped to your feet). So consider my plan NHL owners, coaches and fans. The time for drastic is rapidly approaching. If the lancers catch on we can go to part II of my plan to save the NHL...blindfolded lancers.
Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have the chance to have an incredible rivalry that will last for years, but you have to look outside of hockey to find a great analogy for it as they could battle as did Bird and Magic before them. In the NBA, a sport that is admittedly possibly the least like hockey in the world, Bird and Magic enthralled a decade and won 8 championships between them. Magic won five with his talented Laker squad and Bird won three with a very good team. Sid the Kid and Alex the Great just finished their rookie years, and neither came away as a Stanley Cup Champ. In a different era when a rookie could make all the difference, Magic won his first title in 1980. The big question is who is Magic and who is Bird?
The argument could be made that Sidney Crosby is the Magic Johnson of this scenario. He came into the league young, as one of the highest rated players in recent history. The hype was defeaning and sold tickets but not much else. He was supposed to play a season with one of hockey's greatest legends Mario Lemieux, but that was cut all too short by injuires to the fading Magnificent One. The similarities exist between Crosby's 2005-2006 Penguins and Magic's circa 1980's Lakers. Both teams have a star center, in Magic's case it was Kareem Abdul Jabar, for Crosby it was Lemieux. Both ahve exciting young talent to build around, as the Pens have young up and comers named Ouellet and perhaps the second most exciting addition to the league since well Crosby himself; Egyeny Malkhinin. The rumor is that Malkhinin is very special, so perhaps the analogy is correct and the two will form a Magic and James Worthy type game. They may dominate immediately and Crosby will perhaps find himself taking the Kareem role.
That leaves Ovechkin as Bird. His team is more veteran than Crosby's, and relied heavily on him to inject life into drifting journeyman. Yet he did it. They were not quite lifted out of the cellar, but the Caps came close. They have a good up and coming goalie in Brent Johnson and some solid players who are just out of their prime. With a couple pickups this team could go places. Perhaps not as far as Crosby's Penguins, but still capture some Stanley Cups along the way. The older core of the Capitals means that they have less time to grow together, when they do the league should watch out. Just as it took Bird a few years to attain championship level. Or you could argue the complete opposite and say that Ovechkin's team is much more playoff ready and has a solid goalie in Olaf Kolzig who has already made a championship run. As soon as they gel the rookie will help the vets win. Whereas Crosby is on a young team that will take years and good off-ice moves to be ready for a cup run.
A great rivalry has begun that should continue through the next dozen years. Whether or not one of the players fizzles in completely unpredictable but given the way they came storming into the league unlike any other rookies this decade that is unlikely. Crosby and Ovechkin are incredible talents, and the best scenario would be if one could move to the Western Conference so they could battle in the Stanley Cup, instead of the most incredible Conference Finals since the Avs and Red Wings in the late 90's. It should happen, because these two talents deserve the ultimate stage for their showdown, not seven games a year on ESPN 3.
