10.) The Handshake Line
Sure, it is somewhat a lifeless tradition that is done more out of necessity and history than real sportsmanship, but it is one of the more interesting moral experiments in sports. Other than baseball, there is always a little co-team fraternization after games, but hockey forces it. The handshake line has some awful moments, like the Bruins' thug Milan Lucic saying he's going to 'fucking kill' various members of the Montreal Canadiens; but generally the hockey players either go through the motions, or give the hockey-loving public some really nice scenes. My favorites are guys who battled it out for 4-7 games embracing, or old friends. Take Marian Hossa and Zdeno Chara, who shared the ice a lot during the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals, embracing like two long friends - which of course they are given they live next to each other in Slovenia. The handshake line also shows who is really respected across the league, the Toews of the world (no way Lucic would tell Toews to fuck off), or the Brodeurs, Neidermayers and Lidstroms of generations past. It is a symbolic tradition more than anything, but given the physicality and the length of series, there is no more incredible sign of sportsmanship in US sports.
9.) Doc Emrick
Being a Devils fan has a lot of negatives, apart from the team's mediocre run of play recently. But one of the great positives was that for years and years, Doc Emrick was our announcer. Until about 2011, he played double-duty as the Devils play-by-play guy, and the overall NHL's, as the leading voice for NHL on NBC. Following he gave up the Devils gig, but his presence still lasts in New Jersey. It was cool that our local guy was given the national gig, and he certainly deserved it. Doc Emrick is about as seamless and brilliant a play-by-play guy in all sports. Hockey is the fastest game, and arguably the game with the hardest names to quickly rattle off. Emrick barely every messed up, always shifting easily from player to player. Emrick also excelled at all the words that surrounded player names, like going through an entire thesaurus of how to say 'pass' during a game (lofted, spun, handled, caressed, shuttled, shuffled, etc.). Finally, Emrick had just the perfect level of mixing of volumes. He's generally excitable but nothing was better than a close chance. That amazing of pitch, ending with a virulent 'Ohhh, and it WOULDN'T GO!!" Canadian fans may disagree (or just non-Devils fans who grew to love him on the plainest of Devils games giving the same enthusiasm), but personally I think Emrick is the best match of play-by-play and sport out there today.
8.) The Stanley Cup
Might seem low, but I don' want to be obvious with these 10. Let's just state the obvious: this is the best Championship trophy in team sports. The World Series trophy is nicely ornate, and the Lombardi Trophy has become about as iconic (the Larry O'Brien trophy is a disaster), but the Stanley Cup is so far and away the best sports trophy it isn't worth the time to debate. No trophy is bigger or heavier. No trophy has so much history, with the names of all past Champions engraved into its metal. No trophy is more celebrated, with each player getting a day with the trophy all to themselves in the offseason. No trophy allows the winning team to drink out of it (underrated aspect to its brilliance). The Stanley Cup just looks amazing. The image of a captain hoisting the trophy above their head is an iconic image in sports. The trophy also is preceded by one of the best moments of the year, when Gary Bettman goes out to a parade of boos, done more out of tradition than anything else nowadays, to hand out the hardware. No Sports trophy will ever come close to giving so much joy, so many emotions, to the people that hold it. Few things in hockey are so famous their image extends outside the NHL and across US sports; the Stanley Cup does.
7.) The Trophy Names
In continuing with the trophy theme, I love the fact that all the trophies in the NHL have awesome old-timer names. There is no 'MVP' trophy, there is a 'Hart Memorial Trophy'. The best goalie gets the Vezina Award; the best defenseman the Norris. There's the Selke (defensive forward), the Calder (rookie), the Jack Adams (coach), Masterson (comeback player), Maurice 'Rocket' Richard (most goals), Art Ross (most points), and of course, the Conn Smythe (playoff MVP). I also love that the Conn Smythe is for 'all four rounds of the playoffs' giving way to guys like JS Giguere winning for a team that lost the Stanley Cup Final (in fact, it should probably happen more often - Chris Pronger definitely deserved it over Cam Ward in 2006). The NBA has somewhat tried this, as the NBA Finals MVP is now the Bill Russell award, but let's be real - these hockey trophies have roughly 50-75 years of history each. Their names are old enough that few really know who/what they're named after, but we all immediately know which one is which. Even the Conference Champion trophies, the two trophies so despised the winning captain generally refuses to touch them, are given cool names (the Prince Of Wales trophy and the Clarence Campbell trophy). By the way, I love how the trophies themselves have remained unchanged, timeless classics that look like they were designed in 1950.
6.) Goal Horns and Songs
Other than maybe batter and pitcher entrance music, no sport has one distinct music and sound tied to it more than the Goal Horn and Songs in the NHL. First comes the horn, those blaring notes that are slightly different in each stadium. There's a site (link here) that lets you play around and hear all 30. There are some common themes. Western teams generally have lower, more bellowing, horns. Eastern teams a little louder and higher. Following the three blows of the horn is the goal song, another unique little treat in all 30 arenas (some use the same, like Rock and Roll, Pt. 2, or Seven Nation Army). The site actually gives you both, it's a fascinating time waster. The most famous example is probably the Blackhawks pretty well sounding horn and then 'Chelsea Dagger', which cuts off nicely before the actual words part. The Blackhawks have become essentially so tied to that song it is no longer annoying (to me at least). Some of my favorites are the Ducks, the Rangers, the Blues (when the Saints go marching in), Flames, Stars (personalized song by Pantera), and of course, the Whalers, with their inimitable Brass Bonanza!
5.) The Game Day Experience
To me, there is no sport that is better live than hockey. The NHL game-day experience in arena is second to none. First, the fans are really knowledgeable. It is no secret that the NHL draws about the same amount of in-arena fans as the NBA, so arenas are mostly full - and they're mostly full of hardcore fans, the type that drink just the right amount, care just the right amount, and have the volume set at just the right amount. Each arena has their own traditions, their own chants, their own games. I personally think that it is closest to a European Soccer environment in the US. We get cool things like Canadian fanbases singing O Canada (a tradition started, as far as I know, with Edmonton in their miracle run to the 2006 Final). We have the ocopii in Detroit, the rats in Florida, the shark-meat in San Jose. All sorts of random things get flung on the ice. Hockey's also the game with no live-action music, no fake pump-up-the-crowd gimmicks in most places, the most color-coordinated events, and generally the craziest fans. I love nothing more than just watching awesome crowds from my own TV, like we'll see all across the playoff landscape. Even the Devils, who don't sell out, even when the team was a juggernaut, had a great game-day experience. Hockey is awesome to watch live anyway, as you can see so much more of the action inside the building, but even the atmosphere itself is close to the price of admission.
4.) Goalie Masks
Goalie Masks are so awesome that they dribbled into another entire different sport, with some catchers starting to use them in baseball. Goalies are padded up and hard to tell apart, so how did they figure out how to show their individuality? By making their masks all unique, and different, and awesome. Some were very understated, like Marty Brodeur's, or some were wild and crazy, like Evgeny Nabokov, or Roberto Luongo. They all have their own flair. Some are incredibly intricate, like Marty Turco's back in the day, or Ryan Miller's, and some or perfectly themed, like Ray Emery's Ottawa mask. Some are just plain weird, like the Teddy Bear on Braden Holtby's mask. No sport has so much individual flair tied into a uniform piece of equipment. It's like the golf shirt, on steroid, and put in a team environment where the name of the front is supposed to be more important than that on the back.
3.) The Fearlessness of Leaders
All US sports have the concept of a captain, but no sport embraces it more than hockey. No one really cares who are the captains on a football team, or, if they even name one, who it is on a baseball team. Soccer embraces it nicely, and no sport that I know of does it play a more reasonable role than in cricket (the captain essentially is the on-field manager), but in US sports, hockey has it locked down. The person who wears the 'C' matters, because the strength of that player really seems to correlate with the ability of the team. The Sharks choked year after year, and it didn't help that their two captains in that stretch were Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. On the other side, the Devils had Scott Stevens in their prime. They were the best when he was on his game, taking out opposing best players in all their main series. The image of the captain coming over to lift the Stanley Cup, especially when the captain is not the team's best player. In recent years, it has become more common to just give the 'C' to the best player (Crosby, Ovechkin, Chara, Getzlaf, Tavares, Stamkos), but there are a few teams that use it the old way: giving the 'C' to the emotional fulcrum of the team. Dustin Brown is far from the best player on the LA Kings, but he's held the cup twice in three years. Many argue that Toews is the best player on the Blackhawks, but part of that equation is his leadership. I love that captains lead the handshake line (generally), and touch the cup first, and just lead their darn team.
2.) International Politics
There are a lot of international players in the MLB and ever more so in the NBA, but no sport has the international tension of hockey. Even taking out the drama of the Winter Olympics and limiting it to just the NHL, we get some great nationalism. First of all, Canadians are really protective of the game, of the fact the US seems to not care about Canadian teams, of how no Canadian team has won the Cup since 1993, including losing the Cup Final in 2004, 2006 and 2011, all in 7 games (the first two to Sun-Belt teams in Tampa Bay and Carolina). Then we get the subtle racism for knocking European players with tired, but somewhat real, stereotypes. Ovechkin and Semin choking in the playoffs on Washngton, or Yakupov being a bust in Edmonton after being a #1 pick. For years, only Canadians were captains of Stanley Cup winning teams. Darien Hatcher ended that in 1999, but until the Red Wings won in 2008, it handn't been won by a non-North American, until Lidstrom's team won. Chara's team won three years later. Stereotypes for different players run rampant in the NHL, and while that isn't commendable, it definitely adds to the drama of the game. No sport has had to face so much impated nationalism, and kudos to the NHL for embracing it and spinning it into an amazing quality of the team.
1.) The Playoffs and Overtime
I don't think this needs explanation. There is nothing better in sports than a close NHL playoff game. Just watch it.
Sure, it is somewhat a lifeless tradition that is done more out of necessity and history than real sportsmanship, but it is one of the more interesting moral experiments in sports. Other than baseball, there is always a little co-team fraternization after games, but hockey forces it. The handshake line has some awful moments, like the Bruins' thug Milan Lucic saying he's going to 'fucking kill' various members of the Montreal Canadiens; but generally the hockey players either go through the motions, or give the hockey-loving public some really nice scenes. My favorites are guys who battled it out for 4-7 games embracing, or old friends. Take Marian Hossa and Zdeno Chara, who shared the ice a lot during the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals, embracing like two long friends - which of course they are given they live next to each other in Slovenia. The handshake line also shows who is really respected across the league, the Toews of the world (no way Lucic would tell Toews to fuck off), or the Brodeurs, Neidermayers and Lidstroms of generations past. It is a symbolic tradition more than anything, but given the physicality and the length of series, there is no more incredible sign of sportsmanship in US sports.
9.) Doc Emrick
Being a Devils fan has a lot of negatives, apart from the team's mediocre run of play recently. But one of the great positives was that for years and years, Doc Emrick was our announcer. Until about 2011, he played double-duty as the Devils play-by-play guy, and the overall NHL's, as the leading voice for NHL on NBC. Following he gave up the Devils gig, but his presence still lasts in New Jersey. It was cool that our local guy was given the national gig, and he certainly deserved it. Doc Emrick is about as seamless and brilliant a play-by-play guy in all sports. Hockey is the fastest game, and arguably the game with the hardest names to quickly rattle off. Emrick barely every messed up, always shifting easily from player to player. Emrick also excelled at all the words that surrounded player names, like going through an entire thesaurus of how to say 'pass' during a game (lofted, spun, handled, caressed, shuttled, shuffled, etc.). Finally, Emrick had just the perfect level of mixing of volumes. He's generally excitable but nothing was better than a close chance. That amazing of pitch, ending with a virulent 'Ohhh, and it WOULDN'T GO!!" Canadian fans may disagree (or just non-Devils fans who grew to love him on the plainest of Devils games giving the same enthusiasm), but personally I think Emrick is the best match of play-by-play and sport out there today.
8.) The Stanley Cup
Might seem low, but I don' want to be obvious with these 10. Let's just state the obvious: this is the best Championship trophy in team sports. The World Series trophy is nicely ornate, and the Lombardi Trophy has become about as iconic (the Larry O'Brien trophy is a disaster), but the Stanley Cup is so far and away the best sports trophy it isn't worth the time to debate. No trophy is bigger or heavier. No trophy has so much history, with the names of all past Champions engraved into its metal. No trophy is more celebrated, with each player getting a day with the trophy all to themselves in the offseason. No trophy allows the winning team to drink out of it (underrated aspect to its brilliance). The Stanley Cup just looks amazing. The image of a captain hoisting the trophy above their head is an iconic image in sports. The trophy also is preceded by one of the best moments of the year, when Gary Bettman goes out to a parade of boos, done more out of tradition than anything else nowadays, to hand out the hardware. No Sports trophy will ever come close to giving so much joy, so many emotions, to the people that hold it. Few things in hockey are so famous their image extends outside the NHL and across US sports; the Stanley Cup does.
7.) The Trophy Names
In continuing with the trophy theme, I love the fact that all the trophies in the NHL have awesome old-timer names. There is no 'MVP' trophy, there is a 'Hart Memorial Trophy'. The best goalie gets the Vezina Award; the best defenseman the Norris. There's the Selke (defensive forward), the Calder (rookie), the Jack Adams (coach), Masterson (comeback player), Maurice 'Rocket' Richard (most goals), Art Ross (most points), and of course, the Conn Smythe (playoff MVP). I also love that the Conn Smythe is for 'all four rounds of the playoffs' giving way to guys like JS Giguere winning for a team that lost the Stanley Cup Final (in fact, it should probably happen more often - Chris Pronger definitely deserved it over Cam Ward in 2006). The NBA has somewhat tried this, as the NBA Finals MVP is now the Bill Russell award, but let's be real - these hockey trophies have roughly 50-75 years of history each. Their names are old enough that few really know who/what they're named after, but we all immediately know which one is which. Even the Conference Champion trophies, the two trophies so despised the winning captain generally refuses to touch them, are given cool names (the Prince Of Wales trophy and the Clarence Campbell trophy). By the way, I love how the trophies themselves have remained unchanged, timeless classics that look like they were designed in 1950.
6.) Goal Horns and Songs
Other than maybe batter and pitcher entrance music, no sport has one distinct music and sound tied to it more than the Goal Horn and Songs in the NHL. First comes the horn, those blaring notes that are slightly different in each stadium. There's a site (link here) that lets you play around and hear all 30. There are some common themes. Western teams generally have lower, more bellowing, horns. Eastern teams a little louder and higher. Following the three blows of the horn is the goal song, another unique little treat in all 30 arenas (some use the same, like Rock and Roll, Pt. 2, or Seven Nation Army). The site actually gives you both, it's a fascinating time waster. The most famous example is probably the Blackhawks pretty well sounding horn and then 'Chelsea Dagger', which cuts off nicely before the actual words part. The Blackhawks have become essentially so tied to that song it is no longer annoying (to me at least). Some of my favorites are the Ducks, the Rangers, the Blues (when the Saints go marching in), Flames, Stars (personalized song by Pantera), and of course, the Whalers, with their inimitable Brass Bonanza!
5.) The Game Day Experience
To me, there is no sport that is better live than hockey. The NHL game-day experience in arena is second to none. First, the fans are really knowledgeable. It is no secret that the NHL draws about the same amount of in-arena fans as the NBA, so arenas are mostly full - and they're mostly full of hardcore fans, the type that drink just the right amount, care just the right amount, and have the volume set at just the right amount. Each arena has their own traditions, their own chants, their own games. I personally think that it is closest to a European Soccer environment in the US. We get cool things like Canadian fanbases singing O Canada (a tradition started, as far as I know, with Edmonton in their miracle run to the 2006 Final). We have the ocopii in Detroit, the rats in Florida, the shark-meat in San Jose. All sorts of random things get flung on the ice. Hockey's also the game with no live-action music, no fake pump-up-the-crowd gimmicks in most places, the most color-coordinated events, and generally the craziest fans. I love nothing more than just watching awesome crowds from my own TV, like we'll see all across the playoff landscape. Even the Devils, who don't sell out, even when the team was a juggernaut, had a great game-day experience. Hockey is awesome to watch live anyway, as you can see so much more of the action inside the building, but even the atmosphere itself is close to the price of admission.
4.) Goalie Masks
Goalie Masks are so awesome that they dribbled into another entire different sport, with some catchers starting to use them in baseball. Goalies are padded up and hard to tell apart, so how did they figure out how to show their individuality? By making their masks all unique, and different, and awesome. Some were very understated, like Marty Brodeur's, or some were wild and crazy, like Evgeny Nabokov, or Roberto Luongo. They all have their own flair. Some are incredibly intricate, like Marty Turco's back in the day, or Ryan Miller's, and some or perfectly themed, like Ray Emery's Ottawa mask. Some are just plain weird, like the Teddy Bear on Braden Holtby's mask. No sport has so much individual flair tied into a uniform piece of equipment. It's like the golf shirt, on steroid, and put in a team environment where the name of the front is supposed to be more important than that on the back.
3.) The Fearlessness of Leaders
All US sports have the concept of a captain, but no sport embraces it more than hockey. No one really cares who are the captains on a football team, or, if they even name one, who it is on a baseball team. Soccer embraces it nicely, and no sport that I know of does it play a more reasonable role than in cricket (the captain essentially is the on-field manager), but in US sports, hockey has it locked down. The person who wears the 'C' matters, because the strength of that player really seems to correlate with the ability of the team. The Sharks choked year after year, and it didn't help that their two captains in that stretch were Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. On the other side, the Devils had Scott Stevens in their prime. They were the best when he was on his game, taking out opposing best players in all their main series. The image of the captain coming over to lift the Stanley Cup, especially when the captain is not the team's best player. In recent years, it has become more common to just give the 'C' to the best player (Crosby, Ovechkin, Chara, Getzlaf, Tavares, Stamkos), but there are a few teams that use it the old way: giving the 'C' to the emotional fulcrum of the team. Dustin Brown is far from the best player on the LA Kings, but he's held the cup twice in three years. Many argue that Toews is the best player on the Blackhawks, but part of that equation is his leadership. I love that captains lead the handshake line (generally), and touch the cup first, and just lead their darn team.
2.) International Politics
There are a lot of international players in the MLB and ever more so in the NBA, but no sport has the international tension of hockey. Even taking out the drama of the Winter Olympics and limiting it to just the NHL, we get some great nationalism. First of all, Canadians are really protective of the game, of the fact the US seems to not care about Canadian teams, of how no Canadian team has won the Cup since 1993, including losing the Cup Final in 2004, 2006 and 2011, all in 7 games (the first two to Sun-Belt teams in Tampa Bay and Carolina). Then we get the subtle racism for knocking European players with tired, but somewhat real, stereotypes. Ovechkin and Semin choking in the playoffs on Washngton, or Yakupov being a bust in Edmonton after being a #1 pick. For years, only Canadians were captains of Stanley Cup winning teams. Darien Hatcher ended that in 1999, but until the Red Wings won in 2008, it handn't been won by a non-North American, until Lidstrom's team won. Chara's team won three years later. Stereotypes for different players run rampant in the NHL, and while that isn't commendable, it definitely adds to the drama of the game. No sport has had to face so much impated nationalism, and kudos to the NHL for embracing it and spinning it into an amazing quality of the team.
1.) The Playoffs and Overtime
I don't think this needs explanation. There is nothing better in sports than a close NHL playoff game. Just watch it.
