Hockey in the freezer

Every so often there is a game for the ages. Baseball has “the shot heard around the world” Bobby Thomson’s home run in 1951, Bill Mazeroski’s miraculous homerun to the win the world series, and Kirk Gibson’s homerun in 1988. Football has its share of great games, the immaculate reception, the “catch”, and the “Play”. There are also many notorious games in college and pro football that were directly impacted by the weather.
We can cite this year Monday Night Football game with the Steelers and Dolphins or the Great Ice Bowl. Football is known for these games and is one reason why football is a great game to watch. Although I never took part in a game of this magnitude I loved playing soccer in the rain or on a windy spring day. I’m not sure how much of a role the weather played in those games, but it was fun and changed our mentality and preparation for these games. Gamesmanship is always a part of these games.

Outdoor elements played a role in today’s hockey game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres. Today’s game reminded me why I love hockey. It is a fast paced game, with long periods or non-stop action, and is extremely physical. Kudos to the NHL for a great job and idea of having an outdoor hockey game. It was everything it was billed as.

Aside from a few minor hiccups, it was a great game to watch. I’m sure that the NHL will learn from this experience. Here are a few things to consider for the future. The constant repair of the ice and the very odd switch of halves did not allow for gamesmanship to take place. Additionally there were some technical things that needed to be worked out for future broadcasts like when I experienced a pause in the action or loss of sound. One last suggestion is not to have a color contrast between the boards and the surface inside and outside of the rink. The outside of the boards were blue, which made me feel that I was watching an early morning new cast and was waiting for the news update, sports ticker, and traffic reports to scroll across the bottom of the screen. Although I wish there was a bit more scoring, it was a great game to watch. The NHL needs to have more of these highly visible games in the future. Don’t overdue it, but find the right formula for these games in the future. Great job NHL execs.