Did the Olympics save hockey?

Last Sunday’s gold medal hockey matchup between the United States of America and Canada could go down as one of the greatest hockey games ever. The US came from two goals down to tie the game in the closing seconds of regulation. Unfortunately, the US ended up losing in overtime as Canada’s Sidney Crosby scored the game winning goal. Many in the media are claiming this game might have saved hockey in the US and in fact, would positively affect the sport’s professional National Hockey League (NHL). Statistics have shown that 1-out-of-3 people watching TV at the time of the game were watching the gold medal match.

Prior to the Olympics, hockey in the US was in a state of decline. In the 2007-2008 season, USA Hockey reported 468,202 participants nationwide and declined to 465,975 during the 2008-2009 season. Often in the US, hockey is considered the 4th major sport, and a good argument could be made that NASCAR or the Professional Golf Association could be more popular. Don’t believe me? I’d be willing to bet the majority of the nation wouldn’t have been able to name just five players in the NHL. Go ahead try it…can you name five? You wouldn’t find any other sport that can remain so ambiguous to the nation’s population. So why is there a perceived change in how Americans view this once dying sport? And how was this game able to have higher ratings than any game of the 2009 World Series or NBA Finals?

International Competition

The Olympics provide competition at a level professional sports just can’t match up to. It’s an event that allows countries to come together to prove their patriotism. In the ‘80s the US rallied together, fueled by their displeasure with Russia, to win hockey gold against the Soviets in the heart of The Cold War. To this day, most Americans still shudder hearing of a Russian gold medal. Today, America’s greatest enemy is arguably one that doesn’t claim a country. Given that Al Qaeda isn’t a recognized competitor by the International Olympic Committee it’s difficult to find an opponent the United States can rally to pull against. So, why not root against the neighbors to the north? This particular Olympics was the perfect storm for a US/Canada gold medal hockey matchup. The game was held in Canada’s back yard in a city not more than an hour from the closest US border and at an event that the United States was already dominating every other Olympic category. Not to mention, the US previously beat Canada in a seeding matchup. The interest was there, both amongst Canadians and Americans.

Broadcast

The Olympic Games were broadcast during primetime television slots. Much to the displeasure of the west coast viewers, but that’s a completely different topic. Broadcasting the events during primetime, however controversial it may have been, allowed for a much wider audience to view not only hockey, but other Olympic events as well. I didn’t even know speed skating relay races existed or that it required pushing a teammate to advance. Also, events were broadcast on a national network in high-definition. NHL games are rarely televised nationally and on even more rare occasions are they ever in HD.

Unsung Heroes

America loves the underdog. So, when the scrappy US Hockey Team was set to take on the powerful Canadians, a country that lives, breathes, eats and sleeps hockey, you could just see a love affair in the making. When US Goalkeeper Ryan Miller amazed us with his well-timed and mind-blowing saves that led to his Tournament MVP title, we became even more hopeful, some to the point of cockiness. The appeal of this US Hockey Team was that for the most part, the American people had no idea who any of these guys were. They watched and picked out their favorite players from game-to-game and experienced a feeling as if they had watched these players right grow before their very eyes, as if they were playing pee-wee hockey and the viewers were the proud parents.

Now, the Olympics are over. The love affair suspended. Will the success of the USA Hockey Team translate to the NHL? I think it will, to a degree. As I mentioned earlier, the NHL is rarely broadcast on a national level and even more, rarely on HD. If TV networks want to take advantage of newfound fans of the sport they are going to have to increase the coverage and increase the quality of the coverage.  A google search for the NHL broadcast schedule brought up zero hits from national networks and google even asked if I meant NFL Broadcast Schedule. That’s a problem for a sport trying to take advantage of it’s new-found fans.

How say you? Are you more apt to watch an NHL game because of the Olympics? Did you watch the Olympics? Can you name five players?

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