If you combine the toughness of football, the jabs of boxing and about a fourth of the elegance of figure skating, what do you get? Hockey.
Do Texans not like hockey because it makes you think about cold weather?
Who doesn’t love hockey? People who don’t like fast-paced skating, incredible stick handling skills and fights. Apparently, lots of people from the South.
Hockey is most popular in the northern states and Canada, some say because of the cold weather. Others say because there is nothing else for people to do with their time in those areas. Whatever the reason these northerners like hockey, people not from such areas are missing out on a spectacular sport.
If you’ve never been to a game, try to make it out to see the Dallas Stars sometime. Buying tickets with your student ID can cost as little as $10. While the Stars aren’t having the best season, they are a talented team with good chemistry and are a lot of fun to watch. Dallas is also stacked with studs, four of which are on different Olympic teams. How many football teams can say they are representing four different countries in the Olympics with one roster? Pretty sure none, considering football isn’t even an Olympic sport.
That is another aspect that makes hockey so great. It’s such a universal sport. More than half of NHL players are from Canada and Europe. They come here because of their talent. Likewise, many young hockey players go to play in countries like Austria, Italy, Sweden and Russia after college or junior hockey.
And why don’t people like going to minor league hockey games? The skill isn’t on par with the NHL, but it is still something to experience and be a part of. In cities like Amarillo, Corpus Christi or even a bigger city like Kansas City that has professional teams (that are not so talented), people still seem allergic to supporting their hockey teams.
And how about TCU’s hockey team? How many of you even know we have one? Well, we do. People complain about the basketball team and say they don’t want to go to their games because the team isn’t doing too well right now. Well, what about hockey? How do you know if the team is good or not if you don’t even go to the games?
All I’m trying to say is give hockey a chance. When I force people to come to games with me, they typically have fun and want seconds. Just try it. You might like it.
Alexis Mladenoff is a senior broadcast journalism major from Leawood, Kan.