The Case for Hockey

So last night I was all fired up to watch the Blackhawks play. They were going to be on VS I had everything I needed to have done for the evening. I had myself a Jack neat. Everything was great.

Except for the hockey. Frankly watching the Ovechkin highlights for his game on 3/3 (I don't know what day that is, but I know 3/3) was beyond more exciting than what we saw yesterday. The Blackhawks, like most teams in the NHL, are bad. Hawk fans will tell you things like, "They're just young" and stuff like that. The NHL doesn't need to build for the future, it needs teams to be competitive right now.

Games on VS are a big deal now. I mean, whatever that means. But on the radio here in Nashville, the genius sports talk guys will talk about how the Preds have a big game on VS tonight. I mean, I didn't know that's what this whole hockey thing had come to, but whatever.

The only thing that those who are hockey fans can hope for is that the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup. Why? Because New York needs to be behind something to get momentum stirring, especially something as dead as the NHL. Here's the other thing.

These "young teams" that I see often, like the Hawks. The Hawks come out firing and after about 5 minutes, they are dead. The conditioning in the NHL has been so poor. It's the older guys who have been around for so long that know how to prepare themselves and know how to play the game. You'd think the younger kids would have more energy...

A friend and I were talking about Paul Coffey the other day. It prompted me to check his stats and more often than not, when I look at guys who I remember from when hockey mattered, I see how long they played. Coffey played for 20 years or something along those lines in the NHL, not including his minors stint.

Hockey is such a physically demanding game, the most of any sport probably. These guys play for that long? That punishment? 20 some years professionally? I know hockey players play with more passion than any other sport as well, but the tenures are staggering, and the ability to play at a high level. Maybe the endurance and passion will soon come to the NHL's young players, but we will see. Until then, we can just keep watching Jaromir Jagr.

On another note. In March, No Owens will be playing General Manager for your NFL teams with an extensive break down of the first round of the NFL Draft. Not only what they will do, but what they should do complete with trading possibilities to specific teams. This will require some "hard" work out of No Owens staff members but it will get done. So get excited.