150 Reasons to Love Hockey
With the season just getting started, it’s time for a reminder of all the reasons we have such a love affair with hockey.
By Kevin Kurtt
Let’s Play Hockey Editor
Here in Minnesota, hockey is strongly woven into our fabric of life. Our state high school tournament regularly sells out. College hockey gets higher television ratings than some college or pro basketball broadcasts. The Minnesota Wild average more than 100-percent capacity at the Xcel Energy Center. Indoor and outdoor rinks dot the landscape of the North Star State. Learning to skate, shoot and stickhandle is a rite of passage for countless Minnesota kids every winter. And the Let’s Play Hockey Expo in St. Paul during the state tournament is the largest consumer hockey show in the world (shameless plug).
But why does this sport have such a stranglehold in Minnesota? I’m pretty sure the six-month-long winter has something to do with it, but I also know what has drawn me to the sport of blue lines, power plays, saucer passes and Zambonis.
What better way to explain this than by compiling a not-quite-exhaustive list of why I love hockey as much as I do?
In an effort of full disclosure, I grew up in the cake-eater hotbed of Edina, played youth hockey in both Edina and Germany, enjoyed a three-year “career” as Goldy Gopher for the men’s hockey team at the University of Minnesota, worked for four years at the ‘U’ as the men’s hockey team’s sports information director and was a longtime season ticket holder at Mariucci Arena.
Without further ado and in honor of Let’s Play Hockey’s 45th year as a publication, I give you 150 reasons to love hockey:
| 1. Freshly-sharpened skates |
| 2. A clean sheet of ice |
| 3. Hockey hair |
| 4. Playoff beards |
| 5. Toothless smiles |
| 6. Hockey moms and dads |
| 7. The Minnesota State High School Tournament |
| 8. The pre-game introductions at the state tournament |
| 9. Skating cheerleaders |
| 10. The horn after a goal at a Wild game |
| 11. The sparks from a skate sharpener |
| 12. Hockey nicknames. I’m Kurtty. |
| 13. A lengthy cycling of the puck |
| 14. Goal celebrations with special mention of the “Goldy Shuffle” |
| 15. The sieve chant with special mention of the crowd at the Kohl Center |
| 16. Slap shots |
| 17. Slap Shot |
| 18. The Miracle on Ice |
| 19. Miracle |
| 20. Pond hockey |
| 21. The Mighty Ducks |
| 22. The hockey Twittersphere |
| 23. The hockey blogosphere |
| 24. The skill involved to skate, stickhandle, shoot/pass all while someone is trying to knock you off the puck |
| 25. The cool look of goalie equipment |
| 26. Fan reactions to goals/big hits/bad calls |
| 27. The fan/player relationship |
| 28. Big goals |
| 29. Players standing on the blueline for the National Anthem |
| 30. The X |
| 31. Mariucci Arena |
| 32. The Ralph |
| 33. The DECC/Amsoil Arena |
| 34. Yost Arena |
| 35. Ridder Arena |
| 36. Braemar Arena |
| 37. Sold-out arenas |
| 38. Backyard rinks |
| 39. Playing hockey in the dining room/kitchen/family room/living room/garage/driveway with my hockey-obsessed 7-year-old |
| 40. TV interviews of hockey players – no matter what the player’s age, these interviews always seem the same |
| 41. Jack Blatherwick, John Russo and Kevin Hartzell columns in Let’s Play Hockey |
| 42. Goldy Gopher |
| 43. Mascot hockey games |
| 44. Team pictures |
| 45. Team celebration photos around the trophy |
| 46. Hot apple cider in the stands |
| 47. The Let’s Play Hockey Expo |
| 48. Team USA vs. Team Canada |
| 49. NHL players on Olympic-size ice |
| 50. Goalie masks |
| 51. Breakaways |
| 52. A quick glove hand |
| 53. Bubble hockey, especially the vintage USA vs. USSR version |
| 54. The Gopher women’s hockey team |
| 55. The way players rip off their helmets and gloves after winning a championship game |
| 56. The Stanley Cup |
| 57. The MacNaughton Cup |
| 58. The lack of TV timeouts compared to other sports |
| 59. Doug Woog |
| 60. Doc Emrick |
| 61. Michael Russo |
| 62. The rivalries – too many to list |
| 63. The hockey culture – humble, hard-working, tough |
| 64. Goalie fights |
| 65. Pick-up hockey at the John Rose Oval |
| 66. John Buccigross |
| 67. Bucci's Overtime Challenge |
| 68. Hanging banners |
| 69. The large number of college hockey game broadcasts on TV/online |
| 70. Power plays |
| 71. Penalty kills |
| 72. Penalty shots |
| 73. The hat trick |
| 74. The captaincy |
| 75. Street hockey |
| 76. Winter hockey at the park |
| 77. Shinny |
| 78. Knee hockey with mini sticks |
| 79. Using a baseball glove when playing goalie in street hockey |
| 80. Herb Brooks |
| 81. Hockey lingo like “apple,” “bucket,” “chirp,” “dangle,” “snipe” and “celly.” |
| 82. The Minnesota Rouser |
| 83. Michigan Tech’s hockey band |
| 84. The number of Minnesotans/former Minnesota collegians on the Minnesota Wild |
| 85. The number of Minnesotans in junior, college and pro hockey |
| 86. Wally Shaver |
| 87. The way Wally Shaver says “again” or “about” |
| 88. Bob Kurtz |
| 89. The Mr. Hockey Award |
| 90. The Ms. Hockey Award |
| 91. The Reed Larson Award |
| 92. The Hobey Baker Award |
| 93. The Mike Richter Award |
| 94. NHL ‘94 |
| 95. Names like Gump Worsley, Cal Clutterbuck, Hakan Loob and Jeff Beukeboom |
| 96. Three Stars of the Game |
| 97. Zach Parise’s effort on the ice |
| 98. Stacking the pads |
| 99. A wraparound goal |
| 100. Getting chippy |
| 101. The five hole |
| 102. Memorable playoff goals |
| 103. The hip check |
| 104. The Frozen Four |
| 105. Hockey sweaters |
| 106. Third jerseys |
| 107. Getting a five-minute power play |
| 108. Killing off a five-minute major |
| 109. One-timers |
| 110. Team huddles around the goal |
| 111. Lou Nanne |
| 112. Being a fan of a niche sport |
| 113. Smart hockey fans |
| 114. The nearly non-stop action |
| 115. The sound of the blades on the ice |
| 116. The sound made when a puck hits a pipe |
| 117. The fact that each team is only allowed one timeout |
| 118. The stick salute – special mention of the Golden Gopher stick salute following a two-game home sweep |
| 119. The Battle Hymn of the Republic |
| 120. Sled hockey |
| 121. Chain link or chicken wire “glass” |
| 122. The Wild’s flag bearer |
| 123. Chuck-a-puck |
| 124. Ponytails coming out the back of the helmets of the ever-growing number of girls’ and women’s hockey players |
| 125. Ceremonial faceoffs |
| 126. Open-ice hits |
| 127. Mite games during intermission |
| 128. Goal lights, especially in the red rotating beacon style |
| 129. Going top shelf |
| 130. Knocking the water bottle off the net |
| 131. Tic-tac-toe |
| 132. Community-based teams |
| 133. Beer leagues |
| 134. Hard hits or shots that shatter the glass |
| 135. The fog that forms on the ice when it’s hot and humid outside |
| 136. The Stanley Cup Playoffs |
| 137. Playoff overtime |
| 138. NHL players who refuse to touch the conference trophies |
| 139. Players getting the Stanley Cup for a day |
| 140. NHL players who refuse to touch the Stanley Cup until they win it themselves |
| 141. Players who won’t take off their equipment after a season- or career-ending loss |
| 142. Fans singing their national anthem |
| 143. Hockey superstitions |
| 144. The Mario vs. Gretzky argument |
| 145. The Bobby Orr counterargument |
| 146. How you hardly notice the stench of hockey locker rooms if you’re around them enough |
| 147. The Zamboni |
| 148. Season openers |
| 149. Senior Night |
| 150. Let’s! Play! Hockey! |
Why do you love hockey? E-mail us your list of why you love the sport of playoff beards, slap shots and power plays and we’ll print it in a future edition of Let’s Play Hockey. Send your list to editor@letsplayhockey.com.
