Us Australians are a funny bunch. We love our sport, and this shows in what we do in our spare time. How our weekends are spent usually revolves around two distinct seasons, Football season and Cricket season, with soccer sometimes fitting somewhere in between.
But what if there was something else? Something that featured, and in some cases improved on all of the things we love about Football, Cricket, and Soccer.
Here are a couple of reasons why you should meet Ice Hockey, your new favourite sport.
Speed
This is the core to any sport we love. With football or soccer, a sprint down the wing with a defender in pursuit. In cricket, fast bowlers are the staple of any attack.
The numbers for hockey are astonishing. On a fast break players can exceed 40km/h, as fast as Usain Bolt, but on ice (so you have to worry about stopping). Then there is the speed of the shot - the current NHL record is 175.1 km/h. That is a solid rubber disc flying through the air waiting to destroy anyone in its path.
Which brings me to my next point.
Rock solid defenders While getting little of the glory that the forwards get, defenders are the rock in any sports team. A footballer defenders main priority is to stop a forward from marking and subsequently scoring. Cricket is a bit different depending on where your team sits in the game, but all that changes is the way you bat or bowl. Soccer goalies have a tougher job, having to stop a ball that small in a net that big takes a lot of good judgement and an even heftier serving of luck.
Hockey goalies are a deceiving bunch. They appear to have it easy, wearing all the protection, a big helmet and the luxury of not having to skate up and down the ice.
The reality is that they need to be one of the fittest members of the team. They need to be able to drop to the splits from a full standing position at the drop of a puck. The reaction time shown is freakish, and on top of that they need to know how to use a stick when required. Defenders are equally under appreciated. Those 150km/h plus slapshots are designed to hurt, and getting in the way of one shows a huge amount of bravery.
Want proof of the warriors? Look at this 17 year old kid play junior hockey and sacrifice his body - for free. Watch how Tyler Carrol (#26) blocks four shots in a row.
Super-human skills We go to football matches to watch a player climb a pack to mark, to make that unbelievable penalty shot over the wall to beat the goalie, or to spin a leg break behind the batsman to take a wicket. This is what brings us to our feet and keeps us coming back week after week.
There isn't much in the way of aerial action on a hockey match, but it is awe inspiring to see how much control of a 76mm piece of rubber a player can have while speeding their way down ice before shooting the puck.
Check out this goal from the UK's Ben O'Connor. This player is of the same calibre you'd see in the AIHL:
Big hits and big fights It is often mentioned how we miss good old fashioned football, shirt-fronts, hip and shoulders and the odd punch thrown in anger. Cricket shows it in a different manner with bodyline bowling and ducking out of the way of a 120km/h bouncer.
My year 11 physics class taught me that one person skating at 40km/h meeting another person skating at 40km/h results in a pretty big collision. And what happens if someone doesn't like being part of one of these crashes? The gloves drop, and just like the old footy days, the disagreement is settled and the game goes on. This can be a contentious issue, with player safety in mind. Regardless of this, the penalties for dropping the gloves are fair!
Check out this fight at an Adrenaline game
A result every time Nothing is more infuriating than spending 90 minutes cheering for your team only to come away with a drawn result. It is on our nature to want to win, and that also means someone needs to lose. A draw leaves you with that eerie unfulfilled feeling.
No winner at the end of 3 periods? It goes to a shoot out or overtime. Either way, one team walks away victorious, the way it should be.
Respect for the referees In many sports, the referees have become an overstated part of the game, affecting results and stamping their own influence on the game. You can't interact, touch or dispute a call with a referee or umpire in most sports. Given there is often good reason for this, it is instinctive to question things that don't seem right.
This is a big on for me. Referees will go out of their way to explain a decision, and there is a respect from the players who usually accept the explanation. On the rare occurrence that they don't, questioning the decision isn't overly frowned upon. Best of all, the referees aren't too proud to reverse their decision if it is wrong!
A real test match Spending a summers day wandering around sunny patch of grass doesn't sound like a test. Four quarters of chasing a piece of red leather is no easy feat, and you can bet that every ounce of energy is spent during that game, but 6 days off to recover makes it a little easier.
Yes, they may only play for 1-2 minutes at a time before taking a rest, but the breakneck speed at which the game is played seems a pretty fair reason. Players average around 20 minutes on the ice over a game. The real test comes with the sheer number of games played. The NHL season is 82 games long before the playoffs commence, so that means 3-4 games a week. Here locally, back to back games over the weekend prove an equally daunting task.
Hopefully this has sparked your interest, my advice is to come along and enjoy the spectacle.
BRAVE
ICE
NORTHSTARS
THUNDER
MUSTANGS
LIGHTNING
ADRENALINE
RHINOS
