Saturday, January 27, 2018

Is Olympic hockey still worth watching without the NHL?

I make my living as a hockey writer. I’m also as big a fan of the sport as there is, and I love Olympic hockey.

But now that N.H.L. players won’t represent their countries in the Pyeongchang Games, will I even watch?

For hockey fans, the N.H.L.’s decision to send its players to the Winter Olympics beginning in 1998 was a dream come true. There had been major international tournaments, but never with these sorts of stakes on this big a stage. Finally, fans would get a true best-on-best Olympic tournament played in front of a worldwide audience, with dream rosters and genuine suspense over who would win the gold.

Through five Olympics, fans witnessed some of hockey’s most memorable moments, from Dominik Hasek’s brilliance in Nagano, Japan, to Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in Vancouver.

When the N.H.L. said it would not send players to the 2018 Games, many of us assumed it was a bluff. Surely some sort of last-minute deal would surely be found?

But it wasn’t a bluff. Fans were furious; players were furious. After the anger, the question: Is it worth watching?

>> Read the full post at the New York Times




7 comments:

  1. NYT? Way to go Sean! I hope you remember us when you pick up your Pulitzer!

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  2. Congrats on the NYT spot, Sean! Keep up the great work. :)

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  3. I entertained myself with a game on the infamous Kevin Bacon- game, but instead on Bacon I switched the perspective to Jagr. It has to be quite rare that you can with modest ease connect an active hockey player to a player who`s repredented the Philadelphia Quakers in the NHL. Jagr did it in 5 steps (Mullen, Harper, Beliveau, Lach, Cude).

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  4. Wow, you're on the New York Times! Congratulations! These days I've been reading your articles on "the Sportsnet". Thank you very much for writing such great articles.

    Matt (reader since at least 2009)

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  5. The New York Times? Nicely done, sir.

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  6. Congrats on the NYT spot.

    Noticed you didn't go a weekend wrap...are you still doing SN articles?

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