Can someone please explain to me the fascination with pre-season hockey? Twitter and the blogosphere are blowing up over the pre-season games that are happening a week after training camps have opened. I see people getting excited because their team beat someone else’s team in a neutral site split-squad exhibition game. Am I missing something?
I love hockey as much as any other social outcast hockey fan, but who the hell cares? I feel like the slow kid in the room left stone faced while everyone else is laughing at a hilarious joke. Maybe it’s just the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes and I’m the only one admitting it.
Sergei Shirokov: Greatest Prospect Ever.
I don’t like Spring Training in baseball or preseason in football—so this shouldn’t be terribly surprising. Hey, for all of the problems that college football has with the ENDING of their season, at least they have the BEGINNING figured out. No need for preseason! I just don’t see the point of getting emotionally invested in games that don’t matter. Let’s face it: these preseason exhibition games are as meaningful as a Pittsburgh Pirates/Washington Nationals series in September.
I like to think of the NHL as a meal at a restaurant. The preseason games are an appetizer—they’re something to satisfy your hunger after a day without food. The regular season is your big entrée—and of course, the playoffs are dessert. Unfortunately, half the fans in the league don’t get to have their own desserts. The appetizers are fine—I just know that there are much better things on the horizon. I’m pacing myself.
I feel like I need to scream when I’m talking to some people: “They don’t matter!” Sure, the games matter to the 4th liners and the guys that are fighting to make their respective team. But when it doesn’t matter to the best 15 guys on each team (and be real, they don’t), why should it matter to me?
Earlier this week, I watched the first 2 periods of the Hockeyville game between the Canucks and Islanders on NHL Network. Just like everyone else, I was starved for hockey and craving anything I could find. But that lasted for about an hour and a half! In those 2 periods, I learned TWO things: Terrace, BC is a really small town and Sergei Shirokov is the greatest player of all time.
What else have I seen? I saw that Jason LaBarbara can’t stop Bobby Ryan in a shootout. But that didn’t teach me anything new—because Jason LaBarbara can’t stop anyone in a shootout. I saw that Maple Leafs 1st round draft pick Nazem Kadri is good—so good that he’s probably a single season away from the NHL instead of two. I saw that Dion Phaneuf hits hard, walks the line between tough player and dirty player and that Kyle Okposo probably doesn’t know what day of the week it is.
The Kings rookies split a couple of games with the Coyotes rookies last week. This week, the Kings and Coyotes played a couple of split squad games and split those two. Then shared a banana split. They split it, as it were. While checking out those games, I learned that Jack Johnson has a ton of potential when he attacks the net against a forward trying to play defense and an AHL goaltender. Like we didn’t already know this! Here is your visual evidence:
For the most part, I’m just casually checking the box scores to see how some players are producing. But wins and losses mean nothing. They mean LESS than nothing! Sure, I like watching to learn something that I didn’t previously know—but how much can I learn by watching a prospect go up against a glorified career AHL player? I don’t need to see Colin Wilson score against the Thrashers B team to know that he’s a great prospect.
Its hard to believe that I'm saying this, but I'm rooting for Theo...
The one story that I’m following is Theo Fleury. Actually, it’s interesting that I’d care about him at all. He’s a long shot to make the Flames this season—so this might be all of the little man that we’ll get to see this season (unless you’re a fan of Abbotsford Heat). I’m not normally someone to get caught up in the human interest stories of sports, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t rooting for the 41 year old. With the personal demons and playing in Ireland to keep his career alive (albeit on life support), I’m hoping he makes it all the way back. I’m certainly rooting for him more than I was rooting for Claude Lemieux last year!
So what have I learned during the first week of preseason? I’ve learned exactly what I expected: nothing of consequence on the ice. However, I have learned that Versus isn’t the place to watch preseason hockey. And certainly not on DirecTV. Then again, Versus might not be the place to watch regular season hockey for me either this season. If they cared about West Coast hockey, that might be a problem. But since I’m a hockey fan in California, it doesn’t affect me in the least. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
By the way, I wrote this entire thing while watching the Leafs/Flyers preseason game. What can I say? I’m trying…
Matt Reitz is the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com and former NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports. When he’s not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he’s usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It’s a never-ending job.
