Re: Boston University Offseason Thread 2: Moving Forward by Booting Forwards
Revisiting something that was discussed a lot earlier this season: youth hockey in Massachusetts.
Yeah, you know it's funny, I came to Boston for college, and was unbelievably excited to be in a real hockey town (and baseball town, for that matter, being from Pittsburgh). People in the 'Burgh live and die by the Penguins. They love the team, and mostly they love the fact that over the last 25 years, we've been treated to the likes of Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Malkin, and a ton of other fantastic players.
But almost nobody in Pittsburgh has ever played hockey (that may be changing now). I was excited to be coming to Boston, where I'd heard people eat, sleep, and breath hockey.
I didn't anticipate finding the Bruins were far and away the fourth team in the city (and granted, I came about the same time as the Celtic's Big Three). That didn't necessarily disappoint me –– I guess you expect that when a franchise is mediocre for a number of years, and let's face it, the NHL ain't exactly America's Pastime. But it did surprise me.
What I did find in Boston is the Bruins' fanbase is very, very intelligent. Bruins' fans (mostly) are hockey fans who cheer because the B's are just the nearest NHL squad. Penguins' fans (mostly) watch hockey, because, well, the Penguins are good. The same people would just as readily support the Pirates, Steelers, or Pitt basketball, if it made the city proud.
It kind of baffled me, especially among people my age who were from the area. Some of them had played hockey, and loved it, but honest to God, did not care a lick about the Bruins. I know there have been ownership issues, and there are many people disgruntled with the way the team has been run -- and rightfully so. But still, as a baseball fan, I stand by my Pirates (gulp), and even if I didn't, I'd find another MLB team, because I love the sport. I'm finding that isn't happening in Boston.
I just spent the winter covering MA high school hockey, and it was perplexing –– often, I'd try chatting up a kid with some NHL talk, and a lot of times, it went nowhere. They'd have nothing to add to the conversation. If I brought up the Sox, everyone and their mother would have their opinion on Jason Bay's departure or "run prevention." But hardly anybody ever wanted to talk about the B's.
The thing is, I don't think that's an indictment of Massachusetts. It's not an indictment of Bruins fans, or of how the team has handled itself. It's not about coaches ruining the game, or the rise of the Celtics and Patriots, or the continued attention devoted to the Sox.
It's an indictment of the NHL -- namely, the people in charge of the NHL. That the league has fallen into such obscurity that it's below the radar of high school hockey players in MA is a sin.
It's to the point where very few care about the league as a whole, because they never get to see more than half of it play. If the home team on TV isn't a good watch, then nobody will bother flipping it on. Fact is, if the Pens weren't good, there's no way Pittsburgh could support them in today's NHL. There just aren't enough "hockey people" in the city to keep the team floating, and we almost saw that earlier this millennium when the team nearly left town.
When you think about it, it's pretty remarkable that the Bruins still get the support they do, considering their string of mediocrity -- that wouldn't happen in most other American NHL cities. Of course, if you're the Bruins, or the NHL, you don't really want to let that trend continue -- you're getting into dangerous waters if you go another 5 years without getting back into the national limelight for more than a Cup Finals with the face of the league involved.
