Stanley Cup

The NHL might actually be well on its way to battling back from the brink. The ratings for Game Seven of the 2009 Stanley Cup were a solid 3.0, drawing 7.51 million in large part thanks to the two fan-friendly teams on the ice, the Detroit Red Wings and the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
The NHL may not have players shooting for single season records like baseball did following their popularity-killing strike, but they do have something MLB does not have…the Original Six. The Original Six (the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks) could the key to the revival of hockey in the face of competition from everything from the UFC to (gasp) soccer.

Hockey’s in back into the hearts of sports fans may be its tradition, something that may seem quite alien now that the league has teams like the San Jose Sharks, the Carolina Hurricanes, and several other franchises located in cities whose populations would freak out at the first sighting of flurries.
Chicago fans are already beginning to buy Blackhawk tickets again now that Rocky has taken over for Bill. If Chicagoans can warm after being abused by Bill then maybe sports fans can clear out their schedule to watch Rangers games during the regular season or catch Canadiens tickets to see a hockey team from north of the border play.

The point is that Wayne Gretzky’s single season goal record is not going to be beaten by Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, or Rick Nash but the six teams that once defined the sport could become major players during the regular season and the postseason, giving fans something they recognize rather than trying to figure out why Anaheim has a hockey team and how they could possibly win the Stanley Cup.