DB AHC: Make Ice Hockey one of the 'big four' sports

[Morty Vicar]

Is there any way to make Ice Hockey one of the big four sports, or make it a fifth big sport alongside football, lacrosse, baseball and basketball?

 

[Driftless]

One of the difficulties is the other big sports at a beginners level can be played in any open area - rural or urban - a pasture, a vacant lot, a street. That makes access to those sports pretty much wide open for anyone. Hockey needs a relatively flat patch of ice, which limits it to cold winter areas - if played outside; or expensive indoor arenas.

 

[overoceans]

Maybe have the game less associated with those anti-American "hockey hooligans" who so blighted the game up in Canada, during the mid to late-mid 20th Century. Nightly news footage of the American flag burned by rampaging drunks just out from a Leafs game probably didn't help with any expansion goals in the USA.

That said, I'm not sure what sociopolitical changes you'd need to get rid of those obnoxious Canucks street marauders. It's never been really clear to me who they were, or why they were doing that.

 

[TheMann]

Maybe have the game less associated with those anti-American "hockey hooligans" who so blighted the game up in Canada, during the mid to late-mid 20th Century. Nightly news footage of the American flag burned by rampaging drunks just out from a Leafs game probably didn't help with any expansion goals in the USA.

That said, I'm not sure what sociopolitical changes you'd need to get rid of those obnoxious Canucks street marauders. It's never been really clear to me who they were, or why they were doing that.

These things were overblown from the start. Drunk idiots acting like drunk idiots happens all the time, at all kinds of sports events. Do I really need to remind everyone what happened at Ralph Wilson Stadium back in November? They were lucky nobody died!

The flag-burning is from the Leafs losing in the bloody Cup final, for God's sakes, you can hardly hate them for being ticked off. Vancouver had a riot, Toronto just torched a flag.

 

[overoceans]

The flag-burning is from the Leafs losing in the bloody Cup final, for God's sakes, you can hardly hate them for being ticked off.

Yes, but when the flag-burning is accompanied by American tourists being dragged from their cars and beaten to the point of needing hospitalization, that's gonna make a bit of an impact on perceptions south of the border.

And that wasn't even against an American team. I don't think the Halifax Highlanders even had a single American player at the time.

 

[Morty Vicar]

One of the difficulties is the other big sports at a beginners level can be played in any open area - rural or urban - a pasture, a vacant lot, a street. That makes access to those sports pretty much wide open for anyone. Hockey needs a relatively flat patch of ice, which limits it to cold winter areas - if played outside; or expensive indoor arenas.

Yes, this is a major obstacle.

Yes, but when the flag-burning is accompanied by American tourists being dragged from their cars and beaten to the point of needing hospitalization, that's gonna make a bit of an impact on perceptions south of the border.

And that wasn't even against an American team. I don't think the Halifax Highlanders even had a single American player at the time.

Mixing politics and sport is such a stupid idea, the fans should be banned from bringing Canada/ Quebec flags to games, all it does is incite violence. No wonder the players act like such thugs, I wish we could get all that nationalist stuff out of the game and clean it up to a family friendly sport.