Stanley Cup Hockey is Awesome

Stanley Cup hockey is awesome. To the hardcore hockey enthusiast this is not breaking news. To me, a kid that grew up playing baseball, football, and basketball with a little golf on the side, is all in on hockey.

If you look at TV ratings over time you will notice I am not alone. Strictly going by ratings, hockey used to be a bit of a fringe sport in that it catered to the same group of die hard people year after year. Back when I was a kid you’d spend April, May, and June watching the NBA playoffs and maybe catch a little hockey here and there. Not anymore.

STANLEY CUP HOCKEY IS AWESOME

Why is that?

For whatever reason, a larger percentage of people are realizing NHL hockey is a better product than NBA basketball. Add to that the fact that TV networks like TNT and ESPN are putting more resources into covering the sport. Bottom line, they are doing a much better job with hockey than they used to.

Stanley Cup hockey is awesome. It is non-stop action that uses every corner of the ice. Compare that to the NBA game where the game takes place on a 94 foot court but most of today’s action occurs in a 48 foot space from three point line to three point line. The game is becoming stagnant. The game is becoming a three point shooting contest.

The Celtics championship series against the Mavericks didn’t help the NBA much. It was a short series and most games were blowouts. The closest margin of victory was seven points. Meanwhile the Stanley Cup Final saw the Florida Panthers jump to a 3-0 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers. But that comfortable margin has been reduced to a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 Friday night in Edmonton. We cannot wait!

For more opinion and analysis on Stanley Cup hockey tune into Craig Shemon and Company on ESPN Southwest Florida from 2-6.

Craig Shemon has been hosting afternoons on ESPN Southwest Florida since 2017. Prior to that he was a nationally syndicated host in Los Angeles at FOX Sports Radio and in Houston at Yahoo! Sports Radio. Along the way Craig did play-by-play for the NFL on FOX, NFL Europe, Big Ten Network, and The Citadel Radio Network. Craig is a native…