Why I like ice hockey

LeBlanc vs. Ponich/ArtBrom/Wikimedia Commons

1. Fighting: It is awesome because fighting is legal. Seeing a hockey match with a fight is like getting a 2-for-1 deal because you see a great (and funny) fight that involves two grown men trying to maintain their balance by grabbing each other's jersey with one hand and trying to rock the other person with the other. Furthermore, fighting in other sports, such as football, is highly illegal and looked down upon, where a fight on the field is a fineable offense of up to $50,000. In hockey, getting into a fight results in a five minute penalty in the penalty box, nothing more.

2. Energy: Being in Madison Square Garden during a big rivalry game, such as the Rangers vs. the Islanders is defeinitely a thing of beauty. There is more energy and "bad blood" in that building than any other event at Madison Square Garden. It is so intense that at times, you actually could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

3. Sudden Death Overtime: There is no time limit, and points are difficult to score. In soccer, you know that even if the game stays tied at the end of the overtime period, there is a shootout to determine the winner. Hockey is the opposite, where overtime ends only when someone scores. The stakes are high and the intensity higher. In basketball, there is a time limit and you do have a feeling when the game will end, regardless of who the winner is. In hockey, that feeling does not exist, as a split second separates complete jubilation and the sickening emptiness of defeat.

Stanley Cup at the NHL Hall of Fame/Wikimedia Commons

4. Integrity: Hockey is one of the only sports where most players are not paid an arm and a leg to play. In basketball, Kobe Bryant gets paid upwards of $20 million a year, regardless of whether or not he wins a playoff ring. Hockey players do not get paid that much, and they are mainly in it for the glory of becoming a Stanley Cup holder. Not only do they want to hold the Stanley Cup, they will do whatever it takes to win. They will block the puck with any body part, take big hits from large men, play with broken bones and deep bruises like it is nothing, all because of their desire to win.

In a recent playoff game, Ryan Smyth, a forward for the Edmonton Oilers, was hit in the face with a puck and lost several teeth. If this happened to a basketball or baseball player, they surely would not play for the rest of the game, and skip a few games/practices because of the pain and damaged image. In Smyth's case, the referee scooped the teeth off the ice, and within five minutes Smyth came back on the ice all stitched up and ready to play. They have an extremely high pain threshold, showing their determination and dedication to the sport they love to play.

5. Image: A hockey player's is against most of society's standards. In hockey, the more missing teeth you have, the more dedicated you are, and as a player you wear your lack of teeth with pride. Same thing with all the bruises and the deformed bones and cartiledge. In a society where everyone is into getting plastic surgery to fix the most minor mistakes and lacerations, I find it to be inspiring that NHL players live above the influence, ignore society pressure and ignore what is implied that they have to do.