The State of Hockey in the Sunshine State
I decided last night that I was in need of a good chuckle, so I attended a Florida Panthers game. Now word on the street was that they were not that great so I had absolutely no expectations at all going into this. I secured myself a fifth row ticket in an attempt to see firsthand why people had given the Panthers a bad rap.
Come to find out people had been spreading the wrong word. Ok ok, so it did lack a little luster and I could only imagine what it would have been if it was not for the Pittsburgh Penguins being in town but it did have some fun moments.
With the attendance hovering around 17,000, it was clear to see that 75% of the crowd was there to see the Penguins. Seeing the array of Crosby, Malkin and Staal jerseys you would have thought you were in Pittsburgh. But then again I looked down at my feet and realized that I was wearing sandals to a hockey game and before long I would be back outside in the balmy 80 degree night.
Some say that hockey in the sunshine state is a losing battle with both the Panthers and the Lightning not being high caliber clubs but I think differently. With so many people living in South Florida being from elsewhere you can always guarantee that if they are a hockey fan, then they have a home team that they route for. So what if it doesn’t happen to be the home team at least they are coming out to support hockey.
Hockey is unlike any other sport. Watching it on TV is fun and all but seeing it first hand is on a whole other level. It’s faster, more aggressive and outright exciting! The Panthers put up a good fight last night but Sidney Crosby just got the best of them as he seems so accustomed to doing. The Panthers seemed to have that one step on them for two periods but the third got the better of them.
I wish the circumstances would have been different for the Panthers but overall it was a great game and seeing Mr. Crosby skate in person proves that he is the face of the NHL and will be for years to come.
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