Wrigley Field Ice Hockey

I haven't really ever followed the NHL. I was a Rangers-Gretzky fan. Then I would root for the Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning when they were doing well because I like those two areas of the country and have family there.

I honestly was somewhat happy that I didn't have to suffer through NHL highlights on ESPN for sportscenter when they went on strike. As a matter of fact I thought that with the NHL's strike, that MLS should do whatever it could to draw attention to itself and work to become America's 5th sport. (NFL, NASCAR, MLB, and NBA are the first 4)I felt like the MLS had an enormous opportunity to make some noise and get attention with the absence of the NHL. And that was before I was a soccer fan.

I hadn't watched more then a couple of minutes of an NHL game in years but on New Years I did watch the Red Wing-Blackhawks game that was at Wrigley Field. I thought that it was fantastic. Two great teams, one of them new and upcoming and the other the traditional powerhouse of the NHL were playing at an historic venue that was packed in front of thousands of avid fans. It had some of the theatrics of the Super Bowl. That place was rocking and I think that it was a great way for the NHL to generate some interest to casual hockey fans that it may have lost when Gretzky left and when the strike took place. I thought that the NHL did really well and I would actually like to watch the Red Wings and Blackhawks fight again.