Hockey Towns USA

By Mike Moore

After 16 months of anger, 16 months of frustration, and 16 months of resentment, it took only 95 seconds for fans of Hockeytown to remember what it was they had missed so much. And it wasn’t a sight which sparked the memory, it was a sound. Resembling that of a speeding fire truck, the horn blared once, then again, three times, and finally four. It is a sound in Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena that is as synonymous with goals as the goal judge himself. In an ordinary time, it is a sound that visiting teams may relate to the 7am screeching of an alarm clock on Monday morning, but Wednesday, even fans watching from St. Louis had to welcome it.

The purpose of its sounding was simple. Red Wing’s forward Pavel Datsyuk skated out from the corner and scored the first goal of the season just 95 seconds into the first period of meaningful hockey in Detroit since May of 2004. But the symbolism of the sound was much deeper. It caused over 20 thousand fans wearing red and white to jump from their seats and scream. Fists were pumped, high fives were exchanged, and there, in that brief moment, the memory of the NHL lockout was gone. All that mattered now was the siren, the five players with the winged wheel hugging in the offensive zone, and the song resonating from the speakers, “Hey Hey Hockeytown…”

Four more times Wednesday night the same scene would play out, four more times the new-look Wings moved the puck as if they had been playing as a unit for years around a Blues defense which looked confused to say the least. Four more times the crowd raised from their seats to not only cheer a goal, but to cheer the return of the best game on earth. And you know what, from those at the rink to those watching on T.V., the message was the same; “Welcome back hockey! We missed you.”

From the day NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman took to the podium to inform the hockey world that the 2004-2005 season had been cancelled, many worried how the game would ever rebound. Sponsors lost interest, fans turned away, legends called it a career and even ESPN, a station which features pro-figure skating and pro table-tennis, said no thanks to an opportunity to broadcast NHL games. Actually, the real worry wasn’t how the game would rebound, but if it would.

While only time will give the complete answer, things couldn’t have started much better Wednesday night; and while the response in Hockeytown could have been predicted months ago, it wasn’t only Detroit which enjoyed the return. Wednesday marked the busiest playing date in the NHL’s 88-year history. For the first time since ten teams took to the ice to open the 1928-1929 season, every franchise opened on the same night; 15 games and 30 teams in all. Even more remarkable were the numbers. Eleven of the 15 games were sellouts and the total attendance of 275,447 across the board (18,363 average) shattered the leagues old record of 259,837 in February of 2003 when 14 games were played on the same night. Over 41 thousand fans gathered in at two separate rinks in Florida alone. Nearly 18 thousand were on hand in Nashville, nearly 19 thousand in Dallas and at the same time the White Sox were defeating the defending World Series champions in MLB’s divisional series, nearly 17 thousand gathered at the United Center for the Blackhawks debut.

Those not blinded by the excitement of its return noticed the game of hockey is a different one. In Detroit for example, names such as Hull, McCarty, Dandenault and Joseph have been replaced by Lilja, Cleary, Franzen and Osgood (second time around). The two line pass will no longer be called while “water skiing,” or the constant clutching, hooking and grabbing by defenders will no longer be ignored. For one night, the rule changes looked better than a winning lottery ticket. Not only were more goals scored, but scoring chances were present at every pass of the puck. Quicker more talented skaters had room to work. Datsyuk had a goal and an assist for the Wings while Jaromir Jarg had two goals for the Rangers. New faces in new places, another selling point for the game, played as if they were right at home. Eric Lindros (Toronto) had a goal, Peter Forsberg (Philadelphia) controlled the ice as he picked up assists on the Flyers first two goals, Paul Kariya (Nashville) scored his first goal as a Predator in front of a sell-out crowd and what many think to be the next great one, Sidney Crosby had an assist in his first pro game. Not to mention the first ever shoot-out in NHL history took place in Toronto.

If nothing else was proved Wednesday, it is obvious hockey still has a spot in the hearts of sports fans. Fans who were given every explanation as to why the game had to go away, why it couldn’t afford to continue as it was and why the lockout, in the long run, would save the NHL. If that is in-fact the case, if a better game continues to take the ice and if the NHL can return to its glory days both in the United States and in Canada, where the sport is often considered a religion itself, and if the excitement seen on one fall night in October is just a preview of what is to come, well, then 16 months of anger, frustration and resentment won’t seem all that long after-all.