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Kevin Kurtt

150 Reasons to Love Hockey (2012)

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Last Updated on Thursday, 25 October 2012 16:26

With the season just getting started, it's time for a reminder of all the reasons we have such a love affair with hockey

By Kevin Kurtt
Let’s Play Hockey Editor

Here in Minnesota, hockey is strongly woven into our fabric of life. Our state high school tournament regularly sells out. College hockey gets higher television ratings than some college or pro basketball broadcasts. The Minnesota Wild rode an epic 409-game sellout streak. Indoor and outdoor rinks dot the landscape of the North Star State. Learning to skate, shoot and stickhandle  is a rite of passage for countless Minnesota kids every winter. The Let’s Play Hockey Expo in St. Paul during the state tournament is the largest consumer hockey show in the world (shameless plug).

But why does this sport have such a stranglehold in Minnesota? I don’t have a clue, but I do know what has drawn me to the sport of blue lines, power plays, saucer passes and Zambonis.

What better way to explain this than by compiling a not-quite-exhaustive list of why I love hockey as much as I do?

In an effort of full disclosure, I grew up in the cake-eater hotbed of Edina, played youth hockey in both Edina and Germany, enjoyed a three-year “career” as Goldy Gopher for the men’s hockey team at the University of Minnesota, worked for four years at the ‘U’ as the men’s hockey team’s sports information director and was a long-time season ticket holder at Mariucci Arena.

Without further ado and in honor of Let’s Play Hockey’s 41st year as a publication, I give you 150 reasons why I love hockey:

1. A clean sheet of ice
2. The clear boards at the old St. Paul Civic Center.
3. Hockey hair
4. Playoff beards
5. Toothless smiles
6. Hockey broadcasts in HD
7. Mariucci Arena (old and new)
8. Hockey moms and dads
9. The Minnesota State High School Tournament
10. The pre-game introductions at the state tournament
11. Skating cheerleaders
12. The sparks from a skate sharpener
13. Hockey nicknames. I’m Kurtty.
14. A lengthy cycling of the puck
15. Goal celebrations with special mention of the “Goldy Shuffle”
16. The sieve chant with special mention of the crowd at the Kohl Center
17. Slap shots
18. Slap Shot
19. The Miracle on Ice
20. Miracle
21. Pond hockey
22. Pond Hockey
23. The Mighty Ducks
24. TV interviews of hockey players – no matter what the player’s age, these interviews always seem the same
25. The skill involved to skate, stickhandle, shoot/pass all while someone is trying to knock you off the puck
26. The cool look of goalie equipment
27. Fan reactions to goals/big hits/bad calls
28. Big goals
29. Players standing on the blueline for the National Anthem
30. The X
31. The Ralph
32. The DECC
33. Yost Arena
34. Ridder Arena
35. Braemar Arena
36. Sold-out arenas
37. Backyard rinks
38. Playing hockey in the dining room/kitchen/family room/living room/garage/driveway with my hockey-obsessed 5-year-old
39. The hockey blogosphere
40. Jack Blatherwick, John Russo and Hans Eisenbeis columns in Let’s Play Hockey
41. Mascot hockey games
42. Team pictures
43. Team celebration pictures around the trophy
44. Hot apple cider in the stands
45. The horn after a goal at a Wild game
46. Hanging banners
47. The Let’s Play Hockey Expo
48. The Minnesota Rouser
49. Team USA vs. Team Canada
50. NHL players on Olympic-size ice
51. Goalie masks
52. Breakaways
53. A quick glove hand
54. Kick saves
55. The way players rip off their helmets and gloves after winning a championship game
56. The Stanley Cup
57. The MacNaughton Cup
58. The lack of TV timeouts compared to other sports
59. Frank Mazzocco
60. Doug Woog
61. “He shoots! He scores!”
62. The rivalries – too many to list
63. The hockey culture – humble, hard-working, tough
64. The speed of the game
65. Goalie fights
66. Super Mario
67. Power plays
68. Penalty kills
69. Penalty shots
70. The hat trick
71. The captaincy
72. Street hockey
73. Winter hockey at the park
74. Shinny
75. Knee hockey with mini sticks
76. Barry Melrose’s hair
77. Barry Melrose’s suits
78. Don Cherry
79. Using a baseball glove when playing goalie in street hockey
80. Herb Brooks
81. Names like Gump Worsley, Cal Clutterbuck, Hakan Loob and Jeff Beukeboom
82. Al Shaver
83. Wally Shaver
84. The way Wally Shaver says “again” or “about”
85. Glen Sonmor
86. Three Stars of the Game
87. The Wild’s summer of 2012
88. Pick-up hockey at the John Rose Oval
89. Goldy Gopher
90. Goldy vs. The Subway Sub
91. The Maroon Loon
92. Willard Ikola’s hat
93. Tom Saterdalen’s sweaters
94. NHL ‘94
95. Stacking the pads
96. A wraparound goal
97. Getting chippy
98. The five hole
99. The Great One
100. The hip check
101. The Frozen Four
102. The Stanley Cup Playoffs
103. The WCHA Final Five
104. Hockey sweaters
105. Third jerseys
106. Michigan Tech’s hockey band
107. Wisconsin’s hockey band
108. Getting a five-minute power play
109. Killing off a five-minute major
110. One-timers
111. Team huddles around the goal
112. Lou Nanne
113. Seee-cord, Seee-cord, Seee-cord!
114. Dino Ciccarelli
115. Smart hockey fans
116. The sound made when a puck hits a pipe
117. The sound of the blades on the ice
118. The fact that each team is only allowed one timeout
119. The stick salute – special mention of the Golden Gopher stick salute following a two-game home sweep
120. The Battle Hymn of the Republic
121. Seamless glass
122. Chain link or chicken wire “glass”
123. The Wild’s flag bearer
124. Chuck-a-puck
125. Ceremonial faceoffs
126. Ponytails coming out the back of the helmets of the ever-growing number of girls’ and women’s hockey players
127. Open-ice hits
128. Mite games during intermission
129. Goal lights, especially in the red rotating beacon style
130. Going top shelf
131. Knocking the water bottle off the net
132. Met Center
133. Beer leagues
134. Hard hits or shots that shatter the glass
135. The fog the forms on the ice when it’s hot and humid outside
136. Playoff overtime
137. Players getting the Stanley Cup for a day
138. Fans singing their national anthem
139. Hockey superstitions
140. NHL players who refuse to touch the conference trophies
141. NHL players who refuse to touch the Stanley Cup until they win it themselves
142. The Mario vs. Gretzky argument
143. The Bobby Orr counterargument
144. How you hardly notice the stench of hockey locker rooms if you’re around them enough
145. The Zamboni
146. Senior Night
147. Players who won’t take their off the equipment after a season- or career-ending loss
148. Season openers
149. NHL seasons that begin on time
150. Let’s! Play! Hockey!

The first version of this column appeared in the Oct. 4, 2007, edition of Let’s Play Hockey.

Why do you love hockey? E-mail us your list of why you love the sport of Zambonis, playoff beards, slap shots and power plays and we’ll print it in a future edition of Let’s Play Hockey. Send your e-mails to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .