Hockey was starting to get popular years ago. The major cable networks were picking up the games. Even in Florida, people started following it and rooting for our abysmal home team, the Tampa Bay Lightning (the franchise started in the early '90s; famous for having the first female hockey player!). Then two funny things happened: the Lightning got good and won the Stanley Cup & the NHL imploded. Bickering between management and players put the sport on hiatus for a year. Management said the players salaries were increasing faster than the league's profits. (Technically, then, the Lightning were Stanley Cup champions for two years!)

When it came back, many of the new fans it had gained from the recent increase in exposure did not come back with it. Instead of being on the networks, you had to turn to ESPN 2.44x10^69 or PayPerView.

Another virtue of hockey: I am a fan of one of its greatest teams - the Detroit Red Wings. Known as hockey town, Detroit used to have one of the greatest players ever in Gordie Howe. They are poised to return to their second straight Stanley Cup, probably for a rematch against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Go Wings! (The only other sport I follow is football, and my team is the Detroit Lions. They. did. not. win. a. single. game. all. year.) It is a nice change to follow a team that is actually good.

Hockey is a high tempo sport, with little rests or breaks. It doesn't have excessive penalties (you are even allowed to get into skirmishes, fist fights, and melees). Many of the penalties it does have actually make the game more exciting instead of less because of the Power Play rules.

I imagine one thing will continue to keep hockey in most Americans' peripheral vision. The players are mostly foreign, often from Eastern Europe and Russia. Their names are not pronouncable. Maybe a good ol' boy can revitalize the sport for a more mainstream American audience. A new Wayne Gretzky. Sidney Crosby for the Pens is the closest thing to it.