The Puck Stops Here

There have been a few attempts to showcase pro hockey players in meaningless games that the fans have largely rejected. The Original Stars Hockey League and the Ryan Smyth and friends charity hockey tour are two examples of this. However, not all of these attempts are failures at the box office.

In Hamilton, Ontario, over 20,000 hockey fans attended an outdoor game in Ivor Wynne Stadium (CFL football stadium). They braved rain and snow to attend the game. A story about this game is here. The game was not a high level hockey game. Team Gilmour won 11-8 over Team Staois. There was a 60-45 shots on goal advantage for the Gilmour team. Curtis Joseph even says "Guys said they wouldn't backcheck against the wind." So it wasn't exactly a competitive high level NHL game. Still the fans came. Probably, most were intriguiged by the "gimmick" of an outdoor hockey game and missing NHL hockey. Still it shows that properly marketed hockey that does not have the NHL brand can draw fans in North America. The problem is that the games will have to start becoming more competitive than this one to keep them coming back. I think that this is a very realistic goal for a new North American startup league such as the WHA.