As we reach the final installation of Strange Sports Facts, I’d like to present something that I have been thinking about for a long time now.
As a huge sports fan, I find that picking a golden era of a sport is difficult task. You have to take into consideration all of the factors–the players, the teams, the evolution of the game, heck, even the jerseys. Picking the golden era of my favorite sport was even harder.
I’ve previously written about a few different sports, but at the end of the day, the frozen one is my favorite. Sure, baseball got me into the world of sports when I was a kid, but hockey has taken over my life as my all-time favorite.
I started thinking about this back in 2012. The 2012 NHL playoffs were one of the best in recent history. Every series had tons of energy, excitement and in most cases, lots of nastiness.
While I watched the teams duke it out for the Stanley Cup, I thought about what was the best era of hockey and one time period stood out to me the most.
What was so strange to me was that the era I picked is one that, because of predominant rule changes and a lockout that killed the entire 2004-05 season, could easily be considered the worst in the league history.
But I contest that.
The NHL from the years 2000-2010 were the best in my mind. It may have been because during the middle of this I got, what I argue, is the greatest NHL video game of all time – NHL 06.
This game was released in the thick of this era, and the players, jerseys, logos and arenas enshrined in the game became the paramount of what hockey meant to me at the time.
But why is this ten-year stretch the greatest? Even when I said that the 2012 playoffs were the best?
This era will be looked back upon as the most transformative era in the history of not only the league, but the entire game.
Checking the rosters of the teams in the early 2000s yielded some pretty stunning names.
Legends like Ray Bourque, Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey and Mark Messier could all be found on game-night starting rosters.
AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh:
2010 Stanley Cup winners the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 2 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series in Chicago, Sunday, May 4.
As I’ve previously written, the 2003 NHL entry draft is, in my opinion, the strongest draft across all sports.
That year’s draft featured 24 All-Stars and many players who still have a huge impact today, including Marc-André Fleury, Dion Phaneuf, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.
Skip ahead a few years to the 2004 and 2005 NHL entry drafts. These drafts weren’t nearly as strong as 2003, but both featured two players who have not only changed the scope their respective teams, they’ve changed the way hockey is played.
The first overall pick in 2004 was a Russian superstar named Alex Ovechkin and the 2005 draft boasted the greatest player in the game right now, Sidney Crosby.
While Ovechkin has been criticized as being lazy and unable to play defensive hockey, Hockey-Reference lists that the man has won the Maurice Richard Trophy [for most goals in a season] four times in his career and has posted 35+ goal seasons seven times in his nine-season career.
On the other hand, Sidney Crosby is the game’s most prolific player and is the best player to play the game since The Great One, Wayne Gretzky. Sure, Crosby has a reputation as a diver and someone who complains non-stop, but watching him play negates criticism.
The man plays perfect hockey, and people that rag on him need to realize that. It doesn’t matter if you like him or not, Sidney Crosby is the best hockey player in the game.
According to Hockey-Reference, Crosby has broken 100 points five times in his career. He plays excellent offensive and defensive hockey, and captained the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup championship in 2009.
The coolest part about this era is that before Crosby was named captain of the Penguins, he was skating alongside Mario Lemieux. Watching games with the two of them was like watching the old era of the game pass the torch to the new era.
And that right there is why this era of the game was not only special to watch, but imperative to the game. Even though they were playing regular games, the veteran NHL legends were, with all due respect, shells of their former selves. A new generation of superstars had to be ushered in, and there was nothing like watching it happen.
So sure, we suffered through a whole season of no hockey in 2004-05 because of a labor dispute, but that, in a way, was almost the symbolic turning of the page.
When hockey returned in 2005, and the ice was painted with “THANK YOU FANS!” it was a new game entirely. Gone were the boring tie games, and in came the shootout. Gritty defensive hockey became phased out, as the era of the finesse, all-around skill hockey ushered its way in.
I say this era capped at 2010 because by then, the new age of hockey had finally come to fruition. Fans adapted to the new game, jerseys changed, teams relocated and legends retired.
But for a brief ten-year window, fans saw what is the best era of hockey.
The way the league is now is awesome, don’t get me wrong. But a part of me will always miss the little things of the golden era, like the eggplant-purple jerseys the Anaheim Ducks used to wear, the hideous ITECH helmets and the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers. To me, these things will always symbolize what the game once was, and how beautiful of a time it was to be a hockey fan.
Ray Waldron can be contacted at rwaldron@keene-equinox.com