FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL

In case you haven’t noticed, the NHL is still alive.

Remember the league that was on life support at the turn of the century anyways, and should have been left for dead following the labor dispute that brought sports’ first cancellation of a regular season ever?

Since returning to the ice in 2005, the NHL has for the most part been a blip on the sports fan’s radar. The league has a very slim television coverage deal and has yet to be able to replace stars Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, players familiar even to non-fans.

Until last week, when the NHL took over sports coverage and captivated the YouTube audience.

Most people figured that when people started to care about the NHL again, it would be because rising stars Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin finally broke the proverbial ice ceiling.

Instead, fans and non-fans alike were checking in to see replays of the most awesome brawl in hockey in recent years.

The Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres (far from Duke-UNC or Red Sox-Yankees) broke into bedlam in the second period of a game last week. Penalty minutes reached triple digits, and even each team’s goalie got into the mix. The two teams played again three days later, again with a violent outcome.

Right now, the NHL should be shuddering at the thought that they are back in the news for the wrong reasons again.

However, somewhere in the NHL offices, league bigwigs are rubbing their hands together and chuckling over the prospective boost a simple fight could have sparked for the league, and here’s why:

-It’s a known fact that the bulk of fans at a hockey game really aren’t there for the technical aspect and grace of the game. They are there in hopes of seeing grown men exert levels of physical violence they only wish they could mimic at their jobs. Fighting is a much a part of hockey as scoring goals, and in the Ottawa-Buffalo massacres, it got carried out to the utmost extreme. Ever hear the phrase, “We went to a fight and a hockey game broke out?” People like the fights; it’s not a bad thing.

-On that note, clips of Ottawa goalie Ray Emery and Buffalo goalie Martin Biron feebly swinging at each other received thousands of hits on YouTube. In this day and age, exposure of the NHL to the YouTube generation is priceless. The NHL has managed to form a symbiotic relationship of sorts with YouTube (remember the “Vote for Rory” campaign videos which got great viewing earlier this year), which is crucial to reaching the teen and college-aged generation. Imagine the marketing possibilities if this target audience gets attached to hockey.

-The NHL is in a place where any press is good press. The fight was the lead story on Sportscenter, the first time I can remember in a long time that hockey has led the show when it wasn’t the Stanley Cup or playoffs. Also, the buzz the fights created got people talking about hockey again in that slow time for sports between the Super Bowl and NCAA Tournament, even if in a “Did you see that?” fashion.

-Though the cities are two of the worst probably to market hockey (or sports in general in), the NHL should take advantage of the marketing buzz now surrounding Ottawa and Buffalo. I’m not sure off the top of my head if the two teams play anymore for the rest of the year, but if they do, I would make sure to put as much footage (advertising, commercials, prime-time airing of the rematch) featuring the brawl. People will tune in to see if these two teams will beat each other senseless, and, unethical as it might be, the NHL should market that. I can’t fathom the opportunities if these two were to see each other in a seven-game playoff series.

Even if it was just for a week, the NHL took center stage in the sports world once more. Yeah, a massive brawl is not something to take pride in, but if the NHL can spin it to regenerate the public attention it lost after the labor fight, I’m sure the league wouldn’t be complaining.

I know I’ll be watching when the Sabres and Senators play…if I can find the channel