It’s not easy being a hockey fan these days. With the world wrapped up in a pandemic, the sport has suffered, and with it, many of its most dedicated fans. With the NHL suspended until at least the end of the month, many are wondering whether or not hockey season has really started yet.
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When Is It Hockey Season?
It’s always difficult to tell what season is going to be like just because of the nature of the game. One minute, you could be treating your teammates to a night out at a restaurant and the next, you’re scrambling to watch another game because your team is on a season-ending bender.
Why So Much Chaos In The Seasonality Of Hockey?
Hockey is a tough game to call any time of the year. Even during the traditional hockey season, you can find yourself wondering whether you’re actually going to see a game or whether it’s just another one of those seasons that never really ends.
With the coronavirus pandemic causing league-wide cancellations and postponements, fans and participants alike have had to adapt to an unpredictable new normal. Despite all the uncertainty, a hockey season has emerged, and it’s been anything but traditional. Here are some of the most interesting things about the 2021–2021 NHL season.
The Season Is Still Young
Thanks to the pandemic, the 2021–2021 NHL season is still young. With games originally scheduled for February, the campaign has only just begun. In terms of actual games played, there are still a few weeks to go. Moreover, several of the league’s biggest games have yet to take place due to the pandemic.
No Traditional Start
The 2021–2021 NHL season was never going to be like any other before it due to the pandemic. For the first time in more than a century, the season never started the way most leagues did. In mid-March, the whole thing was put on hold, and the NHL turned to Commissioner Gary Bettman for an update.
It was during that conference call that Bettman announced that the 2021–2021 NHL season was going to begin as soon as possible, and that the league was looking into a possible “virtual season”. While it would have been great to see a return to some kind of normalcy, given the circumstances, it was probably for the best that things went the way they did.
The Season Is Wide Open
The 2021–2021 NHL season was always going to be different, but with the pandemic already having a significant impact on the 2021 Olympic Games, it was clear that things were going to be different in more ways than one. One of the most significant changes is that, due to the pandemic, there are currently no real divisions in the NHL.
In the past, the NHL would have started with four divisions – Eastern, Western, North, and Central – and the four teams that finished in the highest place in their division would then move on to fight for a spot in the postseason. Now, with so many teams missing games because of the pandemic, there is nowhere to go but up. The goal is to just make the playoffs and see what happens from there.
Smallest Playoff Series In History
The 2019–2020 NHL season was the league’s best, but it wasn’t good enough for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finished first in the NHL with 104 points. With the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Leafs all qualifying for the playoffs, it was the most exciting quarterfinals in recent memory.
The first game of the playoff series between the Red Wings and Leafs was contested on April 7, 2020, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. It was the largest audience to watch a playoff game in the venue’s history, and it was also the smallest. Only 7,678 people witnessed the game, the fewest in a quarterfinal for the Red Wings in more than half a century.
Although the playoffs started a week earlier than usual because of the pandemic, the games did not begin as a typical post-season. Two weeks before the start of the playoffs, the NHL decided to push the games back by a week in order to give players more time to recover. As a result, the quarterfinals lasted only a few days, and the first round was contested over just a few hours. Moreover, thanks to the pandemic, things like face masks and hand sanitizer were nowhere to be found, and there were no fans in the stands. The action was focused on the ice alone, with officials trying to manage a game that was as fair as possible given the circumstances. It was a tightrope walk, and the NHL did a great job of managing the challenge.
Hockey And Covid
It’s been a tough year for hockey, and no one has been affected more than the fans. For decades, the NHL has been a steady source of pride for many Canadians. However, with the coronavirus pandemic causing many leagues, including the NHL, to be suspended, there’s been a lot of worry about whether or not hockey can survive as we know it. The good news is that, thanks to the tireless dedication of its fans, hockey has managed to bounce back.
According to the commissioner of the Canadian Professional Hockey League (CPHL), there were just over 19,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in his league alone as of April 30, 2020. However, the number of cases is likely to be significantly higher than that because, as with any other country, many cases go unreported. Nevertheless, that’s a large number for such a small country, especially considering that there were only four cases just a year ago.
In the most recent national statistics, Canada now has the third-highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, after China and the United States. However, while the USA has the most cases, Canada has the highest number of Covid-19 related deaths. This is because the elderly are more susceptible to the effects of the virus and because many people with underlying health issues are more likely to die from the disease.
A Whole New World Of Hockey
The year that is now drawing to a close hasn’t been easy for fans of the sport, but it’s been an educational process, and for the most part, a positive one. Even those who were totally devastated by the pandemic have to admit that it’s created a whole new world of hockey, and it’s one that the fans will have to get to know, and like, all over again.