Olympics Ups Hockey's Cool Factor

Hockey has been the forgotten stepchild of the professional sports world — with the exceptions of 1980's Miracle on Ice and this year's Olympics. The Stanley Cup finals don't exactly draw in viewers like the Super Bowl, World Series, or even the NBA playoffs. Let's face it, only a handful of folks could name five players currently in the NHL.

But now, thanks to some pretty awesome Olympic games — and zealous Canadian fans — hockey is king and it's been a lot of fun getting into the skating spirit.

Last Sunday's match-up between the US and Canadian men's teams resulted in serious online chatter, and the Canadians are still recovering from the 5-3 loss. Now, both countries are gearing up for important games on Friday. The US squares off against Finland, and Canada faces Slovakia in the men's semi-finals. The winner of each game will face-off in the gold medal game Sunday. Rest assured that if Team USA and Team Canada meet again for the gold, it's gonna be HUGE.

The good-natured animosity is heating up between the two countries, clearly demonstrated Wednesday when Canadian hockey fans who watched the US beat Switzerland 2-0 loudly booed and berated the Americans in an attempt to drown out fans chanting "U-S-A!"

"It's a rivalry," US forward Zach Parise told The Seattle Times. "When you're in a rivalry, you're going to get booed."

As Times columnist Jerry Brewer put it, "It's a rivalry now? Fascinating."

And the rivalry will only gain more steam tonight, when the US and Canadian women's hockey team face-off for the gold medal, after crushing all their opponents in qualifying games.

All this hockey talk has gotta mean good news for the NHL, which suspended play for the duration of the Olympics so its players could skate for their home countries. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said the league might not release its players for the 2014 Olympics, but Sports Illustrated columnist Michael Rosenberg calls him all kinds of crazy for even thinking about it, considering how much positive buzz the Olympics has generated for the sport.

"The Olympics are hockey's most entertaining spectacle," Rosenberg writes. "Think of how perfect this is: the NHL gets to sell its sport at the precise moment when the sport is most appealing."

So thank you, Vancouver Olympics, for reminding us that ice hockey is "kinda a big deal."

Photo by Chase N. via Flickr.