I appear to be in the minority, but I still love the game of hockey even without the physical play. I would certainly love more physicality and even more authentic fighting, but I still love the game because of the athleticism and strategy.
I will never get sick of watching these big bulky dudes move around on ice using tiny blades all while having amazing speed and agility. I will never get sick of watching multiple players coordinate an attack in the zone where they all have to execute a plan that has a hundred moving pieces to it.
What I love about hockey is the speed of the game. For all the love football gets here in the states, I find it amazingly boring. I still watch, but find myself less and less interested every year. The pace of the game is terrible. With hockey, even though there are boring times (Dman waiting behind his own net for line change to finish) they pass much more quickly than other sports.
All those reasons are why I still turn on center ice at night to watch anything that is on including some random Panthers/Senators tilt that most people would find mind numbing.
Taking this a bit back on topic for a second in terms of fair weather fandom, I find that for me that actually ties in a lot with what people have been talking about in terms of getting older and having less time. When I was younger I had much more time to learn players from all the teams, to learn prospects, etc. While I still watch as many games as I can, I am much less informed and much less vested in the outcome due to those factors.
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