NHL: Climate change a threat to hockey

[Tinordi]

"Our sport can trace its roots to frozen freshwater ponds, to cold climates," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says in a letter accompanying the league's Sustainability Report, released Monday night. "Major environmental challenges, such as climate change and freshwater scarcity, affect opportunities for hockey players of all ages to learn and play the game outdoors."

But the NHL isn't dropping its gloves to fight climate change just because it's a worthy cause — it's also in their "vested interest" as a business.

"As a business, we rely on freshwater to make our ice, on energy to fuel our operations and on healthy communities for our athletes, employees and fans to live, work and play," Bettman explains. "To continue to stage world class outdoor hockey events like the NHL Winter Classic, NHL Heritage Classic or NHL Stadium Series, we need winter weather."

The NHL's 2014 Sustainability Report seeks to measure the league's carbon footprint and propose new benchmarks and measures aimed at decreasing its greenhouse gas emissions.

The last word in the report goes to retired Stanley Cup-winning goalie Mike Richter, who points out that the length of the Canadian skating season has decreased by 20–30% in the last 50 years. The biggest drops have occurred in Alberta, eastern British Columbia and the southern Prairies, Richter notes, while Ottawa's Rideau Canal closed a month earlier than usual in 2014.

"There is now a documented impact being felt in backyard rinks around the world," Richter concludes. "It is truly a loss when these opportunities vanish in the shifting terrain of climate change."

http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/...-future-hockey

Here's the NHL's 2014 sustainability report, it's actually a pretty impressive piece of work and by far the best report of its kind from any of the North American pro sports leagues:

http://www.nhl.com/green/report/index.html#aboutReport

[Erick Estrada]

I never really played much outdoors as a kid. I always prefered to play on the best ice possible.

[Street Pharmacist]

Nm

[JJ1532]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Haha. So you're OK with climate change then? Odd comment

At what point did he say that? All he said was, he preferred playing indoors on proper ice as opposed to crap ice on a lake. Seems fair enough to me.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Haha. So you're OK with climate change then? Odd comment

There's an odd comment in this thread all right but it isn't mine.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I never really played much outdoors as a kid. I always prefered to play on the best ice possible.

I grew up in the 'burbs, playing on one of the lakes in town. It was zamboni'd, with small perimeter of 2 foot high "boards". Quite ideal as a kid.

In addition to playing regular on-ice hockey, and because I loved playing as much as I could, I played at the Lake. There were times I was there all day, and mom would bring me lunch to the rink.

Or other times one of the many conventional outdoor rinks.

Definitely not one to limit my ice time to only the premium arena ice. Especially growing up in Calgary, our weather is conducive to it. Also why I love being in the mountains in the winter, snowboarding.

[Enoch Root]

A threat to hockey? Holy hyperbole.

I guess the growth of hockey in places like California is due to some weird little pockets of cold weather somewhere? Hockey is growing world-wide and it has nothing to do with weather.

Climate change is a good and obvious fight, but let's keep it focused on the actual issues.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Some of my best memories as a child revolve around the neighborhood rink or someone's backyard which was turned into a make shift playing surface. I can't imagine that part of my childhood being taken away, but that is what is facing future generations. Good on the NHL for taking the position they are. Bring as much awareness to the topic as possible and continue to show the real world ramifications of climate change.

[Street Pharmacist]

Nm

[JD]

My parents couldn't afford to put me in hockey, so I lived at the flooded lagoon in Marlborough Park during winters when I was growing up. I remember one winter as a young adult, the Flames even sent some guys to skate with the neighbourhood kids on that pond. Fred Brathwaite and someone else, maybe Clarke Wilm? Outdoor hockey is pretty much all I knew. Naturally, it would be a shame to lose that.

I read Larry Robinson's autobiography years ago... he spent his formative years enjoying the outdoor hockey more than the organized stuff. I can't think of other specific examples, but I'm sure I've heard this with many other NHLers.

The NHL has always been a bit of a follower in the arena of sports leagues, but kudos to them for showing some leadership on this, not only for the sports leagues but for business at large. I don't know how much impact they can really have in terms of their own operations, but their influence on the way people think of these things can be huge.

[neo45]

Bettman is just worried about his 20 outdoor games a year

[bubbsy]

this seems more of a ploy of the NHL to get more "green" and show that climate change is a topic the NHL supports, and good for them for doing so.

The tying of climate change and the success of the league seems to be a very loose linkage....

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

In a thread about climate change and the NHL.

So what's your point? You don't have one outside of the typical mouth breather, pro-climate change, supporter that is waiting to pounce on anyone that isn't waiving the climate change flag.

I just said was that I was never a big fan of the outdoor game skating in ruts and chasing pucks. Sheesh!

[nik-]

Climate change is a threat, but hockey is pretty damn low on the list of things it's a threat to. Cost of the game is a much more serious and realistic problem for Hockey associations to tackle.

[BigFlameDog]

That's what we were missing in the FOA Forum....a good old climate change sword fight...thanks Gary.

[Coach]

I grew up on the ODR and still go out with my buddies in the winter. We have definitely noticed a pretty dramatic drop in cold enough weather for it to be feasible.

It's not so much that it doesnt get as cold as much as not for as long. We'll have a couple days of -15 to -30 which will be great, but then a week of close to zero temperatures melts all the rinks and they have to refreeze in the the next 1 or 2 days of cold weather and just don't have enough time before warm air hits again. The really good days for being on the ODR have definitely become more few and far between.

[Street Pharmacist]

Nm

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Haha. So you're OK with climate change then? Odd comment

Inventing a such a ridiculous strawman opinion and assigning it to someone else only makes you look dumb.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

I breath with my mouth open because my sinuses are always congested, not because of my stance on climate change.

It's an odd comment, because not one part of the article or report in the op even mentioned playing hockey outside. It's an odd comment when the report talks about climate change's impact on water, fuel and health, and doesn't mention rutty Lake ice.

Sheesh. Did you read it?

Come on man you are just being silly here. You open one of the links and the first thing you are greeted with is a picture of an outdoor rink melting for crying out loud. Please lets not sidetrack the thread on what was a simple overreaction on your part.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Come on man you are just being silly here. You open one of the links and the first thing you are greeted with is a picture of an outdoor rink melting for crying out loud. Please lets not sidetrack the thread on what was a simple overreaction on your part.

Fair enough