By Alex Cohen-Smith
Want to know how people from the USA really felt about their hockey team’s performance in the Olympics? When Ryan Miller’s name was introduced pre-game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, the crowd roared and gave him a standing ovation. Now that wouldn’t be all that out of the ordinary, except that this was an away game, in Pittsburgh, and not even Sidney Crosby, the Gold Medal winner and the man who brought Pittsburgh a Stanley Cup last year received cheers half as loud as Miller’s.
Had the U.S. had won that game it would been the second greatest moment in our national sports history. It wouldn’t have quite been the 1980 game versus Russia (which may never be matched), but it still would have been an amazing accomplishment. Had the U.S. won the game it might have pushed a lot more Americans into watching hockey, a sport that has fallen out of favor in recent years. Had the U.S. won the game, the names Ryan Miller and Zach Parise would be synonymous with Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig.
The last point rings especially true in the world of sports memorabilia. The Jim Craig autographed pieces on the Steiner Sports website sell regularly whether it’s Olympic hockey season or the middle of summer. The commemoration of a legendary moment like that is always going to be a special piece to own. If the U.S. had won, you wouldn’t see any Ryan Miller or Zach Parise pucks left on the Steiner Sports site, because they all would have been gone in a flash. People like to feel connected to special moments in their life. That’s why you see the photos of the home runs by Bobby Thomson, Bucky Dent and Kirk Gibson still being purchased so frequently.
Even with this gut-wrenching loss, Miller, Parise, Ryan Suter and the rest of the team have still seen the value of their memorabilia jump. Kevin Lee, Director of E-commerce here at Steiner Sports, said in regards to the Olympians “They were one step away from Olympic immortality, but they still have become household names in the homes of non-sports-fans and sports-fans alike.”
Based off a survey we did through our Facebook & Twitter pages, most people who weren’t hockey fans before the Olympics, aren’t going to jump into loving the sport now. As one fan said, “(it’s) just like the world cup doesn’t convert non-soccer fans into soccer fans. People just support their country.” But some are clearly impacted by the exciting game that was the Olympic finals. I think you’ll see a bump in the ratings this Hockey playoff season and if we get a good showing in the playoffs (like maybe a Miller vs. Crosby first round matchup? As of today their teams are the 4th and 5th seeds) this could be just the boost hockey needs to get back on the map.
As for Ryan Miller & Zach Parise? Even a second place finish can’t steal away their appeal of two of the new faces of the NHL.
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Colby Brin
Good article – olympics certainly perked my interest in hockey again.
The main problem is that it is rarely nationally shown hockey games. baseball on fox every saturday gives you a nice mix. the nba (…is in the house… on tbs, and tnt. HIT IT VINCE!) has games every week on ABC. The NFL for 5 months takes over all day on Sunday, Monday nights, and then Thursday and Saturday nights as well.
Also, Olympic hockey is so much better than basketball olympics because there are more teams who can dominate. so for now, let hockey have its moment. the NBA playoffs though will blow it out of the water.
I couldn’t agree more. I only wish the U.S. cold have pulled that game out. With regards to that Sabres-Pens game, I believe someone actually reported that the Pittsburgh crowd booed when a replay of Crosby’s game winning goal was shown on the big screen. Gotta love that. Its too bad Miller didn’t play, talk about a rematch. Immediately. The Olympics brought hockey back onto the map in America, at least for the time being. And if nothing else, that game only further cemented just about everyone’s hatred of Crosby.
This looks like it will be a very surprising race to the Cup. Like always, anything can happen come the finals!
Nice post,You gain knowledge of something new each day.