I went to a WHL Winter Hawks game years ago and had a ball, but I never got around to following the sport. Its never on regular tv around here until the Stanley finals. No one I knew knew anything about the sport. I have a buddy at work who played in the OHL years ago, so hes a fan and watches 50 games a year, always talking about it... so this year I dove in.
Compared to other pro sports there's a lot to like and not much to dislike. Generally the culture is significantly different. More respectful of themselves. I dig the rivalries, especially with the Canucks. Its a tuff game where you dont have so much lopsided teams. Really just about anyone can win, but its not necessarily a coin toss either. Look at football, short season, one team has gone undefeated and I think several have lost only 1 or 2 games in a single season. Hockey plays a ton of games and there has never been, will never be, an undefeated team. The record winning streak is 17 games, record losing streak is only 17 games too.
Also in hockey dont have news stories every week of some thug millionaire getting doped up and beating up his hookers, or crashing his Lambourgini into a cop car, or refusing to show up because he feels he needs ten million more... disgusting!
Yea hockey!