Today I was flipping through the ESPN channels and I noticed that a player in the NHL was getting suspended for shoving a fan.  This totally caught be off guard and surprised me, not because a hockey player shoved a fan, but because I had no clue that hockey had even started yet.

At first I thought it must be pre-season and that is why I just haven’t heard anything about it, but then I noticed that it’s the regular season for the NHL.  Is the NHL so far behind the other sports in popularity that even a sports fan like me didn’t catch the start of their season?

Now I know that the NBA with the Miami Heat story has been a big headlines this fall, and the first couple weeks of the NFL have had a lot of interesting stories coming out. The constant shake up of the college football rankings, and the exciting games of the MLB playoffs have all been the main focus of SportsCenter, but come on NHL you have to get the word out a little better.

I know the main reason I didn’t know about the NHL is because there isn’t a team with in 300 miles of me at the least, but still the NHL needs to do a little more than just having their special channels on Direct TV if they want the casual fan to tune in.

Realizing that hockey has begun does have some positive affects for me. I get to start looking at tickets to the Portland Winterhawks.  It’s always fun to sit right next to the glass and scream at the opposing team.  If you live in the Portland area and haven’t been to a Winterhawks game I highly recommend it.  Just remember its okay to make a ton of noise and laugh with the drunk guys who yell at the opposing team. (The drunk guys make the games even better.)