It’s official – The NBA season has cancelled all games until Dec 15. While this is going to hurt the fans and the businesses that depend on the NBA more than the players, the sports world is going to have to suck it up and move on.

The one professional league that should be grateful for the NBA lockout is the NHL. Although hockey is one of the four major professional sports in the country, it is the least popular. Having to share a winter season with the NBA doesn’t help them out. Unless you’re living in Minnesota, Michigan or Canada, professional hockey just isn’t that exciting.

However, hockey is more exciting than most sports fans believe. Hockey games usually include the most fighting between teams. They’re a bunch of tough men who skate around and slam their opponents into the boards. The goalies have to have quick reflexes and incredible flexibility. It takes all sorts of athletic talent to play the game, yet few people watch it.

The NHL needs to take this opportunity to increase its appeal. They need to jazz up the sport, offer more fan incentives, get more TV airtime, and win more fans over.

The NHL lost a lot of fans when they cancelled the 2004-2005 season due to a lockout. People quickly lost interest. Since then, it’s been hard for the league to rebound. Over the years, they’ve seen a three-percent decrease in average fans.

There are multiple reasons why interest in hockey is declining and it starts at a very young age. Part of the problem stems from the lack of youth league availability. Youth hockey is a very expensive sport to play, which also makes it a very competitive sport. Not very many high schools across the country have hockey teams, so it’s important to get on a competitive squad early to gain college exposure. At the college level, there isn’t nearly as much hype over hockey as there is over football or basketball.

If the NHL wants to change, this is the time to do it. With no other sport to compete for time over, this is the chance to get more fans interested again. They need to get better TV network contracts, make games more fan-friendly and bring hype back to the games. The NBA lockout is going to turn a lot of casual fans away from professional basketball, and the NHL would be smart to get those fans to turn to hockey.

Regardless of how the NBA lockout turns out, now is the time for the NHL to show they’re not the greedy league the NBA has turned out to be. If they want to beat out other sports like Major League Soccer and UFC as the next top professional sport, they’re going to need to step it up, and now seems to be the perfect time.

hrutt@mavs.coloradomesa.edu