Do you think the result of this year's Olympics will expand hockey in the US?

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No-Conversation1940@reddit

"Silver bullet" events don't change the popularity of sports here. We have very deeply established sports cultures that vary by area. I live in Chicago now but grew up in an area where hockey was not played or watched. Baseball satisfies me, it is a consistent daily sports presence for a little more than half the year. I don't need more sports than that.

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tlollz52@reddit

No. Problem with hockey is it isn't accessible to play or to watch

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Hopeful_Bee4442@reddit

It's very accessible to watch. Yes, sometimes taking games to go NHLN is a pain in the ass. But other than that, the rest of the games are either on ESPN+ or TNT which you can get via Max. If you live in your team's local market you either need a very basic cable package or one of the OTT streamers that has RSNs. 2-3 subs at most is actually less than way more popular sports out there. Also if you have the OTT streamer for the RSN you don't need Max btw. So like, you probably just need 2 subs. Again, that's way less than you need for NFL, NBA & MLB. Only MLS is easier...it's also less popular. Play is a different story, there, you are correct. That said, most people don't play organized American football, yet the NFL is what it is. I haven't played organized baseball since elementary school, yet I am a die hard MLB fan. I did play organized ice hockey in high school to be fair. I just don't think you have to play a sport to enjoy watching it in most cases. My wife never played hockey, it's the only sport she enjoys watching for instance, I know a lot of women like that.

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tlollz52@reddit

Football is the biggest sport in the US and easily the easiest one to watch for your local team. If you want to watch every local NFL game all you need is a digital antenna. If you want to watch every local hockey game you'll need 2-3 streaming services.

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Hopeful_Bee4442@reddit

Don't you also now need Prime, ESPN & possibly Netflix too?

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tlollz52@reddit

No, they stream them all OTA. You just need a digital receiver.

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Hopeful_Bee4442@reddit

Oh...I don't really watch much NFL I just catch people complaining about of the streaming services you need now.

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count_strahd_z@reddit

Roller hockey had a popularity phase as I recall which gets around some of that, at least for the casual pickup game or school team.

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voltairesalias@reddit (OP)

Lack of ice IMO is a huge issue down there for participation.

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1235813213455_1@reddit

Even places that have Ice, ice time is expensive then add gear, travel expenses to find other teams to play etc you have to be wealthy to play in most of the US

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CFBCoachGuy@reddit

Cost too. Outside of a few areas, rinks are rare and access to them is expensive.

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

Plus all the gear, even more gear than football requires. Few places offer rentals and it is a big investment to buy it all for a kid

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BuffaloRedshark@reddit

especially as kids are growing and need new equipment every year or so

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BetterCranberry7602@reddit

Especially if they play goalie

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bonkers799@reddit

I went to get my sister skates at a peranis near me and showed her the goalie gear section. She doesnt look at her friends with kids that play goalie the same.

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Original_Staff_4961@reddit

Football requires virtually no gear that’s not provided by the team. Hockey has always had this issue. The cost of skates alone put it as the most expensive

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pablitorun@reddit

You just restated the point.

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this_curain_buzzez@reddit

The equipment can’t be cheap either. Lacrosse is big here but the rich areas dominate because you have to buy/rent equipment to even learn how to play.

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courtnet85@reddit

This is a huge reason. I grew up in Florida and was a fairly rare hockey fan back then because of access to a minor league team. I lived up north in a town with a rink for grad school and went skating multiple times a week, for next to no cost once I bought skates. Back in Florida, I have to drive an hour on like weekdays mornings and pay $25 or something to skate for an hour…so that never happens. I looked into joining a hockey league when I got back down here but it would’ve been my one and only activity, it would’ve eaten up so much time. And now I have a kid and pets and stuff so no way. I definitely can’t drive a kid back and forth that much! And only being an hour from a rink is WAY closer than most people down here. The University of Florida club team was driving like two hours each direction for ice time when I was a student there. I will say that there are a lot more hockey fans here now, though. Between the Lightning and the Panthers it’s way more common to run into people that follow hockey, they just still don’t play it themselves.

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Help1Ted@reddit

Yeah! A sport played on frozen water isn’t exactly a huge thing for a large group of people. Even living in Florida where the Stanley Cup lives, it’s not really that popular. If we had more ice rinks available… maybe. It’s just not something a lot of people would even consider doing. Unless of course it’s something that’s available to them.

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supern8ural@reddit

yeah, I grew up near Pittsburgh which I would think would be about the farthest south where kids would actually grow up just playing pickup hockey. It is weird to me seeing teams from Carolina, Vegas, etc...

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boulevardofdef@reddit

My uncle's two sons were super into hockey as kids, and both are still involved in organized hockey as coaches in their late 30s and early 40s. I remember when my uncle relocated to a different metropolitan area for work, there were only two towns he would consider living in, because those were the only ones with adequate hockey infrastructure.

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tlollz52@reddit

Yea even growing up in Minnesota "the state of hockey" my home town did not have a hockey team. If you wanted to play hockey you had to play for a different school.

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

You must have been from an unusually small town and probably in southern Mn!

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tlollz52@reddit

Yes, unusually small town but grew up in between Brainerd and Detroit lakes. Pretty much every school we played in sports did not have a hockey team. Its way more common than you think.

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supern8ural@reddit

I didn't play hockey in HS because while we had a team, it wasn't an officially sanctioned varsity team, and as a result my parents would have had to pay for all equipment etc. and that s\*\*t is expensive.

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Colonel_Gipper@reddit

TV is the biggest reason why the NFL is king in the US. Every local game is on free to air TV, this includes Thursday Night Prime (Fox locally for the Vikings) and Monday Night Football (ABC locally). If I wanted to watch the Wild I'd have to subscribe to cable and watch them on Fan Duel.

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tlollz52@reddit

I think you can subscribe to fan duel directly but yea, another streaming service just to watch your local team. All the content outside of the game time stuff is shit too

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wekilledbambi03@reddit

I have a few relatives whose kids play hockey. They pay thousands and have to travel hundreds of miles for tournaments. Their whole lives revolve around their kids sport… and they are like 9-12 years old and not even that good lol

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supern8ural@reddit

I tried using the official NHL streaming service and it was balls. I ended up subscribing to [uzzu.tv](http://uzzu.tv) because that way I could watch any game I wanted to. I'm sure the legality is questionable, but there's literally no other option.

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Acceptable-Baker8161@reddit

That wasn't a problem for baseball in the US for 100 years, but baseball is in rapid decline as a sport kids get into.

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Trypt2k@reddit

Hockey is already huge in the US, not sure how it could get bigger considering the density of teams where they actually make sense. There are teams in Texas for crying out loud lol.

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DynamiteStorm@reddit

You are delusional even the WNBA had more viewers than the NHL.

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

You have to look at the numbers in an extremely specific way that is designed to intentionally reach this conclusion to say this.

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DynamiteStorm@reddit

https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-sky/2025/08/01/wnba-viewership-keeps-outpacing-the-nhl

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

That article includes no information, but it links to a report that gets at what I’m saying: the numbers claiming WNBA’s greater viewership relate ONLY to the average viewership of nationally televised games. First off, the WNBA has a few DOZEN nationally televised games per year whereas the NHL has hundreds and the playoffs. The WNBA’s nationally televised games also skew heavily toward Caitlin Clark, who is indeed an incredible ratings bonanza for the league. Her popularity has also pulled up viewership of games she isn’t in… but not as much. So you’re comparing only a very small, hand selected list of only the very most premium games for television while ignoring the thousands of locally televised games plus things like attendance, etc. Obviously it’s true to conclude the WNBA, led by Caitlin Clark is having a very cool moment and has gained a ton of attention. However, to say “it now has more viewership than the NHL” requires you take a very narrow statistic, compare it apples to oranges, intentionally misrepresent its meaning, and then ignore every other data point. It’s silly.

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voltairesalias@reddit (OP)

I'm honestly shocked there's only one team in Texas. I just can't wrap my head around how Houston does not have a team. I think the NHL could succeed in Houston. In fact in many ways it perplexes me that Dallas instead of Houston has a team in Texas.

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leeloocal@reddit

They used to have a team for a really long time. The Aeros were in Houston from 1972-1978, and then from 1994-2013. They got moved to Iowa for financial reasons and just never came back.

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Realk314@reddit

and the oilers moved out too.

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leeloocal@reddit

Yeah, but the Texans have been in the city since 2002.

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Realk314@reddit

right which is why i said until relatively recently they haven't been able to keep the football team there. Much less a hockey team.

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leeloocal@reddit

The Oilers moved out of the city in 1996, and the Texans were established/announced in 1999. Their inaugural season was 2002. The only sport that they don’t really have right now is hockey.

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voltairesalias@reddit (OP)

The AHL is a different beast though. I think that the gulf in viewership and sponsorship changes pretty dramatically between the AHL and the NHL. I think if a team can succeed in Dallas there's not a lot of reasons why a team wouldn't succeed in Houston.

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leeloocal@reddit

Even so, they were really popular, and the games were always packed. It was actually an issue with the shared lease the Aeros had with the Rockets that caused the move.

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earthhominid@reddit

What about Houston makes you think it would be a good hockey town?

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voltairesalias@reddit (OP)

IT has all the ingredients. It has a huge ex pat Canadian, Midwest, and NE population; it has lots of money; it is in a state with very low taxes. IT wouldn't be difficult I think to gain popularity.

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benk4@reddit

We already lost a minor league team. I don't think the NHL would do great here. Lots of people who moved here already have a team if they're interested, and the natives aren't really interested. Not really a lot of ice here so there's very little exposure. They might succeed technically just due to the sheer size of the city, but I think support would be lackluster.

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voltairesalias@reddit (OP)

But those migrants who have a team just want an excuse to watch hockey. That's why Tampa and Miami have teams. Snowbirds may cheer for Toronto or MTL but they'll watch whatever hockey they can. IT means that when an Original 6 team is in town the opponents fans will outnumber the home team.... but the home team wins anyways because of all of the money spent. I also believe that fans usually just like a winning team. Las Vegas has a thriving hockey market now because it has lots of Canadians and midwesterners there for the dog days, and lots of bandwagoners for when they win. I just... I just have such a hard time seeing Houston as unviable in that respect if Dallas, Nashville, Tampa, Miami and Las Vegas can be viable.

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earthhominid@reddit

Well maybe then. Are there a lot of hockey fans there currently? Who do they tend to follow?

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SpeedLow3@reddit

lol

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Honest_Road17@reddit

Swangers and slabs.

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

Shit, there was only one NFL team in Texas for a long time

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cruzweb@reddit

Dallas wasn't the first choice. Old stars owners wanted a new Franchise in the bay area, so they sold the team and started the Sharks. New owner ended up in marital troubles and as part of all that, his wife wanted the team moved. This was also after they tried getting in on the new Target center and wasn't able to make that happen. Tried to move them to LA, but the NHL granted the ducks expansion so it didn't happen. Then it was just location shopping and Dallas got the rose at the end of the ordeal. The team continued to lose money and was sold again. The same time the stars moved to Dallas, there were efforts in the works to revive the Houston Aeros, a WHL team from the 70s, as an IHL minor league team. The stars played first in Dallas in the 93-94 season. The next year, the Aeros were up and running in Houston.

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TheHondoCondo@reddit

Texas is hot as hell. It doesn’t make much sense.

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Dai-The-Flu-@reddit

Houston is a bigger city than Dallas but DFW is the bigger metro area and has more money to go around.

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Realk314@reddit

Until fairly recently (relatively) Houston couldn't even get their football team to stay.

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Outrageous-Pin-4664@reddit

Miami and Tampa both have teams. There are also three ECHL teams in Florida, located in Orlando, Jacksonville, and Estero. If Florida can support that many hockey teams it must be doing pretty well.

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GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit

I can't imagine it will do a whole lot really. It was fun and it was enjoyable talking with all the casual fans getting invested in the gold medal game, but I can't imagine many of them taking it farher to the point of watching or attending NHL or AHL games because of it.

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cherry_monkey@reddit

I usually go to one or 2 AHL games a year. I'm lucky enough to be about 60 minutes away for 2 separate teams. To the OPs question, I agree that not a whole lot will come of this. My nearest rink is 30 minutes away and offers public skating in 1 and a half hour increments twice on Saturday and once on Sunday. It might open up a little with hockey season coming to an end though.

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thatcoolguy60@reddit

Probably not. Hockey is already decently popular in the US, but the biggest issue is that many places have nowhere to play it. I live in Alabama and I can think of one ice skating rink in the whole state, and I am not even sure it's still open.

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Honest_Road17@reddit

Rollerblades buddy.

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thatcoolguy60@reddit

What?

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ilPrezidente@reddit

He's saying that street hockey (with roller blades) is a viable alternative

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Sergeant_Metalhead@reddit

I live in Mass. almost every town has a least one rink

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VKN_x_Media@reddit

Maybe it's because I grew up in Eastern PA but Hockey on the pro & minor league levels has always been big and over the past 2 decades or so the amount of local level rinks has been growing atleast on number of rinks per "region" level. Roller Hockey has always had a decently sized thing here too be it local roller rinks holding "beer league" type of things or just kids playing in the streets. Then again PA has 2 NHL teams in state and this state is very "you're from here you have to support the teams from one of those 2 cities" oriented in all sports, and then atleast eastern PA have the NJ & 2 NYC teams within a 2.5hr drive. Plus the Bears, Penguins & Phantoms all within this part of the state so it's always been well covered media wise. I should note that being born in the late 80s & growing up in the 90s my. Generation had the Mighty Ducks movies & cartoons (along with associated toys and merch) so I feel like my age group may be slightly into it more than those a little older or younger. Given that my observation of how popular it is may be slightly tinted by rose colored nostalgia glasses.

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ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit

Hockey will never be a huge sport to play in my area (in Florida), but I expect the local minor league team might see some increase attendance for a bit.

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r2k398@reddit

I’ve read that youth hockey in the U.S. was already growing and outnumbering Canada so that’s a good thing if it is true.

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-mud@reddit

They squandered a lot of the goodwill by letting Kash Patel into the locker room

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HippoProject@reddit

I doubt it. Even getting the chance to watch hockey can be a challenge because the broadcast rights are really weird for the NHL. Unless you’re paying extra for ESPN+ or watch it on a local affiliate station or Sometimes TNT, your shit out of luck.

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BayYawnSay@reddit

It could have, but then they threw every chance of it away in that locker room and eating MceeDees with an actual pedophile

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the_real_JFK_killer@reddit

No. The only time americans care about hockey is when we go against you guys in the Olympics. We've been waiting for that moment for decades, now we can forget about hockey.

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1Negative_Person@reddit

That’s not accurate. Hockey is very popular regionally in the US. Go to Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Philly, Pittsburgh, or anywhere in MN or WI and people *absolutely* care about hockey.

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Zappagrrl02@reddit

All of Michigan has hockey fanatics. There’s both a strong college and minor league system too

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1Negative_Person@reddit

You’re right. I called out Detroit because they are stand-outs, even though as a Blackhawks fan they are sworn enemies. I have to respect them, even if I don’t like them.

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voltairesalias@reddit (OP)

Texas to Upstate NY. Are you a fan of the cold or begrudgingly accept it? I've known quite a few Texans in Alberta when I lived there and it was a mixed bag for them.

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Realtrain@reddit

Not OP, but at least from the south --> upstate migrants I've spoken with, it's less about loving the cold and more about hating the heat.

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indyclone@reddit

There was a big boost after 1980 USA gold. It's hard to say how much this one matters.

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Efficient_Place_2403@reddit

no

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braves-geek@reddit

No. I just don't think the games translate well to TV. Everyone always enjoys it when they go in person though.

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kmoonster@reddit

Roller hockey, maybe. If you're talking about hockey as a recreational sport. That is much more accessible than ice hockey. Roller hockey you can play anywhere with a smooth, hard surface like a concrete basketball court. The municipal sports parks in my area even have a skate floor "rink" meant for hockey and other skate sports; and I should specify that this is separate from a "skate park" which is a different thing. People play year-round on those, but to play ice hockey you have to make a special trip to an ice rink. And your average park or rec center does not have an ice rink. We do have ice rinks in the area but they are not exactly a casual thing in every-other park. But we do have tennis courts, basketball courts, and other sorts of "pads" in most parks. Heck, you can even set out some cones in a parking lot at your local park and play that way if you want.

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7thAndGreenhill@reddit

When I grew up in the 1980s you would see kids playing street hockey often. In the summer our local elementary school yard almost always had a pick-up game going. But now I cannot remember the last time I saw kids playing street hockey. Soccer and Basketball seem to be more popular.

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Designer-Solid-5973@reddit

It depends on what you mean by expand. The sport has inherent ceilings in participation growth for reasons already mentioned here. In terms of viewership growth, the numbers will be modest and harder to detect. You're not immediately going to see a high % of the 20mil people who watched the gold medal game suddenly tuning in to random weeknight ESPN games or even the playoffs. What this will do is probably hook some additional marginal fans who will attach to and follow their local teams. The thing with hockey (and baseball) is that the day to day following of hte sport is regional - there are 32 teams,. they play all week long, they all play 82 games. NHL wants people to follow it like football where they watch every team but it's just never going to be consumed like that. I have no doubte that Olympic success is going to bump up at leaset marginally the regional folks who wnat to attend their local team or watch on TV. The biggest boom / growth area will be in the women's game in the US, which is already growing massively in terms of interest and viewership.

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Sergeant_Metalhead@reddit

I live in New England hockey is hugh here. Not many of my kid's friends didn't play. Hockey is on our TV a lot, but my family did come from Canada.

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Sorry-Government920@reddit

It will still stay regional very popular in the upper Midwest and New England . I live in Wisconsin and most places above say 7500 people have rinks and youth hockey organizations. In Minnesota it a way of life . it is growing somewhat in unlikely places . My daughter plays and has played in tournaments against teams from Florida, Virgina & Texas In places like Nashville

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AdEastern9303@reddit

Not sure I understand the question. There are like 25 NHL teams and another 25 AHL teams in the US.

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Hopeful_Bee4442@reddit

Gold medal was a very big deal by me, all local bars opened at 7 or 8am. People were excited about it. It was the first thing everyone mentioned at work on Monday. I do think it'll help a little. Not dramatically but I think a handful of people that maybe didn't watch the NHL before, or fell away from it, will give it a look-see.

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No-Boat-1536@reddit

No. We are already expanding as fast as we can. Ice time is the limiting factor, especially with global warming making outdoor skating hard to come by.

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Splugarth@reddit

Not as much as Heated Rivalry will. 🤔

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benk4@reddit

My girlfriend did just ask me last night what the Montreal team was called, turns out it was because she was reading that

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mister_drgn@reddit

No.

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VisualCelery@reddit

I do think this will boost enthusiasm for the PWHL. I'm especially excited for the upcoming fleet games that will actually be in Boston, Agganis (BU's main hockey rink) on March 17th and the TD Garden game in April. It's gonna be so fucking LIT. I really hope this is the thing to push their popularity enough to relocate them to an arena in Boston, I'm so tired of driving to Lowell in rush hour traffic.

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GenericAccount13579@reddit

Hockey already is incredibly popular though? It’s one of the Big Four sports (separate discussion, but I’d argue it’s Big Five now with MLS growing as it is).

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Predictor92@reddit

MLS is still a 3rd of the revenue of the NHL and the only reason the NHL is included in the big four is the Stanley Cup's prestige

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GenericAccount13579@reddit

Depends on the metric. MLS averages higher attendance than NHL, but fewer games skews that number a bit. I still think it deserves to be in contention.

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GenericUsername19892@reddit

To some extent maybe but I’m not optimistic given I had to look up what happened with US hockey, but I also learned Hockey was in the Olympics so there’s that at least.

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VinceP312@reddit

No

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ValuableMistake8521@reddit

It might pick up traction at colleges with decent teams, like my school (DIII national champs 3 years running). Hockey is great to watch so I’d be nice if it gained some traction

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Amazing_Divide1214@reddit

No.

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

No. We’ve had big results in men’s hockey before and hockey is already a major sport, just the smallest one. People know what hockey is. Some interested and some aren’t. Women’s hockey has been dominant anyway, this is just status quo. Same story there. Hockey is an extremely expensive and time consuming sport to play. It involves specialized municipal facilities and has a very particular culture. Becoming a hockey family isn’t for everybody.

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pablitorun@reddit

There will be a small bump. There was a huge bump in Chicago when the blackhawks were good but by 2016 second hand sports was stuffed with used hockey gear.

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12B88M@reddit

Hockey is already a huge sport in the US. Even South Dakota has a USHL team that has seen several former members go to the NHL. I was once a hockey referee and spent 10-16 hours every weekend and a couple week nights each week officiating games. Many states are even more into hockey. So the US winning gold won't significantly increase hockey in the US

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gummibearhawk@reddit

One thing I love about this is that losing the game to America was a national crisis for Canada but most Americans don't have many feelings about it. Just another iteration of Canada hating us and us not thinking about them at all.

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Handgun4Hannah@reddit

Hockey is as saturated in the US as it will ever be. Don't get it twisted, I love Hockey and I'm not speaking ill of it, but everyone in the US who wants to watch hockey is already watching hockey.

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PinchedTazerZ0@reddit

I grew up in Dallas and the stars were watched by a lot of people I know, Kraken starting in Seattle has spurned some new fans I'd imagine Outside of regional Stanley Cup watching it's not huge though. I'm surprised at how popular the secondary league is in Florida though, I've done a few games and they're fun and affordable

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jedooderotomy@reddit

Nah - Americans are already familiar enough with what hockey is. Maybe interest will go up a bit, but those of us that aren't really hockey fans are still not super into it.

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Outrageous-Host-3545@reddit

A bit maybe. It's a spot that's awesome buy very regional. I live on the American side of lake ontario, my girlfriend grew up in NYC and hockey is a bit forget to her. We were talking about it the other day. Hockey started in areas that freeze and ponds or lakes freeze over so the game could be played. Out side of that it was never a thought to most people. Kinda like lacrosse is a regional sport.

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manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit

It's already popular in the Northeast and Upper Midwest

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Oomlotte99@reddit

No.

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Frank_chevelle@reddit

Probably not. It’s already pretty popular in some states like Minnesota and Michigan. My cousin played in the equivalent of the minor leagues of hockey for many years. It was expensive and required lots of traveling. Plus in the US it competes with football basketball at the pro and collegiate levels along with baseball and other sports. I love hockey personally and grew up watching the Detroit Redwings. I enjoy going to the games when I can. It’s my favorite pro sport.

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rubey419@reddit

Expensive sport. And only less than half the country gets cold enough for winter sports (visit can have indoor ice rinks, just culture wise)

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CantHostCantTravel@reddit

Laughable. The US Men’s team did a pretty good job of demonstrating that they’re all fascist MAGA pedophile protectors. They’ve disgraced hockey in this country, not the opposite.

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Mite-o-Dan@reddit

Everyone saying no...Eddie Olczyk, who was an announcer for that game...frequently tells a story about how the 1980 hockey team was the greatest thing he ever saw and the reason he got serious into hockey...he wanted a moment like that. He would soon make the 1984 US Olympic hockey team at just 17. So, it effected him at least, and it turned America very pro-America and brought hockey more in the spotlight. I wouldn't expect this to be AS big...but still move the needle a LITTLE and have kids get more interested in it.

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Trick_Reputation129@reddit

Hockey's already big here. There are 25 NHL teams in the US and only 7 left in Canada. I don't know if it will expand participation though. Not every area has accessible ice rinks, and equipment can get expensive.

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CleverNickName-69@reddit

Also, the fact that the hero got two teeth knocked out doesn't make parents want to get their kids into playing.

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SaltandLillacs@reddit

No, hockey is a very expensive sport

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PNW_OlLady_2025@reddit

Blasphemous words coming from someone purportedly in Mass....

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1EMurph1@reddit

It’s true. I had friends on the hs hockey team and their daily practice and games were usually at 4:30am. The regular mornings, afternoons and nights were reserved for kids and ice skating. There’s not really any recreational leagues after school because of this reason. Not enough rinks

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Bec21-21@reddit

No. The video of the men’s team celebrating like a bunch of lairy frat boys with Kash Patel didn’t make me think anything positive about ice hockey.

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SpeedLow3@reddit

For women I can participation going up but probably not men

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1Negative_Person@reddit

Hockey *is* fairly popular as a spectator sport in the US; but as others have said, most people don’t grow up playing it like they might with baseball, football, basketball, or soccer, because it’s a very expensive sport. Rinks aren’t ubiquitous and ice time and leagues are expensive where they do exist. Equipment is considerably more expensive than for any other popular sport, and a growing kid needing new pads every couple of years is a barrier to entry for a lot of people. High schools and middle schools don’t have leagues. There are rec leagues and beer leagues; and some people, like myself grew up playing street hockey, but that’s obviously not an organized league and tends to be a very different game. As a result of all of this, American hockey fans tend to be fans, rather than players.

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Lallner@reddit

I got teary-eyed when they brought Gaudreau's little kids out for the team picture with their dad's jersey. Yes, it will increase the popularity for hockey in the U.S.

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AbstractBettaFish@reddit

I don’t think so, things that make sports big is easy consumption. That’s why football over took baseball in popularity. It was easier to follow a sport that only has 16 games once a week. I don’t see another sport capturing that culture momentum any more. This same question gets posed any time the US does alright in the World Cup, they say maybe America will finally embrace soccer! But once the competitions over and the lights people just kind of move on. It will always have its popularity here, the NHL is proof of that but with the high cost of entry, and the competition for athletes among the other big 4 I think it will remain where it is

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supern8ural@reddit

I mean, I got up early Sunday to watch the game, but I've been a hockey fan since the Pens won the Cup in '91. I was sad to see Sid out for the final even though I obviously wanted USA to win.

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whatevendoidoyall@reddit

No but I do think figure skating will get marginally more popular.

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rootoo@reddit

I was ready to get into it before the shameful partisan displays with Kash and Trump.

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Acceptable-Baker8161@reddit

I think in the big hockey parts of the country (upper midwest, esp MN and Chicago area and the East Coast, we're at Peak Hockey. It's big, lots of youth play and great NHL fan bases. The other teams seem to do well and there's probably more interest in hockey in those places than there was 30 years ago. But hockey is probably doing as well as it's ever going to do in, say, the South and California. Half the people in Phx probably didn't know the team existed when they were there. Utah (I'm in SLC) seems to be doing well but I doubt the Olympics are going to move the needle any more than it already has.

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LiquidDreamtime@reddit

No. The majority of Americans have no access to ice or hockey equipment. Like many Olympic sports, it’s a rich man’s game.

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WideHuckleberry1@reddit

I don't think hockey will have the national appeal in the US that it has in Canada, but as someone in the Predators' market I can say it absolutely can have the same excitement as the big 3 within markets, when there's something to be excited about. But part of the problem, like baseball, is the league's media rights are abysmal. There's no financially feasible way for me to watch the Predators. I can see a lot of games on Hulu or ESPN+ but my favorite team is nearly always blacked out.

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idkbutitsoundsgood@reddit

It might move the needle a bit, but the NHL isn't great at trying to grow the game on their own so it probably wont maintain that momentum for long. the PWHL might see some significant growth though, they seem to be more proactive and the players seem more relatable in their interviews and outreach

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dstar-dstar@reddit

No, we see this with the World Cup in the US. There’s a huge rise in viewers and people ask the same questions. People watched because they could easily root for their team but once it’s over that’s where it ends.

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Responsible_Side8131@reddit

No. Hockey is a very expensive sport to play. Only the rich kids play hockey

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174wrestler@reddit

Lacrosse is being increasingly popular. Basically same thing, just without the cold.

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GSilky@reddit

Most places, where lakes don't freeze in the winter, couldn't care less about hockey. Even in a place like Denver (where the lakes don't reliably freeze in the winter, but people know what winter can be) it's for middle class white people. Avalanche ticket prices reflect this bias. The prep schools and more fancy public school districts have ice hockey teams, and in the mountains it's normal. The University of Denver has a storied hockey team, but that school is called "Harvard of the Plains" for a reason.

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_that_dude_J@reddit

The only people that talk avidly about hockey are Canadians. Not Americans. We have fans and we have some men that enjoy the sport but, I've never ever come across groups trying to recruit people for the sport.

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Arleare13@reddit

I think the gold medal game was a huge deal to Americans already inclined to care about hockey, but I don't really know how much it will *expand* the population who follows it. And in terms of participation, it's just not an easy sport to participate in here. Even beyond the cost, most of the country just isn't suited for it in terms of climate.

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RandomSlimeL@reddit

No. Much of the US is too hot for it.

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refasu@reddit

No.

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DynamiteStorm@reddit

No. Too difficult to figure out what’s happening with so many people and such a small black puck on the ice. The 3 on 3 was enjoyable The NHL will get no new viewers. The WNBA had more viewers than the NHL last year.

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DadPuncher69@reddit

No. It's expensive, it's not easy to watch all the games, and most cities don't even have NHL teams.

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cmh_ender@reddit

No. we forget so fast. Curling would be more likely than Hockey. If you don't already live in MIchigan, Ohio, Minnesota (plus other northern cold ass states) it's hard to get excited about hockey.

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capsrock02@reddit

Yes.

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Mama_K22@reddit

Hockey is big where I live (close to Niagara Falls on US side) and my son wanted to do it but the cost is what deterred me. I'd love for him to love winter because I never have but winter sports are so costly!

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Automatic-Effect-252@reddit

It's possible, people were able to see how awesome it is to watch as a TV product, and got to know some of stars. I'm not sure it will so anything to move the needle in a big way though. NFL is still king, the MLB is having a huge comeback, and the NBA is still massive especially from a star driven stand point.

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PNW_OlLady_2025@reddit

When we won in 1980 the number of youth hockey registrations in USA Hockey went up exponentially. New programs cropped up, places that never had rinks before were building rinks. Towns that already had a rink were building multi rink buildings. I for one sure hope this one has a similar result ;-)

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Penguin_Life_Now@reddit

No, there was a BIG push to expand hockey into the US about 25-30 years ago, we even had a hockey team in southwest Louisiana, but it died out after maybe 5 years, it just did not bring in enough revenue to make it economical.

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xczechr@reddit

Hockey is about as big as it is going to be in the US while Bettman is head of the NHL.

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gsxr@reddit

No. Football, baseball, basketball are all EXTREMELY incumbent sports in America. They're school sponsored, community sponsored and well loved. Hockey also has an accessibility problem. All the other sports have places to play on nearly every street corner or park. Not a bunch of hockey rinks around outside of some hot spots like MN. Even in MN, football draws more people then hockey.

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OldeTimeyShit@reddit

I think there will be a very small increase in participation in the sport, but maybe more general interest.

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Danibear285@reddit

Lol no

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EnoughEstate7483@reddit

Nah, football still rules.

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Jernbek35@reddit

I doubt it. Hockey is expensive to play. My mom wouldn’t let me join a league as a kid because of this.

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hntr20@reddit

Maybe like someone said it's an expensive sport

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StretPharmacist@reddit

Hockey is already getting at least a small bump from the NBA being pretty terrible. I think this will give another small bump but it will still be very clearly behind football and baseball, then basketball still. Baseball is about to give it another bump next year with the lockout though, ha.

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Roborana@reddit

I don't think it will have a measurable effect on the popularity of hockey.

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damutecebu@reddit

Hockey may expand, but the limitation is usually with the facilities.

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Nordic4tKnight@reddit

lol No

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seanofkelley@reddit

Yes. It will. Both the men's game but maybe even moreso the women's. Hockey is already one of the fastest growing girls sports in the country and the popularity of this year's womens team is just going to throw jet fuel on that popularity and growth.

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ilovemangos3@reddit

Nah. We see it happen, talk shit online then move on

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dangleicious13@reddit

I highly doubt that it will really move the needle.

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