ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A brief, informal straw poll of local hockey fans reveals a satisfaction in the return of the National Hockey League this summer, if only to break up the monotony of a lack of live TV sports programming.
The NHL announced last month the game is ready to make a return since the season was postponed in March because of COVID-19.
The league is moving ahead with a 24-team playoff format after opting to cancel the rest of the regular season. It hopes to stage training camps sometime after July 1 and begin playing games by early August.
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So sports fans on the northeast Avalon won’t have a Royal St. John’s Regatta to attend this summer, but you never know: Hockey Night in Canada, playoff edition, could be on the tube the first Wednesday evening in August.
“I’ll definitely be watching,” said Doug King, a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan from the Shea Heights part of town, “but it’s going to be as weird as hell.”
The weird part, of course, is that games will be played in empty NHL arenas, keeping social distancing in mind.
Newfoundland soccer Hall of Famer, and former Challenge Cup commissioner Gord Dunphy — an NHL fan since 1967, when he was 10 and his beloved Leafs last won the Stanley Cup — will be watching hockey this summer, “especially now where it’s something to do.
“Is it something I’m looking forward to doing? No, not really.
“Personally speaking, July is not the right time for the NHL playoffs,” he said. “Sadly, this is more about finances than the presentation of the Stanley Cup, and that, I think, affects the integrity of the sport.
“Summer sports should be played in the summer, winter sports in the winter. Until we get a handle on this pandemic, and a vaccine is discovered, perhaps pro sports should be postponed.
“I really don’t think pro sports is meant to be played without fan attendance.”
“If people,” King added, “think playing these games this summer is not about the money, they’re living under a rock.
“That said, 100 per cent I’ll be tuning in,” he said. “Even though I’m a Leafs fan, I’ll be watching the Pittsburgh-Montreal series, too, to see what (Sidney) Crosby does and if (Carey) Price can shut down the Penguins.
“If nothing else, it will ease the boredom, and get us away from those NHL Classic games (the cable sports networks have been broadcasting).”
Neil Anstey of St. John’s is another hockey fan who will be tuning in this summer, if only because the pandemic presented his Montreal Canadiens a golden opportunity for post-season play.
The Canadiens were 24th in the standings when the season was postponed.
“I can’t wait (for playoffs),” Anstey said. “I mean, it’s at a point now where I’m watching Korean baseball on TV.
“That’s bad.
“It’s too bad the arenas will be empty. It will obviously take away from the atmosphere.”
Probably so, but not enough to quell the hockey fans’ appetite for playoffs.
Even if they’re in the summer.
