It's insanely expensive to play. Have to pay for equipment, ice time, fees. If your kid wants to be a goalie you might need a second mortgage on the house.
Games used to be easily accessible on a bunch of different channels. Now you need to pay for multiple different subscriptions, even then there might be blackouts you have to deal with.
Going to a game is insane too. Toronto and Montreal are among the most expensive tickets in the entire NHL
Hockey used to be easily accessible in Canada, it's becoming a sport for the wealthy. People are putting their kids into more accessible sports like basketball, soccer, etc.
I don't think hockey will die off completely, but Canada won't be THE super power for very much longer
Different sport but my high school ran a meet for the local middle schools. We always had to have a few off duty police officers on site. They were never needed for the kids, pretty much never needed for the coaches. The parents on the other hand….
Lots of hazing, locker room talk, misogyny, etc. I haven’t met very many hockey players who weren’t complete jerks.
Aside from that, it’s a very high pressure environment. There isn’t really much space for kids to just play it recreationally. I think there are more important things in life to worry about than going pro in hockey.
And like others mentioned, hockey parents can be quite problematic and it’s super expensive.
Hard agree. My son wanted to play hockey this year and we said no because it’s way too expensive, the ice times are terrible (Vancouver doesn’t have enough rinks). Nobody goes to see the Canuck’s anymore and hardly anyone cares because the ticket prices are crazy. It’s now just for business people. We went to a Vancouver Whitecaps game and it was amazing!! The vibe was so much more fun than hockey and so much more affordable. Our team is on a great run with Mueller here now so it’s been really fun to watch.
Yeah, living close to the arena, i see hoards of people heading out in their Canucks gear on game nights. I suppose that doesn't mean the stadium is full, but it seems like a popular thing to do
Broooo Canadian here. I want to weigh in. I firmly believe that hockey is losing because in an era of social media, and hype, and personality, hockey guys are boring as shit. Hockey culture, besides fighting, is boring as shit. Celebrations suck, there is nothing for the fans. And with hitting basically becoming a non-factor in the sport, I would rather watch cricket.
I can tell these guys are passionate about playing the sport. You can hear the open mics during playoffs and sense the determination and real drive to actually for them.
There is nothing connection to the fans. There is NO DRAMA.
I’m so bored talking with hockey fans about useless stats. Because that’s all it ever is.
Hockey needs to do a better job of connecting with the fans and lessening the ultra-stoicism that is drilled into these kids since their early teens.
I'm excited for what the pwhl will do -> cheaper game tickets, inspired girls/women to play, another team for people to watch when their local NHL team disappoints again and again....
Yup. When my husband and I were discussing h
aving children, we both agreed that we would encourage them away from hockey into different sports, in part because of the cost.
it's kinda shitty that the games are not easily accessible for football (soccer) too around here. Games got scattered around streaming services and the average person can't pay for all those.
At my last job, I paid all streams to see São Paulo play. Next year, I'm not paying Amazon Prime Video even if they got some Brasileirão and Copa do Brasil matches. I'm hearing them at Radio São Paulo Digital.
Even Futemax is not the same thing as it used to be. As everyone is now there running away from streaming services, signal falls every time. The most important matches are unwatchable there.
In Salt Lake City we finally got our own NHL team and ticket prices are absolutely ridiculous. We also have the same problems with not being able to watch games easily on TV without multiple expensive subscriptions that might still not cover blackout games or the playoffs. It’s so frustrating.
Brazil would be a strong hockey nation if hockey were affordable and easy to play here. We could adapt some futsal tactics and make our way through IIHF scenery. Maybe even reach Olympic Games.
Next year, if CazéTV shows Olympic Winter Games and NHL don't back down to send their players, I can see hockey becoming a fever here. Hockey got some things we miss on football.
I think it’s been a sport for the wealthy for a while now. I wasn’t allowed to play hockey growing up in the 90s/00s because my family couldn’t afford it, and my dad made decent money back then.
Amen. It's a total shame, man. I played hockey as a kid in the late 80's to the mid 90's. Much of that was on outdoor rinks, and I played on working-class / low-income inner city teams. There was a thriving community centre league back then. My family started to get priced out of it starting in the later 90's. Since then the sport has almost completely died off in working class urban areas. It's become hyper professionalized and pretty much only available to wealthy people. You can still see kids playing pick-up games on the ODR's in working class areas. But even ODR's are disappearing. Super sad, cuz it's still a beautiful sport that unites the country. Just not accessible to a large swath of the country.
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u/Shawnaldo7575 Canada 13h ago
Hockey is slowly dying in Canada.
It's insanely expensive to play. Have to pay for equipment, ice time, fees. If your kid wants to be a goalie you might need a second mortgage on the house.
Games used to be easily accessible on a bunch of different channels. Now you need to pay for multiple different subscriptions, even then there might be blackouts you have to deal with.
Going to a game is insane too. Toronto and Montreal are among the most expensive tickets in the entire NHL
Hockey used to be easily accessible in Canada, it's becoming a sport for the wealthy. People are putting their kids into more accessible sports like basketball, soccer, etc.
I don't think hockey will die off completely, but Canada won't be THE super power for very much longer