Oct. 19 marked the second of 4 conferences this season between the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings. The primary two matches have been a mere 11 days aside. On these sport days, and the 11 days in between, there was one story that was arduous to miss: the Drew Doughty and Matthew Tkachuk feud.
Within the media, and throughout Twitter, capturing the banter between these two stars gave the impression to be precedence one. The rivalry is enjoyable, it’s gripping, and it has been happening for a number of seasons with no actual finish in sight.
Every time the Flames and Kings play one another, Doughty and Tkachuk are nearly sure to get questions on their rivalry in pre-game or post-game interviews. Often, they offer pretty vanilla solutions, as hockey gamers are recognized to do. However should you have been listening to Doughty’s Oct. 18 interview, establishing the following day’s match in opposition to Calgary, you will have caught this intriguing nugget.
“I believe it’s good to have guys going at it, however I’ve a man I’m going at it with on each group […] That’s simply how it’s. It simply occurs he performs in Calgary so an even bigger deal is made about it. I’ve a number of rivalries with a number of guys on each group, however you guys simply don’t find out about it. “
To date this season, the one comparable participant feud to Tkachuk/Doughty, when it comes to high quality and amount of banter, could be between Evander Kane and Ryan Reaves. It’s nonetheless early within the season, however two is form of a tragic quantity.
Based on Doughty, there are way over two participant rivalries within the NHL that the reporters (and by extension, the followers) simply don’t find out about. Apparently the banter and juicy sound bites are happening past the attain of the media’s microphones.
Flames left wing Matthew Tkachuk (Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports activities)
As a fan who needs to see extra participant feuds within the media, I discovered myself concurrently excited to listen to that there’s extra inter-player drama on the market and disillusioned that none of it was getting mentioned within the press.
I’m not so naive as to assume that there are tons of, and even dozens, of participant rivalries within the NHL as entertaining as Tkachuk/Doughty. However one can’t assist however marvel: why don’t we see extra of those rivalries play themselves out within the media?
There’s probably a plethora of causes, and to say to grasp all of them could be laughable. However I imagine each the gamers and NHL media can play a component in serving to, or hindering, this sort of story from reaching the followers.
Protecting Rivalries: the Gamers
Regardless of how expert an NHL reporter or analyst is, no participant feud will get revealed or aired except the gamers are prepared to open up about it first.
Doughty and Tkachuk’s candid feedback about each other, which have been well-documented, are an especially uncommon prevalence in hockey. That’s why they’ve obtained a lot information protection; it’s a contemporary and sudden kind of leisure that hockey followers crave.
Drew Doughty #eight, Los Angeles Kings – December 18, 2017 (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
For gamers to go after each other within the media is much extra frequent in different sports activities leagues just like the NBA and the NFL. To cite Lisa Dillman and Scott Cruickshank in The Athletic:
Typically, I believe, most individuals take a optimistic view of the [Tkachuk/Doughty] grudge — so long as it doesn’t escalate into drop kicks within the car parking zone. And if there occurs to be a couple of extra juicy soundbites alongside the way in which? All the higher. Juicy soundbites are a day by day, if not hourly, prevalence within the NBA.from ‘Roundtable: Why is Matthew Tkachuk vs. Drew Doughty so good for hockey?’, The Athletic, 10/18/2019
In the identical interview the place he revealed that NHL participant rivalries are extra frequent than folks understand, Doughty was requested if he envied NBA tradition the place gamers routinely roast one another within the media. His response:
“Undoubtedly it’s a special tradition within the hockey world — we’re extra about being respectful to one another and simply form of ending issues on the ice.”
It’s no secret that hockey tradition is considerably extra conservative than different leagues. The prevailing mentality is that particular person gamers shouldn’t draw consideration to themselves and away from the group, or that “the brand on the entrance is extra necessary than the identify on the again.”
However as a fan, it might be refreshing to see the gamers deviate barely from the norms of hockey tradition after they focus on how they really feel about their opponents, on the document.
Relating to enhancing participant rivalries, and the leisure worth they supply, just a little candor goes a good distance.
Protecting Rivalries: the Media
One frequent theme within the media surrounding the Tkachuk/Doughty feud, significantly at the start of the season, was: are these participant rivalries good for hockey?
A number of NHL analysts on high networks, and even the gamers themselves, bought requested this query in some type or one other. Tkachuk and Doughty dismissed it pretty shortly, different gamers had extra to say.
Vegas Golden Knights proper wing Ryan Reaves (Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports activities)Reaves, who himself isn’t any stranger to participant rivalries like this, was additionally requested if he thought the Tkachuk/Doughty feud was good for the sport:
“To be trustworthy, I believe that stuff is enjoyable for the sport – folks keep excited by that form of rivalry […] You possibly can ask Evander, however I’m positive he likes the little rivalry now we have, too. I positively take pleasure in it. I believe some wholesome hatred is sweet for any sport.”
The speaking heads within the media agreed. The NHL is within the leisure enterprise, these sound bites are entertaining, thus the banter is sweet for hockey.
So the gamers prefer it, the reporters appear to love it, and the followers like it. There seems to be consensus on this concern, and consensus is uncommon when discussing hockey tradition. Keep in mind final season’s almost fixed debate on whether or not or not the Carolina Hurricanes’ Storm Surge was “good for the sport?”
As soon as once more, talking as a fan, I wish to see NHL media personnel put this matter to relaxation and cease asking whether or not these rivalries between gamers are “good for hockey”. To ask is to discourage gamers from talking actually, by implying that their solutions may in some way be “unhealthy for hockey.”
That is the content material followers need. We will see the gamers chirping one another on the ice, however except you might be a superb lip reader you received’t catch what’s being stated. This sport wants extra juicy sound bites in entrance of cameras and microphones.
How will we get extra of it? I imagine just a little extra frankness from the gamers, mixed with NHL reporters asking the fitting questions, will make all of the distinction. Unorthodox as it could be, the Tkachuk/Doughty feud improves the NHL’s high quality as an leisure product.
