The NHL Lockout fucking sucks. But you already knew that. What you may or may not know is that they're is a lot of other high level hockey going on right now. It's not the NHL for sure. It's not in HD for the most part. Sometimes you can't even find a video feed or even some shit radio feed to listen to...but it's okay. It's still hockey. Twitter and reading up on boxscores are your new best friends. Here are some Lockout Solutions.
1. College Hockey-le duh. Who doesn't like to stalk box scores?
Tons of prospects (and a lot of 25 year old grinders with no shot in hell- but lets ignore them) make their NCAA the home for a year or two, so why not give them some love. You can watch a few games now and then on NBC sports or FSN or something, but who doesn't love the crappy quality feeds that some teams put online. You have to pay for most of them but Vermont and Northeastern have them for FREE. Northeastern's is actually surprisingly good quality, but Vermont's sucks. If you look hard enough, you'll find some decent college games with some future NHL stars to watch...
But the easiest thing to do is to head over to USCHO.com and stalk those box scores. Besides being a centralized place for all NCAA hockey stats (D3 too), they also have some interesting articles about players and teams etc.
2. AHL- Young stars and "would-have-been" rookies.
The AHL just got a lot more exciting this year. Lots of guys on Entry Level deals are down there making some noise. Former Wisconsin bluelinerJustin Schultz is killing the league right now with the rest of the Oil Kids (Nuge, Eberle and Hall... no Yak, he's in Russia. I'll get to that later). The AHL is always some good hockey without star power, but this year there's plenty of future and current stars.
Sven Bartschi and Mikhael Granlund would have been Calder Trophy contenders this year, so they're also worth following. In terms of watching the AHL, you'll probably have to pay some absurd fee online unless you have a local team. But hey, its probably a lot less than buying that NHL package right?
3. CHL (Major Junior, OHL/QMJHL/WHL)- The league that makes me wish I was Canadian...for real.
Honestly, some of the best hockey in the world to watch, regardless of if they NHL is around or not. Seriously, if you're American, get your ass to one of the American franchises in see a damn game. Or go live in Canada this Winter.
So many future NHL stars are in these leagues its crazy. I could list a hundred guys that to watch that are either drafted players, draft eligible or future draftees, but that would take forever, plus its more fun to find out yourself. But make sure you know two names.
ConnorMcDavid (was granted exceptional status as a 15-year old to play in the OHL, not saying he's Crosby but he's something special) and
Nathan MacKinnon(expected to go top 3 in the 2013 draft)
You'll be hearing those names for a while.
If you're Canadian, you can watch some teams on Sportsnet and stuff. If not, some teams occasionally have free video feeds for holidays and such...but you'll probably have to pay some ridic fees online to watch a questionable quality feed. Happy searching.
5. European Leagues- Yeah like all the good Russians went to the KHL...hopefully they come back :/.
So there's been a some KHL games on NBC sports. If you want to watchMalkin, Kovy, Ovie, Yakupov or Datsyuk.... well you're in luck. Dunno when these games are on, but they're on. Check em out.
Lots of Canadians are playing in other European leagues. Which ones? I don't know. There's too fucking many. Seguin and Kane are in the Swiss-A league. Briere and Giroux are playing in the DEL in Germany. Best thing to do is to head over to hockeydb.com, search a player, and see if they have a team for the 2012-2013 season. After that, Google is you're friend. I'm sure you'll find some recaps and maybe some video feeds. Hell, they might even be in English if your lucky.
Despite the lockout, there's a lot of hockey going on.That's all I'm sayin. So keep yourself occupied.
No worries, the best hockey of the year is only 2 months away, and no NHL is actually going to make it better. Yeah crazy right? 2013 WORLD JUNIORS. Without the NHL, these games will actually feature the BEST U20 players in the WORLD. Fucking exciting right?