Five Reasons Why Paint It Blackhawks’ Chris Ralph Loves Hockey

Yahoo Sports’ hockey blog Puck Daddy created an interesting, reflective, often comedic series of points of the theme “Five Reasons Why {Insert Sports/Hockey personality here} Loves Hockey.”

Puck Daddy’s own Greg Wyshinski selected the Chicago Blackhawks’s logo as one of his five!

Without further ado, here are my five reasons, although I admit it was not easy to narrow it down to five!

1. The “Long, Lead Pass“! It may also be referred to as a breakaway pass. No matter what name you give it, it is one of the most exciting plays in all of sports. The offensive savvy blueliner is deep in his own zone and spots one of his forwards skating through the neutral zone. He then pinpoints a beautifully executed and timed pass to that forward (maybe even an extended saucer pass), who maintains his stride and control of the puck, while slipping through several defenders to break in all alone on the netminder.

Paint the picture in your mind of the above play inserting various probable players who could execute it: the blueliner could be Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr, Sergei Zubov, Sergei Gonchar, Mike Green, etc. The receiving forward being Wayne Gretzky, Phil Esposito, Mike Modano, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, etc.

When executed to perfection, a thing of beauty!

2. Memories of Team Canada! Even being a young teenager when it happened, I still can picture one of the most iconic moments in Canadian hockey and history – “Gretzky to Lemieux” in the 1987 Canada Cup. No further elaboration required!

My most recent Team Canada memory will be none to soon erased from my mind, however, and surprisingly the game itself was of little consequence. The recent (Aug. 27/09) Team Canada Red and White game was supposed to be a simple exhibition game to conclude the orientation camp. As I reported on Paint It Blackhawks, it “was an unbelievably surreal experience. I was admittedly excitingly anticipating a game featuring an intriguing blend of youth and experience – the absolute best of the best Canada has to offer.” However, I was not expecting such an electric and playoff-like atmosphere from a packed Saddledome in Calgary! The players put in an outstanding effort and impressive display of skills.

3. The greatest sport, in my opinion, to call or announce is the continuous, high speed, exciting action of ice hockey. Unless, of course, the game involved a then Jacques Lemaire coached Minnesota Wild!

They range from the classic professional to those “Love ‘em or hate ‘em” announcers/commentators.

Peter Maher of the Fan960 covering the Calgary Flames is a great example of the consummate professional. Mike Lange and “Lange-isms” such as “Slap me silly, Sidney!” (Penguins), Ric Jeanneret (Sabres) and Dave Mishkin (Lightning) fall into the latter category. There are too many other great ones to name!

4. Speculation of the impact of injuries on the argument of who is the greatest hockey player of all time. Although I can easily debate until my combatant is blue in the face that in hockey mathematics, “4″ is indeed greater than “99″. I’d even fair well in a verbal donnybrooks that “66″ is also greater than “99″.  In reality, although I hate to admit it, Gretzky has to be the measuring stick to which all others have to be judged against. Bobby Orr revolutionized the way a blueliner can play and impact the game, but his knees did not cooperate to prolong his career. Mario the Magnificent might indeed be a superior pure talent to Gretzky, but back injuries and an albeit successful fight against Hodgkin’s disease lowered his already impressive stat totals. Eric Lindros possessed an unbelievable combination of skill, physical force, hockey sense and talent. “88″ was once hailed as “The Next One”, but concussions would get the better of this warrior. Mike Bossy, a personal favorite of mine, was yet another example of an elite player whose career finally succumbed to back problems. “22″ was arguably the best pure sniper in history.

5. The Next, Next, Next One…From The Great One to the always speculated Next One. I admit to being a prospect and entry draft geek, following trends and speculating how projected young guns will develop. From Gretzky to Eric Lindros to Sidney Crosby to John Tavares to the “Next, Next One” – the ever-growing list is an intriguing trend to follow and projecting who is the heir apparent for this title. Taylor Hall is likely the 2010 candidate. In the future, maybe 15 year old blueliner Matthew Dumba has an outside shot.

Feel free to comment below on my top five and/or post you five reasons!

You can also email me at hockeyspy@gmail.com

Tags: Bobby Orr, Chicago Blackhawks, Eric Lindros, John Tavares, Mario Lemieux, Matthew Dumba, Mike Bossy, NHL, Taylor Hall, Wayne Gretzky