Why you should be watching the NHL playoffs — even if you think you hate hockey

You've probably never heard of Anthony Holmes. But maybe you've heard of Tony X., a.k.a. @soIoucity, who became a Twitter sensation last week when he hilariously live-tweeted the very first hockey game he ever watched.

Holmes, a 26-year-old African-American man from the St. Louis area, told The Week he was trying to find the St. Louis Cardinals game, but baseball's Redbirds had been bumped from the main local sports channel in favor of the St. Louis Blues first-round Game 7 matchup with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks. And was it a doozy.

Within the first 45 seconds, Holmes was sold:

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And as the Blackhawks' season ticked away, they did what any team trying to claw its way out of a one-goal third period deficit would do: They pulled the goalie to add an extra skater and increase their chances of scoring, even at the risk of giving up an empty net goal. But you could hardly blame Holmes for not understanding this kind of weird quirk that is second nature to hockey fans:

By the time time the game was over, the Blues — notorious for their regular first-round exits — were 3-2 winners and had introduced a new devotee to the sport. And for his part, Holmes had gained 60,000 followers and a pair of seats to the Blues' first home game in the second round, courtesy of the team.

Holmes told The Week that he "was never interested [in hockey], never gave it a chance," but that when the NFL's St. Louis Rams infamously absconded for Los Angeles earlier this year, he had a hole in his sports fan heart that is now filled by the Blues. He said he was surprised at how "nonstop" playoff hockey is, adding that it's "intense like football, but that stops every 6 seconds or so to reset."

Anyone familiar with playoff hockey knows Holmes' characterization is spot-on. Indeed, most people who've actually attended a live pro hockey game say it's the single most exciting sporting event to witness in person.

So why is the NHL perpetually a niche league, not even "Top 4" on a good day?

Part of why hockey struggles to sell itself to a broad audience is the prohibitive costs to entry. Rink time is expensive (when available at all), as is equipment. And to be any good at hockey, you have to start young, which means buying new equipment every year or so. That's a tough sell for too many.

Another problem is image. NHL players are sport's firefighters, gritty and stoic but generally not particularly colorful. The game's ultimate star played in Los Angeles and New York, won four Stanley Cups, and is a handsome devil. But Wayne Gretzky is who he is: a soft-spoken and exceedingly polite and boring Canadian.

The lack of racial diversity surely doesn't help the league's image as one dominated by Eastern Europeans, Scandinavians, Canadians, and prep-school Americans, yet African-Americans are the NHL's fastest growing fan base.

One of Holmes' Twitter followers pointed out that he's going to love watching some of the league's black players, the very idea of which left Holmes stunned:

Another problem is the puck. Though it's less of an issue with the ubiquity of high-definition screens, people still complain that it's hard to see the puck on TV. That led to the notorious "glowing puck" era in the mid-1990s, when Fox broadcast games using special pucks that emanated a ghostly blue when seen on TV screens, which of course was so bizarre you couldn't miss the puck. You couldn't take your eyes off of it.

But you're not supposed to stare at the puck! Do you stare at the football when you watch the NFL? Some people do, sure. But the game is vastly more interesting and complex if you watch players attempt to execute meticulously crafted plays that either succeed or collapse within a few seconds. Something similar is true of hockey.

Yes, the NHL's 82-game regular season is too much for most fans. Hardly anyone would miss a good 20 of those games being lopped off into oblivion. But the NHL's playoff product, dozens of games over three months seemingly played at triple-speed, is among the most electrifying events in sports. You should be watching it!

We've already experienced some incredible multi-overtime games this year, the elimination of two teams (the Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings) who have combined to win five of the past six Stanley Cups, the series-winning redemption of teams known for annual choke-jobs (the Blues and Washington Capitals), perpetual underachievement (the San Jose Sharks), and one team best known for usually not being in the playoffs at all (the New York Islanders).

Holmes now advises people to "just give [hockey] a chance. If you like high-paced non-stop action it's impossible not to like." Though he's clearly got a comedic touch in the medium of 140 characters or less, Holmes demonstrated how a new fan is created. The NHL just needs more of them.