Reasons We Love Hockey Part 37

The 37th in our 118-part series.

5-on-3 Penalty Kills

Doc calls them “The Iron Three”: the guys who have to go out and kill a two-man disadvantage. And seriously, what’s cooler than that? Than three stalwart defenders out-thinking and out-playing five attackers? As far as we’re concerned, a 5-on-3 penalty kill is as much as a momentum shifter as a shortie — and a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal? Forget about it. Of course, we don’t get to see our own boys kill them very often, what with that whole “discipline” thing, but when it happens it’s the most exciting play in hockey.

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Reasons We Love Hockey Part 36

The 36th in our 118-part series.

Shorties

This reason is really a no-brainer — who doesn’t love shorthanded goals? There are few things in hockey that shift momentum quite like a shortie just on principle, but considering that many of them are scored on breakaways or two-on-ones, they always seem to be of the especially dramatic, highlight-reel-worthy variety to boot. We might be biased because we’re Devils fans (and Pando fans), but we hold penalty-killing forwards in higher esteem than the guys who don’t skate on the PK, and the short-handed goal specialists are like the sexiest, baddest-assed gunslingers of them all. So despite the fact that the Devils have, of late, stopped scoring shorties themselves, and seem to really love giving them up, we still consider shorthanded goals a reason to love hockey.

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