NHL HITS LONDON
The stars of the NHL come to London this weekend in the first of a number of American road-shows hitting the UK in the coming months.
With the NFL's New York Giants and Miami Dolphins coming to Wembley Stadium in four week's time and the NBA bringing Boston and Minnesota to the capital on October 10th, the National Hockey League will showcase what it has to offer to UK fans on Saturday and Sunday.
Stanley Cup winners Anaheim Ducks will face the LA Kings in front of two sold-out crowds at the O2 Arena, better known as the Millennium Dome, as these local rivals bring one of America's "big-four" sports to Britain.
But this is no pre-season exhibition game just to please the fans. This is a real, blood and thunder, gloves-off NHL battle with league points up for grabs. It's the first time a regular season game has ever been held in Europe and UK fans are promised the full-on NHL experience by the games' promoters.
The games will be broadcast across 115 countries and with 17,500 fans packed into the Dome on both days, the NHL looks like achieving its objective of expanding the league's fan base.
The decision hasn't been met with quite the same level of enthusiasm on the other side of the Atlantic however. Many columnists in the USA and Canada see this weekend's exhibition as one step towards a disastrous expansion of the NHL whilst others warn of the 'novelty factor' in what is, essentially, a football stronghold. Other sports clubs have tried to break into the London market and failed. Even club Rugby Unionnion has struggled, with 'London's' Guinness Premiership clubs camping out in Reading, Watford and Wycombe. Only Harlequins reside inside the M25.
But the NHL remains defiant, believing that UK fans will take to ice hockey where they didn't take to the London Monarch's American football team or London Knights hockey team, who lasted just five years in Britain's Elite League between 1998 and 2003.
Ducks defenceman and five-time All-Star Chris Pronger added: "It's exciting to get the season started and to be on our travels and to help market the game in a new country.
"It's certainly a big opportunity for us to build the brand of hockey more globally.
"You would hope that us being here would help grow the game. Hockey is a growing game in Europe, and fans here like their physical sports with rugby and soccer, so I hope hockey can become a hit here too."
The Ducks are the pre-season favourites and will be set on the maximum four points from the weekend as they look to become the first side to retain the Stanley Cup since the Detroit Redwings in 1998.
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