Sitting in the eye of the hurricane

My recent happenings around Raleigh, have been centered around a local NHL team: Carolina Hurricanes. As you can gather from my header, I do greatly enjoy NHL hockey but my two favorite teams are the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. However, I try to support whichever NHL team I live near with the exception of the Islanders back when I lived in NY. The Hurricanes are a great team and I happen to like a few of the players on the roster. Specifically goalie Cam Ward, center Eric Staal (C), and his brother, Jordan Staal, also a center.

Last week, I attended one of their first post-lockout team practices at Raleigh Center Ice. Was that an amazing experience! I've never attended a team practice before so it was all new and totally amazing. First, it was very cold in there as you can imagine for such a small rink and second, I got to see my favorite players on the ice!

Here are a few pictures:

La Vida es hockey!

The NHL and the Latino Audience post is a great start to a discussion that I hope continues through the years and as the NHL expands. In the article, I mentioned how other pro-leagues like MLB have such a large Latino participation and audience. Now I want to introduce you too the Latino-Hispanic players in the NHL.  There are 5 active players currently and one retired.  I am familiar with all of these players and admire them; especially Bill Guerin and Scott Gomez!

(Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

Scott Gomez (Mexican and Colombian) - Active in NHL since 1999. 

American from Anchorage, Alaska. Plays center for the Montreal Canadiens. 

Former teams are New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. 

Two time NHL All-Star. Represented USA in the 1998 and 1999 WJC, 2004 World Cup of Hockey, and 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. 

Won the Stanley Cup twice with the New Jersey Devils.

http://scottygomezfoundation.com/

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=31170

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Alec Martinez (Spanish) - Active in NHL since 2008. 

American from Rochester, Michigan. Defenseman for the Los Angeles Kings. 

Won the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=81001

Follow Alec on Twitter: amartinez_27

NHL and the Latino Audience

Gary Bettman, the Commissioner, claims to want to grow hockey and expand it in America. One problem with that manifest destiny is the lack of marketing towards to the Hispanic population. I’m not sure if the broadcasted games on NBC have a SAP audio feed. If there wasn’t a lockout, I would surely test that theory.

And if you happen to follow Major League Baseball in any form, you will eventually come to know that many of the top players are of Latino descent.  Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, and Mariano Rivera are just a few of those players. This is a long list of exceptional talent that spans back into the 1960s. 

Photo of Albert Pujols by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images // Photo of Miguel Cabrera by Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Since then the MLB has been promoting the growth of the sport in many Latino countries such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. And as a Latina (Puerto-Rican) American, I am proud of these players and how much they have accomplished because they are Latino - like me! 

The NFL even has a few Latino players and NASCAR has a few drivers, but MLB has a larger influence and structure.  Of course, I can’t mention well known Latino athletes without focusing on International soccer. That is a monopoly that is growing everyday and entrenched in Latino culture much like Hockey is with Canadian.

Each of these sports has it’s own marketing campaign to reach out to the Hispanic audience.  According to the U.S. Census, about 51 million Americans are Hispanic, a number that grows steadily, not to mention the huge International market just waiting to be tapped into.

The NFL, MLB, NASCAR, and even the WWE have Spanish language versions of their official websites. The NHL website however is available in only 8 languages, Spanish not being one of them. 

I can hear the people who will try to justify why this is the case like how the NHL doesn’t have the market in Spanish speaking countries or that there aren’t that many Latino players in the league for anyone to care. You can make the argument that many of the Latino countries are too poor to support hockey that it would be too much for a local village to support (up keep, equipment, medical, coaching, etc..) 

So why does the MLB build facilities that include a gym, schools, and much more for future players to develop and ‘hopefully’ get chosen for the big leagues? They do it because they see the potential on the field and off of it.  

The NHL is missing the boat with this. It’s an untouched gold mine that everyone is benefiting from. By embracing a group of individuals and reaching out to them, the league can grow for the better. The lockout is a terrible thing for the NHL, but this lack Hispanic marketing will leave the league lagging behind. 

There are currently 5 active players of Latin American descent playing the NHL: Scott Gomez, Alex Martinez, Al Montoya, Rhett Rakhshani, and Raffi Torres; one retired player: Bill Guerin. (Wiki) I would like to this number rise and more participation by the league to increase it.  The teams, individually, do a better job at reaching out culturally to their local communities. For example, in Los Angeles, a city that has a very large Latino community, the Kings host a Latino Heritage night every season.

Credit to LAKings.com

Bettman and the rest of the NHL should take the same initiative and branch out to Hispanic countries. Even if it’s ball hockey on the street, it’s an idea and foundation for the future.

Reaching Out to Hispanic Consumers - Hispanic Business.com