The NHL's Most Exciting Month Is June

For most people, hockey and June don’t go together. Hockey is a winter sport, a game that is played before heading inside for hot chocolate to warm frozen bodies. At least, that’s what normal, non-NHL fans think.

For the NHL and all the fans, June is a month of possibilities. It starts with the Stanley Cup final in the first few weeks. 

No matter who a fan roots for, watching Lord Stanley’s Cup raised over the heads of the winning team is an exciting moment.

This year, fans were thrown a bone from the NHL when the 2010-2011 schedule was released on June 22, a day before the awards show.

The chance to see what teams will be playing each other on what date is also a time to see what days can be taken off from work and how much plane tickets are selling for.

A small break between the Cup Final and the NHL Awards give fans time to step outside and enjoy some summer weather before it is back to the TV to see our favorite hockey players one last time. Two hours of awards seem to go by too fast and leave fans anxiously waiting for the next piece of news they’ll be thrown.

The NHL draft is held in late June (this year it is held two days after the awards show) and there is plenty of news flying around during that time for fans to catch. Everybody has their eye on who their favorite team will pick. With each selection, teams and fans alike hope they have found the next Sid or Ovie. 

A weekend of crazy draft activity ends the “official” NHL business for the month but teams are still figuring out their rosters and trying to get free agents resigned or traded before the July 1 deadline. 

News is strategically leaked to the press from locker rooms about who might be staying and who will almost definitely be leaving.

Each article alerts fans about the fate of their favorite free agent. Some of the news is bitter sweet but other news keeps the hope alive that at the beginning of June the following year, their team will be in the Cup Final.

So while other people are outside enjoying the start of summer in the sun, hockey fans are still glued to the TV for the most exciting month of hockey. 

Hockey may bring images of snow and hot chocolate, but it is a sport that keeps giving all year long.