If you are like the vast majority of Americans, you are probably not even aware of the fact that the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup to win the NHL Championship this past week. Judging from the ratings, we are definitely in the majority. According to an article in Forbes www.forbes.com) the ratings for this week's final three games, broadcast on NBC, were at a record low. The three games garnered between a 1.6 and 3 share, which is down 20 percent from last year.

Now, I have written about hockey before. Mostly I am teasing, with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek. I actually do enjoy going to hockey games. As a kid my grandmother got tickets on a regular basis to Chicago Blackhawks games. I remember the games being packed with people at the old Chicago Stadium. These days you could lob a grenade into the stands at a Blackhawks game and not worry about hitting anyone.

I guess hockey suffered from the lockout from a few years back. I know that it took some time for baseball to build up momentum again after the strike in the mid-90s. It took the homerun race between two muscle-bound juiced-up freaks to bring people back. Of course, the fact that they did bring back the spectators is probably why their records will hold and no real actions will ever be taken against Sosa and McGuire (or is it McGwire? I forget).

Can hockey ever hope to accomplish something like that? I have my doubts. What could the race be? Number of goals scored? I have no idea what that record is and most of America probably does not either. Just about everyone I know knew that Roger Maris' record was 61. I don't know a single person, off-hand, who can tell me who holds the most-goals-scored record in the NHL.

Without that, the game of hockey is likely to continue to deteriorate. I know at least one rabid fan. He is one of my best friends in the entire world. At one time this guy was so dedicated to hockey he never missed a St. Louis Blues game being televised. Even he had to grudgingly admit to me that the game just isn't quite the same since it came back. Even so, he still thinks the game is the greatest thing on television.

Personally, I think that is the core problem with hockey. It is a tough game to watch on television. I find this particularly true when I am home alone trying to watch a game. When I am with other people, or just with my friend, I can get caught up in the group aspect of rooting for a team and watching a sporting event. When I am home alone, I find my attention drifting. There are such long patches of time between goals where nothing seems to be happening except for people skating around really fast and looking like Michelin men. If I want to watch fast skaters I can watch speed skating.

My friend in St. Louis insists that hockey players are the most intelligent athletes in the world. He has many reasons for this. He also insists that others perceive this, especially those dedicated few who are still diehard hockey fans. What is amusing to me about that statement is how differently certain people can look at the world. When I talk to other friends, they all could not disagree more completely.

I have another friend who is a big sports fan. He is especially a big football fan. He watches baseball, but only tangentially. He also finds baseball boring, as my hockey friend does, and doesn't watch at a regular basis. He admits that he goes to Wrigley Field just to drink. Recently we had a conversation about hockey because we were hanging out in a bar that had a hockey game on the televisions.

"I have a friend who thinks hockey players are the smartest athletes," I said.

He laughed. "No way. They are a bunch of brainless thugs. They're idiots."

"I dunno," I said. "He says that they're the smartest and that other people think the same thing."

"Please," he replied. "Everyone thinks of them as a bunch of brutes who just want to punch each other. Every hockey player I've ever seen is an idiot.'

"I tried to tell him that everyone perceives hockey players as thugs," I countered. "He just insists that's not the case."

"Have him come talk to me," he replied with a laugh. "I'll set him straight."

I think that the perception of hockey players is that they are morons. They are a bunch of muscle-bound thugs who skate around looking to hurt each other. Sure, you can cite examples that are the opposite of that, but I think for every Wayne Gretzky, there area dozen Bob Proberts in the NHL. Whatever steps the NHL has taken to try to reduce the fighting and enforcing and thuggery that goes in the game, they will always be perceived as thugs.

Now, the NFL went through a phase like that during the 50s. Back then, though, a defensive player could literally clothesline the quarterback. In those days injuries were common. They still are, but they aren't as much for being hit across the neck by a defensive player. Eventually the NFL, to try to attract more television viewers, started enacting rules that reduced those moments of violence. It took decades, but now the NFL has some of the highest ratings you are likely to find when it comes to sporting events.

Maybe the NHL needs to do something like that. However, most people I know who like hockey love the fights. So, how do you change the rules to reduce the fighting when so many who still watch the game want to see it? You see, hockey is in a Catch-22 almost every way it turns.

I still think the game suffers from the fact that it is very difficult for the average kid to just pick up and play. Not everyone has ice. If you go the roller-hockey route you still have to shell out a fortune for skates and equipment. If you want to play a pick-up game of football you just need a ball. If you want to play a pick-up game of baseball you need something to function as a stick and something to function as a ball. Soccer is even easier to play, which may be why it is still the most popular game in the rest of the world.

Kids just can't pick up hockey and start playing very easily. It's like horseback riding or polo. They may be great sports, but hard for the average person to play. Also, parents probably have that perception of hockey being violent and turn their kids away from the sport into other more wholesome activities. Of course, "wholesomeness" is in the eye of the beholder as baseball seems rife with drugs and football leaves their retirees practically crippled.

So, I don't know how hockey can save itself. Maybe it can't. It may just always be a fringe sport. That may be OK. LaCrosse has done all right for itself.

Bryan W. Alaspa's novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com. He also now has two short stories available at www.amazon.com.