The NHL Is Getting Its Own "Drive To Survive" Style Series, And Matthew Tkachuk Is About To Become One Of The Biggest Stars In Sports
Boston Globe. Getty Images.Hockey was invented in 1776 when George Washington decided to throw on a pair of skates and buzz around on an outdoor rink while crossing the Delaware. Ever since 1776, the biggest knock on hockey players is that they're all a bunch of robots with zero personality. All they know how to do is play hockey and communicate in coach speak. "Pucks on net", "play our brand of hockey", "win the first 5 minutes" yada yada yada. We've started to see some more personalities make there way out in the game over the years, but it's still borderline impossible to get anything of interest out of hockey players from interviews before, during or after games.
That'll all change with this new series.
Hyperbole is obviously a mainstay here at Barstool Sports [dot] com. But without going too far overboard, I think "Drive to Survive" changed sports forever. It proved that even though sports are awesome, storylines are even better. It doesn't matter what game is being played--if you have some sort of connection to the athlete, you immediately become more invested in the outcome. Maybe you love that athlete's personality and root for their individual success at every turn. Maybe you think that athlete is a piece of shit and want to watch them fail miserably at every stage. Either way, it's easier to become a fan of something or someone if you get to know them a little.
And what a crew everybody will get to know with this lineup. We'll get an inside look at another epic Maple Leafs collapse with Willy Styles. Can't wait to see this moment play out on the show.
Now all of a sudden, that Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak fight makes way more sense. The boys had to know the Amazon cameras were rolling and needed to give the people a reason to tune into the later episodes.
Getting Tkachuk on here had to be the producers' #1 pick. I'm sure everyone was hoping to land McDavid. But nobody was made for the bright lights of show business quick like the Rat King. I'm sure whatever we get out of him during the Cup Final will be must-watch, and following the greatest hockey player in the world playing for the Cup for the first time is only going to be overshadowed by McDavid getting hounded while buying some booze for the boys after the WCF.
And with Jacob Trouba in the mix, there's a good chance that our guy Pasha ends up making an appearance at some point during the show.
At the end of the day, this is going to be great for hockey. I think every hockey fan can agree that some of the best content we've ever gotten out of the league was during the original run of the 24/7 Winter Classic series. This should have the same feel to it and can bring an entire new wave of hockey fans to the game the same way "Drive to Survive" brought a new wave of fans to F1.
P.S. -- Need a Julia appearance at some point during a Pasta episode.