What Is Hockey The Toughest Sport

Think about the toughest sports in the world. There are many options, ranging from football to rugby to boxing to wrestling and to mixed martial arts (MMA). However, all of those are no match to the actual toughest sport in the world, men’s ice hockey. Hockey is considered one of the “Big Four” (one of the four major sports in the United States), but is the least popular of the group. That most likely comes from the fact that hockey is played on ice rather than grass, dirt, or wood like the other sports, and is the lowest scoring sport with shutouts being very likely and 5 goals a tremendous feat. However, there are many similarities between hockey and other sports. It doesn’t have the traditional boxing fights but the fights in hockey are
Most people who play sports can attest to this, but playing hockey all year round takes a toll on your endurance and motivation. Continuously playing a sport can take a toll on your mind and makes your decision making and motivation go down dramatically. Also, coach satisfaction is a key part to player’s morale, and if the coach isn’t satisfied with your play, your motivation and morale will go down which will affect your play. Lastly, being a part of a team that is on a national scale and has millions of fans, it could make you very nervous to make a mistake which affects your play and your team. Once you make a mistake, good luck, because this means that there are millions of people judging and mocking you, especially on social media. Players in the modern age have to deal with people despising them and insulting and mocking them on social media. Some people even go as far as make a death threat upon the player. The media also breaths down your neck and asks you questions about your play and may even mock the players in their articles. So with all these variables happening to hockey players on a 24/7 basis, it’s a miracle that the players are still mentally sane by the end of their
What NHL players do have to worry about is what they are getting paid. On average, an NHL player will get paid 2.4 million dollars and the highest paid player in the NHL as of 2016 is Patrick Kane at 10.6 million dollars (Spotrac). To put it into perspective, Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA signed a 5 year 153 million dollar contract which pays 30 million annually (Spotrac). Also, with all the contracts and money that was dealt out during the NBA offseason, bench players make more money than the best player in the NHL. This steep pay differential makes NHL players question the NHL and might not motivate them to perform because they know they aren’t getting a bigger pay