By Ellen Chlumecky

The 2014 NHL Season kicked off this Wednesday with a substantial amount of media attention from a multitude of different media outlets. While the NHL is not the number one popular sport currently in the United States, NHL teams’ public relation and marketing teams have been doing an exceptional job at getting the attention on the NHL.

Hockey is not covered much as sports such as football and basketball, however hockey is still proclaimed one of the four major sports in both North America and the United States. However, NBC Sports Network has world class coverage which includes weeknight games all week and the rivalry night during the week. NBCSN is also starting to show some college hockey games in addition to the NHL games.

In addition to local radio stations and TV stations in each of the respective teams’ areas, the NHL franchise has taken to Twitter to promote the 2014 season. All of the individual NHL teams have also taken to Twitter to promote their games and the start of the season. The NHL also decided to create a Snapchat to promote their stories and game times. They also post daily to their Instagram account, which had a countdown of the amount of days until the season started. The NHL franchise is trying to hit every corner of the media to broadcast the start of the season and to get more and more people to watch. The NHL wants all types of fans and are trying to expand their media horizons even more than ever.

While the NHL is being supported by NBCSN and other major media outlets, one of the biggest sports media outlets that tends to ignore the NHL is ESPN. While NBCSN own all national coverage rights to show NHL games, it shouldn’t stop ESPN from broadcasting stories or highlights of certain games. The reason why ESPN is not a huge supporter of the NHL is unknown, but despite this setback, the NHL seems to be doing fine without their support. It is set to be a great season for the NHL with plenty of fresh faces and a multitude of teams ready to battle for their chance to hoist the Stanley Cup. The NHL franchises should be commended on their hard work with the marketing, promotions and advertising they have been doing to promote the league further. Here’s to another great NHL season!