Like many other hockey fans I am disappointed that as of today’s date, October 29th, there have been no NHL games played this season due to the lockout. This unfortunately reminds me of the 2004-05 season that was wiped out for the same reason. Although there are similarities between this lockout and the previous one, there is at least one big difference in the way the owners and players are waging the PR battle – Twitter. 8 years ago Twitter wasn’t even invented yet today it appears to be an distinct advantage for the players to sway public opinion in their favour.
As referenced by Mirtle in his Globe and Mail article, http://goo.gl/6YqiU the young stars of the NHL are front and centre in the NHLPA’s public statements and discussions. Contrast this to the last lockout where veterans like Trevor Linden, Chris Chelios, and Brendan Shanahan were the face of the player negotiations. Along with youth comes new technology and this is evidenced by the player’s actions on twitter.
The “found a place to skate” initiative involves locked out NHL players surprising minor hockey league teams at practice across North America. This allows the players to give back to the communities (something they love to do regardless of being locked out or not) but through twitter they are able to add a hashtag to it #foundaplacetoskate and attach video/photos to connect with their followers who just happen to be hockey fans.
Another way that Twitter has helped the players is through a show of solidarity. The hashtag #theplayers has been used prominently whenever any player tweets about his opinion or frustrations regarding the lockout. Henrik Lundqvist shows an example:
Are these tactics making a meaningful difference? I’d say it’s too early and probably too difficult to tell, but you have to think that it definitely isn’t hurting their cause amongst the substantial/growing number of hockey fans on Twitter.
And finally, as Eric Staal shows here, sometimes it IS about the name on the back of the jersey – #theplayers.
