I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. But On Aug 31, 2012, the best hockey video I’ve ever seen was released in the wake of another pending NHL lockout – to date it has received over 3.2 million views, and for good reason – it’s incredible. And by the time you see Ray Bourque raise the cup, you’re either choking back tears or you’re a liar. During the NHL lockout of 2012-2013, the battle over social media was intense and a major factor was that the NHLPA paired itself with the NHL fan base.
With the impending lockout, it’s understandable that many NHL fans were not pleased—in fact, angry—upon the NHL’s announcement of the lockout due to a lack of agreement over the percentage of money being split between team owners and the NHLPA. Many of those angry fans took to social media to voice their disgust towards the NHL’s decision to lockout until an agreement was reached, and platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and even YouTube became the battleground between opposing forces. YouTube had one of the most powerful videos in objection to the impending lockout called, Together We Can, by Janne Makkonen. Janne’s video had so much impact that many NHL players and even the NHLPA reached out to Janne about the video.
In order to better understand power of the video, it is important to break down the video’s structure. The first chapter titled, “Get Mad,” encourages fans to in fact get mad, stating that fans deserve better and should unite and fight the big corporate NHL giant. This first chapter is successful in its message as it highlights specific NHL athletes such as Martin Brodeur, Jaromir Jagr, Daniel Alfredsson, and Teemu Selanne, as these very popular and ageing NHL athletes that at the time and may never play the game again if the lockout continued. This emotional connection then catapults quick flashes of the in-arena memoriam of deceased player, Rick Rypien, and shifts to the hateful tweets of racist “fans” toward popular black NHL athletes such as P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds, in a consistent effort to stir-up “get mad” emotions and fuel the call to action. The chapter closes with a focus on how the average U.S. and Canadian citizen struggles to make ends meet, all the while the league commissioner and owners are fighting for a bigger slice of the money pile. All in all, the emotional ties of the first chapter are extremely prevalent and a very powerful “hockey is family” message.
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Chapter two is entitled, “Unite,” and continues to emphasize the emotional connection between fans and the athletes, looking to ultimately push the envelope and unite. The imagery at the beginning of chapter symbolizes that the fans and players aren’t done yet and continuing to build the union between athletes and fans against the league commissioner and team owners. As the chapter closes, it shows images of article headlines and even tweets from players while reporters discuss the struggles between the owners and the players battle over the percentage each should receive. The video again emphasizes the hockey community surrounding the game itself with powerful imagery before moving into the devastating plane crash of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. The chapter and the video conclude with the ultimate emotional tug on any ice hockey player or fan’s heart strings, highlighting some of ice hockey’s greatest moments in history, reiterating that hockey is not about the money, but the moments that last a lifetime. The video achieves its goal several million times over in its ultimate strength — appealing to the emotions of its intended viewers.
The images in the video are very appealing and very inclusive of all NHL fans and the major ice hockey countries. Janne Makkonen ensured inclusive and powerful imagery in terms of memorable ice hockey moments, the excitement of the game using athletes and fans, and the humanization of the subjects, the athletes themselves. This imagery included showing NHL players out of their uniforms, playing with their kids, wearing suits in a combined NHLPA effort, and tearing up after winning it all—every ice hockey player’s dream. Janne selected phenomenal music and sound bites to match with the imagery on the screen, and in every way, the video’s message and the music selection are emotionally stirring and accomplish the goal of the video — to call the viewers into action.
The video is incredible and memorable because it is communicating the connection of the athletes to the fans—how the entire community is one large family. As one large family the community needs to get mad about the upcoming situation brewing between the athletes and NHL management and unite against this foe to get the season moving.
After it was all said and done, NHL fans rejoiced on 7 January 2013 as the lockout official ended after 113 days and it had appeared that the NHLPA had won the battle, as it was reported several team owners were irate at the result of what they had to give up after negotiations came to a close. This video remains in the hearts and minds of all of us who lived through the lockout, and it still stands, for me at least, as the greatest hockey video I’ve ever seen – and somehow, the message resonates a bit differently today…it still feels relevant.
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Author: CD, Host, Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast.
