It’s that time of year again; when thoughts of hockey begin to consume the attention of a small but passionate group of people known as poolies. The term poolies is the name given to those who obsessively participate in a form of gambling called pooling. Simply put, a group of people get together and pool a sum of money. This money is held in trust to be awarded to the winner of the pool at the end of the hockey season. Now bundling is nothing new. People have been doing this for decades for a lot of sports, but it’s had a huge rise in popularity among hockey fans in recent years. The reason for this dramatic increase is twofold. First is the advent of the Internet, which has made accessing and distributing statistical data incredibly easy for those managing groups. Participants have instant access to real-time statistics and results through one of the many websites that host groups on the net. As a result, pool participants stay engaged throughout the season with an active online community of poolies.

The second reason for this significant increase in the popularity of the grouping is what some might call the overexpansion of the NHL since the 1980s. The expansion of the NHL had begun twenty years ago and can be divided into three distinct periods a from the 1967/68 season. It was during this season that the end of the original six era was marked and the NHL changed forever.

The original six teams played a 70-game schedule that began the last week of October and ended the first week of April, a six-month season that does not include a month of playoff games. When all was said and done and the Stanley Cup was awarded, the season lasted no more than 7 months for the two teams that made it to the final. In the 1967/68 season, the league doubled in size to 12 teams and played a 74-game schedule beginning in mid-October and ending in early April. The playoffs lasted only slightly longer, so the season held reasonably for 7 months from start to finish.

The only significant change that occurred as a result of this first expansion was that the teams were more geographically dispersed; two of which were clear across the continent on the west coast of North America. Before this, teams played in cities on or near the East Coast of the United States and travel was quick and easy, relatively speaking. As a result, travel fatigue was not as big a problem as it is today. It would be safe to say that it was at this point in NHL history that the way players approached the season began to change and self-preservation began to become a factor in how players approached their regular season play.

The second significant expansion was during the 79/80 season when the NHL welcomed 4 new teams from the defunct WHA. It was with this expansion that the world was introduced to the Edmonton Oilers and hockey took on a new dimension thanks to the efforts of players like Wayne Gretzke, Mark Messier and Jari Curry. The league had now grown to 21 teams playing an 80-game regular season over the traditional 7-month period. To accommodate this new 21-team league, the playoffs had to be changed to accommodate a 16-team tournament and the new NHL was now playing well into May.

The third and final expansion was the brainchild of new NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Bettman had been drafted out of his NBA job in 1993 in hopes that he could improve the league’s financial prospects. With little or no understanding of the game, Bettman felt that further expansion in the United States was the only way to “improve” the league and increase revenue. Under Bettman’s direction, the league grew rapidly from 21 teams to 30 franchises in 2001.

Today, as we eagerly await the start of the 2006/07 season, the teams face a grueling schedule of 83 matches between October 4 and April 8. This schedule will see teams travel across North America from East to West, North to South. Once teams have worked their way through the regular season, they face the prospect of a two-month whirlwind of games to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup. This year, the playoffs will begin on April 11 and end on June 11. At the end of the season, the two teams that make it to the final buzzer will have played 9 months of hockey and over 100 games in a single season.

So what does the expansion of the league have to do with the growing popularity of the grouping? Well, as a result of the NHL expansion, players have changed the way they approach their season. Whether due to lack of interest, self-preservation, or perhaps both, players often treat the regular season more like a series of preseason games. The season is long and the playoffs are tough. As a result, teams are forced to choose which regular season games guarantee a better collective effort.

This approach to the season often results in mixed efforts between individual players and even entire teams depending on the circumstances surrounding a given game. As a result, fans are often disappointed and feel let down during the season because they are left with something less than professional product to cheer on.

The hockey group is simply the fans’ response to what can sometimes be an unexciting or unsatisfying regular season. It gives fans something to cheer for in addition to the often lackluster performance of their favorite team. By choosing a team of their own, from the rosters of many different teams, they no longer have to rely on the performance of the local team for entertainment. The grouping gives the individual some ownership and control over his role as a fan. The team they have created becomes the main reason to cheer during the regular season.

Whether to bundle or not is a no-brainer for many, and there are undoubtedly a number of reasons for its popularity. However, the correlation between the expansion and the rise in popularity of the pool cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence. The game has gotten mundane for much of the regular season and fans need something to pump up the mid-season duldums. The group has done just that and more.

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