Football is the sport of the South. It does not matter what level; high school, college or professional, 
football has a huge fan following. On game days, Tuscaloosa all but shuts down to accommodate the thousands of fans who flock to Bryant-Denny Stadium and the Quad to cheer on the Crimson Tide. But, eventually, football season ends. The stadium is silent. What sport do we turn to? My suggestion is that you give hockey a try.

It may seem unnatural to play a sport on a full sheet of ice when the weather is a humid 80 degrees, but there are plenty of hockey teams in the southeast. The premiere men’s ice hockey league in the world, the National Hockey League, has a number of teams in the southeast. The closest team is the Nashville Predators, and there are also two teams in Florida (the Panthers in Miami and the Tampa Bay Lightning), the Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Texas. Although only the Predators made it into the 
postseason this year, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars are also strong competitors in the league.

But, if you are looking to regularly attend games in person, it may be best to find a closer team. Thankfully, The University of Alabama has a men’s ice hockey team that competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association in D-I, which, according to Alabama’s Ice Hockey team’s website, is the highest level of collegiate ice hockey outside of the NCAA. The UA team plays its home games in Pelham, Alabama, which is about an hour away, near Birmingham. Although their 
season has already ended, you can start following them in the fall.

Of course, the majority of your time as a fan is not spent watching games in person, so do not let the distance to the closest NHL franchise turn you away from the league. The regular season runs from October to April, and then the playoffs immediately follow and last into June. That means that as soon as Crimson Tide football is done, you can flip to a channel carrying coverage of the NHL. And, since NHL teams play 82 games in their regular season, you will be able to watch a game almost every night during the season.

I am going to finish out this 
column with a few of the reasons a 
football fan might like hockey. Firstly, hockey is an incredibly fast-paced and 
uninterrupted sport. The use of ice as a playing surface means 
that the players can move very quickly, and there is a smoothness about the sport that makes it unique and exciting in comparison to those played on courts or fields. Although there are whistles every now and again for penalties or other rule violations, play quickly resumes. If a football game were completely made up of the frenzy after a snap, it would be a lot like hockey.

Secondly, hockey is a physical sport. Men’s hockey involves checking 
(hitting), which is similar to football only in concept: The ice surface means that hits look entirely different. Perhaps most famously is that fighting is not prohibited in the NHL. It is perhaps a misnomer that it is allowed. Players are penalized for fighting, but not 
prohibitively so. If you are a fan of the big 
tackles in football, you might like the huge checks in hockey.

Thirdly, goals are unpredictable and scores are typically low, 
making it incredibly exciting because the lead can change in an instant. 
Goals in hockey can come at any time, unlike football where there is almost always a clear advancement down the field necessary to set up a touchdown. Obviously, this is not always the case. Hockey is also less predictable than basketball, where a shot clock counts down to require a shot and teams are expected to score every time they are in the offensive zone. And because scores are very low in hockey and goals are so 
unpredictable, teams can mount 
surprise comebacks at any time from nearly any deficit.

It should be obvious that this list is not exhaustive, so you should probably watch a game or two to see what you think. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are happening right now, so it is the perfect time to tune in.

Isabelle Beauregard is a sophomore majoring in political science and African American studies.