Doing The Wave at a Hockey Game Isn’t Worth It

“The Wave” is a fun, crowd participation, bonding experience at a professional sports event, right?

Everyone is watching to make sure they time it right. When it gets to your section, you stand up, put your arms in the air, and usually yell “woo!” Sometimes it dies, and sometimes it gets going, and the whole stadium is in on it. Sounds fun, right? 

NO! No, it isn’t fun. Do you know why? It means that instead of being a fan who is engaged in the game and cheering on the team, everyone’s focus is on standing up at the correct time. When that happens, the atmosphere shifts in the crowd. Instead of everyone being united behind the team and cheering them to victory, half the crowd suddenly focuses on themselves. I’m a rose-colored glasses, positivity to the max super fan, but this is the grumpy hill that I choose to die on. 

Part of the appeal for teams in a home game is having the crowd be on their side. There is a home-team advantage when all the fans are ready to rally behind the players, and the Wild players continually talk about how fun it is to play at home, knowing the fans are among the best in the league.

Listen, I understand the appeal of The Wave, I really do. Kids especially love to see The Wave really get going and circle around a few times, and, as a mother and someone who works with kids, it’s a joy to see their delight. But they can find another time and space to try out this fun activity that isn’t a professional hockey game.

It can give the same thrill as when everyone is singing along to a song, but they have to cut off the audio to get back to the game, and the entire crowd keeps singing. It is an amazing bonding time for the crowd. The difference is that singing can intensify the experience of the game, allowing people to better engage with it rather than taking their attention away from it. 

Last night, the Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders were tied 3-3. We were getting to the end of the third period, and the game was feeling intense. This is the time for cheering and maybe a crowd sing-along. It is not the time for doing The Wave. At one point, the Wild were making a good push and a lot of motion in front of the Islanders' net, but instead of paying attention, fans behind the net were busy coordinating The Wave. 

It’s enough to make me tear my hair out. We can do The Wave before the game, during warm-ups, intermissions, TV timeouts, or after a good win. Those are the times we can put all of our focus on standing up at the right time and delighting every child in attendance. While the puck is in play, let’s focus on cheering on the team instead, especially if the game is as close as it was last night.