A consumer's guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it's in play here.

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

By HELENE ELLIOTT

Oct. 26, 1999 12 AM PT

What: NHL.com, the NHL’s official Web site

Address: https://www.nhl.com

The NHL has skated boldly into cyberspace. Its official Web site is informative and entertaining, and it will keep serious and casual fans online for hours.

The main offerings are a scoreboard, schedule, league news, statistics--broken down by team, player or position, as you choose--injury updates, transactions and the NHL store. There are also links to radio broadcasts of ongoing games, video clips of noteworthy goals, analyses of games shown on ESPN and ESPN2 and a section called “Ask the officials,” which allows fans to pose questions to referees, linesmen and their bosses.

Visitors can also view clips of the 20 greatest moments in NHL history and rank them. Don’t miss the history section, which contains features on hockey, the Montreal Forum, the Stanley Cup and other trophies.

Also recommended: Individual teams’ Web sites, which can be accessed through the team section. The quality varies, but all seem to have team statistics, schedule, ticket prices, links to purchase merchandise, transactions, injuries, a roster and a link to real audio broadcasts.

A random look yielded several exceptional sites. The Phoenix Coyotes (https://www.phoenixcoyotes.com) offer a Coyotes Cyber Club, Web specials and a learn-the-game section. For a clever and comprehensive site, visit the Washington Capitals at https://www.washingtoncaps.com. It includes a list of 125 ways the team is new and improved and cites promotions such as “No Ties Allowed Night,” “Will You Marry Me Night,” “Father/Son, Mother/Daughter and Single Mothers”’ nights, and “Owner for the Night.”

The New York Rangers’ site (https://www.newyorkrangers.com) greets visitors with an onrushing puck, loud music and excellent features on team and NHL news. The Ottawa Senators’ site (https://www.ottawasenators.com) has news releases and contests for kids. The Philadelphia Flyers (https://www.philadelphiaflyers.com) offer breaking team news, audio and video clips of news conferences and postgame interviews, player features and practice information. And if you find broadcaster Gary Dornhoefer’s 1975 Stanley Cup ring, there’s a number for him.

Hockey

Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

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