I want you to do me a quick favor.

I want you to take a look at the following list. Tell me who you can identify. Tell me who you can’t.

Joe Thornton. Ilya Kovalchuk. Joe Sakic. Mats Sundin. Rick Nash. Dominik Hasek. Nikolai Khabibulin. Any of these names ring a bell?

They should. And if they don’t anytime soon, believe me; you’ve got some work to do. In the meantime, feel free to read the following advice.

These athletes are members of a once-defunct sport called hockey. Do you remember it? Well, the National Hockey League returned in grand fashion a week ago today, and it’s never too late for a refresher on what you’ve unfortunately missed.

Chances are good that even if you do remember it, you never truly knew it. Remember those polls last winter when ESPN asked its readers who truly cared about the National Hockey League, or whether the strike was resolved? Each day, sad souls with a real love for the sport were subjected to poll results indicating the United States, as a whole, did not care about the game.

That game as you knew it? Or rather, should have known it?

This is the sport that produced one of the all-time great Boston heroes, Bobby Orr. No. 4 redefined the defenseman position, regularly rushing across center ice as if the rink was his and his alone. Diehard Bruins fans still wear his jersey proudly to the New Garden today as if he were inside suiting up in the locker room.

This is the sport that produced the likes of former Boston stars Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. Bourque was a resilient, hard-nosed blue-liner with the nasty slap shot and an unmatched tenacity while Neely was the power forward of all power forwards who patrolled the right wing spot in every Bruins game as if it were his last.

Hockey is bound by its long, storied tradition and memorable evenings through long winters. There’s something refreshing and reassuring about seeing teams like Chicago and Detroit go at it in the heart of a January snowstorm.

Baseball is often defined by individual performances and character-driven players who create a championship clubhouse. Basketball has had its proud eras, such as the team-oriented play of Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics or the utter dominance of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Football loves a good dynasty, especially if the team has a unique style of offense or an indestructible defense with a cool nickname.

In hockey, there’s an indefinable grace to all of its unique aspects.

The grace in a perfectly timed pass to set up a 2-on-1 rush. The grace of an indescribable save to keep a desperate, tired team in a game they should have been out of much sooner. The grace of a one-timer on a power play that baffles even the most savvy of defensemen. The grace of a rush down the ice by a lightning-quick wing that sees the player somehow fire off a shot at just the right moment to win the game for his team.

Maybe fans are captivated by the sheer intensity and danger of the sport, and the anger this instills in many of its players. Certain players often leave their bench and enter the ice as if they’re on a mission of vengeance. Get in their way, check them too hard or block one of their passes and trouble will arise. Block this player’s path to the net too forcibly, or better yet, shove one of his teammates in front of the net and see how he feels about it.

This is the sport that produced Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. This is the sport of the 1970s Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. The 1980s Edmonton Oilers. Or the 1990s Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils. Or the timeless Montreal Canadians.

It’s also the sport with the most memorable and nail-biting of postseasons. Do you often have trouble defining the most exciting moment in sports? I’ll help you. It’s a breakaway, or more importantly, a breakaway in an overtime playoff game.

One thing is for sure after a week of the new NHL: Scoring is back. The same physical play that held up games and kept final scores at 1-0 and 2-1 is being eliminated, game by game, by newly trained referees.

Your free advice is up.

The next step? Go catch a game or two. Eventually, you’ll see what the majority of the American population didn’t over the winter of 2004-05.

After Glen Murray’s fifth hat trick of the new season, I hope you’ll be shaking your head in amazement too.

– Jeff Powalisz is a middler journalism and history major and a member of The News staff.