PunBB

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Just wanted to take a minute to offer my condolences to all you hockey fans out there. When I was a boy, I used to play 'on the pond' whenever the ice was 'skateable' from December thru February, and loved every minute of it. Since those days, I've not been much of a fan of the League, nor have I even been much of a hockey spectator, but I know what the sport means to many of you Canadians and some Yanks.

I can sympathize - the 1994 baseball season ended when players walked-out in August, resulting in the first lost-postseason due to work stoppage in the history of professional sports. I was absolutely crushed, yet I still had the benefit of seeing at least 3/4 of the 1994 regular season. I hope to never again have to go without my favorite pastime and the Fall Classic, and as my excitement builds for the upcoming season with the poppin' of gloves in Spring Training, I am a bit reticent in light of the fact that my sportsfan bretheren are suffering such a heavy loss.

This labor dispute is a travesty, and threatens the entire survival of sport here in the US. TV ratings were suffering dire lows before the strike, and I just don't see American fans coming back to the sport of hockey like they did for baseball. Quite a shame, too, since it appears the two parties were close to an agreement. Sounds to me like the player's union should shoulder the bulk of the blame, especially for this last stalemate. I'm amazed that the union does not recognize that its resistance to the implementation of a salary cap could completely wreck the potential for players across the board to make far higher salaries than they could earn anywhere else. They fight to ensure that Johnny Franchise can take that extra 5 million that some irresposible owner will offer on top of an already outrageous contract, and in doing so, the game screeches to a halt, interest wanes, and the market south of the border dries up for good .



That's just sheer idiocy.

I love Wayne Gretzky. The man is a class act. He retired and didn't come back. That I admire. He has done an excellent job with our national hockey program. I believe this to be another example of his class. This cancelled season will be detrimental to the small market teams in Canada as well as in the US. Teams like Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, and the NY Rangers won't suffer, but rest assured most other teams will. Baseball is just now recovering from the catastrophic drop in attendance that took place after its strike 10 years ago. I fear the outcome of this will be very bad for the professional sport. I still enjoy my junior hockey, however.

not gonna happen, and I wouldnt want them to "un-cancel" the season anyways, Im too bitter and jaded now to even watch hockey. Im still rooting for my spectacular London Knights, still on fire. The memorial cup is ours HAHAHA!! :twisted:

Can we make a rule about no further talk about the 04-05 season.
The canadian media has hyped this up to no end, and it's frustrating to a hockey fan. Let's remember how these people were too selfish to put aside their differences for the good of the game, and may have ended up hurting the sport irreperably. But I'm sick of talking about the will they wont they thing, cuz the season is cancelled. Deal with it Canada.
Clearly the powers that be and the players that play the game don't respect it enough to put aside money issues, so while they work it out, let's not do them the justice of talking about it. Pure lunacy.
As Steve Wilstein of Associated Press said Thursday: "Ah, but we all know (hockey)'s a business, cold as a corpse."

Well...despite the fact it's over...it apparently ain't over...(with apologies to Yogi Berra):

From TSN tonight:

Quote:2/18/2005

The NHL and NHLPA will meet in New York on Saturday in an attempt to reach agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. In fact, The Hockey News is reporting that the sides have already agreed in principle to a deal that includes a $45-million salary cap, and could 'un-cancel' the season Saturday

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Wake me when it's REALLY over... :censored

lilbones Wrote:The canadian media has hyped this up to no end, and it's frustrating to a hockey fan.

Er, not quite. The Canadian media are doing more or less what media always do, which is to allow themselves to be jerked around by the people they report on.

It's the league that's been playing the will-we/won't we game. And now it's on-the-pot/off-the-pot. They're doing this to pressure the players. The fans are just collateral damage.

Damn, my brain hurts with all this back and forth, is there a deal or is there not a deal. I'm watching TSN right now, and even their hockey panel experts can't even agree if the latest rumours/news means a deal will be done tomorrow. This is just one of the weirdest things I've ever heard of, and I can't decide what to think.

skippy... you are absolutely right. In any of these situations with professional sports, the fans are ALWAYS collateral damage. Makes you wonder why we continue to be fans of professional sports in the first place.

And LizardKing... yessir! Gotta love those Knights! Memorial Cup champions, 2005! GO KNIGHTS GO!!

I guess, in summary...

NHL :censored
OHL :jump

thought this was interesting..was at the salmon arm silverbacks game tonight (great game by the way..lost 4-2 to Prince George :x )..but i digress...when it was announced that the nhl season looked to be saved, not one person cheered, and a few booed..loudly...i was quite shocked.

heard ryan miller goalie for the rochester americans say there was a pres announcment today and he would leave it at that becuase they have been saying that he would start the season in buffalo becasue the americans
have been playing so well


now i don't care if they come back to play this year ---------------
but i will watch


ron

so if they do uncancel the season then what are we looking at, a 25 game schedule and playoffs ... not worth it

go home greedy bastards and count your $$

28 games plus a full playoffs
Which is amusing beause if one team plays 4 7-game series, it would mean it played as many games in the playoffs as the regular season.
But yeah, that season would have integrity. :roll:

If they plan on starting the first week of March and concluding the "regular season" at the end of April (as reported), they're asking players (many of whom haven't played in anger since last April) to get into game shape in just over a week and then play 28 games in under 60 days (ie. once every two nights)...

Integrity? Seems to me, the NHL stopped worrying about that 6 months ago...

Goodenow: "I thought you beat the inevitability of death to death just a little bit".
Bettman: "Disappointing you is getting me down".

I would love to see a Cup-Rush. It'd be like a March Madness for pro hockey. The hell with integrity, this is business, and it's gotta be better for the hotdog, parking and merchandise folks to have 20 games than none.

Bring on the midget season!