CBC Sports: Game over: NHL cancels season
Ok, let's see here....the players, well they're mostly really rich people....and the owners, well, OK, they're mostly really rich too. But some teams aren't doing well, you say? Perhaps expansion has really hurt hockey a lot. Maybe there just isn't a market for some of those teams? I'm having a hard time mustering up any sympathy for any of the parties involved.
It's time to reinvent hockey. Time for a scrappy, small league of players who love the game. In a way, cancelling the season may help a rejuvinated game rise from the ashes....
3 comments:
Boy, I can't agree with you more. As much as I love hockey, I really hope the NHL folds. This league is run by stupid people who have made the game irrelevant by ignoring the fans. We said we wanted a more wide open high scoring game. We said we wanted the rules enforced. What did we get? Three Stanley cups for the clutching, grabbing, neutral zone trapping, couldn't outscore a midget player at score-o, boring to the point of tears New Jersey Devils. IN A NUTSHELL, that is what is wrong with hockey. It is run by idiots.
I'm hoping you're right about a rejuvinated game rising from the ashes. As much as I dislike him, Barry Melrose was talking about this today on ESPN. Now they have 6 1/2 months to focus on rules changes that we've been screaming about for years. Oh yeah, and still have to get that CBA thing worked out.
Move the goals closer to the end wall, take away the two-line pass, institute no-touch icing, shrink the goalie's pads, go to a shootout at the end of a scoreless overtime period.
Theoretically, expansion is good for the game. The talent pool is definitely big enough to support it. In fact, it gives more players, esecially the marginally talented ones, a chance to excell. Aside from all that, it allows the game to enjoy more exposure, especially in the non-traditional hockey areas. And I'm not just talking about the cities that host teams. However, with respect to exposure, it just isn't happening because Bettman is unable to get a decent TV deal for the NHL. In the US, I mean.
Practically, though, expansion probably does more harm than good.
I'm not really a big hockey fan but I think that people should venture out to the local sports centre and watch the athletes that play for the love of the game and not for the whopping big paycheques that they get. I have supported local lacrosse for years now and I find those games much more interesting than the ones where I am sitting on the sofa stuffing myself full of snack food.
Let's boycott these overpaid leagues and get back to basics...
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