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Gary Bettman
Will Quebec City ever get their NHL team back?
Canadian hockey fans are salivating at the possibility of an all-Canadian match-up in this year's Stanley Cup final. That's a lovely thought which should warm the heart of any true Canadian. And here's why it isn't going to happen.
"It's something that requires a joint public-private partnership."
Many are wondering when Gary Bettman and his League will finally dig their heads out of the sand and start reading the demographic tea leaves. Ignoring the plural roots of hockey and misdiagnosing the threats to the game's future could be fatal mistakes. This strategic miscalculation could leave the next generation of hockey fans out in the col
Perhaps not everyone north of the border is altogether enamoured with the return of hockey. Some Canadian fans will surely refuse to forgive the league and the players for the absurd, avaricious four-month disruption to their puck fix. But I suppose we rejoice. Hockey's back. With a brand-new season. Sweet -- and short.
I know the NHL is really happy with itself right now, and I can't stand for that. The Lockout may be ending -- pending approval and some seriously important paperwork -- but the NHL still has to answer for the past few months, and the years before that. The league betrayed its product and millions of its own fans.
In an irony as ripe as weird Uncle Willard's bedside denture jar and nuttier than old Auntie Jean's inedible fruitcake, there are whispers that the National Hockey League and its players union are inching toward an agreement to truncate their age-old lockout, and allow a new season to finally begin... right around the time the world is scheduled to end.
On Tuesday in New York, the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) is meeting with players to "facilitate dialogue." The entire union is irrelevant, if this works. The players and owners are finally bringing it on home, and the PC'ness that we've been thrown and tossed is out the window.
