Canadian HockeyTowns VS The Sellouts

I mean, we all knew Minnesota was not really Hockey Town USA, but who knew American hockey-apathy had crept into Canada?

I am speaking, of course, of the recent vote to revamp the NHL schedule. The new schedule would have seen a positive move to check the 8-games-against-each-team-in-your-division-you-only-see-some-teams-once-every-three-years idea that appeared after the hockey drought a few years ago. The change would have turned 8 games into 6 and required each team to play each other at least once on the regular sked. This would have also forced teams like Nashville and Detroit to play the tougher teams a little more often.

And yes on the down side, it would have required extended travel time, which means more money and time spent by teams who have squillians of fan's money lining their pockets in the first place. Aren't there more important things in life than money? (I ask this question a lot and from the world at large I have yet to receive a satisfactory or even minorly positive response).

And by the by, I've never been anywhere outside of Canada but Florida, so what are you complaining about?

Eleven teams saw this motion defeated. Though I cite the allmighty dollar as the primary reason, I still don't know whether I can fathom the why? Why when it would increase the quality of play? Why when it would have meant improving the game for fans? Why when 2 Canadian teams could have tipped the balance?

The GMs in Montreal and Ottawa let us down and I struggle to understand why they would make the decision they did, knowing that playing Canadian teams guarantees a sold-out arena.(Even in Montreal, where the fans have a particulary infuriating tendency to be bandwagon jumpers when their team is in a skid).

Prepare yourself for this next statement because this is probably the one and only time I will say this: I am proud of John Ferguson. I do not condone anything else he has done as Leafs GM (he is my ever-favourite scapegoat for the Leafs many recent woes. I mean, trading Tellqvist and keeping Aubin? I'm still angry.) Despite my dislike for the man, he is obviously intelligent enough to recognize Toronto for what it is: a Canadian hockeytown. Despite the more extensive travel involved, he voted in favour of the schedule change and for that I applaud him.

When did hockey become centered on profit? Isn't this about the fans? Would any of the 30 current NHL hockey organizations be in business if no one went to their games, if no one spent far to much money on tickets, merchandise, refreshments etc? Why do players from many American teams repeatedly say they wish they could play in Canada? BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE HOCKEY LIVES AND THIS IS WHERE THE FANS ARE! Why aren't these teams accountable to their fans? They are at the arenas because we are. At the risk of being overly melodramatic, I will say this is a sad day for hockey fans. This appears to be just one more blow to the steady declining quality of the NHL that has seen expansion teams in cities that never dip below +30 and All-Star games going from high-intensity competitions to a bunch of sissys skating around the ice trying not to touch each other for fear of getting injured.

This post may be riddled with gross exaggerations, but I feel slightly better for having vented.

For more caustic comments on the subject, see my recent post on www.strikefromtheshadows.blogspot.com in response to this unforgivable failure by a few select Canadian cities.

PS: Even if we got the Winnipenguins, they would be an Eastern Conference team and we Westerners still wouldn't get to see them play more than once every 3 years. What?!