NHL Lockout got you down?

Interesting mix of view points -- no surprise there. For my part, I seriously miss the NHL season. Whether playing or watching, it remains my favorite sport. Besides, it has the classiest fans. :laugh

My son is a writer and Videographer for an NHL team and he and his friends at work are now cut down to 40% of their (very small) salary while working the same hours for Junior and American hockey leagues. There are a lot of people who work in industries that support all sports teams that get hurt by the greed of millionaires on both sides of these situations. I love hockey but agree with all the sentiment around the 'Pro' level salaries in all major sports being far too high when compared to other professionals in other vocations. However it is a free market and what drives the NHL revenue is TV contracts - I am sure much the same for football, baseball and basketball. Fans who actually go to the games are a much smaller component of the revenue pie for owners so have less influence or voice. Being trapped here in the land of ice and snow - hockey (and other sports) do take the bite out of our long dark winters while we wait for our roads to be free to go riding - so yes I do miss it.

If they keep it up they will achieve their goal ;)

I work about 2 blocks from the Molson Centre, where the Montr?®al Canadians play. Traffic is always a nightmare on game night. Since I do not follow hockey (yes, there are those in Qc who do not), the lock-out can continue for as long as the bickering millionaires wish...I get home much faster now!!!

I'm watching Boston College play Boston U. right now. Great game!

Funny thing is the usual NHL commentators (Doc and Pierre) are calling it.

Its gotten so bad for me that I'd even watch a game between the Leafs and the Islanders. :laugh

I have somewhat soured on the NHL, so I am not missing them this year. But, I still like to watch college hockey. Also, the NHL Network airs quite a bit of OHL Major Junior hockey out of Canada. Great hockey! I have travelled up north to watch games in Guelph, London, Kitchner, etc. Wonderful people and you get to see alot of good hockey up close. Energy is fantastic from the players who have not yet gotten spoiled by the "big time".

I used to follow hockey very closely, back in the late 60's up to about the mid 80's. My opinion of the NHL is it has about 14 too many teams, which means there are over 300 players in the NHL that shouldn't be there. Teams are full of 'average players' and the level of play has suffered.

I haven't watched a game in over 15 years. This is coming fron a one time AA junior player who LOVED the game.

I miss hockey... I think I'd even tolerate the fan-boy ramblings of "Doc" and "Pierre" on NBC Sports at this point... The Minnesota Wild were looking so promising (and that's saying a lot!) Will have to settle for college games on the weekend (Go North Dakota!) $$ aside... I prefer to watch hockey over sports like football... and as far as baseball, sounds good when I'm in the garage next to my bike... doesn't sound so good when I'm on the bike going down the road.
:bikes

I try to limit external things you worry about, to save energy.

We watch a lot of hockey, but we're not letting the lockout get to us. There are lots of smart guys, with different motivations, who are more than capable of sorting it sort it out eventually. The owners hold all the cards, but the players have a negotiater who is not a hockey fan, who is not worried about the fans, and is interested mainly in the numbers.