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NHL set to scrap troubled season

wdlove

wdlove

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It sounds as though NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will announce on Wednesday that Hockey will be canceled this season. If this actually happens, it will be the first time that a major team in North America has cancelled an entire season. I suppose that there is still a possible 11th hour reprieve if owners and players can agree.

Any thoughts?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/us_sport/4265789.stm
 
Macaddicttt

Macaddicttt

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2004
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This whole NHL thing has gotten me really disappointed. There are two sports I really like following, baseball and hockey. I really love hockey. They shouldn't scrap the entire season because of this silly disagreement. I still have some hope, but not much... :(
 
killuminati

killuminati

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Dec 6, 2004
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I love hockey. I live for hockey.

But this is ridiculous. There is obviosely not going to be any hockey this season. To tell you the truth, I dont want there to be any hockey this season. I just want them to come to come to an agreement for next season.

I'd much rather have given up this season of hockey to have a fresh start next season with better play (a less watered down league [get rid of the expansion teams]:)).

Gary Bettman will be known as the man who recked hockey. My childrens childrens children will know about him. It will be a family story about how I had to live this.

How I survived the season without hockey.
 
Lacero

Lacero

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Jan 20, 2005
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I'm a Canadian and I'm always put off by the fighting in hockey. The only time I ever watch Hockey is if my home team makes it to the Stanley Cup finals and that has only happened twice in the last ten years.
 
killuminati

killuminati

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Lacero said:
I'm a Canadian and I'm always put off by the fighting in hockey. The only time I ever watch Hockey is if my home team makes it to the Stanley Cup finals and that has only happened twice in the last ten years.
Click to expand...

You my friend are not the average canadian. To tell you the honest truth I don't personally know anyone who isnt a hockey fan. (No I don't live in a shack and never come out, I know lots of people :p )

BTW, what city do you live in?
 
MacNut

MacNut

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If this happens as it is supposed too, this will be the first time in North American pro sports history that a full season has been scraped due to a lockout.
 
MacNut

MacNut

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killuminati said:
Gary Bettman will be known as the man who recked hockey. My childrens childrens children will know about him. It will be a family story about how I had to live this.
Click to expand...
Don't blame Bettman for the loss of the season, If the union agrees to a salary cap this hole thing would end. This could very well last into next season and the owners will offer even less. Don't forget the real victims of all this the Referees who have nothing to fall back on.
 
Jovian9

Jovian9

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Feb 19, 2003
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wdlove said:
It sounds as though NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will announce on Wednesday that Hockey will be canceled this season.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Good. This league has been dieing a slow death for years. They need this. Perhaps this will help them to come back stronger with less teams and a salary cap. Hockey is interesting when it is not watered down with so many teams and too many that are not talented. And if it does not recover, I'm not sure many United States sports fans will notice.
 
Koodauw

Koodauw

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Nov 17, 2003
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Macaddicttt said:
They shouldn't scrap the entire season because of this silly disagreement.
Click to expand...

It's not a silly dissagreement, it's a very serious one. The outcome of this will shape the future of Hockey.

I place the blame fully on the owners. They dug themselves into this whole by paying players more than they could afford to, and now are demanding a salary cap.

The players took the money the owners offered, and even agreed to a 25% roll back in wages. But the owners said no.

And lets face it. The majority of America doesn't miss hockey. Sad, but true. I dont see a solution anywhere near.
 
MacNut

MacNut

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I agree that nobody cares about hockey, they are wise to cancel the season now as baseball spring training opens this week and I'm ready for the season to start.
 
MacNut

MacNut

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The NHL as we know it will probably end Wednesday and its a shame that I don't think it will survive as they have the most famous trophy in sports and it is a waste that the Stanley Cup wont be awarded this season or maybe not for many to come.
 
miloblithe

miloblithe

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Nov 14, 2003
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It is kind of amazing that this happens and seems to be happening more and more. It seemed to hurt baseball and basketball. I imagine it will hurt hockey a lot more within the mainstream. Diehard fans will probably remain.
 
killuminati

killuminati

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Dec 6, 2004
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MacNut said:
Don't blame Bettman for the loss of the season, If the union agrees to a salary cap this hole thing would end. This could very well last into next season and the owners will offer even less. Don't forget the real victims of all this the Referees who have nothing to fall back on.
Click to expand...

Dont blame Bettman, are you kidding me?!?!?!?!? HE RAN THE LEAGUE INTO THE GROUND.

He expanded the league to much into the US where there wasn't a very big hockey market. This whole problem is because of his expansion.

:mad:
 
dsharits

dsharits

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Maybe there is still hope...
Click to expand...

Maybe, but I still hope they just cancel this season. They are talking about having a 28 game season if they do come to an agreement, which is all well and fine, but only 16 teams will still make the playoffs. This is especially unfair to teams that get off to a slow start, when in a full season they would be big contenders to win it all. I say we just scrap this year, and work on an agreement to start off next year on time.

Daniel
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
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While I hold out hope that maybe between now and Wednesday at 1 there will be an agreement, I do think that the season will ultimately be cancelled... boy this sucks!

What I'd like to see happen in this case is that the teams that made the playoffs last year play in another playoff... that would be kinda fun.
 
psycho bob

psycho bob

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Oct 25, 2003
639
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Here in England the amount of money football (soccer) players get is ridiculous but doesn't seem to be a patch on what American sports players get. It is a sick joke, so much for playing for the love of the game. At the end of the day it is the fans who suffer because of the greed of a select few.
Players have too much power, it wouldn't be too bad if they actually put their heart and soul in to everygame but more often then not they simply lack the passion the fans show and deserve to see back.
 
B

Bibulous

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Jan 19, 2005
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miloblithe said:
I imagine it will hurt hockey a lot more within the mainstream. Diehard fans will probably remain.
Click to expand...

Are there any mainstream hockey fans in the US? ;)

here in detroit, i'm glad mr pizzapizza is finally putting some cash into his other team. i would trade all of the wings cups for just the return of a major league caliber club this spring
 
aloofman

aloofman

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Dec 17, 2002
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MacNut said:
Don't blame Bettman for the loss of the season, If the union agrees to a salary cap this hole thing would end. This could very well last into next season and the owners will offer even less. Don't forget the real victims of all this the Referees who have nothing to fall back on.
Click to expand...

And if owners dropped their demand for a salary cap, the whole thing would end too. There's plenty of blame to go around here, but I don't blame the players one bit for taking as much money as an owner will offer them. They're basically saying, "We want to make more profits, but don't have the personal discipline to avoid big contracts, so we're demanding that you limit your own salaries instead." If you believe that all these teams are losing a billion dollars, then you're a sucker.

The "real victims" of the lockout are not the referees, who make very good money for their seasonal, part-time job. It's the ticket-counters, ushers, concession workers, and other low-wage employees that aren't working right now.
 
MacNut

MacNut

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Im amazed that the players have agreed to a cap of some sort. Now if they can workout how much of a cap to have be it 40 or 52 mil.
 
MacNut

MacNut

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aloofman said:
The "real victims" of the lockout are not the referees, who make very good money for their seasonal, part-time job. It's the ticket-counters, ushers, concession workers, and other low-wage employees that aren't working right now.
Click to expand...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=1989453


The officials have been the forgotten part of the NHL dispute, integral to the on-ice product yet shut out of a process that directly affects their livelihood. They haven't received a paycheck since the lockout started five months ago, but all 80 officials agreed beforehand they would not take jobs from other officials by working in other leagues. Their decision stems from the support they received from colleagues in other leagues during their strike 11 years ago. The NHLOA felt it was important to maintain that solidarity, even though the current NHL lockout threatens the entire 2004-05 season and beyond.

The NHL's 44 referees earn an average $150,000 per season, while linesmen average $100,000. Many officials have taken up odd jobs to make ends meet, as well as keep themselves occupied. Don Van Massenhoven has been selling cars, Bill McCreary builds kitchen cabinets and Kerry Fraser obtained his real estate license.

The NHL also has offered loans to officials who require it.

"Our guys are basically unemployed," Walkom said. "Our guys are basically covering the bills. That's all we're doing."
Click to expand...
 
wdlove

wdlove

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Original poster
Oct 20, 2002
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MacNut said:
Don't blame Bettman for the loss of the season, If the union agrees to a salary cap this hole thing would end. This could very well last into next season and the owners will offer even less. Don't forget the real victims of all this the Referees who have nothing to fall back on.
Click to expand...

Both sides are equally culpable in this situation. They will both need to compromise to end the stalemate. At this late in the season, unless the players have been aggressively practicing, playing would be less than optimal.

There are more hurt by this than just the referees. The rinks are losing money along with employees associated with hockey. On our local news, some restaurants are also hurting.
 
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