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| (Paramount Pictures) |
I for one don't care if the NHL loses another season because I don't consider the NHL as the only place where hockey is played. I still have places where playing the game is about the game not the all mighty dollar.
Lock both sides in a room and nobody leaves until they have a deal in place. See from the things I have been told; this has not been about working out a new CBA. What it has been is two sides with 2 agendas and neither side walks away wearing a halo.
The NHL as it has always done was expecting the players to roll over with the star players throwing their peers under the bus to protect their salaries. They should have done a better job keeping an eye on Don Fehr who like a good general trained his troops quite well.
The NHL had to have been in shock when they saw their own poster child Sidney Crosby sitting across the table from them fighting for the 3rd and 4th liners. At that point the NHL should have realized things were different this time and worked towards a fair deal for all.
The NHLPA actually put forth an offer that offered real revenue sharing from the "haves" to the "have nots" in the hopes of starting an NHL civil war. Opening a can of worms where each NHL team would have gotten a look at what the other 29 teams were making.
That offer was dead on arrival because real revenue sharing like you see in Major League Baseball (and realize that it is actually working) is not something the money making teams would support. The NHL owners know each other too well as there was no way to get any of the teams to fully open up their books.
Once that failed to happen then the NHLPA switched gears wanting to see a safety net in the salary cap for next season. On that point the NHL should have agreed to it because a screwed up salary cap helps nobody.
So in the end both sides have decided to try to win the hearts of the NHL fans. It hasn't worked but yet the two sides keep trying and they keep stabbing those NHL fans in the heart.
Forget them then as I have 3 CHL leagues I can watch on my TV and PC. I have the NCAA hockey on 5 different channels and if I decide to drive then it is across the river for the Winterhawks, 3 hours north to Kent and Everett (2 hours more and I am in Canada), head east on Rte 14 and I have Tri-City and Spokane in 3 hours.
Let them screw up and cancel the entire season as 48 games crammed in to 3 months is not a real NHL season. If any fans think that the NHL or NHLPA will do anything to make up to the fans then sorry that won't happen.
In the meantime I have USA/Canada in 2.5 hours to watch and I had my choice of games in the OHL and WHL to watch. Speaking of which there was one game I did concentrate on tonight.
Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 3rd) and his Guelph Storm hosted the Plymouth Whalers on Wednesday evening. The Storm were too good a hosts dropping a 6-2 decision to the Whalers.
Pedan was scoreless but once again had 6 PIMs which he was lucky did not result in power play goals for the Whalers. Still once has to wonder why Guelph lets this go on like this.
Pedan got a high sticking call 36 seconds into the game for his 1st minor. His second minor (tripping) at 11:22 ended a Guelph power play 50 seconds early.
The 3rd call was high sticking at 15:12 put his team 2 men down for 58 seconds but while Plymouth was unable to score with the 2 man advantage; they also bailed Pedan out by taking a minor of their own to end the power play and gave the Storm a 55 second power play.
Pedan escapes costing his team any goals but in all honesty I just don't understand why Scott Walker (Guelph's coach) puts up with this. Pedan with 84 points is 3rd in the OHL in PIMS.
USA/Canada
For those who don't sleep through this game (and if you did what is wrong with you?) then again this game is going to be about which USA team shows up. If the team that whipped on Slovakia and the Czech Republic shows up then Canada just might be beaten.
Sorry I also don't think Subban is superman in goal; I tell my players to crowd his crease, don't give him any room to see the shots coming. In a game like this, expect both coaches to hit the panic button early.
If the USA can get under Subban's skin then he will ineffective in goal for Canada. None of this staying outside the box; force the box to fall apart by motion and bodies in the net.
The US can win this game if they play to win not play a "play to beat Canada"
type of game. Got to keep emotions under control as expect this game to be called even tighter than before.
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