T1B

-The company I work for has season tickets for the San Diego Gulls, but I haven't been to a game yet.

-They also stopped buying season tickets to the Kings last year. Apparently, not enough of our clients were interested.

-The lockout has given me an new appreciation of the sport of hockey. It's really made it clear to me that I love the sport of hockey, and not just NHL hockey. War NMU Wildcats!

-I'm hoping to take my 2 year old daughter to an NHL game sometime next spring. I'm not holding my breath, though.

-WTF are NHLer's thinking by playing hockey elsewhere? Not only are those assholes taking someone's job, they are destroying their credibility. IE, they won't play in the NHL, but they'll play for less money elsewhere? Douchebags. The NHL(Bettman) sucks, and so do you.

-The NHL might take over the Ducks. It's difficult to articluate how bizzarre this story is to anyone outside of LA and Orange county. Simply put, I live in one the largest sports markets in the world and this is a franchise that cannot draw enough fans to make money? I call bullshit.....
Of course, we don't have a football team either.

-.I heard that Colleen Howe is really ill. I wish her and the Howe family well.

-Jeremy Roenick should STFU.

-Wayne Gretzky hasn't said enough.

-I have a feeling that when the NHL finally does resume play that the ticket and beer prices will not have gone down..... at all.

-One of my best friends is from Calgary. I miss the trash talking.



Unwar the lockout of 2005!!!

Heh.. I took my daughter to her first NHL game when she was about 3 or 4. She spent the whole game scanning the arena for Harvey the Hound and screamed, "THERE HE IS!!" every time she spotted him. Dad spent the night trying to impress upon the little one how evil the Canucks were and how good the Flames were. The 5-0 ass-kicking the Flames delivered helped in that regard.

I'm thinking that since hardcore fans are finding other things to do, it's going to be tough for the league to even bring them back, let alone the casual or non-fans. This lockout is a necessary thing to bring the players to their knees and get the costs back into line, but at what cost? There has to be a point in time where there is an intercept between damage done to the league and degree to which the players give in. I think that point may be right about now. If this thing goes any longer, I think the owners have overstepped any benefit this lockout would have on the business of the game.

In Calgary, there's been talk of a 30 team playoff rather than a shortened season. I'd be in favour of something like that. I also don't believe it would tarnish the eventual winner any either. Playoff series' are the essense of what hockey is. Teams would have to go through 5 teams to win the Cup (except for the two that would have to get byes). No small feat there!!

Wayne Gretzky is an owner, and that is why he isn't saying shit. None of the owners have said much. It's best that way. Last lockout in '94, you had owners beaking off all the time... one quote that comes to mind is the Devils' owner at the time saying (McMullen, I believe?), ".. to hell with small markets". If that wasn't a cue to the players that the owners were ready to cave, nothing would be.

Jeremy Roenick's last comments actually made sense to me. Said he'd consider a salary cap. From the NHLPA's perspective, yeah, he shouldn't have said it, but I'm glad he did!!

Ticket and beer prices may not go down, but at least, theoretically, if the owners win this thing, they'll stop going UP (for a while)!!

Our company has a box in the Saddledome. Even when the Flames weren't good, we couldn't fit enough clients into that thing for all the ones who wanted to go. Filling it for the Hitmen is a different story, but the Roughnecks have become in pretty high demand...

Hey, my best friend is from Calgary too!!

RACK Blitz...always saying it like it is.

The one guy I haven't heard enough from is Mario Lemieux. The guy is an owner of a dying franchise and is a superstar player...where does he stand on this whole fiasco? I don't know what his involvement has been in this whole process but he's gotta atleast be in it since he's got a hat in both rings. I'm sure saving the Penguins has to be more important to him than worrying about his salary as a player.

I heard comments from Mike Illitch yesterday on FSN...he doesn't want anything to do with the negotiations from the sounds of it. He said the owners made him a central figure last time and now with the Wings having the highest payroll as of now, they want him involved again. Sounds like he might not want to have a cap on spending...he's not one of the owners that is hurting right now. Christ, he just spent $75 million on Magglio Ordonez this week...the Tigers are still getting his financial backing.

Mario is under a gag rule as an owner-for the record.

and for the man who put the Pens in this mess...you can't uneat the apple,Howie