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Jaz4stfguy

Hockey anyone?

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Hello fellow hockey fans! I've seen very little in the way of threads about hockey lately, perhaps due to the NHL lockout. So I thought I'd provide you with the news about my son Luke's Peewee B hockey team. They don't exactly have a mascot, but I'll use the name " Hawks" as its on their jerseys. I had been posting updates about his team in my personal log, but decided to go public. :nono: Or maybe someone wants to air their feelings about the NHL lockout ~~ it really stinks :laugh: IMO ~~ . Ok, then, let's hear it! Woo Hoo! Go Hawks!

 

To begin with, here is an update:

We just returned from Austin, and with a rare victory: 2-1. :laugh: Luke normally plays a defenseman position. He really hustled out there tonight. We also had several shots-on-goal, which is also rare. Luke also showed some good defense skills with a couple of well-placed, hard checks. This usually frees up the puck for one of his teammates to take up the ice. Thus far, his team is: 2 wins, 5 losses. Next up is Eagan, here at home. Until then, practice, practice,... :lol:

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I am well passed the point of being :laugh: . There will be no season. Winter will be longer in Buffalo. :laugh: This is so unfair! Okay, enough with the rant. I hope your son's team is having a good season. :nono:

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I am well passed the point of being  :laugh: .  There will be no season.  Winter will be longer in Buffalo.  :lol:  This is so unfair!  Okay, enough with the rant.  I hope your son's team is having a good season.  :)

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Thanks, Odie! I believe that your assessment of the current NHL season is correct. According to Lets' Play Hockey newspaper, dated 12/2/04, "that unless there is a miraculous turnaround in the posture of the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) in the next two weeks, the NHL will officially cancel the season." So says the columnist, Wally Shaver. He goes on in the article to say "that there would be a day of reckoning in the NHL because player costs were escalating to the point where the league would eventually be in a calamitous financial situation. Welcome to the day of reckoning."

Mr. Shaver brings up the term "cost certainty." The way he explains it "is what this whole mess [lockout] is all about." I don't quite understand it, but a lot of the teams have loans based on an out-dated franchise value. And that the NHL is "bleeding buckets of money." He believes if this cost certainty isn't in the new labor agreement, that at least a dozen teams will fold.

So what do you think of this? "Facinating" :laugh::nono:

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My hometown team is losing less money with the lockout than when than the hockey season. There needs to be change in hockey and how they team plays there players. I can see see that small town will lose the teams because market is too small to keep up with the larger markets.

Edited by Odie

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I MISS IT!

 

Thank god the WJHC is coming up soon, Canada's team is looking awesome.

 

I also recently learned that McDonald's annual hockey card promotion (stricitly Canadian promotion) has been cancelled! They've done it every year since 1991! It was one of my favourite parts of the holidays and now they've taken that too.

 

(RANT)

I really don't see this coming to an end any time soon. Bettman is a stubborn, lying rat who is refusing to negotiate until he gets the absolutely ridiciulous salary cap ($33.5 million, under which 11 teams still lose money). I don't entirely support the players because they do make too much, but none of them have ever put a gun to an owner's head and demanded a contract. The owners only want this cap to protect them from themselves (Is it really Bobby Holik's fault that the New York Rangers were stupid enough to pay him $9 million?). At least the players are making concessions (luxury tax, profit sharing, pay rollbacks). Which will prevent the owners from declaring an impasse since the players have tried to talk, the owners have not.

The major reason for all of this is simply the fact that there are too many teams, especially into terrible markets, in Bettman's futile quest to sell hockey in the U.S. (56% of Americans surveyed didn't even know there was a lockout on!). Too many teams increases demand for star players driving up their salaries and diluting the talent pool of the league. The quality of the hockey being played diminishes as a result, and increasing the number of players who normally wouldn't be in the league (most of whom are only good for fighting). Teams (mostly Southern U.S. must be eliminated) These things fall solely on the shoulders of Gary Bettman and until he acknowledges that, I don't like the chances of seeing the NHL in a while.

The NHL will never break the NHLPA (which is what their ultimate goal is). The players fought long and hard to get away from the dictatorship the owners used to have and will not voluntarity go back to a dictatorship. The owners will never be able to get players or fans to come back by use of replacement players (Clarke Wilm, an AHL player for the Leafs needs 4 games played to qualify for his pension and he said that he would not come back). So until the NHL is willing to take responsibility for a mess that it is largely responsible for, I don't expect hockey will ever come back.

(RANT)

 

I really needed to get that off my chest.

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You are right. There are too many teams in hockey. I agree most of the Southern U.S. teams should be eliminated. I never understood why they got the teams in the first place. I would like to see them come up with a contract soon, but I don't see anytime soon.

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Here is an article from NBC Sports" David Sweet, and his take on the lock-out, and how he would "save the NHL". Save the NHL

 

Basically, he recommends eliminating some teams - "half a dozen", reducing the number of playoff games "in half", trimming the number of regular season games, employ a salary cap, and reduce ticket prices. Seems like a big undertaking. And would it work? I don't know. :waaaa:

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Here is an article from NBC Sports"  David Sweet, and his take on the lock-out, and how he would "save the NHL".  Save the NHL

 

Basically, he recommends eliminating some teams -  "half a dozen",  reducing the number of playoff games "in half", trimming the number of regular season games, employ a salary cap, and reduce ticket prices.  Seems like a big undertaking.  And would it work?  I don't know. :P

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I support some of those ideas, namely reducing teams (shortened season would follow that logically) and reducing ticket prices would be fine. Nothing wrong with the number of playoff games (the Stanley Cup should retain its status as the hardest trophy in sports to win) and a salary cap will never happen (maybe if the owners would figure that out, negotiations would go somewhere.

 

The players have made a huge concession (immediate 24% pay cut) and have a lot of good ideas that could work to the owners advantage with a little tweaking. If there is no season it is the owners fault.

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I just hope that they come to an agreement before next season. If they don't it would just have killed hockey in the States.

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The players have made a huge concession (immediate 24% pay cut) and have a lot of good ideas that could work to the owners advantage with a little tweaking.  If there is no season it is the owners fault.

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Yes, I read that news item today. You are correct, the "ball"..er...puck is in the owners hands. :P It sounds as if a decision needs to be made by Tuesday, Dec. 14th. Here's hoping that sensible minds pull together and fix this problem by then! :P

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The local Peewee B team took a shellacking today from another Twin Cities Metro Area team. This time, Eagan. And, once again, our guys and gals did not get a single goal. I don't know what to say. Its very discouraging for them, for sure. One parent suggested that the team focus on a "small victory" as in 2 or 3 goals, rather than trying to win the game. I don't know. :) We have another Metro-area team at home again on Saturday. Whatever. :)

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I wish the team lots of luck!  :)  :)

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Thanks, Odie! :thumbup: That is really thoughtful of you to say that. One thing that I've noticed about our team, is that they get a loud applause after each game, irregardless of the score. At this level of hockey, the win/loss column isn't the most important thing, but the sportmanship of each player, and the team as a whole. In Minnesota, points are awarded to each team for "fair play", which is included in the win/loss column. A team gets 1 point for having 10 minutes or less in the penalty box, for example. The behaviour of the crowd is also a factor in awarding points, too. There have been bad examples of players and parents already this year - fights, throwing equipment, etc. - which is too bad. :)

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Our PeeWee hockey team actually won a couple of games over the holidays! Woohoo! Unfortunately, Luke and I were out of town, and so we missed the thrills. Tonight we drove to Rochester. Lost 7-0. Although, we held them to a single goal by the end of the first period. Our team made several shots-on-goal, one of them even hit the upright of the goal. Aww, so close! :) Luke made several good checks on the other team, as did some of our other players. I think they are starting to see that "aiming for the player" , not "aiming for the puck" , works much better. Let your teammate recover the puck.

This weekend is our tournament. Some doofus in our organization lined us up to play Blaine in our first game. Blaine just happens to be 9th in the state - ! Oh boy, that game could be embarrassing! And I'm running the clock/ scorekeeper. I'll have a front row seat to a massacre!! Hehehe. Oh well, what can I say? Three of the other teams that we may face are just as good ~~ why could't we have invited teams that we has some chance of beating? I mean, heck, it is our tournament. ~~ One good thing about tomorrow: the boss is gone - WooHoo!! :laugh:

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The Peewee B hockey club, to which Luke belongs, just finished their home tournament, called "Fire on Ice". Of the three games played by his team, the first one against Blaine was the best. This was a team ranked 8th in the state of Minnesota (Peewee B level)! Our guys and gal kept the score low 3-2. My son had a chance for a third goal, but was tripped up, or so he says. :nono: The other two games, against lesser talented teams, our team choked, and were shut out each time. Rather frustrating as a parent to see them do so well, actually their best game of the year, to falling back into the doldrums, playing what one described as "toilet bowl hockey". B) . Off to another tournament this weekend. Woo hoo! :waaaa:

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It's been awhile since I posted here. By now, you all know that the NHL season is offically cancelled. :) I certainly hope and pray that the players and owners don't table this dilemma until the fall, but try to resolve it. It would be tragic, and maybe fatal for some clubs, if the lockout continues into the next season.

On to peewee hockey. This is Luke's last week of hockey. A couple of scrimmages with the Squirt A team, then the end of the year party on Saturday. And the parents get their lives, and evenings, back! LOL! :)

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I absolutely love hockey. If you cut me, I bleed red of course, but if I could, I would bleed black and gold. My favourite team is the Pittsburgh Penguins, and this is the last thing that organization needs. They're already bankrupt basically, now it's only a matter of time before the team moves or folds. Also, with the NHL lockout, there are over a hundred players playing in the European leagues, where most of them have become national heros. IF they can get large salaries there, they may not end up coming back, leading to a large drop off of skill. Either way, I think both sides of the CBA have to be flexible.

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