from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer,

For hockey fans truly unhappy about the lockout, there’s only one real way to hit both sides where it hurts: Demand their money back.

A few Carolina Hurricanes season-ticket holders have done just that, pulling their money from the team, including some of the oldest and most loyal....

Josh Hauser just wanted to go back to his 12-game plan in the upper deck from the full season tickets he bought in the lower bowl over the summer, a difference of about $2,400.

When the team told him it wouldn’t pay interest on his money if he reduced his commitment, he took all of it back.

“A horrifying experience,” Hauser called it.

“We travel a lot and my wife is in grad school,” he said. “We planned to sell a lot of the tickets. At no time did we ever imagine them holding onto thousands of our dollars indefinitely. They were very defiant, very insistent that we can’t touch any of that money or we’d lose our seniority and benefits. We had no choice.”

Even those who are keeping their money with the team are making decisions about how they support it in the future.

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