from Nathan VanderKlippe of the Globe and Mail,

When the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings showed up at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai for a practice earlier this week, they found an ice sheet shrouded in fog, as cold air inside the arena mixed with the city's humid air to create a scene a few wry fans likened to a horror movie.

By Thursday night, the mist had been vanquished by 25 specially installed dehumidifiers. But as players lined up for the Chinese national anthem, the NHL's Shanghai problems weren't quite over. This time, they came from the stands, where several yawning sections of empty seats looked down on a 5-2 Kings win.

"Personally, I think the NHL blew it," said Phil Esposito, the hockey legend who has become a kind of unofficial ambassador for the game in China.

"You have got to promote. This game tonight – I looked in the papers," he said in an interview before play began. "There wasn't a goddamn word about it. Not one word."

continued