from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,
Sorry to do this to you, but think back to that game between the Canucks and Predators Wednesday night.
It was a hideous display of the sport for a lot of recognizable reasons and it takes a detailed look to find who might really be to blame for such a show. There was certainly enough blame to go around. Remember the Canucks had played on Monday night in Tampa and flown across the continent the next day and the Preds had played the previous night in Edmonton where they lost to the Oil. The result was two exhausted teams pawing at each other, stopping only for Nicklas Jensen to roof a shot when a puck that had been knocked off Henrik Sedin’s stick ended up on his forehand about 30 feet from the net. It was the highlight of the night and in fact, other than a couple of Eddie Lack saves, the only highlight....
Clearly, it’s the almighty dollar calling the tune but here’s where it gets tricky. Who is providing these dollars? Why, it’s you of course, the hockey fan, one way or another. You are either buying tickets or watching on television and either way you are providing the money which motivates the people with the power to put an end to these dreadful mockeries of the sport.
That’s right. In essence, hockey fans are bringing this nightmare onto their own doorsteps by repeatedly buying tickets in Olympic years when they know this compressed schedule will wreak havoc with the entertainment value of the product they are purchasing. As long as the fans keep buying the tickets, the owners will keep instructing the league to keep scheduling that way and the players will have their pockets lined to the point where they’ll be willing to play.
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