from Wayne Scanlan of Senators Extra,

Ross Couchman, a retired civil servant in Ottawa’s east end, is one hockey fan who finds it easy to draw a line in the sand and say: “Enough is enough.”

Couchman (can you think of a better name for a sports fan?) withdrew his hockey affections after the 2004-05 lockout, breaking off what had been a lifelong love affair with the game. This time, he vows he won’t be back at all if the NHL stops play for an extended period due to the lockout launched on the weekend.

” My proof is that it took me three years after the last lockout to care one iota, to watch a game, to read media accounts or watch Sportscentre highlights,” Couchman wrote in an email, which led to a discussion over the phone.

“I have come back to the point of following the game (mostly the Sens) to the point of reading the Citizen sports pages, watching highlights, and podcasting the HNIC Hot Stove while spending three months every winter in Mexico. I even meet other Canadian and American friends at a restaurant in Mexico to watch the occasional game on TSN, which they get on their satellite. That will end.”

Couchman’s over-under date for considering this to be an “extended” lockout is Christmas. By then, the NHL would have to considered a modified, compromised, shrunken schedule. Not good enough, in one fan’s view.

more