Ryan’s Hope’s: NHL = No Hockey League

Can we have a moment of silence for the dear departed NHL? Okay now that we have that over with find the pitchforks, we’re heading over to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s office. So after months of negotiations and talks an agreement still couldn’t be met and good ‘ol Gary decided that instead of letting the players play without a new contract, he would make history by canceling the season all together. He proclaimed his remorse that it had to come to this. He effectively killed off anymore interest being gained in the sport. The fans are outraged that they had to miss an entire season because of bullheaded owners and players and the broadcast stations are left with slots to fill. Thanks to Gary Bettman we will have to probably deal with some new “reality show” along the lines of Survivor. Was it really worth all this? Is the pride and greed that large on both sides of the fence that no one would just settle? It’s sad when something no longer is a sport and becomes a business. It’s sad when the players no longer play for the love of the game but for the outrageous paychecks that they expect. I’m going to miss the retirement games for hockey legends Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Brett Hull, Chris Chelios, Ron Francis and Dominik Hasek. So, 86 years of hockey has come to this. The founders would slap the puck out of these two sides for letting it come to this. I guess we should have all seen this coming seven years ago when negotiations began and went nowhere. Do I have to resort to watching water polo now? I’m sure that will be canceled here in the south after we accidentally drown the first couple horses. No more Detroit Redwings to cheer for and no more teams whose hometowns never see ice to complain about. Gary Bettman; you are the worst thing that has ever happened to hockey.