Zzzzzzz....

Huh? Wah?

Hockey's done for the season?

<yawn>

Zzzzzzz.......

BOO!

For hockey fans, yet another huge series in the WCHA as the Badgers take on first place (#3 nation) Colorado College this Friday and Saturday.

Gophers Suck!

6.5 mil x 30 teams. That is a chunk of change, no?

A friend of mine put it well: These clowns would rather just pass up about 4 billion because they can't decide how to allocate it. "You're not going to give me enough? Well, then don't give me anything."

As for the Badger Hockey team: Time to start taking names, etc. They had no excuse for not sweeping the hated Gopher. Makes it tough to live up here..

I honestly can't bring myself to shed a tear about this, not even a crocodile tear. I am actually glad that the season is off, so now there is one less thing taking space away on Sportscenter from MLB.

I had been going by the assumption that the NHL intended to kill the season all along. I figured they would need to do something drastic to get to the point where they could contract a few teams.

The players want to make what the market will bear; the owners need some fiscal sanity for a sport with no shared TV revenue, nothing like the structure of the other major sports, and skyrocketing costs vs. disappointing fan turnout in most of the 30 cities. The players fail to see that the huge gaping yawn most of the country is responding with is really what the "market" is bearing. I think the players are unrealistic idiots who may be dealing a near-fatal blow to their future livelihoods. I live in the DC area and like the Caps. But when owner Ted Leonsis says he loses LESS money when the team doesn't play, well, that should tell the players something. Fools.

Patrick,

ask the Gopher fans about Michigan Tech and Alaska Anchorage, that'll shut em up.

Seems like the Original Six may end up as the Remaining Six.

Any sport played on a frozen surface should only be played in climates where such surfaces occur naturally.

It's a tough call, but I have to slam the players and side with the owners here. Is a salary cap that unacceptable in a struggling major sport with serious equity problems? Hell the NFL has one and it hasn't exactly hurt the game, ya know?

The dumb part is that fans can see it pretty plainly. I pay $50 to see a game (in a sport with the smallest arena sizes), try to watch the team with it's second rate TV contract, and the stars are making as much as the top guys in the NFL and MLB?

You don't need an economics degree to see something is broken. I just hope the players come to their senses so we can see world class hockey without having to travel to Europe or Siberia...

I'm putting this on the players... if you can make a living by playing a *^*&^%ing game, you got no business whining about not getting more.

To paraphrase Marie Antoinette, let them pump gas.

This will make that loong gap between the Super Bowl and Spring Training seem even longer though..and it doesn't help that it comes in the teeth of the Michigan winter

I'm with Mike M.
It's a battle between millionaires and billionaires. I'm siding with the billionaires.
They are going to make money no matter what or there won't be any teams. With the players getting more and more money, ticket prices are ridiculous. It costs a family of 4 well over $200 to go to a game. The cheap seats are close to $50 in most venues, parking, gas, food and souvenirs. You're looking at $500-$1000 if they want to actually see the player's faces.

I've been angry at every pro league who has had a strike. They're screwing the people who pay their salaries. Hockey ticks me off especially because they are a distant fourth in sports popularity. They have die-hard fans they're screwing and are alienating possible new fans.

Is it baseball yet?

Eric, the Gopher fans, (Minnesota fans in general, but ESPECIALLY Gopher hockey fans) do not respond well to reason. If you've ever come up here for a game, you know--they are brutal to visitors. (Mostly in good fun, but man there are some morons up here).

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooone!