Loser Domi made me a thing!
It’s all I ever wanted: hockey players in suits while It’s Raining Men plays.
Alix made a bingo card for discussing sexism in hockey.
At this point, I think I could black out the entire card. Too bad I don’t win a prize!!!!!
I really fucking love the dude who writes the headlines for NHL.com
And also, ahwww they’re all hugging!
“Next times these two will meet is January 19 in Philadelphia”
NBC you fucking idiots. That is today’s game not the next game.
What the fuck is actually wrong with you. How the hell do you even have this job
Maybe they got confused and thought it was October.
Twas the night before hockey, and all through the rinks,
Fans were all so excited, they couldn’t even think!
The stockings were hung in the player stalls with care,
In hopes that game time would soon enough be there.
The fans were nestled all snug in their seats,
Visions of toe drags dance and other dangly feats.
I in my helmet, friends in their toques
Painting our chests, like a couple of kooks.
From outside the arena, I heard such a noise,
I craned my neck o’er the crowd to see it was my boys -
There in the flesh, was the good old Finnish Flash,
At in his new Blueshirts jersey was the bearded Rick Nash!
They all walked off the bus and headed towards the ice,
Last of all Crosby, who stopped to talk to fans - so nice!
Now! Giroux, now! Toews, now! Stamkos and Horton,
On! Rinne, on! Datsyuk, on! Sedins, on! Perry and Thornton!
Skate across the blue line, and into the zone,
Pick your corners, careful not to get stoned!
Their skates freshly sharpened, the sticks newly taped,
Lids tightly strapped on, Patrick Kane wearing his cape!
They took to the corner, fighting for puck possession,
Showing off the proper forechecking aggression.
The passes extra crisp, the shots right on target,
Dekes going left and right, causing goalies to lose it,
The scribes in the press box write it all down,
All predicting who’ll take home the season’s crown.
Lord Stanley’s Cup, the players, their eyes on the prize,
Heating the ice with their competitive drive.
The intensity picks up, the slapshots getting harder,
The hits growing bigger, the goalies make saves with ardor,
Things are moving along now, no longer are they stuck,
#hockeyisback, so let’s get to it and drop the puck!
OH MY GOD!!!!
His happiness make me happy. Oh god, I’m gonna puke rainbows from all this joy and elation.
(Source: christkunitz)
The cancellations continue.
On Thursday, the NHL finally gave up on their dream of having even one day of the 2012-13 season take place in 2012 (or maybe their dream of having the Mayan Apocalypse render this announcement unnecessary, since it’s December 21 on the other side of the world and the world hasn’t ended). The inevitable axe finally fell on December 31.
They didn’t even give us a chance to count down from 10.
Along with New Year’s Eve, the league also said goodbye to first two weeks of the New Year. From the NHL:
The National Hockey League announced today the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through January 14. The cancellations are necessary due to the absence of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL.
A total of 625 regular-season games – 50.8 percent of the season – were scheduled for October 11 through January 14.
Lame.
There is good news and bad news about what the future holds for us:
The good news — and I’m really excited about this — is that this is likely the last post we’ll have to write during this lockout about the NHL cancelling a block of games. These posts, of which we’ve had to write nine now, are dry and depressing and always seem to happen right at the end of the day out East, when I’m eating a late lunch out West. As my lunch cools, uneaten, beside me, I can confidently say that I will not miss these posts in the slightest.
The bad news — and it’s really, really bad — is that these “block of games” posts will no longer be necessary because, if the NHL has to announce another cancellation, it will be rest of the season.
We’ve been on the highway to the danger zone for months, but people, we are officially in the danger zone. As Bill Daly said the other day, while the league has no official drop-dead date, if they did, it would likely be in mid-January, which is about how you’d categorize January 14. In short, the players and the owners likely have less than a month.
That’s horrifying. (Although it could be worse. Justin Timberlake and Madonna only had four minutes to save the world.)
So what sort of season are we looking at if they can beat the deadline? If the two sides can finally figure this thing out, John Shannon reports that the shortened season “would be a 720 game schedule, which is 48 games per team.”
If you can ignore the shitty jokes, there is some information to be had here. It’s nothing good. But uhm yeah.
The NHLPA will give its a members the option to vote for a disclaimer of interest—a renunciation of the legal right to benefit from the terms of a given trust—which essentially means that the leadership of the NHLPA would move to disband the NHLPA. This outcome helps the players in their negotiations with the NHL, as thisexplains, in that “antitrust laws prohibit owners from locking out employees who don’t belong to a union, with the punishment triple the wages lost during the lockout.” This, however, may backfire.
The NHL responded to the move in a few ways—first, according to ESPN, with “a class-action complaint in federal court as well as a Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the National Labor Relations Board,” and second, according to the Toronto Sun, by threatening to void every NHL contract currently on the books, creating even more massive and momentous chaos than already reigns, which is saying something. A source close to the NHLPA told the Sun,
“So, the NHL is asking the courts to declare every NHL player an unrestricted free agent. I wonder how Pittsburgh would feel with (Sidney) Crosby, (Evgeni) Malkin and (Marc-Andre) Fleury on the free agent market to sign with the highest bidder? What about Tampa with (Steve) Stamkos? Or Minnesota with (Zach) Parise and (Ryan) Suter? A word of caution to the NHL, be very careful what you wish for.”
You know, we hear the KHL is actually a pretty good league, that offers reasonable accomada—what? Oh. Hmm.
———————————————-
FOR THE FUCK OF SHIT. REALLY?
This will show you who the assholes are pretty quick. I do like how the salary cap levels the field and it forces creative build of a roster. I used to love baseball. I gave up on it because the money disgusted me. Alex Rodriguez went to the Texas Rangers for $252 million and fuck that shit. I was done. Don’t even look up the Yankees payroll and then compare it to the income of some countries because you will vomit. Those motherfuckers have more money than God and just throw it at players.
Though, I weirdly feel that Crosby and Malkin would stick with the Penguins. I do think some players have a sense of what they mean to fans and like their organizations. But that might be a short list in the end.
Henrik Lundqvist and his dog, Nova
yr so attractive, ser
The NHL has decided to cancel the Winter Classic, which was slated to feature the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at the University of Michigan’s football stadium in Ann Arbor on Jan. 1, a source told ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun on Friday.
In the six weeks since the lockout began, the work stoppage has caused the cancellation of hundreds of regular-season games, significant revenue loss and what may be irreversible damage to the game’s reputation.
Friday, however, was the darkest day yet.
“It’s definitely very disappointing,” Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard said. “Not only was I looking forward to it but so were all my friends and family. It was going to be a great event not just for us but all the businesses and hotels and fans excited to see us and Toronto play.”
A source familiar with the league’s plan had told LeBrun the decision to cancel the game was green-lighted after a final internal meeting at NHL offices in New York on Friday morning. The league is expected to announce the cancellation on Friday afternoon.
The annual outdoor game is the latest, and by far the most significant, of the lockout’s casualties.
The game is not only a huge money-maker for the league, but also a signature event for the game, and its cancellation does not bode well for what is to come.
“It’s just a shame for the game,” said Anaheim Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler, who is a suburban Detroit native. “You definitely feel for the city because of the opportunity it presents and how exciting it can be for the fans. You feel for them. It hurts the game.”
The decision to cancel the game was based on a number of factors and logistics was a concern.
The league was tasked with a unique challenge this year in building two rinks — one at “The Big House” and one at Comerica Park — and has a contract with the former that requires the NHL to pay for any expenses occurred by the university if the event was canceled later than Nov. 2. The NHL also owed $250,000 of the $3 million rental fee on Nov. 2.
This is not believed to be the biggest deal-breaker, however.
The league did not want to host such an event without the usual bells and whistles — HBO’s “24/7”show documenting the event would’ve been virtually impossible to pull off — and it did not want the pageantry of the event tainted by the work stoppage.
“That’s one of those things that you were really looking forward to this year,” said Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. “Everyone here, not only the players but the fans. Everyone would be bummed out.”
The Winter Classic is touted by the NHL as a celebration of the game, so canceling sends a a tough message after a league-imposed lockout has wiped out almost the first two months of the season.
“I don’t know if they’re trying to send a message or what,” Kronwall added. “I don’t even know if they decide to cancel it, can they put it back on if we do come to an agreement? I think there’s a lot of speculating.”
The cancellation of the game does not spell the demise of the entire season, however.
Although NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has stated that an entire 82-game season is no longer possible, the two sides can still broker a deal to salvage a shortened season.
A source confirmed to LeBrun that NHLPA special council Steve Fehr and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly have tentatively agreed to resume bargaining; however, no specifics about format, location and day have been agreed upon. The two sides have not traded proposals or met face-to-face for a formal bargaining session in over two weeks.
What will come of that conversation remains to be seen.
For me, I’m really sad about this. Since the start of the Winter Classic, I’ve always thought it’d be a great experience. Perhaps the views of the ice might not be the best. But I thought that being around a bunch of probably hungover, rabid hockey fans, in bone-breaking cold seemed like an amazing New Year’s Day. When the game was announced, I decided I was going to fight tooth and nail because I love the Maple Leafs. I didn’t have anyone to go with. But it’s not the first time I’ve hunted down people on the internet to go with to a game. I’m also disappointed since the game would have meant meeting up with people I’ve known via twitters and blogs for years. The could have been surprised by how short I am. I apparently seem taller on the internet.
I’m really tired of how the league pushes around the fans and support it. It’s a shit deal. This is the third fucking lockout. We always come back because we love the game. I don’t like other sports. I try. But I don’t. I’ve always been drawn to hockey because of the community of it all. My mom went to games all the time and continued to go when she was pregnant with me. Even after I was born, she still went with me bundled in her jacket and I slept during games. The season ticket holders that sat behind her even crocheted me a blanket.
When I lived back in Spokane, it was a weird comfort always seeing the same people at games even if I didn’t know their name or ever talk to them. But it was nice I could say “oh! she got a new jersey!” And when I do go back to Spokane for games, it’s still a great feeling seeing all the usual season ticket holders supporting the team. Or even when they show up in Portland for road games.
It’s been hard watching the list of player heading over to the European leagues get longer. I suppose I can understand some. But in other ways it feels like they’ve given up.
