NHL on Ice; Games Cancelled Through November

The NHL Lockout drags on. All games in November have been cancelled. The rest of the season is in serious jeopardy, which would mean if something isn’t settled soon, the Winter Classic game scheduled for Michigan Stadium, home of the Michigan Wolverines football team, on New Year’s Day between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs will have to be cancelled.

Meanwhile, yesterday in Rosemont, IL, several members of NHL teams played in an exhibition game for charity. 12,000 fans showed up to watch members of the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks take on a team made of up random players from other NHL teams. The “Blackhawks” lost 16-15.

”Nothing they’ve done over the several past weeks has been very much of a surprise,” Player’s lead negotiator Donald Fehr said. ”It looks like that’s what’s been done in the other disputes in the other sports. It’s a shame, I think, and hopefully we’ll finally get down to serious negotiations one of these days.”

It appears the NHL is hell bent on losing another season, which is surprising considering it was only about eight years ago when they lost an entire season to labor problems. They all know how difficult it was to win the fans back. And that was during good economic times. How will they get people back to the games after a second lost season during terrible economic times?  The NBA is experiencing this now, and they still salvaged a 66 game season a year ago. Basketball games are being played in half empty gyms on a regular basis now. If the NHL loses the entire year, they won’t be able to give tickets away next year. They need to think about that.