My family had season tickets from '72 until I left for school in 82..saw some really bad hockey then some truly amazing hockey in that time. The building will always be "Fort Neverlose" to me, but it is time to go.

how's the strike going?

I miss these guys

hilarious

new offer from the nhl to the players...hoping for some good news!

How many strikes are you guys going to endure before you say fuk this ****. I packed it in back in 95

i love hockey. when it comes back, i'll be watching-just like football.

It isnt a strike.

Seriously? Does the reason matter? Season interruptus is a strike to me. I really could care less who drops the gloves first.

Well it isnt a strike so calling it one would be incorrect.

yeah, i like to tell people that when they ask 'why hockey'? there aren't many fans down here at all.
i prefer watching football on tv. hockey is best live. good stuff. i'm definitely suffering withdrawals.
my daughter came by the other day-i had on vermont vs maine. she teased me about it. 'college hockey, mom?!' yeah! it's hockey!

Union Busting..

the truth, finally

Do people earning an average of 2.4 MILLION dollars a year really need a union?

I predict this will get settled within the next 10 days. Both sides realize losing a full season is MORONIC.

The deal the players will have to settle for won't be great, but it's not like it will get better next year after missing a full season.

I agree that player salaries are relatively enormous, and that cutting them by any relatively small percentage won't hurt anyone tremendously. But what will be accomplished is the big market owners will benefit GREATLY, while the teams, and thereby the fans of said teams, will be hurt significantly. Because with the lower salary cap, top big market teams won't be able to keep their top players.

And without any significant profit sharing, the smaller markets will still struggle.

This is what Boston's Jeremy Jacobs is ring-leading.

But for the players, there is no alternative.

Based on the last 10 years of behavior by the owners and commissioner, absolutely.

I dont understand the infatution with salaries. Whatever the players get is fair. No one holds a gun to owners heads to sign them. The biggest fallacy there is in sports is that fans costs go up because of higher salaries. That is nonsense. The prices go up to whatever the market will bear regarless of expenses. When salaries are cut no ticket discounts are given

The point you are missing here is the sides are ridiculously close on most issues right now. Bettman was furious that Fehr, a pro, wouldn't simply cave in on the other "non-negotiable" issues once the 50/50 issue was approved. The major problems now are length of CBA (Bettman wants 10 years, Fehr wants 5), and max length of contracts (Bettman wants 5, Fehr has offered 7).

These would seem to be easily negotiated to a compromise, no?

So we aren't in a situation where the players need to "take whatever is offered".

Which is why it seems so obvious that this will be settled shortly..... Or not:o

i'm hopeful that a deal will be reached soon. recent moves have been positive, so i'm hoping for the best at this point.