No Lord Stanley

At times I followed the NHL strike closely and other times I chose to ignore it, but one can't really ignore the fact that this will be the first time since 1919 that no one has played for Lord Stanley's cup. In my opinion it is really quite sad: The 1919 Stanley Cup couldn't happen due to an influenza epidemic; it won't happen this time because of money, to put it politely.

The only people I feel any grief for in this whole debacle are people like myself: the fans and the people who really have lost money: those who rely on NHL hockey as an economic means, such as filling hotels and sports bars. Most of the former and latter (myself included) will never make millions, so it's hard to feel sorry for those who do and taking a paycut would still mean they are making between six and seven digits. Boo hoo.

I briefly read an article on cbc.ca today that Ontario was trying to reclaim the cup so some sort of match could take place in Canada; of course it is property of the NHL, so that's not going to happen.

How do you survive no NHL hockey? Minor league hockey for those of you lucky enough to have a team at your disposal. In Vancouver we have a WHL team: the Vancouver Giants. They haven't been winning as of late, but are fun to watch.

If you don't have any grassroots hockey at your disposal, start praying that the NHL returns soon. But at this point in time, the outlook looks bleak. There may be no pro-hockey until the 2006-07 season, and that just seems way too far in the future.