Lasted as long as this entry.

I never gave the final results of the Team USA / World Cup poll… (note – i posted this late during the WC and only 5 people voted).

And of course the results of the NHL vs. NHLPA poll can be found here

A new poll with regards to the NHLFA has been posted… .

Lightning: Lightning gets veteran goalie

Jamie Storr, a former first-round pick with nine seasons of NHL experience, is expected to serve as the team’s third goalie behind Nikolai Khabibulin and John Grahame.

Storr will sign with the Springfield Falcons to get around the current lockout…

Jaimie also will be overseeign the Lightning’s young goalies like Brian Eklund… Helping Eks and tutoring him.

Speaking of Brian Eklund — have you seen The Eks Files??

I have been attached to the National Hockey League Fan Association since early in it’s existence – believing a unified voice representing the fans is necessary in Major League sports… Of course, that’s tougher than it looks because of the fact fans vary so much from coast to coast… Their likes, loyalties, pet peeves, observations and opinions on how things would be better/worse under certain conditions drives them (or should I say us, as I assume any person reading this blog is a fan)… It helps them band together and divide them all at the same time.

Jim Boone, co founder of the NHLFA, has been one to try to bridge that great divide between fans over the last five years. The group boasts just under 25 thousand members between Canada and the United States and had proposed to Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow the idea of an independant mediator to help resolve the current labor strife.

With the 2004-05 season hanging in the balance and neither side of this labor dispute talking, Boltsmag asks Boone a few questions about the league, the labor war, and the NHLFA….

Mike over at Confessions of a Hockey Fantatic has a piec eon the new Hockey Games that are out… He also makes token mention of this site due to certain players that grace the cover of certain games….

The Venerable mighty might, Martin St. Louis on the cover of NHL 2K5…

I’m long overdue to link to the HPP which is an online chronicles of photographs devoted to every aspect of Hockey…

And just one of those aspects happens to be the Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s a section of the site that hasn’t been contributed to… so if you have photos to upload and want to make a name for yourself… This is a good place to start.

Lightning Calls Bucs Pitch Offside – from Tampa Bay Online

Officials with the Tampa Bay Lightning are crying foul that their season ticket holders are being contacted by sales representatives hawking Tampa Bay Buccaneers season tickets.

If you are confused, the desperate-times are for the Buccaneers who are making a bee-line straight to the gutter again… Knowing the Lightning are in a holding pattern, why not try to sippphon off some of their fans who don’t know better that Los Buccaneeros are turning back into the Yuccaneers with thanks to Jon Gruden?

The following is just part of Gary Bettman’s appearence on the CBC last night….

Mansbridge wanted to know why Bettman doesn’t call Goodenow to restart talks, and Bettman suggested the players needed “a period of sober reflection.”

“Somebody has to make the call,” said Mansbridge. “Are you saying it has to be him?”

“No,” replied Bettman. “At the appropriate time, after they’ve had time to reflect . . .”

“When would that be?” asked Mansbridge.

“Collective bargaining is more of an art form,” Bettman replied. “It’s not an exact science and you have to go with the ebb and flow of it.

“Let’s not get caught up in the rhetoric here. The union has not offered us anything meaningful. Under the union’s last offer, under the projections that they gave us, over half of our team’s would continue to lose money. If that’s how they figure we’re going to solve the problems, it’s clear why we haven’t been able to make a deal.”

This gives me very little faith in ownership… Not that I had much as was… Now I have even less.

The Players are having a tougher time getting something to bide the time than it looks…

There are two conflicting reports today about the OSHL – Original Stars of Hockey League. One report says that the league has suspended all play until further notice, needing time to retool. Another – from TSN.ca – has a stark denial that the OSHL has suspended play.

If the OSHL goes kaput, it’ll be the second league that has fizzled and failed at start up. The WHA has attempted to start a rival hockey league but it has been one huge uncoordinated mess that seems to be going no where.

Brad Lukowich is joining Eric Perrin and spending 2004-05 in the minor leagues if the work stoppage lingers (like I should have added “if”? :sad )
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Perrin signed last week with the Hershey Bears of the AHL — though he is still very much under contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. I would expect a flurry of moves in the next few weeks involving more Tampa Bay Lightning players as the OSHL, AHL, CHL and European Leagues make offers to locked-out players.

Chalk this one up in the WTF column. Genius marketing ploy or simply a trashy idea, you decide:

G4tv.com – Press Releases – VIRTUAL NHL SEASON TO AIR ON G4TECHTV

LOS ANGELES, CA, September 21, 2004 – The NHL lock out may have postponed the 2004-2005 season, but disappointed hockey fans can still watch the puck drop in more than 50 million U.S. and Canadian homes when the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning face off against the Philadelphia Flyers in the season opener of the video game NHL season on G4techTV. The hard-hitting action begins with highlights, scores and stats, airing daily on the network’s sports program “Sweat,” premiering October 13 at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT. G4techTV is the only 24-hour television network devoted to games, gear, gadgets and gigabytes.

All of a sudden, Sportscenter has become irrelevant…. :tongue

….for our sake?

ESPN’s Page 2 has a column by John Kruk — former MLB 1st baseman — called “Chewing the Fat,” and after some primarily baseblal related talk, he launches into a piece about work stoppages – specifically because of what is going on in the NHL right now.

ESPN.com: Page 2 – One Voice

So the NHL has locked out its players … again.
Lockout, strike — it’s all means the same thing. No games.

And much like when MLB went on strike in ‘94, it looks like the same problem: The head of the union vs. the owners.

When the head of the MLBPA, Donald Fehr, went on TV back then and said, “The players voted to strike,” you would think he meant that all the players on all the major league teams cast a ballot and decided that this was the thing to do.

Wrong.

If you want to read the full text of the story, click ont ehlink and scroll down to the “One Voice” sub header. It gives you an intimate look at the player’s side of the CBA – not everyone is on the boat, and not everyone knows just what the hell is going on.

I’m editing on DMOZ/ODP now for a few categories and I came across a site that really got me intrigued. A huge FAQ site.

For example here is the Hockey FAQ. Not many quesiton posted for this category compared to others on their site but entertaining none the less for novice and expert hockey fans alike.

Once again, “The Instigator” says it all:

click to enlarge

With the Lockout in full effect and Bob and Gary being in a political showdown more intense than the US Presidential Election, Sunshine Network is drawing up plans for what will air in place of the Tampa Bay Lightning this season:

We are talking with the Lightning about possible game replays but nothing is scheduled at this time. No plans for any AHL games. On many nights when Lightning games would have aired, we have college basketball games, live “Chevy Tailgate Saturday” programs and other shows/events that were already airing on Sunshine outside Lightning territory that we would then take statewide. As soon as any plans are finalized, we will also post the info. on our website.

Not an official post but I’d like to make sure to welcome back Tom Benjamin from his hiatus on the Blogsphere. It would seem that Tom Benjamin’s NHL Web Blog at Canucks Corner hit a speed bump and all of Tom’s original posts from last seasonw ere lost.

That’s unfortunate, but the good news is Tom’s back on the prowl and I’m glad to see it.

The Vancouver Canucks hockey blog has a post up this afternoon showing another player that isn’t exactly siding with the NHLPA with regards to their negotiating tactics. Who’s the wayward Union member? The New Jersey Devil’s John Madden.

Bolts Wonder Where This Is Headed

“Nobody wants to be in this situation and we hope that both Goodenow and Bettman can find a common ground, everybody wants something to get worked out,” Dingman said. “Nobody wants to lose a season over this. I mean, this is our livelihood. It would be nice to open everything up on time and be able to raise that [Stanley Cup championship] banner and celebrate our championship.”

Is it just me or is it frustrating any time there are comments like this from the labor side of a dispute but a standing-with-the-union-’cause-I-have-to type of attitude being expressed? It’s like baseball with drug testing and steroid tests — no one wanted to cross the line to prove they were above that.

Now the players just won’t say “This is bullshit, I want to play and I don’t want the Union to go to war over this.”

Of course, the comment is attributed to a 3rd/4th line player and not a superstar… Few will care what Chris Dingman has to say…

But here’s a dare to any Lightning player or any NHL player — if you’re above this squabbling and know the game is more important than what your union boss is fighting for (limitless profit possibilites for labor), then cross the line. Tear up your union card and show the fans you’re better than this absolute greed.

The Lockout goes into effect at midnight eastern time tonight — and repeating it is just repeating the doom and gloom of the months ahead — and la de da. There’s not much I can report but there is something that I’ve long believed that some people are acknowledging now which was dismissed in the past…

Thanks to OnTheWings.com, I found a great column by Dan Wetzel which basically sums up the shortcomings of Herr Commissioner, Gary Bettman:

Yahoo! Sports – NHL – Puck stops with Bettman

It is supposed to be the commissioner who either keeps the owners in line or figures out a way to generate so much new revenue it hardly matters.

Bettman has done neither.

Ain’t it the truth?

The NHL still hosts a lot of dated features and is intimately tied to it’s base in Canada. It’s failed in expanding and that’s part of the reason teh league is hurting. It was Gary’s job to lead the league to sunnier financial pastures and what happened?

He’s botched it up left and right.

This isn’t me siding with the players in this dispute. Far from it. This is me voicing my displeasure with the commissioner of the National Hockey League.

It’s too bad we can’t vote in a new commissioner… Because it’s high time that Gary and his game were pitted against someone else’s vision for the league and someone else’s proposed leadership…

And on that note, I offer a fond F.U. to Bob Goodenow – the chief manipulator who reminds me of a Bush Administration liar…er, I mean official… But of course Gary Bettman and co’s bungling is to blame as well.

Whomever wins, the fans still lose.

My god is that trophy ugly.

When the World Cup started, everybody on this side of the pond was salivating over the possibility of a Canada – USA matchup for the Gold Medal game. Who forgot to tell the Finns the plan?

While many Canadians were disapointed that we didnt get to knock off the Yanks a second time in this tournament, I, for one, was very happy with the matchup. And not just because that meant that five Calgary Flame players were on the rosters.

I was elated by this matchup because it was a battle of nations who live, breathe and die hockey. While 2 million people watched poker on ESPN in the states, a paltry 350,000 watched the Finland-USA semifinal on ESPN2. Compare that to over 700,000 watching in the middle of the night in Finland – a nation of about 5 million people.

In the United States, this gold medal game would have been just another hockey game nobody cares much about. In Finland, it was the biggest game in that nation’s history.

How can you be disapointed with that kind of reaction?

Riding the stellar goaltending of Miikka Kiprusoff, and the same committment to defense that wins Stanley Cups, the Finns got through a relatively mediocre European pool, and past the rapidly aging Americans, only to fall in the final to the Canadians 3-2. It was exciting, high flying hockey, and the perfect lead into the NHL season.

Whoops… forget I said that.

Vinny Lecavalier was named tournament MVP, and while not a bad choice, I do not believe he was the best choice. I suspect Lecavalier won mainly as a result of his overtime goal in the semifinal against the Czechs. While an argument can definitely be made that Lecavalier was the top forward in the tournament, IMO, Martin Brodeur was far and away the Canadian – and Tournament – most valuable player. Though Brodeur should be getting used to being passed over, as he lost the Conn Smythe to JS Giguere two years ago, even though he was the better goaltender.

And while this tournament will be labelled a success by all, one cannot overlook that Helsinki, St. Paul and Toronto all struggled, and failed, to sell out games – victims of overpriced tickets for a tournament lacking in prestige after an eight year hiatus. Even in the land where kids learn to skate before they learn to walk, Canadians werent enthralled by this tournament like they were in 1996 or in the Salt Lake Olympics. the NHL and IIHF have a lot of work to do before the next World Cup – which will hopefully be held before 2012.

However, much of this may have to do with NHL arenas going dark tomorrow at midnight, as it is hard to get up for such a tournament on the eve of doomsday.

Regardless, Congratulations to team Canada, champions of the world once again.

What a SHOCK. I mean…. Wow… I thought Martin Brodeur was going to be tourney MVP but Lecavalier – with his stunning OT goal — has earned the accolade. He was also named to the World Cup Tourney All Star team (if that is the proper definition) with fellow Bolts Freddie Modin.

I’m just… wow, shocked. Congratulations Vincent.

Springfield Falcons – LIGHTNING ASSIGN 13 TO FALCONS

The following players will report to the Falcons’ training camp, which is scheduled to open September 29th in Springfield, Mass.

G Brian Eklund
D Gerard Dicaire
D Mike Egener
D Andreas Holmqvist
D Doug O’Brien
D Paul Ranger
RW Evgeny Artyukhin
C Ryan Craig
LW Adam Henrich
LW Dennis Packard
RW Darren Reid
C Jean-Francois Soucy
C Nick Tarnasky

I wonder how much more company they have after the lockout starts tonight? :frown

If there is a season, Dave Andreychuk is officially going to be part of the Lightning during it.

Dave signed a one year deal with the Lightning, making Martin St. Louis the lone holdout as the lockout looms large over the entire landscape of the NHL.

One more time around… But this time with a mountain off his shoulders as he has indeed hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup.