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….
(more…)

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.