Did I forget to mention that Brad Lukowich has left the Central Hockey League?

I did? Aw shucks….

Well, i’m not much for reporting on what is going on in Europe or you would have already heard about Freddie Modin, Pavel Kubina and others who jumped ship and have been playing for teams in Europe for a while now…

But TSN.ca decided to make a headline talking about Bradmaster and Vinny being held scoreless in their debut. Nik Khbibulin gets the win as AK Kazan — AKA NHLPA All Stars — win 2-1.

Sports Illustrated is having a vote for Sportsman of the year…

And personally I am in agreement with Eric over at Off Wing Opinion about who it should be.

Seeing I don’t know what to report here — I might as well report what others are saying on the Hockey blogosphere:

Fist off, you gotta go to the Off Wing Opinion and read the news that Brett Hull hath speaketh his mind once again. Of course, one can’t forget Tom Benjamin and his NHL commentary - nor the fact he also has a report on Brett opening his mouth once more.

Meanwhile, Jes wants to know if Kevin Lowe is just teasing with his “thnreat” to quit if the NHL economics stay the same. I know many Edmonton fans will suddenly wish that the Players win this bout

And just a request — does ANYONE know of a email address (tangible email address) I can send email to the Pittsburgh Penguins organization? I have something up my sleeve for all Hockey fans but I cannot go forward with this without an email address for the Penguins (and perhaps higher up in the orgainzation… Super high up — hint hint).

Well, no NHL… No Lightning matchups… No planned labor talks…

Seeing we don’t have the game. Lets play a game about the game. Worth 1000 has a contest of Photoshopped images under the theme “Hockey Hockey Hockey”….

Good for a couple of laughs.

Can site visitiors please do me a favor?

I’ve been getting a lot of “Failed refferer” reports from certain parts of the site and I was wondering if anyone ewas having trouble navigating the page? Could you please post a comment to this post if that is the case? Thanks.

Tuesday the Lightning had an unglamorous ceremony in the bowels of the St. Petersburg Times Forum in downtown Tampa where some — certainly not all — players were handed over

Of course, the Lightning’s player rep - Tim Taylor - took this as an opportunity to launch into another pro-Union triade:

“It was a joke. For this community not to share in this? I think it’s a slap in the face the NHL has given our fans because they should’ve been involved.

“This should have been at the Forum in front of 22,000 people as we walk up and get the rings and open it up and show the fans. I personally feel the NHL has taken some of that away from us.”

(of course, for a pro-Union triade, acknowledgement of the fans is something new)

You can read the full article and more of Taylor’s comments here.

I heard this before I left on my trip — I’ll be back in Florida tomorrow…

Springfield to play Philadelphia Phantoms at the St. Pete Times Forum on December 15th

AHL hockey is better than NO hockey….

Heading north for a week. Will check in if something earth shattering happens — if I can.

Jason over at Predators Den begs the question, just what does Gary Bettman have to do to lose his job?

Here is the answer: Just like DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, the more Bettman fails at his job, the more certain it is that he keeps his job! His string of failure after abject failure hasn’t been enough for the owners in the NHL to can Bettman. There’s little reason to believe they’ll do the right thing anytime soon.

Sadly, this is more true than I can state.

I won’t get into politics (I do that enough on der Stonegauge ) but what Jason asks and what he says is too true to overlook. Gary has been vital in negotiating porrous TV deals that hurt the NHL more than help (I’m not talking about financial deals - I’m talking about exposure, etc). He’s failed to bring the NHL owners the riches he promised through expansion (won’t go further into that one because you Neo-Traditionalists like Chris Chelios out there can go stuff it). He absolutely sucks at marketing and is out of touch with not only the common player but the common fan as well.

Oh, Martin St. Louis and Robert Esche aren’t correct with their villifying of Bettman… But they do have a point about Bettman being malignant to the game. It goes beyond collective bargaining and buying the party line, however.