Everything Else

I think that picture perfectly sums up where we are now and what we’re all feeling. Confusion in a desolate place that we have no control of getting out of ourselves. We only need an army of crabs to guide us to the sea. Maybe we should start with Patrick Kane’s.

There are just some thoughts rattling around my head as we come up to the actual date that will mark the first time we really should have been at the UC and discussing other things. They’re all kind of infuriating.

-It’s been mentioned before, but the staring contest part of this is by far the most deplorable aspect of this. I know, negotiating tactics and all that. But this inhabits a different stratosphere than say, a bunch of machinists striking against the airlines or something. “Well we put our proposal out and now we’re waiting for their proposal but they said that they made their proposal and now they want our next proposal but we didn’t think it was a proposal and ours was  a proposal and they’re bad men and stupid heads and we just need a proposal.”

Everything Else

We’ve been waiting for this announcement for a while – The NHL announced the first set of games to be cancelled for the year this afternoon.  The news doesn’t, or at least shouldn’t, come to a shock for anyone as anyone following this even remotely (and that’s about as close as I’ve gone with these charades) saw the writing on the wall long ago.

All games from October 11th to the 24th are now cancelled but not quite lost to history just yet. The NHL left the door open for a condensed schedule to be made if the league and the PA can reach a deal in the next few weeks.  When asked if the league and the union planned to meet in the coming weeks and what steps would be taken to help resolve the many issues between the two groups, Gary Bettman only responded thusly.

Everything Else

Super pumped to see Center Ice commercials on TV, and here I thought my season ticket payment was the only way I could give the NHL money for games that won’t be played…

Speaking of which real games are the next on the block: (SI)

LeBrun says its Groundhog Day, and we’re Chris Elliot: (ESPN)

On the upside a lockout may mean no more annoying Selanne goals: (HP)

Forget the Spare Bears we may get the AuxHawks: (PD)

Which may have something do with this: (PHT)

Not so Sad Panda? (CSN) (autoplay warning)

Goin’ Hoggin’ with Shaw (blackhawks.com)

Whatever: (twitter)

Everything Else

Hello Friends..

You may remember me from such names as ChelisChili7 from SCH. Well since he has officially passed another DeutschBank test and I felt like using my real name, here I am.  I also used to be Ken Oda’s bitch for a now-defunct Junior Hockey team. Which involved a lot of unnecessary stat keeping and keeping the Jameson stocked.

The Great One is optimistic:(TSN)

Is the NHL Naive on steroids?(SN)

Hockee Night Puckcast:(HN)

Can Pat LaFontaine save hockey on the Island?:(TSUN)

Oiler fans weren’t considered:(GnM)

ESPN will broadcast hockey after all:(PD)

Ryan Kesler is far behind in his recovery:(PHT)

The latest round of CBA negotiations:(DGB)

Everything Else

So yeah I’m the new links guy, I’ll try not to suck.  I was a life long Chicago guy, until six weeks ago when I moved to Minot, North Dakota to work for a junior team. I miss 5 a.m. bars… oh and my family.

I’m just shocked the kid’s parents aren’t trying to sue… (PD)

Zawzer takes a look at Barch’s drunken twitter poetry (RLD)

Because the lockout needs a Robin Hood figure? (PHT)

Daley and Fehr speak (NHL.com)

Oh yeah and something good for Hawks fans that has to do with hockey that is actually being played (BTN)

Everything Else

A lot of people, mostly outside our strange little world, were trying to draw connections between the NHL lockout and that of the NFL referees. However, the issues were very different. The refs were locked out over disputes over pensions and job security. In that sense, the NFL referee lockout was much closer to the teachers’ strike than it was the NHL Lockout.

But the furor over it this week and the resolution last night was an excellent demonstration of why it sometimes hurts to be a cult/niche sport, even though that’s part of the attraction for a lot of us.

Everything Else

With all this time to kill and too much rattling around the ol’ cranium to not let it spill out occasionally, I think every Monday until we have hockey I’m going to bother you with whatever’s on my mind. Mostly just a review of the weekend sporting action I previewed on Friday. You’ll just have to deal, but you’ve never shied away from being my catharsis before.

Everything Else

Perhaps you’re like me and every other hockey blogger you read. Maybe  you’ve been inundated with emails from someone imploring you to join some sort of fan protest or walkout against the lockout. If you have, you’re probably like me in seeing the futility of it. Obviously, no one cares what we really think, as the return of our asses to arena seats and our eyeballs to the TV screen whenever these jerk-stores deign to return the game we love to us is pretty much assured. No matter how big of a crowd one gathers outside the NHL offices, you can bet Bettman and Jacobs would laugh at us.

So, in the coming weeks, I’d like to spend my time with something a bit more productive. Instead of just shouting at the rain on both sides, I think it’s more beneficial to try and come up with solutions. It has about as much chance as ending the lockout as these silly protests and walkouts do. But it’ll be more productive for us and at least maybe, if others catch on, we can feel that we did something to try and end the madness. At least we’ll feel better.

Everything Else

Unfortunately, I’m going to be doing these for a while. Not that there was really hockey scheduled to be watched this weekend anyway. But it would have been the training camp festival and it would have felt like the season was really close. Our previews would have been in full gear. Discussions about lineups and surprises on the roster would be at full heat. So we’re just going to have to make-do with what we have here. And thankfully, there’s a lot if you’re willing.

Let’s to it.