Up until this point of this bafflingly insipid lockout, I’ve kept an arm’s distance from getting too emotionally invested in the day-to-day goings on in these so-called “negotiations”. At my core, I knew that there was going to be a significant amount of time missed, and that everyone would be beyond aggravated with the principals on either side, but that ultimately it would be too foolish to waste this much time, or the entire season. But, no one has ever gotten rich betting on the NHL using common sense. Perhaps I was more deluded and emotionally invested than I thought, because selfishly, I really wanted there to be hockey today, and it’s really hitting home now that there isn’t.