The NHL is now dead to me!
The Commissioner's Office of the National Hockey League announced earlier this month that it had officially canked the only contest on ice left that I was actually still caring about!
NHL cancels Jan. 1 Winter Classic
Incredibly, with 327 regular season games through the end of this month having already been canceled in addition to the annual New Year's Day outdoors showcase, the club owners and the players association actually sat down for four days a week ago and still couldn't work it out.
It's gotten so bad that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has suggested a two-week moratorium (read: "cooling off period") on negotiations.
The lock-out is at Day 63 and counting.
What really irks the bejabbers outta me is that, while my Detroit Red Wings were in serious danger of not making the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years, it's best player, Center Pavel Datsyuk, is 32 years old and while he has a lot of great ice time left in him, he's on the back nine of his career.
I love watching Datsyuk skate, twitch and deke through the defense and score... right now he's doing it in the Eurasian-based Kontinental Hockey League, witness this from a game this month between CSKA Moscow and Amur.
(Mrs. Speir, who for years has considered Mark Messier the ne plus ultra of hockey players, has started to come around on Datsyuk.)
He's been astonishing us with his moves his entire career and there are numerous Datsyuk clips posted on YouTube:
- Pavel Datsyuk Highlights
- Pavel Datsyuk's Move On Antti Niemi
- Datsyuk dangles the world
- Datsyuk Compilation
Yeah, I'll see him from time-to-time on KHL telecasts, but I'll miss seeing Datsyuk strip top flight NHL defensemen of their athletic supporters, and cause hernias among goalers.
Curse you, NHL owners and NHLPA!
Comments
1. Hunt Marckwald said...
Line 3, last word, "canked?"
The Internet can be your friend, Hunt...try a search next time, #1, and, #2, see how your vocabulary has just become enriched! It's one of the ancillary benefits of being an OtBB reader.
