Opening Weekend Success

We are off and running! The Stanley Cup champs have roared out of the gate at 2-0, John Tavares is already on the board, Detroit stumbled in Scandinavia, Ovechkin is on route to 70, and Vesa Toskala… well, need I say more?  There was also a particularly flukie goal in the battle of Alberta yielding two points to the Flames in a game that was surely headed for overtime (here is a link to the video if you haven’t seen it yet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVEC4rNIiUA) .

As enjoyable as the opening weekend of the new NHL season was, as I took in all of the action from four different countries there were some things in the back of my mind. Paul Kelly being dismissed as director of the NHLPA over the Summer, the saga in Phoenix about their future, and the question about whether the NHL players will be participating in the 2014 winter Olympic hockey tournament in Russia. I will not make any particular comments about any of these three issues—perhaps I will in time but not at the moment. But what I will say is that I know hockey is a business and as such there are a lot of business discussions to be had and decisions to be made. That said, to all of those involved, please do not let a lack of communication, overly strong egos, and an extreme lack of common sense to tear down our amazing sport. The game is growing stronger every day, the competition is better than ever and continuing to improve and the last thing any body needs is for a bunch of big heads to make a series of bad decisions to screw the whole thing up. The fans do not want to hear about any drama because quite frankly we are fed up. Off-ice drama is a cancer that can spread like wildfire and destroy everything in its path without regard to its victims resulting in damage that may be beyond repair. We love hockey so please don’t screw it up.

NOTE: New posts at least every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday… more in between when need be but that is this year’s schedule.