What About The Fans?

A belated holiday greeting to all hockey fans as The Pundit took an elongated rest. I ran into my dentist the other day, Ranger fan and season subscriber. He is feeling withdrawal symptoms. From what? Zogby, yes the political guru, took a poll and 42% knew that the season hadn't started yet. How's that for sport recognition. And the great Mario Lemieux decided that things are getting serious and is now doing one on one with selected players to con them into accepting a deal. I guess as an owner Mario is now getting nervous that if by chance they play and his team makes the playoffs he has a lot to lose. Remember, the owners keep all the money once their team gets into a playoff. So imagine a 25 or 30 game season and then the playoffs. A 2 million dollar a year player will have his salary cut by 24%, player proposal, so now he is down to $1.5 mil/year. He will be only paid for roughly 37% of his salary, means that he will be paid roughly $548K/year. Remember he plays in the playoffs for nothing. Remember when Mario called the NHL a garage league? Guess what? Mario now runs one of the great parking lots. Maybe we should take our lead from the fans in Minnesota. They thrive on College and High School hockey. This may be the time for College Hockey to make their move. Granted they will never attain the position of College Basketball but maybe we should give it a whirl. We could start by all watching the Bean Pot tournament in Boston and then flock to our screens and sites for the NCAA Hockey Tournament. Yes there is a College Hockey NCAA Tournament. Maybe the Dolan's will sponsor it in Madison Square Garden. Don't bet on it, but that's another story for another day.

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