Muckhead's Chronicle

I Miss the NHL

Warning large "Hockey" entry

I have been thinking, and when it comes down to it I am still very bitter over this playoffs for the Canucks. The more I think about it the more it bothers me, and I am not alone. Many of my friends and acquaintances range from slightly disappointed, to very bitter on this subject. Oh sure you get many "generalized hockey fans" who follow the Canucks as far as they go and then say "better luck next year", and for them, this might not be a good read.

You see, I have been on this plane of existence for 30+ years, and ever since I was about 2 years old I was interested in Hockey. Back then, in Ontario as a kid I learned to skate on a rink that my Dad made in the back yard(yes it was damn cold there!). All the kids in the neighborhood had them, it was part of the culture, Canada, Hockey, and Learn to skate early. I can remember the thrill of actually watching a western NHL game on the tube, since they started at 7:00pm pacific it was 10:00pm eastern.. and I would end up falling asleep on the floor in front of the TV with my Dad.

When we moved out west I can remember ball hockey filling in for the backyard rink atmosphere, and I remember it was the thing to do (or at least one of the options), all year round. I would always be Yvan Cournoyer or the "Road Runner" as he was called, or Ken Dryden if I was playing goal. As you could tell I was a Montreal Canadiens fan back then, they were on a roll back then, but that is a story in itself. Everyone played as their hockey hero and played out dream plays of break away plays that won the cup.

Then we moved into town directly across the street from the Rink, and I lived there, I never missed a home game for the local team, and often would just go over and watch any game that happened to be playing. (Side note: the good thing about really knowing the rink is you know where to get pucks, when the family went to see the old timers game a few years ago we got one in the warm up and I caught one out if mid-air during play.)

The point I am trying o make here is that I LOVE Hockey, and know a little bit about the sport, and I don't want to get into a conspiracy theory here or anything but I think it is kinda coincidental how in game 7 of the series that knocked out the Canucks, the other team didn't receive one penalty. I think it is even less coincidental that a team that seemed to blow away the Canucks looked like they were all on drugs in the next series against Disney( er.. the Ducks).

I blame it on Gary Bettman (the present NHL weasel, er ehm... commissioner). Ok here is were I might be crossing the line, but what seemed to be shaping up to an all Canadian final, is now looking like something that you see on Saturday morning cartoons "The Ducks vs. the Devils". Oh I have full confidence in the Senators, but does Bettman have a plan for them too? There have been so many comments from so many people I know, TV sports casters, and hockey critics alike, that have mentioned the questionable plays this year. Even Colorado's Patrick Roy's seemingly give up goal to let the Wild go through to eventually defeat us, has been pointed out as an almost too obvious mistake.

Officiating... now this is something that should require some investigation. There are so may unwritten rules in the NHL that seem to be ignored by the modern referee. You just don't call penalties that decide playoff games unless they are blatant enough to do so. In my opinion Bettman's puppets are ignoring this. The two orange bands on the arms of the referee unfortunately can determine a teams fate, and it shouldn't.

OK, here is where I drop the bomb.. I really think ( and I know I am not alone on this) that since the introduction of Bettman there has been a push to close out the Canadian teams and move them all down south.

I could go on forever on this, there is so much that could be said. Bitter? You bet, I only want to see fair play, and have not seen it this playoffs. I am sure a lot of people are going to disagree with me as well, but this is how I feel. Even if the Canucks are out I have always followed one team or the other to the cup. This year I have even been hesitant to watch the Sens, as the games almost look orchestrated.

I miss the NHL!