It took me a while to warm up to ice hockey, no backwards pun
intended.
It wasn’t until I moved from the Midwest to Colorado a few years
back that I began to casually follow the sport. But once I actually
sat down and watched a few Avalanche playoff games, I was
hooked.
I can hear all of you Sharks’ fans groaning at the very mention
of the Colorado Avalanche. Bear with me.
By Josh Staloch Sports Writer
It took me a while to warm up to ice hockey, no backwards pun intended.
It wasn’t until I moved from the Midwest to Colorado a few years back that I began to casually follow the sport. But once I actually sat down and watched a few Avalanche playoff games, I was hooked.
I can hear all of you Sharks’ fans groaning at the very mention of the Colorado Avalanche. Bear with me.
I had been living in Boulder for a couple of years when the Avs beat the New Jersey Devils for their second title. I found myself totally wrapped up in a sport that had always baffled me as a kid growing up in southeast Texas.
After lifting the Stanley Cup in 2001, the Avalanche embarked on a string of disappointing seasons. It started with that unbelievable performance against Detroit in 2002 where Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals saw Colorado down 2-0 before most of the fans at Joe Louis Arena had even taken their seats.
And, while one can’t complain much about a team that consistently makes it into the playoffs, things didn’t get much better. But I have to say that I was looking forward to this season. Old staples like Joe Sakic and Peter Forsburg are nearing the end of their illustrious careers. And David Aebischer, who replaced the great Patrick Roy in goal, is no doubt anxious to further prove that he is the goalie of the future for the team.
But none of that matters now.
The latest sports battle pitting millionaire players against billionaire owners came to an end Wednesday with the cancellation of the National Hockey League season. And one has to wonder if the sport will ever recover.
The whole thing stinks and hockey will be lucky to survive, even if play resumes next season. This situation isn’t going to mirror the baseball debacle of 1994 when the World Series was canceled over a labor dispute. Then, there was all kinds of speculation as to whether or not baseball fans would come back to the game. But they did. The McGwire vs. Sosa home run battle of 1998 filled stadiums across the country. And even now, as baseball gets ready to defend its image against new and very serious problems, the fans are still there, eagerly anticipating the upcoming arrival of pitchers and catchers to spring training.
Will hockey enjoy the same level of fan loyalty? I can’t see it.
Baseball is billed as America’s Pastime and carries a huge amount of historical significance in this country. It’s our game and we love it. Hockey has been overtaken by NASCAR as the fourth-most followed sport here.
Hockey’s popularity is clearly fading as far as its fan base in the U.S. goes.
And if the demise of this season doesn’t do it, the manner in which it all came down will undoubtedly turn a good deal of hockey fans away from the sport for good.
On Monday, the cancellation was all but certain. A press conference was scheduled for Wednesday and all signs pointed to the official end of the season being announced. But then, on Tuesday, the players announced they’d accept a salary cap. This after months of refusing to budge an inch on the issue. The clouds lifted for a moment as players put a $52-million cap on the table, while owners countered with a figure of $40 million.
More good news came later as they inched even closer to common ground, the players at $49 million, the owners at $42.5 million.
A little over 12 hours after that theoretical 11th hour, the whole thing had unraveled and the season was officially scrapped.
Even the most loyal hockey fans would have to agree that the whole thing is stupid. As far as casual, playoff-time fans like myself go? Hey, bring on the Daytona 500.
Josh Staloch is the Sports Editor of the Hollister Free Lance. E-mail him at js******@fr************.com
