Hockey is back, it was only a matter of time before the owners and the players came to a respective agreement. It was sad to watch a game I’ve become so attached to over the course of my life take on so much scrutiny. I remember the days when it was very simple for a middle class family to go and enjoy a game. They could actually see the puck because there wasn’t all the advertising on the ice and the boards. But just like anything , expansion in inevitable. Money has taken over a game which used to be so pure. The players in my mind are getting paid tremendously well, to do what they love. Although positions on teams and injuries are always looming in the players mind, more emphasis needs to be put on the fans and the kids. It’s the kids that look up to the pro athletes as role models. I’m fully aware that the business side of the game brings in so much revenue now that the players have their rights to the dividends. I was blessed to watch hockey as a kid in an era when Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux just to name a few would handle themselves with such integrity and grace. I can’t and won’t take anything away from the players because now they have been conditioned all through the ranks that the business side of the game is just as important. With 48 game schedule on the horizon, I hope the fans get what they deserve . In no time the lockout will be a memory and life will skate on for the players that have to be happy to be getting paid to do what they love. Seeing some of the actual prunes of the game come back would be a blessing, but it looks like those days are gone.
