The NHL lockout has been the subject of countless column inches. Every sports columnist in the country has already said almost everything there is to say. So why waste any more inches on this?
For one simple reason: we have overlooked something important: the NHL has forgotten what hockey is all about.
Under the leadership of Gary Bettman, the NHL has expanded into markets that are uninterested in hockey. These teams have consistently lost money and failed to fill seats. All in a vain attempt to create a market for the big American television contracts and, of course, make more money.
The NHL also abandoned its historical roots, renaming its divisions from their original names in attempt to attract more of an audience. The NHL showed disinterest in its past and, in doing so, has failed to capitalize on a great selling point of the game.
Hockey is rich with history, a legacy of a proud and storied league that too many have been too quick to forget.
A great part of that legacy is currently on display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, until the end of February. Maurice “Rocket” Richard was, arguably, one of the greatest players to ever play the game. His career is on display at the museum. As a Montreal Canadien he won eight Stanley Cups and was also the first player to ever score 500 hundred goals in a season. So passionate were his fans that when he was suspended, in 1955, by the NHL commissioner for hitting a linesman that his fans rioted in the streets of Montreal. When he passed away in 2000 Richard’s funeral was a national event. All across the country, flags were lowered to half mast at his funeral in Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica. Montrealers turned out in droves to say goodbye to their hero.
Another example of the greatness of the sport was displayed earlier this month in the capital as the Oldtimers Hockey team came to the Ottawa Civic Centre. Legends of the game like Johnny Bower, Frank Mahovlich, Eddie Shack and Darryl Sittler all work with the organization that travels around the country playing at local rinks to raise money for charity.
These players never made the kind of money today’s players make. Yet in their retirement, they haven’t just hung up their skates. They have continued to play simply for the love of the game and to raise money for charity.
Even if the NHL didn’t have these two fine examples of the great history, even if they couldn’t look to them to remember what the game is truly all about, there are still a hundred or so games, going on each night in this city that can prove what they have forgotten.
Among the million dollar contracts, the television deals and endorsements, kids still play pick-up games on their backyard rinks, neighbourhood streets and local arenas.
Kids still dream of playing for the Ottawa Senators, the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs, not for the millions of dollars, but simply for the chance to spend the rest of their life living their dream.
If the NHL cancels the season, it is not the owners or the players who will lose the most. It is the next Rocket Richard on a backyard rink somewhere, who values hockey more then all the owners and players put together.