Around this time of year I, along with most other NHL fans, would be gearing up for the NHL All-Star game. This gearing up consists of either forgetting all about the game or looking forward to seeing your favorite team being represented or you just want to watch the game. Of course, this process is completely different if the All-Star game was being held in your city.
If that was the case, one might actually get tickets to the game or even try to stop by the arena to catch a glimpse of the players. In fact, when the All-Star game was held here in Los Angeles in 2002, I did neither of those things and only taped the game because I wasn’t about to bother heading out to Staples Center. That’s not to say that the NHL (or the Los Angeles Kings specifically) isn’t a big deal here in Los Angeles. The Kings and even the Ducks have a core of fans that are privy to the tiniest details of the way the game is played and above that, like all NHL fans are, they are mind-numbingly loyal fools. It’s ridiculous! I’m getting teary eyed just writing this out as the thought of ‘No All-Star Game This Year’ looms in the back of my mind. It’s just floating about back there (in all CAPS, I might add!) along with the thought of some European league and it’s fans hogging up our players because the NHL and the NHLPA can’t get it together. Don’t get me wrong, they can keep Jagr, everyone else needs to get back over here.
In all honestly, I have to watch every NHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition, there’s just nothing else going on that weekend aside from those two events. I have to watch it live and then I have to watch over and over again after it’s all done. If a friend happens to ask what I did over the weekend, they’ll get the hockey talk.
“My weekend was good, didn’t do much other than watch Dany Heatley score 4 goals and then witness the first NHL All-Star game to ever go into a shootout and then Heatley scored during the shootout so he actually had 5 goals.” That’s met by a blank look and followed by their weekend recap of booze and hot girls. Which I don’t really mind because at the end of the day I got to listen to Gary Thorne and Bill Clement do anything possible to show off how buddy, buddy they are with every player on the ice.
After this years All-Star game, the NHL was supposed to be debut on NBC and chances are NBC will be bringing Thorne and Clement (considering Clement did some Olympic hockey coverage for them) along if the NHL ever does come back to the network after their TV deal was completed at the end of the 2003-2004 season. The only advantage that the NHL would have if things were still on track and their games were being aired, is the advantage of NBC not having anything going for it other than NASCAR, golf and the Olympics. The NHL would be the sole pro sports league on NBC due to the absence of the NBA, NFL and MLB on the network. The downfall is the TV deal itself with all the incentives going towards NBC before the NHL sees any sort of money and the NHL has only themselves to blame for that.
Anyhow, this year’s All-Star game would have a tough time trying to top the 2003 Florida version which was probably the best All-Star game ever played in the NHL based on every factor possible. It consisted of fast, nearly non-stop play, some good goaltending, defense, backchecking and a terrific finish which ended with a 6-5 Western All-Stars win over the Eastern All-Stars after the celebrated shootout. What about the 2002 All-Star Game that was held here in Los Angeles? That was an 8-5 win for the North American team over the World team. It wasn’t a bad game at all and was better than the previous two high scoring debacles, but was shot down once the 2003 All-Star game had been played.
Either way, we aren’t having an All-Star game this year and we might not have one next year. In fact, we may not have any NHL hockey for a long while and I’m perfectly okay with that. When the season ‘started’ with an owner’s lockout already in place, it was really upsetting. All the talk about meeting and negotations during the World Cup over the summer really held most hockey people in high hopes that something would be worked out, that somehow these high ranking officials had a plan to fall back on. Well, they had a plan and it was to go through with the lockout and make the needed moves to accomodate it, no matter how long it goes. Now, as we have entered January and most European leagues are still going strong with their abbreviated schedules (when compared to the ole’ 82 gamer in the NHL) NHL fans are either past the whole ‘I need my hockey’ feeling or are making magnets and selling them online.
I’ll be back to watching games on TV and going to games at Staples once things get worked out, but in the meantime I will watch my hockey tapes and glance at some European hockey league scores to see what’s going on over there. I’ll read all about the talk of the NHL going with replacement players or catch up on the latest WHA attempts to lure 40 year old NHL stars to play for them, but most importantly, I’ll be complaining about all of it right here as much as possible.
