Hockey to go bye bye?

[gunnar hendershow]

So does this mean that the AHL will be the big leagues of hockey now?

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Major league hockey that's mostly in the Northeast. Including Worcester. That would just own.

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Hockey, in a city with winter?

BLASPHEMY!!!

[KJE]

Maybe they could just expand the World Cup to play until January?

[Benji]

Meh, I prefer British Ice Hockey anyway, still it's a shame that such a well known brand may be going down the shitter because no-one will give any leighway.

[DMN in the House]

God damn it! I NEED MY ZIGGY!

[The Dork Knight]

No more NHL? That sucks.

- The Dork Knight

[KJE]

While I can't stand that there might not be hockey - they deserve it.

[Gene Kiniski]

Well, that sucks for the Hockey fans, but I can't say I'd be surprised.

On the other hand, I would dearly love for Golf, Hockey and Tennis to get the fuck off my tv, so....  :thumbsup:

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While I agree with your golf-and-tennis-killing policy, I disagree with your hockey-killing policy, and will institute a GhostMachine-killing policy because of this.

If I lose the ability to watch hockey, I will become a very bitter article.

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[maddog]

AHL...

Major League...

Providence....

*cums in pants*

[grind your soul]

If the NHL folds, most likely, the AHL will go with it, since most AHL players are on NHL two-way contracts, and thus would be locked out from playing AHL hockey.

ECHL, UHL, and the junior leagues would still be run.

[Guest Mr McFarlane]

The NHL will have a lockout this year,

I have inside information =P

[Slimg]

I don't understand the hockey hating. I guess most of you guys like to wait 40 seconds before a new play or watch a guy bounce a ball down a court but that's my problem.

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[Hellfire]

I bet 8 out of 10 people who say hockey is crap has never watched it. For instance I never watched hockey until the playoffs this year (but to be fair, I also didn't watch sports from 1998 until 2004), I never found hockey interesting but I sat down and watched it and I absolutely loved it. I'm sure that more people would love it if they watched. Next time you see someone bashing hockey ask them if they have ever watched it, I bet the answer will either be no or "well... uh... just a little. I've never watched a full game" or some crap like that.

[Guest Ringmaster]

I like hockey. Really I do. I'll watch it when its on. But here is why I wouldn't mind if it went bye-bye:

- I live in Montreal and 6 months a year, all I hear is "Canadiens this, Canadiens that"

- The stadium is downtown and it's impossible to find parking on the days when there's games.

- They won't postpone RAW.

- They won't air those gay commercials on the Score.

- No drunk Peppers in the streets screaming insanities and begging to get run over.

- Instead of those nights where people are like "come over, there's hockey", it'll be stuff like "come over, there's 24".

That is all.

Edited September 7, 2004 by Ringmaster

[grind your soul]

..so you'd rather watch RAW than something that's, y'know - GOOD?

I just don't believe that.

[Reflecto Is My Favorite Poster]

I don't know if there would be the problem of the AHL going as well if the NHL goes belly-up- the AHL played during the NHL lockout in 1995, for one. If it does, I wouldn't doubt a couple things would happen:

1) The players wouldn't be a problem- any NHL players who wanted to play would likely sign very quickly.

2) However, if this did happen, expect most of the AHL teams to relocate very quickly to major markets- only a few AHL cities could realistically afford to have major league hockey teams (Chicago, Toronto, and Philadelphia have both AHL and NHL teams already. Aside from those 3 (which would likely form the core of any "New" major league to come from the AHL), out of the 27 other teams from the current AHL roster, only San Antonio, Utah, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Milwaukee, Norfolk, Hartford and possibly Albany, Syracuse, and Providence could theoretically sustain a major league hockey franchise- thus meaning at least 16 teams in the AHL would relocate or fold within the first five years of them being the top league- not a very strong sign if they were to be the number one league in the US.)

[Lowerdeck]

There's probably a few AHL markets that could benefit with the NHL's departure because of NHL cities being nearby.

Although Springfield (or Worcester) would end up moving to Boston.

[Reflecto Is My Favorite Poster]

To LowerDeck: That was already assumed in this one: It would be obvious that of all the franchises in the Massachusetts area (Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Providence), only one of them could realistically survive in the market. Providence is the largest of those four cities, which when added to this market makes it the only one that could even have a fighting chance to survive if that were to occur.

[grind your soul]

As I've stated before, the AHL will not run if the NHL does not run.

Count on that.