Drop The Puck!

Does anybody remember the NHL? I barely do, and I'm what you would call a rabid fan. Last year, the NHL's players and management were embroiled in a ridiculous CBA stalemate that effectively cancelled the season. Thus, the league pissed off even the most loyal of fans. (Read: me!)

Well, the lockout was ended recently, and now the NHL has come crawling back on their hands and knees - much like women always do to me. (Oh, sorry, I blacked out there for a minute.) Should hockey fans take them back? The jury is still out.

On the one hand, I get extreme pleasure out of the fact that the players got the shaft with the new deal. Had they agreed to the last proposed contract offered by the owners, they would have been better off. They didn't, and now I can do my Nelson Muntz impersonation: "Haw! Haw!"

On the other hand, the league is already trying their best to woo fans with a better product. Even the Philadelphia Flyers (I hate Bobby Clarke as a GM, so I'm a Rangers/Penguins fan until he is run outta town on a rail) have reduced ticket prices and created "family sections" for the Flyers faithful. It's a good start. NHL commish Gary Bettman has also implemented some much needed changes to the game itself in an attempt to spur exciting, wide open, higher-scoring contests. Among the new rules changes are:

• The reduction in size of the goaltender's equipment.
• The red line will be eliminated with respect to two-line passes (breakaways will be more common).
• The elimination of ties. Whoo hoo! If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the teams will play a four-on-four overtime. If it is still not settled, the teams will go on to a shootout. Finally, the teams will play "sudden death" until the game is decided.

I can't argue with any of these changes. In my humble opinion, I think the league is trying to capture the excitement of Olympic hockey, which I'm all for. Sure, the fights will still happen, as will the brutal checking, but I think this season will see scoring aplenty.

Okay, maybe I'm a sheep, just desperate for my favorite sport to come back. I'm still pissed that we lost a season, but I'll give the NHL another chance.