Is anyone actually missing the NHL?

[Will]

I wasn't exactly looking forward to the Maple Leafs season to begin with and that hasn't changed now.

[Deerkeeper]

I haven't missed the NHL since the last strike/lockout. What I will miss is not having the media ramming the NHL down my throat if they do come back.

[ArgoRavi]

I haven't missed the NHL since the last strike/lockout. What I will miss is not having the media ramming the NHL down my throat if they do come back.

I tend to agree with you. I have never fully come back after the 1994-95 lockout. I did watch more hockey last season than I have since before that lockout but I really have no rooting interest anymore and I can't say that I miss it at all right now.

[DanTheFan]

I hope a cancelled season would give the Leafs a strong shot at the top pick. I have a feeling they'd overachieve in the regular season if a shortened one is played.

I'm not missing it. However, I'd enjoy the break a bit more if they'd stop updating us on how nothing is happening. I see it as a good break, and I can use evenings I'd dedicate to the NHL with watching movies I record with my PVR.

[1argoholic]

I was all about the Leafs in winter and Argos in summer growing up. I do follow the Leafs but haven't paid to see an NHL game in at least 20 years. I don't miss it now. I don't like what these billion dollar leagues have become. I'm not as into the NFL either. Too many teams with too many over paid stiffs.

[paulwoods13]

Despite being a huge Argos fan, in hockey my team has been the Red Wings for the past 42 years or so. It's been great to be a Wings fan for the past two decades after two decades of misery. However, I've been getting very sick of the way hockey is being played the past few seasons -- we're back to the trapping, stifling approach. My team has played an entertaining brand of hockey since the mid-1990s but even they can't always fight through the obstruction and shot blocking. Bottom line -- I don't care if it comes back this season, and even if it does, I probably won't (for the first time in ages) buy the Centre Ice package on cable to follow my team.

[ArgoRavi]

Despite being a huge Argos fan, in hockey my team has been the Red Wings for the past 42 years or so. It's been great to be a Wings fan for the past two decades after two decades of misery. However, I've been getting very sick of the way hockey is being played the past few seasons -- we're back to the trapping, stifling approach. My team has played an entertaining brand of hockey since the mid-1990s but even they can't always fight through the obstruction and shot blocking. Bottom line -- I don't care if it comes back this season, and even if it does, I probably won't (for the first time in ages) buy the Centre Ice package on cable to follow my team.

I enjoy watching the Leafs games from the 1970s and even the 1980s, as horrible of a decade as it was for them, on Leafs TV more than watching the games today. The 1980s was a very high scoring decade - some complain that there was too much offence - but I thought that the 1970s had just the right balance of offence and defence and the goalies weren't dressed as Michelin Men and actually had to work a little more to stop the puck. I was watching Games 3 and 4 from the Leafs/Canadiens playoff series from 1979 and was thoroughly entertained although I still felt myself seething a little with how those games ended. I miss having the same passion for the Leafs/NHL that I used to have prior to the '94-'95 lockout but that changed me unfortunately and I can't seem to get it back.

[matchuk]

i honestly havent missed hockey much this year...and that might change after grey cup....im so exicted for the rest of these cfl playoffs that i havent noticed...however, november 26th (or after the 27 or 28th and an argos parade) im sure ill be missing it

[argonaut11xx]

Hey...im LOVING the NHL.....

its MID November, and the Leafs are tied for 1st place overall?????...aint it GREAT

[1argoholic]

hahaha, true enough. They better stay out.

[Ron]

I enjoy watching the Leafs games from the 1970s and even the 1980s, as horrible of a decade as it was for them, on Leafs TV more than watching the games today. The 1980s was a very high scoring decade - some complain that there was too much offence - but I thought that the 1970s had just the right balance of offence and defence and the goalies weren't dressed as Michelin Men and actually had to work a little more to stop the puck. I was watching Games 3 and 4 from the Leafs/Canadiens playoff series from 1979 and was thoroughly entertained although I still felt myself seething a little with how those games ended. I miss having the same passion for the Leafs/NHL that I used to have prior to the '94-'95 lockout but that changed me unfortunately and I can't seem to get it back.

I feel almost exactly the same way. Only difference is that I lost interest before the lockout. Sigh ... back when goalies really had to be great to have great stats.

[LLB997]

I think the Hockey Lockout should help attendance for both eastern finals.

[AngeloV]

I am missing it. I love hockey and football and once the regular college football schedule ends, my Saturday nights are going to start costing me money. That sucks!!

[Gill The Thrill]

Once the gun sounds to end the Grey Cup game, it will mark the end of the Canadian Football season. That in conjunction with flurries that will be occurring later in the week will mean that I will start missing the NHL next week.

Unlike most in the GTA, I define myself as a hockey fan, not a Leaf fan, so I do appreciate OHL hockey and will get out to Junior games when I need a live sports fix. I will miss the NHL on TV however, but will not spend a dime on a ticket this year should they come back. The players and owners, and especially the commissioner along with Fehr can all go screw themselves. I had a feeling the players were playing with fire when they brought in Donald Fehr to run their association.

Derek Sanderson, former Bruin great said it best when he referred that there was something wrong when the future of pro hockey is being determined by a Basketball (Bettman) guy and a Baseball guy (Fehr).

[294life]

How's this for an eerie coincidence? 2004 argos win the cup. NHL season canceled.

2012 repeat anyone?

[argonaut11xx]

Say what you like......BUT the idea of the LEAFS tied for first place overall in December....YEP..im wearing that Jersey(whenever my Argo gear is in the wash)

HICK....wow....wasnt that a party....

[1argoholic]

Still don't miss the NHL. Went to a Petes game last week while in Peterborough and it was fun hockey. Friday I'll be at the Vancouver Giants game with my bro in law. They suck but it'll be fun.

[294life]

even women's hockey is looking good right now. got a montreal-brampton two game set this weekend.

[VANRIDERFAN]

had quit watching the NHL after the Jets moved to Arizona. Then I came back last year, but only after New Years because I won't waste my time watching teams give a half hearted effort (LA Kings).

But now with the lockout the NHL has a huge issue on its hands, especially in the sunbelt. A local Regina radio station just had a trip down to Dallas called the Sports Cage/Marlin Travel Ultimate Sports Trip II. It involved watching NHL, NFL and NBA action during the weekend. They were to watch the Stars play the Oilers and then the Penquins along with a Cowboys game and a Mavericks match-up. While they were there, the host Rod Pedersen (the voice of the Roughriders and whose dad is a scout for the Dallas Stars) gauged the interest in the NHL in Big D.
Local Media - Nil, not one story on the lock-out.
ESPN - Nada, nothing at all, and he watched it religiously.
Sports Stores that sell college and professional sports merchandise - No Stars or any other NHL merch available; when he asked the manager the reply was "We put it out during the season, but since they aren't playing we won't put it out."
One other interesting tidbit, Jerry Jones the owner of the Cowboys lives in a fairly modest home in an upper middle class area of Dallas; Tom Hicks, the owner of the Stars on the other hand lives in likely the largest home.
You can hear an episode of the sportscage at this link (Dec 03)
http://www.620ckrm.com/index.php?opt...=62&Itemid=201

In Canada many people haven't missed the NHL very much and they will come back. The States (especially in the south) have not missed it at all, and will they come back? Who knows, but the NHL is doing itself no favours with labour disputes every 5 to 7 years.

[Will]

I always thought that hockey did well (for some reason) in Dallas. But, that may have been because the team was successful for many years after moving from Minnesota. Now that the team lost it's shine from the Mike Modano-era the popularity of the game has decreased.