OITGDNHL: We Are The Kokusai Green Preservation Society

[The_Admiral]

I'm sorry for not properly citing, but it's in the Bettman Book, and since Brian Burke going to work in the NHL office came up in the McGuire piece, I have to make another mention of it. Bettman picking wet toilet paper off the bathroom floor and then scolding Burke for letting it get so messy in there when they're always having company over is just, man, I don't know. It's like Bert & Ernie from hell.

[nash61]

Not many have career top-line national broadcast men and commissioners who are actively detrimental to the sport.

Watch this:

Then watch this:

Enough said.

[Kevin W.]

Damnit Russia, you had one job...

[ninersdd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxYwhMRRYTs'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxYwhMRRYTs

You have been warned at 1:20

[CS85]

Sorry if this has been covered, but the Predators are instituting a restriction on area codes that can purchase tickets in order to keep markets like Chicago out of their arena during home games. It's called "Keep The Red Out."

“The best way to buy a Blackhawk ticket is to have a season ticket, a half season ticket or a 15-game plan,” Henry said. “But we also realize that we’re still going to have to sell 3,000-4,000 single tickets for that game. What it’s going to do by forcing another game is we’ll almost direct it toward people that live in the general area, for the most part. And (for the pre-sale) only those in the zip codes that we unlock can buy the Blackhawk game and a second game. So we’re breaking down every barrier we can to Keep the Red Out.”

That helps keep Chicago fans at bay, for sure. But what if Blackhawks fans really want to jump through hoops to see their team play in Music City?

“They’re going to have to earn it,” Henry said. “And they’re going to help us continue to grow our roster by building our (revenue at the) gate. It’s that simple. In the end, we’re building something pretty special. If we have to do it off the backs of their fans a little bit, I’m not apologizing for it.

“We don’t want to build those ticket grosses off of our core — our lifeblood — the season ticket holders. We want to build it off the single game buyers who only want to buy those games.”

Not able to go to that second game you’re forced to buy but still really want to see the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions? The Preds have that covered as well.

“We’ve built in a plan where they can donate the ticket back to members of the military,” Henry said.

I understand trying to repulse bandwagoners from filling your arena, but the best way to avoid that is to not suck at hockey and build a brand that's primary look isn't the android equivalent of an extinct cat.

[The_Admiral]

oh for the love of god look at all this terrible empty rhetoric

“They’re going to have to earn it,” Henry said. “And they’re going to help us continue to grow our roster by building our (revenue at the) gate. It’s that simple. In the end, we’re building something pretty special. If we have to do it off the backs of their fans a little bit, I’m not apologizing for it.

“We don’t want to build those ticket grosses off of our core — our lifeblood — the season ticket holders. We want to build it off the single game buyers who only want to buy those games.”

What kind of retard math are they doing where they're purporting to make most of their revenue from three single-game tickets to three Blackhawks games rather than season ticket packages and luxury suites? What kind of slack-jawed yokel would actually believe such stupid pandering? Second of all, if you're claiming that you're going to build your organization on the backs of three games' worth of Hawks fans, then how, pray tell, do you build your organization by making it harder for them to buy the tickets you need them to buy? I mean, holy crap, do these people eat their weight in lead paint? This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. And no, you're not building anything special. You're building a revolving-door cast of uncreative plugs who run the same tired-ass left-wing lock every single night while Shea Weber fires 110-mph slapshots and wishes he were in Philadelphia. It's the opposite of special. What a stupid team. Get out of our league; no one asked you to be here.

[IceCap]

Hockey's answer to social engineering. Gotta love it

[kiwi_canadian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxYwhMRRYTs

You have been warned at 1:20

HE HAD HAIR!?!?!?!?! lol Always nice to start the day with a good chuckle.

[RyanMcD29]

Have we gone over the 1967 expansion and the great idea of "Hey! Let's automatically put in an expansion team into the Cup Finals!" that resulted in.. well..

[dbadefense1990]

Have we gone over the 1967 expansion and the great idea of "Hey! Let's automatically put in an expansion team into the Cup Finals!" that resulted in.. well..

...three-straight St. Louis sweep-outs.

Then followed by a bizarre division crossover format of #1 vs. #3 and #2 vs. #4 seed match ups, with accusations of the #3 tanking games to avoid seeing #1 in the playoffs.

[rams80]

Hockey's answer to social engineering. Gotta love it

Wasn't that the Thrashers during the end of their run?

Have we gone over the 1967 expansion and the great idea of "Hey! Let's automatically put in an expansion team into the Cup Finals!" that resulted in.. well..

Meh....that was a decent idea. If you want to boost interest in your new markets, you need to keep the (false) hope alive as long as possible.

[Sodboy13]

Naming your new group of teams with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in it the "Western Conference", however...

[dbadefense1990]

Naming your new group of teams, with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in it, the "Western Conference," however...

...is just as stupid as putting the Red Wings in the "Atlantic" division, despite the city of Detroit not touching any portion of the Atlantic Ocean.

[Still MIGHTY]

Because Edmonton, Calgary, Phoenix and previously Dallas were bustling Pacific ports.

Atlanta in the NL West? Arizona in the NFC East? Every league has had its share of geographical misnomers. It happens. (Doesn't change the fact that names like "Metropolitan" are dumb, but hey.)

[The_Admiral]

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/53011/great-debacles-in-nhl-history

But the story actually includes a mystery subplot that’s been largely forgotten: Why did the Devils go to court for a restraining order in the first place? Why didn’t they just appeal their coach’s suspension to league president John Ziegler?

As it turns out, they had a good excuse. During an embarrassing crisis occurring in the middle of the conference finals, Ziegler couldn’t be located. He just went missing. For days.

How do you appeal to a president who’s gone AWOL? You can’t, the Devils figured, so they went to court.

Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz claimed Ziegler had left him in charge, and insisted he had everything under control. But rumors flew about the missing president’s whereabouts. One especially bizarre report indicated that he was helping his son escape a cult.

It wasn’t until days after the doughnut incident that Ziegler finally made his presence known — via conference call, from an undisclosed location. To this day, nobody seems to know exactly where he was.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-05-13/sports/8803160740_1_ziegler-wirtz-devils-coach-jim-schoenfeld

Boston General Manager Harry Sinden had snapped, "This great game will survive despite the people who run it."

May this be the league's epigraph.

[NJTank]

Once upon a time the NHL seeded all playoff teams 1-16 so you could get a first round meeting of LA vs the Rangers.

[OnWis97]

Have we gone over the 1967 expansion and the great idea of "Hey! Let's automatically put in an expansion team into the Cup Finals!" that resulted in.. well..

...three-straight St. Louis sweep-outs.

Then followed by a bizarre division crossover format of #1 vs. #3 and #2 vs. #4 seed match ups, with accusations of the #3 tanking games to avoid seeing #1 in the playoffs.

That is definitely worth a chapter.

[The_Admiral]

I'd be fine with seeding 1 through 16, really. The East and Less East conferences are pretty artificial constructs compared to once-rival leagues, so just have the best teams in the league wind up playing.

[Chicageaux]

Sorry if this has been covered, but the Predators are instituting a restriction on area codes that can purchase tickets in order to keep markets like Chicago out of their arena during home games. It's called "Keep The Red Out."

[Long Quote]

I understand trying to repulse bandwagoners from filling your arena, but the best way to avoid that is to not suck at hockey and build a brand that's primary look isn't the android equivalent of an extinct cat.

What an idiotic move. Money's money. It really doesn't matter who's paying as long they're paying. When we went down to Nashville two years ago for a game, we didn't buy tickets months in advance. We literallly were going down to Nashville, someone said, "Hey the Hawks happen to be in town, let's get tickets." And then we went on Stub Hub and bought them for relatively cheap. What's going to stop Hawks fans from doing that now? "They have to earn it." Give me a break. People are coming down, spending money in your city, drink all your beer, and then proceed to spend money in your stadium. Why would you try and make them jump through hoops to do so?

Imagine if Wirtz had done this back in the day when the Hawks weren't so good and Red Wings fans would come over and fill up the UC. He would never have had a sellout.

[Kramerica Industries]

Have we gone over the 1967 expansion and the great idea of "Hey! Let's automatically put in an expansion team into the Cup Finals!" that resulted in.. well..

...three-straight St. Louis sweep-outs.

Then followed by a bizarre division crossover format of #1 vs. #3 and #2 vs. #4 seed match ups, with accusations of the #3 tanking games to avoid seeing #1 in the playoffs.

I know at some point, either in the late '30s or early '40s or something, where the format was #1 vs. #2, #3 vs. #4, and #5 vs. #6.

Problem is, it was a hockey book I read in 2007, and I don't remember the name of it.