2013-14 NHL Season: "We Are North American Scum"

[Sport]

Am I the only one that loves hockey but hates that the NHL shuts down for 2 weeks to partake in the Olympics? I care infinity billion more about the Stanley Cup than a gold medal. I'd take one Ranger cup over a million US golds.

you're not the only one. I have no interest in the olympics and I don't care if the US wins the gold medal or the power metal. I generally ignore the olympics and watch something else until the NHL starts back up.

I usually welcome the Olympic break, but in 2002, 2006, and 2010 the Blue Jackets had a firm grip on the basement so the Olympics were a welcome reprieve. This year though I'm worried the break will kill whatever momentum they were burning in 2014 and it'll be like starting the season over again when they return. Also, I'm worried about an injury to any of the Blue Jackets' four Russians, especially Bobrovsky. I'm rooting for Varlamov to be Russia's starter for this reason.

I do like Olympic hockey though.

[tp49]

I don't like that the NHL shuts down for the Olympics either. Part of the reason is that I was always of the belief that the Olympics was a stage for amateur athletes but with allowing NBA players, NHL players and professionals from foreign leagues in just takes away some of the luster for me. I'd rather see something like the Canada Cup tournament come back so the professionals have their stage to play on in the offseason.

[Breakwood]

I don't like that the NHL shuts down for the Olympics either. Part of the reason is that I was always of the belief that the Olympics was a stage for amateur athletes but with allowing NBA players, NHL players and professionals from foreign leagues in just takes away some of the luster for me. I'd rather see something like the Canada Cup tournament come back so the professionals have their stage to play on in the offseason.

The top athletes in all the other sports are professionals too. What's the difference between a professional hockey player and a professional skier on the World Cup circuit?

[CS85]

Can someone more in tune w/ the olympic and hockey universe indulge me as to how much longer they will allow professionals to participate in Olympic hockey?

[Kramerica Industries]

Can someone more in tune w/ the olympic and hockey universe indulge me as to how much longer they will allow professionals to participate in Olympic hockey?

Quite possibly not the next time around.

[ninersdd]

I guess they will want to protect the South Koreans from getting pummeled every game.

[zpqmaowl]

Can someone more in tune w/ the olympic and hockey universe indulge me as to how much longer they will allow professionals to participate in Olympic hockey?

Quite possibly not the next time around.

During a Friday afternoon appearance on TSN 1050 Radio in Toronto, TSN reporter Darren Dreger passed along the news that the NHL "will not" participate in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, which will be hosted in Pyongyang, South Korea.

[rams80]

Can someone more in tune w/ the olympic and hockey universe indulge me as to how much longer they will allow professionals to participate in Olympic hockey?

Quite possibly not the next time around.

During a Friday afternoon appearance on TSN 1050 Radio in Toronto, TSN reporter Darren Dreger passed along the news that the NHL "will not" participate in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, which will be hosted in Pyongyang, South Korea.

*Beats TSN writer with map of the Korean Peninsula*

[Kevin W.]

Why not?

[Still MIGHTY]

Because the owners don't make money off the Olympics.

Most people believe they're going to try and resurrect the World Cup of Hockey and have it be an NHL run event.

[NEW.ERA]

I'd be alright with a World Cup every two years. End of summer, I still don't know what it would take to bring back the use of federation crests.

[OMMF]

Rumors heating up again.

http://seattletimes.com/html/hockey/2022905302_nhlseattle14xml.html

Sources say there have been negotiations between the league and potential ownership groups in Seattle about the cost of expansion fees. To the point where the NHL and local officials could be prepared to make some type of announcement shortly after the Olympic Games in Sochi conclude — at a time the NHL hopes nationwide interest in its sport will be at a high point.

[Alex Houston]

Again, I don't get all the Seattle love. There's already a well established hockey team 90 minutes up the road and even though they're Canadian, I highly doubt the ultra-liberal sports fans in the Emerald City care enough to support a local team. On top of that, they couldn't get the finances in order to keep the Sonics, so it makes me highly cynical they could do the same for a sport that isn't an automatic for Cascadia in the first place.

Portland, on the other hand, would make more sense. They only have one major market team, already have an NHL caliber arena set up with a recent WHL team who just won a championship. They're also more geographically separated, which makes me believe locals would be more inclined to become to this team since the competition is a further drive away.

[OMMF]

Again, I don't get all the Seattle love. There's already a well established hockey team 90 minutes up the road and even though they're Canadian, I highly doubt the ultra-liberal sports fans in the Emerald City care enough to support a local team. On top of that, they couldn't get the finances in order to keep the Sonics, so it makes me highly cynical they could do the same for a sport that isn't an automatic for Cascadia in the first place.

Portland, on the other hand, would make more sense. They only have one major market team, already have an NHL caliber arena set up with a recent WHL team who just won a championship. They're also more geographically separated, which makes me believe locals would be more inclined to become to this team since the competition is a further drive away.

Capacity-wise, maybe. Locker room renovations, an actual press box and more would need to take place before it would be NHL ready.

[Kevin W.]

I highly doubt the ultra-liberal sports fans in the Emerald City care enough to support a local team.

Politics aside, I'm more worried about the hipsters.

"I liked Seattle before it went mainstream in the NHL."

Either that or people who complain about hockey being a "backwards" sport because of the violence in the sport.

[Lee.]

..as the citizens of Seattle fill a massive stadium to watch men attempt to murder, or at least concuss, one another for three hours.

[Cosmic]

Again, I don't get all the Seattle love. There's already a well established hockey team 90 minutes up the road and even though they're Canadian, I highly doubt the ultra-liberal sports fans in the Emerald City care enough to support a local team. On top of that, they couldn't get the finances in order to keep the Sonics, so it makes me highly cynical they could do the same for a sport that isn't an automatic for Cascadia in the first place.

Portland, on the other hand, would make more sense. They only have one major market team, already have an NHL caliber arena set up with a recent WHL team who just won a championship. They're also more geographically separated, which makes me believe locals would be more inclined to become to this team since the competition is a further drive away.

Google shows it to be a 2.5 hour drive (not including border crossing time) between Vancouver and Seattle... not exactly a drive that someone in either city is going to make on a Wednesday night in either direction. It doesn't really matter that there is a team in Vancouver. If anything, you may draw some excess Canucks fans to your games on weekends... they are selling out every game, so there is unmet demand there. Portland is three hours away from Seattle. For hockey purposes, I think all three cities can be considered independent of one another. The problem with Portland is that its "only major market team" plays basketball, and basketball has almost the exact same season as hockey.

[Cosmic]

I highly doubt the ultra-liberal sports fans in the Emerald City care enough to support a local team.

Politics aside, I'm more worried about the hipsters.

"I liked Seattle before it went mainstream in the NHL."

Either that or people who complain about hockey being a "backwards" sport because of the violence in the sport.

"The NHL took hockey away from places where it's cold to put ice hockey in the desert. They don't even care about making money. It's totally po-mo!"

[Alex Houston]

Again, I don't get all the Seattle love. There's already a well established hockey team 90 minutes up the road and even though they're Canadian, I highly doubt the ultra-liberal sports fans in the Emerald City care enough to support a local team. On top of that, they couldn't get the finances in order to keep the Sonics, so it makes me highly cynical they could do the same for a sport that isn't an automatic for Cascadia in the first place.

Portland, on the other hand, would make more sense. They only have one major market team, already have an NHL caliber arena set up with a recent WHL team who just won a championship. They're also more geographically separated, which makes me believe locals would be more inclined to become to this team since the competition is a further drive away.

Google shows it to be a 2.5 hour drive (not including border crossing time) between Vancouver and Seattle... not exactly a drive that someone in either city is going to make on a Wednesday night in either direction. It doesn't really matter that there is a team in Vancouver. If anything, you may draw some excess Canucks fans to your games on weekends... they are selling out every game, so there is unmet demand there. Portland is three hours away from Seattle. For hockey purposes, I think all three cities can be considered independent of one another. The problem with Portland is that its "only major market team" plays basketball, and basketball has almost the exact same season as hockey.

If that region of the country was more establish in terms of a hockey culture, I'd agree that Portland, Seattle and Vancouver could be separate, but I doubt that's the case. I'd be curious to see a local chip in and give a more accurate portrayal of what the base is like there, if there's much interest in terms of bar culture and the youth level, or if it's more of a Seahawks central town, with the other teams just periphery players.

Your point about grabbing locked up Nucks fans is true as well, but again, I would hesitate to say those fans would be willing to totally drop their team to follow Seattle's or be willing to hold dual fandom. Especially since the Canucks have been established there for quite some time, they'd have an easier sell for creating something stupid sounding like a 'Yankee Package' where you could have select Friday-Sunday games available for those out of the country. In Portland's case, I suspect more fans are willing to appreciate the locate product since they're even more geographically isolated than the two large cities to their north.

[OMMF]

Again, I don't get all the Seattle love. There's already a well established hockey team 90 minutes up the road and even though they're Canadian, I highly doubt the ultra-liberal sports fans in the Emerald City care enough to support a local team. On top of that, they couldn't get the finances in order to keep the Sonics, so it makes me highly cynical they could do the same for a sport that isn't an automatic for Cascadia in the first place.

Portland, on the other hand, would make more sense. They only have one major market team, already have an NHL caliber arena set up with a recent WHL team who just won a championship. They're also more geographically separated, which makes me believe locals would be more inclined to become to this team since the competition is a further drive away.

Google shows it to be a 2.5 hour drive (not including border crossing time) between Vancouver and Seattle... not exactly a drive that someone in either city is going to make on a Wednesday night in either direction. It doesn't really matter that there is a team in Vancouver. If anything, you may draw some excess Canucks fans to your games on weekends... they are selling out every game, so there is unmet demand there. Portland is three hours away from Seattle. For hockey purposes, I think all three cities can be considered independent of one another. The problem with Portland is that its "only major market team" plays basketball, and basketball has almost the exact same season as hockey.

All true but I do know of people that are STH for the Canucks from Metro Seattle. Exception to the rule, though.

Also, were this an actual Canucks market, they would have more than 25 games on the local Comcast channel. Add in the CBC games and you only have access to about half the Canucks schedule without Center Ice. (Neither of those channels available on DirecTV so those fans would have to have Center Ice to watch almost any Canucks game.)

As to Portland, as much as I hate the Winterhawks, they have had some very decent crowds this year on the nights that both the Blazers and them are playing next to each other. So the support seems to be there but they are also riding a huge high right now. Go back 5 years and you couldn't give away a ticket to a Winterhawks game.