BY KEITH LACEY
Gary Bettman and and Bob Goodenow should be
fired.
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BETTMAN |
That was the general consensus after Northern
Life visited Eddie's Sports Bar Wednesday just over an hour
after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman became the first boss in
professional sports history to cancel an entire season.
Despite last-minute talks that saw the
players' union concede to allow the league to impose a
salary cap it demanded must be part of any deal, neither side
was able to agree on a final number before Bettman formally
cancelled the season Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm.
After several months of insults, prosposals
and counter-proposals that basically led nowhere, it appeared
both sides had softened their position and a last-minute deal
was possible, but in the end there wasn't enough time to
get a deal done.
Unlike most Canadians, none of the people
Northern Life talked to place the majority of blame on the
members of the National Hockey League Players Association
(NHLPA).
All of them blame both sides and harbor
emotions bordering on hatred towards Bettman and Goodenow, the
longtime leaders of the NHLPA.
"The last six months have been a waste of
time because if they would have introduced a salary cap back
then instead of at the last minute, there would have negotiated
and come up with a number and got a deal," said longtime hockey
fan Andy Inch, 45. "The whole thing has been about basic greed
and egos and it's enough to make the average fan
sick."
Inch has no doubt now that the season has
been cancelled that the labour dispute initiated by the owners
locking out the players will change the face of the NHL and
professional hockey for decades to come.
"I have no doubt there will be contraction
and you will see likely between six and eight teams gone by the
time they finally sign a deal and get back to playing hockey,"
he said. "Hockey will always survive in Canada...but in the
United States, the small-market teams that were struggling
before are never going to recover from this."
No matter what happens, the two men most
responsible for this mess should lose their jobs, said
Inch.
"Both Bettman and Goodenow should be fired
immediately," he said. "It's time for new blood and new
ideas so basically the new guys can come in and start from
scratch."
It's so sad what he considers to be the
best game in the world has been damaged forever because of
greed and unwillingness to sit down, talk and reach an
agreement all the players and owners could have lived with,
said Inch.
"It has always been about the other side
giving in...it was a pissing contest and neither side won," he
said.
Derek Coffyn, 42, agrees the game won't
be the same when NHL players finally sign a new deal and get
back to playing hockey.
"I think it's a real shame, especially
for the fans," he said. "It's greed against greed and the
owners and players basically forgot all about the fans, who pay
out all the money."
Coffyn said he feels "especially bad" for
hard-working men and women who rely on NHL hockey to make a
living.
People like concession workers and zamboni
drivers, ticket sellers and security guards at NHL arenas will
be laid off and some probably won't get their jobs back, he
said.
Coffyn agrees the NHL will probably see the
elimination of between six and eight teams because of this
labour dispute.
He also agrees Bettman and Goodenow should be
fired and believes both men will lose their jobs before NHL
players step on the ice with a new deal, be it next year or
even further down the road.
"They couldn't get the job done and they
ruined the game for a lot of fans and they both should go," he
said. "They have poisoned the whole atmosphere around the
game."
Wes Marsaw, who is in his 60s, said
there's no use blaming one side or the other. As well, he
said, both the owners, players and their leaders should be
ashamed of the way they've acted over the past few
months.
"Both sides are to blame because basic greed
is at the core of what's going on," he said. "In any
business, there's a deal to be made if you want to make
one, but both sides thought the other side would blink and they
didn't."
Marsaw said hockey was a much better game
back in the old six-team NHL, when only the very best players
qualified to play and most players plied their trade for the
"love of the game more than the almighty dollar."
Fern Bertrand, who is also in his 60s, said
the last NHL strike 10 years ago, which was salvaged when a
deal was reached in February, soured him on hockey and he's
never felt the same about the game he used to love.
"I've been turned off hockey since the
last strike, but at least I used to watch playoff hockey, but I
doubt I'll ever watch again," he said. "These guys
don't care about the average fan and I think the fans are
going to turn their backs on them this time around.
"I grew up playing hockey and watching
hockey, but now I hate it and this is the last straw."
Pasquale Rocca, who's in his early 30s,
is willing to forgive both sides as long as there's hockey
next season.
"I love the game and I just hope they will be
able to work this out and start playing again next season," he
said. "The winter's just not the same without NHL
hockey."
