Bettman walks up to the mike, clears throat. A loud bark from somewhere in the back distracts the attention of reporters.
Golden hair flowing behind her like fine silk, Anastasia Priscilla walks to the podium as reporters step out of the way in awe.
Bumping the stand with her nose, Anastasia causes the microphone to fall to the floor.
"Dear friends" She begins, causing those gathered to drop their jaws.
"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of NHL players who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the NHL player is still not free.
Ten years later, the life of the NHL player is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. Ten years later, the NHL player lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. Ten years later, the NHL player is still languishing in the corners of American professional sports and finds himself an exile in his own land.
So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the CBA, they were signing a promissory note to which every NHL player and owner was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that the NHL has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of salary level are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, NHL owners have given the NHL members a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this league.
So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind the NHL of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the NHL player. This sweltering summer of the NHL player's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Two thousand and five is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the NHL player needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the league returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in the NHL until the player is granted his full earning rights.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the NHLPA member community must not lead us to distrust of all owners, for many of our owners, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our free...
Aww, dammit. Just accept the $42 million dollar cap and we'll be done with this awful business."
The eyes of all in attendance begin to well with tears.
"That was amazing." sighs Bettman, taking Goodenow in his grasp.
"Brother, let us be done with this."
And with that, the season is saved.
post of the evening!
:lol 
