Shouldn't the NHL focus more on non-traditional hockey markets?

[Gnashville]

I just wanted to touch on this... I don't understand why it bothers you that someone from Hamilton would want a team, or QC even though there is no owner/arena, unless it is at the expense of another team. To be honest I agree with your whole post, and I wish the majority of people in the south wouldn't look at Hockey as a complete joke and would realize how exciting it is. It's hard when my cousins and all their friends (From Portland) make fun of Hockey and say it's not a real sport.

That being said, if it's not at the expense of another team then QC and Hamilton do both deserve teams and I don't see why this should bother anyone. We just want people in Phoenix to like Hockey, but if they dont, then we want a team in places where people will for sure.

Most people I know do not look at hockey as a complete joke, Some don't understand most of the rules ect but will ask questions and are willing to be taught. Football fans are easy to convert.

Goal=Touchdown (no sissy kickers in hockey)
Offsides= well Offsides
Icing= Punt in this case it's the Defense punting
Penalty= Penalty instead of yardage you lose players
add to that the flow of hockey is better and the stoppages are shorter

I have never said those fans should not have a team. It does not bother me that they want one. They are hockey fans they want a team and should have one if they have a building and owner IMO but what frustrates me is attacking other hockey fans that want to keep thier teams also. Quebec is not rocking the boat and like Winnipeg will have a team within 5 years IMO. I have no ill will toward the fans that put down season ticket deposits for the Preds in Hamilton either just the guy taking them. I do not want a liar and crook like Balsille to have a team.

 

[Killion]

I will revise my statement. I do not have anything against Canadians at all but this selfish attitude from a small percentage is extremely irritating. Most of that ilk have probably never been to the cities that they think are undeserving and will continue to judge from a distance.

Yes, excellent points Gnashville. Members of that minority should be forced to walk a mile in the shoes of those they criticize. Frankly, I think its shameful that so many posters from the Phoenix area wont engage in the boh threads. Your nerves are raw enough from all of the uncertainty & scrutiny your team, city & state has received without having to defend yourselves from those who just dont know any better, blinded by their passions for the game they too love; demanding membership in the club.

To deify Jim Balsillie as a Martyr to the Cause (and Id love to see the NHL in Hamilton) is just wrong. Not only did his pitbull Rodier engage in tortious interference in Nashville, Balsillie also lied to Mario Lemieux when he told him he had no intention whatsoever of moving the Penguins & every intention of making sure a new arena was built in Pittsburgh. Twice rejected, rather than get mad, he'd get even, selling Moyes a load of hogs swallow that they could end-run the NHL's rules of relocation & rights of determination through BK, an absolute Moonshot, while simultaneously destroying whatever good will was left towards the team in the market & embarrassing the league to no end. And so here we are. And its not a great day for hockey in Phoenix. We have Jimbo' to thank for that. Reinsdorf wouldve owned the team for the past 2 seasons, Moyes couldve left with some dignity.

As for the Canadian medias bias in covering this story (and others) no question it exists, and its there for good reason. You must understand that major dailies & news networks completely ignored & failed to cover or act on rumors surrounding Alan Eagleson & the whole NHL Pension scandal. As a result, they were called out when it was left up to a small town Massachusetts newspaper reporter to break the story & the FBI & the Department of Justice to act when the guy was based in Toronto and a Canadian citizen who shouldve been initially dealt with up here. The medias gone overboard in their latherings towards the NHL & to a lesser extent the NHLPA ever since, guys like Mcown, Shoalts & Brunt leading the charge. Their theories are neatly wrapped up in flags of false patriotism that appeals to the fringe & makes for good copy, better ratings, more advertising dollars. Try & convince people that Gary Bettman is Evil; the US looking to stiff Canadians & rob it of its once predominant role in hockey & take away its voice. People actually buy it. People buy Glen Becks chalkboard chats & tears. A lot of people are just plain stupid Gnashville. Whatre' ya gonna do?.

 

[dronald]

Most people I know do not look at hockey as a complete joke, Some don't understand most of the rules ect but will ask questions and are willing to be taught. Football fans are easy to convert.

Can I rephrase that and say that most think it's not really a true sport like Football, Basketball or Baseball? It just seems that people in Phoenix, my friends in Arkansas, and my cousins in Portland couldn't care less about Hockey.

Goal=Touchdown (no sissy kickers in hockey)
Offsides= well Offsides
Icing= Punt in this case it's the Defense punting
Penalty= Penalty instead of yardage you lose players
add to that the flow of hockey is better and the stoppages are shorter

Great strategy! However, I think the patriotism attatched to a sport like Football will block them from realizing the quicker pace and excitement in Hockey.

 

[Kimota]

How many times do you see Wall Street excited about solid moderate returns year after year? Not very often. They get excited about GROWTH. Right now the Canadian side is booming enough to allow growth, but one day the tide may swing back towards the states and they will try to ride that wave too.

The problem was Gary went after the sun belt before having exausted all possibilities in hockey-craving places. Hockey was in trouble and instead of fixing those problems, he tried to find a quick fix with a sunshine dream, thinking it was the new klondike. And after all this what made hockey start making money again was because the Canadian Dollar soared. The irony.

How about this, you expand to unortodox places when you have a great buisness going and you have nowhere else to go. When you do well you can afford to do crazy things and be a little bold but when your things are going nowhere and you don't know what you are doing, you should put your house in order first.

 

[TaketheCannoli]

Yes, excellent points Gnashville. Members of that minority should be forced to walk a mile in the shoes of those they criticize. Frankly, I think its shameful that so many posters from the Phoenix area wont engage in the boh threads. Your nerves are raw enough from all of the uncertainty & scrutiny your team, city & state has received without having to defend yourselves from those who just dont know any better, blinded by their passions for the game they too love; demanding membership in the club.

To deify Jim Balsillie as a Martyr to the Cause (and Id love to see the NHL in Hamilton) is just wrong. Not only did his pitbull Rodier engage in tortious interference in Nashville, Balsillie also lied to Mario Lemieux when he told him he had no intention whatsoever of moving the Penguins & every intention of making sure a new arena was built in Pittsburgh. Twice rejected, rather than get mad, he'd get even, selling Moyes a load of hogs swallow that they could end-run the NHL's rules of relocation & rights of determination through BK, an absolute Moonshot, while simultaneously destroying whatever good will was left towards the team in the market & embarrassing the league to no end. And so here we are. And its not a great day for hockey in Phoenix. We have Jimbo' to thank for that. Reinsdorf wouldve owned the team for the past 2 seasons, Moyes couldve left with some dignity.

As for the Canadian medias bias in covering this story (and others) no question it exists, and its there for good reason. You must understand that major dailies & news networks completely ignored & failed to cover or act on rumors surrounding Alan Eagleson & the whole NHL Pension scandal. As a result, they were called out when it was left up to a small town Massachusetts newspaper reporter to break the story & the FBI & the Department of Justice to act when the guy was based in Toronto and a Canadian citizen who shouldve been initially dealt with up here. The medias gone overboard in their latherings towards the NHL & to a lesser extent the NHLPA ever since, guys like Mcown, Shoalts & Brunt leading the charge. Their theories are neatly wrapped up in flags of false patriotism that appeals to the fringe & makes for good copy, better ratings, more advertising dollars. Try & convince people that Gary Bettman is Evil; the US looking to stiff Canadians & rob it of its once predominant role in hockey & take away its voice. People actually buy it. People buy Glen Becks chalkboard chats & tears. A lot of people are just plain stupid Gnashville. Whatre' ya gonna do?.

As long as several of you are discussing this, part of the problem is this board is littered with posts proclaiming the very things both you and Gnashville are decrying. Some of the posters in this very thread are among the most fervent in that position. Other posters on the BoH forum have posted many times that they do not want to develop the game by expanding the fanbase in what they perceive as Sunbelt markets. It's not just Columbus, Ohio USA native and Canadian patriot Bob"cat" McCown and Rick Rodier's favorite errand boy Sergeant Shoalts, or Steven Brunt, it's a large number of posters right here.