Goodbye NHL or Gary Bettman's a loser!

It’s nice to see how much Canada actually misses hockey.

With the 11th hour negotiations going on this past weekend and spilling over into the next three days, the news made it seem like a shortened hockey season was a sure thing.

The spin they put on all of the stories made the entire country rise to our feet. We awaited that emergency broadcast on CBC, interupting Cornation Street, announcing the NHL was back in action for a shortened season.

Fans hopes were up. People were talking pro hockey once again. Calgarians were wondering if the Flames could go on another run for the cup after a 28-game season. That sparkle returned to the eyes of hockey lovers across the land.

The sport of hockey had a life force. Its pulse started beating and hockey awoke from its coma. It was alive. It was growing.

But, once again, the dreams of millions of hockey fans were crushed Wednesday.

Gary Bettman killed all our hopes. He finally called off the entire NHL season.

Couldn’t the two sides find some kind of agreement? They were only $6.5 million apart. Is their nothing that could have been done?

At first I was all for the owners. The players were getting paid to much. It was the owners fault for paying that much, but something had to be done to fix the problem.

I still sided with the owners when they didn’t take the 24 per cent salary roll back a month ago.

Owners are stupid without a cap that 24 per cent would be erased in no time.

Now I’m with the players. They did all the budging. They cracked first.

The NHLPA was against a salary cap the entire negotiation process. Sunday night they broke. They offered a $52 million salary cap.

They didn’t want to, but for the game they love they did.

Bettman probably started ripping off his business suit and dancing around his office when he heard the news. He had won.

Still it wasn’t enough for him. He wanted more. He wanted a $40 million cap.

The players dropped their number to 49 million. The commissioner countered with 42.5 million. It ended there.

Now Bettman is the loser. He lost his league.

I have never seen anyone want to be rid of their job so much. He doesn’t have a league to fix anymore. He should be unemployed.

He should have been given a deadline to get it done. If it wasn’t finished by then, he was out and someone who could do the job was in.

Bettman’s job was to make sure the league is profitable and efficient. He couldn’t do it, so soon there will be no more NHL.

People are saying the league will dissolve, and something new will arise from the ashes.

I sure as hell hope Bettman isn’t in charge of that league.

Hockey will survive. It’ll get through being the first pro sport in North America to cancel a season. It will take a lot of time. A lot of hard work, and a lot of chance that the loyal fans don’t skate away from the sport in its absence.