Faceoff at Center Ice (first post)!

Another day without hockey. A day without hockey is just another day. I honestly can't believe that the owners and the NHLPA would be so stupid. Don't they realize that they're fighting over their slice of a rapidly shrinking pie? Pro hockey already lags way behind the other major sports in terms of interest and revenue. This lockout is the absolute worst thing for the game at the absolute worst possible time.
This is the time of the year when winter just seems to drag on and on and on. Life takes on a disgusting "Groundhog Day" quality of blurred sameness and monochromatic monotony. At least we had some sunshine yesterday. That's always nice, and you can really feel the sun getting stronger and smell the air trying to shake off the dank chill. In this part of the world, the earth seems to really want to break winter's hold on it and celebrate spring along with the rest of us. I don't think people who live in more temperate climates understand or appreciate this. I always feel like I turn into an albino over the winter (nothing against albinos, of course). My eyes turn pink and can't stand light (while, paradoxically, my body craves warmth and sun), and my skin (only a Whiter Shade of Pale, even in the dog days of summer) exhibits an even more intensely ghoulish pallor. I almost feel like I'm hibernating. I don't feel quite like myself until about mid-May, when I stagger out of my cave (physically, psychically, and spiritually) under the bright, blue sky, blinking and yawning and shielding my eyes from the glare and rejoicing in new birth and rebirth all around me. Then, I get to enjoy a couple of truly superb weeks until autumn's thugs come to collect on the debt again around mid-July. Yes, sir. Life is good here in the North country....
Come on, boys. Get back to the table and get this thing sorted out so that next season can start on time. And do something (or several things) to open up the game. Some of my ideas will be featured in future posts.