Tonight’s Games Suck
Teams we wanted to lose in bold.
Avs/Sabres [Avs won]
Isles/Yotes [Yotes half-lost]
Ducks/Preds [Preds lost, which is good; but still, cheering for Anaheim is wrong]
Hawks/Wild (Hawks losing is also beneficial) [Wild won in OT, points for all, that sucks]
Flames/Nucks (either one is fine; but no 3point games, please) [Calgary won, Nucks half-won, whatever, worst possible outcome]
Blues/Kings [Blues won]
Wings/Sharks (Sharks losing is also beneficial) [Wings win]
That’s a horrible night. Only the Preds losing is positive. 3pt CGY/VAN game is especially galling.
From Rich Hammond: Sean O’Donnell Assesses the Brain Power of a Phaneuf
Kings defenseman Sean O’Donnell told The Associated Press, “It’s just a dirty play. We talk about the players not having respect and why are there so many concussions. He didn’t have to do that. He plays hard. He’s not the brightest guy. He runs around a little bit.”
Report: Blackhawks place Ebbett on waivers – Chicago Breaking Sports
Andrew Ebbett, who has been a healthy scratch the last two games, wasn’t on the ice during the Blackhawks’ practice Friday afternoon in Edmonton and reportedly has been placed on waivers.
During the broadcast of the Montreal-Washington game, TSN reported Ebbett has been waived. The forward has a goal in 12 games with the Hawks this season. He was claimed off waivers by the Hawks from the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 17.
via Report: Blackhawks place Ebbett on waivers – Chicago Breaking Sports.
I Wholeheartedly Support Helene Elliott’s Brilliant Scheme to Destroy the Sharks By Ranking Them #1 Overall
San Jose retains top spot, but there’s a shuffle below as 11-game hot streak pushes Washington to No. 2.
I Just Noticed that the Kings Don’t Play Colorado Until February 13, 2010
…which is the last game before the Olympic break. I wonder where these two teams will sit when they meet for the first time in what is (by my count) the 60th game of the year.
Trouble brewing in Columbus – From The Rink
The Columbus Blue Jackets could leave central Ohio if the team can’t fix an economic model that is causing losses of $12 million a year, according to a report issued today by the Columbus Chamber. But a deal to keep the hockey team here and the Arena District alive — the team and the district generated $30 million in taxes last year — probably will include asking for public dollars, and soon.
“We believe there is a sense of urgency here,” said Ty D. Marsh, chamber president and CEO. “We’re looking for a solution or progress by the end of the year.”
This is a situation that’s been building for a while. I’d actually be shocked if the Blue Jackets have made much of a profit in any year since the prelockout days, when the payroll was very low and interest was at its peak.
Historically, their attendance has been decent, too, at least prior to the lockout, but because a private company built the building, Columbus pays significant rent (about $3.5-million annually), receives no arena perks and ticket prices remain fairly low. The one game I’ve seen there, I sat right behind the bench for $80, tickets that were widely available.
Even with the league’s new revenue sharing system, the Jackets just aren’t all that close to turning a profit:
If the Blue Jackets had free rent and arena-naming rights, the hockey operations would basically be breaking even, but the other business of booking concerts and events would still lose about $4 million a year.
And contrary to what’s been written elsewhere, these are financial issues that are not merely solved by winning hockey games. The gap is just too large and the markets involved too small. Even if the Blue Jackets sold another 2,500 tickets a game and went on a run to the second round of the playoffs, they would still be in the red.
Teams like Columbus and Nashville are in tough to compete in a league with a payroll of more than $35- or $40-million and probably always will be.
Postgame Avs-Coyotes – where were you tonight? | All Things Avs
The Avs set a record tonight – for lowest home attendance to a game. I wrote a column for versus.com recently that ripped on Nashville Predators fans, for not selling out their home opener and for being a general disappointment at the box office in recent years despite a pretty good team.
I even called for the Preds to just beat it out of the NHL, if they don’t want to show up to support a good team.
Do I need to write the same thing to you, Avs fans? Because, based on tonight’s embarrassing attendance, a lot of people (Predators fans especially) are pointing this out to me. I don’t blame them tonight.
What gives? Seriously, what’s up? I want to know what the reasons are why more of you wouldn’t show up tonight to see a team that had the most points in the Western Conference coming into tonight’s game with Phoenix (and added on to them when it was over)?
If the reason why attendance was down last year was the perfectly justifiable reason that the team was awful, what is the excuse for tonight?
There was not a single person in sections 330 and 334 a few minutes into the game tonight. Not one. I think a couple souls showed up a while later and sat there, but that was…it.
You definitely did not dissuade critics who say Denver is just a bandwagon hockey town tonight, folks. The announced attendance was definitely not the actual number in the building either. I’d say the real number was about 8,500, maybe a bit less actually.
This is a team that has busted their rear ends so far, that has two exciting 18-year-old kids on the roster who are playing well and a goalie who has been an absolute beast. This was a team that came home after another long road trip, with a 10-3-2 record, and it was….almost crickets. The players definitely noticed it, and there was some disappointment in the voices of a couple that I talked to after the game. I mean, not like everybody was expecting a sellout, but thousands of empty seats? Yes, there was some disappointment at that.
It was an embarrassing showing by Denver hockey fans tonight, no question about it.
via Postgame Avs-Coyotes – where were you tonight? | All Things Avs.
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