Within the next few days, John Chabot is hoping to finalize plans for a charity tour by locked-out NHL players that would see them play at least one game in this area and two or three in the Northwest Territories.
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk says fans don’t care who’s at fault for the NHL lockout, they just want to see some hockey.
It’s been a bad week for hockey fans, hasn’t it? Last Thursday was supposed to be the beginning of the end of the NHL’s lockout, a day for the owners and players to put their heads down and come up with a deal to preserve an 82-game schedule. Instead, both sides carried on with their hollow, spiteful war of words, to the intense anger or, increasingly, apathy of the fans who actually fund their business.
John Chabot is hoping a little northern exposure can put a bright light on the NHL lockout. Chabot is working on plans to bring locked out NHLers, including the Ottawa Senators players he’s currently helping coach, on an exhibition tour of northern Canadian communities.
Midway through Thursday’s lockout skate at the Bell Sensplex, Chris Neil made like an Olympic javelin thrower, flinging his stick into the glass above the side boards. Was it built up frustration because the end of the NHL lockout is nowhere in sight?
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has no plans to sell the team now or in the future.
Sometimes a coach might wonder whether the AHL stands for the Always Hoping League. As in, always hoping your young prospects can withstand the nature of the hectic weekend-oriented schedule and always hoping you have enough healthy bodies around to finish games.