April 14, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) in game two of the 2012 Western Conference quarterfinals at Jobing.com Arena. The Blackhawks beat the Coyotes 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Everyone is so excited that the lockout is almost lifted, but how should the NHL win the fans back after the lockout?

1. Lower ticket prices for the 2013 season.  Teams will either have 24 or 25 home games during this abbreviated season so why not give the fans a break with ticket prices.  When looking for single game tickets you can get some good deals on site like Stubhub.com, but season ticket holders don’t get that kind of break so NHL franchises should give their biggest investors a break for this season.  By a break we are not talking like 5% but more like 25-40% break for this season.  Give the ticket holder a break this season so they are  happy to come back for the  2013-2014 season.

2. Free NHL Center Ice Package.  For those that don’t live in the Chicagoland market this would be a huge deal to watch all the Chicago Blackhawks games without paying for the NHL Center Ice package. You want fans to come back to the game, but you also want fans at home watching the games too.  Give your fans that are still ready to watch NHL hockey a break for the 48 or 50 game season with the ability to watch all the games free of charge. This to me would be the biggest way the NHL could win back the fans.

3. Hide Bettman and Fehr.  After opening night the next time we should see Gary Bettman would be at the Stanley Cup presentation!  Most fans are tired of all the suits so after the ceremonial CBA signing and the dropping of the first puck  it will be time for them to go into hibernation.

4. Sell out every night.  No I don’t mean the fans going to the stadiums, I mean that all players sell out and give 100% every night to give the fans the best show possible! Retire the word Grind, not our best effort.  They only have to go on the ice 50 times so give it your all, no off nights!

I can’t wait for the action to return!!!

LET’S GO BLACKHAWKS!!

September 12, 2012; New York, NY, USA; NHLPA executive director Don Fehr speaks during a press conference at the 2012 NHLPA summer player meetings at the Marriott Marquis. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

After a 16 hour long negotiation marathon both Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr appeared together early this morning to announce a deal has been reached.  This is the best news I’ve have heard since it was announced that Jonathan Toews would be in the lineup for Game 1 of the Phoenix Coyotes series.

Bettman had stated that the NHL season would be cancelled if it wasn’t able to start by January 19th, which of course put the hot and very cold at times negotiations in the greatest possible sense of urgency it could be in to hash out a new deal. All deals finally get done when there is the last possible date available out there!

The best part of what was announced is that the new deals length will be 10 years, yes 10 years (just like the NFL) with a mutual opt out clause of 8 years!! Yes, the I’s are not dotted and the T’s are not crossed, but when they are we will not even have to think of the words negotiations, lock outs, strikes, and CBA until 2020 at the earliest with these to sides!! It’s about time that they put some length into these agreements. If a piece of article is written correctly the first time it last for centuries, you think the founders of our country really thought the Constitution would last over 225 years? Plus they spent less time arguing about that piece of history than the NHL and NHLPA did about their CBA!

According to all accounts that were written about the negotiation the major sticking point was the salary cap for next season. The league wanted 60 million and the NHLPA wanted 65 million. The easy part as pointed out by many on Twitter would have been to meet in the middle, but reportedly they met at 64.3 million.

If you would like to watch the entire interview from early this morning with Bettman and Fehr click here.

The words tentative are still out there because they still have to get the entire CBA on paper and have both the NHL Board of Governors and NHLPA ratify the new agreement. So as exciting as this news is that an agreement has been reached the pessimist (due to years of Chicago Cubs and Bears disappointments) in me cannot get too excited until the agreement is officially signed and the schedule is released and our Chicago Blackhawks are back on the ice at the United Center.

They have apparently saved the season when it was at the edge of the cliff! Finish the job so we can get back to seeing our favorite players from Hossa, Toews, Sharp, Duncan and Kane on the ice instead of Bettman and Fehr behind a mike!

Here again is the totality of what was lost due to the lockout-

1. All Games Scheduled through January 14(over 50 percent of the season)

2. The Winter Classic

3. The All-Star Weekend in Columbus

If the CBA is signed we will at worst case see the puck drop in 13 days with a 52 or 48 game season so with all that work left……..

SIGN THE NEW CBA!!

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Nov 14, 2011; Stanford CA, USA; General view of rows of empty seats during the first half of a preseason NIT game between the Southern Methodist Mustangs and the Colorado State Rams at Maples Pavilion. Colorado State defeated Southern Methodist 75-56. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-USA TODAY Sports

No this is not about Nike and their new campaign about the lockout, but if you want to read a good article with a NIKE commercial included from our fansided family member Too Many Men on the Site click HERE

It seems like tonight just like so many others before it is a HUGE night for the NHL and NHLPA. In a scene out of a movie where it’s counter-proposal after counter-proposal it seems like there are two huge deciding factors for a season or if the union files a disclaimer. 1. Pension 2. Salary Cap

Pensions really Pensions??? What I read on Twitter from @Chitown_sports is really true. If you are making over a million dollars a year you don’t need a pension save the money yourself (to paraphrase) Seriously, pensions were set up for blue-collar workers not sports entertainers making millions but spending tens of millions.  If this is the reason we all miss out on the 2013 season it would be a disgrace to hockey.

The second reason of a salary cap is understandable from a player perspective, but in the end if the cap is up or down even a fraction isn’t it better to receive a check than to go without? The cap divided by 20 something players per team really isn’t a huge deal if you break it down player by player. But get absolutely nothing is a huge percentage compared to 100%!

Hopefully they can bring it all together and both sides  compromise for the good of the game! I would rather see Just do it on uniforms instead of commercials mocking the sport!

JUST DO IT……END THE LOCKOUT!!!

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Dec 14, 2011; St. Paul, MN, USA; Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane (88) celebrates his shootout goal following the game against the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center. The Blackhawks defeated the Wild 4-3 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Just in case you missed it, Patrick Kane scored another stellar shootout goal. This time for his club in Switzerland where he is biding his time during the NHL lockout. Kaner doing magic in shootouts is nothing new to Chicago Blackhawks fans – or the entire NHL audience – and it’s always exciting to see what he will pull out of his bag of tricks when he’s in the spotlight.

But Kane seems to be using his time overseas as a “practice season” to prepare for and be ready when the NHL picks back up again. As fun as his shootout goals are to watch, Kane’s boyish reactions to the puck hitting the back of the net are just as fun. Last year we saw him celebrate a similar goal in Minnesota. And the very last game of the regular season we saw his grin after he danced with the puck and scored in Detroit. What was his reaction in Switzerland? The “been there, done that” face.

He scanned the crowd and didn’t see anything to get excited about. He skated back to the bench, watched his team lose, then headed to the locker room. Just another day not in Chicago. Or Minnesota. Or Detroit.

Kane is missing home, and not just Chicago. He’s missing his home fans and Blackhawks teammates to celebrate with. He’s missing the NHL. Judge for yourself.

Can you imagine if he had scored against Corey Schneider of the Vancouver Canucks in Chicago, or even Vancouver!? He may have celebrated a little something like this…

Or this…

Just add “celebrating with Patrick Kane” to the list of things we’re all missing out on while the powers-that-be review proposals and release statements. Man, this list is getting long.

What do you think: Is Kane missing NHL fans?

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September 12, 2012; New York, NY, USA; NHLPA executive director Don Fehr (center) flanked by Vancouver Canucks player Manny Malhotra (left) and Winnipeg Jets player Ron Hainsey (right) during a press conference at the 2012 NHLPA summer player meetings at the Marriott Marquis. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Ball is in the NHLPA’s court. Let’s keep our fingers crossed although I’m not thinking it’s even close to being a done deal!  The NHL made what seems like a last gasp at saving any resemblance of a season with it’s newest more compromising offer which it handed to the NHLPA on Friday.

I’m sure in the Twitter/Facebook/Internet world we live in some of these things are strictly PA matters, but the NHL owners have been the first to offer up offers and solutions while the NHLPA seems to be waiting in the wings with no solutions or offers but just replies and attitudes of disgust after ever new offer.

It’s just shocking to me that weeks can go by and neither side even makes an effort to discuss options, and now it’s almost the New Year and the season is in peril and it’s Hail Mary time for the owners sponsored by Gary Bettman.

I’m sure Donald Fehr and his henchman are probably sitting their with sinister laughs waiting to crush all NHL fans hopes of a 2013 season with a simple NO to Bettman and crew.

Sunday will be another big day in a string of months of big days in the NHL.  Hopefully both sides will come to their senses, and finally get a CBA done instead of losing another season and tons of new fans.

Come on! Get this done!

END THE LOCKOUT!!!

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September 13, 2012; New York, NY, USA; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speaks during a press conference at the Crowne Plaza Times Square. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

It’s Christmas day and it has been 101 days since the lockout started with no end in site.  It seems like we are having a major battle when only a minor skirmish should have been waged. All that was built in the last 8 seasons since the last lockout is lost, and all we get is Donald Fehr and Gary Bettman at podiums.

Maybe since this is the season of giving both sides will wake up smell the coffee or roses or whatever they smell when they awake, they will come down from their stances and for the good of the game get back to the bargaining table and solve things and get a new CBA signed, sealed, and delivered.

They don’t have much more to cancel before it will be another season lost, Christmas is a season of giving and compromise not greediness.  A lost season over a few million dollars would be careless on either side of this.  Fans don’t care who brings home more money they just want to see their favorite team, players on the ice.

Maybe at their Christmas dinner while passing potatoes and ham around, Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr will have it click in their heads that losing another season is not an option but compromise  is! It’s on my Christmas list hopefully it comes true.

Merry Christmas!

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April 14, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA; Members of the Chicago Blackhawks celebrate after beating the Phoenix Coyotes 4-3 in overtime in game two of the 2012 Western Conference quarterfinals at Jobing.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Normally when you write an article before Christmas about a wish list for the Chicago Blackhawks its pretty in depth.  Last year it would have started with the power play, and how awesome it would be if Santa could bring a power play to the United Center.

Yes, my Christmas list would be to see Marian Hossa skating again while dominating the ice on every shift, and of course I want to see Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane doing their thing while watching Duncan Keith on the ice almost the entire game.

I would put on my list seeing Corey Crawford to return to his form during his first full season unlike the one we saw in overtimes the last time the Hawks playing meaningful games.

My list would probably include that the system that has a lot of youth would keep on producing at both the AHL level and NHL level, and Brandon Saad or Jeremy Morin would step up to be the next great young Blackhawks player.

But no this is not a normal year, this is lockdown 2012 and the NHL is not being played but on NHL Network reruns.  The list this season only has one thing and one thing on it.  Get the CBA signed and the Blackhawks back in action.

Yes, my list is simple but I don’t want another season waisted away by greedy owners and greedy players.  Everyone loses

Please Santa……….

END THE LOCKOUT!

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The “2012″ part of the “2012-2013″ NHL season is gone. There’s no doubt about that. Lost into oblivion by people that bear a striking resemblance to Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge. There’s no bringing it back, nothing that can make up for it. But its ghost lives on in the minds of millions of fans.

Maybe this Christmas Eve night, its spirit will visit the Scrooges and introduce them to the Ghosts of NHL Past, Present, and Yet To Come.

The Ghost of NHL Past would show them how hockey seasons of the past persevered through long, disheartening wars long ago, and let them relive the excitement that the NHL offered to those depressed by plunging economies. It would walk them through the ’94-’95 lockout when hockey became more about business, when it began to focus on massive amounts of money rather than the fans and the spirit of the game.

The Ghost of NHL Present would reveal how passionate the fans really are about hockey by visiting college games and backyard rinks. They would be forced to listen to the anger and frustration – even pity – at the mention of the Scrooges’ names. In this story, maybe the Scrooges would be moved by how they have the ability to provide the fans with so much more, but are too stingy, with blinders of greed and ego that made hockey a business rather than an experience.

Then the Ghost of NHL Yet To Come would show the Scrooges the empty arenas of the future. With the owners and players unwilling reach an agreement, the lockout lasts years. At this point, the new would-be NHL stars have better sense than to aspire to play in the National League that has yet to sort out its mess. The new stars thrill audiences in juniors and minors – which by now have become the majors of hockey. The old players and owners – and their representatives – are despised for killing off the thirty NHL teams and the beloved Original Six. Finally, the NHL is disbanded, and the fans just laugh. Like they still cared.

Obviously, what the NHL and Players’ Association do in the present will affect the future. The past is gone and can’t be changed. They can’t make up for it as quickly as Ebenezer did, but they can definitely change the course that the league is on!

Even though we have the unconverted versions of Scrooge running the NHL right now, we can remember the meaning of hockey this year. We can reflect on the history and tradition of the sport as well as our own friendships and rivalries revolving around the game. And let’s hope the Scrooges wake up sometime soon and come to their senses, because otherwise future is bleak!

What do you think is in the future for the NHL?

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April 21, 2012; Glendale, AZ, USA; Members of the Chicago Blackhawks and fans celebrate after center Jonathan Toews (19) scored the winning goal in overtime to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 in game five of the 2012 Western Conference quarterfinals at Jobing.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL has cancelled all games through January 14th today.

The total games lost so far has reached over 50 percent, with 625 games cancelled between October 15th through January 14th.

The real question is how many more games can be possibly cancelled before they just say screw it, let’s cancel the season. It seems like either the Mayans were predicting the end of the world or maybe they were just predicting the end of the NHL!

Adios 1/2 of the season, hopefully the NHL and NHLPA will get their heads out of their rear ends and get this season started!

We are on Facebook and Twitter at Blackhawk Up and @Blackhawk_UP.  Thanks as always for reading!

April 14, 2012; Denver, CO, USA; A general view of empty seats during a rain delay before the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

As empty seats remain across all of North America during Lockdown 2012, the NHL and NHLPA will be meeting Wednesday not in New York but at an undisclosed location.  The meeting will be attended by a federal mediator and as in the past few meetings in the last month hopes are high that this will be the meeting that is the beginning of the end for this lockout.

Every meeting has a new sense of excitment that both sides are getting closer, but then at what seems like an extended period of time Donald Fehr will walk up to a podium and state that both sides are farther away than they began.  After a few days of cooling down the reports from both sides are that they actually are closer than further apart.  It seems like the natural way negotations go, but the problem I have is that they knew about this CBA issue for over a year and chose to do nothing about it. This is a league that missed an entire season with no regards for its fans or vendors. A lot of people outside of the players are losing out with no games being played.

Maybe the worst is over and both sides are seeing that losing another season would be horrific for the NHL and they need to get this deal done now.  Maybe it’s just another smoke and mirror show and they will miss another season.

Hopefully the undisclosed location will make the difference or maybe it will be just the word compromise.

Compromise usually is the key to closing out a deal.  The problem is that whoever feels like they compromise more will be the one locking out or striking when the next CBA is finished.

Enough of the future let’s just get this deal done today! I want to watch and write about my favorite Blackhawks and not write the names Gary Bettman or Donald Fehr ever again!

END THE LOCKOUT!!

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