Well, today is Day 57 of the NHL Lockout. They're talking, albeit begrudingly; the fans are just flat out in limbo, just waiting to see what will actually come out of talks and the shuttling between Toronto (NHLPA headquarters) and New York (NHL HQ). Granted, the interruption that was Hurricane Sandy (Ok, ok...Superstorm Sandy, for you weatherheads out there) did put a few days' distance in the talks, but the loggerheads that have occurred between NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the Fehr Brothers, the two-headed negotiators for the Players' Association, need to be put behind them, and we all need to just MOVE ON.
For Minnesota Wild fans, this weekend was supposed to be a stiff test of what the Wild was to have become: last night, the Wild should have been in Detroit, facing the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena; tonight, a 5:00 PM (EST) contest against none other than the New Jersey Devils was to have taken place at 'the Rock', a.k.a. the Prudential Center in Downtown Newark. These would have been games number 4 and 5 of the Wild's then-killer 6-game Eastern road swing.
The Wild should have been then traveling down the Northeast Corridor, to the City of Brotherly
This was to be the biggest WRT road trip in three seasons (since the NHL Premiere trip to Helsinki). Now, there's no trip, no games, nothing. I just sit here, and save my $ for that rainy (or, since we are in Minnesota, snowy) day. No tickets, no flights, no hotels, nothing. Just staying home and waiting for Messrs. Bettman and Fehr to get done doing their thing.
C'mon guys. Please, figure this thing out. Before I get absolutely claustrophobic here at home, watching the Vikings lose. Again.
