Irreconcilable Differences

By Lauren Powers

The world of Hockey was rocked to it’s core on February 16 th when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the ’04-’05 hockey season. With negotiations going back and forth between the league owners and players, it often seemed more like a bad divorce than a group of grown men having peaceful negotiations. Those negotiations lead to a cancellation, made official Wednesday, due to irreconcilable differences These differences, otherwise known as ‘economic problems,’ or salary cap issues, have been looming in the wings for a while. With issues dating back as far as October 2003, the ’04-’05 season never even got off the ground.

Why the lock out? The answer is simple...money of course. The salary cap was the big issue here. Before Monday February 14 th, players wouldn’t even hear of a salary cap, but the union eventually gave in and said it would accept one as long as it was not linked to revenue and players costs. But the efforts on both sides weren’t enough to stop the lock out, and on Wednesday NHL ’s greatest fear came to culmination. The cancellation ended the season that was set to begin in October and run through June , ending with the Stanley Cup Finals. The last time the Stanley Cup wasn’t awarded was 1919 due to a forced cancellation of the final series because of an influenza epidemic.

What else happened in1919?

-Wireless telephone was invented, allowing pilots to talk in-flight.

- KLM of the Netherlands was the world's first airline company.

-Physicist Ernest Rutherford discovered the means of splitting an atom.

More interestingly what hadn’t happened yet?

-1923 the popsicle was invented.

-1933 the chocolate chip cookie was invented.

-1958 the first Lego appeared in stores.

-1955 the first Guiness Book of World Records was published for the first time.

Well looks like the NHL will make Guiness this year. They are now officially the only sport league out of America ’s four to cancel a regular season because of a labor dispute.

So when will the NHL resume? Who knows. This lockout will continue on until a new collective bargaining agreement is made, making it questionable whether or not the ‘05-‘06 series will begin on time, or at all.

On Saturday there were more talks, even veteran players Gretzky and Lemieux stepped in to try and salvage what would be left of a season. In the last-ditch efforts, nothing was agreed upon, and the season was re-officially canceled. What does this mean for the future of the NHL ? Many players like Vincent Lecavalier , Jaromir Jagr , and Teemu Selanne have already signed contracts overseas. People have lost lively hoods because there are no games requiring ushers, Zamboni drivers, or trainers. Even the local businesses are suffering due to lack of traffic.

The night after Bettman announced the cancellation, NHL Executive VP Bill Daly was asked in an email by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, if there was "any practical way to uncancel the season?"

"It may be tough to undo some of the transactions that have already occurred as a result of the season cancellation," Daly said. "But I'm not prepared to rule out anything at this point in time."
So you’re saying there’s a chance?

hrough out the negotiations, it came down to just a 6.5 million dollar difference in reaching an agreement for a salary cap. When you’re referring to over 40 million dollars, 6.5 doesn’t seem like that much. But league owners wouldn’t allow Bettman to go above 42.5 million, and players didn’t want to go below 49 million per team. NHLPA President Trevor Linden has made it pretty clear that he will not stir negotiations up again. Point blank he said, “If [Bettman] wants to pick up the phone and call me, we'll talk."

Fans around the country have called in, emailed, snail mailed, but to no avail. The season has been officially canceled, twice, and for now the situation has been put on ice.

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