( 4UMF NEWS ) NHL Cancels First Two Weeks Of Season:
With no end in sight to the 19-day-old player lockout, the NHL has postponed its Oct. 11 opening day and canceled the first 82 games of the NHL season.
The cancellation covers all games through Oct. 24, which means roughly five or six games per team have been eliminated.
“When the news came out that the league was going to start canceling (preseason) games, my 6-year-old wept and my 15-year-old sulked in his room,” said Anaheim Ducks season ticket holder Marty Knowles. “But, as the weeks of no hockey have gone by, my kids have adjusted to not going to games, which is the worst possible news for the Samuelis (who own the Ducks). The main reason we purchased season seats in 2000 was that my kids loved going to the games so much.”
Players will lose the first of 13 checks, meaning they have lost 7.7% of the salary. However, they are scheduled, around the middle of the month, to receive the return of most, if not all, of the 8.5% of last season’s salary that was put in escrow in case players exceeded their negotiated share of league-wide revenue.
“The decision to cancel the first two weeks of the NHL season is the unilateral choice of the NHL owners,” NHL Players’ Association executive director Donald Fehr said. “If the owners truly cared about the game and the fans, they would lift the lockout and allow the season to begin on time
while negotiations continue.”
