"Fireworks exploding in the distance..."

Well, that's it. Just a few minutes ago, Gary Bettman announced the cancellation of the 2004-05 NHL season. Nothing fancy, just a prepared statement with the obligatory "it is my sad duty to announce" stuff, and then a question period that spiraled into the same old rhetoric. That's when I turned off the TV.

The saddest part is how much progress was made in the last couple days...the NHLPA accepted a salary cap, and the NHL dropped linkage from the agreement. Expect those concessions to disappear when negotiations start back up. I could start in with the "if only" business, but I think you'll agree that there's no point, because who hasn't heard it already? In the next few days, I imagine there's going to be a fair bit of mudslinging, but hopefully they get past that quickly enough to start negotiations in time to have a deal done for 2005-06.

I'd also be surprised if this whole debacle doesn't cost Bettman, Goodenow, or both of them their jobs; maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of their lives. (What I mean to say is, it might take a few years, but they're both going to lose a lot of credibility over this, and personally I'd rather see Bill Daly and Ted Saskin at the heads of their respective organizations...but the Casablanca quote was just too hard to resist.)

To conclude, I'd like to leave you with a quote from a song I've listened to a lot today:

"You said you didn't give a f*** about hockey,
And I never saw someone say that before."--The Tragically Hip, 'Fireworks'

Well, there are certainly going to be a lot more people saying that very same thing about hockey after this, that's for sure.