It doesn’t seem like seven years ago since the last lockout, but back then when hard working, over paying fans were dragged through the dirt by the league and it’s players, many thought that when it all ended the game might be better for it in the long run and with that ugly lost year now in the rear view mirror, the game could go about growing and never look back. Now, if you’d told me this wouldn’t be the end of lockouts or strikes in the game I wouldn’t have been surprised, but never did I think there would even be a consideration of it happening again at the next available opportunity.

Of course, it hasn’t happened yet and there is still a long way to go. The NHLPA claim in rejecting this proposal for divisional/conference realignment they are simply doing what is best for the players in this given situation, though not many actually believe that. The NHLPA claims the extra travel as well as the balance of the playoffs is not beneficial for the players, while most everyone else sees this as a show of strength to the NHL, to show them that they mean business heading into this summer. Put it this way, if this realignment issue had come up three years ago – a long way from the expiry of any CBA – do you think it would have been voted down?

The NHLPA rejected the move because it added in extra travel time as well as upset the balance of the playoff structure. Firstly, I’m sure I speak for nearly every fan when I suggest that I’d take that little extra travel time in return for the money these guys make. I’d spend that little extra in first class counting my latest paycheck. Remember this isn’t the old days when the players had to bus it from one city to the other. Secondly, regarding the playoff setup; to an extent I agree with the players. In an ideal world you want something that is the same for everyone, but let’s face it, they are content with what is already in place and that is hardly a balanced schedule either. Not everyone plays everyone else the same amount and if you happen to be a decent team in a poor division playing poor teams more often, you will almost certainly make the playoffs whereas a good team in an excellent division isn’t guaranteed anything. Win a poor division and your ranked in the top three of the conference no matter what, with potentially more points than the team in forth. The team in eighth may only have a better record than the team in ninth due to the opposition it faced over the course of the season. If the players truly want parity, they ought to push for a schedule in which everyone plays everyone the same amount and therefore ensuring the teams at the top of the standings are indeed the best teams. Then again, such a fair schedule would ramp up the demands on travel.

In the end, the decision by the NHLPA on Friday night will get little fan support and certainly none from myself if only because of the potential ramifications of an NHL vs NHLPA dispute at this stage. To hell with the actual setup of conferences and divisions – though I quite liked what the league proposed – but what is important for me is that there is no threat to hockey next season. I promised myself at the end of the last lockout that if they were ever foolish enough to go through it all over again then they would lose me as a fan. At the time I didn’t think either side would be quite so idiotic to allow that to happen again and while there is no guarantee it will happen, just the very hint of it has me feeling like the fool for assuming we’d never go back.

And what of the fans in this once again? The NHL have said what they want, the players have said what they don’t want but once again the custodian of the game – the fan – is left out. What they want doesn’t matter for they will get what they are given and will of course be expected to cough up the ticket money, buy the merchandise and cheer on their team. The fan isn’t listened to because the fan is too loyal for his own good and the last lockout proved that. Whether another one, should it arise, continues to show how easy the wool can be pulled over the fans eyes, remains to be seen. I hope my loyalty does have a price.

Moving the Winter Classic outdoor game from it’s New Years day slot to January 2nd in order to avoid clashing with the NFL schedule across America was one thing. Having to work on the 2nd meant I would miss the game live, but thanks to PVR I knew I’d be able to record it, avoid the result and watch it later. But moving the face-off time from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (to avoid sun glare apparently) meant the scheduled recording cut off early. Thankfully I arrived home in the nick of time to start recording again and catch the final period, but the upshot was missing the bulk of the second period – the only period the Philadelphia Flyers managed to score before eventually succumbing to the New York Rangers 3-2.

The first period wasn’t up to much as both teams got used to the outdoor conditions which were not overly cold, but were breezy, while I spent most of it trying to figure out just when my initial recording would cut out and when I might get back into the action again. A scoreless game took us into the first interval and the end of my recording. When I started up again the game was well through the second with the Flyers leading 2-1. At least the Flyers had the lead and I hoped they’d extend it at some point in the third.

Given my luck thus far with the scheduling of the game I was asking too much. The Rangers came storming back in third period to tie it through a Mike Rupp goal before Brad Richards grabbed the winner. The two scorers alone should have been enough to prove to me it just wasn’t going to be mine or the Flyers’ day. Mike Rupp had one goal all season coming into the game but managed two in this one alone to pull the Rangers back. And as for Richards: Well, he was the Rangers big money signing this season but despite the teams overall strong play this season he hasn’t been the player they must have hoped their big dollars was bringing in with just 14 goals and 29 points in 37 games so far. But he got a big one today to spoil the party for the 46,967 (subtract the Rangers fans), that had packed into Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to see this.

Mike Rupp’s celebration for his first goal — a take on the Flyers’ Jaromir Jagr’s salute that he’s famous for after he himself scores — irked some Flyers fans, but it only fed into the overall entertainment of the affair as well as the physical game that just so happened to pick up following it. Sadly Jagr couldn’t do much about it as he sat for most of the second period and all of the third through what I can only assume was some kind of minor injury that the team didn’t want to risk him on, for until that point he had been one of the Flyers’ better players. Scott Hartnell was another standout — forever in the face of the Rangers, a physical presence that tried to get something going for the Flyers — but too many were found wanting in the third period when the Rangers pressed home the equalizer and eventually the winner.

Still, despite the disappointment at the result and in missing the only two moments of note for the Flyers (their goals), it was still a hell of a spectacle. There have been a number of these ‘Winter Classics’ now but for me this one was the most impressive. The weather held up, the ice conditions were good by comparison to previous years, the atmosphere was electric — it was a sellout for the alumni game never mind the actual game — the layout looked good, and the city of Philadelphia — and I suppose the NHL — deserve some credit.

And despite that result once more, I’d love to have been there. The alumni game is the memory that Flyers fans will take from it, but it has to be said the whole thing went down well. Sometime I’ll make a point of attending a Winter Classic wherever it may be when I’ve got the spare cash to make it happen, though seeing it in Philly would have been special.