The NHL and NHLPA met again this weekend. That’s good, right? Look, I know you’re still upset about the cancellation of Frozen Fury. Hey, I don’t blame you. Las Vegas is a pretty cool place. But guess what, I heard on television the other day that Las Vegas won’t have anymore water in a few years, and television never lies. Do you really want to get attached to a place without water? I didn’t think so.
Anyway, the reaction among most NHL fans right now is a collection of annoyance and frustration, and if you don’t believe me just read the reply tweets to anything the NHL’s official twitter account posts. Those people are brutal.
Sports writers can’t be that brutal, fortunately, so they are the perfect group of people to determine proper human emotion. Thus, what follows are hockey writers tweets in response to the meetings this weekend as categorized by the Bettman-Fehr Five Stages of Lockout Grief scale. Enjoy!
Hope
Bill Daly hopes NHL talks resume this week but thinks that’s up to the players.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/…
— David Shoalts (@dshoalts) September 24, 2012
Oh, and meet they did. Saturday’s meetings centered around drug testing and health issues, issues that were not seen as contentious, thus, in theory, they should have been solved months ago. Sunday’s meetings were to get deeper into the main problems concerning both sides.
NHL and NHLPA are scheduled to meet at 11am this morning here in New York. Stay tuned to my feed for thrilling quotes like: “No update.”
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) September 30, 2012
Obviously, pragmatism could also fit this category. There were updates, but not what everyone outwardly hopes will happen. I don’t know why, but I keep hoping Gary Bettman is going to bust out the doors of one of these meetings, proclaim the lockout has ended, then joyously announce to the awaiting media that we are “all gonna get laid.” That’s hope, folks.
Anger
As seen above, fans are accustomed to hearing no news come out of these meetings. Oh, but guess what, angry sports fan, the NHL and NHLPA really want to strike a deal this time. No foolin’. See for yourself.
No, I have no idea if working through lunch is a good sign. It just means they’re working through lunch.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) September 30, 2012
Yeah, now how do you feel? Your indignation disgusts me.
Fear
Steve Fehr – two sides met for about 5hrs. Did not discuss core economics or HRR. Will not meet Monday.
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) September 30, 2012
So, the two sides met for five hours on Sunday, minus Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr. Without that dead weight I’m sure they were able to hash out a… what? Oh, they didn’t discuss core economics. Um…okay. Any ideas on what they did discuss? Nope? Okay. Awesome.
No further NHL meetings are planned. They once again did not discuss core economics. Bleak update as usual.
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) September 30, 2012
Hoo-ray…
Understanding (or Sarcasm)
Knowledge leads to understanding, and knowledge is power. Let’s see what Bill Daly had to say, and maybe this will all make sense. I’m sure everything is fine, you guys.
Daly — it’s not like negotiations have broken off; we’re not meeting Monday because we each have homework to do on what we discussed here’
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) September 30, 2012
Oh, okay. Yeah, totally do your homework and stuff. You haven’t had, like, the past year to do that or anything. But, no, really do it this time. I know it’s tough, what with you being so busy right now and all. Just take your time.
Daly on critical economic issues: “We need them to be scheduled as a subject of a meeting. Right now the Union is not prepared to do that.”
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) September 30, 2012
I guess I don’t understand the definition of the word “meeting.”
Anger
The No Hockey League. More games lost (over 1,600) on Bettman’s watch than all over sports combined. More coming soon
— adater (@adater) September 30, 2012
This is true.
In other word: FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
— Rudy Kelly (@rudykelly) September 30, 2012
This is also true, if not slightly out of context.
Depression
NHL owners will start cancelling regular-season games in a few days. theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/…
— David Shoalts (@dshoalts) October 1, 2012
Sigh. Here’s a link to Shoalts’s article, if you even care.
But wait! What about the meeting today? You know, they still mi–
No hope. RT @seangentille No deal, no progress, no meetings, no future, no escape from no future. Today’s lockout news: bit.ly/UE0q9P
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) October 2, 2012
Hockey – or something – and stuff… 🙁