NHL is back

Wow, how great it is to say those words. Finally, the NHL will return to the ice this weekend after missing over half the season. All the NHL stars have begun to return from overseas and begin practicing with their teams again before everyone hits the ice this Saturday. What a day it will be for hockey fans everywhere. The season opens with numerous rivalry match-ups including a rematch of the high-scoring, intense, exciting playoff match-up between last years 4 and 5 seeds in the East, cross-state rivals, the Pittsburg Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. Saturday includes Montreal v Toronto, Boston v NY Rangers, and New Jersey v NY Islanders. Saturday will be a fun exciting day of hockey as the great sport returns.

The season has been abbreviated due to the time off and now only includes 48 games played between only same Conference teams. This means no East v West rematches of past Stanley Cup Finals. With a shortened season there's no time for slow starts, thankfully most players will come into the season in great shape after playing overseas with the absence of the NHL.

The greatest sport on earth is back and one thing the shorten season will do is make the whole season a playoff push meaning top level hockey with important games from now through the middle of July.

Nothing could've made any hockey fan in the world more happy than this great news. The NHL is back and it feels as though everything has been fixed.

NHL, SMH

I've avoided discussing this topic for a long time, because it's a sensitive matter to me, the NHL lockout. The stubborn owners and players association have been negotiating for nearly six months and virtually no progress has been made. According to many sources, the two sides still sit far apart. This lockout has done a burden on the players, and more importantly the fans. The players have been forced to move over seas to play the sport they love and abandon their North American teams. One of the greatest players in the NHL, Alex Ovechkin, went so far as to say he may consider never coming back if this season is cancelled. So far the season has been cancelled through December. Some of the greatest parts of the season will be missed including the well known Winter Classic on New Years' Day. Also, the HBO series based on the Winter Classic called 24/7. Most of all, this lock out is killing the fans. There is no hockey on television for the fans. No games to attend. Hockey fans have lost the great sport. The filthy rich men that own NHL teams and run the league have caused the second lockout in 10 years. But it doesn't even affect them. All that matters is the money to them, not the sport. The NBA missed nearly half their season last year, but was smart enough to realize that the lock out benefited no one and quickly fixed their mistake. The NHL needs to come to their senses quickly before losing fans and players to other leagues. The one thing the NHL has going for them is that they control the future of the sport many people love. Hopefully the NHL realizes what they're doing and quickly fixes all they've done wrong.