May « 2009 « Psycho Lady Hockey

May, 2009

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Mid Mayhem Update!

For the first time in my life the Stanley Cup playoffs have mattered little. The suspense surrounding the future of the Phoenix Coyotes has been too much of a distraction. I’m not sure if I have even watched a full playoff game since Jim Balsillie made his $212.5M bid to purchase and relocate my foster children to Hamilton. I have even been too distracted to update my blog! So since it has been nearly two weeks since my last entry, this entry will act as an overall summary of current affairs in the hockey world.

Since my last entry on May 19th, Judge Redfield T. Baum ordered both parties (the National Hockey League and Jerry Moyes) into mediation to determine ownership of the Phoenix Coyotes. When the court reconvened on May 27th, Judge Baum placed the ‘Yotes legally into the hands of Jerry Moyes! Ding, ding, ding! And Round 1 goes to Jim Balsillie! Also, Baum ordered that the relocation hearing be moved up from June 22nd to June 9th in keeping with Balsillie’s June 30th expiration date on his generous offer.

Since my last entry on May 19th, both sides have been busy rallying support from big name factions. The League has turned out support from the other three major leagues: NBA, MLB, and NFL. Naturally, the other major leagues would be concerned with a respect for the “rules” and would want full control of who owns and moves their teams, and thus, a Balsillie victory would surely make them soil their panties. On the other side of the spectrum, the Balsillie camp has rallied support from two major Canadian household heavy weights, Labatt Breweries and Home Hardware. Within days of announcing support for MakeItSeven.ca, Labatt released television commercials promoting the website.

Since my last entry on May 19th, Bettman and the League have maintained that their resistance of the Hamilton relocation is not out of spite or stubbornness, but out of a defense of the principles and rules involved. The League has also thrown clichéd contradictions toward the media suggesting on the one hand that Phoenix was not in trouble, and on the other that they are in trouble, but that the team is fixable. The League has thus decided to ignore the fact that the Coyotes have never won a playoff series, have not made the playoffs in seven straight seasons, and that the new talent is not the caliber to suggest a major turnaround in the upcoming season. So, financially, the team will not be relying on the players to turn attendance around. Gretzky, the “Great One” (he gets quotation marks around his nickname as he has fallen out of favour with me since he announced support of the bid to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix), wasn’t even enough of a draw to bring fans to the fabulous Jobing.com Arena. If Gretzky and free booze and $9 tickets can’t do it, nothing can.

Since my last entry on May 19th, the Phoenix Coyotes’ sometimes-fans have maintained that they exist, although Sportsnet has reported that at no time during the court proceedings did a Coyotes jersey make an appearance around the courthouse. I remember thinking to myself, if this happened in Toronto, there would be riots! A sea of blue and white would be blocking all entry points to the courthouse and anarchy would surely ensue, but then I thought, “Oh, wait a minute, this would never happen in Toronto because we actually support our hockey team through thick and thin!” Furthermore, since the bid on May 5th, season ticket renewals for the Coyotes have dropped from $1.5M to $20K! So instead of feeling that sense of urgency to get up and support their team now more than ever, the Coyotes fans have decided to wait and see if they still have a team to support even when their lack of support is the root of the problem. They are practically saying “Oh we don’t really care about the team, we just care about losing our money!” You’d get a refund, duh! The worst part is, if these proceedings are dragged out through the summer with appeals and all of that, then the Coyotes will have even fewer supporters by the time September rolls around, not more!

Since my last entry on May 19th, the Balsillie camp has moved forward with plans for the $150M total facelift of Copps Coliseum…and it will look niiiiice! Not only will the exterior be beautified, the interior will be upgraded with restaurants, suites, and a higher seating capacity! However, Balsillie has maintained that he is willing to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix for one more year if the scheduling conflict is too much for the League to handle. However, the League will also have to agree to reimburse Balsillie for the losses the team will incur in Glendale in 09-10 – an estimated $45M!

Since my last entry on May 19th, news reporters, sportscasters , and town drunks alike have all argued to death why and why not the Coyotes will work in Hamilton. This is probably the reason I haven’t updated in so long. We KNOW! We know the facts! We know it will work! And we KNOW it’s a long shot! Men are sooo funny, it’s so easy to regurgitate information and it’s so easy to bet against the underdog! But if you haven’t noticed, upsets exist, and when they do happen the payout is sweet!

Since my last entry on May 19th, the NHL playoffs have continued and Detroit and Pittsburgh are meeting in the Cup finals for the second straight year! I need to pause a moment to say, “Neener, neener, neener, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!” My pre-playoff predictions listed a Wings/Pens rematch in the finals (even though at the time I even said, noooo, that can’t be!) So, take THAT, all of you smelly boys with your Bostons and your San Joses! Yesssssss! Too bad I didn’t bet money on it! Oh well, live and learn.

P.S. I predicted the Red Wings in six!

Picture: An artist’s rendering of the New Copps Coliseum!

Posted in 7th Canadian NHL team, NHL playoffs, NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes, jim balsillie | No Comments »

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Judgment Day: Man-up, Toronto, Look out, Bettman!

It’s 11AM in Southern Ontario, where hockey fans and Hamiltonians are eagerly anticipating the outcome of the NHL vs. Jerry Moyes in a bankruptcy court down in sunny Arizona. Of course, it’s only 8AM on the battlefield, and so we will have to keep our breath held for just a little longer. Will the NHL thwart yet another attempt by Jim Balsillie to return hockey to its rightful home? Some feel, and with good reason, that if the NHL is victorious this will be Balsillie’s last foray into the National Hockey League. Or will the Moyes-Balsillie camp live to see another day?

I’ve weighed in on several issues including the future of Gary Bettman in the NHL should he win this case. Once more, Bettman feels that the Balsillie bid was a personal attack on him. A lack of “respect for the rules” he says, but what are rules, when they can be altered or changed at the discretion of the National Hockey League. We have heard countless falsehoods from the NHL, including one of the dirtiest tricks (I think) the NHL has pulled on us yet. The NHL claimed that they were favouring moving the Coyotes back to Winnipeg, and that they wanted Southern Ontario to have an expansion team in a few years – RIGHT! Playing on the sympathies of the twelve year heartache in Winterpeg. The interesting thing about this statement (lie) is that Bettman had said earlier this year that Winnipeg and Quebec City were failed markets because no one wanted to own a team there. What’s changed?

Also, and only a couple months ago, Bettman told a local radio show that Hamilton and Southern Ontario weren’t fit for the NHL because no one had been studying the market, and we can’t give Ontario another team based on “probability.” This latest PR stunt was obviously an attempt to put the fire out on the anger and hatred Canadians are beginning to feel for both Bettman and the National Hockey League. But, I’m sure that if the League wins today, then we will get squat. This latest carrot being tossed to us is surely a plastic one.

From lying to backtracking and name calling, the League has shown us an ugly and desperate side over the last two weeks. Another hotly debated non-issue is the League playing white knight to the Leafs territorial rights. It is my understanding (though I could be wrong) that the Leafs never formally commented on this non-issue. They were being tightlipped for good reason. It is my opinion that the Hamilton franchise could only help them. The Leafs would not lose season ticket holders, in fact they likely wouldn’t even lose waitlisted fans even if said fans successfully acquired Hamilton tickets. Why? Because the Leafs are still the Leafs and fans associate history and original six-ed-ness with prestige. Sure, Hamilton had a team in the twenties, but it’s really not the same thing.

Also the Leafs only make new revenue through non-ticket ventures in avenues like media and merchandise. The Leafs and Coyotes would obviously have to come to some sort of compromise with CBC and TSN, which means fewer Leafs games on basic cable. Maybe this seems like a bad thing, but for Maple Leaf Sports, the owner of LeafsTV, a channel already showing twelve regular season Leafs games exclusively, will suddenly be televising additional games on their terms and maximizing profit. This also means more true blue fans will have to purchase the Leafs TV package if they haven’t done so already. Plus, nothing promotes a hike in merchandise sales like a little competition and provincial rivalry.

I am not denying the disaster that will ensue in Buffalo as a result of this team, and neither is the Sabres organization, they have been just as vocal as the league in smearing the Balsillie camp. Of course the reason the Sabres are in danger is because a majority of their season seats are owned by hockey starved SOUTHERN ONTARIANS! Sure, they will lose much of the Golden Horseshoe, but only if the Coyotes tickets prove to be more cost effective. The Sabres tickets don’t break the bank, and likely the Coyotes will be valued higher than Buffalo, but slightly lower than Toronto.

And speaking of territorial rights, who was there to defend the Rangers territory when the Islanders moved in, and again when the Devils moved in? How can the Rangers function with two teams each twenty minutes from them? Seems Bettman and the League are either (once again) lying to us about our own market, or somehow trying to tell us that New Yorkers are better hockey fans than us? I think I hear the sound of Canadian blood boiling!

If Bettman and the League win today, then they will be facing serious problems down the road. Hockey is, for the most part, an unmarketable commodity. People either want it or they don’t. Phoenix has proven that all but a weak few do not want to see hockey in the desert. A new owner that has to keep the team in AZ will not do any better than the last. Should this go down, the League will be stuck with Phoenix. If they try to move the team a couple years down the road as the debt accumulates (the 2009-10 season projects a $45M loss in Glendale), then no one will stand for it after the major blemish that the Moyes battle will be on the face of the NHL. Surely, Bettman will be removed from his position, and neither Canadians nor Arizonians will ever forgive the NHL.

Make no mistake, fellow Southern Ontarians, the League has no intention to act in our best interests. Our only savior is Jim Balsillie. Our thoughts, hopes, and wishes are with him and Jerry Moyes today. If everything goes well today, then let us pray that the NHL governors will look kindly on us and write a new page in the ongoing history of hockey by bringing the game back to Hamilton.

Posted in NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes, hamilton, jerry moyes, jim balsillie | No Comments »

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Reading Between the Lines: thoughts on the showdown at the Arizona bankruptcy court.

The NHL is maintaining that Coyotes’ majority owner Jerry Moyes was not in control of the team at the time that he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (the move which led to Jim Balsillie’s bid for purchase and relocation of the team), and thus that the filing is not valid (which makes you wonder why Moyes would proceed in the first place). I’m not a lawyer or anything, but that seems pretty black and white. If this document exists then the filing wasn’t legit, and the NHL will win on May 19th. You would think that the league would be happy or at least confident in knowing that they possessed such a valuable document; but that’s not the case. Instead, Bill Daly and Gary Bettman have mounted a full on campaign to villanize Jim Balsillie which seems to be geared towards turning the other 29 NHL owners against him. Why bother you ask? After all, if the filing wasn’t legit then the process will not even get to the owners vote on relocation.

On the other side we have Jim Balsillie who has continued progress toward prepping Hamilton for the arrival of the desert dogs. While the league has been scrambling like the Republican party of the Obama/McCain faceoff last fall, Balsillie has been working out agreements with the city of Hamilton for the permanent use of Copps Coliseum. Both parties seem to be working towards the same event, an event that occurs well after these bankruptcy proceedings – and that is the vote on relocation. Sounds like the league doesn’t have an ace up their sleeve after all. Don’t be surprised if, much like in the Obama/McCain election, Phoenix will lose.

As for the owners, perhaps the league is trying to cast a negative spotlight on Jim Balsillie as a way to confuse them from questioning their actions regarding Jerry Moyes. Bill Daly has been putting words into the mouths of the other 29 owners, stating that he doesn’t believe that they will take too kindly to the way Mr. Balsillie has gone about acquiring his hockey club. The truth of the matter is Balsillie made a bid, and with that bid he has stated that he is willing to pay a lot of money for the Coyotes franchise but only on the condition that the team be moved to a viable market. If this doesn’t fly with the league, then they don’t get his money plain and simple. This isn’t a charity venture it’s a business venture. There is no gun being held to the proverbial head of the National Hockey League.

It’s my feeling that the owners should be more concerned with the behaviour of the league in how they have dealt with both Balsillie and Moyes. The league apparently has the right to strip owners of their authority when they do something that the league doesn’t like. As an owner investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a team I would not feel secure in that role any longer. I would also not feel secure in a league that cries about enforcing the “rules” when they change the rules as it suits them. I would not want to do business with an organization that feels they can “insert clauses” as they see fit and blow smoke up the behinds of fans and owners alike.

I’m not sure why anyone would listen to Bettman’s radio show. You can’t trust anything coming out of the mouth of the league. After all, only a matter of weeks ago Bettman was in Phoenix claiming that everything was fine and that Jerry Moyes was controlling team! They seem to be lying to us worse than a politician desperate for votes. Trust no one. http://makeitseven.ca

Posted in NHL relocation, National Hockey League, Phoenix Coyotes, jerry moyes, jim balsillie, nhl owners | No Comments »

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Memories of Copps Coliseum & how I celebrated my graduation.

I was asked what I had planned to do to celebrate finishing my last exam ever at U of T on Wednesday. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought of anything. There was more important business afoot! Surprise, surprise; the major bombshell that Jim Balsillie had made a formal bid for the purchase and relocation of my newly beloved Phoenix Coyotes to, essentially, my backyard hit on the night before my final exam. How much studying do you think I did that night? None. That’s right. Actually none. If the NHL playoffs weren’t enough of a distraction, then the excitement of this news definitely put me over the edge. I stayed up the entire night just sitting and thinking about the future of the Coyotes. This was what I wanted. I had formed online communities a week earlier trying to rally hockey fans to start considering another Canadian team. Was I going to be getting my wish? Was this all a part of the mystical Arizona prophecy that led me to turn my life completely upside down at the trade deadline?

When I walked away from Jobing.com Arena after the Coyotes final game of the 2008-09 season, I was troubled to be facing the six long months of the off season without any clue as to what to do next in my quest to find my supposed destiny with “the Arizona connection.” I thought about what would happen if I just walked away. If I gave up on following some prediction blindly and had a reality check. School is over. Now the real world begins. Real jobs, real responsibilities, real clips on my wings. My traveling road show would surely suffer. Things would have to be different and I knew I would have to spend the off season figuring out what to do next. If hockey was a part of this “higher plan,” I thought, then if I walked away mountains would move. The team would be relocated to Hamilton. (Yes, I actually said that to some of my friends after the game in Anaheim in March). Was this the off season epiphany that I was hoping for? Were the mountains moving?

I will admit I had an internal struggle coming to terms with being a Phoenix fan for the last two months of the season. Mostly because I knew why I was there. I knew that I had decided to take a huge personal and financial risk and blindly follow two years worth of psychic predictions to various ports in the continental U.S . I felt crazy even by my standards, and I didn’t like the feeling. However, when I started hearing things about the real financial situation in Phoenix, I realized that this really was my team, and I wanted them here at all costs!

So, when I finished writing my final exam Wednesday night, and “Don’t Stop Believing” finally stop playing in my head, I thought about doing something to celebrate my domination of U of T in true Psycho Lady fashion. I decided I would drive over to Copps Coliseum and do some positive “visualization.” I’m not going to lie, I drove out to the 427/7 a couple times last week (the site of the purposed Vaughan arena should an NHL team move there). I’ve already proven that I believe in one form of crazy, so why not just go all out and go “The Secret” on the ass of the Coyotes. It’s the most I can do anyway. Stay positive that is. I won’t even talk to anyone who wants to argue the negative side of this situation!

As I drove to Hamilton I was reminded of all the times I had ventured to Copps Coliseum. This first time was during the lockout of 2004-05. I was 19 years old and a wreck at the loss of my beloved NHL. I had two options: huddle in a corner until the NHL was restored or explore a brand new league. I felt a little old for the OHL, so the AHL was the next best thing. At that time the Toronto Marlies still called St. John’s home, so the nearest team was the Hamilton Bulldogs. At the time I was still a die-hard Leafs fan, so the fact that the Bulldogs were affiliated with Montreal didn’t sit well with me as a loyal servant of the blue and white.

The first game was against the Cleveland Barons, the former AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks. The Bulldogs were wearing their Hamilton Ti-cats jersey. I remember thinking that this was their actual jersey and how ugly and bizarre it was. The following year I would go to Cleveland for four games. The drive home was impossible. We drove around downtown Hamilton for probably close to an hour. The one way streets confused me and I couldn’t find my way back to the 403. It was funny that this time around I still had the same Tim Horton’s navigational marker.

During the lockout, the St. John’s Maple Leafs played special games at the ACC. I would go to those games too, but I also went to see them make an appearance at Copps. The arena was packed and if you squinted your eyes, it looked just like the heated Toronto/Montreal rivalry of old! These preliminary games ultimately led me to the beginning of my road trips. Eventually, I turned to the Milwaukee Admirals, the, then, defending Calder Cup champions. Over the next three seasons I would return to the Chiclet coloured seats of Copps Coliseum for every Admirals road game. But by the second half of 2006-07, I moved up to the big leagues and that’s where I’ve stayed.

My final trip to Copps was in the off season after the 2006-07 season. The Flyers didn’t make playoffs, so now I was in baseball mode. My friend and I went to the Jays game wearing matching Red Wings jerseys. The fans and Ace (the Blue Jays’ mascot) were not impressed with us. We decided to flee to Hamilton because Grand Rapids (Detroit’s farm team) was in town for a playoff game. However, by the time we arrived at Copps, we were greeted by an amusing McDonald’s employee who regaled us with the tale of his latest antiquing adventure. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the game.

I’m sure the correlation between my Phoenix “magic” and the news that the team could possibly be moving to Hamilton hasn’t been lost on my readers, but aside from this coincidence, the 2008-09 season has been one of coming full circle. This season witnessed a shift in my fan allegiance as well as my return to brunette-dom, Detroit (the site of my first solo NHL trip in 06-07), and Team Canada (the WJC being the subplot to the events of my senior year in high school, which ultimately led to me writing my book and becoming an even bigger hockey nut. It’s worth noting that this season was also a graduation year for me as well). So, will the movement of the Coyotes to Hamilton be a return to the rink that started it all? Is this to be the end of my traveling road show? Truthfully it would be nice to settle down as a season ticket holder, root for my home team, and become a (somewhat more) normal girl. Besides, I’d love nothing more than a 40+ game season! Anyway, a girl can dream, can’t she? Here’s to the future! http://makeitseven.ca

Picture 1: My last game at Copps Coliseum in Decemeber 2006. Milwaukee Admirals @ Hamilton Bulldogs. Still a blonde! (I’m the one in the black!)

Picture 2: My friend, Ace, and I at Skydome (Rogers Centre) before my last trip to Copps Coliseum in April 2007! Ace isn’t a Red Wings fan.

Posted in 7th Canadian NHL team, NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes, copps coliseum, hamilton | No Comments »

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Message in Canadian film lost on Commissioner Bettman.

Sources tell me that Gary Bettman reportedly claims that his favourite movie is Canadian action-comedy Bon Cop, Bad Cop. Is this actually his favourite movie? Unlikely. Bettman is the type of guy that passive aggressively asserts his authority when confronted with any noun (both proper and non) that questions decisions or mistakes he has made in the past. Ask this guy a question about any entrepreneurial misadventure that he has supported and he literally huffs and puffs on his precious radio show in a weak attempt to save face. Come on, could this man really love a movie that so well articulated the Canadian experience of all that is Bettman? The man who has taken away not one, but two of our beloved franchises, and refuses to give them back even when the economy is screaming, “Make it seven in Canada or die?!” The man who has stopped our beloved game from being played on three separate occasions, and for an entire season in his most recent tyrannical campaign!?

For those of you unaware of this cinematic masterpiece, Bon Cop, Bad Cop is about a crazed Montreal hockey fan that resorts to killing a series of members of the “mock” NHL community after commissioner Harry Buttman endeavours to relocate the Montreal franchise to the United States. Maybe the motive behind the creation of this fictional scenario was lost on this man of certified intelligence. Maybe he wasn’t aware that the key messages were A) Canadians love hockey enough to kill for it, and B) the whole world believes that Bettman hates Canada and will stop at nothing until Canada loses its game for good.

Once again, business mogul and patron saint and savior of Canadian hockey, Jim Balsillie has reached deep into his pockets to rescue a formerly Canadian hockey club from complete destruction. Balsillie offered to buy the Phoenix Coyotes for $212.5M (book value $143M). However, the man is not a fool. Hockey has failed in the desert, no, it has gone beyond failed. Who in their right mind would throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a team that is:

1) Losing $20M a year.

2) Losing fans because the team hasn’t made the playoffs in seven years.

3) Losing fans despite building new fabulous arena because location was an inconvenient 20 minutes from town. (I know my fellow Canadians are laughing at this statement!)

4) Attracting minimal fans based on star power of head coach alone. A coach that has failed to bring the team to playoffs during entire stint as supreme bench boss. A coach that would have been removed if he wasn’t Wayne Gretzky. A coach that will eventually step down, and then what? The Coyotes run out of shiny assets,

just to keep it on barren soil? No, doesn’t make sense does it?

Of course, Bettman viewed Basillie’s attempt to rescue a struggling club from bankruptcy and move it to a market which will surely prosper (in other words his attempt to rescue the league) as a personal attack on his manhood. Bettman is like the hard headed male who would rather drive around for hours than stop at the nearest gas station and ask for directions. It’s like he would rather the league lose more money (let’s not forget he allowed the league to lose $1.8B over 10 years) than admit he made a mistake with one of the franchises born under his vision! This is why he chooses, even now during the current recession, to pursue the idea of expanding the league to even more inhospitable markets than admitting to a mistake (even if it means that terminal clubs burn holes in the league until the league is beyond repair)!

Would Bettman have come to a decision to relocate to southern Ontario on his own? Maybe eventually, but ONLY if he came to the decision ENTIRELY on his own. The fact that Bettman feels that his authority is being undermined, and that he didn’t come up with the idea for the move on his own is the very root of the problem. Much like the smoke he has blown on the southern Ontario market (stating the market was only a ‘probable’ success) and the Coyotes’ strong financial stability in Phoenix only mere weeks ago, Bettman huffed on the Balsillie situation, “This is not about whether or not we want a franchise in southern Ontario and whether or not Mr. Balsillie would make a suitable owner that the (NHL) owners would approve.” Really? Because I thought that was exactly what it was about? Let the league suffer just to keep all the Bettman pawns in play. Bettman likes to pick and choose when the issue is business and when it isn’t. If this is about business, then why isn’t there another team in southern Ontario already? If he’s concerned with the financial security and prosperity of the league, then why isn’t he exploiting markets which will bring home the bacon? The issue is simply, “I don’t want a team in southern Ontario and I don’t want Jim Balsillie as an owner because he will prove just how wrong I was about hockey in the desert!.” It’s not about business, it’s about pride.

The few, the proud, the Arizona based Coyotes fans, don’t be fooled. Bettman is not resisting Balsillie in your best interests. If he wins this battle, the team is not safe. Eventually he will realize that nothing can be done with your club and the team will be moved. Except the team will not be moved where the team will be loved; it will be moved to somewhere like Vegas or Kansas City where they will, once again, be neglected and will eventually have to fold. (The only good thing about this is that Bettman would likely lose his job if he caused all this drama for no greater good in the long run.) If you love your team, then set it free. Let your hometown heroes flourish within the league, instead of condemning them to unemployment. Remember, they were our team first. We will take good care of them.

In the world of Canadian cinema, the evil Commissioner learns his lesson after being kidnapped by our beloved Montreal based hockey fan and serial killer. He retracts his decision to relocate Montreal and implements a clause to keep all Canadian teams in Canada stating that he has realized that we Canadians really, really, love our hockey. It’s a shame Bettman didn’t heed this lesson because this ongoing protest against a seventh Canadian club is becoming, not only a petty battle with a billionaire tycoon, but a full blown war with a nation.

Support Jim Balsillie’s move to rescue the Canadian born Phoenix Coyotes and relocate them to southern Ontario! MakeItSeven.ca

Posted in 7th Canadian NHL team, Bon Cop Bad Cop, NHL relocation, Phoenix Coyotes | No Comments »

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