To little surprise, fans are expressing their lockout-related rage on various forums with opening night officially beyond saving.
One interesting venue is TSN’s main NHL page.
The network put up a simple poll asking if fans will return to NHL hockey once the work stoppage runs its course. While the majority said “Yes,” a stunning 44.4 percent of the 30,807 voters said they wouldn’t.
As people like Aaron Portzline point out, it’s unlikely that such a large segment of the potential NHL audience will truly be lost. Still, it gives Bill Daly & Co. good reason to worry about how much momentum could be lost.
Another interesting and more anecdotal bit of fan rage comes from Paul Friesen’s account of Jim Slater’s experiences with some upset people at a bar.
#NHLJets J Slater: “We were at a bar one night and guys are yelling, ‘You guys should be playing hockey and not drinking.'" Fans get'g angry
— Paul Friesen (@friesensunmedia) October 11, 2012
Slater admits he understands how fans are feeling.
“They’re mad at both sides. If I was a fan, I would be, too,” Slater said.
It looks like there’s a lot of angry fans, at that.