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PHT’s top 13 of ’13: The lockout finally, mercifully ends

Gary Bettman, Donald Fehr

We always felt they’d work it out and there would be some semblance of a season.

But still, when Gary Bettman said, “Don Fehr and I are here to tell you that we have reached an agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement,” there was a huge sense of relief that the two sides were able to come together. Because there was always that slight chance they wouldn’t and the NHL would go into a deep, dark hole again.

Looking back, the thought of another canceled season so soon after the last one -- as foul and obnoxious as that thought may have been, given we had no particular interest in following the KHL playoffs or going out and getting real jobs -- was in fact what kept us so optimistic. Surely they wouldn’t do it again. As we wrote last Christmas while the work stoppage was still in full effect, “it would be so unfathomably foolish” to let it get to that point.

As writers, the lockout was not an enjoyable topic to cover. It certainly wasn’t why we got into the profession; we did that to avoid getting real jobs. Sure, we got to write the odd funny headline, like “Wingels is KooKoo for Finland,” and we’ll always be proud of that. But mostly our days were filled with rehashing what was said or done by the key figures in the dispute, trying to figure out why they said it or did it, then reading angry comments from people who didn’t care about the what or the why; they just wanted their hockey back.

If there was anything that surprised us about the lockout, it was how quickly everyone forgot about it. To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t even seem like it ended this year. So much has happened since Jan. 6, and the league doesn’t seem to have been damaged whatsoever.

Maybe that shouldn’t have surprised us though. Maybe it was as simple as this: Hockey fans love hockey, and they love watching the best players in the world play it. When that was taken away, there was anger. And when it was given back, there was still anger, but not enough for fans to stay away in protest. Because why do that to yourself? To make some sort of statement? Suffice to say, there are better (or worse, as the case may be) things in the world to protest than a professional sports lockout.

That being said, the NHL better not shut down again when the current CBA expires. That right there would be the death of the league. The fans would rise up. It would be a disaster of biblical proportions. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together.

OK, so those last few sentences were actually quotes from Ghostbusters. We just really, really...really don’t want to cover another lockout. Or get real jobs.