There is quite a bit of speculation regarding a possible outdoor game on New Years Day in Buffalo between the Pens and the Sabres. I talked to a few sources yesterday that confirmed to me that "major steps" have occured in the last few days that make the game more and more likely to becoming a reality. One source said, "I would be very surprised now if it did not happen."
WHY WE NEED TO KEEP HOCKEY IN NASHVILLE
Many of you have been reading me since the “blogspot” days and many of you are new to this site. Many of you see me as a “rumour guy” and yes that is something I love to do. I love to talk to sources, I love to fit pieces together to the puzzle, and I love writing it all for you here everyday. It would be far easier to just write about teams and what happened in the games, but there are plenty of hockey people doing that. I know my niche, and I embrace it “full tilt” all year long. I love to hear about rumours as much as you all do. I have for years said that there is nothing more exciting than thinking about and talking about how a certain player “fits” into your team’s sweater.
However, those of you who have been with me the longest know that at my core there is one thing that matters.
When I first started writing about hockey on an everyday basis it was during hockey’s darkest days. The year of the lockout was a nightmare for all of us. I used my sources then in a very different way than I do now. And they used me to try to get out anything positive at all to the fans of the sport longing to get their passion back. And it was very much a “longing.” We all remember those days. Sometimes they feel like forever ago, and sometimes they feel like it just happened.
As a kid growing up I never remember fearing that any of my teams would not be there as I grew up….That one day the Flyers would "up and move to Nova Scotia" never was anywhere near my radar.
But this year two entire cities of fans (and burgeoning hockey kids like I was) have been forced to look at a reality that their teams may not be staying. In Pittsburgh it came very close to happening and yet the team is now staying and will continue to be a part of the souls of Western PA hockey fans for years and years to come. The Pens had won Stanley Cups and have been around since 1967. That is worth noting when you look at Nashville.
Pittsburgh is a city that has seen its highs and lows. Once a booming area that provided steel for the entire world, Pittsburgh lost almost everything. In 1967 there was little doubt that Pittsburgh could support an NHL franchise. By 1997 there was a ton of doubt and had it not been for Mario Lemieux it would have all gone “poof.”
The fact is takes only a very few KEY people, along with regional stability, to keep almost every franchise alive. And that applies to 90% of all the franchises in hockey. A few key people leave or something goes wrong in town and “poof” is possible everywhere. Today, with the American dollar losing ground to the Canadian dollar, suddenly teams up in Canada are more secure. There are people who believe the cap’s increase has more to do with that simple and uncontrollable fact than anything else.
So let’s talk about why I am flying myself to Tennessee tomorrow. Why do we need to save Nashville? Why does this matter to me and why should it matter to you?
Let’s first dispel the myths of what this is NOT about.
This is NOT about putting another team in Canada. I believe that, and I am quite certain that another team is coming to Ontario. Jim proved what everyone knew. The area is in desperate need of another team. That is a given. Three NHL teams in the NY area, Two in LA…there should be AT LEAST two in Toronto. I also feel that Winnipeg will get another team as well. It's only a matter of when and how....and key person with financial stability.
This is NOT about Nashville not being a “hockey town.” It is true that Nashville is not yet a corporate hockey town, but it is 100% a hockey town and anyone who has seen a game there comes away believing. However, financial stability takes time. It also takes an enormous amount of luck when you are trying to start hockey in the day and age of luxury suites in a new market. Again, it takes just a few people stepping up.
So that is NOT why I am going to Nashville.
I am going because I remember the feeling of the lockout. Hockey being denied you. I remember being shut out of a sport that I poured so much of my life and heart into.
I believe in hockey in Nashville. I have seen the scene at a game and around the arena. It is absolutely amazing. There is almost nothing like it. I can imagine one day a giant party outside the arena and fans cheering and singing on Broadway as the Preds battle for a Stanley Cup inside. There would be no better party in the entire NHL. Nashville will one day get to show the rest of the world how two throw a Stanley Cup party. Can you imagine a parade down Broadway!
You may not believe it makes economic sense. You could easily argue the risk involved with hockey in a southern town. You could easily argue that it has failed financially in the short term. You may be able to argue that on a macro level, but this, for me at least, is not about "macro." At the end of the day there IS a team in Nashville, and as hockey fans we should support the people who have it. They should be allowed to keep it.
It is about them. It is about Micro.
It is about the families that go to the games in Nashville.
The kids wearing their jerseys.
The youth hockey programs.
The high school programs.
The hope that someday one of those kids from Tennessee will wow us all in the NHL. It will happen. This area has provided the world some of its great Athletes...They just didn't know hockey existed when they grew up playing Baseball and Basketball...
But Hockey Can trap you. You can fall in love with hockey.
Thinking of hockey fans who fell in love and then could lose the sport is terrible. That thought is what is driving me. That thought feels wrong to my core. That thought feels like the lockout and THAT is why I am going.
Nashville needs to be able to have its party one day. And then the world will see what this place os all about and fall in love as I have. With Hockey in Nashville.
And that is why I hope that many of you Nashville fans come tomorrow and call your friends and neighbors to either buy season tickets or to go in on them with you. If you know someone in the corporate world call them. I will be happy to print anyone’s name on here tomorrow that buys any season tickets and if you email me your story I will print that as well.
Remember this.
As of this point the team is in your hands. There is still hope. You have some control right now.
I AM ALSO IMPLORING THE REST OF THE HOCKEYWORLD TO HELP OUT...VISIT SAVETHEPREDS.COM WHERE YOU CAN BUY A SHIRT OR FIND OUT MORE INFO. MONEY RAISED GOES TOWARDS BUYING SEASON TICKETS FOR BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTERS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE
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