So much has happened during the past five years of LCS Hockey. While providing coverage of the game we loved, we wrote the final chapters of some of the hockey's greatest heroes. We saw the emergence of the game's next generation that will be counted on to take the sport into the next millenium. And we saw the NHL change the game of hockey, as well.

And all of it was for the worse.

Let me explain.

First of all, what good could have possibly come out of the retirement of some of the game's greatest, including Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Nicholls and Johnny Cullen? They carried the torch for the league, and their departure surely will be missed.

Sure, Lemieux's retirement meant he could help save the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise from leaving the city, but I'd much rather still see Le Magnifique grace a frozen sheet of ice rather than a Pittsburgh courtroom.

And Gretzky was just Gretzky. Love him or hate him, the man was what hockey was all about. He played the game like a kid his whole career. He didn't take advantage of the game. He never abused it.

Broadway Bernie and Cully? Well, they were just cool players who gave their all to the game.

Which brings me to the next point - the stars of the future. While the players of the past had attitude on the ice, the new generation of stars has it both on and off.

They're cocky. They think they're better than they are. And they make a heck of a lot of money - more than they probably should. That's not the players' faults, rather the blame for that falls on the owners. But the players have big attitudes even though they're not backing it up with big performances. Sergei Fedorov, I'm looking in your direction.

In this new age of expansion, players who would have never seen the light of day in the league a few years ago have found jobs on first and second lines. Do you think the old-timers who played in the days of the Original Six don't laugh at some of the teams iced today? You bet your bippy they do.

Just about every player on teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders should get a "Thanks Expansion" tattoo on their asses.

It's quite embarrassing, really, to watch the NHL try and market this game the way it is. I mean, who really wants to go to a Lightning game? Who is going to care about a big Thrashers-Predators matchup next season?

Not us here at LCS Hockey. That's why we're getting out while we can.

When we first started this fine publication, the NHL was still cool. There was lots of scoring. There was lots of talent. And there were some intriguing players out there that deserved to be praised.

There weren't a lot of expansion teams. There wasn't an absence of superstars. And there wasn't an aura of idiocy surrounding the league.

As the years went along, we at LCS Hockey started seeing the bad moves the league was making. We tried to warn. We tried to scold. We tried to embarrass. For a while we thought we could do some good. But the evil grip of cold, hard cash got the best of Czar Bettman and his merry band of hooligans.

Gary Bettman

"Let's make the game more network TV friendly!" Bettman screamed. "That way we can get more money and improve our status as a premier league in the United States!"

"Let's bring in robots and glowing pucks!" said the executives at FOX. "Although they're not complaining, we know the fans can't follow the action without a glowin' puck!"

"Let's bring in more expansion teams!" Bettman shouted as the throngs of fans started beating viciously on his front door. "More expansion teams means more money for the league! We love money!!!"

"And while we're at it, let's take the game away from the people who love it the most!" he added. "Screw the Canadians and everything they think hockey stands for! We need more money!!!"

And so the league let its eyes focus on the green American paper.

And the game has gone to hell.

Southern expansion has watered down the game. It has also watered down the ice - into what is sometimes known as "slush." Yep, that's exactly what Lord Stanley hoped the game would be played on. Because, you know, when you're playing on slush, you can't skate, stickhandle or pass. That will make the game more marketable for everyone!

You'd think that while they were at it, the league would want to tinker with the rules of the game. Oh, wait. The league did.

When better goaltending led to fewer goals, what did the league do? Make it harder to score, no doubt. Anyone who dares enter the crease when a goal is scored shall be mocked. No ifs, ands or buts about it. It's a black and white issue...well, until the last game of the 1999 Stanley Cup finals.

And while we're at it, let's bring in a shootout to decide games. No one likes to see a tie, right? Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed on this one. But don't count out the shootout just yet. Next year the league will introduce a 4-on-4 in overtime to help decide games. Plus, each team will get a point just for making it to overtime, making the last couple minutes of regular-season games meaningless while everyone waits to get their point and try to win in overtime.

You know, people complain a lot about the length of Major League Baseball games, but do you see them cutting the number of innings down from nine to seven? No. Baseball doesn't tinker with rules like that. That's why the game has stood the test of time.

The NHL, I'm afraid, is tinkering too much with its rules. The integrity of the game is gone. The NHL also has tinkered too much with its number of teams. And its players.

And, most of all, the league has put too much stress and strain on its fans.

When LCS Hockey started, myself, Zippy, Delly and Matthew loved to watch NHL games. And we loved to write about them. But as the years went along and the game became a mockery of its former self, the love affair we had with hockey fizzled out.

Sure, I'll still watch an occasional game. But to tell you the truth, I didn't even want to watch the Stanley Cup finals this year. Call me crazy, but I would like to see a good tape-to-tape pass every once in a while. I'd like to see a power play dominate a game. And I'd love to see a game that included a good fight.

But, alas, the days of those fine plays are gone. And, I'm afraid, they might never return. The game has gone in a new direction. Business dictates what players and teams do off the ice - that has always happened. But now business dictates what happens on the ice, as well.

While teams and players get rich, the game has been cheapened.

Thank you, Gary Bettman. And thanks to all of your cronies.

Oh, by the way. I'm still going to watch hockey games. But my vantage point will be from on the ice and on the bench as I play the game I love the way it is meant to be played.

I don't need the NHL to tell me what real hockey is. I've seen real hockey played in the past, and I try to re-live it every time I lace up my skates.

My suggestion to the other fans of real hockey - do the same. Play the game yourself and enjoy it.

Don't let the NHL sell you their watered down version of the game. No matter how good they say it is.

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