Murphy's Law hit the National Hockey League hard over the past two weeks.

Gary Bettman didn't shut down the National Hockey League for two weeks to see the Czech Republic play Russia for the Olympic gold medal. Nothing against either team, but since the entire reason for letting NHL players in the Olympics was to let the Canadian and American stars shine on an international level, a gold medal game not including either one of these teams was unforeseen and counterproductive. When millions and millions of marketing dollars were up for grabs, the need for a North American team in the gold medal game was crucial. Unfortunately for Bettman, it didn't happen.

Gary Bettman didn't shut down the National Hockey League for two weeks to see Team USA play some of the most uninspired hockey by a U.S. team in quite some time. Some wondered loudly if an amateur U.S. team would have done better by playing on enthusiasm and heart alone. The Americans looked bored by the whole event and their outward signs of nonchalance toward being knocked out before the medal round soured many people back in the States on the whole experience. America's image was tarnished even more when news that Team USA players allegedly trashed their rooms after the loss. Way to go guys, you made Americans proud to be Americans...

Gary Bettman didn't shut down the National Hockey League for two weeks to see Wayne Gretzky and Team Canada denied a gold medal, let alone bronze. With Team USA out of the picture, Bettman's final hopes rested with Team Canada. But Dominik Hasek foiled "Plan B" by turning in an incredible performance and stealing a win away from a powerhouse team full of NHL stars. Then, in an incredible move, a majority of members on Team Canada said a bronze medal was insignificant - it was gold or nothing. Never mind that a nation full of young hockey players back home would have killed for a shot at winning a medal in the Olympics, whether it be gold, silver or bronze.

All in all, the 1998 Olympics should be a time to forget as far as Gary Bettman is concerned. For all of the trouble he and the league had to go through to make things work, the outcome was a far cry from what was expected.

Bad TV time slots was the first thing to turn off many fans. In order to watch games, fans had to stay up into all hours of the night to catch a live glimpse of Olympic action. Some of the best games didn't even start until 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast, meaning many had to miss work, miss sleep or watch highlights of games the next day after they already knew the outcome.

If the league really wanted to win over fans, it should have had the games played in their entirety during prime time hours. The games wouldn't even have had to been played live. Replayed games are still exciting. But they have to be played at a decent time when all members of the family can watch and they have to be played in their entirety. I'm sure one day of figure skating missed every now and then wouldn't have upset too many fans. I know if I had to watch that damn Frenchy that looked like a pirate prance his way around the ice one more day, I was going to hit someone. And I'd hit them very hard.

Speaking of hitting very hard, what was up with Team USA and the dormitory incident? The juvenile behavior shown by whomever on the team that was involved in the destruction of property was totally uncalled for. Sure, the team lost in a most disappointing way, but perhaps if the team used that pent-up anger on the ice instead of in their rooms they might have still been playing for a medal. The rumors of the team partying it up during the tournament didn't help, either.

The idea of playing for a medal was pretty much a lost cause for Team Slovakia. The bias by the NHL toward teams like the United States and Canada became obvious as soon as the tournament started. NHL stars that could have played for Team Slovakia weren't able to leave the NHL early to help their team make it out of the first round of play. All NHL players missed the team's first two games, and only two were inserted into the lineup in the loss to Kazakhstan. Peter Bondra got their chance to play for their country, but players like Ziggy Palffy and Jozef Stumpel missed out.

Anaheim's Ruslan Salei was able to help Belarus make the second round, but that's only because the NHL suspended him for head butting. That allowed him to leave early for Nagano and give his team an advantage over others.

Salei was able to help his team in the Olympics despite being suspended by the NHL. Ulf Samuelsson, on the other hand, was thrown out of the Olympic Games for doing nothing wrong. It seems Samuelsson carries both U.S. and Swedish passports. An obscure Swedish law states that if a citizen gets a passport to another country, he or she automatically loses their Swedish citizenship. That meant Samuelsson was illegally playing for Sweden and he got the boot. Another bad image for NHL players in the Olympics, indeed.

What image could have been worse than that of Wayne Gretzky sitting alone on the Team Canada bench, biting his lip and holding back tears after Dominik Hasek stopped Brendan Shanahan and ended Canada's quest for a gold medal? The sight was just one of many for Team Canada that didn't sit well with Canadians and NHL fans all over the world. Another came before the Olympics started when Paul Kariya was knocked loopy by a Gary Suter cross check. The blow to the chin gave Kariya a concussion that kept him from playing in Japan for the second time this season. The first came when Kariya was holding out while his Ducks started the season across the ocean.

Another bad sight, especially for Colorado Avalanche fans, happened when Joe Sakic went down with a sprained knee ligament in Team Canada's quarterfinal game against Kazakhstan. A Kazak player fell onto Sakic's leg after he was knocked to the ice by defenseman Rob Blake. Sakic will be out of the Avalanche lineup for at least two weeks.

Everything that could have went wrong for Gary Bettman and Co. did go wrong in Nagano. An NHL superstar was injured. Neither Team Canada nor Team USA received a medal. An NHL player was thrown out of the Games. And members of Team USA disgraced not only themselves but also the rest of their nation with a temper tantrum after a loss.

The only good to come out of the NHL Winter Break was the showcasing of Hasek. But did the NHL really need to shut down for two weeks to assure the world that he is the best goaltender in the league? Probably not.

It was a good try, but perhaps the Olympics should be left to the real stars of the past two weeks - the amateur athletes who have sacrificed everything else in their lives to represent their countries.

[ issues | web extra | stats | nhl archive | home | chat | mailing list | about us | search | comments ]

1998 © Copyright LCS Hockey All Rights Reserved