By Jason Menard,
Whether your name is Dorothy or Dmitri, there really is no place like home.
In the wake of Alexander Burmistrov’s return to the KHL and Ilya Kovalchuk’s decision to forsake $77 million US to return to his homeland, the Winnipeg Sun’s Paul Friesen looked into whether teams should be concerned about drafting and investing in Russian players. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
You’re almost there, Gary. Winnipeg’s back, Quebec City may be on its way, and the National Hockey League’s realignment of teams into (relatively sensible) geographic regions has earned the league much praise. But one cosmetic change could make this realignment a historic success.
And that’s by embracing the league’s history. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
Will NHL fans come flocking back to the league? Absolutely — it’s part of who we are and it’s part of what makes us a community.
I was asked this question yesterday by an old friend Scott Kitching on Blackburn Radio and I replied honestly: some fans may want to play hard ball, but once they start seeing the previous night’s highlights on TV, hearing the fans banter on sports talk radio, or overhearing the annual debates around the watercooler, they’ll want to be part of the action again.
Being an NHL fan isn’t just a choice — it’s a feeling.
And while I said and believed it yesterday; today I felt it for the first time in a long time. Continue reading
By Jason Menard,
It’s a day of mixed emotions for many NHL fans — they’re thrilled the league has resolved its differences and brought the lockout to an end, but they’re equally angry at both the owners and the players for depriving them of their game — and they don’t know how to react.
The answer? Fans just have to remember, this wasn’t personal — it’s just business. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
For a country that’s known for quiet pride, politeness, and generally being unassuming on a global scale, when it comes to hockey, we can crank up the hyperbole machine with the best of them.
Don’t be surprised by a rise in carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of all the national hand-wringing brought about by the combination of the National Hockey League’s lock-out and a fourth-place finish by our under-20 squad at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Continue reading
The M-Dash by Jason Menard 