Cancelling a season is a tragedy
The NHL season being canceled is indeed a tragedy.
Many people are greatly affected by the loss of their favorite professional sport. Tragedy is defined as a disastrous event. To many hockey fans, no NHL season is exactly this.
Perhaps a better word to describe the events of 9-11 or the recent tsunami would be catastrophe; a momentous tragic event ranging from extreme misfortune to utter overthrow or ruin, a violent and sudden change in a feature of the earth.
While I will agree that these catastrophes are direr in nature than the loss of an NHL season, it still is tragic in nature that the cancellation of the season was the final outcome.
There is also an issue of luxury tax on player payroll that is being disagreed on. The real issue and cause of the lockout is that the owners want “cost certainty.” That is to say they want a figure that will guarantee at the current level that all NHL teams can “break even.”
I would be more sympathetic to the owners' views of greedy players but there is one thing that sticks in my mind. With all of this reducing the salaries of players to cut back on costs, will there be a reduction in ticket prices?
The answer, not likely.
This leads one to question which side is truly being “greedy.
There is a history to these hockey traditions, like throwing octopi or hats onto the ice which seem odd to those who are unfamiliar with the sport.
The first octopus was thrown on the ice on April 15, 1952. At the time it was still the “Original Six”, (Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Boston, and New York), and it only took eight wins to win the Stanley Cup.
Each tentacle represented one of the eight wins needed to win the cup. It was one of those odd things that stuck and has been a part of Red Wings culture and tradition since.
As for the throwing of hats on the ice, it has to do with a hatrick or when a player scores three goals in a game.
When a player scores his third goal of a game, fans usually throw hats on the ice.
Rumor has it that a Toronto haberdasher gave players in the 1940s free hats if they would score three goals in a game.
The term however, probably evolved from cricket. In 1858 a cricket player in England took three wickets with consecutive balls, an incredible trick.
As a reward, his club gave the bowler a new hat, hence the name “hat trick”.
Hockey like every other sport is rich in tradition.
It is indeed tragic that this season has left its mark on hockey tradition by not having a season, but I look forward to the future where new traditions may be emerge in the world of hockey.