Two former Lightning players, and one current one, talk about their time playing in the Québec Major Junior Hockey League with Rimouski Océanic.

Michel Ouellet, Brad Richards, and Vincent Lecavalier - as well as Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who also played junior hockey for Rimouski - have all been named honorary captains at the Memorial Cup Tournament in Rimouski, Québec. Crosby, of course, is still playing in the Eastern Conference Finals so he is unable to attend. The Memorial Cup Tournament is the Canadian major junior hockey championship.

This year, an addendum to Rule 56, known as the Sutter Rule, was implemented taking aim at late game instigator penalties. It reads, in it's entirety:

(NEW for 2005-06) A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime, shall be assessed an instigator minor penalty, a major for fighting, a ten minute misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension. The length of suspension will double for each subsequent offense. In addition, the player's coach shall be fined $10,000 -- a fine that will double for each subsequent incident.

(NEW for 2005-06) (NOTE 1) No team appeals will be permitted either verbally or in writing regarding the assessment of this automatic suspension.

The NHL has made it clear that this penalty cannot be appealed, and made a sizeable issue out of this rule before the season began in it's misguided attempt at eliminating fighting from the game.

Two nights ago, this rule was to be put to the test for the first time, as Coyotes forward Shane Doan took an instigator at the end of a game filled with dirty hits. The rule makes it clear: Doan was to be suspended for one game, and the coach to be fined $10,000.

Except the coach in question is Wayne Gretzky.

Suddenly Colin Campbell decided that this rule is not as simple as it seems, and though it is not mentioned anywhere in the rule book, he now has discretion on whether to hand out the penalties. Campbell's excuse was that Doan isnt a goon, therefore the rule should not apply to him.

Please.

You think Campbell wouldnt have thought twice about the suspension and fine if it was Jarome Iginla and Darryl Sutter in question?

How about Mark Bell and Trent Yawney?

The NHL found itself caught in the embarrassing position of having to fine it's most notable personality for a rule it felt was extremely important four months ago, and somehow found an even more embarrassing excuse to avoid living up to it's own rules.

But then, there always was one rulebook for Gretzky, and one for everyone else.

While I may be biassed, I've always considered Calgary and Edmonton to be the barometer of the NHL's health. We are small markets, but small markets filled with some of hte most passionate hockey fans in the world.

This belief is supported by the attendance figures of many of our remaining teams.

The Edmonton Roadrunners are currently third in the AHL, averaging 8884, right behind Chicago (8999) and Manchester (8945).

The Calgary Hitmen obliterated the WHL and CHL attendance record by nearly 40,000 fans becomming the first team in CHL history to average over 10,000 fans. Also in the WHL, both Lethbridge and Red Deer set attendance records of their own, while Medicine Hat has sold out 90 straight games, prompting calls to replace their 4006 seat arena.

There is no doubt. Fans in this province eat, breathe and sleep hockey. It seems like a very logical place for a "goodwill tour" of prominent NHL players to start. Ryan Smyth thought so. He decided Red Deer, which is right in the middle of the province, and about 1 hour away from both Calgary and Edmonton would be a good spot for a game.

Afterall, they just packed 7200 fans into their 5800 seat arena on Saturday for a WHL game agaisnt their arch-rivals from Calgary. On Monday, 5700 showed up to watch oldtimers like Lanny McDonald and Tiger Williams face off against the local police/fire team. And Ryan Smyth's expectations were modest. His hastily arranged tour only hoped to draw 1500 fans last night.

According to the Edmonton Sun, only 800 fans bothered to attend. 100 of those were only their because their children and grandchildren were participating in a mini-game of atom hockey players during the first intermission.

The NHLPA has long believed that the fans will flock to them because of who they are. The collosal failure that the OSHL was didnt break that belief, and I doubt this will either. In fact, Smyth already has his excuse for this failure:

"It was frustrating, but this has nothing to do with (the lockout)," Smyth said between periods. "Maybe we could have done a better job marketing, but I don't think we had enough time."

A couple of thoughts Ryan. You put this thing together. Why didnt you make the time? Blame marketing all you want, but people knew you were coming. Radio in both Calgary and Edmonton, of which Red Deer gets both made mention of it, and it has been mentioned in all of the papers.

No Ryan, people didnt go because people dont want to pay $25 (Red Deer Rebels ticket $20 or so) to watch a bunch of egotistical primadonnas play shinny for a couple hours. People didnt go because you did not offer a product worth watching. People didnt go because they are pissed off at what you have done to the game.

Smyth's tour has three more stops to make. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan tonight. Saskatoon tomorrow and Winnipeg on Friday. We shall see if "poor marketing" leads to small crowds there as well. I am betting yes, as word out of Winnipeg is that they have already cut ticket prices in half because of poor sales. I hear sales are still poor.

And Winnipeg is a city full of people who would kill to get the Jets back. If Winnipeg turns it's back on you Ryan, will you and your union bretheren still be making excuses?

Something tells me they will.

Up here in Canada especially, NHL fans are lamenting the fact that there will be no hockey this spring. People, just arent looking hard enough.

I write this having just gotten back from an Alberta Junior Hockey League playoff game between Brooks and the Calgary Canucks, and am caught in a quandry, as there are three games I wish to attend tomorrow.

The Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League are playing their home finale, trying to break a WHL attendance record currently held by Portland at 19,103, while my alma-matter, SAIT is facing cross town rival Mount Royal College in the deciding game of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference South final. Across town, the Calgary Flames will face the UFA Bisons in the Alberta Midget Hockey League semifinal.

There is also the Heritage Junior "B" playoffs, where the Airdrie Thunder shocked a championship contender to advance to the second round, while the WHL's playoffs are less than a week away, where all four Alberta based teams have qualified for the second season. Three hours north, in Edmonton, the American Hockey League's Roadrunners are fighting for their playoff lives.

Apparently there is no hockey being played right now. My bank account disagrees.

However, while one would expect numerous options in a large Canadian city, there is still plenty of hockey being played in Florida as well. In the ECHL, the Pensacola Ice Pilots lead the Southern Division, with the Florida Everblades safely in second place. In the Southern Professional Hockey League, Jacksonville will sadly miss the playoffs, as they stand in last place. In the SouthEast Junior Hockey League, the Tampa/Oldsmar Sandsharks lead the league with a 13-4 record.

No NHL? No problem.

Much has been made of the $6.5 million bridge that could not be gapped yesterday, leading to the cancellation of the NHL season. People on all sides are angry that such a small difference could not be made up.

Was it really a small difference, however?

Bob Goodenow's angry reply to Gary Bettman's ultimatum on Monday suggested that the commissioner's comments about the difference actually totaling $200 million ($6.5 million x 30 teams) was out of line. Bob stated that only nine teams even spent up to $42.5 million, so it was ridiculous to argue that all teams would spend up to that limit.

Bob is correct when he suggests only a handful of teams would be able to spend up to that cap. However, Bob ignores the trickle down effect that this would cause. The NHL would be facing the exact same situation that killed the league in the last CBA, albeit on a smaller scale.

Toronto (as an example) will be spending up to the cap, no matter what the cap. They will be spending it on just 23 players. The end result is that those 23 players would be worth $6.5 million more in the NHLPA's proposal than it would the NHL's. Actually, they would be worth as much as $11.9 million more if you count the provision allowing teams to surpass the cap by 10%.

While the Hurricanes (as an example) will never spend up to the cap, they will be adversely affected by any extra spending the top teams are allowed. For as player x on the Maple Leafs gets paid more in a higher cap, the union will argue that player y on the Hurricanes with similar stats should make more as well. The continued presence of arbitration will work to cement this belief, and the Hurricanes are stuck with a contract that would make sense in Toronto, but not Carolina.

Bob Goodenow knows this, and this is why he has spent the entire lockout trying to play to the rich team's abilities. The rollback benefits the rich teams more than any other group. The luxury tax benefits the rich teams more than any other group. The higher cap benefits the rich teams more than any other group. The provision to go 10% above the cap benefits the rich teams only.

Bob Goodenow does this because he knows that the rich teams will set the market for all teams. So while only the likes of the Maple Leafs will spend that extra $6.5 million up to the salary cap, it will force the likes of the Hurricanes to spend up from $30 to $36.5 million.

Bettman was dead on when he called the cap a magnet. It is magnet that pulls everybody higher.

Bettman was also correct when he characterized the difference between the two offers as being $195 million.

Except that it is worse than you think. Over the course of a six year deal, that difference works out to nearly $1.2 billion.

And that is without touching all of the loopholes the union wrote into it's cap offer designed to inflate the salary cap itself as fast as possible - including, ironically, linking the cap's upward movement to league revenues - while offering no possibility of lowering the cap for any reason.

While one might think they were close to a deal, the reality is that well over $1 billion stood between us and a hockey season.

It all started with a simple radio interview. Fan960 radio in Calgary interviewed Mike Commodore yesterday. They talked about Commodore's time in Lowell of the AHL, and about Ville Niemenen's injury. Then, the radio host asked him "Would you support a salary cap?" The answer has spurred a great deal of talk, even in the US.

"I'll risk the slap on the wrist, I don't want to spend however long my career lasts playing here in the American Hockey League (with Lowell), so I think whatever it takes.

"It's got to be give and take on both sides, not one side can be making all the money. But if (a salary cap is) what it takes -- the sport has to go on -- so I'm going to say, yeah.

"There's different kinds of caps and it's got to be a realistic one. You can't cap it up at $30 million, we're over that. It's got to be realistic so both sides are making money."

Commodore didnt just state he was willing to accept a cap, he took a shot at the union leadership:

"I don't think it's being handled well at all," he said. "The thing is, you look at the PA and who's in charge ... it's all the guys that have made $30 million playing this game. If there's never another game of hockey ... and they don't make another cent playing in the NHL, they're gonna be all right.

"Sure, they have their views but I think, as far as guys in charge of the PA, there should be people in my situation so they get everybody's perspective.

"There's lots of guys in my shoes that if we miss a couple of years, that's a huge deal."

Mike Commodore came out and said what many fans have thought all along: The NHLPA isnt out to support the fringe players like Mike Commodore. They havent talked to him much, they just dont care about him.

What is most amazing about Commodore's comments is that they even caused a Toronto based hockey writer to pen a quality column. Damien Cox used Commodore's comments as a springboard for a columng for ESPN detailing the litany of contradictions between the union leadership, and union membership. Bob Mackenzie wrote an article for TSN.ca wondering if Commodore speaks for players at the lower end of the pay scale.

In case the NHLPA was hoping they could argue that Commodore was taken out of context despite it was a live interview, that plan was nixed when Commodore said the exact same words to the Calgary Herald later that day.

Maybe the union will tell him to state that, like Mike Ribiero, he didnt say what he said he did.

More likely, expect to see another $6 million + player, with $30 million in the bank to come out in support of the union within the next day or two.

Then consider who the union really supports.

Lasted as long as this entry.

My god is that trophy ugly.

When the World Cup started, everybody on this side of the pond was salivating over the possibility of a Canada - USA matchup for the Gold Medal game. Who forgot to tell the Finns the plan?

While many Canadians were disapointed that we didnt get to knock off the Yanks a second time in this tournament, I, for one, was very happy with the matchup. And not just because that meant that five Calgary Flame players were on the rosters.

I was elated by this matchup because it was a battle of nations who live, breathe and die hockey. While 2 million people watched poker on ESPN in the states, a paltry 350,000 watched the Finland-USA semifinal on ESPN2. Compare that to over 700,000 watching in the middle of the night in Finland - a nation of about 5 million people.

In the United States, this gold medal game would have been just another hockey game nobody cares much about. In Finland, it was the biggest game in that nation's history.

How can you be disapointed with that kind of reaction?

Riding the stellar goaltending of Miikka Kiprusoff, and the same committment to defense that wins Stanley Cups, the Finns got through a relatively mediocre European pool, and past the rapidly aging Americans, only to fall in the final to the Canadians 3-2. It was exciting, high flying hockey, and the perfect lead into the NHL season.

Whoops... forget I said that.

Vinny Lecavalier was named tournament MVP, and while not a bad choice, I do not believe he was the best choice. I suspect Lecavalier won mainly as a result of his overtime goal in the semifinal against the Czechs. While an argument can definitely be made that Lecavalier was the top forward in the tournament, IMO, Martin Brodeur was far and away the Canadian - and Tournament - most valuable player. Though Brodeur should be getting used to being passed over, as he lost the Conn Smythe to JS Giguere two years ago, even though he was the better goaltender.

And while this tournament will be labelled a success by all, one cannot overlook that Helsinki, St. Paul and Toronto all struggled, and failed, to sell out games - victims of overpriced tickets for a tournament lacking in prestige after an eight year hiatus. Even in the land where kids learn to skate before they learn to walk, Canadians werent enthralled by this tournament like they were in 1996 or in the Salt Lake Olympics. the NHL and IIHF have a lot of work to do before the next World Cup - which will hopefully be held before 2012.

However, much of this may have to do with NHL arenas going dark tomorrow at midnight, as it is hard to get up for such a tournament on the eve of doomsday.

Regardless, Congratulations to team Canada, champions of the world once again.