NHL LOCKOUT AFFECTING HOCKEY IN GREEN BAY

By Brandon Gwidt

While the National Hockey League is not located in the backyards of Green Bay, the NHL lockout may have major effects on local hockey teams, like the Green Bay Gamblers and the St. Norbert men’s Division III college hockey team.

 The NHL has locked its players out for the third time in 18 years, and it is not known if the league will miss their second full season since 2004-2005. Commissioner Gary Bettman has proven that he will stand strong, and he is not afraid to miss regular season games until they get a plausible deal done. 

The Green Bay Gamblers, who are a member of the United States Hockey League, have enjoyed major success both on and off the ice recently by winning three Anderson Cup championships and two Clark Cup championships in the last four seasons. They have also seen attendance rise, which may be a direct correlation with their winning ways and deep postseason runs.

The USHL is different from the NHL because the fans are not as devoted to their teams. Fans may go to games not just to watch hockey but rather just have a good time with family and friends.

“We have a base of our regular hockey fans, but after that, people are coming for promotions and entertainment,” said Jason Habeck, media relations coordinator for the Green Bay Gamblers.

            For students at UW-Green Bay who like to take in a little hockey during the winter, the NHL lockout may influence whether or not they go watch a local hockey game this season. Greg Lynch, senior majoring in marketing at UWGB, said that he thinks the NHL lockout could have a negative impact in the Green Bay area because people are not able to watch NHL hockey on TV to get them excited about the game of hockey.

            The St. Norbert men’s college hockey team is in a different situation than the Green Bay Gamblers because its fan base is very student driven while also involving community members who have attended games for years. “St. Norbert hockey probably has a larger impact on local hockey than the NHL does,” said Dan Lukes, sports information director at St. Norbert’s. “The closest NHL team is in Chicago, so it’s hard to develop a hard-core fan base for any team located that far away.”

            The NHL lockout is a market-driven issue, but in Green Bay, with no NHL teams close to the area, it is hard to say that the NHL plays a role in hockey here. Habeck says a team like the Chicago Steel of the USHL may be affected more by the lockout because people in the Chicago community are not attending Blackhawks games and they may choose to attend a USHL game instead.

“St. Norbert hockey and the Green Bay Gamblers probably have a larger impact on local hockey than the NHL does,” said Habeck.

            The NHL recently submitted a collective bargaining agreement proposal to the NHL Players Association offering a 50/50 split on all hockey related revenue. The status of the NHL is unknown regarding whether a deal is struck for them to play sooner rather than later, but what is known is that the NHL cannot afford another lockout because it may erase all of the progress they have made since the last lockout. 

            The NHL plays a role in the growth and development of all levels of hockey, so whether or not it may affect attendance for St. Norbert’s Men’s college hockey team or the Green Bay Gamblers is debatable, but hockey needs the NHL to help gain popularity throughout the country. 

A Great Skate

Minocqua, Wisconsin is a small northern Wisconsin town located on an island that is known for its beautiful lakes, resorts, and other tourist attractions. Minocqua is also the home of the Lakeland Hawks Ice Arena that hosts a Tuesday and Friday night skate year round for anyone above the age of eighteen. Most towns that are fortunate enough to have an ice arena host open hockey sessions, but what is unique about Minocqua’s small town skate is the caliber of  players who come on a consistent basis during the summer or during spring break.

The most notable of them all is Gary Suter who is a retired NHL seventeen year veteran who was just most recently inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame. Gary was a Calder Cup (NHL’s top rookie) trophy winner in his rookie year with the Calgary Flames and was also a Stanley Cup champion in 1989. Suter enjoyed success at the international level as well, most notably on the US Olympic team which earned a silver medal in the 2002 winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The NHL shield does not stop at Gary Suter at the Lakeland Ice Arena, though. Patrick Dwyer, a former CCHA rookie of the year with the Western Michigan Broncos, is now a full time NHL player with the Carolina Hurricanes and just recently got selected to Team USA for the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. Brad Winchester, who was a former player on the US National Development team and the Wisconsin Badgers, currently plays for the San Jose Sharks in his seventh NHL season.

The college game also makes its presence known at the old timers skate in Minocqua. Lakeland Union High School graduate Brent Gwidt, who is currently playing for Division I Nebraska-Omaha of the WCHA, skates during his off time in the summers and Christmas break. Brent was an NHL draft pick of the Washington Capitals in 2006 and also served as the captain for the Clark Champion Indiana Ice in 2009. Jake Suter just finished up his freshman season with the UMASS-Lowell Riverhawks and he is the son of Gary Suter. Jake, however, is making a name for himself as he was a mainstay on the blue line for the Riverhawks who had their most successful season in the program’s history going 24-13-1 and making it to the final eight of the NCAA tournament. Before going to UMASS Lowell spent a season with the Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL. The list does not end here with the high quality hockey players that come to Minocqua on a Tuesday or Friday night but these are the players that come consistently.

You mix these top players in with some former high school players from the area and some forty+ year old guys who have been playing the game since they could walk and you have a pretty impressive skate. The great thing about these guys who are at the top or near the top of the hockey world is you can sit next to them in the locker room or on the bench and you would never even know where they played or what they accomplished in their careers; they are just “one of the guys” who comes for a good skate and to go have a beer at the Yacht Club afterwards.

Are the NHL Playoffs the Best there is?

The first round of the NHL playoffs is almost complete, and it makes me beg the question, is there anything better in the sports world than the NHL playoffs? I know that I have a hockey bias and have a great appreciation for the two month grind that these athletes go through in order to put their name on Lord Stanley's cup, but I think that any person involved with sports can look at the journey to the Stanley Cup and say there is nothing in sports more difficult to accomplish. In the NFL you can go 6-7 in 80 percent of the season, get hot at the end by winning your last three regular season games and then win four straight playoff games to be crowned world champions. I understand that a lot more may go into an average football game compared to a hockey game, but having to get up and get ready to play in a crucial game is both physically and mentally demanding, regardless of the sport. In the MLB, teams have the toughest time getting in to the postseason, but let's be honest, once you get in, a team like the the Kansas City Royals could go on a run to win three baseball series in a row and be considered the best team in baseball. The NBA playoffs can be very entertaining in the later rounds as superstars face off against one another, but the early rounds are almost unwatchable because you will see a team like the Miami Heat dismantle a team that belongs in a different league like the Milwaukee Bucks. Parity in the NBA is what hurts the playoff excitement because you can pretty much map out the first two rounds with almost no problem. The NHL on the other hand is the total opposite as we have already seen an eight seed knock off a one seed, the other one-eight match-up is going to a game seven, and a two-seven match-up is going to a game seven. The best part of the NHL playoffs is the amount of overtime hockey we get to see. Almost every series sees multiple overtime games, with a few, like the Phoenix-Chicago series, involving overtime in five out of the six games. All playoffs are great in professional sports, but when it comes down to pure accuracy on who the best team is, the NHL has the best way of making sure at the end of the season they are crowning the true champion of the league.