As lockout continues, NHL testing the limits of fan loyalty in some markets

In keeping with peace and harmony and goodwill among men this Holiday Season, we bring you ... the National Hockey League.

In the wake of unrest, the NHL finds time, every now and again, to laud its clients, "the greatest fans in the world," the league's supreme leader, one Gary Bettman, is wont to say.

Have to say, they've got a funny way of treating the paying customers.

As the lockout drags on - given my profession, I hope it ends soon; as a 47-year-old male who enjoys a hockey game as much as the next guy, they can stay out from now until the end of time for all I care - there is fear a disconnect between the league, its players and the fans will only widen, accelerating a certain doom for more than one southern U.S. franchise.

But that disconnect, that gulf, arguably has been there for some time now.

Some may fluff this off as inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but it's atypical of professional sports as a whole and its disassociation with the very people who pay the bills - the fans.

For without people in the seats or watching from home, there are no lucrative TV contracts (see NFL), no need for personal appearances, no pot from which cash can be taken to pay the athletes.

I recall a time, not that long ago, when players - gasp! - signed autographs during the pre-game skate. I can picture Bobby Hull now, signing against the Montreal Forum glass during his brief run as a Hartford Whaler.

I can recall fans waiting at the corner of Atwater and de Maisonneuve as players exited the Forum, or behind Maple Leaf Gardens.

Today, fans can get nowhere near the players before, during or after the game, the two sides separated by 10-foot-high plexiglass.

In today's new arenas, players enter and exit the rinks in their Escalades and Navigators through an underground garage.

In fact, I still remember the Maple Leafs' pre-season game at Mile One Centre back in 2002, when Toronto's Garry Valk - Garry Valk! - asked a Mile One staffer if there was a side exit, presumably to escape the throng of autograph seekers clamouring for his signature.

It's different today. Different in every way.

So while the NHL will continue with its lip service in relation to its supporters, rest assured that whenever the league is back on ice it will be in front of fewer spectators.

Maybe not in Montreal or Toronto or Philadelphia or New York City, but quite likely in Florida, Dallas, Columbus and Phoenix.

And in a league that has a monetary system driven by ticket sales, as opposed to network contracts, that's not good.

And the morons have only themselves to blame.

IN SHORT

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Robin Short is The Telegram's Sports Editor. He can be reached by email rshort@thetelegram.com