Pet Peeves

It disturbs me when I hear an NHL player complaining about playing 3 or more games in the same number of nights.

I mean...get real....

Take the 3rd or 4th liners...how many minutes do they play in a one hour game..10-15? and how long are they on for a shift..30-40 seconds? Then after a 20 minute period in which they have only played maybe 2-5 minutes they get to go for a break, so the media can go to work and the networks make their money. While they clean the ice for another 20 minute kick at the can.

Then you have the second liners who play maybe 15-20 minutes of that 60 minute game, with the same breaks as the 3rd and 4th liners, unless the coach decides to drop a line to win or protect. They too get the bench and break times for rest and relaxation.

Now you get the 1st liners and superstars who play between 15-possibly 30 minutes of that 60 minute game. Not to mention the higher pay to go along with it, which is millions of dollars.

Wrap it all up into a one hour shift of work per day. A shift of work that leads to most of the time not working during that one hour. Yet they complain it's hard work.

Now compare that to the labourer who works a 40 hour work week 5 days in a row, getting minimum wages or just enough to be called Middle class.

Then you have the professionals such as doctors, lawyers, business owners who work countless hours to be called upper crust income earners.

If I were a miner working in a coalmine with no future but work and long hours to scrape a living for my family, I would really be pissed...

I ask you....isn't it a joke when you hear these hockey players complaining and the media using this as an excuse for poor play?

When you talk about poor play, you have to address salary. This is where the fan is cheated! Because management has taken a huge contract on a player, the organization is obligated to continue to play that player more than the lesser paid player. Thus, when that player's play is poor, they continue to get the ice-time. The organization tries to justify it to the fan by claiming he needs to work out of getting out of his slump, yet they don't mine getting the best ticket price from the fan. In addition, the lesser player who might be playing better at the time is not getting the ice-time warranted for good play. As usual the fan suffers. This adds to frustration. Frustration that could lead to other negative things in that fans life.

The NHL continues to issue lesser suspensions to the elite players than the average player. A classic example of that is when Ovechkin got only two games for the same hit on Campbell as Laperriere's hit on which he got four games not too long before Ovechkins. In which case, there should be a rulebook notation for elite player treatment. This would clarify the situation to the fan.