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Hockey should consider playing in the summer -- yes, summer -- Olympics

The NHL and its players’ association argue a lot.

That’s why there was a full-season lockout in 2004. And there could well be another labour disruption of some sort after the 2010-11 season, when the current collective bargaining agreement between the parties expires.

That coming round of bargaining could well determine whether NHL players continue to participate in the Olympic Games. They’re signed up for 2010 in Vancouver, but after that, well, stay tuned. The 2014 Games in the Black Sea city of Sochi, Russia, might be held without NHL players.

The players want to continue going to the Games. That was made clear recently in this space when we chatted with Tyler Currie, a Waterloo Collegiate Institute graduate who is now the director of international affairs for the NHLPA. The players’ association is in full “grow the game” mode internationally. As it should be.

The NHL owners? Not so much. It comes down to two things, really, from the NHL’s point of view.
The league believes the Sochi Games are too far away in a different time zone to have much impact in North America. Hmm. And Nagano, Japan, where NHL players first appeared in the Games in 1998, wasn’t as remote in those terms? NHL players were greeted as rock stars in Japan and loads of people watched on TV -- it’s the Olympics, for crying out loud -- rendering the NHL’s argument irrelevant.

The NHL is also not keen on putting its regular season on hold in the middle of the year. Why? Loss of revenue and the belief that putting the season on hold alters its competitive balance. The teams that lose players to the Olympic programs, the NHL argues, risk not only injury to those players but also would have to deal with the fatigue factor against teams that would be totally rested while others pursued Olympic gold.

Makes some sense. So how about a compromise? Hold the Olympic hockey tournament in the Summer Olympic Games.

You read it right. Ice hockey in the Summer Games.

Before you laugh too hard, there is precedent. Hockey’s first appearance in the Olympics -- in 1920 in Antwerp -- was in the Summer Games. It was only when the Winter Olympics debuted in 1924 that hockey shifted, logically enough, to the Winter Games.

Winter sport, winter Games, right?

Not always. Look at basketball. It’s a winter season sport. Yet basketball is part of the Summer Olympic Games, which resolves the hassles inherent in shutting down your league -- in this case the NBA -- in mid-season to participate.

Player availability and risk of injury is then no different than when hockey players compete in such late summer events as the Canada Cup and its successor, the World Cup -- which is already a go for 2011.
Besides, it’s not as if hockey isn’t already played all year long. So what’s the difference?
kberkovich@therecord.com

Random thoughts on March Madness, Chipper Jones, the Habs, Tiger . . .

Random thoughts on a variety of sporting topics . . .

March Madness overhyped?

Perhaps, in Canada. According to numbers reported in the Toronto Star, last year's tournament drew, on average, 46,000 viewers on The Score network. And that was 15 per cent higher than numbers in 2007. Two things to keep in mind, though: The Score is Canada's third-most watched sports network. And those numbers don't take into account Canadian viewers who watch the tournament on CBS for the most part. Like me. I find The Score bounces around from game to game way too much and I don't like their studio analysts talking over the CBS play-by-play men on the simulcast.

Chipper Jones and Toronto

You may have heard that Team USA and Atlanta Braves player Chipper Jones said, during his World Baseball Classic stop, that there was nothing to do in Toronto. It's not even worth talking about except to say that it reminds me of when I worked at The Hockey News. Our foreign correspondent during a world hockey championship in Moscow reported that Team USA players were in a snit because they couldn't get USA Today. What is it with these people? Get out and embrace a different culture.

Language shouldn't matter

We're hearing the same nonsense out of Montreal that the next full-time Canadiens coach better be able to speak both official languages. This is why the Habs aren't the franchise they used to be in terms of championships. They worry more about language issues than finding someone who can truly coach.

Too much Tiger?

No. The only thing more tiresome than too much Tiger on TV during golf tournaments is newspaper TV critics repeatedly telling us there is too much Tiger on TV during golf tournaments. Folks, he IS golf. The ratings prove it. Deal with it.

Long past time to change NHL's (and hockey's) ridiculous points system

Every glance at hockey standings makes my blood boil.

They are, under the current system used by the NHL and filtered down to all levels, a complete travesty. Have been for years and it’s long past time hockey followers rose up and demanded change. We’re talking about the overtime/shootout loss points system whereby teams are rewarded for losing. 

Call it the “losers’ points” that hurt hockey’s credibility. It’s long been noted in this space, and elsewhere, how in theory a team could lose every one of its regular-season games in overtime or a shootout yet still make the playoffs.  The system distorts the standings, rendering won-lost records meaningless.

Take a local example. The Kitchener Rangers have been eliminated from Ontario Hockey League playoff contention, sitting nine points behind the Owen Sound Attack with two games to play. But were the ridiculous “losers’ points” system not in place -- if a loss was a loss and not rewarded at all, the Rangers and Attack would be tied with 50 points each based on their each having 25 wins. Going into Friday’s play, the Attack had a record of 25-27-7-7 (won-lost-overtime loss-shootout loss) for 64 points. The Rangers were 25-36-3-2 for 55 points. But in reality both teams were 25-41. Fifty points each. Yes, it would be a turtle race for the last OHL Western Conference playoff spot, but a legitimate race nevertheless.

In the NHL, Boston has a six-point lead over New Jersey for first place in the Eastern Conference. But that’s because the Bruins have played nine overtime games to the Devils’ three -- hence six more “losers’ points” for the Bruins. In reality, the teams should be tied for first with 88 points based on their 44 wins. At the bottom end of the standings, the Toronto Maple Leafs have 67 points thanks to 13 overtime and shootout losses. In truth, the Leafs should have just 54 points. Thanks to 14 overtime games, the Tampa Bay Lightning are four points ahead of the New York Islanders when they should be two points behind.

On and on it goes, with an adverse effect on playoff qualification, playoff seedings and draft lottery positioning. Something very wrong is happening here, and has been throughout hockey at all levels since this silly system of awarding points for failure in overtime was adopted. It has distorted everything and left teams out of playoffs when they should be in, and vice-versa. Just do the math on the standings in any league that uses the system. You can “overtime/shootout” loss your way into a playoff spot or seeding. And nobody in the hockey community questions this fraud. Earlier this season, Toronto played seven consecutive overtime games, losing three, and some Toronto media were reporting that the Leafs had “earned’’ points in seven straight games.

Madness.

When ties were eliminated, they weren’t, really. A team still gets that point, even if it loses in overtime. How silly is that? In no other sport is an extra-time loser rewarded. In no other sport would this miscarriage of justice be tolerated. The argument for the “losers’ point” developed out of the old system, whereby far too many 5-minute overtime periods were still resulting in ties because a hockey culture weaned on ties (and what, praytell, was so wrong with that; at least it was honest) resulted in teams playing it safe in overtime to ensure they got at least that point from a tie. These days, under the new system, they play it safe in overtime in hopes of getting to the shootout and taking their chances there. 

Yet even now, team records are listed as if ties still existed. Some outlets list records as won-lost-overtime loss-shootout loss, while others simply combine the overtime and shootout losses into a line that is exactly the same as the old won-lost-tied listing.

Look, if you’re going to have ties, have ties. But if you don’t want ties, play to a decision -- shootout or otherwise -- and don’t reward the loser. Two points for a win, zero for a loss. Period. And for those who worry that the old five-minute OT session, before the overtime loss system came into effect, still resulted in too many ties, here’s a solution: If a regular-season game goes into overtime, play 20-minute overtime as it is in the playoffs -- for however long it takes to produce a winner. You’ll be darn sure the players will try to end things quickly if they have another game to play the very next day, particularly if it might involve a transcontinental flight. If they take multiple overtimes to settle it, so be it. Just like regular-season overtime in basketball and extra innings in baseball.

Berkobits: What is it about jocks and their bathrooms? Dogged former NFLer Michael Vick’s home is up for sale. Eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms. Manny Ramirez’s condo is for sale: Four bedrooms, six bathrooms. Boxer Evander Holyfield’s mansion: 109 rooms, 17 bathrooms. Well, depending on mansion layout, if you’re walking from room 1 to room 109, it might be a distance so you might have to make a pit stop or two. As for the other guys, what’s with having more bathrooms in your pad than actual rooms? . . . The NHL’s new 10-minute misconduct rule for staged fights right off faceoffs sounds good on the surface, but closer inspection reveals so many holes it renders the rule pointless. 1. Most goons don’t get 10 minutes of ice time a game, so their teams won’t miss them anyway. 2. The goons will just skate around for a bit and then hook up for their “appointment” fight. 3. Referees will be given latitude to decide how involved two players have to be in the play before they can drop their gloves. So you’re just going to have more whining from players and coaches about the officials’ interpretation.

Well blow me down, NHL doing something about fights . . . but there will still be problems

NHL general managers agreed today to curb so-called "staged" fights, i.e. goon vs. goon.

Starting next season, if players drop their gloves right off the faceoff, they'll get a 10-minute misconduct.

Why they can't implement this rule immediately is beyond me. During last year's playoffs they immediately implemented the "Avery rule" when the New York Rangers disturber waved his stick in front of Martin Brodeur during a playoff game. So why wait?

Anyway, here's where I predict trouble will result with this new rule. Referees will be given latitude to decide how involved two players have to be in the play before they can drop their gloves.

Now there's a can of worms. Doesn't hockey have enough whining about refs? There's going to be obvious times when the ref will know it was a staged fight -- question: will they allow the fight to continue? But there will also be times when coaches and players will argue that the two guys were involved in the play before the faceoff, etc. etc.

Good intentions with this rule, but I see problems.

NHLPA looking to expand hockey's footprint

Haven't blogged in a while, obviously. Crazy busy. So for now, unless time permits, I'll be simply posting my weekly (and perhaps more often) sports columns in this space. Hope to get back to rapping about music soon. But not about rap music.

Anyway, here's the latest installment of my sports column, published Monday, March 9 in the Waterloo Region Record. A couple of previous ones -- on fighting in hockey and drugs in sport -- are lower down the page.

Tyler Currie is a perpetual motion machine.

He played baseball -- his first sporting love -- up the ladder in the Waterloo Tigers minor organization while attending Waterloo Collegiate Institute. Dabbled in hockey. Pursued a degree in political science and Canadian studies at the University of Toronto. Ran for political office, following in the footsteps of his father Bruce McKenty, who served two terms on Waterloo council. Currie, now a Toronto resident, ran unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in Trinity-Spadina in the 2007 Ontario election.

He has, in short, crammed a lot into his 29 years on the planet.

And that's why -- after detouring to Haliburton on Friday night to support his friend and mentor John Tory in Tory's failed bid to win a provincial byelection -- Currie was in Toronto on Saturday afternoon taking in the Canada-U.S.A. game at the World Baseball Classic.

But this was no pleasure trip for Currie, who as a young second baseman-pitcher played in the under-14 baseball World Series. As director of international affairs for the National Hockey League Players' Association, Currie was touching base with the likes of Major League Baseball union chief Donald Fehr on how best to further develop their respective games internationally.

The World Baseball Classic is flawed in many ways in terms of availability of players and finding the best time of year for the tournament. But in its second incarnation (the inaugural was in 2006) the WBC seems to have gained momentum. A crowd of more than 42,000 for the Canada-U.S.A. game -- and a creditable crowd of 13,000-plus in the nightcap Venezuela-Italy game at Rogers Centre -- proves that. Crowds are also healthy in Asia and the Caribbean.

And momentum on the international scene is something professional sports cannot afford to let wither if they hope to continue to prosper, Currie believes. That's the mandate laid down by NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly, and execution of that plan falls in Currie's lap. So we will see another World Cup of Hockey in 2011, even though it seems like overkill just one year removed from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games featuring NHL involvement.

But because NHL Olympic involvement is a collectively bargained issue, there is no guarantee of league participation beyond 2010, though the NHLPA is on board. The league, however, has reservations about shutting itself down for two weeks every four years. Baseball has been dropped for the 2012 Olympics and is using the World Baseball Classic in part to prove it belongs back in. Why the NHL would consider risking the opposite seems short-sighted at best.

"We have to continue to feed the passionate fan base we have in Europe," says Currie, who was in Kitchener last week speaking about the NHLPA to the weekly meeting of the Kitchener Westmount Rotary Club.

"We have to continue to bring the NHL brand there (Europe), and a regular World Cup would help perpetuate the game."

The World Cup has been anything but regular recently. Spawned as the Canada Cup in 1976 and held under that title in 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1991, it became the World Cup in 1996. But in large measure due to the NHL presence at the Olympics beginning in 1998, it was not held again until 2004. Baseball plans to get into a regular four-year cycle with its Classic. While a European division is not yet on the radar, hockey must continue its own world event if it hopes to truly tap the European market -- and, eventually, Asia -- in terms of marketing, sponsorships and a fully developed youth feeder system, Currie believes.

The NHLPA has been heavily involved in developing that international feeder system through its 10-year-old Goals and Dreams initiative. The program, overseen by Devin Smith of Cambridge -- who joins Currie and media relations manager Jonathan Weatherdon of Kitchener among the people with Waterloo Region roots in the NHLPA office -- has donated full sets of equipment to more than 9,000 underprivileged children in 17 countries. Goals and Dreams made a stop in the region last week in support of a youth hockey program at Kitchener's Pioneer Park Public School.

Currie wants to further such programs overseas. That's good, because international sports should operate not as "us versus them" so much as "we're all in this together" in truly global games.

There is more than a sprinkling of international players in most pro sports. That has been bred by more national team interaction. Hockey blazed the trail in this respect beginning with the 1972 Canada-Soviet series. The more such play exists, the better developed and more competitive sport becomes. That's been proven not only in hockey but in basketball, where the United States went from ruling the Olympics with college players to rolling over the opposition by 50-point margins with"Dream Team" NBA stars in 1992 to finishing with a disappointing bronze medal in 2004. That prompted a much-needed re-evaluation by USA Basketball of its international selection process.

In baseball, such interaction leads to results like Saturday's "how did that happen" 3-2 win for The Netherlands over powerhouse Dominican Republic in the baseball classic. It's good for the game(s).

Currie aims to keep it that way. And more.