Page 13 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 6

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sportsenergynews.com 13

Come out to Rangatangs
Sports Pub Bar. Ron, Mike
and staff all have an OPINION

ON EVERYTHING Any Sport,
Any topic. They are open for
discussion and good times!!!

Mike O’Neill 1730 Vincent Massey Drive 613-932-1600 Ron Johnson

RANGATANG’s presents Sports Panel

Just when most people were expecting an announcement of the cancellation of the 2012-2013 NHL season,

the league and the players association managed to agree on the framework of a new collective bargaining
agreement. This will allow a 48 game regular season to take place. Playing 48 games is different than playing

82, but to what degree will it impact the final outcome? The question: do you think that playing only 48 regular

season games will affect what team ultimately gets to hoist the Stanley Cup next summer?

Terry Tinkess
Playing only 48 games in such a compressed schedule should make this NHL season much more a game of
chance than it would otherwise be. Injuries will be the key. Depth will be a big factor, so any recently retired
or currently unemployed players should do what they can to stay in shape, because the chance of that phone
ringing this year is far greater than at any other time (You hear that Jesse? Keep skating!)

You could argue about the fairness of the compressed schedule till the cows come home, but the bottom line is
you have to play with the cards you were dealt. Every year there is at least one surprise in the final four, come

June, and this year should be no different, except that there could be two, three or four.
The Canadian Press

Jim Riddell I believe that playing a 48 game schedule will affect the outcome. This compressed 99 day season is 20 days
shorter than the lockout. Travel favours the eastern teams. Four teams have less than 24,000 km, no team has
more than 31,000 and only Winnipeg is in a different time zone. In the west seven teams are in the 45 – 50,000
km range, and teams play in all four time zones. Playing almost every other day with lots of back-to-back
games will put a mental and physical stress on players that they are not used to. These conditions will take
coaches out of their element also. Having a hot goalie or a short losing streak could make or break a team’s

season. Avoiding injuries is extremely important. So many games in such a short period allows little or no time
to heal. Any team that can stay relatively healthy, has a solid goalie tandem, depth and some young legs has a
Seaway Karate Club shot at winning the Stanley Cup this year.

Robert Walker I believe that the 48 game compressed schedule will affect teams in two significant ways. One, injuries

suffered by a team will have more of an impact on the team and the amount of games missed by a player.
Under a normal schedule, a player with a theee week injury would miss six-seven games but in the compressed

schedule that same injury will cause that player nine to eleven games. Those extra games can severely impact
a team depending on the player, so teams will have to effectively manage all the day-to-day injuries so that
they do not become long-term injuries. Secondly, any prolonged slump of six or more games will likely cause
a team to miss the playoffs because there aren’t enough games to make those losses back, so teams need to

Minor Hockey Coach keep any string of losses to a minimum.

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