B_Chapman

"Dallas Stars Blogger"

Waco, TX • United States •

Hockey Is Back, Things That I Forgot

Every morning in which I have to pull myself out of bed before noon for work is a morning of disgruntled silence. If you speak to me to tell me, “good morning”, ask me a question of commit to any sort of communication what-so-ever you will be met with a grunt at best. It is not until my brain has had adequate time to warm up that my mouth starts to catch up with the day.

This morning, however I managed to find the inspiration to utter the words; “Holy sh*t” to myself in my bedroom as I readied myself for another mundane workday.

Hockey was “tentatively” back. The league and the players with the help of a mediator finally managed to get over themselves respectively and get a deal done. To my knowledge, the mediator is probably owed most of the credit in this accomplishment.
It is funny how this lockout has affected me as a fan and as a glorified blogger.

Some are saying their excitement was dulled by this lockout, but for me it was a jump in excitement that I doubt I would have had if the season had gone on without a hitch. In addition I found that I had forgotten all about the exciting if not controversial moves that our new owner and still-GM Joe Neiuwendyk. The acquisitions of both Ray Whitney and legend Jaromir Jagr both signed with the team and though both are 40+ years in age, if they perform to their numbers from last season they will be a definite improvement. As I remind myself of these moves, I think about the line combinations that caused everyone’s mouth to foam. Jagr with Benn promises to be an exciting premise and like most I too still hope that Jagr can have a Claude Giroux-like effect on the young and talented Jamie Benn.

But there is more to think about. How will a short season affect the race for the cup? How will certain clubs react? Who will it benefit and who will it be a detriment to? I hope to answer these questions in a future article. But for now I am just busy being aroused by the idea of hockey returning to my life. It should be reiterated that this is a tentative agreement. The figureheads for each party in this fight have called this a “framework” agreement and there are still legal and communicative steps to be taken before this can be called official. But from what is being said all around, this is practically a done deal.

Assuming these final steps go quickly, we may have a schedule for the shortened 2012-2013 season sometime today.