Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire ” brought to you by your local Auto Logic…..the Logical Choice.
I was quite happy to see an advisory last week that NHL players might not take part in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
The head of international hockey’s governing body related there was a 60 per cent chance that the NHL will pass on the Olympics because of ……………….a lack of money
The International Olympic Committee cancelled its contribution to player travel and insurance costs for the players, leaving a $10 million shortfall that the NHL, as you can understand, isn’t keen to cover.
And that doesn’t bother me one iota.
I liked Olympic Hockey far better when Canada had a National team and rather an NHL All Star team playing other NHL All Star teams. We never won, but I found the tournament far more interesting.
From a story standpoint, I found the path of the National team members to the Olympic Games far more intriguing than the familiar exploits of the NHL’ers whose every accomplishment has been documented forever.
And while I may be exhibiting the Pollyanna Principle here, the Olympic ideal of sacrifice and commitment for sport was far better illustrated by those in Canadian Olympic hockey who came before our millionaire NHL’ers.
It’s somewhat ironic to me that a money issue may in fact torpedo the money players and return Olympic Hockey to the state I always preferred.
I’m Fred Wallace