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So now we prepare to embark on a new beginning, yet “only” after 300 days of the same boring back and forth shenanigans between players and owners. Now as you tune in to your favorite sports channels to pick up the endless stream of information on this new CBA agreement, don’t you forget what it took to get here.

Remember back to that dreadful day when Gary Bettman came on television and announced that the NHL season was cancelled? Remember all those days when we heard that the sides were meeting but with little prosperity or progression?

It seems that the majority of this lock-out was dedicated to both sides sitting around with their arms crossed refusing to work a deal.

It’s important not to forget the greed that caused this lock-out to last much longer than necessary. If we forget, we will be subject to finding ourselves in the same situation five to six years down the road.

Truth be told, the players will still make their millions, and the owners will collectively still make their billions. Sure the players have lost a couple bucks, but the only losers here are the fans.

We had to sit through this endless charade of “Who’s gonna win the lockout?” created by the media and angered fans. Most would have sold their souls to see a televised death-match between Bettman and Bob Goodenow if it meant we could get hockey back.

Now that the dust has somewhat cleared, and the die-hard fans are slowly coming out of their depression, we find ourselves looking at a whole new league. Everything is going to be so flip-flopped that in some cases you won’t even recognize certain teams anymore. The Goliaths will fall and the Davids will rise with the desired creation of a hockey universe free of both to create an even playing field.

So a big thank you to all those players for coming to your senses and realizing that even under the new agreement, you’ll still be rich men making more money than the doctors and other professionals who save or greatly enhance the lives of the world’s ordinary and hardworking people.

However, one of the best aspects coming out of this agreement is that players will now play for the teams they want to play for, instead of the highest bidder. Greed will take somewhat of a backseat, but will still factor in some sense I’m sure.

Although now is a time for rejoice and new beginnings, it would be pure error to ignore the events, or lack of, which paved the way to a new agreement.

On a side note, what’s this about bigger nets getting recognition? Bigger nets are right up there with banning fighting in my book. Pretty soon they’ll be suggesting smaller pucks; who knows what’s next? At this rate the NHL will start looking less like Canada’s game, and more like the Cirque du Soleil.

The NHL has to make sure that it keeps true to hockey tradition, while still working to improve the game with rule changes.