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Where's my Glowing Puck?

In case you've been wondering about that Fox Sports logo on the sidebar, I'm happy to announce that selected posts from this blog will now be featured at Fox Sports NHL, alongside the work of Spector and Mike Chen. All articles will still be posted here first, but hopefully this will provide another gateway to bring more hockey fans into what is a burgeoning online community of blogs. Thanks to all of you for your visits, comments, and constructive criticism, and have a Happy New Year...

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Cheer up, it's the holidays...

Why is it that various media outlets continue trying to put their own spin on the "what's wrong with the NHL" story? Our latest example comes from The Hockey News , in a piece by Jay Greenburg entitled, "Excitement Level On The Decline." Take the opening sentence: Attendance is down and yet still up from before the lockout, leaving it arguable whether buildings in New Jersey and Florida are half-full or half empty. It's no surprise that attendance is down from last season, particularly if you compare the first half of 2005-06 to the first half of this year. Coming out of the lockout, there were legions of fans starved to see the on-ice product, particularly in light of the massive rule changes. This year is more indicative of business as usual, so the fact that the league is above pre-lockout levels is a positive. Toss in the projection that overall revenues are increasing despite a 1% decrease in attendance, and I'd say that paying fans have come back
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