After four months of conflict, the owners of the NHL and the NHL Players Association have reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will begin the belated regular season of professional hockey.
Under the new agreement, teams will now have a salary floor of $44 million and a cap of $60 million to spend on players with a two-year transition period that will allow team to spend up to $70.2 million in the first year, and up to a salary cap of $64.3 million in the second year.
The lockout compromised 41.5% of the 2012-2013 season, a total of 510 games. More importantly, the NHL fan base, their main source of income, has been without hockey for more than half of a year.
Math teacher Gerry Wieczorek said, “My life can finally go back to normal.”
The commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, has stated that during the lockout, the league is losing between $18-20 million a day. With the lockout stretching 100 days into the regular season, the total amount of revenue lost could be anywhere from $400 million to $2 billion.
Not only were the fans without hockey, the league office employees’ pay was cut by 20%, and businesses in hockey towns had reduced sales because of fewer opportunities to sell to customers.
Even with all of the unnecessary drama the NHL is causing, fans are still staying loyal to their sport.
“Its unfortunate that the season will be so short, but the game is still the same. The players are still going to play as hard as they can,” senior Kelli Jaycox said.
The regular season will now consist of a revised 48 game schedule for each team, which began on Jan. 19 and is set to end on April 27. In addition to the 510 games that were cancelled, the 2013 All-star game was also cancelled, which was to be played on Jan. 27.
![Holding the disc, senior Nathan Thompson waits for an opportunity to pass to senior Timmy Fry. Parkway United’s ultimate frisbee team is made up of students from each of the four Parkway schools. “The one thing I really like about ultimate [frisbee] is the community because it’s so different from any other sport I've been a part of. [My] national teammates are people who we play against in the regular season, so we see each other all the time. It's always fun hanging out with [them],” Thompson said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/C96A6823-1200x800.jpg)
![Senior Josie Grunzinger watches the football game intently from the sidelines on Oct. 18. Grunzinger stood out to the crowd as the only girl on the football team, encouraging other girls who want to play football to take a chance and go for a sport outside of their comfort zone. “If you think you could [play football] and you want to do it, just try it, because all it takes is to actually try it out,” Grunzinger said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Untitled-design-1200x675.png)
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![Putting on his helmet, catcher and senior Tommy Eschbach prepares to get in his primary stance. Despite losing 6-1 against Eureka on April 16, Eschbach didn’t let the tough loss affect his playing or mental health. “It's [so] easy to get caught up in the sport and what you're doing that [after] one bad game or a stretch of games it is hard to remind yourself that your worth as a person isn't directly related to your performance on the field,” Eschbach said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DSC_0415-1-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Sports organizations have changed lives on and off the field, improving athletes’ muscle strength, reducing their risk of diseases and building energetic work capacity worldwide. However, many student-athletes struggle to balance schoolwork and athletic commitments, hoping to seek more understanding and support from their teachers and coaches. “To lessen mental strain student-athletes [face] and create a healthier, more comfortable lifestyle, there shouldn’t be any homework. I'm already [at school] for eight hours and [homework] creates a bigger load for student-athletes in AP or honors classes,” track and field sprinter and sophomore Lucy Penton said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DSC_0095-1-e1713883278514-1200x847.jpg)
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![Looking for an open teammate, freshman Patrick May passes the ball across the court at the Nov. 28 game against Parkway Central. May started in the game against the Colts. ”Growing up, [my parents] always gave me a basketball, [and] we had a basketball hoop outside. I grew up playing [all the time], playing on the [driveway] and shooting hoops with my dad.” May said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/image2-1-1200x801.jpg)