Detroit News column
February 17, 2005
by Bob Wojnowski
In the end, it was there for everyone to see, televised coast to coast, the stunning result of stubbornness, arrogance, stupidity and mistrust. The National Hockey League collapsed under the weight of its own vices Wednesday, and that’s the really sad part.
This is the really scary part: No one knows when it will return, and what it will look like when it does.
What we witnessed was unprecedented in North American sports history, the cancellation of a major pro league’s entire season. But even today, it’s hard to know exactly what we saw, and what it all means.
Death of the NHL as we know it, and Hockeytown as we know it, and the high-flying Red Wings as we know them? Yep. Incalculable devastation to a sport? Probably. Demise of high-profile careers, including that of Wings captain Steve Yzerman? Possibly.
