Arizona Hockey Central

September 15th marked the beginning of the NHL lockout—the second in eight years.

The Oct. 11 opening day date has already been missed and the league just announced that all the games though the month of November have been cancelled. This brings the total number of games missed due to the NHL lockout to 326, just over a quarter of the season schedule.

Is the Jan. 1 Winter Classic, the leagues biggest regular season game of the year, next up on the chopping block?

Both sides have presented ideas that feature 50-50 splits, but they have different time frames on when they will arrive at those numbers. The league wants the 50-50 split to start immediately, while the players’ proposals sees the split gradually decrease over a number of years. Under the previous agreement the players received 57 percent of the hockey related revenue. The owners also want to see player’s current salaries cut up to 15 percent.

In an official message released on their webpage, the NHL said the following:

“The National Hockey League deeply regrets having to take this action. By presenting a proposal to the NHLPA that contemplated a fair division of revenues and was responsive to Player concerns regarding the value of their contracts, we had hoped to be able to forge a long-term Collective Bargaining Agreement that would have preserved an 82-game Regular Season for our fans. Unfortunately, that did not occur.”

One of the teams that will be most affected by the lockout is the Phoenix Coyotes.

Even before the lockout, the Coyotes franchise was in turmoil. The team has spent the last three seasons without an owner. Former Sharks CEO, Greg Jamison, was on track to purchase the team and keep them in the desert, but Jamison and the NHL have faced opposition from the city of Glendale, where the Coyotes home rink is located.

Here is how the ‘Yotes will be affected by the NHL lockout.

Chemistry

The Coyotes had their best campaign in franchise history last year, but the faces around the locker room will look tremendously different this season.

Veterans Ray Whitney, Taylor Pyatt, Michal Rozsival and Adrian Aucoin all bolted for new teams in the offseason. Whitney was the team’s leading point getter and Rozsival and Aucoin were big contributors along the blue line.

Forwards David Moss, Nick Johnson and Steve Sullivan were brought in to contribute on offense, while former Coyote Zbynek Michalek was signed to fill the void left by the departure of Aucoin and Rozsival.

The reason the Coyotes were so successful last year is because they had chemistry and flawlessly ran coach Dave Tippett’s system.

With new faces, and players who were with the team last year taking on bigger roles, it will take time to adjust to the new roster.

Due to the lockout, the players will not be able to use the team facilities. When the season does start, the players will be thrown in the fire with no preseason and little practice as a team.

The team has been participating in a series of informal skates in Phoenix, but those are far from being as effective as a Dave Tippett practice or training camp.

The Coyotes will need time to mesh, and the lockout will prevent that from happening, at least right away.

The Clock is Ticking

While the Coyotes’ roster is littered with youth, there are some key players that are aging.

Doan is 35, Derek Morris is 34 (and looking older than that on the ice) and the recently signed Sullivan is 38. All three are past their prime, and if the league were to miss an extended period of time, it would hurt the remainder of their careers.

On top of that, Raffi Torres, Boyd Gordon and Mikkel Boedker will all be unrestricted free agents next offseason, with Lauri Korpikoski set to be a restricted free agent.

Oh, and add breakout star goaltender Mike Smith to that list. He has yet to sign an extension with the team and will be a free agent next summer. The team has already lost players from their Pacific Division championship team, but by next offseason the roster may look completely different.

They need to capitalize on their momentum from last season and get the most out of the names they already have on their roster. The lockout will significantly hurt their chances of doing that.

Alienating the Fan Base

The Phoenix Coyotes, by far, had the worse attendance in the league last year.

According to ESPN.com, the Coyotes filled out only 72.5 percent of Jobing.com Arena last season per home game—nearly 10 percent worse than the next closest team.

Hockey has not thrived in the desert, especially in recent years. The lockout won’t do anything but drive away the fans that the team gained during their spectacular playoff run last season.

This morning Coyotes President and COO Mike Nealy released a letter addressed to the fans of the team, saying:

The NHL has opted to temporarily “lock out” its players until a new CBA has been negotiated and formally put into place. The Coyotes are hopeful that the duration of the lockout will be brief, and we respectfully ask all our loyal and passionate fans for their patience during this time.

If Jamison hopes to buy the team and make them profitable, the lockout will only make that harder. Casual fans were not quick to get behind a team without an owner, and they will be even less likely to get behind a league that misses games because of the second lockout in a decade.

The Division II San Diego State Aztecs did not stand much of a chance coming into the Devil’s den Friday night. The undefeated Arizona State Sun Devils are off to their best start in team history and hold their highest national ranking ever at the No. 2 spot.

ASU started off  slow, but once they broke the ice the goals began to come in bunches. The Devils went into the first intermission up 3-0 and would continue to pound the Aztecs in the second period.

The Devils would be up by a whopping seven goals before the Aztecs found the scoresheet late in the second period. The goal came off a sloppy turnover and an eventual hooking penalty on a breakaway. The Aztecs would score on the ensuing penalty shot, breaking Sun Devil goalie Kyle Dietriech’s shutout.

The third period would prove to be uneventful, with only two goals being scored by the heavily favored Sun Devils.

As the final buzzer rang, the scoreboard read Sun Devils, 10, Aztecs, 2

Nearly three decades ago the Arizona State ice hockey program was a dozen players playing pick up hockey against each other in the now Tower Ice Plaza in Central Phoenix. Today it is one of the most prominent club programs in the nation, bringing in top-level recruits and being a perennial contender for an ACHA national championship.

The program has taken huge strides in recent years.  Being such a nationally recognized school has helped up, but it is an accepted fact that kids want to come play their college hockey in Arizona.

Former Sun Devil goaltender and two-time ACHA All-American Mark Schacker may be the best example of how the program has evolved. Schaker signed a professional contract with the Allen Americans of the Central Hockey League on Sept. 25. It was one of many offers he received after graduating from ASU. “We are very proud of Mark and I firmly believe he can go play at the next level somewhere,” Powers said. “I expect Mark to do great and I know he’ll represent Sun Devil Hockey very well.”

While the program has done well on the ice, it is off the ice where most of the work is done to help the team thrive.

While the players have done the work on the ice, general manager Ken Lind and his team of team of volunteers make sure that the team has the funding necessary to carry out the season.

A large part of the funds comes from the player fees. Each player pays a fee at the beginning of the season, which includes equipment, jerseys and travel expenses. This year the program has expanded to Division III, making it nearly 45 players who are part of ASU hockey.

The Division III program rarely travels out of state to play in an attempt to keep cost down. This season the team will play a series in Colorado and once in California against the University of Santa Barbara.

The Division I program has a much tougher travel schedule. They have just arrived back from a series in Iowa and will travel Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and British Columbia this season.

It is nearly $10,000 every time the team takes a road trip, so those funds are quickly depleted. The team takes care airfare, hotel and food for the players.

Other sources of income for the team are ticket sales, merchandise, fundraisers and alumni fees, but donors are what keep the team afloat.

ASU is already at the Division I level talent wise, but due to Title IX the team has been unable to make the jump to the NCAA level. Title IX makes it so women’s and men’s sports are balanced at universities.

ASU (5-0) is currently No. 2 in the ACHA Division I rankings in the nation and could take over the No. 1 ranking when the newest poll comes out Thursday.

The dream of being a NCAA program will always be there, but right now the Devils have to concentrate on the task at hand—the No. 6 ranked Lindenwood Lions, who will pay a visit to the Sun Devils home ice Friday, Oct. 12 and Saturday, Oct. 13.