FanHouse RedWings

I was at a museum bar this past week, playing some pool with a buddy when golf came up in the conversation between us and our playing competitors.

One of the guys, slightly inebriated, lambasted me with this theory – Tiger Woods is killing the PGA Tour.

No, there were no bigotry in his voice, he didn't care if Woods was black, white or the color of Paula Creamer's golf ball, he just believed that the onslaught of Tiger fans has brought down the competitiveness and interest of a regular PGA Tour event.

At first I thought this guy was a complete moron. I hit my pool shots, had a sip of beer and mused over the idea that the best thing to ever hit golf could somehow be bringing it down? Hogwash, I thought.

It didn't hit me until Saturday afternoon, on the golf course for my lemming-like weekend tee time, when I realized this guy might be on to something.

Maybe Tiger is killing the tour. No, he isn't killing golf, he's turned a sport reserved for higher class businesspeople into a global phenomenon. He's changed the pot-bellied golfer into a gym rat. He's merged two types of golfers, the one that bombs it off the tee and the one that chips and putts well around the greens, into one golfing freak. He's brought mock turtlenecks, Nike Golf, the first pump and red on Sundays to our regular conversation.

Tiger has changed golf, which is obviously clear.

With that said, has he killed the PGA?

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

St. Pete Times reporter Damian Cristodero dropped a bomb the other day, quoting Tampa Bay GM Jay Feaster that huge changes could hit the Lightning if the team hasn't turned things around by Christmas: "Being sub-.500, being 13th or 14th out of a 15-team Eastern Conference isn't cutting it, given the money we lose, to think we're going to keep payroll where it is and not make changes."

Naturally, Vinny Lecavalier became the topic of conversation for everyone from Vancouver to Montreal, who believes it should own Vinny based on birth-right. Lyle "Spector" Richardson -- one of the few level heads when it comes to trade speculation in the NHL -- points out that unlike high-priced teammates Brad Richards and Marty St. Louis, Vinny does not have a no-trade clause in his contract. But Spector also claims that Feaster has gone on the record stating that "he wouldn't go down in history as the man who trade(d) Lecavalier." Which, to me, means it's more likely that the Bolts will fire John Tortorella or trade Vaclav Prospal if the team doesn't turn it around.

But even if Vinny were on the block, the notion that he could be had for some sort of mediocre Joe Thornton package is ludicrous.

(Coming Up Next: Last Night's Losers, Scandalous and Hilarious Puck Headlines, More CBC Hockey Blogging Reaction, Wade Belak Hits Pay Dirt, Games You Need To Watch Tonight, NHL Limericks and Why Hockey Players Need To "Where Visors.")

I'm sure some of you sick Blues and Avs fans have been praying for the Detroit Red Wings to be involved in a plane accident of some sort. Admit it, you've probably had a few dreams about Chris Chelios screaming like a little girl as his plane goes down.

Well, now your dreams have come true! Yes, the Red Wings were involved in a plane accident last night after their game against the St. Louis Blues.

First, they lost 4 to 3 to the St. Louis Blues. Then the team plane skidded off the runway while trying to take off late last night.

A Red Wings spokesman says the teams DC-9 charter jet was traveling down the north runway, when the right wheels slid off the runway, into the grassy median.

The right side of the aircraft sunk into the mud, tilting the plane to the point where the right wing is about a foot off the ground. No one was hurt, and everybody was evacuated without incident. The plane remained stuck Wednesday morning.

Ha ha! OK, so nothing bad really happened, and the Wings are just a little shaken and stirred. The plane was traveling at just a few miles per hour, so the Wings were never in any real serious danger.

In all seriousness, hockey players do have to do an awful lot of traveling, and it's a good thing incidents like this are few and far between. Sorry, No Photos

An ugly situation just got fugly, according to TSN:

Lawyers representing Toronto-based player agent Don Meehan have issued "notices of libel" against Detroit Red Wing player Chris Chelios and an unspecified number of media outlets. "We have sent out notices alleging libel to Mr. Chelios and various media," said Meehan's lawyer, Graham Smith of Goodman's law firm in Toronto.

Smith declined to specifically name the media outlets which have been served with the notices, but it's believed the Toronto Star is one of them.

The libel claim stems from statements Chelios made this month accusing Meehan of undermining the NHLPA by supporting former Association boss Ted Saskin, as e-mails revealed by the Toronto Star showed a rather cozy relationship between Saskin and the NHL. (In one of the e-mails, Commissioner Gary Bettman suggested Chelios be sent to Moscow on a one-way ticket.) Chelios acknowledged that Meehan was "mad" with him this week, and carefully avoided mentioning him by name in conversations with reporters about the matter.

As TSN notes, the next move is up to Chelios and the other accused parties:

A notice of libel usually insists on a retraction or apology to mitigate damages. It also allows the parties who have been served with the notice to respond as they see fit. If the person issuing the notice of libel is not satisfied with the response, that person is entitled to commence legal proceedings.

Meehan has said that "the best deal is one that leaves both sides satisfied." I have a feeling the best deal will not be the one that's made when this situation finally hits critical mass -- if it hasn't already.

UPDATE: Showing the backbone of a sea anemone, Chelios claims he was misquoted.

Are Wings fans spoiled? Are they becoming the Atlanta Braves fans of the NHL?

How else can you explain the fact that the Red Wings didn't have a full house for their Game One tilt against the Flames?

... the sight of so many empty red seats at Joe Louis Arena in the Wings 4-1 victory against the Calgary Flames on Thursday evening was sad. Good old Bud Lynch, the Wings long-time public address announcer, declared the crowd for the series opener at 19,204, which is more than 800 fans from JLA's 20,066-seat capacity.

If the no-shows were factored in, that attendance figure was likely 3,000 shy of a sellout. The prevailing theory is that Detroit's hockey fans are sick and tired of being sucked in by strong performances in the regular season, only to be quickly let down in the playoffs.

Now, why didn't so-called "HOCKEYTOWN" sell out?

Ticket price hikes, perhaps? Boredom? Or, is this simply an anomoly?

Blogger Christy Hammond was certainly blown away to find tickets available:

I can't even explain it. It's 2:20pm on Tuesday afternoon and there are still plenty of playoff tickets to buy. I've never been able to get playoff tickets on Ticketmaster before and this year there seem to be plenty. Yes, I know tickets went on sale at 10am, but there was a presale yesterday and I guess I expected there to be less tickets available.