For most of us on the board, hockey withdrawal hasn't really hit us yet as it's only October and we would have only been about two games into the season, so I am not buying into that theory. Secondly, as most of us know, there are a lot of hardcore local junior fans who come out to see the team whether they are good, middling or crappy regardless whether the NHL is on or not. The extra fans come in when the team is billed to have an extremely good year and since junior starts in September, the buildup has happened for each team. I am thinking the lockout will actually hurt hockey as a whole.

I looked at the attendance numbers from last year and compared to this year. While I was doing that, I read an article where CHL president Dave Branch states that the OHL average attendance is down 500 a game. So much for the lockout theory that attendance will increase. I don't know about the Dub, but in many OHL arenas (through a quick glance on OHL website) attendance is way down. Sudbury and Mississauga seem to be the exceptions to this rule with, for example, Kingston, Brampton, Ottawa, Saginaw and Sarnia down significantly. The latter three are among the best teams attendance wise over the past few years and still are. The other ones I didn’t think could sink any further but apparently have. I hope the casual fans aren't becoming apathetic towards hockey in general due to the actions of a few lawyers who know nothing about the sport. It's quite possible that the stats are a fluke and things will come around but if this trend continues, it won't be a good thing for anybody and it will have a larger trickle down effect to younger hockey players.