Canada vs. USA (NHL Edition)

We began the year with the lights out, and the memory of an us-against-them final (does anyone remember Calgary meeting Tampa Bay for the Stanley Cup in 2004?) replaced by a them-and-them confrontation -- Gary Bettman v. Bob Goodenow. Bettman cancelled the season in mid-February, marking the first time a major North American sport had lost a full season. To our surprise, we learned we could get by without the NHL. And when it returned, we learned we had been getting by without it for at least a decade. The new rules -- two-line passes, shootouts, stricter enforcement of penalties -- have brought back the excitement that had gone missing.

It's not often a major professional sports operation gets a chance to drag itself into the service bay and overhaul the working parts from bumper to bumper. However, the National Hockey League got that rare opportunity after the 301-day lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.

Overhauled with a new set of rules, the results were spectacular as the NHL reopened for business. So spectacular, in fact, that play in the new NHL this season was the overwhelming choice of CanWest newspaper sports editors as the Canadian sports story in 2005. Editors from across the country said the up-and-down, exciting style of play this season has led to a rejuvenated NHL, making the league's new rules the top story in the impact category.

Meanwhile, the NHL, suffering the ignominy of putting itself right out of business last year, came back but not without further disgracing itself. When hockey returned, so did Todd Bertuzzi. Of all the changes the NHL made to try to win its tiny nationwide fan base back, it failed to make the one that would have won the most support in the kitchens and dens of North America: People who take out opponents can't return until their injured victim does.

Hockey took the ignominious honor of becoming the first pro league to cancel an entire season due to a labor dispute when commissioner Gary Bettman called off the 2004-05 season in February. This time, the owners stayed firm to their demand of a salary cap -- or in corporate lingo, "cost certainty". The league finally returned this fall with a cap and a series of new rules designed to increase scoring and make the game more free-flowing. The early returns have been mostly positive, with scoring and attendance up, but TV ratings on OLN, the league's new hard-to-find U.S. cable partner, predictably microscopic.