Christmas in July

There's a silly tradition of saying "Christmas in July" and then showing some old Christmas cartoons on ABC Family (or whatever the name of that station is now--it changes hands quite a bit and I can't seem to keep track of it). Now I don't know who came up with this silly idea of 'Christmas in July," but I do know that I intend to celebrate it starting right now!

For the past year (over a year), I have struggled to keep my patience. Waiting quietly for an announcement. Hoping that silly things like multi-million dollar deals wouldn't keep us (fans) from enjoying the one thing we love more than any other: NHL Ice Hockey. But we were wrong, and in April the powers-that-be cancelled the NHL season. Well guess what kids, we stuck in there and held out long enough.

Sources close to the negotiations have informed Bird (for non-hockey folk, Bird is the administrator of the 'hockeybird' website which is basically a New York Rangers hockey blog and is also my favorite website) that a deal is 'done' and an announcement is pending the close of the holiday weekend. Here's what Bird had to say last night:

Ladies And Gentlemen, We Have A Deal! .

MY sources have told me that we do in fact have a deal. I have no specifics except that the writing of the document and an official announcement is not yet ready. However, it's a go.
Take it for what you will......but we will have an NHL season. It's expected that an announcement will come in 10 days or less. Of course, this is what I am told and anything could happen....even enough to kill it.

But the two sides have agreed. Oh yeah....82 games, no less.

It's about time!

~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~

apparently as I was writing this, the Bird man updated his post. Here's the new news, much of the same:

Confirmed Info

As I reported last night, the NHL & NHLPA have agreed to a deal. I still can't get much in the way of details on the actual agreement as both sides are keeping quite on purpose. Neither one wants to say something out of line that would derail the deal and Hockeybird is hardly the place that either side goes to in order to get a message out.
I was able to have the info I got confirmed by a few others so I can say it's true.

Is it to early to celebrate? I hope not. I may have to break out the old jersey and see if I can find some old recorded games I have under the TV cabinet. Throw on the hot-wings and break out the beer (well, I mean, for those old enough to drink it wink wink) 'cuz it's HOCKEY TIME BABY. HELLS YES!