By Sunil Agnihotri

To say the past four months of negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA has been an embarrassment is a major understatement. It’s been difficult for hockey fans to watch the game being dragged through the mud as both the NHL owners and the NHLPA stand at a stalemate, waiting for the right deal to suddenly appear. How any professional sports league can allow this to happen is mind-boggling, as one would think that the fans and the long-term success of the league would motivate both parties to find a solution. The labor negotiations have revealed the flawed business model of the  NHL, yet fans remain optimistic and hopeful the season can be salvaged.

The thing that doesn’t make sense to me, is how oblivious the NHL and the NHLPA are to their fans activity during the lockout. Throughout the labor negotiations, fans have been diminished to nothing more than a revenue source…

By Sunil Agnihotri

Any hockey fan can attest to the fact that there is a lot to consume when following the game. Through different channels, professional sports offer a variety of products reflecting the demands of their fans. Mason (1999) found that aside from buying merchandise and attending live events, fans consume the uncertainty that surrounds the game. Along with the three periods and potential overtime, fans find uncertainty in player status, team management, commerce and economics, league administration, performance trends or anything else that might impact the final results of a game. Pushing the uncertainty level even higher is the amount of misinformation released by the league and its teams to protect their financial interests.

And when there is uncertainty, speculation, gossip and discussion is soon to follow.

With the rapid development and usage of web technology and online communication tools, anyone with a simple understanding of the game…

By Sunil Agnihotri

Hockey analytics has become an important component of the participatory culture surrounding the game. Anyone within the hockey community, including fans and league managers, can use numerous tools and techniques to detect patterns in the data available, in order to follow and understand the game. The NHL as well as mainstream media websites provides ample data for people to work with, while others “outside” of the game, including fans and independent organizations, can develop their own data and methods to complete analysis.

Hockey analytics can be done by anyone with a computer and basic software, depending on how large of a dataset is being examined, that’s why computers are so useful and people use them to play video games using the best gaming mouse for counter strike online. The analytic models are dependent on an individual’s or communities’ creativity and rationale, so effective measurement of performance are…

By Sunil Agnihotri

Over the course of four years, Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz has gone from local hero to shady business man.  Why the change in perception? One can easily point to his demands for a new arena, funded by taxpayer dollars. Or to his subtle threats to move the team to Hamilton, Quebec City or Seattle. But in the case of Daryl Katz, there’s something deeper than these recent events that has changed his public image. And unfortunately for Katz, these changes are difficult to reverse.

Background

Daryl Katz is chairman and CEO of the Katz Group, which owns and operates over 1,800 drug stores in North America. As of March 2012, Forbes estimates Katz’ net worth to be $2 billion, ranking him 13^th in Canada, and 634^th in the world. Born and raised in Edmonton, Katz is the quintessential local-boy-who-did-good story. He attended the University…

By Sunil Agnihotri

Background

While NHL owners and the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) work towards a new collective bargaining agreement, a fan, Janne Makkonen of Finland, created and published a short video, entitled “Together We Can”, imploring hockey fans to work together to stop the impending lockout. The video serves as an excellent example of the participatory culture fan communities are immersed within, allowing creators such as this one to share their message to a massive audience. A collection of hockey highlights, mashed up with other cultural artifacts delivers the message that fans are significant to the game and the need to stop the lockout.

As of this writing, the video has received over 750,000 views on YouTube, with over 4,300 comments. The video has received press coverage and has been shared using various social media applications by fans as well as NHL players. Makkonen has even collected over…

By Sunil Agnihotri

Within any form of entertainment lies numerous narratives, designed to engage the audience. Television shows, books and films are all examples of entertainment that utilize plot development and characters to develop a storyline and convey some sort of message to the audience. Traditionally, storytelling came across a single medium, like a book, or an orator. But now the technology available has altered the way these narratives are distributed to audiences. For example, movies not only have their stories distributed across screens, but also across other platforms such as websites, video games and comic books. This is referred to as transmedia storytelling and can be described as:

“…..a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.” (Jenkins…

By Sunil Agnihotri

Since we’re in the midst of the NHL off-season, there are plenty of rumours and gossip circulating, which is no surprise since one of the biggest by-products of professional sports is speculation. We don’t know what will happen next and watch games to find out. The off-season is never dull, especially in Canada, with the draft being held, followed by the start of free agency. Both events are surrounded by rumours of player movement and team strategy before the season starts in October. Add to the fact that the Collective Bargaining Agreement between league owners and players has expired, putting the 2012/2013 season at risk, and you have quite the speculative content available for consumption.

Jonathan Willis of the Edmonton Journal’s Cult of Hockey blog recently compiled a list of some very bogus hockey rumours an individual had tweeted. These included rumours regarding where players were going…