Canadians try to cope with life sans hockey

MONTREAL — Instead of the beloved Canadiens, rock bands Van Halen and Incubus will be playing soon at the Bell Centre. "Hockey Night in Canada" — must TV viewing for fans from Newfoundland to Yukon — has been replaced by a triple bill of Hollywood films, starting off with Disney's "Dinosaur."

In a country where hockey rouses passions almost unfathomable to outsiders, the shutdown of the National Hockey League, perhaps for the entire season, is generating bitterness, awkward adjustments and a deep sense of loss.

Fans in the United States may be frustrated by the owners' lockout of players in a bid to rein in payrolls, but America offers an array of other big-time pro and college sports. North of the border, where the NHL is now the only major league operating outside Toronto, Canadians face a winter of discontent without a sport woven into the national identity.

"The prevailing mood is that they're all wrong — the owners were foolish to pay the players so much money, and the players are greedy," said Roy MacGregor, author of several popular books about Canadian hockey.

"There's no sympathy for either side, but we'll miss the game that we love," he said. "There's a void."

The lockout's impact is profound, emotionally and financially. Business is certain to plummet at restaurants, bars and sports shops around the arenas; some social programs could suffer because they get funds from provincial sports lotteries dependent on NHL wagering.

Of Canada's six NHL cities, Montreal is perhaps the hardest hit. Not only are the Canadiens the league's most celebrated franchise, but the lockout comes just after Major League Baseball confirmed the Expos' departure for a new home in Washington, D.C.

"The Canadiens are now the only major sport here, so people are extremely passionate," said team spokesman Donald Beauchamp. "They want the system to be fixed. They want hockey."

The Canadiens' 150 full-time employees have been assigned four-day weeks to reduce salaries. About 1,000 part-timers who work at the Bell Centre during games have been laid off.

"Those are the people really affected," said Beauchamp, noting that many of the ushers, ticket-takers and vendors are students or retirees badly in need of the extra income.