From playing in a horsemen's hockey tournaments to owning horses with hockey players and coaches to simply watching as a fan from the sidelines, there's no doubt horse racing and hockey have their ties in Canada.
With the NHL season delayed for at least another two weeks due to a lockout resulting from a labour dispute between the league and players, harness racing participants offer their thoughts on the situation and share some predictions for when the season finally gets underway in this week's Standardbred Canada video feature.
As of Thursday morning, reports indicate the NHL Players' Association is putting together a proposal to end the lockout, forced following the expiration of the National Hockey League's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) less than a month prior to the scheduled beginning of the 2012–13 NHL season - originally scheduled for today, Thursday, October 11. The owners declared a lockout of the members of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) after a new agreement could not be reached before their deadline.
The lockout is the fourth lockout (the third involving players) in the 19 years since Gary Bettman became NHL Commissioner in 1993, following player lockouts in 1994–95 and 2004–05 as well as an officials' lockout in 1993.