Money flows into the franchises in Canadian dollars and most expenses must be paid in more expensive American dollars. Canada has an excessive social services network which forces the teams to pay much higher taxes than their counterparts in the U.S.--one Canadian team pays more in property taxes than all 22 American franchises combined.

Under these constraints, it's near impossible for the smaller market teams to compete--and the people of the provinces will not do anything to rectify it.

This makes no sense. Hockey runs through the blood of every Canuck. The story of many a childhood in rural Canada runs the same--born with a stick in your hand, skating by age 3, winters on the frozen pond in your backyard or that of your best friend.

Their passion for pucks lies at the heart of hockey's soul and forms some of the collective spirit of the nation. If there was any cause worth fighting for, this would seem to be it. $12 million in a budget of $156 billion, doesn't seem like an undue burden, eh?

But apparently to the Canadian taxpayer, it was. While cities like Nashville--whose citizens think "slapshot" is special ammunition for a Remington--build new stadiums and grant huge tax breaks, the Canadian Taxpayers Association was encouraging the population to mail pucks to Prime Minister Jean Chretien in protest.

Maybe the popular reaction was a realization that the NHL simply isn't Canadian hockey anymore. The pond in the backyard is a good metaphor. Winter was already freezing, and it just took someone to run the garden hose a little for there to be ice.

The only sacrifice was time and a little love. It was a community event and all the neighborhood kids would come over and play.