OSHL latest mutation of pro sports
By MIKE ULMER -- Toronto Sun
It could come to this.
Yesterday, organizers of something called the Original Stars Hockey League held a lightly attended news conference in Mississauga. The shindig was set up to announce what amounts to a series of exhibition games to be staffed by NHL players that would include Dominik Hasek, Dave Andreychuk, Chris Osgood, Roberto Luongo, Mike Comrie and Peter Bondra.
There were no players on hand, and there is little of the OSHL other than six sweaters in NHL colours and a man named Randy Gumbley on which to hang your hat, but in the constantly mutating world of professional sports, a new benchmark has been reached.
Sometime not that long ago, local players represented their hometowns. Soon enough, professional leagues divided the best players into teams paid to represent the chosen cities. The press covered the players for an ever-curious public. Owners, covetous of victory, competed among themselves for the best players and residents of the cities where the team played took a hometown pride in their squad. The games, at least in hockey, went rain or shine and you could plan a game night months in advance.
Wars have been fought. Leagues have folded. Changes have come, expansion, free agency, Chuck Swirsky, but, to steal a kernel from the management books, the fundamental paradigm has remained untouched.
Then came yesterday, the Original Stars Hockey League and Randy Gumbley, the owner of the Junior A Streetsville Derbys.
In the NHL post-Apocalypse, there are no teams, there are no home cities, there are no red lines, there is no labour and management, only corporations and millionaires.
With the exception perhaps of dust mites, the OSHL is the only entity I can name that thrives when another organism goes into hibernation. The league happens only if the NHL and its players don't have a new contract by Sept. 15.
By the colour of the sweaters and the name of the entries, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Boston, New York, Montreal, you might recognize a tie-in between the NHL's Original Six and the OSHL.
Not so fast. The place-names are meaningless. "It's just a name," Gumbley said. "It's just easier for fan recognition. The teams themselves will be named after corporate sponsors."
There are no U.S. teams, if you can call them that. The Toronto games would be at the Ricoh Coliseum. Cities with major junior tenants, Ottawa, London, Kitchener and Peterborough and Halifax, as well as Quebec City, Winnipeg, Vancouver and didn't you just know, Hamilton, would be hosts of games. Your town could be put on the list. It's all very fluid.
A draft would be held after the NHL's owners shut the doors and the league would disband immediately upon the resumption of labour peace. Hasek was quoted in a release: "I hope there will be an NHL season and a new agreement will be reached. However if the season doesn't start on time, the OSHL is an exciting format that keeps me in game-ready shape while showcasing our skills to fans who, in a lot of cities, aren't exposed to NHL hockey."
78 NHL PLAYERS
Yes, when you're looking for a stable spokesman for your fledgling league, someone whose very name whispers statesman or ambassador, Dominik Hasek is just the guy for you.
Gumbley insists all 78 players will come from the NHL and is counting on media coverage and the reality of a lockout to send a whole lot more his way. "I think we're going to get four or five Leafs," he said, "but there's a drop-dead rule before we can announce more names."
"When would that be?"
"In September, sometime."
Uh-huh.
