The lopsided visual and auditory effects of fans seated only in at most 2/3rd’s of the building at made it obvious to me at the time that the T-Birds days in the Key were numbered. I think the team would have been better off if they could have immediately returned to the ancient 4,000-seat Mercer Arena.

Can Seattle put 18,000 fans in the seats every night for the NHL? I am doubtful. If I had the bucks to buy an NHL team, I would look south to Portland first, with its ready-made, better situated building and a hockey culture at least equal to, if not stronger, than Seattle’s. Plus there’s only one other pro team there to compete with. Wally Walker may have said it best before the Sonics left, when he agreed with interviewer Robert Mak that with the addition of Safeco and Qwest Field, the Seattle market for luxury suites was “possibly saturated.”

OTTAWA — Preventing concussions in minor hockey will require a fundamental change to many facets of the game that have been ingrained in Canadians for generations, a Hockey Canada medical expert told parents Saturday.Dr. Mark Aubry was talking to abo…..