Fans turn to Lynx after NHL lockout

When the NHL announced it would lock out its players back in September, Ted Gadziemski guessed he'd get to watch at least a partial season.

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"I didn't think they'd waste the whole season," Gadziemski said.

But now the Evans resident and Augusta Lynx season ticket holder thinks more than this NHL season will be wasted.

News reports cited Wednesday as the day NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will finally sign the death certificate on what would have been left of the season if the two sides could have come to a resolution this past weekend.

And with neither the owners nor players' association appearing willing to compromise, Gadziemski thinks the lockout might take out some of next season, too.

"I think it's terrible," he said. "It's going to hurt hockey in the long run. The fans here in America, they're not going to put up with it."

Gadziemski was one fan in an announced crowd of 2,639 at Sunday's Lynx-Charlotte Checkers game at Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center. He stood out, though - because about 20 minutes before the puck dropped, he was the only one seen sporting an NHL jersey.

He wasn't the only NHL fan watching the ECHL game, but a surprising number of local minor-league fans said they didn't follow the major-league product.

Gwen Williamson isn't one of them. She never thought the lockout would come to this bitter end, and now she's dreading the end of the Lynx's season, which could come as early as April.

"I hate it," said Williamson, a Hephzibah resident. "It's going to make my summer seem really long."

Jimmy Gammell said having the Lynx in town helped him get over the NHL lockout. And he's not worried about when ECHL's season is over, because Augusta's minor league baseball team - the GreenJackets - will be playing by then.

Rick Quarles seemed kind of surprised and a little happy the owners finally stood up to the players' growing demands of higher salaries.

"I thought that they'd have caved into the demands of the players," Quarles said. "Maybe the owners finally stood up and said, 'Enough is enough.' "

With an entire season likely in the grave, the larger question becomes whether hockey fans have also said, "Enough is enough."

Jim Drannon thinks the NHL will recover.

"Once you're a hockey fan, you're a hockey fan no matter what," said Drannon, an Aiken resident.

"It might take a while, but they'll come back."

The NHL sure hopes so.

Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.