What comes around, goes around

It is no secret that one of the reasons why the Central Hockey League waited until the summer to drop the Youngstown SteelHounds from their league because of their dislike for owner Herb Washington and the situation in Youngstown in general when they were kicked out of the arena their parent company was running because of gaudy revenue projections that were never met.

By waiting so long to deal with the `Hounds, they effectively shut them out of any shot of getting into another league, and thus gave them a final kick in the rear end on their way out the door. Although the Chevrolet Centre has added the Mahoning Valley Phantoms, a junior team, to fill the void for the upcoming season, their is still talk of Washington, Phantoms owner Bruce Zoldan or others trying to land another minor league for the `Hounds to play in next year.

Thus, those who are close to the hockey picture have to be smiling when they find out the CHL season may be disrupted by a strike. An email I got this morning from the league (I'm still on their email list) says that the Professional Hockey Playe Association has declared a notice to strike against the league. Training camp for CHL clubs starts Monday.

How delightful. The same people who left Youngstown and the arena in a lurch might now find themselves in the same situation, of trying to fill dates and schedules? Chances are this will be settled and there will be a season, yet any kind of disruption -- even the loss of a week -- will hurt the league in its pocket book.

The email says negotiations are expected to resume shortly. Yet judging from the way these people ran the arena and handled that situation, I would not put much stock in their ability to strike a deal soon -- or a deal that would be beneficial to the league.