The NHL has come back from the oblivion of a lockout with an exciting, faster game and playoff pursuits that will carry into today's final games. The NHL, in becoming the first major professional sports league to lose an entire season to a labor dispute, gave fans every reason to spurn it forever. But despite protestations that they'd been alienated by a dispute between millionaire players and billionaire owners, fans have returned in remarkable numbers.
See "NHL skates back from the brink
League looks vibrant after lockout, though TV remains a problem", Helene Elliott, San Francisco Chronicle, April 17, 2006