Introduction

Welcome to Puck and Gavel!

This is a blog that will focus on the law and its interaction with hockey.  The analysis will mostly focus on issues that affect the National Hockey League, but will also address those affecting other leagues as they make the news.  Some examples of issues that I will be discussing here are:

1) Coyotes sale;
2) Labor negotiations (and probable lockout);
3) Probable Devils’ bankruptcy;
4) Steve Moore trial;
5) Supplemental discipline process and revisions;
6) Flyers Winter Classic class action suit;
7) Intellectual property/licensing issues; and

8) My own editorials on various topics as I think of them.

Seeing as how some of these issues already have extensive histories and I have limited time due to my job, moving, and impending birth of my first child, I will not be back-filling my posts with the full history of each issue.  Instead, I will just be analyzing the recent news as it arises.  

I will be maintaining a legal dictionary that defines legal terms as I use them.  Whenever I use a term that can be found in the dictionary, I will link to the dictionary so you can look them up before continuing with the rest of the post. 

I hope that the discussion in the comments section of each post will be lively and enlightening, while still remaining civil.  If you want to reach me directly, you can either e-mail me at puckandgavel@gmail.com. Also, don't forget to follow me and tweet me @puckandgavel.  I will respond to any and all direct communications that I receive.

I want to give some special thanks to a few people who have inspired me to create this blog.  First is Rick Carpiniello of The Journal News.  His Rangers Report blog is where I have spent a very significant portion of every hockey season and made me realize how a great community can be created and maintained on the internet. Next are Jeff Marek of SportsNet and Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports, hosts of the Marek vs. Wyshynski podcast.  They inspired me to actually pursue the creation of my own blog.  Finally, I have to thank my wife, who has provided me with nothing but love and support... OK, she may have also called me a dork, but in a loving and supportive way.

Finally, I have to give very special thanks to Chris Susalis, for taking his own personal time to help me get the layout I was looking for and to design the snazzy logo up top. Truly generous and excellent work.

With that, welcome to Puck and Gavel.  I hope we can learn from each other and have a good time while doing so.