Whatever damage was caused by the latest long NHL lockout, the league isn't feeling the fallout as it gets set to start this year's playoffs. With just a few days left in the shortened 48-game season, a look back shows that fans are still flocking to arenas and tuning in on TV sets. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told a meeting of Associated Press Sports Editors on Friday that teams are filling up their buildings to 97.4 percent of capacity, and television ratings on a national level in the United States and Canada, as well as in local markets, are up considerably. "We may not have as large a fan base as a couple of the other major league sports, but there are no more avid, passionate fans in all of sports than ours," Bettman said. "We believe in the strength of our game." He also has the numbers to prove it. Bettman said some teams have reported ratings gains of double and triple digits this year. And that is just from a regular season that was delayed from October until January and was in jeopardy from happening at all until the NHL and the players' association hammered out a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement to save it. "We don't take our fans for granted," Bettman said. "Our fans are passionate about the game, they get angry when they have reasons to be angry, they are excited when they have reasons to be excited, they are emotional, but most of all they are well-informed. Overwhelmingly, fans understand what we need to do and what we have done. "They come back because they love the game. We are grateful on a daily basis for our fans." Read more http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/9215605/despite-lockout-nhl-not-experiencing-fallout
