Sheesh, it's still summer - hard to start thinking about hockey, but I must admit I scan the sports pages for hockey info.

I can understand your quandry as Ottawa, the best regular season team, continues to disappoint in the playoffs, but I'm sticking with them because they rekindled my interest in the game.

I, like many others, lost interest and stopped following not long after expansion when the game got diluted and degenerated into clutch-and-grab hackey. When I moved into the Ottawa area I started watching again and discovered that the Senators were playing a game built on speed and skill - just like the old days - exiting.

The rule changes have, by and large, also improved the game tremendously - much faster and more entertaining, and it will only get better as teams build around skill and speed and dump the old deadwood like Tie Domi.

Go Sens!