Newz Forum: HOCKEY: NHL supplier lays off staff

QUEBEC -- The NHL's official puck supplier has laid off half its staff, a result of the hockey lockout that entered its 123rd day on Sunday.

InGlasCo, of Sherbrooke, Quebec, laid off 20 of about 40 employees from a plant that normally produces about 300,000 pucks and souvenirs for the 30 NHL teams.

"The business has been down since September, we haven't shipped anything to any NHL teams, no souvenir or licensed products," said Denis Drolet, president of Groupe Drolet, the parent company of InGlasCo and the Sher-Wood stick manufacturer.

With the lockout, 640 regular-season games had not been played through Sunday.

"We sell to teams, we sell to the retail side," he said. "Retailers have no reason to buy NHL product. They have no interest and no demand for it."

Minor- and junior-league teams make up the other half of the company's business.

source

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The lockout is now starting to affect other peoples lives. And the players are still getting thier $10,000 a month from the union...