Bettman thrilled that Sarah Palin keeps mentioning hockey

NEW YORK — John McCain’s selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate may have been an unabashed attempt to placate disenfranchised conservative voters, but it has had an unexpected effect on at least one independent voter, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

“I gotta tell you, I love this Sarah Palin,” Bettman said. “All she ever does is talk about hockey! It’s really done wonders for interest in the game.”

It’s not clear whether Palin, a self-described “hockey mom” who likes to tell a joke about lipstick, knows anything at all about hockey aside from her one-liner, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Bettman.

“The proof is in the pudding, bro,” Bettman told SSNN. “Last week we had over 200 hits to NHL.com. The week before we only had 140. So clearly the Sarah Palin effect is in full force.”

Bettman said he’s never cast his vote based on hockey alone, but that this time. The election is just too important.

“Look around the country and check out what is going on,” Bettman said. “Oil prices are insane. We are at war. The economy is in crisis. Our nation is at a crossroads. Has there ever been a more important election? Probably not. Which is exactly why we should all be thinking about hockey when we go to the ballot box — you know, to keep our mind off of all that other shit.”

It’s going to be tough for this sport to sweep any nations, but it’s still pretty frickin’ cool!