Joe Rexrode

USA TODAY NETWORK -- Tennessee

Mackey Arena was packed and rocking, one of the rowdiest college basketball arenas in the country, a Big Ten championship on the line between No. 3 Purdue and No. 14 Michigan State on Feb. 28, 2010.

And we were watching hockey.

The press seats at Mackey are near the top of the arena, right behind the midcourt camera operators, and one of those operators had the Olympic gold medal game between Canada and the United States going on a small black-and-white screen. We could squint and see Zach Parise’s tying goal in Vancouver with 24 seconds left, and Sidney Crosby’s winner for Canada past Ryan Miller in overtime.

And after his Draymond Green-led team outlasted the Boilermakers for an enormous win, what’s the first thing Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said in his post-game press conference? How proud he was of Miller (a Michigan Stater) and the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team.

There’s no stage like the Olympics. There’s no better way to feature and grow the sport of hockey than to have it on that stage, especially considering the next two Winter Games are in Asia. And there’s no compelling justification for the NHL decision to not participate in the Olympics for the first time since 1994.

It’s terrible for the sport, not just because of the big-picture opportunity lost but because of what it might do to future labor negotiations. The anger right now is fresh and will fade some, but the mistrust will have staying power.

Unless there’s an 11th-hour reversal, this will leave a mark. The fact that the NHL won’t lose a couple of weeks of “inventory” during the 2017-18 season – and might prevent an injury or two – is a meager reward for Commissioner Gary Bettman and his short-sighted owners.

“It’s obviously a terrible decision, in my opinion,” Predators forward Filip Forsberg said Tuesday of the decision to skip the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, adding his voice to a league full of upset players. “I mean, everyone wants to play. I would love to play in the Olympics if I get the chance. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve heard other guys speak up. Obviously it’s a terrible decision.”

And Forsberg and Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne are two guys you had to feel for in the Nashville locker room Tuesday. Forsberg would have been a lock to play for Sweden in Pyeongchang.

“Nothing is going to be bigger than that, playing for your nation,” Forsberg said. “I’ve never been a part of that and can’t really imagine how cool it (would be).”

Rinne missed the 2014 Games in Sochi because of a hip injury, or he almost certainly would have played for Finland as a backup to Tuukka Rask. That was on the table for him again in 2018.

“That’s always been my dream,” Rinne said. “It’s disappointing news for sure. I don’t really know what to say. It’s too bad, I think with the Olympics in South Korea, it would have been an amazing opportunity again to promote our game with the best players on the ice. … I think there’s huge potential over there. And yeah, it’s true, it takes a long time, middle of the season. But we’ve done it before and the players who get to play in the Olympics, they always say it’s one of the best experiences in their lives.”

Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, for one. He was lucky enough to play for Canada in 2014, with a more prominent role likely waiting for him in 2018.

“It was an amazing experience, but what can I say?” Subban said. “I’m not the one who makes those decisions.”

No, and considering that the International Ice Hockey Federation agreed to cover the millions in insurance costs that the International Olympic Committee withdrew for Pyeongchang, the NHL doesn’t even have a flimsy excuse handy for it.

If you’re a hockey fan, you probably consider the hockey tournament every four years one of the best features of the Olympics, summer or winter. If you aren’t, you probably watch more hockey during those three weeks than at any other time.

And if you’re an NHL owner, you should stop viewing your sport through a tiny black-and-white lens.

Reach Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.