Hockey returns to Hooterville!

When I was young, Labor Day weekend meant that the days were beginning to get progressively shorter, the mornings started to become crisp with a warm and sunny afternoon, my sister and I would beg our parents to let us stay up all night with Jerry Lewis; and something that would fill us with dread: summer vacation was coming to a close and school was starting in a few days.

These days, Labor Day weekend is not just the start of the road to fall; but it's also means the return of hockey! For those of us here in the city of Everett and the surrounding communities, we are fortunate enough to have hockey here in our own home town. While it's not the big names and bright lights of an NHL city, there are times where it is actually a better thing. We get to see boys come into our town as 15, 16 and 17 year old teenagers; and we get to watch them grow up and become young men.

Junior hockey is a funny thing... you can have a boy who seems to have all the talent in the world when they come through the bantam draft; but if he doesn't get the right coach or the right mix of teammates, he can be written off as a failure or even shipped home. However even just a change of scenery has helped some boys that were cast aside due to bad chemistry or bad coaching or something went wrong; including a few that have landed in Everett and amazing things have happened. Just ask Dan Gendur in the Canucks system. :)

And this Labor Day delivered again with last weekend's annual Silvertips tournament which was a good time for all. As usual, I was there for each and every game; and all that action was worth every penny. Even more than the games themselves is the people watching both up on the concourse and in the stands. It's usually pretty sparse, consisting of parents of boys on the team as well as some hardcore fans; but the amount of love shown is pretty strong. The best game of all was the 6-5 shootout win on Saturday morning by the Portland Winterhawks. It came after a blitz in the last five minutes of the third period. This game also had some NHL ties as the younger brother of Dion Phaneuf was playing for Prince George; and Gasper Kopitar, little bro of Anze, was part of the Portland offense.

Not to forget my hometown boys, they played in the 3 evening games, and there were some flashes of brilliance not only from the team but from the coaches. After two years of huggy and soft kind of coaching, it was good to see some discipline back with Craig Hartsburg. What was even more interesting was the dynamics with his assistants, one of whom is his son. With Jay Varady, who is the associate head coach and runs the defense, he pretty much was left alone; but with Chris, there was a little more interaction. I'm not sure if this is because Chris is newer to the coaching ranks or what, but I'll keep my eye on this as the season progresses.

There is still a long way to go for this squad, especially with various new boys to the squad, both young ones and vets who were picked up over the summer. Also there were a handful of them missing due to being invited to NHL camps. It is a bumper crop for the Tips with Tyler Maxwell and Radko Gudas going to LA as invites of the Kings, Thomas Heemskerk was asked to play with the Sharks; then there are the draftees Cameron Abney in Edmonton, Byron Froese and the Blackhawks, Rasmus Rissanen out in Carolina, and Kellan Tochkin up in Vancouver after he was signed with the Canucks this summer.

So, after picking up my season tickets last night, I really feel like hockey season is beginning. But first up is the NHL game here in town; then Opening night is the 26th and then the big boys start. It's like your birthday and Christmas all rolled into one; and I can't wait!

Hope you all had a good holiday and Go Tips! :)

Testing.... testing... is this thing on?

Good morning campers... It's been a while since we've updated, and it's not for lack of trying; but real life seems to get in the way. lol However, today I had some time and a few things to post, so heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go!

It's about 4 weeks until hockey returns to Everett with the annual Labor Day tournament that the Tips hold; and oh boy am I ready for it! It's nice to watch the playoff games on NHL Network; but it's never the same as it is in person. Two weeks after that we get a real treat when the Tampa Bay Bolts come to town with the Desert Dogs of Phoenix; and I am so so excited. I'm torn as to which bench I would like to be sitting behind; because as much as I would like to see Peter Mueller and Shaun Heshka I really really really want to see Vinny Lecavalier sitting six feet in front of me. lol

And speaking of the Tips, nepotism has hit Hooterville in the hiring of new head coach Craig Hartsburg's son Chris to take the assistant coach job that Mark LeRose gave up when he went to be an assistant with Kevin Constantine in Houston with the AHL. He coached a little in the IHL, which is a lower level pro league; and I'm sure having Dad being a coach for so long has rubbed off a little. We'll see how he does...it is also nice that he's pretty cute too. ;)



Last week as a little sad as two more players in Lisa and my generation retired. One was one of the few Winnipeg Jets left in the league, Teppo Numminen; and the other is one of the best American hockey players ever to be in the league, Jeremy Roenick.

JR is one of only four Americans to have scored at least 500 goals finishing with 513, 703 assists in 1,363 regular-season games with five teams; and his six goals in Game 7s is tied for second all time. He was also a nine-time All-Star and a two-time Olympian, helping team USA earn a silver medal in 2002. I hope that not winning a Cup doesn't keep him out of the Hall Of Fame because all that he has done not only for the NHL but the game of hockey in the States should be enough as it is a lot.

And last but not least is Sidney's day with the Cup on Friday; which was also his birthday. It just amazes me just what a star that boy is up in his native land when I see things like all of the press for his first trip west last year; then it was eclipsed tenfold on Friday for the Captain's Cup day-birthday party. National news and a bazillion people following him all over was just craziness! But luckily as captain, he gets a second day; so I would assume that he had a much more dialed down celebration on Saturday with his family and close friends.

There have been a bunch of videos chronicling Steve and Stanley's Excellent Adventure, but I love this one most of all because he gets to be himself while playing with his friends. He doesn't have to be Sidney Crosby, Captain; he can be Sid the lifelong friend of a few boys he used to play road hockey with. The look of pure joy on his face at the end of the game just makes me just love him even more than I already did...