Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Video killed the radio star...

Well, it appears that I'm going to be updating here in the evening, since lately at work I've had to actually do, you know, WORK! lol So anyone in the time zones to the right of mine will get to see this when they get up in the morning. Don't all clap at once! *crickets*

Anyway, tonight was the first of two year end parties for the Silvertips with the first at Sporty's. It was nice to see as many boys able to make as did including my good pal Dale Hunt. He's such a great boy; I don't think we had a rotten one in the bunch this year, but I got to know him a little bit more than most of the others this season and I'm glad that PG let him go so we could have him. And the best thing is that he was only 18 at the beginning of the season so he'll be back this next season and hopefully so will everyone else other than the 3 overagers.

And now... on to the videos for today!

First is a clip from a Pittsburgh TV station about the Skates and Plates dinner that I would have loved to be at last night. Ah... hockey boys in tuxes serving me food! Sounds good to me!

Next is an interview with Christian Hanson from the fine folks at ESPN... the son of Dave Hanson, aka one of the Hanson brothers from Slap Shot, has been signed by the Leafs. He's adorable and I love how his dad still sports the same hair as he did in the movie.

And last but, not least is a goodie from Youtube by way of the Windsor Spitfires, who are not only #1 in the Ontario Hockey League, but they are also #2 in the entire Canadian Hockey League. It appears that they're relaxed and ready to take on Plymouth in the second round as is apparent in this video. Man it's funny, and I could so see my boys doing this too.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Whoooooooooo!

I have a feeling that Tay will probably not be joining us tomorrow and for sure Wednesday night, and I'm okay with that... I got my hug two weeks ago! *shakes pom poms* I &hearts you Ellie and I'm so proud of you!!

From the Silvertips website...
Everett Silvertips Vice President / General Manager Doug Soetaert announced Monday that 20 year old defenseman Taylor Ellington will be joining the Vancouver Canucks' AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, following the conclusion of his Everett Silvertips career. He is expected to arrive in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

As one of three 20- year-olds retained by the Silvertips this season, Ellington was appointed as an alternate captain prior to the start of the season and contributed with a fine campaign, posting career highs of 69 games played, six goals, 26 assists and 32 points. His efforts made him a deserving co-recipient along with Shane Harper of the Silvertips' Most Valuable Player Award, acknowledging his standout performance in leading the Silvertips to their sixth consecutive playoff appearance.

Through five seasons and a franchise-record 287 games played in a Silvertips uniform, the rugged defenseman finished with 14 goals and 52 assists for 66 points, along with 371 penalty minutes. Standing in at 6'2 and weighing 209 pounds, Ellington received several accolades throughout his junior career, including invitations to the 2006 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge and the 2007 Home Hardware CHL / NHL Top Prospects Game.

Ellington was selected in the third round (41st overall) in Everett's renowned 2003 WHL Bantam Draft that produced future first round NHL selections in Zach Hamill (Boston), Peter Mueller (Phoenix) and Leland Irving (Calgary) as well as early NHL selections in Ellington (Vancouver) and Brady Calla (Florida).

A Victoria, BC native, Taylor was selected in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks and signed a three-year entry contract with Vancouver on March 13th.




Another day, another dollar or two...

Good morning friends and neighbours out in the land of Puck. It's Monday, which means nothing other than there is a shitty game on Versus and I rolled into work at 9:30; but only because I have a standing 10:00 meeting. *sighs like Sid playing PSP*

And the party is over here in Tipsville as of about 10pm on Saturday night. The boys gave it a good ride, but just couldn't keep up with Tri-Cities; and so the season has come to an end. Considering a lot of experts picked the boys to finish 9th or 10th in the Western Conference, I think that coming in as 7th and making the playoffs is an achievement. It's just too bad that they had so many injuries and dropped some games that they looked like they had won; otherwise they might have finished higher and with a winning record.

I should have a season end post, but I think I might have to wait a few more days... I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye to them, especially the three 20 year olds: Taylor Ellington, Graham Potuer and Daniel Bartek. They're really great guys; and with Tay and Potsie, they've been here 5 years, along with I've gotten to know Taylor a little better than the other two.

I guess the upside is that they will be going on to bigger and better things with either school or professionally; and that is where Taylor will be. He will either be playing in Victoria with the Canucks' ECHL club, the Salmon Kings, which is where another of our good pals Dan Gendur has had a great rookie campaign; or if he has a good camp, he might start the season in Winnipeg with the AHL Manitoba Moose with another former Tip, Shaun Heshka.

So, we're going into the second to the last week of the NHL season, and there are still logjams in both conferences for the last few spots, and I think it's going to come down to that last weekend. Talk about nail biters! I have two teams that are pretty sure of a spot unless they somehow lose all of their remaining games; but the last, aka Les Canards, are playing well but they're dependent on a few teams in front of them losing as well. *sends bad juju to Nashville and St. Louis* I know Lisa is feeling the same way for the Buffaslugs and maybe even the Kitties too since they're 10th and 9th right now, but only by a few points behind. *sends more bad juju to Montreal and the dirty Rangers*

And I also have some video this morning for those of you who also have a case of the Mondays...

Courtesy of the girls from Puckhuffers is a super funny video of Cabbie on the Street from Score Network, that has a few of my favorite boys in it.



I also wanted to share the video from the fabulous line brawl that was surrounded by the Canucks-Blackhawks game last night. The only bad part about this? Ben Eager didn't finish the job and rip Kevin Bieksa's shirt completely off! ;9 And holy shit are the sin bins huge at the Hawks' barn. I know the one at Comcast will fit only three comfortably or maybe 4 if they're the skinnier boys. ;)




Anywho... that's about it from me today. Have a good one youse guys!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Do you believe in miracles? YES

It's down to this... it's game 5 back over at the Toyota Center in Richland; and I wonder what my baby boys have left in them to give tonight.

Last night's game was probably the best effort I've seen from them at home in quite some time; and for a little while it looked like they might just pull the rabbit out of the hat and win. Well, after the first period the rabbit gave them the finger before leaving the arena; and the Tips were not able to keep the Amerks under control. I was very proud of them for all the work they put in, especially on the physical play... some of the boys who I know can lay a hit were not doing so very much or at all; and they responded to what Tri was dishing out.

And you can read a very well done and very funny recap written by the lovely Ms. Daily Su who I had the extreme pleasure of meeting and sitting with last night. She graciously posted some of my pictures and I feel sorta famous!

So, that is life in Tipsville tonight... I think I'm gonna go get ready for the game. Go boys go!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Despite the rumors....

I am not: dead (clearly); stuck under something heavy (Ryan's skinny after all); giving up the blog for good (again, clearly). Life around these parts has been very busy and honestly, I don't see it changing a whole lot in the next few days. Arg!

But some puck news to talk about:
Bluejackets - ok, dare I say it but this a legit playoff team. They dismantled the Flames last night and I'm not just saying that because the score was 5-0. From the probable rookie of the year on out, everyone had a strong game. They won face-offs, they took the body, they intercepted passes while making crisp passes themselves.... I think the score could have been 1-0; they were just that good.

Sabres - the beloved Crunchy Miller is back in net tonight after a month long absence. He's saying the right things like "I'm not the savior here". Ryan, I just hope you are back in time so your boys in blue aren't sitting out the playoffs again this year (yeah, see that, I did it. He is the savior; even if he doesn't get the support he needs).

Penguins - the flightless birds are in an odd spot. One point up they are in 5th, two points down, they are in 8th. They just need to keep winning.

Lord help me, but I'm rooting for the Blues to make it back into the playoffs. They have been a hard working team all year and they've had some wretched injuries.

I just checked my basketball bracket. I was in last place (out of ten) as recently as yesterday morning; now I'm tied for 2nd. Go fig.

The Frozen Four starts tonight. Read an interesting tidbit over at Puck Daddy that this is the first time since 1968 that neither Boston College, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Minnesota or Colorado College are in the tournament. That's a lot of big names out.

I can't decide who to pull for: Denver is a sentimental favorite that has nothing to do with the school and the rest of my family would appreciate some love to Michigan (then again, you gotta feel for Steve Kampfer - this kid has been in some shit situations that are not of his doing this year). Maybe I'll just root on Bemidji ..oh wait,they are playing Notre Dame; forget it. I'll think of someone!

That's all I have time for today - but stay tuned. You never know when I might show up next!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

We're gonna rock this town, rock it inside out!

It's game day here in Hooterville and most Tips fans are pretty confident in our boys after winning game 2 to get a split of the first two on the road; especially with as hard as it was to win over in their barn this season. Last night two of the boys were at Sporty's, a local watering hole that is a huge sponsor of the Tips; and they were in good spirits and sounded ready, but were holding back a little on the enthusiasm. I think that's smart, because Tri-City is a very big and tough and talented team; and it's no fluke that they earned 101 points and won the division. So, I have my big fluffy sweatshirt and my bag of Hall's drops ready as I'm still in the last stages of La Grippe. :)

But, on the pro side, it's a half ways busy night in the NHL and I hope Les Canards can continue on their quest to get back into playoff contention. Last night, Jiggy had his shit together and was able to keep the Preds to one goal; as well shut them out in the shootout. They're now in eighth and hopefully they're gonna stay there.

Wish I had more to expound on other things, but my work calls and I should go see where Lisa has been the last few days. I think she's in Buffalo nursing Crunchy back to health. ;)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Shake your groove, shake your groove thing, yeah yeah!

This is going to be short and sweet; but I just wanted to give a big shout out to my baby boys, especially Mr. Tyler Maxwell and Thomas Heemskerk, for their great game last night. Tyler got all 3 goals and Heemer was a maniac in goal to give the boys a 3-2 win over Tri-Cities. Yay!!! I admit that I have been a bad bad fan sometimes lately and I wasn't sure they were going to be able to win a game let alone be so close in both over in Richland. That said, I'm sporting my black and white Tips hoodie today and will be sending good luck thoughts for the next 4 days until I see the boys on Wednesday. Whoooooo!

Hopefully Kellen Tochkin and Mike Alexander will be back for game 3, as they were both out last night with the dreaded 'upper body injury'; which could be anything from a hangnail to a level 12 concussion. Meh... just as long as the puppies get better is all I ask.

Anyway, I gotta boogie... hopefully something more exciting will happen today. The Penguins looked a little slow and not too good against the Puppy-Drowning Brigade. I say burn those fucking blue sweaters... they're nothing but bad ju-ju!