Everybody clap yo hands!

Thank the baby Jebus that it's finally Friday! Why is it the weeks that you only work 4 days seem longer than the 5 day ones? I don't know... maybe it's because my life outside of work has been pretty busy lately. This is another reason I have been remiss in posting; but hopefully the weekend and next week will look up.

And speaking of looking up, two former Silvertips have had some press this week. First is Peter Mueller of the Avalanche. He's finally begun light skating again after being on the shelf since September when a hit in a preseason game put him back on LTIR. This was the second time in his pro career with the first being the time last April when Rob Blake tried to end his life. This time, the concussion symptoms were so bad that he even went to see Marc Savard's doctor. So, hopefully it won't be long before Pete is back to not only full contact; but back in the game he loves.

Also having some press is Zach Hamill. Zach is a prospect of the Bruins and has spent most of his three years as a pro playing down in Providence; but yesterday he was called up for his second cup of coffee with the big club. Also being bitten by the injury bug, especially in his first season, it's been a long but hopefully valuable experience for Z. I'm sending lots of good vibes his way that will hopefully help our pal get his first NHL goal. When he was called up in April, he got his first point with an assist on a Michael Ryder goal and got to be part of the Bruins Black Aces group during the playoffs.

And of course, there are my present day baby boys too. They're on a four game winning streak and have moved back into playoff contention. Tonight they're back home to play the Seattle Thunderbirds for the 245th Friday in a row as the first game of a five game homestand. Actually those five are half of the remaining games at home. After playing the first eight games of this year at home, the WHL has them on the road for almost the whole month of March. So, watch this space for more news on hockey here in Hooterville.

Since this is an actual post, Boy of the Day not really BotD... it's going to be just a random picture I chose. I hope you've enjoyed the BotD posts so far; and if you have questions, concerns or comments about this or anything else, please let us know. Have a great weekend everyone!

It's a lot shorter now, but I love the look on Bing's face when he's getting his do did for a photo shoot.

All Star postmortem

Way back when, I didn't realize there was this game called hockey. WKBD used to show all the red wing games but they for the most part, were meaningless to me. No my game was baseball. Every summer, Dad and I would head down to Detroit to the ol' ball park (aka Tiger Stadium) and watch the Tiggers play a couple times in person. And if those games were before a certain date in the summer, it meant only one thing - all star voting. I'd grab a stack of punch ballots and in between scoring the game (something I still know how to do, thank you very much), I'd plunk for Alan Trammel and Looooooooou Whitaker because, even if they weren't having all star seasons, it was who I wanted to see at the all star game. You'd see people with nails being driven through three inch stacks of ballots.

Then my eyes were opened to hockey and baseball was pretty much replaced as my sporting boyfriend. I'd still plunk for my Red Wings because, again, it's who I wanted to see at the all star game. And I'm a firm believer that if you don't vote, you don't get to bitch about who makes it in. If The Russian Five weren't all stars, well at least I tried.

The ballot nail changed when when fan voting moved to the internet. Ok, things got a wee bit suspect about the players voted in but looking back on it, it was still the beauty of FAN voting. If fans wanted Rory wearing an all star sweater, so be it.

The 2011 NHL all star game took that all away. Sure fans could vote for 6 players (though even that seemed to go for naught because it was meaningless in the big picture). Sure Sidney Crosby got the most votes, but the voting was down significantly. I think it was due, in large part, to fan apathy after Brendan "the NHL savior" Shanahan decided it was time to tweak the format. OOOOH let's have a DRAFT! (and full disclosure, I didn't see any of the draft festivities)

Now by all accounts, the players liked the draft format (except, I'm not above pointing fingers and laughing at Paul Stastny. Sure he's an all star but he's lower than Mr. Irrevelant; at least Mr. Irrevelant got a car out of the deal). Sure they are all all stars so what does it matter when they were picked?

But to me it does matter. All but 6 were not picked by the fans. It's always been a popularity contest, I'm not even going to sit here and say that it was. However, it goes back to a league that has proven more than once that the fans really are not all that vital to the game in any aspect. The fans have lost their voice in something so unimportant as a an all star game - which was the last bastion of fan participation. And I think if you ask a fan of the game, they can point out (with stats to back up their beliefs) that there player left off due to their lack of league popularity. *cough John Liles cough*

Will it be this way next year? Probably considering everyone was talking about how great the format was and how exciting it was (though I gotta think people who sold sweaters had to hate it not having pre-games sales). And I for one am sad about that.

Best day ever

It's just starting to snow here in the midwest and fantastic news just came in on the wire. We're closed tomorrow. Snow day for everyone!

Tomorrow I'll even write about hockey.

Boy of the Day - 1/28/11

Okay... I realize that it's now Saturday in most parts of the world and this country, but I happen to be in the Pacific time zone and Mickey says that I have a bit longer to slip this in. I would have had it up sooner, but I was roped into coding for about 4 hours today at work; then I was at the arena watching my baby boys destroy Calvin Pickard and the Seattle Thunderbirds 7-0. Comcast Arena is always filled to the rafters when Seattle is in town since it's just down the I-5 from Hooterville, and tonight's game was especially sweet. There were a bunch of fights, St. Calvin got pulled 4 and a half minutes into the third and there were cowbells up the yin yang. In fact my ears are still ringing and I've been home about 90 minutes.

Anyway, I digress... actually though, fighting is something that today's boy does and usually does well. Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks is not only a really good defenseman, but he can also take care of himself. Our boy comes to us from Grimsby Ontario, which is on Lake Ontario near Niagra; and his father, Big Al who looks like a biker, works in the Ontario Federation of Labour. He is married to a lovely girl named Katie; and they have two adorable babies named Cole who is 3, and little Reese who is 1.

After playing in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, he went to Bowling Green University where he not only played all four years, but he graduated with his BA in Business and was an Academic All American twice. He was drafted by the Canucks with the 151st pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft; but he went back to school then signed an amateur tryout contract with the Moose in '04. After playing with the Moose for 107 games, he was finally called up by the big club and he's been there ever since. Right now, he serves as an alternate captain for away games, and there was a rumor or two that he was going to be named captain before Luongo was given the C. I am sure that with his leadership and drive, he would be a good captain someday in Vancouver.

So, without further adieu, some numminess from KevB...

Chillin' with Kes while he was rehabbing an injury...


With a Fin puppet for the Canucks Reading program...


I have never wanted to be a roll of tape more...


On the road with Keith Ballard...


I just... yeah....

a puzzler

So you are an NHL GM of a team that has some dandy players on it. So you say hey nifty player A, we're going to sign you to an EXTENSION! Hats and Party horns! Wooot! But wait, it's only for one year.

Player A has been somewhat hampered by injuries but he's been well, less than stellar. Is this a way of saying you've got one more year on this team to prove himself before he's cut free? A way of motivating him to carry this team to the playoffs and you know, show up?

Here is hoping for the Caps fans, McPhee knows what he's doing.

The bang bang dance

Luckily I don't have this on my computer or it would be uploaded so we'll have to rely on the interwebs and youtube:

The bang bang dance



which is apparently from the show "How I met your mother"




(it only slightly resembles what I play with Max)

Boy of the Day - 1/27/11

Here we are with the new and improved BotD! Today's boy is Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche. He is a big favorite of Chucker Megan and I have to admit that I have taken quite a liking to the boy.

Matt is a young Canadian lad who hails from Haliburton, Ontario; which also happens to be the hometown of Canucks prospect Cody Hodgson as well as retired players Ron Stackhouse and Bernie Nicholls.

After playing two seasons with the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League, he was drafted third in the 2009 draft by the Avs. It was a dream come true for our boy because despite growing up in a Ontario tourist town, Matt was a Avs fanboy from the word go, especially for his idol Joe Sakic.

It didn't take long before the powers that be in Denver decided to keep him on the roster for the 2009-10 season after scoring an assist and a goal in his first month with the team. And since then, he's been a steady force centering his line; and last night, he scored his 100th career point which made him the youngest 100 point scorer in franchise history.

Anyway, I think Matty is going to have a wonderful career and I'll be watching him this weekend in the All-Star game.

And here are a few shots of the BotD...

A screencap from a post-draft interview showing his bedroom, and the clip of that interview. The bedroom shot is about the 5:00 mark...





Posing in his sweater from the CHL Top Prospects Game...



Draft night photoshoot where he's trying so hard to control the squee...



A funny shot from pre-game warm ups...



and all dressed up at the NHL Awards...