The Off-Season Game Plan: The Colorado Avalanche Edition

In which I realize I can't possibly have a life and keep up to Scott Cullen, who does these over at TSN and gets paid. So I do it for fun and practice.

The Colorado Avalanche aka The Return of the King Year 3

It was the best of times. After several below par seasons, Avalanche all-star Joe Sakic reached out to another former Colorado all-star. King Patrick Roy returned to the NHL after a semi-successful training session in Junior as father/coach. While he successfully jumped back into the NHL, his two sons have found truer callings and conveniently forget to send him Father's Day cards (maybe, what do I know?). Post note Bobby Nadreau no longer pretends to be invisible to avoid conflict.


King Roy arrived in Denver with his customary flash - losing his shit in his first (?) game with Bruce Boudreau.

2104 Hockey Playoffs - The Year of the Duck?

Visual Representation of the Western Conference Playoffs

The Western Conference;

The best way to dissect the Western Conference is to imagine a gathering of high octane muscle cars, the kind that would make Vin Diesel wet his pants in glee. Then imagine all those cars entering a demolition derby, smashing the shit out of each other in an attempt to be the last one standing. Then the winner of which gets to meet Jarome Iginla and the Boston Bruins for the Stanley Cup.

That's what the Western Conference is like; a hockey royal rumble full of talented teams that are Stanley Cup contenders yet due to their location have to eliminate each other to get to the final prize. Half of these first round match ups would have been great Stanley Cup Finals in a perfect world. They are going to be beating the shit out of each other in the first round only to still go at it against two more opponents before they finally get a chance to meet what should be a relatively healthy Eastern opponent.

Fan Psychology and the NHL's Central Divsion (2 0f 4)

First, an odd thing happened this weekend. Somewhere, somehow this blog went a little bit viral. I went from my usual 20-30 views a day to approximately 2000 in one day. I feel something akin as to how Florida must have felt back in 1996, the Year of The Rat when they surprised everyone by not only making the playoffs, but also making it all the way to the Finals before anyone in Florida noticed that not only did they have an NHL team, they also only had to beat some team called the Colorado Avalanche to win some giant trophy that would make millions of Canadians extremely pissed off. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

My usual viewing audience before September 28th

I know 2000 people reading what i wrote isn't NHL worthy (maybe Tier 2 junior) but still it was a pleasant surprise to log into.

Sept 28th; can you feel the tension in the air?

Yet, with the views came the inevitable critiques. A lot were negative but in saying that, in comparison to views it was less than 1%. Which is fine, everyone has their own opinions and they are fine to never check out this blog again. Then this epiphany came along that really put in perspective and gave me a better appreciation of what it takes to be a pro athlete.

You Can't Listen to the Haters.

Frickin' simple. Pro athletes get hate in spades, from opposing players to their fans to their own local media (hello, Vancouver Province). They got to where they are through practice, taking the losses and trying again. If they quit every any time someone called them out for poor skating, play-making or improper use of the apostrophe, then there would be nobody to play hockey or write blogs about it.

Everybody is willing to tell you what you are doing wrong, even if you are not (case in point, I have 3 kids and my father, hearing me use the microwave this morning, told me that I shouldn't be using it to heat up the baby's milk because it kills the nutrients. Never mind that I wasn't heating up the baby's milk, he assumed I was doing something wrong and felt it his duty to inform me, despite having no evidence of any wrong-doing).

If you actually listen to those people, most of them anonymous commenters that offer no proof of their own abilities be it in hockey, writing, or basically anything they critique then you are going to have a hard time enjoying what you enjoy, especially when it comes to doing something you love. Hopefully hockey players love what they do, as a select few of them are paid huge amounts of money to continue doing it. This doesn't come from just being in the right spot at the right time; it comes from putting in a lot of personal time and effort, from continually practicing and practicing despite the willingness of some people to tell you that, despite all contrary evidence, you suck.

I write this blog because I like doing it. It's my 'me-time', my personal ice rink to speak where i can go out there and try new things. I'm not a professional writer, I have never been paid to write. Each blog takes roughly 3-5 hours in writing, linking, finding images, proof-reading. I don't mind it, as I said, it's enjoyable and if 20-30 other people enjoy it as well, great.

Much like playing professional hockey was once a dream of mine, so too is to get paid to write. I may have started too late in life but the enjoyment is still there. After all, I can still remember the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup and I have Don Cherry's Rock'm Sock'm 1-10 on VHS, so yeah. I'm old. Claude Lemieux old. But when the enjoyment ends, I'll retire from writing. Until then, do what you love, no matter what the haters say.

And if you don't like my views on the new NHL then by all means, you are free to link me to your blog and I just might read your opinion, even if they don't agree with mine.

Okay, getting off my soapbox now and back into the Show.

The Other NHL Awards

The Others Awards budget is pretty, pretty tight thanks to
GARY BETTMAN

It's that time of the year again, where we all get distracted by the confusing scheduling of the NHL Awards and Ceremonies right at the height of the Stanley Cup Finals. While most leagues prefer to wait until after the ceremonial booing of the commissioner, the NHL says 'Bullshit' to that idea and instead hosts a highly visual and star-struck affair (if one considers current and former hockey players stars) in the heart of the Stanley Cup Finals because that will probably be the last time anyone really cares about hockey until July 1st.

So while the NHL vets itself and it's players, placing a little extra weight on stupid reporter questions about what winning an award means to the two involved that are still competing for the biggest award in pro sports (Jonathon Toews and Patrice Bergeron), let's take a look at some other not-so-popular awards that will be handed out in the back alley behind a dumpster to homeless people on the morning of the Awards.


The Best Name in Hockey Award Goes To;  Johnny Oduya, Chicago Blackhawks. 

Runner Ups, Johnny Boychuk (Boston Bruins), Brooks Orpik (Pittsburgh Penguins)

His family, friends, coaches and teammates just call him '14'

With a name like 'Johnny' where else can you be still taken seriously but in hockey?

While Boychuk got points for being able to substitute boychuk woodchuck in the ancient tongue twister:
 'how much boys could a boy chuck chuck if a boy chuck could chuck boys?'
Oduya's last name is so phonetically great as it's own comeback that it takes my pick for name of the year.
'I think I will just go around this Chicago defenseman here who isn't Keith or Seabrook.'
'Oduya.'
'Oh, I do all right. Just watch me.'

Honorable Mention to Brooks Orpik, named after legendary USA coach Herb Brooks, which sadly shows that here was a boy who had no choice in life but to play hockey to please his hockey-loving father.