Project for Awesmoe 2019 -

Once again, it's the time of year where everyone tries to be extra awesome in this month. You never know exactly who's watching! [Santa?]

So for this year, I've gone and talked about the project for awesome 2019 video as the Chace Numata Scholarship. It was started as a return back to the Erie community for the outpouring of respect from the fans, teammates and alumni.

In November of 2019, the Erie Otters of the OHL hosted a Scholarship night where they featured their neighbor Erie SeaWolves efforts. They designed a jersey that looks like a baseball jersey most commonly worn in UPMC Park next door. I thought the design looks really nice and melds the two teams well with a non clustered design. I'm sure they are going to be a huge collectors item that people will want to grab quickly.

You can check out my video I've done for this year's event, but of course, you should pretty much consider donating to the Scholarship fund.

Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic Breast Cancer Awareness All-Star Game 2019

Merry Christmas 2018

Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic Takes on NHL Trade Deadline Day 2017

This year's Trade deadline day started off in the wee hours of Tuesday Feb. 28th with the Canucks starting their sell-off by sending the Jannik Hansen to the San Jose Sharks. It's still pretty taboo among teams and general managers to trade within the division. This will come into play later on in the afternoon.

There were a few trades that happened before the last 24 hours window, I think that pretty much set the market as far as who could get moved.

There were only two transactions this year where salary had to be retained Jarome Iginlas' was one of those transactions. The Avalanche are going to retain 50% of his salary. Could it be the best last chance of the Iginla Cup-chasing dream? The Kings are hoping so - after all it is an odd numbered year.

Then a rather shocking development happened within the last hour of the trade deadline show. The local team Pittsburgh Penguins have made a bold move by turning the valued defenceman Mark Streit, who was constantly burning the rival teams with goals, into one of theirs by acquiring him from Tampa Bay. I don't know if this was planned by the Lightning and Penguins, but it sure messes with the Flyers who probably didn't want a player of that caliber on a rival team.

I made a video of the day's highlights because I expected a rather dull day with plenty of wasted minutes just waiting for the reports and the tweets to come through with the news.
So, what do you think about the Trade deals made today and this week? Let me know in the comment box below.

Game of the Week Season 3: Minnesota Wild vs Philadelphia Flyers

Well, this week I decided to put two teams that I don't normally use in this week's Game of the Week. They don't meet each other much in the regular season, but the Wild and Flyers seem like a good match up where the Broad St. Bullies may be able to slow down the Wild's momentum in real life? Could a simulated scenario work just the same?

I was intrigued by the way Coach Boudreau would help out a team that was building something special with a bunch of key free agent signings. Did they get everything to gel?

In Philly, I don't know if they are going to say they are in a rebuilding process. They are clearly middling with an underachieving roster and a young coach that doesn't get people that excited about the process. Should the Philly community "trust the process" with the team?So, how did I do? Are you satisfied with this series? Are there two other teams that need featured in this Game of the Week series? Please tell me in the comments section below!
Do I need to use more junior teams or feature more teams from Europe? I don't quite know what you want from this series yet.

I don't think I do enough higher stakes games on the series. Perhaps I will do a Stanley Cup game between two random teams? So, make your predictions soon! What two teams will we see in the Stanley Cup finals this year? Pittsburgh versus Chicago?

Merry Christmas 2016

In 2016, I had to overcome a larger role of my private family life as well as continued searching for more personal income. But my continued perseverance towards the Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic blog remain undaunted.So, this year, in light of my continued struggles, I've decided to go minimalist towards my Christmas decorations. But while I do this, I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season, I hope you're enjoying all the hockey season as well!

Game of the Week - Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers 9/11 Memorial Game

It's been 15 years since that horrible day in September when the modern world saw the horror of an unprovoked attack changing all our lives forever. 9/11 is a day of continued mourning, but as the years go by, we are strengthening our national resolve to forge ahead to higher peaks of human fortitude.

Once again, the Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic continues it's tradition of playing out a simulated game between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals.

Last year, I chose the New York Rangers, so to mix it up, I chose to control the Capitals. Will I finally break the losing streak against the CPU and win in my last game broadcasting with EA Sports NHL 16?

Thank you to all those who serve in the military, police, firefighters, and first responders. Without your courage, we have no examples of human bravery.

RIP
Mark Bavis and Garnet "Ace" Bailey

Game of the Week - USA Hockey vs. Hockey Canada + Bonus Shootout

As the old hockey season finally comes to a close, so too Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic turns the page on NHL 16 as the featured game simulator. I can't wait for NHL 17 to come out and have yet another Midnight Release Party of NHL 17 via Twitch.tv and later uploaded to Youtube.

I wanted to feature Canada and USA in this last Game of the Week. I think it's an interesting story developing within each hockey national program whereas the next core group of NHL caliber superstars are all coming together in the World Cup. Does McDavid outshine and reach the Cup before USA prospects Eichel and Matthews? Has the USA program surpassed the Canadian rival in dominance?

I chose to be the Americans in this simulation against the CPU Canadians tweaked roster. We'll see here as Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic simulates USA vs Canada in the Game of the Week - international style!
But as an added bonus, here is a shorter video of the Shootout match-up between USA and Canada.
Be sure to check out my Midnight Party Release of NHL 17 on the morning of Sept. 13th seen right here on Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic!

Game of the Week - Hershey Bears vs Manitoba Moose

Things are starting to really trend southwards for HockeyKnight vs the PS4's CPU. Eventually, I will get a win over it - but I need to learn some better defensive tactics. As you can tell in this series, I'm constantly getting scored on. Maybe NHL 17 will be better for me. But as the series comes to a close with the NHL 16 game, I wanted to choose two teams that I haven't used yet online.

The Hershey Bears are a dominant AHL team always in the hunt for the Calder Trophy. I was supposed to go out there maybe once this past season, but it didn't work out. The Manitoba Moose are back into the AHL once again with a new affiliate in the Winnipeg Jets. Not sure if I really like the color redesign to match the Jets colors, but at least they're still around. They have a really fun mascot.Should I just give up on this series against the CPU? Let me know in the comments section below. But if there is a team that you want to see featured in the Game of the Week - leave that in the comments section below!

Game of the Week - HC Vítkovice Steel vs HC Kometa Brno

Well, since I was hoping to get this series some traction, I tried a little more diversity in the team selection. I noticed that I haven't used any of the teams in the Euro leagues, so here goes two of the random teams in the Czech Extraliga.

I chose HC Vítkovice Steel vs HC Kometa Brno as I was also looking forward to the upcoming Slovak Day in Kennywood. Will my choice in team succeed or fail? Did I handicap myself with another low ranked team against a good team that I'm unaware of? Or did the CPU just kick my ass again?

Game of the Week - "Shark Week" 2016

It's that time of year where in the summer months, people relax on the beach, or stay at home and watch some hockey!

Shark Week is very popular in the American culture. Of course, I had to tie in a game with EA Sports' NHL 16 recently. Here is the results of that game! Instead of giving myself the obvious favorites to win, I handicapped myself with the intent to give a challenge.

The Cologne Sharks are in the German Elite League and the way the team is set up, it doesn't look promising. The starting goalie for the German Sharks has a 74 overall rating.

So, did I at least make a game out of it?

NOTE: I'll be changing the Game of the Week to Tuesdays this summer so that I can hopefully capture more people with it instead of a late Thursday night. Be sure to subscribe to my channel on twitch to get notifications when I go live streaming!

HockeyKnight1921 - Twitch.tv

Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays in 2015!

Thank you very much for reading and watching my video blogs over the past year. I've been spending a lot of time planning new and innovative ways to express my brand of hockey blogging across the internet in 2015 and hopefully you've enjoyed it.I'm going to continue a lot of more "Game of the Week" episodes as well as more cutting edge internet blogging for 2016.

Stay Tuned!!

Game of the Week (Season 2) - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Happy Halloween!

Game of the Week (Season 2) - Montreal Canadians vs Nashville Predators

With thanks to the fans who voted on the poll this week, the Montreal Canadians are featured as the team I'll use in this week's "Game of the Week" Season 2. Do I have what it takes to get it back on track after an embarrassing loss to the CPU team last week?Of course, since it's October, I'm continuing to support the whole month long rally of Hockey Fights Cancer. Please give them support with money and wear pink this month.

Next week, as teased by my previous video, I will be playing the video game rematch of the Penguins vs Maple Leafs, with this time having it hosted at the ACC! Look for it next week!

Game of the Week (Season 2) - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Pittsburgh Penguins

This week's game is inspired by all the hype from this upcoming game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs. It's Phil Kessel's first game against his old Toronto friends. In this episode, I am trying to focus on telling you just how many memories I've gathered from attending Pens games vs Maple Leafs at both Pittsburgh Arenas.

I've also kept up on the October "Breast Cancer Awareness" and "Hockey Fights Cancer" theme. Please consider donating anything you can towards finding a cure or for more medical research.

I am currently 1-0 in this season vs. the CPU.

So, no matter what I've done here during this video game in the series. I'll probably do a rematch over Halloween between these two teams. Yea, I've used the Penguins more times than any other team in the game, but I've been trying to stay current.

Do you have an idea to feature two teams in the next "Game of the Week" series? Then go ahead and leave a comment in the box below or wherever appropriate.

Game of the Week (Season 2) - Minnesota Wild vs New York Islanders

For the first official game this series using EA Sports' NHL 16, I feature the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild. I chose them because the Islanders had recently traded Michael Grabner to the Maple Leafs. It was an interesting 5-for-1 deal bringing 5 prospects away from Toronto.
But this being October, I've updated my look with some pink. I'll be in my pink practice jersey for all the games played in October this season. And while we're on the subject, why not go over to the NHL's Hockey Fights Cancer website and pick some pink merch in the shop or just donate to a truly worthy cause.

Is there a team or league that you'd like me to feature during this "Game of the Week" Series? Leave a comment where appropriate.

NHL 16 by EA Sports Midnight Release Party - LIVE!!!

After a midnight release of the much awaited NHL 16 by EA Sports, it is my duty as a fan of the franchise and as a pioneer hockey blogger to feature the new game here on my blog so that all over the world can get live broadcasts of the Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic review and for the first time on live streaming!

Of course, I've been a Playstation fan since the first version and continue to be amazed by the upgrade in graphics and design. I'm sure there will be some more things to criticize in the game, but I just have to praise the EA team for making a really great looking game so real to the real life counterparts.

The NHL 16 live-stream party starts approximately 12:30 AM once I get my hands on the copy and uploaded to the system. We all know just how long it usually takes to get everything into the complex PS4 system. I hope they take this into account and make it one of the smoothest transitions possible!Thank you to everyone who could watch and attend the live event. Of course this will be uploaded in it's entirety to Youtube.com for those who didn't want to be up that late.

Game of the Week - Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers

In this week's episode, we are solemnly remembering the tragedy that occurred on 9/11/01. So, I chose the teams from both cities that were affected the most. I had blogged about the tragedy once it happened that the news revealed the NHL hockey community had lost two of their own

New York and Washington D.C. might be a growing rivalry as both teams had given their all in a 7 game series in the 2014 playoffs a few seasons ago. Ovechkin needed to move on to the next round very badly and the NY Rangers desperately needed to prove that their change in roster and coach could be more fruitful.
Thanks for watching the final broadcast of the game of the week series in NHL 15. I know it was a short season, but NHL 16 is going to continue to be the upgrade in what the series needs. Let me know in the comments section how I did with the broadcast!

Game of the Week - Pittsburgh Penguins vs Chicago BlackHawks

This week's game was a request made to us by one of our fans over on the Facebook fan page. Remember, you too can make requests to see the match-up of the week on that page too or through the comments section.

"Pittsburgh Penguins vs the defending Stanley Cup champions"

So, here it is!!!

I chose the NHL Stadium Series jerseys for this one believing that I hadn't used the Penguins jersey they only used once for the stadium series. Considering what a disaster that game was for the Penguins, I could certainly see why no one would want to remember that game.
So, how did I do? Is there anything I can do better with it? Is there any ideas for new broadcasts as Game of the Week? Please, leave it on the comments section below or on the Facebook fan page.

Game of the Week - Erie Otters vs Soo Greyhounds

I don't know what happened to the original version of this week's game. When I went back to listen to my commentary to see if everything worked, the audio was not on at the time and missed a lot of what I had said during the game. The video below is actually a re-taping of the live feed from my twitch broadcast.

This week's episode was inspired by the re-broadcast of my Game 4 appearance at the Erie Insurance arena.



If you would like to see an idea or a match-up for Game of the Week episode, leave a comment below or on the youtube channel page. Or through the proper social media channels.