Former Erie Stars Scoring for World Juniors

Keeping up to date in the Hockey world, the World Junior Championships have been going on and according to the Erie Otters website, some former and current Otter Alumns have been doing great thus far. Carlo Colaiacovo helped out this native Canada shut out the powerhouse Czech Republic team today. In other news, former Erie player Michal Kokavec scored two goals to help Slovakia win against a imerging Belarus national team on Friday December 27th.They exploded with 11 goals! Way to go Slovakia! The U.S. team is 1-1 so far and is lead by many players from the NCAA level.

As of tonight, the standings look like this:

Group A:

Russia, 2-0; 4 pts.
Slovakia, 1-1; 2 pts.
Switzerland, 1-1; 2 pts.
United States, 1-1; 2 pts.
Belarus, 0-2; 0 pts.

Group B:

Canada, 2-0; 4 pts.
Finland, 2-0; 4 pts.
Czech Republic, 0-1; 0 pts.
Sweden, 0-2; 0 pts.
Germany, 0-2; 0 pts.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

NHL 2night Getting Canceled?

ESPN vs. NHL Petition online

Please sign the petition to keep hockey on ESPN and don't let it be cut back by the current Commissioner Gary Bettman.
ESPN has decided not to air their recap show NHL 2 Night on their flagship station ESPN and let it be only shown on "The Duce" ESPN 2.

Hartley Fired as Granato Hired

In an interesting move in Denver today, the Colorado Avalanche fired their head coach Bob Hartley and replaced him with the assistant coach Tony Granato.

Note: Cammi was the color commentator for Sharks hockey when her brother Tony played for them in the mid to late 90's

I guess that the management "higher ups" think that Colorado lost their premier team status in the NHL and is now considered not an invincible team. Roy has had his problems in goal. Sakic has been on the shelf twice this season.

Stop the bleeding.

No word as to weather or not Cammi Granato will put her career on hold to be an assistant or the Avalanche's braodcaster.

Quotes of the Day

...from the same person as heard on the Pittsburgh Penguins Message Board - snagswolf

"Unless you can back it up I'll just write you off as just another Flyer fan talking out of his ass."

"F--k the Lady Byng!!! Get out there and kick some ass!"

Today in Hockey History 1991

The Pittsburgh Penguins set a team record, scoring eight goals in one period (the second) vs. the San Jose Sharks.

Why couldn't they do that the other day??!!

Okay, next time,... don't complain about the peanuts

Some of the Stanley Cup Champion RedWings fell ill to a case of food poisoning on a recent flight from Dallas to Detroit. Now, I've flown to Detroit once and it does get you sick, but on the menu for the team were Cheesesteaks (hopefully not Philly style) and Coleslaw. Holstrom and Larionov were the most affected and the Wings to turn Dandenault into a makeshift foreward for today's game against St. Louis.

Sometimes these things happen, but I'd bet soon teams will add dietitians to their coaching staffs.

"If it makes you happy...."

Nothing says NHL hockey like soaking up the sun, beaches, palm trees, and Sheryl Crow.

On Decmber 10th, the NHL annonuced that the weekend concert called "NHL Block Party" (sponsored by Nextel) will have Grammy Award winning singer Sheryl Crow for the NHL All Star Game weekend. The concert itself is set to be February 2nd. It is $50 for "premium" seats, $35 for "reserved" seats, and $20 for General Admission.

I guess the NHL is going after the "easy-listening" crowd to expand their reported slumping fan base. I would rather see bands like Jimy Eat World, Disturbed, or a new band that I've heard played a lot lately - Trapped performing their hit single "Headstrong" to play a more Modern Rock concert.

Worell Gets Light Sentence and Special Treatment

Who says star athletes don't get special treatment?

Peter Worell was arrested on June 16th of this year and sentenced to 10 days in jail for a DUI. According to the Associated Press, he does not have to report to jail until the team finishes it's season. Worrell, the Florida Panthers winger is supposed to turn in to the county jail on April 7th 2003! How many of you would like to choose your own punishment?

Along with jail time,. Worell was also fined $500, had his licence suspended for 5 years, and placed on probation for 1 year.

Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame

Congratulations to Peter Stastny, Stan Mikita, and Vaclav Nedomansky for their inagural induction to the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame today. The museum itself will be stored in the beautiful Bratislava Castle.

They were the forerunners to the NHL, which helped the league grow into a world game. They paved the way for the European stars of today, Peter Nedved, Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, and Marian Gaborik.

Thanksgiving Break @ Mellon Arena

Today, my brother and I went to the Mellon Arena on our Thanksgiving vacation to see the hometown Pittsburgh Penguins vs. their hated rivals the Philadelphia Flyers.
We did get great seats, but enjoyed the birds eye view from the "F" section. It was so high up that the new netting behind each goal was not a factor to enjoying the game, in my opinion.

The Pens went on a scoring rampage, netting 4 goals in the first period and scoring 40-some seconds into the next. I was hoping that the game would turn ugly so that there would be a fight or two!

Pens win!! 7-2!!

Gaborik Groomed for Future Superstar Status

An article that I found written by Terry Bell on Faceoff.com is titled Lemaire says Gaborik Not Quite a Superstar. I suggest you read it.

The article starts out by mentioning that my favorite player not on the Penguins team was the first person to score a goal for the new Minesota Wild. The "experts" and teammates in the article also says that he is a great player, but has a lot to learn still. His coach told reporters that he wasn't ready to put "Gabby" Gaborik in to the superstar category just yet.

LEGGO my Stanley Cup!

The LEGO company and the National Hockey League announced today that they've agreed on a internationally cross promotions merger with LEGO. There will most likely be LEGO toys featuring the NHL brand and the All-Star Entertainment will have some sort of LEGO tie-in.

I'm skeptical that this will work. Apparently, Bettman wants to get like the cigarrette companies and market to children.

The only thing that they did right was announce it at the "21 Club" in New York.
Twenty-One is a lucky number.

Poor Michael Pecca

The long standing NHL veteran was supposed to make a big return tonight after coming back after tearing his ACL in last season's playoffs.

Bad Luck would hit him again during his comeback, Pecca did not finish, injuring his knee in the game!

National Hockey League Beats Down Thugery and Goon-ism

The NHL has been reported to issue heavy penalties to a few New York Rangers because of what happened in a recent game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. What makes matters worse than having a high-priced talented team like the Rangers getting their collective ass beat by a young expansion team, but with 2.5 seconds left and losing 6-3, Coach Bryan Trottier put noted "enforcers" Krystof Oliwa and Sandy McCarthy on the ice to take the faceoff. Once the puck was dropped, the "enforcers" dropped the gloves, clobbering Grant Marshal.

Oliwa (a former Penguin and Blue Jacket) was suspended 5 games and forced to give up his salary for those games. Coach Trottier (a former Penguin player who I thought was a real class individual) was suspended for two games and McCarthy is now $1,000 less. If that wasn't enough, the Rangers organization was also fined $25,000 dollars.

Canadian Women Win 4 Nations Tournament

When you combine my two favorite things in this world, you can sure bet that I'm interested!

On November 6th, the Women's Team Canada defeated the Women's team USA in the Four Nations Tournament. The ladies from USA were outmatched because they only had only 9 players return from the Salt Lake Olympic team to Team Canada's 16. Goaltender Kim St. Pierre made another outstanding performance worthy of her predecesor Manon Rheaume by stopping 26 shots and 6 powerplays. The games are being held in Kitchner, Ontario and surprisingly the USA vs. Canada tournament game was played in front of 5,371 fans Kitchner Memorial Auditorium.

The other two teams involved in the tournament are sports international rivals Sweeden and Finland.

NHL All-Star Ballot

Most Americans would like to take one of our rights seriously. Especially those rights dealing with censorship. Sometimes, we take those rights for granted. I would like to remind you all that it is important in a democracy that people vote. It's how decisions are made that affect your lives!

That being said, please go vote at the NHL.com page to vote for your favorite NHL all-stars to compete later this season in the 53rd annual All Star game in Miami, Florida on February 3rd, 2003!

I am glad that they have finally dumped their North American vs. The World format for the more traditional East vs. West Conference. For a Pittsburgh fan like me, it's hard to pick which all star team to root for because most of the Penguins all-stars are European. That would take away the attention of my home country and players for North America. At least this way, I know to personally cheer for the Eastern Conference! In my opinion, I think they should save the America vs the World format every four years when the Olympics are played.

Hockey Interview on WRSC | WBLF Radio

I got another amazing opportunity in the hockey world.

Working on another assignment for WRSC/WBLF, I went over to the PSU Ice Rink for the PSU vs. Towson game. I recognized the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, Glen Patrick in attendance. Knowing the Patrick family as friendly and approachable, I politely made conversation with him and introduced myself as a radio broadcaster. I asked Glen if he would go on the air for an interview after the game. I had already run into his brother Craig at the icers games - Craig being the GM of the Penguins.

My friend Dan was really impressed as I talked at length with Coach Patrick about the Penguins franchise, it's players, and talking about recruiting from the college ranks. Yes, I did get a recording of it and hopefuly use the experience in my career as a broadcaster again someday soon.

Happy Halloween

Things that are scarry:
1.) (If) Eric Lindros wins the Lady Bing Trophy this season.
2.) (if) The Flyers win the Stanley Cup
3.) A back and blue fight victim by Crapitals inforcer, Stephen Peat.
4.) A Gary Bettman costume!!

Hockey a College Course in Canada?

As I was surfing along Reuters on the Internet looking for something to discuss on the [much hated] PSU student radio station as a special guest of the DJ there, I found a story that I should mention here as well.

A Professor of English Literature at the University of Saskatchewan, Michael Kennedy, has a unique class on the curriculum. At the college, Prof. Kennedy teaches a course called Reading Culture Canadian Hockey. The class there is so popular that for the Spring 2003 semester, the allotment of 39 students has already been filled.

"Themes such as isolation, survival or the immigrant experience are more common threads in Canadian literature." But Kennedy argues that hockey -- a sport that Canadians love with a near-religious passion -- is often used as a metaphor in the country's writing. "It's a device for protagonists to "find themselves," and a means for defining Canadian culture", he said.

To achieve this, Kennedy has a reading list of novels, poems, and a play script "Les Canadiens" about a history of Quebec within the confines of a hockey rink.The class really seems legitimate as the students are expected to learn from many different sources of fiction and nonfiction sports articles and applying critical thinking to distinguish fact from opinion. One assignment saw students learn about jargon, rampant in hockey commentary.

"Students learn to research and write essays, defending their positions on the game," Kennedy said.