Wednesday 14 October 2009

The Upcoming Schedule

The next couple of weeks get extremely hectic for me, and that means that there has to be some sacrifices made. While I'll still post daily on here, you might notice a distinct lack of effort on my part. Essentially, I'll be working my normal day job, but the evenings will be filled with my volunteer efforts at the local zoo. The Halloween event at the zoo runs for about two weeks, but I'll be taking the last week of October off to counteract all this extra time being put in at two places. I do want to mention that this Saturday will feature an amazing article that I am extremely proud to bring to the forefront. I'm not giving anything away, but let's just say that I was honoured to interview this person. Check out HBIC this weekend!

  • The year's version of the Pittsburgh Penguins have done what no other version of the Penguins have done: they started the season 5-0 on the road with a 3-2 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Both teams played some good hockey, highlighted by Cam Ward's incredible save on Bill Guerin, but Chris Kunitz ended the stalemate in the sixth-round of the shootout. Congratulations to the Penguins, and they seem to be driven to repeat as champions thus far this season.
  • Speaking of Chris Kunitz, is he the only player on the planet that can't score when playing alongside Sidney Crosby? In the last 35 games that he has lined up on Crosby's wing, he has recorded a measly one goal. That seems rather ridiculous when you factor in the talent that both players have.
  • In keeping up the Joneses, the New York Rangers are also 6-1-0 this season after they dispatched the upstart Los Angeles Kings by a 4-2 score. Marian Gaborik scored his sixth goal of the season, and that has to please GM Glen Sather after he dumped a truckload of money on Gaborik to get him to play in Gotham this year. The Rangers look solid, and the play of youngsters Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy has been impressive.
  • I'm not one to make fun of anyone's looks, but I'd like to show you Vaclav Prospal's picture from NHL.com. The guy looks like he's been doing nothing but surfing, tanning, and partying! In fact, one could even say that Prospal resembles an older, matured Spicoli. I'm going to assume that he has a membership to a "killer" tanning salon.
  • According to EA Sports, the newly-relocated Abbotsford Heat will win the Calder Cup after they ran the season simulation through NHL '10. Don't get me wrong, but this is a bold prediction. And another newly-relocated franchise won the Eastern Conference as the Adirondack Phantoms advanced to the Calder Cup Final. I'm thinking that I'll let the games play themselves out rather than relying on EA Sports.
  • Drew MacIntyre was tending to the nets for the Chicago Wolves while they visited the Moose last weekend, but he was wearing the wrong pants! As you can see, Chicago goes black pants on the road, but Drew was wearing blue. They appear to be his pants from last season when he had signed with the Nashville Predators. Interesting to see considering how widely available black breezers are.
  • On Friday, October 30, the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors will be wearing some taste-questionable jerseys when they host the Utah Grizzlies. According to their website, the Condors will take to the ice in "King of Pop" jerseys as a tribute to Michael Jackson. No offence to the Condors, but there's a fine line in promotional jerseys. Hockey teams who depict people who have passed away under suspicious circumstances don't get a lot of wiggle room when it comes to memorializing the deceased on a hockey jersey. It will be interesting to see what these jerseys look like.
  • Utah gets a double-dose of promo jerseys from Bakersfield when the Condors don special "Pearl Harbor Remembrance/Veteran's Day" jerseys on December 12, 2009. These should be somewhat better than their previous promo jerseys. Or at least I hope they will be.
There are other promo jerseys coming up in the ECHL, and I plan on posting a full schedule of promotional jersey nights either tomorrow or on Friday. This will give anyone near an ECHL franchise the opportunity to take in all the promotional jerseys that they can in their full, live glory. Look for that later this week!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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