The Life and Times of Ryan Carter’s Moustache
About 11 months ago, giddy after the Devils OT win over the Rangers to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals, I decided that Ryan Carter’s moustache needed its own web site. The turning point for me was in Game 5, which I was forced to watch at the Sports Page in Mountain View, California [...]
A Point on the Number Line
With apologies to Trey Anastasio and Phish, today was a trip up and down the number line. It was the last day of Mites hockey, completing my first year as coach. It’s been deeply satisfying watching these young players progress through the year as players and teammates. I got to work with other coaches who [...]
A Ken-A-Hora
I did it. I gave the Devils a ken-a-hora (an early blessing) as my grandmother would say; I invited the evil eye by speaking a hoped-for truth before events had fully transpired. Or else the Devils are finally showing their age, their intensity, their capabilities, and their motivation. At 2-5 in their last 7 games, [...]
Buying into the System
Commentators love to talk about players buying into a team system. This is especially true in hockey, where an individual player may lift the overall quality of a team but won’t single-handedly win games night after night. Having players that can be coached and instructed, and are willing to work, makes a team stronger and [...]
Friday Roundup
The more things change, the more they look familiar. Alexi Ponikarovksy, known around here as “My Little Poni”, is a Devil again. We missed him. And he only helps with the surname scoring for “The Scrabble Line,” as I’ve started to call the various combinations of Zubrus, Zajac, Kovulchuk and hopefully Loktionov. Devils-Flyers tonight at [...]
An Open Letter to NHL Players and Owners
To all 30 NHL owners and the roughly 700 players represented by the NHLPA: Get over yourselves. Now. You are destroying goodwill that took nearly all of the last seven post-lockout seasons to rebuild. Most NHL fans are figuring out how to spend less in the coming year, and you’re arguing over the last few [...]
“Game Face” Part 2: Yaroslavl Lokomotiv memorial
Here’s the second half of my fictional, hockey-themed short story. We pick up in a locker room in Chicago. For the next three hours, we have more fun. It’s a repeat of yesterday’s pond adventure. We beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, in their building, snapping a five-game losing streak. We win our [...]
“Game Face” Part 1: In Memory Of Yaroslavl Lokomotiv
A year ago today, the plane carrying the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv team of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (the NHL of Russia) crashed with only one survivor. The outpouring of support from the hockey community was incredible. My only familiarity with Lokomotiv was via a web site that sold Russian hockey jerseys, and my connection to the [...]
Free Agency vs Loyalty
Zach Parise is going to play out his hockey days in the first state of hockey. I’m not sure of the proper nomenclature for an individual on a team that uses a non-plural name – he’s a Wild or a member of the Wild or as my Yiddish speaking relatives would say, a vilde. That’s [...]
Not With A Bang
Every post-season ends for every team but one with a loss. When it’s a team you love, that makes it further than you dreamed hope on Opening Night, that loss hurts. It’s worse than finding out the cute girl in 5th grade thinks you’re weird. It is, in the words of the Bubba, heart breaking, [...]