I'm Back

Well after a 3 week hiatus from my blog I’m back. I’ve been working on a side project and will be for the next couple of months but I will continue on blogging way more regularly at least 3 or 4 times a week. As you can see I have yet again changed the style of my blog and I really do like the clean crisp look of this one and I’m going to keep it. I may tweak the colours a bit and maybe add some graphics but I'm pretty happy about what I have here.

On to things I’ve missed in the last 21 days…. man a lot of things have happened in the last 21 days.

Jordan Eberle made his Team Canada World Championship debut and totally lit it up in his first appearance with a goal and 3 assists against Norway. He ended up playing in 4 games I believe.

Way to go Jordan. I’m glad he was able to take part in such a big tournament with a bunch of guys that lots of people have never really heard of. What was Hockey Canada thinking? It was a good tournament to watch it’s too bad Canada and the States didn’t have more competitive teams. I think that the tournament should be like the Spengler cup with no active NHLers participating. Maybe then it would be more even. I dunno. I do feel like I’m rambling a bit about this so I’m going to finish with this: Good job Jordan, good luck in Edmonton next year!

Rod Pedersen is no longer the voice of the Pats.

It’s going to be an interesting change for us as Pats fans not having Rod call the games for the 2010-11 season. I personally think it sucks. He totally bleeds red, white and blue and it was prominent in every broadcast he did. You could hear the emotion in his voice when the Pats scored, got scored on, got a bad penalty called against them and so on. From that most fans could tell that he was more than “just a broadcaster” he was a fan. I didn’t know if the p-b-p he called was accurate or not but I didn’t care. I had WHL WebTV this year but quit watching it (the quality is somewhat to be desired and I couldn’t stand some of the announcers… sorry other announcers no names will be mentioned) to listen to Rod and Dan Plaster. I think I’m a little old school but enjoy listening to hockey on the radio. I’ve been trying to think of someone in my life growing up to compare Rod to but had trouble pinning it down until I thought of announce duos and included Dan into my equation. Rod and Dan became by hockey version of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler (for fans of the WWE you know who I mean). There were some great moments this year (especially this year…. The night the lights went out in Swift Current). Rod will be hard to replace but I do look forward to his call of Rider games and I hope the 2010 Riders will let Rod make the call “GO CRAZY SASKATCHEWAN! GO CRAZY!” Also, The Sports Cage is AWESOME! Congrats and Great Job Rod!

Man that was long-winded (and I hope it makes sense… I feel a little scatterbrained today). Now I wonder who they will get to replace Rod as the p-b-p guy. For the games that Plaster called last year I think he did a good job and I think I could handle listening to him for a full season. I haven’t had the privilege of listening to too many other broadcasters outside of the WHL so I can’t even imagine who they have talked to about the job.

Jordan Eberle wins CHL Player of the year. Joining Pats greats Ed Staniowski and Doug Wickenheiser as the only winners of the award.

Yet another award for Mr. Eberle. It has been a privilege to watch you grow in your career and totally take your game to the next level. Such an honour is something that will be remembered for a long time. Congrats Jordan!

Windsor Spitfires won the Memorial Cup handily over the host Brandon Wheat Kings 9-1 in the final.

For some reason I just couldn’t get into this tournament (I think it has something to do with my NHL team the Flyers having some emotional games). I watched all but 5 games this NHL playoffs so I think I may have been a bit hockey’d out. I always watch the Cup but this year I couldn’t do it. I taped games and skimmed through them. Congrats to the Windsor Spitfires for showing what it takes to be back to back champions. Congrats to the Montcon Wildcats and Calgary Hitmen for winning their leagues and trying to de-throne the Spits. And Congrats to the Brandon Wheat Kings for putting on a great tournament (so I’ve read and what I have seen on TV). It’s too bad the whole thing wouldn’t have been more competitive to make it more exciting for the fans. Good Job.

Jordan Eberle jersey # retirement talk.

I’m not sure where to go with this one. Jordan was an amazing Pat and probably one of the best ones I can remember seeing wear a Pats Jersey. Although I only go back just over 30 years and the first few years I wish I would have been able to remember seeing some of the beauties from the late 70’ and early 80’s play (Brian Varga, Jock Callander, Dave Michayluk, Darren Veitch, Garth Butcher, Taylor Hall [the first one], John Miner, that’s all I can think of off the top on my head). Jordan was a great Pat but deserving of a jersey number retirement when he just graduated? I don’t think so; at least not yet…. maybe in 10 years. There could probably be a case for every number from 1-19 to be retired for the Pats. The team has been around since 1917 so there would be some worthy players. I also remember jersey retirement talk for Chad Mercier and Josh Harding at one time too. If that would be the case most players would have to wear “football” numbers as I like to call them. Oh yeah one more thing… Jordan only wore the number 7 for two seasons. He wore 27 for his first two seasons. Would they have to retire both numbers to cover his exploits? I say hold off for a couple of years at least.

New Pats GM rumours.
This has gotten interesting. The names that have been floating around are all interesting people. I don’t think I will mind having any of the names mentioned: Chad Lang, Al Murray, Ryan Jankowski, Stu MacGregor, Ross Mahoney and Bruce Franklin. I’m sure I missed some but I wouldn’t be too upset if any of them were hired. Rumours are awesome…. No one seems to know the truth abour who is being pursued or who has been talked to and so on. Greg Harder is reporting that the Pats are “in hot pursuit of Al Murray” and it seems as though Chad Lang has been relegated to plan B… you can read it here. I can’t wait until an announcement is made and I can get on with life…. Just kidding about that. But c’mon get a new GM in place or all the good candidates may be gone.

Man I have missed a lot.

K
on May 28, 2010 by Kevin Shaw |