Friday Puckpourri - New stuff for From the Rink & Hockey Recon

Spent some time this week writing up quarter-mark reviews for the Penguins and Blues for Hockey Recon. The Pens one was kind of easy, while the Blues review was a little more difficult, as I haven't seen many St. Louis games this season (I'm kind of glad I didn't - because I would not have wanted to see TJ Oshie break his ankle.

My co-bloggers at Hockey Recon took on a number of other teams. You can read all of our reviews - and chime in with your own, by clicking here.

My weekly WHL offering for SB Nation's "From the Rink" focuses on the US Division, as kind of a quasi-tribute to Thanksgiving. I like how it turned out - it features different things about each team, and includes a brief interview with Tri City Americans Head Coach Jim Hiller. You can check it out by clicking here.

I'm going to try to catch a T-Birds or Silvertips game tomorrow night. We'll see. I might end up listening to the game on the radio.

What games have you been to lately????

Thursday Puckpourri: The meaning of Gratitude, via Adam Proteau

I'm sitting in my kitchen, trying to warm up while more snow falls outside, trying to make a list of everything that I'm grateful for this year. As usual, I was procrastinating and distracting myself by checking out Twitter, Facebook and an old episode of "Law & Order" (the one loosely based on Michael Jackson's obsession with kids).

I was just making my third round of Tweets when one caught my eye. It was from The Hockey News and read: "In his blog, THN's Adam Proteau - @ProteauType - offers holiday thanks to the real heroes of the hockey world." The tweet came with this link: http://ow.ly/3fvjb

Being the curious person that I am (and always looking for another distraction); and having liked other blogs by Adam, I clicked on the link and for once, I am happy that I procrastinated. This is the most eloquent, thoughtful story I've read in a long time and really illustrates the true meaning of gratitude. 


I'm thankful for people like Adam, to look past the obvious, to find gems that shine more brightly from the inside.

Thursday puck-pourri: Hockey Recon and an earth-shaking shave

Some old NHL Connect buddies and I started a blog called Hockey Recon. We wanted to call  it NHL Reconnect because that's basically what we did: reconnected. But.. you apparently can't use "NHL" in a blog title unless the NHL starts the blog.

Anyway.

We created a blog called "Hockey Recon" - which sounds cooler than "Hockey Reconnect" because the wider world wouldn't really get it. (not that we ever cared, but...). The blog went live last week and there's already a bunch of hockey goodness posted there. I like Hockey Recon because it lets me show a side of myself I can't show anywhere else. The stuff I write for KING 5, From the Rink and Hockey Independent are more serious, fact-based and more MSM. The stuff I write for Hockey Recon lets me express opinions, no matter how off the mark or silly, because they're MY opinions and thoughts.

My first "official" post for Hockey Recon concerns what I perceive to be a disservice that the NHL perpetrated on Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. You can read about it by clicking here.

Earth recently tilted on its axis a little and I now know why: GEORGE PARROS SHAVED HIS PORN-STACHE. I have to thank the Puck Daddy blog for showing the video of George doing the dirty deed and explaining why he chose to part with his most identifying feature (yes, even more so than this Anaheim Ducks uniform), and the reason is pretty heart-warming. He decided to shave his mustache and regrow it for "Movember" - a mustache-growing fundraiser that raises money and awareness of cancers that affect men. You can read more about it on Puck Daddy by clicking here.

That's all I've got for now. To those of you who are a little frustrated because all you see when you come here are links to stories I've written elsewhere, I apologize. I'm writing in so many places right now, there's nothing left for me to post here. Or at least that's how I feel right now.

Here's where you can find my stuff:

From the Rink - an SB Nation blog (I have a Friday column that covers the WHL)
Hockey Independent (I cover a variety of features and sometimes the Los Angeles Kings)
KING 5 Sports (I cover the WHL's US Division, mostly the Seattle Thunderbirds & Everett Silvertips)
Hockey Recon (I write about whatever strikes my fancy, hockey-wise)
CCPT Hockey (the blog for the radio show I co-host with my friend Cassie McClellan from Raw Charge and From the Rink)

If I pop up anywhere else, I'll be sure to post a link. In the meantime, thanks for being interested enough to stop by. I can tell by the StatCounter info that you come from all over and it warms my heart to know that you've stopped by, even if only for a few seconds.