I like to hear others talk about hockey.
It's a good thing, then, that I get to co-host a weekly show about... hockey.
My friend Cassie McClellan, who writes for the Tampa Bay Lightning blog Raw Charge (and other websites) and I kicked off the fourth season of our weekly radio show "CCPT Hockey" today, with a fun chat about the season so far and a look at PIM leaders (players and teams).
Logistical issues prevented us from starting the season in August like most other hockey radio shows, but we're really not stressed about it. Our show is more a live chat than a "show" in the "official" sense of the word. We have the occasional guest and even the occasional "high profile" guest, but for the most part, we have a fun group of people who take part in the live, interactive chat that takes place while our show's on the air, and have our hockey loving friends call in to praise or bitch about their teams.
Don't get me wrong. Cassie and I can talk stats like everyone else, but why would we want to? How boring is it to tune in every week for STATS. Seriously. How many of you with college educations really *enjoy* your statistics class? Okay, I know some of you still enjoy statistics. Otherwise, we wouldn't have statistics to talk about, right? I mean, it takes a special mind to come up with the number of times a player has scored on a Saturday night in November where there happened to be a three-quarters moon in the sky.
I kid. I respect all of you statistically-minded hockey fans out there. The world needs you. I mean it. I really do.
I also digress.
When Cassie promoted our first show on Facebook, someone asked her why our show was named CCPT Hockey Show - and what's up with the Russian-looking logo? If you listened to today's show, you'd know the answer to both questions. If you haven't listened to the podcast version yet, here you go:
"CCPT" stands for CONNECT COMMUNITY PUCK TALK. The show was created a number of years ago by our friend Justine (aka "Juice in LA") as a gathering place for hockey fans who became friends on NHL.com's (now pretty defunct) fan site: NHL Connect. In its heyday, NHL Connect was a breeding ground for fans who expressed their hockey love via essays, stories, limericks and more. I stumbled onto the site in 2008, while licking the wounds left by the Pittsburgh Penguins' heartbreaking SCF loss to Detroit. Juice and others welcomed me warmly, and quickly became my family away from home. Looking back, it's funny how most of my early Connect friends were Red Wings fans... I did some of my best writing while a member of that site, including my ode to the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" team (and my dad), which was featured on NHL.com's homepage for several days (I wish I had saved a screen grab).
A handful of Connectors even managed to meet up in San Jose for a German dinner and game between the Sharks and Red Wings (Juice, JoJo, Al, Shannon, Kevin - did I leave anyone out?). Ahh... those were the days!
Alas, as so often happens in many Utopian societies, TROLLS discovered NHL Connect and tromped all over our thriving community, testing friendships, creating alliances, and basically shitting all over the place. A small group of us took our leave and our Flyers friend Matt told us about BlogTalkRadio.com. Juice created the show and we all happily joined in. When Juice's schedule became too hectic to continue, Cassie and I took over. We tried to make it an "official" show for a while, but reverted back to our carefree hosting style when we realized we weren't really having a lot of fun trying to be "official."
Which brings us to today.
Season 4 of the CCPT Hockey Show launched at 6pm ET/3pm ET on BlogTalkRadio.com. Cassie and I managed to fly through an hour of talking about standings, divisions, wild card (huh?), the incomprehensible, early implosion of the Flyers, the unbelievably great play of the Avs, Coyotes and a TEAM-THAT-SHALL-NOT-BE-NAMED (but whose initials are TBL). We also discussed PIM leaders so far:
Players:
1. Derek Dorsett (NYR) - 73 PIM in 17 games (fmr. Medicine Hat Tigers/WHL)
2. Radko Gudas (TBL) - 57 PIM in 16 games (fmr. Everett Silvertips/WHL)
3. Steve Downie (COL, PHI) - 53 PIM in 12 games (fmr.Kitchener/Peterborough/Windsor/OHL)
4. Antoine Roussel (DAL) - 52 PIM in 17 games (fmr. Chicoutimi Sagueneens/QMJHL)
5. Erik Gudbranson (FLA) - 51 PIM in 18 games (fmr. Kingston Frontenace/OHL)
Teams:
1. Flyers - 311 PIM in 16 games
2. Blues - 274 PIM in 15 games
3. Leafs - 279 PIM in 17 games
4. Caps - 273 PIM in 18 games
5. Rangers - 252 PIM in 17 games
Well, I seem to have encapsulated a lot of what we talked about on today's show, which means you have absolutely no reason to listen to it. In the event you do, here's the link to a story on CCPT Hockey Show's website that includes the podcast, and a few more statistics that are blowing our minds right now: http://ccpthockey.blogspot.com/2013/11/were-back.html
If you find yourself with nothing to do next Sunday at 6pm ET/3pm ET (or the Sunday after that, or the... you get the idea), join us on the air or in the chat room. Here's our show page: CCPT Hockey Show
You can also follow the show on Twitter: @CCPTHockey
Here's Cassie's Twitter handle: @dagmar27
And here's mine: @Motley_Su
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