Friday Links

I don't know about you but this offseason is taking forever. Maybe your weekly serving of links can keep you busy for the 70-something days left in the offseason.

- The Blades signed some guy named Bobby Raymond yesterday. No big deal.



That was a total lie, I'm beyond excited about that news. Obviously there's still the possibility he'll sign an AHL deal (like David Rutherford), but if he plays in the ECHL at least we're guaranteed it'll be in a Blades jersey.

- I'm sure you guys won't be surprised by this link to the Third String Goalie blogs usual awesomeness.

- I know I normally share Blades stuff from eBay, but once I saw this Titans jersey I couldn't help myself. THE HORROR!

- Your Wikipedia Hockey Page for today: Goaltender Mask

- I can't share the photo of this hockey cake here on the blog, but I do encourage you to check it out, it's great.

- This is quite possibly the greatest project of all time. Every living room needs a coffee table made out of hockey sticks.

- Kitty time!

News and Notes

Well, late afternoon is almost the same thing as early evening right? Either way, here's a quick round up of all the fun that's been happening:

- Both Bobby Goepfert and Jaroslav Janus were called up to the AHL, meaning we have neither of our top goalies.

- At least our wonderful Checkers Friends have sent me a picture from warm-ups before tonight's game of Bobby Goepfert. Look at him in his grown up jersey! Thanks Lisa!

- The team did sign Mike Zacharias, the goalie we picked up from waivers last week.

- The Lightning announced the signing of a new goalie. There is the possibility that we will either him or Janus. Not a garantee of course, but it would be great for us (and his development).

- Dusty Collins is back from Oklahoma City. Wonder which AHL team will try to poach him next.

- Tony Mosey was released from the team. Poor guy can't catch break.

- Woody over at the Blades' Blog had a sneak peek at the special jerseys the Blades will be wearing for their series. My opinion: They could be worse...

Friday Links

It feels odd that the Everblades aren't playing a game tonight. At least I have the usual dose of Links to get you through till tomorrows game.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "Slapshot"

- One of my favorite writers, Hockey Broad, compiled a list of all the hockey players on Twitter.


- Also, worth linking is her post on head shots. She makes a lot of great points, and I really do think every hockey fan should read it.

- I thought our holiday jerseys were terrible. I just don't know what to say...



- I love all the vintage hockey equipment over on Etsy. Though, the mention of needing to clean these (very bright) hockey gloves lead me to believe they have some smell issues going on.

- I didn't think it was possible, but I love Third String Goalie even more for their recent post on one of my favorite Penguins of all time, Larry Murphy.

- Kitty time!


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Friday Links

Fridays on this blog mean one thing, link time!

- The Everblades start training camp this Sunday, all practices are open to the public (if you go please send us pictures). The Alumni game is Tuesday and the team has released a partial roster for the alumni.

- I've been doing research for a pretty important purchase. I was very surprised to come across very affordable ECHL jerseys for sale. At $50 even I might consider the ugly jersey the team wore for the 07-08 season.

- By the way, the big purchase, a customized Tom Barrasso replica 1992 Penguins jersey (it will be the fourth one down). Greatest Hockey Legends has a little on him.

- As always, Sports Illustrated has a great gallery. This time its hideous third jerseys.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "Punch Line"

- I really like this print of a pair of Easton skates. It looks very realistic.

- Mental Floss has a funny list of defunct sports leagues. It's too bad the roller hockey league never worked out...

- What would Friday be without a kitty?


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Friday Links

It's Friday and around here that means it's time for some links. Enjoy!

- This list chronicles some strange hockey records. Any list that includes Mario Lemieux and Evgeni Malkin is a good one in my book.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "The Easter Epic"

- I always love when I find a new gallery of goalie masks.

- My Swedish skills are non-existent but Google leads me to believe this is a pacifier. I really couldn't resist because this is the coolest pacifier ever. Also, I have to link to this hideous thing because it's just too funny.

- I have to link to this awesome book I just read. Hockey Night in Dixie, covers the history of minor league hockey in the South and has a chapter that goes behind the scenes of the South Carolina Stingrays. I really recommend every fan down here read this book.

- You may have heard of the (idiotic) new format for the all-star game, but did you see the jerseys? I'm leaning toward them being ugly jerseys, but I can't quite decide. Time for the first ever Swamp Hockey Poll!




- What would Friday be without a kitty?


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Need a Giggle?

I have a special treat for you guys today. Who remembers the Kalamazoo Wings practice jerseys? It's pretty hard to believe anyone could forget these ugly things.

(Sorry for the poor quality on these, this was before I got my awesome camera)

Goodbyes and Affiliation News

There has been lots of little bits and pieces of news over the last few days. Since I'm feeling oddly productive today (I never feel like this on a Monday), I thought I'd do a round-up of everything that's been going on.

First, some Goodbyes.

Two more players have left for the Elite Ice Hockey League. Both Mike Bayrack and Mike Hoffman have signed with the Belfast Giants (All the logos in the EIHL are super hideous for some reason). I'm not going to miss Hoffman, he played for one game before signing with the Syracuse Crunch. I will miss Mike Bayrack though.

He's was probably one of the most experienced hockey players in the entire ECHL last season (he should hit 1,000 regular season games while playing for the Giants).  He was a great presence on the ice, and he was a pretty nice dude.

Eric Lampe has also signed an agreement with the Syracuse Crunch (they love poaching our players I guess). I don't blame him for opting for an AHL contract, and I don't blame the Crunch for signing him. He was one of the best players  in the playoffs, and deserves to get noticed. I just wish one of our affiliates had done the noticing.

Now, on to affiliations!

This of course means it's spreadsheet time!

As you can see, the Greenville Road Warriors have announced two new affiliations. They'll be receiving players from the Rangers and Flyers. This leaves the Canadiens and the Wild as the last two NHL teams without an ECHL affiliate (that had one last season at least). I'm still holding to my belief that the Wild will sign with Bakersfield (the only team without an affiliate). My best guess is that the Canadiens will sign with Kalamazoo Wings. It makes sense location wise, and really, what player wouldn't want to wear these awesome jerseys (and helmets) during warm-ups?

Blades Whip Wings (4-2)

The Everblades were back in town after a pretty successful road trip. There opponent last night was the Kalamazoo Wings. Before I go any further into this re-cap I have to post these pictures of their warm-up jerseys...

I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in during the warm-ups and was immediately confronted by those monstrosities (they also had the golden arches on their helmets). Let me just say how much I appreciate whatever it is that keeps the advertisements on the Blades jerseys to a minimum. Because the K-Wings jerseys are horrid. Now that I feel better, back to the re-cap!

The Everblades had an amazing first period, scoring three of their four goals (game sheet here). A power play goal by Milan Gajic opened up the scoring five minutes into the game. Another power play goal, courtesy of Ryan Lang, arrived almost five minutes after the first. Matt Duffy followed at the 16:11 mark with the only Blades goal not scored on the power play. The K-Wings made a goaltending change after that goal. I was very impressed by the Blades, they were very aggressive, and had the K-Wings on their toes the entire period. The shots on goal at the end of the period was the best proof of that, with the Blades leading 18-6.

The K-Wings did their best to fight back during the second, but they just couldn't seem to find what they needed. Gajic scored his second goal of the night (I believe thats four games in a row of two goal game by the Blades players) on the power play once again. There wasn't much else during that period and the Blades left the ice ahead 4-0.

The third period saw the Blades get a little to comfortable with their lead. They seemed to pull back and relax a bit. That allowed the K-Wings to score two goals. The first ended the shut-out goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu had managed through two periods with his awesome play (he was the most intense I've ever seen him). The second was a short handed goal that I just happen to have a video of...

Although it was a major ugh moment, and it was sad to see it get by Becks when he had been playing so well, it wasn't enough to be too much of a threat to the Blades win. The K-Wings did try their hardest, even pulling their goalie in the last few minutes, but the Blades managed to hold the K-Wings off and win 4-2.

Except for the team backing off in third it was a great game. All the players seemed to be working together as one cohesive unit. It is a little sad that it took this long for the Blades players to figure out how to work as a team. Now that we're in the latter part of hockey season they have to make every game count. If they play like they did during the first period every period of every game they just might be able to pull something off.

The ECHL board of governors met yesterday as well. You can see the full report here. Basically, they approved the Chiefs move to Greenville, approved the Checkers move to the AHL, and extended Columbia's voluntary suspension while they continue to work on a new arena.

Finaly, some more player pictures...

(Dominic Osman)

(Benn Olson)

The Blades continue their series with the K-Wings Friday and Saturday. They will also be holding activities for pink-in-the-rink both days, with the jerseys and auction on Saturday. I would really appreciate any pictures you guys happen to take on Saturday, just e-mail them to me and I swear I'll love you forever!

Friday Links

Here's another round of Friday links, have fun!

- In honor of Brandon Bucks natural hat-trick Tuesday (the first I've ever seen in person) your Wikipedia hockey page for today is hat-trick!

- My Zamboni obsession continues, check out this very old article from the Sports Illustrated vault. This may give away my age but I can't help myself, this article is almost as old as I am!

- I'm not into cars, or the Blackhawks, but this car is just plain awesome! Even if I'm more of a Mustang kinda girl...

- More ugly jerseys, this time from our affiliate the River Rats (more on the move to Charlotte Sunday).

- I meant to put this in the last post. Check out all my new scribbles! I really think a certain someone should rent out her scribble attaining abilities...

Friday Links

The Blades are finally playing a home game tonight, after a (way too) long Roadtrip. Here are some links to make the time until tonight fly by...

- This new site launches today, BladesTV has so much stuff! Super excited about another way to get my Blades fix.

- Las Vegas is at it again, their girlscout jersey makes me sad for their players (it also makes me crave samoas). It's like the Las Vegas Wranglers want to be a  hockey laughingstock.

- I really have an Etsy problem. But come on look at these vintage skates, I'm in love!

- I love some of these hockey quotes.

- Your Wikipedia Hockey Page for the week is informative, for once. "Ice Hockey Statistics"

- I found these awesome posters thanks to a re-tweet by Ms. Conduct. The Pittsburg Penguins poster will be on it's way after I get my next paycheck.

- I approve of all refrences to The Princess Bride. Jordan Staal  pictues are also good...


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Friday Links

Happy Friday! Here are some links to keep you entertained for a bit...

- The Walleye have decided to add to my collection of ugly jerseys, ugh.

- Ever wonder how much Ref's get paid? This story has some details on hockey, as well as other sports.

- Your Wikipedia Hockey page- "The curse of Muldoon". I'm pretty sure this is still in effect, how do you explain a 47 season drought?

- Time to stock up on USA hockey gear for Vancouver.

- I think this poster speaks for itself...

Almost There!

As I write this the Blades are playing their second to last away game in Cincinati. They have had a pretty good road trip losing one game in regulation, and one in OT. They have one more game in Cincinati on Saturday. There have been some roster moves lately...

-Flick (the ECHL player of the month!) has been called up to Albany.

-In return forward Matthew Pistilli was sent down (stats here), and a recent video...



-Aiello was traded to Stockton for future considerations (anyone know what this means?)

-Buck is back from Houston!

There are some promotions coming up, including the snow day this Saturday. Remeber to bring your canned food for the home games next week, you'll get a free ticket to see the College Classic (Cornell, Main, Princeton, and Colorado this year)! Friday is Mac & cheese night, and the Saturday after that is the Teddybear toss.

And finally, some random bits and pieces...

-Great article on my favorirte D-man Zanon, I'm really going to lobby for his nickname to be Big Red anyone disagree? No? Good... Zanon is now Big Red.

-I love that my new favorite Penguin got a hat trick a few hours after I posted the link to the Wikipedia page, I also love that the Rags lost twice. Lets see if this works... Goalies who have scored a goal in an NHL game.

-You won't be able to hear the game on the radio, but you can stream it from SportsJuice.com (Thanks to my Twitter buddy CVClyde for the fix).

- I'm sorry I haven't posted one of these in a while, I think this hideous thing makes up for it.

Pens Win!

Monday was so awesome! This is the second time I've been able to see the Pens play live (they've won both times), what made this trip better was the awesome seats we were able to get. I really am grateful to the Panthers organization for dropping ticket prices, and for having such a nice facility.

The Panthers played a great game; they were able to hold off the Pens for most of it. But, the Pens love coming back in the third and they proved it. I was super excited to see two of my favorite goalies, Fleury and Vokoun, in net. I could have lived without the Panthers ugly third jerseys that they chose to debut (I can't believe how many fans ran off during the first intermission to buy one).

I've decided that I'm going to make more of an effort to watch Panthers games; I really did like what I saw (for most of the game). I was also able to catch part of the Rupp vs. Allen fight on video! I went ahead and uploaded that one and some others from last night, as well as last Friday's Blades/Royals game. The Blades are playing tonight, and if my turkey day isn't too crazy I'll try to get a post in.

Monday Randomness

Since I worked all weekend,I'm very tired. So, I just went ahead and scheduled this post for all 3 of our regular readers (hi mom!).

- The Blades have announced a pre-season kick-off party this Wednesday at MacDaddy's. You'll get to meet some of the players on the roster this year.

- My new favorite site is Stunned Fans. There are some really hilarious pictures you have to see! You can also follow them on Twitter.

- The Blades jersey has moved up in THN's jersey tournament. They now have all the jerseys divided up by geographical region, not league. If you have not voted, you have to! I will not accept any team I like losing to the Flyers in any way.

- Another ugly hockey jersey, it is just too easy to find these things.

- Wikipedia hockey page of the week "India national Ice Hockey Team", I never would have guessed that team existed.

We just keep getting closer and closer to the start of the season, only a few weeks left...

Lazy Sunday

The Blades haven't announced anything since my last post (for once), and I don't plan on waking up before noon tomorrow I'll give you some stuff to hold you over.

- Random Wikipedia hockey article "First indoor ice hockey game"

- This is one ugly jersey, tie-dye is never a good idea...


- Frank Zamboni, creator of the Zamboni, is being inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. THN has a great story about this.

- If you don't read the Blades blog over at The Naples Daily News too often, there is some news. Angela Bush, the longtime author, is leaving the blog. Apparently some of the NDN staff will fill in until they find a regular author. I haven't been reading her blog for that long, But it's sad to see her go.

There will be a YouTube video this Thursday, so make sure you check back! Don't plan on anything else, unless the Blades announce something new, I have my finals at school and I'd like to keep my straight A's going so I'm looking at some major studying.

News and Other Stuff

Here's some random crud to get you through the weekend guys...

- If your gig at Hooters isn't paying that well you could always become a Gator Girl! They're holding tryouts August 30th, and your not allowed to wear your favorite dance thong! I guess the team wants to be sure the girls who will jiggle for the old men between periods are classy. (Family Entertainment huh?)

- Gwinnett will be coming down to play two preseason games October 9th and 10th. Do they still have Fallon?

- Wikipedia hockey page of the week "Rover"

- A whole Ebay store of various hockey jerseys, most are ugly in my opinion.

- My dream job would be designing goalie masks, so I love SI for putting up the 08-09 goalie masks. Obviously Marc-Andre Fleury has the best one...

Till Monday friends! Hopefully I survive work this weekend.

Ugly Jerseys and Other Randomness

Since nothing else has been going on in the last few days I've spent way to much time trying to get my hockey fix any way I can. So for everyone else looking for a fix, here is some random hockey stuff.

-A friend sent me this link to a Flickr stream of some truely hideous minor league hockey jerseys.

-The Everblades have a Twitter account!

-Random Wikipedia Hockey page Underwater Ice Hockey.

-Finally the newest ECHL team introduced their mascot, Spike. He is apparently supposed to be a walleye, but he looks like a bannana and a hockey player had a baby.