Well, that was one heck of a start to the playoffs, wasn’t it?
In case you missed it, Jakub Voracek capped off a four goal rally for the Flyers with this OT Winner, Darren Helm was hospitalized after a bad skate cut, Shea Weber was a total idiot, and Byron Bitz might be the next player to get a major Shanaban. (Why Bitz and not Weber? One makes $625,000 per season, the other makes $7.5 million. I think both plays are suspension worthy, but let’s not pretend that they’re going to be treated equally by the league office.)
Even leaving out the questionable plays and suspect officials, you really couldn’t have asked for a better night of action to kick off the playoffs. One OT game, the other two going down to the wire in the third period, and two big upsets? Yum. We can only hope that tonight’s action is half as fun.
Meanwhile, back closer to home, the draft lottery is on a lot of minds. Michael Arace decides to focus on the positive, OK, no, I couldn’t say that with a straight face. Michael Arace treats the subject with exactly the kind of decorum and grace you’d expect from the man who wrote a “Stop Hoping, You Stupid Sheep” column.
Meanwhile, DBJ feels the pain, Jeff is reflective over at TMM, a video of the fans reacting at the CBJ Draft Tweetup went pretty viral, Puck Rakers keeps it fairly factual, and Mr. Martini thinks it’s all…well…balls.
Me personally? You just have to laugh. It’s still better than screaming.
Speaking of the TweetUp, though, that was a really great time. Check out this writeup from Rob Mixer over at Bluejackets.com and pictures on the team’s facebook page! A huge thank you, again, to Alison Lukan for organizing the party, Greg May for giving us a place to go, Steph Greegor for being her usual awesome self, Rob Mixer for acting as MC, Jas Chaffin for his “cheat sheets” and you, the fans, for coming out. Without you guys, all of this wouldn’t be half as fun.
Moving back to the wider world of hockey, check out the new uniforms for the reborn Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL. Hey, the Express shut down. I wonder if they need an affiliate…
In Phoenix, it appears the City of Glendale has settled on the Greg Jamison group as their preferred partner to purchase the Coyotes. Here’s hoping that for the sake of Phoenix fans, this season can end with a new owner and some stability.
Over in Edmonton It seems that Swedish Winger Linus Omark wants out of Oil Country. Is he a fit in Columbus? Probably not, but strange things happen at the draft table.
Over at Puck Daddy, after all the work the Predators did to try and woo fans in Atlanta….their first playoff game was almost entirely blacked out. Do we even need to play the sad trombone? Good on someone at NBC / the NHL for fixing the issue before the game totally finished, but c’mon guys. Talk about kicking people when they’re down.
Back to the Jackets, don’t forget to check out DBJ’s Most Valuables from this past season, the penultimate entry in TMM’s Hockey’s Tools Of Ignorance series, and the awesome 8 bit season in review video created by RockmanHalo.
We already knew that Cam Atkinson and Jack Johnson would be representing Team USA at the Worlds, but a huge congratulations to them on the honor. Congrats are also due to Marc Methot, who was named to the Team Canada roster yesterday.
The team has also hired a new digital marketing manager, Marcus Stephenson, who will be helping to step up the team’s social media and online presence. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to find out he’s on twitter. Give him a follow!
Finally, there’s our own Andy Newman. You know him as part of our team here at The Cannon, but he’s also one hell of a filmmaker. H’e’s opened up a kickstarter to help get his latest project off the ground. Please stop by and offer him your support!