The Ship Has Been Righted

Hey Everybody,

This is starting to fall into the wrong pattern but I do have a good reason. I haven't been putting out a blog and speaking my mind lately and I'm sure you really miss me!!! OK...maybe not but hey I can dream right? Truth is I love speaking my mind when it comes to sports and anything else I'm passionate about...like my family! This leads me to why I haven't been blogging much lately and it has something to do with the blog title...my family ship has finally been righted. We have moved out of our 1300 sq ft house on one of the busiest streets in Kanata. We have moved into a 2700 sq ft house on a quiet street in Stittsville. Very busy with the whole move thing since the middle of September and there's still a bunch of work to do...but you don't care about that!!

So let's talk about one of the other ships that has been righted! The Sens have been going down a horrible stretch since the All-Star Break. Truth be told it's been going bad for quite some time. Hard to believe these guys were good enough to get to the Stanley Cup Finals last year! I guess Mike Comrie and Tom Preissing were really that good!!! Or is Bryan Murray that good? When he took over the GM job and assigned John Paddock as head coach I thought that wasn't a bad move! Bryan's been a very successful GM before and John had successfully coached the majority of the Sens stars while he was head coach in Binghampton!!! Besides, he's inheriting a phenominal team that any coach would dream of guiding to the finals again. Well....not so fast people!!! According to Liam Maguire, John Paddock is the first coach in the modern-era to coach in the all-star game and be gone before the end of the season. There's a lot of finger-pointing as to why this happened and the Ray Emery distraction seems to be at the centre of it all. He was a distraction from the beginning and John didn't handle it properly. He subsequently lost the players in the room. Enter Bryan Murray! The re-entrance of Bryan Murray should right the ship of this team and make them contenders again...that is, if one of the goalies can get it going!!!

Another ship that has been righted is the FaveQuest Nasty Hockey Show. For those of you who don't know I have been hosting a show with different co-hosts for the past 6 weeks at Philthy McNasty's in Kanata. Some of my guests have included Liam Maguire (http://liamslament.blogspot.com/), The Sensquatch (http://www.mefeedia.com/tags/sensquatch/), Shredder from The Sens Underground (http://sensunderground.com/) and Angela Grant Saunders from Saunders Farm (http://www.saundersfarm.com/). All video footage is posted on favequest.com (http://favequest.com/) and is pretty good entertainment if you have some time to check it out. We tape every Saturday at around 5:00pm for about a half hour but we'll be taking some time off to plan for the playoff run. The Nasty Hockey Show will return on Saturday, April 5th so circle that date on your calendars and try to make it out. Liam Maguire should be on hand to handle any trivia questions and to alert us of any "Gutless Pukes" that may have made it to the playoffs...he loves to speak his mind!!! Now the reason why I say this ship has been righted is quite simple...believe it or not this show is starting to attract an audience! Every week the hits on FaveQuest have steadily increased. For me it's a feeling of accomplishment as I have never done anything like this before in my life...but I love it! What a rush it is to be able to talk to passionate hockey fans over a couple of pints as it is being recorded and sent out on the internet! We are creating content and people are finding it interesting!!! Very cool!!!

With that in mind I hope you get a chance to check out the websites I've included. It should give you some insight into the fun you may have been missing...then you can right your own ship and check it out live on April 5th!!

CHEERS!!!
The Rokpig

Hockey in Florida!?!?!?

Good day folks!!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while...I was on a much-needed vacation with my family for about 10 days in the great state of Florida. We enjoyed Disneyworld, Seaworld, and the Islands of Adventure to no end...you can't put a price on the enthusiasm of a child in any of those theme parks. It was fabulous!!!!

Of course, for the kids and my wife it was great...I also had a great time however for some reason I couldn't get my sports fix!!! To be more specific I couldn't get my hockey fix!!! Now, the last time I checked, there were 2 NHL teams located in Florida...the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are basically out of the playoff picture but the Tampa Bay Lightning are still fighting for 7th or 8th position which will get them into the playoffs. This should be BIG news. It is also worth noting that the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004...right before the lockout. Now with 2 NHL teams located in one state how come I can't get any NHL news? The only sports news I received was NCAA March Madness basketball!!! To those of you who aren't familiar with this we're talking about college/university basketball championships...not a professional sport but bigger than any Canadian sporting event to be sure. That being said I should still be able to receive updates and hi-lights from professional sports...at least from the leagues that are local!!! In Florida they have teams in every professional sport...Major League Baseball (Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays), National Football League (Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars), the National Basketball Association (Miami Heat, Orlando Magic) and the National Hockey League (Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning). Yet I can only receive news from the NCAA (not professional), the NCWAA (the women's college/university basketball program...again non-professional) the NBA and some grapefruit league action...which is MLB's pre-season.

I'm sure I'm not the only individual who encounters this dilemma. I understand that Florida is not a huge hockey market however they are somehow able to support 2 hockey franchises in this state...someone down there must want to follow one or both teams. Florida is also known for it's abundance of Snowbirds...these are also known as retired Canadians who reside in Florida for the winter months. Hmmmm....let's see....Canadians in Florida during hockey season. That should equate to some people requesting hockey info especially as the playoff race tightens. For some reason that info is not supplied!!! I'm beginning to wonder if any of the news stations ever bothered to check what their viewing audience may want at different times of the year!?!?!? I doubt it!!!

Living in Ontario we have 2 NHL teams as well. The fan base is huge and when you watch Sportscentre or Sportsnet, hockey is front and centre in the news. However, I believe we have a higher sports IQ!!! We not only show the NHL we also show hi-lights of NCAA, MLB, NFL, NBA, Soccer, Cricket, Diving, Skiing, etc.

I'm not ashamed to say that, as Canadians, we have more sports knowledge and more sports savvy than the U.S. We're just too damn nice to pick up the phone and tell the station what we want to see...we're also too damn polite to tell the bartender to change the channel and find some NHL action!!!! Who knows...if more hockey news was broadcasted in the southern U.S. they might actually attract some fans!!! Remember when I said that Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup in 2004??? They couldn't fill the arena...even during the playoffs...and they were giving tickets away!!!! Sad isn't it!?!?!?

If they spend as much time on the NHL as they do on the grapefruit league or NCAA I would bet the attendance would climb and the buzz would spread!!! After all, it's the best game in the world...if you know about it!!!!

Keep your stick on the ice...

All cheap shots and comments are welcome!!!

CHEERS!!!!
The Rokpig

Got em...Got em...Need em...Need em...

Got em...got em...need em...what have you got??? What do you need???

Sounds like the good old days when trading hockey cards was a great way to get the card of your favourite player. You had to be pretty wise, a little sly, and extremely lucky to get the card you wanted without losing a lot in the process. Well guess what...some of those kids never stopped playing that game!!! They grew up and became General Managers of hockey teams and they do the same thing but with real players. Since the introduction of the salary cap blockbuster trades are a little tougher to come by but the potential is still there. I think there will be considerable movement before the trade deadline...Sean Avery has already been moved to the Rangers.

Now, with trading and salary caps the NHL players still hold the upper hand. This is somewhat of a thorn in my side!!!! The going rate for players is starting to creep back up to what it was before the lockout and the owners don't seem to care!!! Can you smell another lockout??? As far as I'm concerned the NFL does it right. If a player signs on to a team that contract is not really worth much. If that player tanks then the team can dump him and his contract. The team is only on the hook for the remainder of the season. If that same mentality applies to the NHL then the Ottawa Senators could dump Martin Gerber and keep Emery...opening up room to get a decent backup. The Montreal Canadiens could dump Sergei Samsonov and free up over $3 Million for next year. Colorado could dump Jose Theodore...the Islanders could dump Alexei Yashin...and the list goes on!!!! If you want true parity in the new NHL then a team shouldn't be forced to keep a high priced boat anchor on their team...they should be able to dump him if he's not performing!!! Then let another team take a chance on him or he just doesn't play!!!! Sounds fair right??? For the amount of money a fan pays to go to a game we should see the best possible product on the ice every game...that means every player should be giving 100% of their work every game in order for him to feel his job is safe. That would make for some very exciting hockey games in every NHL city...hey, US attendance might even go up!!!!

That's it for now...remember the trade deadline is February 27th...there just may be a blockbuster move by then so keep your eyes and ears open!!!

CHEERS!!!!
Bobby Orr's # 1 Fan...
The Rokpig