The IceHog Blog

Hi Def, are you watching ?

2007-10-17T20:28:00.000-04:00

This summer I took the HD plunge.

I got a medium sized plasma Panasonic HDTV and ordered the Comcast Hi Def package. The plasma was supposed to be the best for sports, so I took that over the DLP, projection and LCD models.

I was really amazed at the picture. Maybe it's because I grew up with black and white TV's and rabbit ear antennas. Or maybe because the picture is just that good. You hear so much about it, but you can't really appreciate the quality until you actually see it for your own eyes in your own house.

Of course I got it mainly for sports, but I found myself watching everything and anything in Hi Def. From baseball to football to Discovery and even the Food Channel. (But that should be no surprise to anyone who knows me. Boston cream pies in Hi Def, oooooh lala.)

Hockey and football are nice in Hi Def, but I have to say that baseball was the best so far. Maybe it's because there wasn't alot of movement of the players like there is in hockey and football.

Some of you probably have had Hi Def for a while now and it's not a big deal anymore. But for a guy who still listens to tapes, and remembers the 1976 Bicentennial parade, watching TV in High Def is surely a revolution for the resolution.

A light for sore eyes

2007-10-17T20:05:00.000-04:00

Dashboard ads are now part of the game, but do I have to wear sunglasses now while sitting on my couch?

I'm talking about the lighted advertising banners on the benches and on the dashboards that some rinks have.

I have yet to figure out what any of them are trying to sell me. They are impossible to read on the television and distract you while trying to watch the game on TV. Maybe in the arena they look nice, but those lighted signs are realling pissing me off as a television viewer.

The two rinks that come to mind are Ottawa and I believe LA is the other one. (I think the New York Islanders have one or had one too.) The point here is not where, but why?

The game doesn't need any more distractions or anything that will turn the viewers away from watching. I find that if I have a choice between games to watch, I will not watch the games that have that lighted banner down at bench and ice level.

I shouldn't have to wear sunglasses while watching a hockey game on TV. And besides, you can't read those things anyway.

Green with envy

2007-10-17T19:42:00.000-04:00

As if it couldn't get any worse for the Bruins. Once again the Red Sox and Patriots are hogging all of the New England sports attention. And what, if any, attention was left has been gobbled up by the Celtics and their big signing of Kevin Garnett this fall.

In past blogs I mentioned that the Bruins need to sign someone, anyone, that is a household name. Well, the Celtics, not the Bruins, took my advice and signed a top player to their squad.

If anything else, it will sell tickets and get people to watch. I will even watch, and I'm not a basketball fan. Atleast I'll know someone on the Celtics, even if Larry Bird is not walking through that door.

Good for the Celtics. I hope the Bruins are green with envy.

Breaking the Seal

2007-07-05T22:31:00.001-04:00

It's been a few years since I have written for a hockey magazine, mostly covering the AHL Worcester IceCats and Manchester Monarchs, with a few general commentary articles thrown in.

Aside from a couple of small projects and some contributions to a few articles in hockey magazines and publications, my hockey writing for the most part, has been a healthy scratch.

Now with the introduction of Blogs, I can finally break the seal and get my unique, and sometimes humorous hockey writing off the bench. And yes, any chance I get I will mention the Golden Seals. I hope you enjoy the IceHog Blog. Feel free to leave your comments on my blogs.

New Bruins Logo should be...

2007-07-05T13:08:00.000-04:00

The Bruins have a new logo, a new jersey, a new look, a new coach, but it will be the same old Bruins once again this season.

The July 1st summer free agent free-for-all has come and gone, and many household NHL names found new homes. None of them will have their mail sent to Boston.

The Bruins were supposed to be ahead of the game when the strike ended a couple of years ago. That didn't happen. So to solve the problem, they got rid of Joe Thornton. I could go on and on, but you all know the story too well.

So I'm asking the Bruins, please, please with Sweet & Low on top. Sign somebody I know. Stop putting together teams that just miss the playoffs every season. Stop getting the brothers, cousins, sons and nephews of the league's Superstars. Get the damn Superstars themselves.

Heck, bring back Greg Hawgood, Gary Galley, Glen Featherstone. Anyone that I have heard of please.

But it's all wishful thinking. They will once again field an average team that will win just enough games to keep people watching until they get eliminated from the playoffs in March. I really hope I'm wrong, and that this team does well. Really, I do. But I am also a realist, and from what I have seen and not seen the team do lately, the B's should finish just ahead of Columbus in 2008.

All that being said, I figured I'd help the team with a new logo. Here it is. A big F. F is for Failure. F is for Forgetting how to be a winner. F is for Fahgedabout the playoffs. And especially, F is for the Fans, which once again will get stuck without a team from Boston in the playoffs. I think this new logo is Fitting...

If it walks like a Duck...

2007-07-04T02:12:00.000-04:00

So the Anaheim Might Ducks of Los Angeles, or whatever they are called, won the Stanley Cup.
Does anyone really care?

There just was no hockey buzz in this area once again when it came to the Stanley Cup finals. Maybe that is because our beloved Bruins once again took the gas pipe (thanks Sports Babe) in the regular season, and any playoff hockey interest here faded when Joe Thornton and the Sharks got eliminated.

There were some great playoff games and series this season, so let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Seeing all those Buffalo fans outside watching the game was awesome. They were even treated to some last second heroics. Crosby finally got to see some post season action. And any time you can watch the Rangers or Devils get eliminated, that always makes for a good series too.

But sadly, I never really embraced this whole Ducks thing. Yeah I enjoyed all three of the Mighty Ducks movies, and it was different to see a team called the Mighty Ducks play in the usually conservative NHL, but the novelty wore off quick for me after the first couple of seasons.

Maybe it was good for the kids that the Ducks won the Cup. I dunno. Do they still follow the Ducks? Or are the Ducks so 90's now? Or maybe since they dropped the Mighty, they are now just a regular team. Once again I ask, does anyone really care?

Cup Conspiracy Theories

2007-07-03T13:12:00.000-04:00

First it was Tampay Bay. Then Carolina. Now Anaheim ???

I hate to resort to the vast right wing, left wing, center or defenseman conspiracy theory, but the NHL is all about promoting the league in non traditional hockey markets. And three teams out of market win the cup in a row.

Is it some weird coincidence, or does this whole thing sound fishy? I'm not suggesting some cloak and dagger, skull and crossbones, backroom deal going on here to ensure a Cup winner. But there was a time not that long ago that the Tampa Bays, the Carolinas, and the Anaheims were the biggest jokes of the hockey world.

How do you go from worst to first, and then back again, all in just a few years ? And why is it five teams of the original six either miss the playoffs or take an early exit every season ?

Yes I'm a Boston guy, but honestly I'd rather have Montreal, Toronto, New York or Chicago win the cup than a team that doesn't have any snow in their city during hockey season.

So is there some Cup Conspiracy going on here? I guess we shall find out if Nashville or Atlanta wins the cup in 2008.

Don't Cry for me, Oh Canada

2007-07-03T13:10:00.001-04:00

Being an original six type of guy where the ratio of American teams to Canadian teams was just 2 to 1, seeing Canada's game migrate south over the last 40 years does bum out the hockey purist in me.

Teams have come and gone in Canada, but in the US they are playing NHL hockey in neighborhoods that have never seen snow. It just doesn't seem right. I have had to watch teams from these areas raise the Stanley Cup while at the same time, somone was explaining to the crowd what the Stanley Cup is.

There was nearly a ten year drought of a team from Canada not being in the finals. You have to go back to the Canucks in 1994 to find one. Part of that was because now the ratio of American teams to Canadian teams is about 5 to 1. There are also other reasons, but no matter what they are, having teams with Disneyland or NASCAR within miles of the rink playing for the Cup, rather than teams north of the border, just doesn't sit right.

Lately though Canada did have their chances to smuggle the Cup across the border. Three in three years in fact. Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary all went to the dance in consecutive years, and all came up empty.

I used to feel for the Canadian fans. But now, when I turn on my XM radio and listen to the hockey channel out of Canada, my heart doesn't bleed for them anymore when they lament about it.

It may be another ten years before we see a team from Canada playing in the finals, but atleast for now, you've had your chance. So don't cry for me, Oh Canada.