The Cup

Sweet wedding cake - and a pretty cool interactive graphic!

And you thought what happened to the North Dakota hat in the Steamer locker room was bad?!?!?

If you were not there for the incident with the Fighting Sioux hat, well.....never mind.  If you have read this blog, you know that completely tasteless and funny are not mutually exclusive.  

So, check out this crazy chowderhead.  I can't do the story justice, so please follow the links and read both the Dead Spin (thanks for the pic) and PuckDaddy coverage of this once in a lifetime (?) story.

From Russia with Love

The KHL and Playboy are having a fan contest for female fans of the KHL.  The eventual "judging" favorite to be Playmate of the Month.  Follow this link to see the candidates on Facebook.

Top 10 Fantasy Hockey Team Names

From Puck Daddy - here are the Top 10 Fantasy Hockey team names!  PS - read the comments, there are some beauties in there as well.

6 World Cup Coaches Who Look Like James Bond Villains

Our tribute to the World Cup....

6 World Cup Coaches Who Look Like James Bond Villains

Hockey Article of the Week

The Canuck D-Man takes Colin Campbell to the woodshed in this article.  Some pointed comments about the cheap-shot he took from Evgeni Malkin.  Bravo!

The other Hockey Article of the Week

An interesting read about injuries to the mouth and teeth in the NHL.  Special emphasis on the recent Keith Tkachuk oral injury.  Yikes.

Hockey Article of the Week - Jersey Fouls

On Yahoo, the always high quality "Puck Daddy Blog" had this great article on "jersey fouls."

The all-time make-up game....

A very interesting article about a New Jersey High School hockey championship game that was canceled 20 years ago and was finally played last weekend.

And the result........read about it here.

Hockey Article of the Week - A

Now I know that Jack Edwards borders on preposterous when doing a Bruins game.  There is no doubt that he is a super homer.  Regardless, read this article and let me know if you disagree?

Hockey Article of the Week - B

Former NHL goalie Kevin Weekes is becoming quite a hockey analyst.  While he may be crazy based on his former position, he has the insight of not being too far removed  from the game and reasonable perspective.  I really liked his "big picture" take on the Cooke / Savard hit - you can read it here.

Hockey Article of the Week

A nice review of the Olympic Hockey jerseys can be found here.  A good look at each sweater!

Hockey Article of the Week

College
Hockey
News
...................presents "the team of the decade."

The Top 10 goalie masks

A pretty cool list from "The Bleacher Report" listing the Top 10 goalie masks in the NHL. 

Hockey Article of the Week

Out of Toronto - this article about being a "beer league" hockey ref.  Not much you did not know, but a semi-interesting read about the abuse they take.

Improving the NHL?

We all have ideas on how to do this. I think we all have some good suggestions. That being said, this article - from Bleacher Report is one of the better efforts I have seen for ideas to improve the game!

Editorial - the NHL on television.

We do not editorialize very much on the Steamer blog. That is a bit uncommon for a budding national media outlet with a loyal following of over 6 readers. That being said, I have seen a lot of recent talk about the NHL on television.

I guess I have a couple of the same questions that you hear on occasion. Does the NHL need more coverage? Since the lock-out is the NHL just a niche sport? Are you really going to gain more hockey fans or will it just be the same die-hards watching on a new channel?

I'll post a couple of links to some great discussion which all have one central theme. Should the NHL go back to ESPN? Don't get me wrong, I think ESPN totally sucks. I tried to watch Sportscenter the other night and it is brutal. As Slim Shady said, why did they need an NBATV channel when ESPN already exists? And although it is not the NBA season, and shockingly, the Yankees and Red Sox were not on ESPN for the whole hour - it was the standard crap festival. You see my point.

Where was I? Seeing the newest debate between Comcast and Direct TV made me re-think the issue. I guess "the rub" is that Comcast owns the Philadelphia Flyers. Comcast has just raised the fee for Versus for Direct TV - as they did with Dish Network a couple of years ago. My hatred of Comcast and the Flyers aside, that just seems like an inherent conflict of interest.

Anyway, a couple of unique arguments are brought out in the following articles:

Ken Campbell of The Hockey News wrote this interesting take. I think the most salient point is that even if the NHL goes back to ESPN they might still be behind golf, NASCAR, and poker.

Mike Chen busted out this beauty on Kukla's Korner. This is a compelling article as he points out that with Center Ice, the NHL Network, the internet and the BLOG world - you really don't need ESPN. I guess people in favor of "growing the game" might take issue with this quality read.

But here is the article you should read from Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch. Brief and simply put, he makes a lot of sense. I have to say that I found this as the most persuasive article. Harlan Pepper sort of emphasized this point when he referenced last season when reporters asked Zetterberg if he had watched one of the games. HZ said no because the hotel they were staying in didn't have Versus.

There is another vicious cycle hurting the NHL. Being the best spectator sport, seeing it live in person will "grow the game." Of course, going to the games is tough as the ticket prices are so high. Why are they so expensive? Because of the terrible TV contract. And while hockey is the best sport in HD, don't kids need to be able to go to the games?

I guess the corollary to that argument is the Quebec Nordiques becoming the Colorado Avalanche. Since their arrival in 1995, youth hockey and the building of rinks has increased in the Denver area. There are kids from Denver that include the # 2 prospect in the Carolina Hurricanes system, and players in Division I hockey at Northeastern and Notre Dame. And of course, there and 7 Colorado kids playing for the University of Denver - who will likely be the pre-season #1 in college hockey this Fall. Is that a result of these kids attending AVS games, watching them on national TV or following them on the local carrier Fox Sports or Altitude? I really don't know.

At this point though, I guess I really wonder if we should want the NHL to grow? Do you want more competition to buy tickets? On the other hand, it would be nice to go into a sports bar and be able to get playoff games on the big TV without The Professor having buff and shine the cougar waitress.

What is my rambling point? I guess I'd like to see the NHL return to be the # 4 sport in the USA. But maybe I realize that at this point the NHL is like your favorite band - people either get them, or they don't.

The new Boone mascot

Last Thursday in Washington DC, at the Lincoln Memorial, staff from the always brilliant "Let's Go DU" Hockey Blog presented the new "unofficial" Denver Pioneers Boone mascot. One of our staff was in attendance to capture this quality photo of our new hero.On an amusing side note, I heard the following conversation:

Child "I want to get my picture with that pirate!"

Dad: "I'm not sure that's a pirate?"

Mom: "I don't know what that thing is!"

Top 10 lists?

Always a good - over a beer - bar room discussion... check out the Top 10 hockey names!

Guy from Detroit hurt in pillow accident?

OK, when you heard about the injury - who didn't think of Anthony? Come on, be honest!

As this article indicates, Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers really got hurt with a pillow. It also includes a quality list of other injuries.

Who says baseball players are sissies?