Schedule Change

I had an excellent piece today that I was really excited to post, but I've decided to push it back. The article is about a person who has come up with a magnificent innovation, but he has asked me to hold off publishing the story for now. Instead, I want to post a few notes about some changes this writing space has quietly experienced over the last few days. Betcha didn't notice anything, did you? That's ok, though, because the changes weren't all that noticeable. So don't feel bad, ok? Alrighty then.

First off, according to BlogRank, you're currently reading the seventh-best hockey blog found in cyberspace*. But I want to point out that there is a big asterisk that I added after that phrase.

I don't want to get into who is better than whom, and which blogs are way better than mine. The BlogRank site is run independently from my own. I don't know who the owners of that site are. I've never met anyone from BlogRank or invesp.com, so their findings are entirely their own.

I do want to say that being seventh-place in amongst some fabulous writers is an honour. However, I don't put much stock into it. It's simply a ranking system built on several pieces of research, and its values are what they are. I am here to discuss hockey from my view, and I appreciate all those that stop by to hear my rambling, sometimes incoherent arguments.

Without my readers, I am nothing. So thank you for helping me achieve the lofty status of "7th place". I won't sit comfortably in seventh, I assure you, but I also want to point out that there are many other excellent writers out there. You can view the full list here, or click the button on the right.

I am proud to announce that one of those excellent writers, Miss Connie Kim, has been picked up by the SBNation Hockey site! Connie used to run A Queen Among Kings, a Los Angeles Kings blog, by herself. It was my favorite place to get Kings info because of her smart, savvy, and funny writing. Now, if you're looking for Connie's take on the Kings, please head over to Jewels From The Crown.

With Connie's addition to the site, SBNation now has a writer for every NHL team under their umbrella. Honestly, the writers working under the SBNation name is an impressive list, and the SBNation site is amazing resource for all your hockey news. I definitely recommend spending some time crawling through their sites.

Jibblescribbits, another fabulous blog, is now writing under the Bloguin name. Jibble follows the Colorado Avalanche like a bloodhound, and his writing style is off-beat, funny, and intelligent. This is another blog I really enjoy, and the news he brings forth from the Mile High Hockeytown is always a good read. Check it out while you're here.

In Other News...

With the Rangers finding their scoring all of sudden, we got to see another youngster tossed into the fire tonight. The Rangers hung six goals on the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, and ripped eight more past the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. Antero Niittymaki started the game, but we got to see a former World Junior Champion between the pipes after the Rangers began the onslaught.

Dustin Tokarski played 24:21 in Madison Square Garden tonight, stopping eight of eleven shots he faced. Marc Staal, Aaron Voros, and Chris Higgins victimized the youngster, but Tokarski was left for the wolves after the Lightning were down 5-2. While it wasn't the most memorable game for Tokarski, the results from his second game in the NHL were certainly not his fault.

As Lightning head coach Rick Tocchet said, "They out-hit us, they outplayed us, they out-everythinged us, they outcoached us. Their leaders out-did our leaders, their grinders out-did our grinders. Our goaltender got out-goaltended.

"The only thing good was the bus was on time for this game. The bus driver was the best thing we had."

Ouch.

As hard as it is to believe, the Pittsburgh Penguins saw another first tonight. The Penguins defeated the New York Islanders in a wild game by a 6-4 score in which Crosby had two goals and six points, and Evgeni Malkin recorded a hat trick.

The first? This is the first time that both Crosby and Malkin have had a multi-goal game in the same game. That, to me, is absolutely baffling considering the point totals these two men have put up over the last few years. However, it is what it is, I guess. Just as a side note, Crosby's six points matched a career-high for one game. Not a bad night for the Penguins' superstars whatsoever.

That's all for tonight, kids. Antler Banter will be somewhat streamlined tomorrow as the recaps for the Moose aren't really about the Moose at all. You'll see when it's posted tomorrow, but it wasn't a good week for the Herd. Anyway, I'm hoping to have that article I referenced at the start up for Thursday, so stay tuned!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!