Housecleaning And Scheduling

We need to jump back to 2008 for Cage the Elephant's iconic song Ain't No Rest for the Wicked in which Matt Schultz sings about three instances where allegedly wicked people do bad things in order to get ahead in life. I'll fully admit that I'm not in that "allegedly wicked" group according to my own personal views about my life, but I will be living the "I can't slow down, I can't hold back/Though you know, I wish I could" part of the chorus over the next week of my life. Things are about to get busy in my world, and I can't say I'm not somewhat excited as much as I'm thinking I might be up to my eyeballs in things that need to be done.

The first thing that everyone should know, especially those playing the Survivor: NHL Playoffs contest, is that this week's episode of The Hockey Show will be exit interviews for the teams eliminated in Round Two. Four more teams will have been excused from the playoffs, so four more entrants will need to get their assessments ready of why their chosen teams failed them. I'll post more about this on Thursday when the show outline goes live, but there will be four teams and four more entrants ousted from the contest!

Also on the topic of the Survivor: NHL Playoffs contest, all of the challenge prizes have been awarded as the final challenge was won by John thanks to Carolina being the first team to advance to the third round of the playoffs. The challenges were won as noted on the following list:

• First shutout recorded in the playoffs - Bryan
• First hat trick recorded in the playoffs - Bryan
• First goaltender point recorded in the playoffs - Bill
• First team eliminated from the playoffs - Ethan
• First team to score seven goals in one game - Miranda
• First upset of the playoffs - Wayne
• First to advance from the second to the third round - John

All of the prizes have been handed out with the exception of one, and that was arranged since that prize winner feels he may win more. For those that live out of town, your prizes are in the mail already so watch for them this week! Congratulations to all the Survivor: NHL Playoffs challenge winners!

From there, it needs to be said that posting on HBIC might be late this week as I am officially busy every night from tomorrow until May 22. A lot of it will be due to a new opportunity I'm excited to begin, but there are a few other nights that will be occupied by other things. What I'm saying is that I'll likely try to write something on days where I'm not overly busy, but I would expect articles to appear slowly. I won't be watching much hockey due to my schedule, so I might be me trying to get caught up on what's been happening!

I did catch Nikolaj Ehlers and Denmark against Hungary this morning at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, and it's a strange thing to see Ehlers being given a first-line role where he's depended upon to be a high-scoring forward. It's almost like Denmark realizes the talents and skills he brings to the table and relies upon them to help the team succeed. If only there were an NHL team who did the same thing and provided him the same freedoms as he has with his national squad, that NHL team might be better off for it. One can dream, I suppose.

As for me, I have a million and one things to do before Mother's Day tomorrow, so make sure you call, visit, or make contact with your mom if you can and honour those who are moms in your life. The woman you call "Mom" may not have given birth to you, but she's played an essential role in your life and she deserves a little recognition for getting you where you are today. Do something nice for her tomorrow. HBIC will be closed tomorrow as I plan on spending time with my Mom and a few other ladies who are moms later in the day, and they're all pretty incredible people who deserve to be honoured for the amazing women that they are!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!