They're Going Back!

If you missed the announcement earlier today, the NHL and the International Olympic Committee finally came to an agreement, and the NHL players will break for two weeks to have the best players in the world competing in Sochi for the Olympics! That means that Canada's best will defend the gold medal against the USA, the Swedes, the Finns, the Czechs, and the hometown Russians as the top countries in the world square off for international hockey supremacy! If you're not excited, it's time to be with February 2014 approaching quickly!

Before we start naming teams and predicting who will finish where in the competition, we need to remember one key thing when discussing Canada's defence of its Olympic medal: Torino, Italy. In 2002, Canada won a gold medal and the US won a silver medal while playing on a North American ice surface in Salt Lake City, Utah. Four years later, they played one of the worst international tournaments in recent Canadian history, stumbling and looking quite out of place on the international ice surface in Turin. 2010 saw Canada and the US finish first and second again on a North American ice surface in Vancouver. Will those teams be prepared for the larger ice surface in Sochi?

I have full faith that Mike Babcock will have his foot soldiers ready when it comes to the defence of the 2010 Olympic championship. I'm quite sure that Dan Bylsma will have the US team ready as well. Olympic hockey will be awesome once again as the best players on the planet go mano-a-mano for the right to be called the best in the world for the next four years.

Are you ready?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode Forty-Five

The Hockey Show is back on the air tonight at 5:30pm CT on 101.5 UMFM, and we're going to have some fun. Beans and I rarely show off our hockey knowledge without some sort of debate, but tonight we'll be testing one another - and any callers who want to take a stab - at trivia questions about the world's coolest game! While I may have the upper hand in this one, we'll be opening the phone lines for the listeners as we go through a bit of a trial run before announcing another opportunity to win prizes! Who doesn't like free gear?!?

Between the questions Beans and I toss out to each other and to listeners, we have a few things to discuss. Among them are:

• Allan Muir wrote an interesting piece for Sports Illustrated that looked at Canada's Olympic team in Sochi if the NHL and the Olympic Committee can't find some sort of agreement for insurance and player costs and safety. If the NHL doesn't go to the Olympics, he names an entire roster of European- and KHL-based players who could, including friend of the show Brandon Reid. Do we agree with the players selected? What about AHL players? Is this a "nightmare" as Muir suggests?
• The Jets are reportedly in the running for Mikhail Grabovski and Damien Brunner. Are these good signings? Where do they fit on the roster? What do the Jets do if Grabo signs as Little, Jokinen, Scheifele, and Slater are all slotted down the middle?
• Eric Tangradi and the Jets avoid arbitration. Did the Jets overpay for what appears to be a third- or fourth-liner? What does Tangradi bring to the Jets this season?
• Patrice Cormier also re-signs with the Jets. Do we see more Cormier in the Jets' line-up this season? Is he ever going to crack the roster full-time?
• Derek Meech left the Jets for an opportunity with Dinamo Minsk in the KHL. Are his NHL days behind him? Do we see him returning in the future?
• Dustin Penner goes back to the Ducks, continuing his illustrious NHL career in SoCal. At this point, is he just a role player who Edmonton overpaid? Does he fit into the Ducks' roster?

Join us tonight on 101.5 UMFM for some trivia, some discussion, and we'll be in contact with Survivor: NHL Playoffs winner Barry A. to get his thoughts on some of the hockey world after his Blackhawks defeated his Bruins! That doesn't make sense? It will tonight. Tune in, call us at (204) 269-UMFM (8636), tweet us at @TeebzHBIC, and chat some hockey with us!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

NHL Gets Air Conditioning

It isn't often that you hear of an NHL rink being too warm unless the games are being played in Phoenix in June. And rarely does that happen. It's also rare to hear that an NHL rink needs to turn up the heat literally rather than figuratively. However, the NHL and six NHL teams have signed a deal with a new sponsor as the official HVAC sponsor of the NHL. York, owned and operated by Johnson Controls, is the NHL's newest sponsor, and will partner with six teams as their official HVAC sponsor as well.

Chris Botta, a man whose journalism and reporting I've respected for a long time, reported in SportsBusiness Journal on June 20, 2013 that the York brand decided to sponsor the NHL "to increase brand awareness during its key marketing periods: October and November for heating, and April and May for cooling." In partnering with the NHL as a corporate sponsor, the NHL will provide key marketing spots for York as an official sponsor of the NHL, the NHL Draft, the 2013 Bridgestone Winter Classic, the NHL Awards and NHL Green. Expect to see marketing for York this upcoming season.

Along with the NHL, Botta also reported that York will enter into partnerships with the "Canadiens, Canucks, Flyers and 'three more teams with whom deals are being finalized'" to give the company advertising within those arenas and on publications produced by those teams.

York, for what it's worth, is a major player in the HVAC world, providing residential, professional, and commercial HVAC solutions. York hold the contract for the US Navy's HVAC needs, so they clearly have some ability in the world of HVAC. While NHL buildings rarely fall into disrepair when it comes to maintaining controlled atmospheres within the walls of the arena, I see the NHL's partnership with York as being beneficial to the NHL for one major reason.

There will be a vast number of outdoor games next season as the NHL looks to squeeze as much as it can out of that gimmick. Having rinks set up for days in New York City at Yankee Stadium will take some major work when it comes to the refrigeration unit, and York specializes in this sort of HVAC work. From the refrigeration system to heat exchange to finding uses for excess hot water, the HVAC work done by York for the games in New York City, Los Angeles, and Vancouver alone could save the NHL millions of dollars in energy.

This PDF by the IIHF explains the the basics of an ice rink, but there is a particular section within Chapter 3 that should be noticed.

The refrigeration plant is needed to make and maintain ice on the rink. Refrigeration plant includes the compressor(s), the condenser(s), the evaporator(s), and rink pipes. The heat from the rink is "sucked" by the compressor via the rink pipes and the evaporator and then released to the surrounding via the condenser. The heat from the condenser can be used to heat the ice rink facility and thus save considerably energy and money. Refrigeration plant is the main energy consumer in the ice rink facility. Compressors, pumps and fans needed in the refrigeration system are normally run by electricity and their electricity use may cover over 50% of the total electricity use of an ice rink facility.

Wouldn't you know it, but York, on their website, have those very condensers and heat pumps available for commercial purchase! In short, the refrigeration plant is required if you want to keep and maintain an ice surface, and there is a major HVAC component to doing that. With an outdoor rink, the refrigeration plant becomes much more important as the ice can be affected by Mother Nature's whims in terms of temperature and humidity!

While the NHL may not admit it, this partnership is legitimately a partnership in that if York cannot provide the services that the NHL needs for their plethora of outdoor games next season, expect the partnership to dissolve after one season. However, if York can ensure working ice rinks in places like Dodger Stadium and Yankee Stadium for an extended length of time, the NHL and York will most likely live amicably together until the outdoor games run their course. The only variable that the NHL cannot control is the weather, but York will do its best to ensure that Mother Nature's external influences don't flaw the biggest cash cow the NHL has going.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Summer Hockey Fun

You'll probably realize as you read this article that this is less about summer hockey and more about hockey-related fun while on summer holidays. There are lots of great hockey schools and summer hockey leagues one can participate in over the warmest months of the year in North America, but there are many more fans who enjoy summer holidays away from their respective nine-to-fives. What this article is all about are options for the summer-loving hockey fans who want to enjoy the leisurely warm weather while still being the best hockey fans they can be.

I know a number of people who enjoy playing cards at the lake or while camping, and one of the more popular games I see being played is cribbage. Honestly, I don't have a clue on how the game is played, but wouldn't it look infinitely better on one of these?

That hockey-rink cribbage board can be found on Etsy.com and is made by Neil Enock from Calgary, Alberta. While it may seem a little pricy at $155.94, Neil has included the following information which may make it a perfect gift for your summer-loving hockey fan.

"Our cribbage boards can be customized with the addition of stock logos or custom graphics and can be further personalized by engraving your text message on the cribbage board or gift box."

Pretty solid idea, right? If I knew how to play cribbage, I might be inclined to purchase this cribbage board. However, since I don't know how, I thought I'd offer it up to you, readers, for those that know how to play a little crib.

Everyone in North America at one time or another has played board games. Some families and friends still gather for "board game night". And I would guess that virtually everyone aged thirty and older has played Trivial Pursuit. The game, created in December 1979 in Montreal, Quebec by Canadian Chris Haney, is one of the most widely-played games on the planet, and there are games that cover all genres and age groups: Baby Boomers, Geniuses, younger people, and, of course, sports fanatics. The Trivial Pursuit All-Star Sports edition was produced in 1983, so you'll probably have to be a major sports historian to know some of these answers or at least thirty years old. The categories are broken down into the following:

• Blue - nicknames.
• Pink - football.
• Yellow - catch-all.
• Brown - basketball.
• Green - baseball.
• Orange - numbers.

Now, if you ask me, it seems nearly criminal that a Canadian-devised game doesn't include hockey as a category on its own, but these games were mass-produced in the United States. Naturally, the categories are more reflective of that society's sports followings in the 1980s. The good news? There are a ton of hockey questions in the "nicknames, "catch-all", and "numbers" categories, so it's not like you'll go without any hockey trivia. And to be honest, they are tough questions if you don't know your hockey history!

At $0.99 on eBay, that's a heckuva deal for anyone looking to infuse their trivia or board game nights with some additional sports questions! For those that are searching deeper for something more Canadiana, there was an All-Star Sports edition for Canada produced in 1981 with hockey replacing basketball in the brown color category, but those have been much harder to find in my searches!

Of course, if you're looking for cooler options than indoor games, there is an item that I would have killed to have had as a child. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Wham-o Slip-N-Slide Water Knee Hockey game.

For anyone who has played knee hockey, imagine doing it outside under the sun under sprinklers in the summer! Totally awesome, right?!? I'm going to be looking for one of these at my local retailers soon!

According to reviews, "[t]he rink measures nine feet by five feet, and attaches to any garden hose. There are 30 nozzles, each of which spray a two-foot plume of water over both players. It comes with two plastic hockey sticks, an oversized plastic puck and two 12-inch high by 32-inch wide by 8-inch deep inflatable goals. The rink itself is made of sturdy PVC". If knee hockey in a hallway or a rec room was your thing as a kid, imagine how awesome it will be outdoors! Amazon is selling them for less than $40 right now - a steal when you consider the number of days you'll put in making kick saves in the summer!

There are a few summer ideas that should help tide you over until hockey season starts again. I intentionally avoided video games because the summer months are meant to be spent outdoors, and these ideas should help cultivate some additional outdoor time with friends. In other words, the perfect summer!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Golden Air-Knit Fleece

The Buffalo Sabres have been teasing their fans this summer with small clips about their new alternate jersey, so I took about 15 minutes and mocked up the one to the left. The rumors, if you haven't heard them, are true in that Buffalo will don a gold alternate uniform this season, and I added a few elements from the video below to make up this mock-up. In any case, I understand the idea of teasing the fans to build excitement and anticipation, but will the hype pay off in the end?

The Sabres have historically had some poor choices when it came to alternate jerseys, so there's a good chance that these new alternates for the 2013-14 season won't be any worse than anything we've seen in the past. The teaser, though, shows off a number of design elements that make me wonder if the Sabres are just trying to too hard. It seems there are a few things that may push this one from good to "maybe next time". Here's the video.

Ok, so we know that Buffalo will be wearing gold for sure, and I'm actually in favor of this idea as they can now wear the uniform both on the road and at home. The only team that won't see this new alternate in their building is Nashville as they wear yellow at home, but there shouldn't be that many meetings between the two teams to warrant an alternate jersey appearance in Music City. But any other team is fair game when Buffalo is on the road, and that could make for some great color-on-color games within their division.

As seen in the video, the team will wear "Buffalo" below the neckline and, from appearances, "Buffalo Sabres" somewhere near the rear hemline, I'm guessing. Both of these additions are entirely unnecessary. It's not like Buffalo is an expansion team and needs to remind fans from where they hail. In fact, they have one of the most iconic logos in sports, and fans demanded its return after the failed bison head experiment and the Buffa-Slug calamity. Let's leave the logo to speak for one's team, shall we?

Again, we find a team writing an essay on the inside of the neckline. Why? What purpose does this serve? It's not like the players are stopping and reading the word "EXCELLENCE" every time they put the jersey on. Let's stop this design. I didn't like it in Nashville with the piano keys, I hated the idea when the Rangers did it, and I'm still not fond of it here. Enough with the interior messages.

I do applaud the Sabres for using a color that is also sorely missed in hockey. Yellow, while often represented in society as the color of cowards, is highly under-utilized in hockey much like the color green. I'm not saying that Buffalo is the right team to wear yellow, but I'll give them a vote of confidence for being bold with their alternate uniform. It will only be seen for a maximum of sixteen games, so I'm not going to rain all over Buffalo's parade at this point. Sight unseen, I'm a fan of bold colors.

We'll probably see a handful of additional teasers come out over the next month and a half before the team takes to the ice in September for training camp, but I think Buffalo's choice for a yellow alternate is the right move after having seen their past iterations. While I was a fan of the red alternate during their black era, Buffalo's choice to go yellow in this era is the right choice. The only thing that appears to drag them back down to earth, though, are the overuse of elements that aren't necessary in making a classic jersey.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!