NHL Animal Week - Florida

Yesterday, I spent part of my evening trying to stomach Discovery's well-hyped Shark Week only to be disappointed by their opening program Megalodon on Sunday. It dawned on me that the NHL should partner with Discovery Communications to bring NHL Animal Week! There are seven teams that distinctively could be featured, and I drew back the curtains on the San Jose Sharks and the great white shark yesterday. Today, we focus on a carnivore that has seen its numbers recover in recent years as the Florida panther is featured on HBIC's NHL Animal Week!

Monday - Florida Panthers

The Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi, is a subspecies of the mountain lion, North America's largest predatory cat. The mountain lion, collectively, is known by many names - cougar, puma, catamount, panther, or painter - but all represent the same species of cat. The mountain is the fourth largest cat on planet, trailing only the tiger, lion, and jaguar in that category. They range from northern Canada right down to the tip of South America through the Andes mountains. It's great range makes the mountain lion the most widely distributed animal in the Americas when not including humans. The Florida Panther, long considered extinct until the mid-1970s, had been found in a small pocket in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, and the cat has rebounded through generational breeding. While exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that the Florida panther has recovered to have between 100 and 160 individuals in Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park.

The young are born with spots that eventually fade into the uniform tan color of the mountain lion. The eyes are blue at birth, but eventually take on a yellow hue as the cat matures. While not a small cat in terms of being able to purr, the mountain lion also cannot roar like lions and tigers as their physiology is closer to smaller cats than great cats. Their larynx produces a shrill scream instead of a roar, lending to many folklore stories and myths about "mountain screamers".

Like the great white shark, the mountain lion uses an ambush attack to take down prey. Using its size and weight, the mountain lion will pounce from behind after silently stalking its prey to take it to the ground where it will normally administer the lethal bite on the neck. If the animal is larger or appears to be able to inflict damage on the mountain lion, it will retreat until the animal has succumbed to its injuries. In Florida, the diet of the Florida panther includes rodents, hares, and waterfowl, but it will attack wild boars, deer, and storks if given the chance. Attacks usually happen before dawn when visibility is at its lowest.

The Florida panther has always been in conflict with man as man's encroachment into their territory has pushed the cat to near extinction. Combining that factor with automobile accidents and poaching to either protect livestock or for their furs have made man the top hunter of the Florida panther. In nature, the apex predator position is occupied by the panther and by the alligator, and the two don't get along very well. Alligator attacks, while rare, do happen and most often occur on panther young as they drink. Further west, mountain lions and wolves routinely clash as the top predators in the wild, and, excuse the adage, but these two fight like cats and dogs. While the wolves roam in packs, the mountain lion is a solitary creature, so mountain lions normally retreat when wolves make their presence felt.

Because there haven't been enough animals to track and monitor in the wild, the Florida panther's endangered species listing has been left at "not evaluated". However, it has been protected from hunting since 1958 in Florida, and in 1967 it was listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The state of Florida also added it to the state's endangered species list, adding further protection to the already-threatened cat. After much fighting amongst environmental and animal groups, there has been a Florida Panther Recovery Plan put in place to further research these animals and to have it recover in the Florida region.

There's a quick synopsis of the Florida panther for today's look at the animal used in the Florida Panthers logo. Tune in tomorrow when NHL ANIMAL WEEK continues! I'll be featuring bears as we break down the Boston Bruins!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

NHL Animal Week - San Jose

I began my evening by watching Discovery's well-hyped Shark Week only to be disappointed by their opening program Megalodon. I have to say that this fake documentary tries to have the world believe that the prehistoric massive shark known as Megalodon still exists in the waters of the world today. I'm fairly confident that it is not, and I took to Twitter to call out the errors being made in the "scientific research" being done, but it dawned on me that the NHL should partner with Discovery Communications to bring NHL Animal Week!

Obviously, sticking with the shark theme, the San Jose Sharks could be featured. The Florida Panthers, a subspecies of the mountain lion, could also be featured. The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins could get in on the week-long look at the animals of the NHL. The Phoenix Coyotes would be featured. The Anaheim Ducks would get a night. And, to cap it all off, the Buffalo Sabres - see what I did there? - could also be included. So I decided to put my naturalist cap on today, and all week, to bring you the programming that Discovery and the NHL would feature on NHL ANIMAL WEEK!

Sunday - San Jose Sharks

There are over 360 species of sharks that belong to eight orders in their taxonomy, but the ones we'll concern ourselves with are from the Order LAMNIFORMES since that's where Carcharodon carcharias, the Great White Shark, is located. The San Jose Sharks' logo would indicate a very aggressive shark as it destroys that hockey stick, and the great white shark would be one of the more aggressive sharks with a powerful bite.

While they never achieve a black color in the wild, the great white shark's name is drawn from its tooth structure. Carcharodon comes from the Greek words "karcharos", which means sharp or jagged, and "odous", which means tooth. Ironically, Megalodon would be an extinct member of the Carcharodon species, tying it nicely into the introduction above. Great white sharks are found mostly in coastal regions where water temperatures hover between 12°C and 25°C, and have surprisingly large numbers in the Dyer Island area near South Africa.

Feeding is rather scary. The teeth are serrated, and the great white shark will shake its prey from side to side after biting it in order to use those serrated teeth to help tear meat from bone. Estimations have put the biting power of the great white shark at approximately 18,000 Newtons. For those of you converting at home, that's more than 4000 psi. That's not even the biggest chomp in the shark world thanks to the dusky shark! Sharks feed on basically anything that moves in or on the water: tuna, rays, other sharks, dolphins, porpoises, whales, seals, sea lions, turtles, otters, and seabirds. Most attacks will occur at night, allowing the shark to take advantage of the poor visibility surrounding their prey. As they say, it's darkest before the dawn!

Great white sharks seem to prefer seals as their favorite food, and this prey allows them to perfect their chosen method of hunting: ambush. Great white sharks like to attack from below in an ambush attack, tossing their prey high into the air in order to stun them before consuming them. California sea lions are usually bitten on the underside while in the water or on the hindquarters, allowing them to bleed out before the shark will feed. Nearly all attacks happen at the surface of the water, reinforcing the ambush portion of the shark's attack. Great white sharks have also been observed swimming at the surface with their heads above water - called spy-hopping in marine research vernacular - in order to aid their attack.

Great white sharks have a poor reputation when it comes to humans due to shark attacks, but this is largely undeserved. Sharks, unfortunately, don't have strong vision and use an electrosensory organ called the Ampullae of Lorenzini to identify electromagnetic fields from animals. Because they see poorly but sense strong electromagnetic fields, surfers are commonly mistaken as seals or turtles when the sharks are lurking deep in the water. The same problem affects sharks that have approached boats as it appears that the shark mistakenly identifies the boat as a whale or large mammal. Because boats generate electrical fields, the shark may mistakenly identify this field as that of a whale. In short, sharks will avoid humans when possible!

As per CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), the great white shark is seen as vulnerable as its numbers have been declining. There are areas of the world, most notably New Zealand and California, where the great white shark is protected by law. The only known predators that the great white shark has are man and orcas.

There's a quick synopsis of the great white shark for today's look at the animal used in the San Jose Sharks logo. Tune in tomorrow when NHL ANIMAL WEEK continues! I'll be featuring the Florida panther of the wisely-named Florida Panthers!

And a couple of tweets for the road on the gong show programming that Discovery Channel had on tonight...

"You can't suppress 125 million years of evolution. The #Megalodon wants to hunt, not be fed." - Sam Neill on #SharkWeek 2013.

— Teebz (@TeebzHBIC) August 5, 2013

Lemme bring Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm onboard for more credibility. #JurassicPark #Megalodon #SharkWeek

— Teebz (@TeebzHBIC) August 5, 2013

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Harry Neale's Speech

Harry Neale has been in and around the game of hockey for a long time. He has played, coached, and is now a broadcaster. One of the things that not a lot of people realize is that Harry Neale got his first professional coaching job with the WHA's Minnesota Fighting Saints in 1972 when he was hired as an assistant coach. He replaced head coach Glen Somnor in 1973, taking the reins to the Fighting Saints until they eventually folded after the 1975-76 season. It's not often that one finds a camera or recording device in a dressing room for a pre-game speech, but Harry Neale's entire speech was recorded in 1975 before a game against the Winnipeg Jets!

Neale's speech isn't groundbreaking in any way nor is it a rallying cry for his troops. It's simply the gameplan that he wants the Fighting Saints to use against the Jets in Minnesota. While watching the video, watch for the patented clear boards that the Fighting Saints had. And it seems entirely wrong to see fully-dressed hockey players brushing their hair in front of a mirror before the game. I get that helmets were optional, but rarely did one finish the game with his hair looking as it did when he skated out. It was a different era for sure!

Here's the video from Classic Hockey TV. Enjoy!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Is Portland A Hockey Town?

Pictured to the left is the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. Having been to Portland, I can tell you that it is a gorgeous city with a vibrant nightlife and spectacular views. I was there a few years ago for a couple of weeks, and I admittedly fell in love with the city. There is a ton of stuff to occupy your time, the early fall weather was fantastic, and the people are incredible. In short, Portland is a great town. They love their Trail Blazers, and they are insane about the NCAA's Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers. But are they hockey fans? That's a question that is a little more difficult to answer, but I'll take a shot at it here.

Word leaked today that billionaire Paul Allen, owner of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and the Rose Garden, was prepared to offer $200 million to relocate the Phoenix Coyotes to Portland if the NHL was serious about moving the team to the Pacific Northwest. Allen has long been eying the NHL as a second tenant in his arena, and nearly bought the Pittsburgh Penguins out of bankruptcy before Mario Lemieux's group saved the day in the Steel City. Allen has a bundle of money that the NHL would love to have funding a team, and the ownership of the arena would make him an attractive owner since he can control the dates for his franchise in his own building.

On the other hand, there is a secondary player in the NHL-to-Portland scenario, and that person is Calgary-based oil tycoon Bill Gallacher. If Gallacher's name sounds familiar, it's because he owns and operates the WHL's Portland Winterhawks franchise, one of the most successful franchises in all of junior hockey. Gallacher has been interested in NHL ownership for some time while still being committed to running the Winterhawks in Portland. Having another rich potential owner awaiting the opportunity to get in on some NHL action has to make the NHL a little giddy. The only issue that looms with the Gallacher option is that Paul Allen owns the arena that the NHL would like to be in.

Some media folk seem to believe that Portland, Oregon is primed and ready to absorb an NHL team. I, for one, am not sure about this statement simply due to the fact that there is major competition in the sports world in Portland. I'm not saying that an NHL team wouldn't work there - there are certainly enough people in the area to make it work in terms of fanbase - but I am simply saying that the establishment of a new team in a market where people live and breathe for the Oregon NCAA scene and the NBA puts the NHL on an uphill battle from the start.

Paul Allen would most likely still have the Trail Blazers playing on prime nights in his arena like Fridays and Saturday, so there would have to be some compromise to the scheduling that the NHL would like. In saying this, though, the Knicks and Rangers seem to do fine, and the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings all work well together. But as Mr. Dwight Jaynes wrote in his piece, "Allen has shown no interest in owning an NHL team of late and he's been able to frighten prospective owners from the prospect of renting arena space in the Rose Garden." With his renewed interest in owning a team, though, this control he exerts would now allow him to fill more nights in the arena when it may sit empty, and that's something any arena owner wants. It means more concessions and souvenirs sold, it means more parking monies, and it means more tickets sold. All of those factors are something that Mr. Allen has to consider, and the NHL could conceivably fill the Rose Garden with a winning team.

While some may say that Seattle is a better choice for the natural rivalry with the Vancouver Canucks, I'm not so sure that would be the case. The NHL would be low on the list of entertainment dollars in Seattle much like the WHL's Thunderbirds are. The NFL's Seattle Seahawks are clearly the biggest draw in town, and they dominate the Sunday entertainment dollars. With Seattle building a new arena with an NBA team in mind, the NHL would get pushed down the list once more. Oh, and that arena? Not even built yet.

It is a three-hour drive for people in Seattle to get to Portland, so the idea of attracting a large number of fans from Seattle to Portland, or vice versa, would be a pipe dream. It's conceivable that a few fans may make the trip on a weekend to see a Portland NHL game, but I doubt that there would be an exodus of people from Seattle heading to Portland to see the NHL. In terms of fan support from Seattle, I'd say a Portland team would have close to nil.

If this seems like I'm heading down a negative path here, think again. This team would be Portland's team almost exclusively because of that fact, and there's nothing that an owner likes more than having an exclusive market to which he can advertise. Again, a few fans from Seattle may make the trip, but this NHL franchise would nearly be exclusive to Portland and Oregonians in general. Paul Allen knows his market well, and he'd be able to get a number of Portland-based sponsors onboard quickly if he played his cards right. Could you imagine some of the incredible microbrews that could be available on game days? After all, beer and hockey go hand-in-hand, and Portland's microbrewery industry is one of the best I have ever seen (and tasted).

Of course, all of this is just spitballing, and I may be getting way ahead of myself when proposing the city of Portland as the NHL's newest city. But there is a strangely similar situation that the NHL found itself in before that seems to have worked pretty well after all has been said and done. There were naysayers in that situation too - bad market, small market, bound to fail - but the team has consistently been building fans since it arrived thanks to prudent ownership and smart spending. Looking at the Portland speculation, it feels a lot like Winnipeg all over again.

Winnipeg had an NHL-ready arena built and run by a billionaire owner in David Thomson. Winnipeg had a fanbase that was exclusively its own market with the closest supporting major city over six hours away. Winnipeg had hockey-mad fans that wanted the NHL back in a bad way. Winnipeg had an ownership group that was prepared to make the game work under the economics of the market they were in, and were willing to work with the NHL to facilitate the game in its small market. Fast-forward to today, and the former Atlanta Thrashers are a beloved team in a city that wanted nothing more than a team to call its own.

Portland has an NHL-ready arena run by a billionaire owner in Paul Allen. Portland has a fanbase that is exclusively its own market with the closest supporting major city about three hours away. Portland has at least two ownership groups that would jump at the chance to bring the NHL to Portland if given the opportunity at a price that seemed fair and reasonable. Like Atlanta, the NHL has a franchise that is bleeding money with no stable ownership group in place that wants to fix the major problems with the franchise. The term "relocation" has been tossed around the Coyotes franchise form nearly five years now, and it might be time for the NHL to look elsewhere for a solution just as they did in Atlanta.

How great would Portland benefit if Paul Allen bought the team and moved it to Portland, and then brought Bill Gallacher's team on to run the day-to-day operations of the hockey franchise? If you're thinking True North Sports and Entertainment, you and I are speaking the same language. The partnership forged by Mark Chipman and David Thomson has been nothing short of magical for hockey in Winnipeg, and the same could be said for the Allen-Gallacher partnership if Allen is willing to bankroll the team as Thomson does with Gallacher making sound decisions on the hockey side as Chipman does. I'm not sure how close Allen and Gallacher are in terms of a personal or business relationship, but the success of the Portland Winterhawks shows that Gallacher's team knows what they are doing just as the Chipman team ran the Manitoba Moose as one of the AHL's best clubs.

While I get that the NHL would like to place a team in the brand-new Seattle arena, they might be overlooking their best opportunity at stable ownership of the former Jets franchise in a long, long time. Portland, Oregon has some challenges, but there were challenges in Winnipeg as well. The NHL put its faith in the Chipman-Thomson partnership, and they haven't had any reason to look back yet. With the similarities in the situation in Portland, it might be time to re-examine the NHL's Pacific Northwest plan because it almost seems like the NHL has another Winnipeg on its hands there.

Portland seems like the elementary choice when looking at the Pacific Northwest, my dear Watson.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode Forty-Seven

It's almost hard to believe that The Hockey Show has been on the airwaves for nearly one full calendar year. Where did all the time go? As we push into our 47th episode, we have a couple of decent giveaways tonight as well as our usual hockey chatter. Beans and I enjoy getting gear out to our loyal listeners, so tune in and win tonight because we have a couple of awesome prizes!

I'll discuss how the prizes will be won in a few seconds, but we've got a few things to discuss on tonight's show. They include:

• With the Jets having signed and locked up their core players for the foreseeable future, how will the Jets do this season? Will they re-sign Devin Setoguchi when his contract is up next season? Where will the Jets be one year, three years, and five years from now?
• Was Zach Bogosian's contract reasonable based upon his play over the last two seasons?
• The fitter-looking Dustin Byfuglien picture surfaced on Twitter on Tuesday. Is Buff's commitment to a healthier and trimmer off-season plan a reflection of being named to the US Olympic Orientation squad, or do we believe Byfuglien realized that he's no longer in Atlanta when it comes to Winnipeg's passion for its team and the game?
• Zigmund Palffy retired from all hockey on Tuesday. Favorite memories of the player?
• The Bisons men's team have been recruiting as we approach hockey season. They have a few new forwards joining the team, and an old face returns behind the bench! We'll talk about who the Bisons recruited to help them vie for a CIS Championship!
• The Bisons women's team has also been busy recruiting, and they have some solid players coming aboard for the 2013-14 season. We'll talk about who the Bisons brought on, and how we think they'll do this season!
• The CIS schedule was announced, and Beans and I are going to be promoting a lot of games this year as part of our work with the University of Manitoba. We'll go over some important games, and look at how the teams may fare this season!

As for the giveaways, I highlighted on yesterday as The Hockey Show combines forces with Random House Canada Publishing to present an opportunity to win a copy of The Year of the Chicago Blackhawks! All you have to do is answer the one Blackhawks-related trivia question we'll throw out, and you will get yourself some new reading material! Pretty awesome, right?

The second of our giveaways will involve your movie knowledge as we play Six Degrees of Jared Keeso! Friend of the Show Jared Keeso will be on the show next week as the new movie he's in, Elysium, debuts on August 9. We're going to giveaway a couple of $25 gift cards to the movies - enough for a ticket, popcorn, and a beverage - to the person who can correctly identify the six degrees of separation between Jared Keeso and the chosen actor or actress we have nominated for the game. The catch? The first six-degree chain will be contain the movie Elysium and there will be a hockey movie referenced in the chain as well. The second six-degree chain will be a little easier, but it will still be related to hockey and Elysium in some way.

Tune in tonight as we give away some prizes, chat some hockey, and have a pile of fun as usual. The Hockey Show is live on the air at 5:30pm CT on 101.5 UMFM, and feel free to call in with the answers to the giveaway questions and/or your hockey comments! We're always on Twitter as well, so tweet me at @TeebzHBIC and I'll get your tweet on the air!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!