Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Farewell To A Founder

07/30/2013 at 3:40pm EDT

I started this blog on some sort of Wordpress deal back in December, 2005. Paul pushed me to do it, actually. I'd been a poster over at MLive and decided I needed a bigger room, because I'm so smart and my wisdom needed to spread and spread fast.

So we began there. For about a day, because I was in Tennessee, I got all creative and called the blog "Hockeytown South". Stupid and Paul told me so. Abel to Yzerman was born then and continues to this day, with few fewer posts and ashamedly a little less wit.

I'm positive, but I believe Hockeytown Todd was one of our first readers.

I'm absolutely positive he had more influence over me than anyone else.

"Injuries and officiating". That was Todd Sorensen's refrain and he repeated it every time we made our bombastic claims that the Wings wouldn't lose a shift much less a single playoff game ever again in history.

Over and over again he reminded us that there were factors besides talent that would determine the Wings fate. I argued with him about that, but I always knew he was right.

He had a blog for a while and for the life of me I can't remember it. I don't know.

We had just started a deployment in 20, shit, 11? Might have been '09. I don't remember. I just know that I was meeting my ship in Mayport and I posted something from the Navy Lodge there, from the lobby. I didn't have a laptop. Money was a little tight in the Iwo household and I wasn't gonna buy one. Anyway, I posted that I'd be a little scarce and probably hinted, like a little bitch, that I was laptopless.

I don't know how he did it, how he got the address to the Navy Frigging Lodge in Mayport, FLA. But two days later, one day before I was gonna fly out to the ship, a package arrived. Todd had sent me a laptop. Insane.

He was a gruff old guy, an original member of the 19. A goldmine of hockey knowledge. He was outspoken but I know he held back when he could have ripped me for being a biased fan instead of a "responsible" blogger. I never have been and he always stuck with me, and us. Well, he's gone.

He was at the first Herm 2 Hockeytown. I wasn't and it really gets me today that I could have met him and never did.

Great old guy. Great friend to us all.

No more 19. The idea will always be there. We all know what it stands for and who it represents. But it's no more.

It's the 18 now. Rest easy Todd. Give 'em Hell from up there and keep us in line down here. As you always did.

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About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

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