Kukla's Korner Hockey
Category: KK-Interviews
A New, Direct Advertiser On Kukla’s Korner
by Paul on 01/26/12 at 03:35 PM ET
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As always, when a new, direct advertiser appears on Kukla’s Korner, I like to inform readers about the services they offer.
Today, a little background on Betfair.
KK: Let’s start with the basics, what is Betfair?
The easiest way to answer that question is to look at a traditional bookmaker. The ‘bookie’ offers you odds on an event and you simply have a choice of whether you want to take them or not. Those guys build a big fat margin into their odds, partly because they can, and partly because they are taking the risk (and want to cover the times when the results go against them). This means that the odds offered will hardly ever be the best you can get, and will always favor the bookmaker. Every single bet.
Betfair is different.
Betfair is an exchange. That means it is the customers that choose their own odds, just like people on the stock market choose the price they want to buy and sell shares at.
KK: So kind of like eBay?
Exactly. Just as eBay matches up buyers and sellers, Betfair matches sports bettors’ opposing opinions of things either happening or not happening. In other others, Betfair matches bets.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, | KK Hockey | Permalink
All About Shoulder Pads
by Alanah McGinley on 08/10/11 at 03:00 PM ET
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Down Low Hockey was recently added as an advertising partner on KK, and so you may have noticed this photo (on the right) appearing on the site. Given the nature of the product, we asked the company’s owner and designer, Dave Lewandowski, to answer a few questions for us.
Can you tell us how the company got started?
I designed the shoulder pads for my senior project while majoring in Industrial Design at Wentworth Institute of Design in Boston. The response to the pads was received so well that I decided to start Down Low Hockey and get the pads manufactured.
A dislocated shoulder gave me the inspiration to design a better pair of shoulder pads since I switched from small shoulder pads to big bulky pads after the injury.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, Hockey Equipment, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: down+low+hockey,
hockey+equipment,
shoulder+pads
Should There Be A Canadian Conference?
by Paul on 07/13/11 at 10:37 AM ET
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from Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star,
Canadian Conference: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver.
Eastern Conference: Boston, Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, Carolina.
Midwest Conference: Detroit, Columbus, Chicago, St. Louis, Colorado, Minnesota, Buffalo, Nashville.
Sunshine Conference: Tampa Bay, Florida, Dallas, Anaheim, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Jose.
(If you like, you could create a Western Conference instead of a Sunshine Conference by flipping Colorado and Minnesota for Tampa Bay and Florida.)
Advantages: Canada produces a champion and a Canadian team is guaranteed to get at least as far as the semifinals ... NHL gets to create trophies for two more conferences, adding them to the Clarence Campbell and Prince of Wales.
Disadvantage: Some teams in the Canadian and Sunshine conferences won’t like the east-west travel ... Some conferences have seven teams, some have eight, meaning it’s easier for some teams to make the playoffs.
more realignment options…
Update 4:32pm ET (alanah): This observation from David Mayberry at the Star-Tribune—
The Toronto Star’s article on shuffling conferences and divisions was solid - a good, easy-to-digest piece on a problem facing the league with the return of the Winnipeg Jets.
A graphic to accompany it was duck soup. Show fans, on a map, where teams would fall in the different options with logos, labels and borders.
The first version, shown with this blog post and posted online about 1 p.m. on Tuesday, showed the Colorado Avalanche in Wyoming and Denver somewhere near the Powder River. After some Twitter traffic (and perhaps a few calls from Colorado), the graphic was fixed by the folks in Toronto about 90 minutes later.
The Wyoming Avs? Maybe the Star knows something we don’t… 
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Talking Hockey
by Alanah McGinley on 06/01/11 at 06:00 PM ET
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Paul was on NHL Home Ice‘s The War Room today, chatting with Mick Kern and Peter Berce about the Stanley Cup playoffs and more.
Here’s the audio of their conversation. If the player gives you problems, you can download it from here.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Talk, NHL Playoff Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
On ESPN Radio
by Alanah McGinley on 06/09/09 at 04:13 PM ET
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Paul Kukla will be on the air in a few hours, 5pm ET, joining the crew at ESPN 770 to talk about Game 6 tonight between the Penguins and Red Wings.
Head over here and follow the link on the left side of their web page to listen live.
update 5:26pm, Well, that did not go well. No call back from the show, I was listening and heard Buccigross on. I must have been bumped by him.
Guess that is the way the radio biz goes but a email would have been nice notifying me of what was going on. First time something like that has happened to me.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Thoughts From the Draft: Day 2
by Alanah McGinley on 06/21/08 at 04:54 PM ET
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Guest writer Erin Nicks is covering the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa for Kukla’s Korner this weekend.
By Erin Nicks
Those concerned about Ottawa picking up some grit in this year’s draft will need to dig deep into Round 5, when the club (after much apparent hemming and hawing) selected defenceman Mark Borowiecki with the 139th pick.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Talk, NHL Entry Draft, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: derek+stepan,
erin+nicks,
jared+staal,
mark+borowiecki,
nhl+entry+draft
NHL Entry Draft 2008 Liveblog
by Alanah McGinley on 06/20/08 at 07:26 PM ET
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Guest writers Erin Nicks and Patrick Williams are covering the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa for Kukla’s Korner this weekend. This post will be updated with random news through the evening. Original post-time is 5:26pm. All times EST. Updates will be time-stamped and added below.
5:26pm—Erin: Zach Bogosian, on his travels to Ottawa and the surrounding areas to train…
“I’ve been coming up here 4-5 days a week – it’s pretty bad on gas, but it’s worked for me for the past couple of years. Obviously (fitness guru) Lorne Goldenberg has trained some great players like Gary Roberts and Cory Stillman – he helps me out a lot. That’s one of the main reasons why I’ve succeeded over the past few years – he made my body ready for the rigours of the NHL.”
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Talk, NHL Entry Draft, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: erin+nicks,
media,
nhl+entry+draft,
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KK Interview with Thomas McCollum
by Alanah McGinley on 06/20/08 at 01:50 PM ET
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Guest writer Erin Nicks is covering the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa for Kukla’s Korner this weekend.
By Erin Nicks
As the top-ranked North American goaltender in this year’s draft, Thomas McCollum has garnered attention for being a potential franchise backstopper. At yesterday’s media luncheon featuring some of the top prospects, the soft-spoken ‘tender shared a few thoughts on the draft and his future.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Talk, NHL Entry Draft, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: erin+nicks,
nhl+entry+draft,
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KK Interview with Drew Doughty
by Alanah McGinley on 06/20/08 at 01:12 PM ET
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Guest writer Erin Nicks is covering the NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa for Kukla’s Korner this weekend.
By Erin Nicks
Blue-chip defenceman Drew Doughty wants to jump immediately into the NHL with both feet—and many think he’s capable of doing so. After a conversation with him yesterday, you get a pretty clear idea of where he’s hoping to land.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Talk, NHL Entry Draft, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: drew+doughty,
erin+nicks,
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Meet the Press: Patrick Williams
by Alanah McGinley on 06/20/08 at 12:21 PM ET
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Today is the opening of the NHL Entry Draft, and Erin Nicks and Patrick Williams are covering the event in Ottawa for Kukla’s Korner. Earlier this week we asked Erin a few questions about her life and love of hockey, and today it’s Patrick’s turn.
Patrick is the ideal journalist to cover the NHL’s draft weekend, given how much time he spends with and writing about the up-and-coming stars. His beat is the American Hockey League—writing for the likes of Slam! Sports and The Hockey News, among others—and so he’ll be seeing a lot of some of these draft picks in the coming years as they rise into the AHL and beyond.
Patrick, what is the main difference between working in the media in the NHL and AHL?
Everything in the NHL is a lot more tense, and the egos (and not simply those belonging to the players) are decidedly larger.
Filed in: KK Website Business, KK Interviews, NHL Talk, NHL Entry Draft, NHL Media, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: media,
nhl+entry+draft,
patrick+williams
About Kukla's Korner Hockey
Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.
From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.
Email Paul anytime at pk@kuklaskorner.com
Most Recent Blog Posts
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Spit take: Avalanche plan on skipping Seth Jones, taking a forward
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As you might expect, the forecast in Flyer-land is ‘rumor-y’
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