From InsideTheCBC.com,
CBC.ca will launch a special online version of Coach’s Corner tomorrow with new content, design and features. Enhancements include an improved and larger video picture and an online forum allowing hockey fans to submit their remarks regarding Don’s, uh, “legendary” weekly commentary.
continued... and website URL will be cbc.ca/coach
Gotta say, I love how the CBC’s own official site blogger puts the word “legendary” in quotations…
*thanks to John for giving me the heads-up
—Forget the Stanley Cup, there’s a new trophy in town: “a trophy constructed out of old barn boards and a pair of worn hockey skates, but it’s not really about winning.” It really isn’t—it’s about 30-something men bonding over hockey and dismantled farm structures.
—May there be a special place in hell for the people who pirated—and have now destroyed?—the East Side Hockey Manager game. But Sports Interactive MD hopes to find a solution eventually.
—NHL Digest has a rundown on Fred Sasakamoose, the first native hockey player to make the NHL and played for the Chicago Blackhawks. He’s now being inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.
This just strikes me as strange, but maybe I’m missing something…
On Thursday, January 25th, this hockey highlight video (see video below) received 40,208 views in 24 hours on YouTube, though it had only been viewed 11,000 times in the 3 days before that. That made it the #120th most-viewed video of all genres (music, entertainment, etc) ranked against the viewership on nearly every major video network out there (including: Atom Films, Break.com, Daily Motion, Google, iFilm, Metacafe, Myspace, Revver, vSocial, Yahoo, and Youtube).
These numbers appear to make this footage the most-viewed pro-sports video in the world yesterday. That’s saying a lot for a mid-season NHL game, the January 20th tilt between the Colorado Avalanche vs Detroit Red Wings.
News of the world…
January 25, 2007 | | Onion Sports
The OnionNHL Admits Slam-Dunk-Contest Portion Of All-Star Skills Competition A Mistake
DALLAS—Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters Tuesday night that the addition of the first-ever slam-dunk contest to the NHL All-Star skills competition may have been “a big mistake.” “Unfortunately, Jonathan Cheechoo severely injured his back and neck attempting his 360-degree, between-the-legs slam, and Sheldon Souray sliced Ryan Miller’s back with his skate blade when he tried to hurdle over him to complete his dunk,” said Bettman, who was initially angered when some of the biggest names in the NHL, notably Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, chose not to participate. “Joe Thornton is out for the season with multiple facial lacerations after his stick shattered the backboard, and Marian Hossa may have ended his career when he tried, and failed, to dunk from the blue line.” According to Bettman, the most disappointing part of the dunk contest is that 5’10’ Paul Kariya took 20 minutes to complete his rather marginal dunk and probably won the contest only because he was the shortest participant.
*A big thank you to John Bollwitt for passing this on this morning.
Some quotable moments from the NHL this week.
“I told our guys back then: ‘Someday, this team is going to jump up and beat everybody.’ Now, they’re starting to stomp on people pretty good.”Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, comments on the new powerhouse Nashville Predators. (Note: this quote is dedicated to A2Y)
A round-up of the odds and ends found in the hockey blogging world this week. From expansion teams, to NHL porn, to a hockey blogger wedding, I’ve got it all…
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If you’re a fan of social networking you’re probably familiar with Face Book. And if you’re not familiar with it, you’re missing out on being BFF with all your favorite hockey players. (Tragic.) So Scarlett Ice has picked up the screenshots from the FaceBook pages of Kyle Wellwood and his 294 friends. FaceBookBoys like: Erik Cole, Evgeni Malkin, Maxim Afinogenov, Dion Phaneuf, Wayne Gretzky, Alexander Ovechkin... the list goes on.
Find out which of these real & fake players are looking for “love!” or to “just be friends!” Or maybe they just want to exchange pirated Eminem cd’s, so help ‘em out—NHLers need friends, too.