Two weeks of my summer this year were devoted to helping coach the Predators’ hockey schools. They were two of the most rewarding weeks of my life and they’ve got me again considering my coaching certification. Great kids and some great staffers with whom to work.

Hockey at the Sommet Center. February 2010. Photo © Elly.

Free agency this year has been a buyer’s market with regard to goaltenders. Martin Biron took a 60% pay cut, while Manny Fernandez is still looking for work. If Biron’s agent miscalculated the market for his client this year, what do things look like next year, when Biron is once again unrestricted?

[See the full post at From The Rink and download a breakdown of next year's free agents here: Free Agent Class of 2010 - Goaltenders (Excel).]

Victor Hedman. 2009 World Junior Championship. I served as a Team Lead for Team Services – managing game pucks, ensuring teams had Gatorade, etc.

Fetisov, with Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. AP Photo.

Slava Fetisov, 20 November 2000, in the Toronto Star, discussing the Russian Hockey Federation and the prospect of coaching the Russian Olympic hockey team: “I think every time they hear my name, they get scared that I’m going to come back there and take over hockey.”

Here’s what followed:

09/02/2001
Expresses his displeasure with the Federation and his desire to coach the team.

21/08/2001
Appointed head coach of the Russian Olympic hockey team with help from Vladimir Putin.

06/03/2002
Demands an overhaul of the Russian player development system.

29/04/2002
Fetisov named chairman of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports.

27/07/2002
Creates a public organization to tackle the development of sports infrastructure.

08/08/2003
Suggests Russian ownership of an NHL franchise.

07/02/2008
On the soon-to-be-formed KHL: “We’ll definitely be a serious contender to the NHL.”

02/03/2008
“We must protect our clubs from the NHL…We will be No. 1 regardless. We have everything for this: talented people, government support, money, desire and great traditions.”

From Assistant Coach of the New Jersey Devils to Putin’s right-hand man responsible for the country’s sports infrastructure (which would include Sochi 2014) and the government’s point man for Russian hockey… I would say that the RHF’s fears were well founded.

Apparently he also has an asteroid named after him.

Fractured ribs. This is my second substantial hockey injury (the first was taking a stick through my upper lip attempting to block a shot on my elementary school’s outdoor rink – lots of stitches), and it came during warm-up. This is what bad (read: soft) ice can do to players.

I’ve been playing with the injury for two weeks now; apparently that could have seriously increased my chances of pneumonia.

No hockey for at least 3 weeks. Doctor’s orders.

…is good news.

No updates recently, as I’ve been tremendously busy recently, which means that life is progressing nicely. It’s perhaps needless to say, but hockey has a near monopoly on my minutes these days.

Having accepted the fact that my knees won’t magically get better by not playing (the choice is thus: play, and experience pain, OR not play, and experience pain anyway), I’ve got two weekly playing sessions – shinny on Mondays; full-gear on Fridays. I can’t really express how nice it is to be skating regularly again.

Apart from that, and equally if not more importantly, I’m working with the University of Ottawa team this year. Formally I hold the position of Community Development; informally I’m breaking down video for the team (focusing mainly on the penalty kill) and doing some advance scouting. You can also find me occasionally repairing equipment and manning the DVD-recording station at home games.

Finally, things are starting to ramp up for the World Junior Championship, to be held here in Ottawa over the Christmas break. The Volunteer Orientation session was held this past Saturday. I’ll be working Team Services (equipment repairs, etc.).

I need to be reminded on occasion that I’m also supposed to be writing a thesis.

Visualization of the articles (Canadian Newspapers) database that forms part of my thesis research (via Wordle). The larger words are those that appear most frequently in the article titles.

Dealing for Tanguay. 20 July 2008. Scotiabank Place. One of the highlights of a very busy, and consequently very long, first round.

Posing for custom hockey cards with thanks to Upper Deck. 21 July 2008. A few minutes after stopping Danny Kristo in the corridor and welcoming him to the family.

I currently lack anything profound to say, but I do feel the need to express my extreme jealousy over a friend’s trip to Mozambique. He seems so carefree in his travel planning – wandering around the world at his own pace, checking off continents from a to-do list (I’ve already got Africa, having boated over from Spain during my undergraduate years).

In Cuba he wound up playing stickball with local children. In one of the European countries ending with ‘A’ (maybe Croatia, maybe Slovakia, maybe even Slovenia – the point is, he’s been enough places that it’s easy to forget the details) he got ridiculously smashed at a local pub on dollar pints – not a revelatory experience, but he sure made it sound colourful.

Maybe it’s just the way he writes (unfortunately he’s deleted the earliest entries from his travel weblog, citing poor writing), but everything always seems so fantastic.

Or maybe it’s just that I don’t appreciate the things I’ve done and need to stop using words like “jealousy.” I once had an anonymous comment left on my Facebook profile that read: “I’m secretly jealous/impressed by all the things you’ve done in your lifetime.”

In any event, while he’s off galavanting overseas, I’ve got priority seating for the NHL Entry Draft in two weeks.