One Year Blogiversary: Quick Hits

Ms. Conduct by the Numbers:

Aeros tags: 106
Clutterbuck tags: 61
Kris "Chucko Sucko" and Sean Avery tags: 8 apiece
Attention Whore tags: 19 (okay, now 20)

March 2008 visit count: 68
January 2009 visit count: 2,526 (so far)

In the past 500 visits: 84% were American (mostly Houston or Minnesota), 15% Canadian, 1% other

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Are you guys like me where sometimes you'll write/read/think/see something and just go, "Holy crap, I love hockey. I mean, REALLY love hockey." I love that. I worry sometimes that feeling will go away. But not today. I'm up to my eyeballs in it today.

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All Star Games

I know a lot of people don't like them, but I agree with Bill Clement's (hands of cement) take from NHL Live yesterday. The whole thing is really just a celebration of hockey with some of its best and brightest taking a few spins around the ice. Nothing more, nothing less.

And really, I'm not one to cotton to the hot shot players all that much, other than the occasional goalie. But to have that much talent collaborating on the same sheet? That's f**king cool, man.

Be sure and find the AHL All-Star stuff on Sunday and Monday and set your Tivos for it. Give Brusty and Locker some love. The AHL break is a short one. They play Saturday night and then have to get on a plane Sunday morning to Worcester, MA and do the skills competition that evening. Not ideal but when has the Aeros schedule been ideal this season?

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Google Reader

Okay, so I'm a stats whore, so I see how folks are finding my blog. It doesn't matter but, you'd be curious, too. Trust me. It's interesting stuff.

Like, in the last 3 weeks, LOTS of gals have been wondering about Cal's relationship status. Though searches about Robbie Earl and Ryan Hamilton have eclipsed all my stats the last couple of days. Hopefuly people found what they were looking for, unless it was info on Earl, of which I have almost none for now.

And I find it fascinating the places people are just searching for "ms conduct." Are they looking for my blog or the women's hockey league in Florida or do they not know how to spell or what? When I see it coming from Boston or SoCal or random Canadian towns, I have to wonder. It's funny, but more importantly, it reminds me that I am, in fact, the center of the universe. Phew. As long as we're all still on the same page...

Anyway, for those of you who visit my blog and any others (and there are SO many awesome hockey blogs out there, you have to be reading more than mine, right? The list on the right here should get you started), may I suggest setting up a Google Reader page for yourself? It's super easy and so convenient.

Mine's even set as my home page in my browser so it stays open and I get little nuggets of joy from all my various blog subscriptions all day long, as it refreshes itself when there's new stuff from any of your blogs.

Here's even a great primer from Google to get you set up. It's good. Embrace 2009 and bloggerdom! I know I was all, "OMG, why didn't I do this a year ago?" when I finally took the plunge. I was going to five or six sites every morning and some were frustratingly un-updated far too often so I felt like I was wasting my time.

Anyway, that's that. I've been wanting to bring this up for a while, but it seemed kind of obnoxious for some reason. But since I'm being unabashedly obnoxious today anyway, I figured I'd just pile on.

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Aeros vs. Peoria two nights in a row

Haven't had a back-to-back with the same team so far this season, as I recall. At least not at home. I don't think. I'm too lazy to look it up.

Anyway, this is a decent little rivalry and as I mentioned earlier, Foyzie's back in town with Peoria. And my favorite giant goalie, Ben Bishop, will be here.

And don't forget the USA vs. Canada amateur game after the Aeros game tonight. It's free to just stick around and watch if you're so inclined. The only problem is that they won't still be selling beer. At least, *I* find that to be a problem since I can't partake during the game. Oh well. See you tonight.

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One Year Blogiversary: Goalies

Now, a more reasonable person would look at the puddle of slobber by the post about Barry's new mask or the breathless post linking to that ESPN mag photo of Jesus Price and think, "Okay, the hot goalie horse has pretty well been beaten to death here."

But you know me better than that. That horse will never die. Plus, a blogiversary is a day to wallow in the things that really matter in life and if hot goalies aren't on that list, I don't know what is.

Let's start by welcoming a new hot goalie to the fold. Toronto gals have been keeping Justin Pogge to themselves. That's not cool. But I ran across this video looking for some Robbie Earl stuff. The best part is them saying that Staffan Kronwall came with the IKEA couch. HA! Swedes are funny.



So, I'm watching that, thinking: a) nice view and b) ZOMG, that's what Pogge looks like? More please! And the Marlies oblige.



Ohhh! PWND by the giant dog!

Update: And Mr. Awesome, Fred Trask, enables my obsessions yet again by sending me some beauties of Pogge. Either he's 8 feet tall or his gear really isn't too oversized. My favorite is this air guitar pose. Shred that stick, Justin! (Clicky make biggy.) I'm saving the others for when I need a Pogge fix...


Anyway, another hot goalie who is underrepresented in Ms.ConductLand is Marty Biron. Seriously... Those Eyes. Are you kidding me? Unreal. Plus, he just seems to have absolutely no airs about him, no ego or walls. Just an open, friendly guy with Those Eyes and That Adorable Accent. Never mind how bad his stats have hurt one of my fantasy teams.



You know who's not hot? That forever-broken dingleberry, Ricky DiPietro. Too much frat boy, too much surgery.

Dear Ricky,

Your shit's on the front porch. I've changed the locks. I'm keeping the dog.

Sincerely,
Ms. Conduct
and every person who put you on their fantasy team this season

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One Year Blogiversary: Thank yous

One year ago today, I started this blog as a place to ramble about my quest to become a hockey goalie, along with whatever other hockey stuff came to mind.

I honestly didn't expect anyone to read it, unless maybe there were other 32 years olds out there who didn't know how to ice skate, yet suddenly had an all-consuming desire to become a goalie. It's a niche market for sure. In fact, I have yet to run across anybody else in that situation. That probably should have been a sign, eh?

But that focus certainly evolved. During the summer, I found the silence deafening. It's like the Aeros got knocked out of the playoffs and then... *crickets*crickets*crickets* And yet, there was stuff going on and plenty to ponder!

So, I started writing more about the Aeros and more about the Wild in relation to the Aeros and vice versa. And then I got involved with ProHockeyNews and added some legit writing to my arsenal, finally putting that journalism degree to some use.

And now here we are at the All-Star break again and Ms. Conduct-The Blog, is getting pretty healthy traffic, really nice props from the blogosphere, and has generally become what I wanted it to be when the season began.

Frankly, I couldn't be having more fun if I tried. Like, so much fun, I feel guilty sometimes. The community of hockey fans I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the last year never ceases to amaze me with the level of intelligence, wit, passion, and generosity it exhibits. What a blessing. Seriously.

Huge shouts out to:

• All y'all who read on a regular basis, especially those who speak up occasionally in the comments or send me little tips or links or other good stuff. More more more! I have the best readers ever.
  
• The many female hockey bloggers I've "met" this year, who cover their teams and the game with more humor, passion, zeal, and just as much knowledge as most male bloggers. You gals paved the way. The best I can do is continue to keep my little section of the path well lit.
• John Royal and Andrew Ferraro and the Aeros PR folks for letting me tag along and learn from them and do my thing with gleeful abandon. And Mr. Awesome, Fred Trask, for sharing his gift with me at times when words alone aren't enough.
  
• The few folks who actually read my personal hockey/goaltending stuff. I really do just write that stuff for the catharsis of getting it out of my swirling mind, but it's nice to know that when I'm wrestling with something, you guys will come to my rescue with advice or commiseration.
  
• Blogger.com... I can't believe this shit's free and so reliable. What a wonderful world!
  

I'll be dropping some posts throughout the day looking back at a few things from the year and just generally wallowing in self-absorption. (What else is new, right?)

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