NHL Twitter Contest: Dragging your butt into 2009

As proof that the NHL is actually in this century with us, they're running a contest on Twitter Saturday when all 30 teams are in action.

If you can predict all 15 winners and win the tie-breaker (assuming there are multiple winners), then you will score a trip to see any NHL team in action. If I win, I am going to go see the Hawaii Leis and try to get a job as the mascot.

Ten others will get subscriptions to NHL GameCenter Live.

@martinhavlat is not included. He's just the Lord of the Tweets among NHLers. Wonder if Tweets should be a new stat...

First thing to do is Get Over Yourself and go set up a Twitter account. Remember how you got over yourself about Facebook? It's just like that. I swear to you, narcissism feels better on than it looks on the hanger.

Then go to www.twitter.com/NHL and Follow them. It's a decent tweet so don't worry that you're gonna get a bunch of crap you don't care about. It's all hockey. Then go follow @msconduct10. That isn't in the official rules, but I say you do it anyway.

Then (I know, it's three whole steps--hang in there with me) send @NHL a tweet with your 15 winners, your tie breaker answer, and a special hashtag so they know what you're on about. For more details on how to format the tweet, go here. It's pretty simple and you could win some stuff.

I'm hoping that it's like the gas station that sells the winning lottery ticket, where if one of my readers wins, the league will give me a Brent Burns t-shirt or something. *hint hint*

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Bourne with the good insight again...

Justin got my attention with this observation in his blog today:

Isn’t it interesting how teams seem to take on the personality of their superstars? Take the Penguins. Wouldn’t it be impossible to goof off and not care when you know Sid is gonna commit Hari Kari if he doesn’t win? Or, on the other side of the coin, wouldn’t you slowly get ostracized in the Capitals dressing room if you weren’t able to have fun while playing?

The Cavaliers are fun because Lebron is. The Lakers are as fun algebra because Kobe is, and the Yankees are awkward and unlikeable because Go Away-Rod is. This has to be why teams are putting in more time getting to know the kids they’re about to draft than back in the day.

This naturally gets me thinking about the Wild. Their superstar has been Gaborik, right? No wonder they were so frustrating. Or is it Mikko with all his nasty intensity mixed with Finnish reserve?

Of course, Clutter is the guy you really want driving the personality of a team, right? Hard-working, fun but focused. A healthy Burns isn't a bad guy to be in that position either. Bruno? Backstrom?

What say you, Wild fan?

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Hockey Unplugged

Dear Kevin Falness:

If you're gonna get players to take their shirts off, you've really gotta start videotaping these things.

Sincerely,

Ms. Conduct

Burnzie and Cal did the Hockey Unplugged last night and it was as good as you'd expect. Lots of candor and humor. Good guys. Listen to it here.

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We're also tipped off that someone has bought CalClutterbuck.com. Weaksauce, if you ask me.

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Shep

Great article on Jimmy Sheppard by Russo today. He's a funny kid.

I dunno about other teams but we've got just a crazy number of rock stars/rock stars-in-the-making on this team. From Burns and Mikko, who started to get some buzz last season, to Shep, who is on the radar of those in the know (obvious by how many calls Riser got asking to make a deal for him in the off-season), to Cuma, who is the next Lidstrom. And of course, if you ask me, Clutterbuck will find a place in the spotlight at some point for something other than his wicked name.

Anyway, someone posted the Under Armor ad that Shep is in on the Wild board. I think it pretty much speaks for itself.

And BTW, I promise this is the last of my drooling for a while. Just so happy to have hockey almost back...

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Terrific Wild Season Preview Video

I normally don't like to regurgitate other people's stuff on my blog, but this just put a big smile on my face. Of course, no way do I think we're remotely Stanley-bound, but sometimes it's fun to push that homer hat right down nice and tight and pretend to believe unconditionally for a little while.



In other news, hockey was exhausting tonight. I'm sitting up late waiting for the Advil to kick my migraine in the ass. We only had 5 forwards and 3 defensemen, so we ran ourselves ragged playing longer shifts than usual. I think it definitely hurt us a bit as the other team had 2 full forward lines.

Still, it was fun. I didn't play so great, but had a few moments that worked out okay. Worked on screening the goalie a bit and he said I did a good job, but no goals came from it. Told him next time I'm gonna go Avery on him. He said I'll get a shove out of that. :) Of course, as I've said, while I really don't appreciate getting hit, I actually like a little shoving. Lets me know I'm in someone's way. :)

Wild training camp is into day 3 now. No cuts yet, but they let the public in today to watch and we got lots of good reports back from folks. Apparently Mikko has put on 13 lbs of new muscle over the summer. Holy hell! I'm telling ya, we need to lock that guy up for a million years when his contract comes up for extension. He and Burnzie. Lock 'em up. None of this wishy washy Gaborik bullshit.

My first fantasy hockey draft is Monday night. I'm excited for it and thinking hard about which goalies I might prefer. Got my THN Ultimate Pool Guide at the ready. Hopefully I'll do better than my fantasy football team. Jeeze Louise, does my team ever SUCK. Not to mention that I didn't have internet last weekend, so I was unable to adjust my roster for the fact that the Texans didn't play last weekend, and as a result, I had guys playing who had a bye week. Augh. No such excuse this week, other than everyone is just flat out underachieving besides Brees. Feh.

Anyway, if you have a sleeper pick in the later rounds that I should keep an eye out for, let me know. Esp. if you follow an East Coast team, since I'm a lot less familiar with that crowd.

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Blog Botox

I was gonna call it a face lift but really, not much has changed except the forehead.

What do you think? I finally had some inspiration for a new banner and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out given my perfunctory PSP skillz.

Just for grins, the banner roster clockwise from left:

• Mikko (who was with in mom in that photo but I cropped her out... sorry Mrs. Koivu!)
• Clutterbuck
• Brusty
• Headless Harding
• Schaefer
• Scotty punching someone who surely deserves it
• Burnzie

And of course, the giant hockey sock for a background. I really maxed out my PSP skillz on that. Phew. Pass the Gatorade.

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