Adios, Marty; Burnout; Camp Brusty Wrap-up

I wish I'd written on this the other night when it happened. I love to write in those giddy moments where everything is great and anything is possible, which is exactly how I felt after learning that Martin Havlat is no longer a Wild.

I was ready to do obscene things to Chuck Fletcher to show my gratitude, not only for unburdening the team of a guy who clearly didn't want to be there, but for unloading Cam Barker just a few days earlier, too.

The two players who took the wind out of my sails as a Wild fan are GONE.

Today, I'm thinking a muffin basket if probably more appropriate. Damn the sensibility that comes with daylight...

So, for the first time in a couple of years, I think of the Wild in a positive light, where, for the last 2 seasons, it's been more of an "ugh" feeling. From Yeo behind the bench, to Aeros babies looking to earn a permanent NHL gig, I'm excited for what's to come.

I'm not, however, expecting great things on the score sheet. But that's okay. What I've been missing is effort and heart and chemistry. I want the team to look like they care as much as I do. That's my bottom line at this point in the "building."

Now, some curmudgeons choose to complain about getting Heatley in return, but I don't care. I've seen a shit ton of hockey and had only two players whose mere presence on the ice grates my nerves: Pouliot and Havlat. So I'm willing to gamble that Heatley will be an upgrade to my viewing enjoyment.

He is considerably less attractive though. Disappointing, but he's slightly better looking than Gaborik, so it's still an overall upgrade since I started watching the Wild.

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In other news, I'm realizing I'm really burned out still. Between extended playoffs and preparing for and executing Camp Brusty, I kinda don't want to do anything but occasionally play hockey. And even that I could do without right now.

I'm just toast. I'm tired of waking up in the middle of the night worried about some hockey thing that I'm actually supposed to be enjoying. We're not even a week out of Camp Brusty 2011 ending and I couldn't fall asleep tonight thinking about issues around next year's camp.

I've never been good at "turning it off" and I'm trying to look at the process as a learning experience. Learning to balance and let go and get perspective, but it's a bit trying at the moment.

Maybe the house buying thing is just the final straw for me this year and next year will be better. Or a shorter playoff run (no thanks... I'll take another go at the cup, please, Mr. Torchetti!) would give me a breather after the season.

I dunno. I still love you, hockey. I think we just need to go on separate vacations this year.

If I'm posting here even less than usual this summer, you know why...

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That said, I haven't wrapped up camp yet, but in short, it was neat. I, naturally, felt awkward and sievy nearly every minute of it as a participant, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Like, RAVE reviews from our adult goalies, who I hung out with after our last day Thursday.

I think the deal is that I'm too athletically learning disabled to learn goaltending in a group environment. I need more time to repeat drills and ask questions and soak in what I'm supposed to be soaking in. Otherwise, I just get rattled and nothing sinks in and I just try and get it over with so I can go sort myself out by the boards.

On the "Camp Administrator" end, though, it was a good experience and everyone seemed to appreciate the work I did to organize it all, including the parents and students, and of course, the amazing expertise Sean and Barry brought with them.

Wish I could say I did it all because I wanted to help goalies or improve my own game or even make some extra money, but no. It's all about making googly eyes at #33, but you guys already know that. :)

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Quick Hits: Havlat, Grease, Khudobin & Aeros Goaltending

Dude. I gotta fucking learn to poke check. That's all I'm saying about drop-in tonight.

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Still amused at the reaction to my last post. Apparently you're a bad person if you call out laziness in a player on the team you support. But a surprising number of people have agreed with me. It's just that the ones who didn't agree took it pretty personally.

If I had $1 for every time I saw negative stuff about MY favorite players... man. But usually what hurts the most is that you know deep down there's some truth there, but it's hard to accept in a player you adore.

Anybody who watches Havlat play for the Wild and can tell me honestly that they think he's working hard all shift, every shift... well.... I can tell you, you're watching through extremely rosy glasses.

He's a very good cherry picker. And I don't care what numbers you put up, I find it an extremely aggravating way to play hockey. At least he stays healthy, I guess. :\

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Was talking to my pal @AWoodMacDonald up in Alberta on Twitter tonight about Darcy Kuemper, who is at the forefront of my mind after the Khudobin trade today pretty much assures that it will be Kuemps and Hackett in net for Houston next season.

It's barely March and I'm already giddy with anticipation about having him in Houston. I asked him what it is about the kid that makes him so good and he said it's "grease."

"He battles. He made a lot of greasy stops, that's what a lot of decent goalies don't do well. Technically sound they are above par, but don't have grease. TT has it, Roy had it, Hasek Had it, Price found it, Brust has it"

I love that word for the "it" that draws me to a goalie. It's some combo of confidence, calm, crazy, ballsy, smart, focused, relaxed... I dunno what all.

But I know this:

Grease is the word.



Now if I could just figure out how to get some of my own (see: Sentence #1 of this post).

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And one last bit on the Khudobin trade, which made for such a busy afternoon/evening, I almost forgot to go to my game tonight.

I was surprised it happened, but only because I predicted it and my predictions never come true:

Of all the positions I could see the Wild trading, it's in goal because of having Endras available next year.

That's what I tweeted this morning. But of course, I long ago said that neither the Wild nor Anton were happily wed anymore and it was time for a divorce. For the Wild, it showed in the Endras signing. For Anton, it showed on the ice.

And I like the Bruins organization an awful lot. I think it's funny that I actually ended up at a game in Providence where he'll be playing. And I think he'll like it there. It's a nice barn that gets loud and can fill up since it's smaller. It's a fantastic change of scenery for him and I hope it re-lights his fire now that he's having to play "hungry" again and impress a whole new crowd of people.

I'm also excited to have Tordjman back. Love him or hate him, he's a string bean of excitement. San Antonio fans warn me that the thrill-a-minute style he has comes back to bite him enough that eventually I'll grow to dislike him. I'm hoping our time together is short and successful enough that this doesn't happen.

I'm interested to see how Hackett responds. Tordjman is the veteran but I'd love to see Hackett take ownership, fly without a net (so to speak), and mature into a pro even more now that Khudobin is gone. It's a tall order and if he doesn't succeed, it's okay. He's a young pup still.

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Martin Havlat is Overrated

Remember that scene from Office Space where Peter is at the hypnotherapist's office and he asks if there's a way the doctor could hypnotize him to not realize he's been at work all day. Like, he could just come home and think he'd been fishing all day?

That's how I feel about Martin Havlat. I appreciate that he's a proficient scorer, assuming he's happy and his pillows are properly fluffed and he has his red Gatorade or whatever prima donna scorers like him must have to be successful.

But I wish there were a way to just.... not see him play hockey... until he's putting the puck in the net. I hate every other thing about his game.

I hate that he tucks his jersey in the back. I hate that his idea of forechecking is just leeeeeaaaaning way out and half-heartedly poking in the general vicinity of the guy with the puck (never close enough to actually get touched).

I hate how he floats in the defensive zone, keeping just busy enough to not stand out as completely worthless, but still being completely worthless.

I'm sure he's a nice guy but if I were making a list of hockey players I'd want to go into battle with out there, he wouldn't even make the back-up list. I wouldn't even want him in the building.

So, while Chicago fans had Havlat Jesus, all I have is "JESUS, Havlat...."

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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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Goalie camp; Havlat gone Wild

So, I've had a little surprise bit of fun and learning this week on the goaltending front. I've been heading out to SLICE to watch a goalie camp going on there each night this week and luckily, the main instructor is quite loud so I've been able to pick up some good stuff and, delightfully, not actually have to do the sweaty work. (Don't worry, my time will come.)

And work it is... these kids are working their tails off and seem to be pretty coachable. Unlike some people who are of an age where being told what to do just pisses them off. *looks around innocently* I'm happy to sit in the stands, enjoy the frosty air, and take a lot of mental notes. Plus, even the littlest of the kids out there would make me look like an idiot. I spend enough time doing that already.

I'm picking up some good stuff though. Things I hadn't really thought about because I'm still so in a place where even the basics of the position are really challenging. Like stick position when dealing with passes out from the corners to the front of the net.

Tuesday, I had to laugh because one of the things the instructor pointed out was to not "admire" your rebounds into the corners. I'm SO guilty of that. Like, I'm still so amazed when I actually get in front of a puck that unless the next danger is really on top of me, I do tend to just watch it go and not follow it and get re-set.

Amazing the number of little details are involved in playing goal well. I'm so busy with the low-hanging fruit still, I can't even absorb some of it in a useful way.

Here's the thing about goaltending. People who don't know the position think that getting hit with the puck is the sickest, craziest, hardest part of the job. I'm here to tell ya, for me, it's the LEAST hard part of the job. In fact, it's my favorite part of it! Means I made the save if it's hitting me that hard. Pain goes away. Goals don't. The worst pain is the crick in your neck as you watch the puck go in your net.

The hard part, at least physically, is the movement. There's so much leg and core strength you have to have (and I don't have yet) that is critical to movement in the crease. And I think one of the best things I'm coming away from this camp with is big time motivation to build that strength. In fact, I'd say that is my #1 training priority, above all else.

Which is awesome because when I look at how much I need to learn, it overwhelms me to the point where I end up doing nothing at all. Kinda like when you're $100k in debt... what's another grand? So, gaining some clarity around my training priorities has been a tremendous benefit.

As a result, I've ramped up my off-ice work and hope to get it even more focused over the next couple of weeks as I figure out the best ways to kick my own ass. Which also means I'm not sleeping well because I'm so sore all the time. But it's a good sore (except for my stupid motherfucking knee that feels like it's on fire when I wake up in the morning).

Found an amazing collection of strength training exercises here, grouped by sport (including hockey!) or by muscle group.

Anyway, one more night of goalie camp tonight, but before that... more squats, lunges, and abs!

Did I mention Brusty's one of the instructors? What a sight for sore eyes. And hey, it's totally not stalking if you're invited!

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Free Agency opened up yesterday. Were you aware of this? Apparently it's kind of a big deal. :)

Anyway, Gaborik is now a Ranger, which will be fun to watch. Marty Havlat was dissed (and is tres bitter about it) by Chicago, so he signed with the Wild last night. That'll show 'em, Marty! It's one gimpy sniper for another, but I already like Havlat better than I ever liked Gaby. Nothing aloof about a guy who tweets his displeasure at the way his former team treated him. Bring it, bitches! Can't wait to play Chicago next season...

And maybe, being a fellow Czech, he'll be a good example for Cracksquirrel. Oh, who am I kidding?

I'm also pretty excited about the Wild signing Greg Zanon from Nashville. Apparently he's a shot blocking FREAK, which is totally the way to my goalie-lovin' heart. And we didn't have to give up Ryan Jones to get him! Go Fletch go!

Hopefully some moves to benefit glorious hockey team Houston Aeros will come in the next few days. I see that the Ottawa organization has already started picking up some free agent help for the farm, so I'm getting antsy on that front. Shocker, I know.

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