Draft Day 1: Jack Campbell to the Stars

Well, I got my wish, or as close as I was going to get short of the Wild drafting him, which was highly unlikely. The Dallas Stars picked goalie Jack Campbell, which means I'll get to see him a whole bunch with the Texas Stars once he turns pro.

I'm trying to temper my excitement a little bit, because he is just a kid and there has been a great deal of hype around him due to his play in the World Juniors, but if he continues on his current trajectory of success, I think he'll be golden.

It's so rare for a prototypical Ms. Conduct goalie to come along, especially in this day of "I've been working with a goalie coach since I was 6 and I'm technically flawless and boring" robot goalies. But like my favorites, the kid is athletic and has undeniable flair.

What's more, he's a big game goalie who thrives under pressure. He's big on puck handling (*swoon*) and Marty Turco is his idol. I know Marty's had a rough couple of years, but I approve. You can idolize a player and still acknowledge and learn from their mistakes just like (hopefully) they do themselves.

What's more, I've talked to Mike Valley, the Stars goalie coach, and I'm familiar with his philosophy, and there's not another goalie coach in the league, who I'd be happier to see working with Campbell. I have total faith that Valley won't coach the uniqueness out of Campbell's game.

So, he's the whole package for me. And he seems to be a pretty good talker, too, at least for now. Here's a transcript of the interview with him after he was drafted. And here's a fantastic audio interview from Justin at the The Goalie Guild just a short while after Campbell won the gold.

And here's The Goalie Guild's analysis of the pick.

I was really disappointed to see Turco leave the Stars (though it's totally understandable on both sides). I've never been able to completely cotton to the Stars even though they're the "local" NHL team, but I still watched them a lot because of Turco (and also I love Razor's color on the broadcast). So I'm really happy they picked up the most exciting goaltending prospect to come through in a long while, IMO.

But now for the hard work of living up to these expectations. In a position where many guys don't hit their prime until their late 20s, it's still a crap shoot, but I love this roll of the dice.

 

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My First Duck Post

This was going to be a Quick Hits post but then I realized both items are about the Ducks, so now it's a Duck post.

Y'all know I hate the filthy Ducks, right? Well, I'm so convinced that the Wild are going to lose in Dallas tonight, I declared on the Wild message board that if the Wild win, I'll buy this shirt:

I didn't say I'd wear it, but it's bad enough having to buy it. But I know Coach Dan is a Ducks fan and, particularly, a Pronger fan, so I'll get it in his size give it to him if it comes to that. Nothing wrong with a goalie bribing her best defenseman to keep up the good work, is there?

Also, a fellow Russovillian went to the Wild game in Anaheim last week and spotted this woman in her MS CON'DUCK'T jersey and busted out the cell phone camera. She's a Duck fan, which automatically makes her taste pretty damn suspect, but I gotta say, I like it.

Ms. Conducts of the World, Unite!

Okay, enough of this Duck post. Time for a shower to wash the ick off.

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Oh, snap

This from Mike Heika's Dallas Stars blog tonight:

Wow, the seats at Pepsi Center are brown
7:54 PM Thu, Feb 05, 2009

Who knew?

This town may have suffered from hockey letdown more than any other in the NHL.

Denver used to be a buzzing cauldron of Avalanche fun. This looks like Toyota Center for an Aeros game.

Shocking really.

I wonder if Gary Bettman also is confident of the state of hockey here?

Yo! Aeros representin'! Kind of in a bad way, but...

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Stars prospects crashing on chesterfields across the country

Good article in SI on the plight of the Dallas Stars in a year where they don't have a farm team to call their own.

I gotta say, I'm looking forward to the Texas Stars starting up next season. Hopefully it will take a little bit of an edge off a really tough travel schedule for the Texas teams and maybe improve the division in the process.

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Dallas papers cutting back sports coverage

Because I have a BJ (that would be Bachelor of Journalism) degree hanging on my office wall, stories of the downfall of print journalism carry a particular interest for me. I remember back in j-school in the mid-90s, the trend of newspapers suffering financially had already begun and thinking, "Geez. Is this really what I want to deal with in my career? Or is there some internet crap I can do?" I went the internet crap route. :)

Now, it seems with the economy going to shit and papers getting the short end of the advertising dollar, some pubs are having to get creative. The Dallas Morning News and the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram are apparently divvying up Big D's sports coverage and, presumably, putting some sports writers out on the street.

The deal, apparently, is that the Morning News will continue to cover the Mavs and Stars and the Star-Telegram will cover the Rangers and NASCAR, and then the two will share stories with each other. I guess the Cowgirls still warrant their own herd of reporters at each pub.

First of all, Morning News for the win. Even if I liked baseball, I wouldn't want to cover those perennial losers, and well, NASCAR. I can't believe that's even a regular beat in Dallas. Sometimes I just can't believe how different Dallas and Houston are.

Anyway, hockey fans win in this scenario, at least in terms of the prevailing writing staff who will be covering the Stars. Mike Heika does a good job covering the Stars, and I never much cared for the coverage of the team by the Star-Telegram. On the surface, where I've hovered as a semi-fan of the Stars, the coverage seemed very redundant.

But I do hate to see hockey writers, especially female hockey writers, get the short straw. And I hate to see print journalists getting screwed in general. Not to say I actually know anything beyond what the link above reveals or what's happening to the writers whose beats are being merged to the other paper, but I would guess it's not landing jelly side up for them.

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Sleepy Post-Hockey Monday Smatterings

Not so much a cornucopia as I'm dead woman walking today. Always tired on Monday after hockey as it takes me a few hours to wind down after the game and our games start at 10 p.m. now. I think I slogged up to bed around 2 this morning.

Hockey was good last night. It's weird how much more at ease I am now that I'm going over the boards like a real hockey player (well, not LIKE a real hockey player, but in the spirit of a real hockey player, maybe). It's always those little things in life where you know you're being a coward, and you know everyone else knows you're being a coward, and yet you do nothing about it, that eat away at you, right?

Also, it turns out that my team's goalie is taking a break from the Sunday night league for a while, and we're in need of a goalie. I'm getting encouragement from several directions to take this as a sign that it's time to give goaltending a shot. Apparently the rink has all the goalie gear, except skates, for coaches to pull out for their teams to use. And I have skates. Hmm. So, I'll be shooting a note to our coach to see what he thinks about me gearing up this week. It's supposed to be a practice rather than a game, so that might be a good opportunity to get a feel for it. Maybe work with the other goalie a bit. I dunno. I'm more excited by the prospect than afraid of it, for now, but I suspect that will change if it becomes a reality. :)

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I called our eye doc for an appointment this morning and apparently there was a fire in the building they're in and the power is out, so he can't set up an appt. It will happen though. I wasn't kidding.

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The writer in me just loved the headline of this post on Puck Daddy today. It's also a good post, regardless of the headline, on the Stars dramatic meltdown. Where the hell was that meltdown when we drove 4 hours each way to see them play the Wild?? Coulda used some melting down that night, boys!

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More on Cal from the Pio Press. You have to appreciate the pickle he's in. They could send him down at any time. He has no real residence in either St. Paul OR Houston since he never moved into an apartment here. That's gotta be a weird existence, right?

Contributing call-up: Cal Clutterbuck finally has made plans to move his car out of long-term parking at the airport, overnighting his keys to the Houston Aeros on Friday.

Called up on Oct. 15, he had to catch a 4:30 a.m. flight out of Houston to meet with the Wild for a game in Florida. Because he didn't know if and when he'd be sent back down, he left his car there. And because he was moving into an apartment the day he was called up, the car is full of his stuff.

"I started thinking, maybe I should move it," he said. "It's got all my stuff in there. I didn't move in anywhere, I had to pack up and get out of the hotel in Houston before I came, because I was moving in that day."

Because the flight was so early, "I couldn't get a ride from any of the guys to the airport, so I had to drive myself."

Clutterbuck has played in all eight games since being recalled and was particularly productive in Saturday's victory, with three shots, four hits, two takeaways and two blocked shots in 10 minutes, 32 seconds. In terms of sticking with the Wild, he said he is trying to not get ahead of himself.

"I feel good, but I'm trying not to think about it, really. It's in the back of my mind, but it's not," he said. "I think about it a lot more when I'm home, because I'm at the hotel, am I going to get out of the hotel? Do I buy more clothes? Because I really didn't bring many. So that's more when I think about it."

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Stars shots

I also got some shots of Turco for me (during warm-ups, since he didn't play) and some of Otter for my pal Red who lurves her some Otter:

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A few miscellaneous things...

First, I just bought tickets to my very first Wild game! We almost decided to go to Minny for the Montreal game, but felt like 100K frequent flyer miles was a bit steep for an overnighter. So, we stuck with the plan to drive up to the game in Dallas in a couple of weeks. I'm excited!

We got seats on the goal line where Minny shoots twice, down in the bowl. Judging by the empty seats I've seen in the American Airlines Center this season, I'm guessing it won't be a problem to skooch over a section if we're too "in the corner." Shouldn't be a particularly popular game, I'm guessing (Sorry, Wild).

It will be fun to actually get to cheer out loud for my team again and wear my Wild Ms. Conduct sweater for the first time. Plus getting to meet my fellow Russotan's from Austin! I'm taking my camera!

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More Ben Bishop news, potentially, as Blues goalie Chris Mason had to get his appendix yanked last night. So, either Big Ben or Marek Schwarz will get a call up to the big club from Peoria to back up Manny.

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Last night's Wild game against the Panthers (yeah, that team still exists), which I fully expected to be a disappointing dud, was decidedly more exciting than anticipated. Cal seems to be finding his NHL legs and was very effective at breaking up plays, being a pain in the ass, and punishing guys with some hard hits. Defenseman Mojzis impressed playing forward very solidly. Reitz has also proven himself to be reliable and tough on the blue line. At this point, he makes me less nervous than Skoula, who has been playing like he's pregnant or something. This one check he had last night. OMG. *I* hit harder in my non-checking novice league hockey.

Of course, Mikko was totally mikko and got 5 points (1 goal) and just brought that shit like his life depended on it. He's ridiculous.

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A few Monday morning thoughts

Every time I try to express how hot Mikko Koivu is, I find that there are no words for it. So, I have decided that the word "mikko" is now an adjective. As in:
"Mikko is just so friggin mikko!"
"Mikko is the more mikko of the Koivu brothers, for sure, though Saku is still amazing."
"When filling the role of Superman, the casting director was looking for the actor exuding the most mikkoness."
"Lecavalier thinks he's mikko but he's just a pretty boy."

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I've also decided that Mike Cammalleri's new nickname is "Squid." Cammy is so dull.

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I know the Stars haven't done much yet this season but this video put a smile on my face. Otter, Turco, Avery... man, the whole nasty package.



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Aeros game tonight vs. Milwaukee

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Effen!

Marty F. Turco, Sean F. Avery, and Brenden F. Morrow

I hereby contend that the Stars have the most F worthy players of any lineup in the league. I can't even tell you how I'm beside myself to see this team on the ice in a couple of months.

P.S. Look at those skinny chicken legs on Turco!

P.P.S. A good wrap up of SFA's visit from Puck Daddy.

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This, that, the other

Got my new stick ordered from Ice Warehouse. Returned the other stick to the pro shop. Though that was a bit of an ordeal because the only person working was a kid who didn't know how to process a credit card return. Poor guy was calling everyone, looking through the procedure manual, etc. He was frazzled but persistent and finally found someone who answered their phone AND knew how to talk him through it.

Of course, it's a hike to get out there, so I wasn't leaving until he'd literally tried everything. But he got it done and gave it a little fist pump to celebrate (all the young guys working there are hockey players). Good kid. :)

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There's a great show on the NHL Network each day called Hockey Academy. Goes through little lessons on skating, puck handling, stuff like that. It's geared toward kids, but in skating years, I guess I'm about 5 years old, so it's all good. In fact, most of it is way too advanced for me. But it's good to watch. I've set up a season pass for it now that I'll be skating out. They don't do much goalie stuff so I didn't watch it regularly before.

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Game 1 of the Dallas/Anaheim series is on NHL Network tonight. I didn't get to see much of that series, so I'm catching up and also trying to watch the play

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If you've ever wondered how to tell the difference between a Fangirl and a Puckbunny, this should help. It's an old post but I just found it today and enjoyed the discussion. My favorite quote is by SportSquee's Margee. She perfectly sums up my perspective with her usual aplomb.

"fangirls love everything about the game and puck bunnies just like one thing. Fangirls aren't just wooed by a pretty face. Fangirls are invested in a way that men can't understand. The personality of the player, the style of game, the leadership, it all plays into who one is a fangirl for. Fangirls love the game first, and tend to love the player who loves it in the way that she does. Fangirls pick and choose who they adore. A puckbunny will take anyone in a sweater. To the fangirl, a cute dude is just another variable that enhances being a fan, like loving the jersey of a particular team. It's just icing on the cake."

Bringing this up is apropos of nothing really. Just hockey talk.

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I think that's it. Turco is awesome.

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Day 2

Well, really nothing on the Wild front today in terms of free agent signings, other than big offers and misses. But I'd prefer that to overpaying so we'll see what else they get done.

The big news for me was that my favorite love him/hate him player, Sean Avery, was signed to Dallas, which is absolutely a perfect fit. I was already excited by my newfound affection for the Stars but now I'm over the moon. Boy are they gonna be fun to watch! Loads of personality on that team from stem to stern.

Even more exciting is if Clutterbuck comes up and goes toe to toe with Avery. *gasp* I can't even breathe thinking about it. The two best agitators I've ever seen on the same sheet. Sweet Jeezus. I may spontaneously combust. The ice may melt. It might be the Apocalypse (and THEN won't those hockey haters feel silly for not seeing it coming!)

Meanwhile, in all the excitement, I didn't workout Monday or Tuesday. *hangs head in shame* BUT, I went to spinning tonight and busted my butt to make up for it. If legs could throw up, mine would have. They feel like lead now. Time for a shower and bed, yo.

I'm taking tomorrow off and going skating at Willowbrook at lunchtime. Yay!

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Saturday Skate on Sunday

Ended up skating on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday night. Worked out pretty well since I was able to drop off my and Coach Stalin's skates for sharpening. I think my last sharpening job was a little whack, which is unfortunate because they'll do it while I wait, which is pretty nice given the 35 minute drive to the 'burbs. Oh well.

Anyway, I worked on a little of bit of everything and I feel like I'm starting to "get" stopping. I still suck at it and am scared of it (because it's taking about 6 weeks for my wrists to stop hurting after the two falls I've taken), but I'm getting there. I even forced myself to do shuffles with my dumb leg all the way up the ice. Boy is that hard. Phew.

Went to a concert last night and man, I'm tired today. And now I have to drive to Austin this evening for a 2 day seminar. Very much looking forward to the seminar, but not so much the drive, esp. being this tired. But hey, at least this trip will fill the gap between the end of the conference semi-finals and the start of the finals. :) Go Stars!

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