A Happy New Year to one and all on this brisk New York day. A Video to start things off, a highlight montage from last years Winter classic. Note the Pittsburgh goalie. This blog is in large part about him.
This Picture was so odd I had to post it. Got this from commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/category:New_year_cards How c
ould I not help usher in the new year without a little anthropomorphic weirdness like this 1908 Frog Bowling beauty?
I’m getting ready to watch the now annual NHL new years day winter classic, this time between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings on NBC. There is to my mind one weird thing about this game, and about the winter classic. It’s cool, nothing nasty or wrong or evil or anything, it’s just something that makes me wonder if the one person involved did something wrong (or right, depending on your viewpoint) to either mother nature or Gary Bettman. There have been three of these things so far, including this one. In 2003, The Edmonton Oilers faced off against the Montreal Canadiens. In 2008, The Buffalo Sabres faced off against the Pittsburgh Penguins. You saw this years teams. 6 different teams, 3 different cities separated by 6 years. One constant? Today’s Detroit Red Wings Goalie, Ty Conklin also happened to be last years Pittsburgh Penguins Goalie, who also happens to be the Oilers goalie in 2003.
This is an FYI to all the Hockey Fans out there. If Ty Conklin gets traded to your team next year, you WILL be getting an outdoor game…and your #1 goalie will get hurt round about Christmas in some Christmas gift opening incident or some such oddness. And if Ty retires after this year, there may not be another winter classic. How could there be, without the official goalie of the winter classic? 
Today’s game should be a good one too. The Hawks are on a tear, having only lost 2 games since the last month, one of them by 1 goal. The one thing they should concern themselves with is that both of those loses came at the hands of the Red Wings, including a lopsided 4-0 loss in game one of this home and home series on tuesday. I’m gonna put on my prognosticators hat now and say The Wings are going to win a tight one 3-2, giving Ty Conklin his second win in as many years in outdoor games. The Hawks can beat everyone but these Wings and that’s not gonna change today, as far as I see it.
That’s it for sports. There are no other significant sports stories on today’s docket. COLLEGE FOOTBALL SUCKS AND BOWL GAMES DON’T COUNT. If you like that crap, go bowl with frogs or something.
A second viddy, a few quotes, and I am done.
The Viddy is big hits, saves and goals put to music by the offspring. Tis a happy video. It could have used some Nicky Fotiu and some Joey Kocur though. Still nice. Enjoy!
That’s it for me. New Years resolutions, news and other such stuff tonight. Later!
Today’s Nuggets, Hockey quotes, Via Wikiquote: Ice hockey is a form of disorderly conduct in which the score is kept. Doug Larson
We get nose jobs all the time in the NHL, and we don’t even have to go to the hospital. Brad Park
Half the game is mental; the other half is being mental. Jim McKinney
