Don't go in the water....

There seem to be some Sharks circling! That's right, ladies and germs, the NHL Regular Season has begun for us fans of the finned and I'm ready to dive back in! Well, at least put my feet in the shallow end.

A lot has changed over the summer for the NoCal team - A new coach and lots of different faces in the dressing room.

08-09 Season... My quick thoughts as I'm watching the game:

New Coach - I wasn't down on RW, but shaking things up behind the bench might be what gets them past the second round of the playoffs - but they need to make the playoffs first. He's been described as a good bench-coach, I can roll with that, hopefully the players can, too.

Revamped D - Gone are Campbell (no surprise), Carle, Rivet and Brown. Shiny and new are Blake (Will take a while to get used to that one), Boyle and Lukowich. If the D meshes well together, they'll make things even easier for Nabby, who we all know I have a love/hate relationship with. If they can put up a few points, I'll be a very happy fishie fan (Plus, who wouldn't love a kid with a nickname like Pickles?!). Also, would like to send my best wishes to Kyle McLaren in the AHL - I've always been a big fan of his.

Forwards - Familiar faces Thornton, Marleau and Cheechoo need to put up consistant points. I have every faith in each of them that they can - and every hope that they will. Please? Pretty please? Setoguchi looks good - like he spent the summer waiting trying to impress a girl at the gym - and it worked! Pavelski, Plihal, Michalek, Clowe and Goc are sure to do their fair share and Jeremy Roenick is going into his 21st season - how stinkin' impressive is that!?!?! Ok, ok, I know not everyone is a JR fan, but I have been for as long as I can remember - and the fact that he's spent the last two years of his career (for real this time?) with my team pretty much thrills me to no end. He looks good, too and is super hungry for the cup... will that be enough? ...my pretty please just worked, 0-1 Cheechoo from Boyle (Welcome!) and Michalek... PS. Get well soon, Mitchell!

My prediction: I know it sounds cliche, but if this team gels in a speedy fashion, it's hard to imagine they wouldn't be back in the race for the Pacific Division title, but it wont be easy. The Ducks and the Stars are a perpetual poachers looking for some shark fin soup. 0-2 PP Goal - Cheechoo from Thornton and Blake - ok, it's getting easier to read that name in teal. Sorry, Finny! As for playoffs, ever the optimist, I'm dreaming of being able to watch the 3rd ground without a scowl on my face, wondering who to cheer for while the hostess calls for "Bitter, Party of One?"

If the first two periods of this game are any indication of how the rest of the season is going to go, this could be the season we've all been dreaming of.... I'm not saying, I'm just saying...

Un An

Well, it's been one year since Carey's Calder Cup BBQ at the Williams' Residence where I discovered McMan didn't hate me (as I'd thought for as long as I'd been acquainted with him) and he discovered that I wasn't hitched (as someone had told him when he mentioned asking me out months before). The rest, as they say, is history.

So, here's to Carey Price and the 2007 Hamilton Bulldogs. Merci Beaucoup!

Alumni Update

Well, it seems that hockey season is fast approaching. YAY! As I said when CapsChick and I were chatting it up, "If the off-season was any longer, I'd call my brother and ask him to send me an old glove to sniff."

Which brings me to the updates:

• It seems that the Houston Aeros are now the Houston "McPhizzle has a humorous anecdote about me"s... Not only do they have Clayton Stoner (former Am and good friend) and Coach Kevin Constantine (former coach of the Everett Silvertips), but they have also signed goalie (and former Spokane Chief) Barry Brust and (former Golden Gopher) Troy Riddle.
• Big Bro is now going to be playing in Europe... Something he's wanted to do for a couple years now. He's going to be playing in the UK for the Hull Stingrays and oddly enough, one of his teammates is Nikolai Ladygin (another former Am)

Calder Cup Game 1

WOOHOO!!! Hamilton Bulldogs win it 4-0! Our little Pricey faced and saved 46 shots. FORTY-SIX SHOTS. Of course, he was the First Star. Someone give that kid a cookie. A big one. Better yet, Carey, I'm sending you a whole friggin pan of brownies. Wait a minute... he's in Canada - I'm sending him a bottle of Jack.

It's been quite a while since we've had one of our boys do so well so fresh out of our system. *sniff sniff* look how much he's grown!!!


2003-2004 season3rd Star after winning game against the Brandon Wheatkings( picture of a picture - I knew I'd regret getting rid of my scanner... )

Oh good grief!

Looks like Clay and Shawn will be riding home in wet gear after losing games next season if they don't make the Wild Roster.

Oh well... at least I wont have to see him across the rink anymore - and maybe we'll have a shot at 1st in the division. Maybe. lol .... (I doubt Hamilton would give Carey back...)


KEVIN CONSTANTINE IS AEROS’ NEW HEAD COACH

Minnesota native has seven NHL seasons, IHL championship to his credit

HOUSTON, Texas – Kevin Constantine, a former runner-up for the National Hockey League’s Coach of the Year honor, has been named the head coach of the American Hockey League’s Houston Aeros, the team announced Tuesday. Constantine spent the last four seasons as head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips. The announcement was made by Minnesota Wild President/General Manager Doug Risebrough. The Aeros are the Wild's primary developmental affiliate.

“A development team requires a leader who will teach the players the game, while at the same time instilling the discipline, accountability and hard work required to play in the NHL for this organization,” Minnesota Wild Assistant General Manager/Aeros General Manager Tom Lynn said. “Kevin has a demonstrated record of all of these elements. In addition, he has had success coaching at all levels of hockey, and in particular in developing younger players.”

Constantine, 48 (12/27/58), has been behind the bench as a head coach for more than 1,000 combined games, presiding over teams in the United States Hockey League (USHL), International Hockey League (IHL), National Hockey League (NHL) and Western Hockey League (WHL).

The native of International Falls, Minn., accrued a 159-153-66 mark in seven National Hockey League seasons with San Jose, Pittsburgh and New Jersey. Two seasons after helping Kansas City claim the International Hockey League’s Turner Cup championship in 1991-92, Constantine took over a Sharks team that won just 11 games the previous season. Constantine led San Jose to a 33-35-16 record in 1993-94 and a first-round upset of Detroit in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. He was the runner-up to current Minnesota Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire for the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL’s top coach, after the Sharks improved a league-record 58 points. Constantine is the only NHL coach to ever lead a pair of eight seeds over a No. 1 seed, having also led Pittsburgh over New Jersey in 1998-99.

Constantine joined expansion Everett in 2003-04 and led the Silvertips to a 162-106-20 mark in four seasons. Everett won division titles in three of his four seasons there, and advanced to the WHL Final in its inaugural season, helping Constantine land Coach of the Year honors. In 2006-07, Constantine led the Silvertips to a 54-15-1-2 record and a berth in the Western Conference Semifinals. Among the players under Constantine’s tutelage in Washington have been Ondrej Fiala, the Wild’s second-round pick (No. 40 overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, and Peter Mueller, the eighth-overall pick by Phoenix in 2006.

In two seasons with Kansas City, Constantine’s Blades went 102-48-14. Constantine has also served as an assistant coach with NHL Calgary, IHL Kalamazoo, and as head coach of North Iowa and Rochester of the United States Hockey League. Constantine also founded the North American Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Forge in 2001. The Forge compiled an 80-24-8 record in his two seasons there. Eighteen Forge players earned Division I scholarships.

Constantine played amateur hockey at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York and was Montreal’s ninth-round pick (No. 154 overall) in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft.

Cosntantine has three sons: Mathew, Jeffrey and Nicholas.