Facebook. Myspace. Any instant messaging. Social networking is the craze worldwide. How many times do you go on Facebook throughout the day? Once? Twice? Ten times? It's okay, there are thousands around campus on Facebook at the same time you are.
Twitter, however, is a journalist's dream, more specifically a sports journalist's dream. If you have a Twitter account, you know what I am talking about. Along with Facebook, it is one of the most addicting social networking sites.
It is updated all the time. Every minute there is one, two or more tweets a person can read, depending on how many people you follow. I follow over 400 people including sports writers, friends, sports leagues, teams and athletes, coaches, magazines, newspapers and breaking news. I will never have a dull moment on Twitter.
You can follow some of the most famous people in the world. For example, Barack Obama is on Twitter. Other examples are Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Diddy, Al Gore, Ashton Kutcher, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Shaquille O'Neal and yes, Charlie Sheen. Sheen has created a trending topic on Twitter saying "#winning" after almost every tweet. He is a Twitter phenomenon.
Sports journalists use Twitter like no other people use it. I have been following No. 3 Oregon State baseball (@Beaver_Baseball), Oregon State softball (@OregonStateSB), No. 4 Oregon State gymnastics (@OregonStateGym) and all Oregon State athletics (@beaverathletics) all on Twitter. What can get better than that?
You don't need to read or watch the news anymore. Heck, if you don't want to see the highlights of sports games and just want to see the score, you don't need anything else besides Twitter. Do you want to know what your favorite Oregon State athletes are doing? You don't need to follow them around campus, you just need to follow them on Twitter.
Stephen Paea, James Rodgers, Ryan Katz, Carter Bell, Jared Cunningham, Leslie Mak and Olivia Vivian are all on Twitter.
Do I need to tell you any other great things about Twitter?
I almost forgot the best thing about Twitter: a person can only use 140 characters to share his or her news. You don't have to read a full article, like this one, to know what is happening in the world.
The world heard about US Airways Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River by none other than a simple picture on Twitter.
Oh yeah, there are pictures too.
People think that it is just a whole bunch of Facebook statuses and nothing else, but those people are wrong. One can learn a lot about a person, an event and any news possible through Twitter.
Robert Scoble, a blogger for The New York Times, said it best: "Twitter lets me hear from a lot of different people in a very short period of time."
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Laura McCandlish
A journeywoman who has been from Virginia to Baltimore to Corvallis to chase her dream of being a journalist.
Laura McCandlish talked to a reporting class at Oregon State University, Wednesday night, to discuss how she got into journalism and how important blogs are to her success.
“I knew I needed to start a blog,” McCandlish said. “I needed to get my foot in and fall back on it when need be.”
McCandlish offered her advice on how the audience could improve their writing and journalistic techniques. Some of her advice was to keep blogging, do not emulate other people’s career paths, get your name out there by social networking and when you blog, choose a specific topic you can be an expert in. For example, McCandlish was interested by the food here on the west coast and in Oregon, so she decided to focus her topic on food. Because of the blog, she has landed a radio show on KBOO in Portland.
McCandlish also asked the audience what they thought about one of her blog posts. She wanted to pitch it to NPR.org (National Public Radio) and McCandlish asked how she should pitch it. She was writing notes down when the audience answered.
A local shoe store, which is booming with their very small shoe soles, brings their families into the store, even their babies. There were a few ideas that she liked, which were unique to Oregon, but the family pitch stood out to the audience. The audience agreed that NPR would like that idea the best.
McCandlish kept giving the audience advice on how to blog and how to get your product and your name out there to the world. Blogging was her main emphasis, along with getting to know as many types of media you can.
“It is important to learn many different types of media,” she said. “Journalism is very unpredictable right now.”
Monday, February 28, 2011
Matt Neznanski
Matt Neznanski is the Director of Communications at Brass Media here in Corvallis, OR. Brass Media is a “socially driven media and technology company dedicated to helping young adults better understand money,” according to their website. Neznanski dropped by our reporting class Wednesday night to talk about social networking, his job and his background in the media world along with any questions our class had for him.
Earlier in his career, Neznanski worked in the news room and he first talked to us about having the chance to interview the 44th president of the United States, President Barack Obama, when he was in Oregon. Somebody in the news room asked him if he wanted to interview the president, and he said sure.
Neznanski is also all about Twitter. Twitter was the theme behind most of his talk Wednesday night and I agreed with what he had to say about it. He gets most of his news from Twitter, and he gets the rest of his news from other internet sites as well.
“You got to start a Twitter account,” Neznanski said. “Use all the tools you can.”
He talked about newschallenge.org as well. “The Knight News Challenge is a media innovation contest that aims to advance the future of news by funding new ways to digitally inform communities,” the website said. And its slogan is: “You invent it. We fund it.” The last four winners of this contest have been everyblock.com, spot.us, ushahidi.com and localwiki.org, with all the websites succeeding and doing well. If you have an idea, sent it to these guys and make some cash, Neznanski said.
Most of his talk was about social networking, blogging and being a journalist in general. He talked about how Twitter is more public than the internet and that micro blogging is not going anywhere anytime soon. He left us with a quote that hit me and stuck with me: “I think it’s a fantastic time to be a journalist,” he said. Neznanski attributed this to the quickness of the internet and that there are now so many different ways to be a journalist. It is not just newspaper articles anymore.
However, he will be the first to point out that “online journalism isn’t different from any other kind of journalism,” referring to the research you have to do to write.
Follow him on Twitter @mneznanski.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
An Outdoor Game and a Trade Deadline
Yes, in fact, there was another outdoor hockey game this week and for the second time in its history, it was called the NHL Tim Hortons Heritage Classic. It seems to me that there is the NHL Winter Classic, which is played on New Year's Day, where two American teams play in the United States and the NHL Tim Hortons Heritage Classic where two Canadian teams play on Canadian soil. The first Heritage Classic was in 2003 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.
This year, the game took place this past Sunday at McMahon Stadium in Calgary between the Calgary Flames and again, the Montreal Canadiens. (Canadiens is spelled that way because that is the french spelling.) 41,022 were in attendance to watch a rather lackluster score of 4-0 for the Flames. The wind chill at game time was -5 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a video on Pierre Lebrun's blog. Lebrun also said that "the event once again rocked even if the actual game didn't, and the NHL has patented that familiar script with yet another hugely successful outdoor foray."
Mikka Kiprusoff got the shutout, saving all 39 shots he faced. It was the first shutout in the history of outdoor games and 39 saves is a new record in outdoor games.
Other records were broken. "The game set several records, including most shots by a player (Bourque, 11), saves by a goalie (39, Kiprusoff), and shots by a team in a period (21,Montreal), which broke the record set just a period earlier by Calgary," said Shawn Roarke, NHL.com Senior Managing Editor.
It is that time again, the trade deadline, where teams either stack up for the playoff run, trade players to get rid of player's salaries or trade for the future. Trades have already happened this week with 10 separate trades. The biggest one involved stud Czech defencemen Tomas Kaberle moving from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Joe Colborne a first round draft pick and a second round draft pick.
The actual trade deadline is this coming Monday so get on your Twitter account or check out Trade Tracker on tsn.ca to find out who is going where and at what cost.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Islanders vs. Penguins
It was an eventful week with one game that blew away all the other ones: the New York Islanders vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island.
The game, played on Friday, had one of the most penalty minutes ever in one game, 346. There were 15 players who had fighting penalties, combining for 75 penalty minutes and Brent Johnson, the goalie for the Penguins who fought Rick DiPietro last week, fought again against Michael Haley this game.
This fiasco happened because last week when Johnson and DiPietro fought, Johnson dropped DiPietro and broke bones in his face. The Islanders were mad about this and it led to the game Friday, a 9-3 beating by the Islanders.
Suspensions from the game were very harsh, however. “Eric Godard drew an automatic 10-game suspension under Rule 70.11 for coming off the bench to become involved in a third-period fight after New York's Michael Haley squared off with Penguins goaltender Brent Johnson. Godard received a double minor for roughing and a double game misconduct,” said NHL.com. Also, “Trevor Gillies was suspended for leveling Pittsburgh's Eric Tangradi with an elbow and throwing several punches to his head in an incident that led to the Haley-Johnson fight, earning a major penalty and a game misconduct. Tangradi left the game with concussion symptoms,” and “Matt Martin drew a four-game suspension.”
Godard, Gillies, and Martin also lost money due to their suspensions. Godard will lose over $40,000, Gillies will lose over $24,000, and Martin will lose over $41,000, according to NHL.com. In addition, the Islanders were fined $100,000 for their actions.
"The Islanders also must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players," said Colin Campbell, the NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations.
To check out the fight and articles on this game, check out these articles and videos.
The game, played on Friday, had one of the most penalty minutes ever in one game, 346. There were 15 players who had fighting penalties, combining for 75 penalty minutes and Brent Johnson, the goalie for the Penguins who fought Rick DiPietro last week, fought again against Michael Haley this game.
This fiasco happened because last week when Johnson and DiPietro fought, Johnson dropped DiPietro and broke bones in his face. The Islanders were mad about this and it led to the game Friday, a 9-3 beating by the Islanders.
Suspensions from the game were very harsh, however. “Eric Godard drew an automatic 10-game suspension under Rule 70.11 for coming off the bench to become involved in a third-period fight after New York's Michael Haley squared off with Penguins goaltender Brent Johnson. Godard received a double minor for roughing and a double game misconduct,” said NHL.com. Also, “Trevor Gillies was suspended for leveling Pittsburgh's Eric Tangradi with an elbow and throwing several punches to his head in an incident that led to the Haley-Johnson fight, earning a major penalty and a game misconduct. Tangradi left the game with concussion symptoms,” and “Matt Martin drew a four-game suspension.”
Godard, Gillies, and Martin also lost money due to their suspensions. Godard will lose over $40,000, Gillies will lose over $24,000, and Martin will lose over $41,000, according to NHL.com. In addition, the Islanders were fined $100,000 for their actions.
"The Islanders also must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players," said Colin Campbell, the NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations.
To check out the fight and articles on this game, check out these articles and videos.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
TWIH (Stolen from TWIB, This Week in Baseball)
Injuries were the main story this week in hockey.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are depleted at the forward position. With two of the league top forwards already out (Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby), the Penguins added to their injuries with Chris Kunitz and Mark Letestu. Those four accounted for nearly half of their goal production this season, according to John Mehno of the Observer-Reporter.
Another injury happened to a key player this week. Keith Ballard, a defencemen that the Vancouver Canucks signed over the off season, injured his knee Monday night and could be out 3-4 weeks.
"It was stiff this morning, (which is) to be expected," Ballard said. "After sleeping last night, it stiffened up. I've been here for a few hours today, doing treatment, and it's helped quite a bit. It wasn't bad."
With Alexander Edler and Sami Salo out with their respective injuries, the Canucks have injuries to three very important players in their organization. In addition, Andrew Alberts was hit in the throat by a puck in practice Tuesday. Alberts remained on the ice for awhile before skating back to the bench under his own power.
"It feels like on the back end, there's always somebody hurt. And today, in practice, another injury, fortunately it wasn't anything serious," said Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa, according to tsn.ca.
Talking about getting injured in practice, New York "Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin injured his left leg in warmups Tuesday night, temporarily leaving New York without a backup for its game against the Toronto Maple Leafs," said ESPNNewYork.com. He caught his left skate in a rut and awkwardly fell. Mikko Koskinen, a goalie from Finland who was playing because of injuries to DiPietro and Nathan Lawson, got the emergency start and made his NHL debut. He was the fifth goalie to play for the Islanders this season, according to ESPNNewYork.com.
It is approximately three weeks away from the NHL trade deadline and talks are slow between teams right now. However, the bigger story is the player who wants to come back.
Peter Forsberg is expected to play by the end of this week for the Colorado Avalanche, according to Zach Nichols of the Examiner. "The Avs may need Peter Forsberg to play sooner rather than later," Nichols said.
Lastly, check out these two videos from the past week. One dirty hit and one solid punch!
The Pittsburgh Penguins are depleted at the forward position. With two of the league top forwards already out (Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby), the Penguins added to their injuries with Chris Kunitz and Mark Letestu. Those four accounted for nearly half of their goal production this season, according to John Mehno of the Observer-Reporter.
Another injury happened to a key player this week. Keith Ballard, a defencemen that the Vancouver Canucks signed over the off season, injured his knee Monday night and could be out 3-4 weeks.
"It was stiff this morning, (which is) to be expected," Ballard said. "After sleeping last night, it stiffened up. I've been here for a few hours today, doing treatment, and it's helped quite a bit. It wasn't bad."
With Alexander Edler and Sami Salo out with their respective injuries, the Canucks have injuries to three very important players in their organization. In addition, Andrew Alberts was hit in the throat by a puck in practice Tuesday. Alberts remained on the ice for awhile before skating back to the bench under his own power.
"It feels like on the back end, there's always somebody hurt. And today, in practice, another injury, fortunately it wasn't anything serious," said Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa, according to tsn.ca.
Talking about getting injured in practice, New York "Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin injured his left leg in warmups Tuesday night, temporarily leaving New York without a backup for its game against the Toronto Maple Leafs," said ESPNNewYork.com. He caught his left skate in a rut and awkwardly fell. Mikko Koskinen, a goalie from Finland who was playing because of injuries to DiPietro and Nathan Lawson, got the emergency start and made his NHL debut. He was the fifth goalie to play for the Islanders this season, according to ESPNNewYork.com.
It is approximately three weeks away from the NHL trade deadline and talks are slow between teams right now. However, the bigger story is the player who wants to come back.
Peter Forsberg is expected to play by the end of this week for the Colorado Avalanche, according to Zach Nichols of the Examiner. "The Avs may need Peter Forsberg to play sooner rather than later," Nichols said.
Lastly, check out these two videos from the past week. One dirty hit and one solid punch!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
All-Star Weekend
It was the "long-awaited" affair between Team Lidstrom vs. Team Staal on Sunday. The final result: a very All-Star Game like 11-10 for Team Lidstrom including eight goals in the first period and eight goals in the last period. 21 goals combined is the fourth most in NHL All-Star Game history, as written by E.J. Hradek.
Again, this was the first All-Star Game to use captains and a draft. Nicklas Lidstrom, a perennial All-Star defenseman, and Eric Staal, the captain of the hometown Carolina Hurricanes, were the captains of each team. The game was played in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Also, a nice treat was given out to the last pick of the draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs' Phil Kessel. Kessel was given a brand new car and $20,000 to a charity of his choice. On a humourous note, a twitter account named DownGoesBrown said: "Phil Kessel wins a new car. It looks nice and it's really expensive, but it refuses to drive to the net."
I agree with another thing Hradek said. He said that if All-Star weekend continues with this format, "and I see no reason why they won't - they'd be wise to insist that one of the captains come from the host city. It creates a 'home team.'"
Do I like this format? Not really, but if it brings more fans to the game of Hockey and creates interest in All-Star Weekend, I am all for it.
According to nbcsports.com, it did.
"Luckily for the NHL, the weekend’s events produced great numbers in both the United States (on Versus) and Canada (on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada)."
Lastly, a quick overview of tonight's action. In a wild one, no pun intended, the Minnesota Wild won 1-0 over the Los Angeles Kings. The Wild had a shutout on strong goaltending by Niklas Backstrom.
And the Vancouver Canucks have gained first spot in the NHL tonight with a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. The Canucks scored twice on the power play with goals from Mikael Samuelsson and Christian Ehrhoff.
Again, this was the first All-Star Game to use captains and a draft. Nicklas Lidstrom, a perennial All-Star defenseman, and Eric Staal, the captain of the hometown Carolina Hurricanes, were the captains of each team. The game was played in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Also, a nice treat was given out to the last pick of the draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs' Phil Kessel. Kessel was given a brand new car and $20,000 to a charity of his choice. On a humourous note, a twitter account named DownGoesBrown said: "Phil Kessel wins a new car. It looks nice and it's really expensive, but it refuses to drive to the net."
I agree with another thing Hradek said. He said that if All-Star weekend continues with this format, "and I see no reason why they won't - they'd be wise to insist that one of the captains come from the host city. It creates a 'home team.'"
Do I like this format? Not really, but if it brings more fans to the game of Hockey and creates interest in All-Star Weekend, I am all for it.
According to nbcsports.com, it did.
"Luckily for the NHL, the weekend’s events produced great numbers in both the United States (on Versus) and Canada (on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada)."
Lastly, a quick overview of tonight's action. In a wild one, no pun intended, the Minnesota Wild won 1-0 over the Los Angeles Kings. The Wild had a shutout on strong goaltending by Niklas Backstrom.
And the Vancouver Canucks have gained first spot in the NHL tonight with a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. The Canucks scored twice on the power play with goals from Mikael Samuelsson and Christian Ehrhoff.
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Latest and Greatest from "The Good Ol' Hockey Game"
There were lots of happenings in the NHL this week. There are players trying to come back, another great player missing the All-Star Game (because no NHL players care), and a new feature I'm going to start this week: who's hot and who's not.
Evgeni Nabokov, former star goaltender for the San Jose Sharks, is trying to come back after a brief stint in the KHL in Russia. Nabokov was signed by the Detroit Red Wings, a playoff contender, on a one-year contract. The New York Islanders then picked him off waivers from the Wings. Nabokov was confused about this decision.
"It's just that I'm at the point in my career where I want to help a team win in the playoffs. I don't see how I could help the Islanders or what I could do for them. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me," said Nabokov, Sunday to espn.com.
Also, Peter Forsberg, 37, says he wants to come back for the 30th time in his career. On my memory alone, I can think of three times where Forsberg decided to come back half way through the season. It is ridiculous if you ask me but if the NHL allows it and you are old, why not?
Another star is going to miss the All-Star Game. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby is not going to play due to a concussion that started on January 1st against the Washington Capitals which was played at Heinz Field, home of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers.
"The Penguins organization has decided that he will not attend NHL All-Star Weekend and instead will continue to relax and recuperate in the hopes of returning to our lineup soon," said Penguins' general manager Ray Shero in a statement on Monday, according to thescore.ca.
Now for the new feature: who's hot and who's not.
Who's hot? The Tampa Bay Lightning are having won four in a row, riding the great play of Steven Stamkos who leads the league in goals and points. The San Jose Sharks have also won four in a row after losing the previous six before that. They are now holding down the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. And how about them Vancouver Canucks? Even though they have only won four of their last 10, the Canucks are on top of the Western Conference and their two superstars, Daniel and Henrik Sedin (who are twins), are both in the top five in points individually.
Who's not hot? The bad, horrible, terrible Edmonton Oilers. They have been leaking oil all season long. With only 14 wins in 47 games, the Oilers have eight less wins than anyone else in the Western Conference. They are young and have a lot of potential but fans of the Oilers are getting restless of this awful play the last couple years.
Patrick Kane is cold. He only has 36 points this season, which is way behind his average of the previous seasons, and has a -7 rating. Last season, when Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, Kane had a +16 rating.
In addition, Canadian coverage of the All-Star Game is way over the top. There are posts everywhere about this draft the NHL is having and no players care! There are around 10 players every year who miss it due to injuries, family, or personal reasons.
Pierre LeBrun is a popular guy to go to when talking about hockey blogs. He is a writer for ESPN and espn.com. His blogs have been talking about the All-Star Game for weeks now.
Lastly, reading all these blogs have made me realize that there are way too many injuries in sports. Team's seasons are lost due to injuries. I know that it is a part of sports but it sucks for the fan, the team, and the organization.
-http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474141
-http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20102011&type=CON
-http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=350790
-http://www.thescore.com/nhl/articles/108542-crosby-will-not-play-in-all-star-game
-http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/3777/weekend-wrap-plans-for-all-star-subs-options-for-islesnabby-99-on-hits-to-head
-http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Agj1pfcPUxvz7EiMIgbQ.Y8JfwM6?slug=ap-avalanche-forsberg
Evgeni Nabokov, former star goaltender for the San Jose Sharks, is trying to come back after a brief stint in the KHL in Russia. Nabokov was signed by the Detroit Red Wings, a playoff contender, on a one-year contract. The New York Islanders then picked him off waivers from the Wings. Nabokov was confused about this decision.
"It's just that I'm at the point in my career where I want to help a team win in the playoffs. I don't see how I could help the Islanders or what I could do for them. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me," said Nabokov, Sunday to espn.com.
Also, Peter Forsberg, 37, says he wants to come back for the 30th time in his career. On my memory alone, I can think of three times where Forsberg decided to come back half way through the season. It is ridiculous if you ask me but if the NHL allows it and you are old, why not?
Another star is going to miss the All-Star Game. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby is not going to play due to a concussion that started on January 1st against the Washington Capitals which was played at Heinz Field, home of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers.
"The Penguins organization has decided that he will not attend NHL All-Star Weekend and instead will continue to relax and recuperate in the hopes of returning to our lineup soon," said Penguins' general manager Ray Shero in a statement on Monday, according to thescore.ca.
Now for the new feature: who's hot and who's not.
Who's hot? The Tampa Bay Lightning are having won four in a row, riding the great play of Steven Stamkos who leads the league in goals and points. The San Jose Sharks have also won four in a row after losing the previous six before that. They are now holding down the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. And how about them Vancouver Canucks? Even though they have only won four of their last 10, the Canucks are on top of the Western Conference and their two superstars, Daniel and Henrik Sedin (who are twins), are both in the top five in points individually.
Who's not hot? The bad, horrible, terrible Edmonton Oilers. They have been leaking oil all season long. With only 14 wins in 47 games, the Oilers have eight less wins than anyone else in the Western Conference. They are young and have a lot of potential but fans of the Oilers are getting restless of this awful play the last couple years.
Patrick Kane is cold. He only has 36 points this season, which is way behind his average of the previous seasons, and has a -7 rating. Last season, when Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, Kane had a +16 rating.
In addition, Canadian coverage of the All-Star Game is way over the top. There are posts everywhere about this draft the NHL is having and no players care! There are around 10 players every year who miss it due to injuries, family, or personal reasons.
Pierre LeBrun is a popular guy to go to when talking about hockey blogs. He is a writer for ESPN and espn.com. His blogs have been talking about the All-Star Game for weeks now.
Lastly, reading all these blogs have made me realize that there are way too many injuries in sports. Team's seasons are lost due to injuries. I know that it is a part of sports but it sucks for the fan, the team, and the organization.
-http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8474141
-http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20102011&type=CON
-http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=350790
-http://www.thescore.com/nhl/articles/108542-crosby-will-not-play-in-all-star-game
-http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/3777/weekend-wrap-plans-for-all-star-subs-options-for-islesnabby-99-on-hits-to-head
-http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Agj1pfcPUxvz7EiMIgbQ.Y8JfwM6?slug=ap-avalanche-forsberg
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Happenings of the NHL
I've lost my touch with the National Hockey League, or the NHL, living in Oregon, but I want to relive what I had in Canada by looking up different websites, newspapers and other blogs to see what I can find.
This week in the NHL, injuries were the main story as the NHL, The Sports Network (TSN), The Score and The Province Newspaper websites have stories related to the "depleted Red Wings", "Eberle close to returning" or "banged-up Habs' (referring to the Montreal Canadiens). Thescore.ca has also reported that Ryan Whitney, a defenseman for the Edmonton Oilers is sidelined for the entire season with an ankle injury.
Another important story this week was the suspension of Aaron Nichol, a forward for the San Jose Sharks. He "has been suspended four games for his elbow to the head to Phoenix Coyotes defenceman David Schlemko on Monday night and will forfeit $16,344.08 in salary," reports tsn.ca.
Also, in other news, the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) had their prospects camp this week showing such prospects to the NHL world like Daniel Catenacci, who won the fastest skater competition before the actual prospect game. Catenacci is "one of those guys that's, 'Give me the puck, I want it, I want to be the guy who makes the play,'" said one NHL scout, according to nhl.com.
It's almost midway through the season as well and we all know what that means! The NHL All-Star Game. An exhibition, which none of the players care about, to show off the greatest players the NHL has to offer. The captains, which were selected by the other all-stars, are Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings. Which makes this more compelling than any other year is because the captains now draft their team from the all the all-stars. The all-stars were selected by you, the fans.
I have noticed a couple things about the articles and blogs written about the NHL. One is how headlines begin with the one of the team's goaltenders. For example, "Jurco steals show", "Fleury, Penguins shut down Red Wings, 3-1", "Khudobin stops 31 shots as Wild defeat struggling Oilers", "Thomas key as Bruins finish sweep of Canes", and "Quick lets one slip away in 2-1 loss to Blues". I mean it is ridiculous. Give some credit to the goal scorers and defensemen every once in awhile.
The other thing I noticed is how big of a deal the All-Star Game is. This, to me, is a joke. Every All-Star Game in every sport is a joke, except for Major League Baseball. The athletes don't care. Their only wish is to not get injured. Hockey players pull out of the All-Star Game all the time because they want rest or they are a little banged up and do not want to injure themselves more. This is the same with the National Basketball Association.
The audience just wants the facts. Who won? Who lost? Who got injured? Who got traded? If the audience wants to know who did well, they can look at the statistics of the game.
Lastly, another tidbit of information, the websites of TSN and The Score have the same photo on their home page: Mike Cammalleri, a Montreal Canadien, bent over holding his arm after an injury to his shoulder.
This week in the NHL, injuries were the main story as the NHL, The Sports Network (TSN), The Score and The Province Newspaper websites have stories related to the "depleted Red Wings", "Eberle close to returning" or "banged-up Habs' (referring to the Montreal Canadiens). Thescore.ca has also reported that Ryan Whitney, a defenseman for the Edmonton Oilers is sidelined for the entire season with an ankle injury.
Another important story this week was the suspension of Aaron Nichol, a forward for the San Jose Sharks. He "has been suspended four games for his elbow to the head to Phoenix Coyotes defenceman David Schlemko on Monday night and will forfeit $16,344.08 in salary," reports tsn.ca.
Also, in other news, the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) had their prospects camp this week showing such prospects to the NHL world like Daniel Catenacci, who won the fastest skater competition before the actual prospect game. Catenacci is "one of those guys that's, 'Give me the puck, I want it, I want to be the guy who makes the play,'" said one NHL scout, according to nhl.com.
It's almost midway through the season as well and we all know what that means! The NHL All-Star Game. An exhibition, which none of the players care about, to show off the greatest players the NHL has to offer. The captains, which were selected by the other all-stars, are Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings. Which makes this more compelling than any other year is because the captains now draft their team from the all the all-stars. The all-stars were selected by you, the fans.
I have noticed a couple things about the articles and blogs written about the NHL. One is how headlines begin with the one of the team's goaltenders. For example, "Jurco steals show", "Fleury, Penguins shut down Red Wings, 3-1", "Khudobin stops 31 shots as Wild defeat struggling Oilers", "Thomas key as Bruins finish sweep of Canes", and "Quick lets one slip away in 2-1 loss to Blues". I mean it is ridiculous. Give some credit to the goal scorers and defensemen every once in awhile.
The other thing I noticed is how big of a deal the All-Star Game is. This, to me, is a joke. Every All-Star Game in every sport is a joke, except for Major League Baseball. The athletes don't care. Their only wish is to not get injured. Hockey players pull out of the All-Star Game all the time because they want rest or they are a little banged up and do not want to injure themselves more. This is the same with the National Basketball Association.
The audience just wants the facts. Who won? Who lost? Who got injured? Who got traded? If the audience wants to know who did well, they can look at the statistics of the game.
Lastly, another tidbit of information, the websites of TSN and The Score have the same photo on their home page: Mike Cammalleri, a Montreal Canadien, bent over holding his arm after an injury to his shoulder.
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