Can You Feel It? It’s Hockey Season!

It’s been some time since I posted a collection of random hockey thoughts. Through the summer I mostly hung out and talked hockey on twitter conversing with the fantastic, and I mean fantastic, hockey community there.

With not much to speak of in the hockey world over the summer, with the exception of a couple of snafusby the Chicago Blackhawks and the neverending Coyotes debacle, the twitter hockey community was a great place to get my hockey fix.

I even tried to help out NHL.com correspondent and hockey blogger Paul Kukla with his NHL column this summer.  However, even on the slow hockey news days of August, he still didn’t like my advice…check out what he wrote:

Tyler of NHL Digestsuggested a few topics — “Free agents taking pay cuts; older Russians heading home; and goalies left unsigned. If all else fails — Avery, Emery or Burkie!” Some great topics without a doubt, Tyler, but some of them would take some deep research on my part, and I need sleep.

Paul hit the nail on the head in that column with regard to how fans are just itching to get some hockey news from “on the ice”.  Well, fellow fans, that time has come!

Over the past week it has sure been nice to get some actual hockey news. The rookies are back on the ice and the veterans are back in their respective communities and getting ready for another season of hockey goodness.

Too Much Time On Our Hands

Prior to this past week I was itching for anything hockey related. So deprived of the game that I set out to make an NHL player birthday calendar consisting of the birthday and birthplace of every hockey player to play in the National Hockey League.

Am I obsessed? Maybe. But, I take solace in the fact that I am not alone in my hockey pursuits.

In fact, Dirk over at On The Forecheck created an even more complex tool this summer. Upon the release of the 2009-2010 NHL schedule, Dirk created a spreadsheet that details the amount of travel that each team logs during the season. This data is not frivolous. Travel and fatigue can seriously play a role in the performance of players and, therefore, can influence the outcome of a game.

 Yes, this is the time of year when we hockey fanatics start to get excited. Between praying that the acquisitions our favortie team made over the summer will finally put us over the top, to poring over stats in the quest to create the ultimate fantasy hockey team…Indeed, this is a great time of year!