TBC: The Best Goalie Ever

Teebz's Book Club is back with another great book for youngsters today as we continue with our efforts to get young hockey fans reading, and young readers picking up more books about hockey. We've seen a few good books already, and it's time to add another in The Best Goalie Ever, written by Gilles Tibo, illustrated by Bruno St-Aubin, and published by Scholastic. Much like the last book we reviewed on here, Where's My Hockey Sweater?, Mr. Tibo has written this book for younger readers, aiming for children between the ages of three and eight years-old. The colourful illustrations make it easy for younger children to get a good visual sense of the story, and the easy-to-read story will further your child's reading abilities while being fun.

Gilles Tibo has written and illustrated over one hundred books. He is an award-winning writer, earning such prestigious accolades as two Governor General's Awards and two Mr. Christie's Book Awards. Born in Nicolet, Quebec in 1951, Mr. Tibo got his start working as a freelance illustrator designing flyers and album covers. He also drew a large portion of the French-Canadian comic strips that appeared in newspapers. Thanks to his work as an artist, Mr. Tibo translated that success into illustrating books. More recently, he has begun to write books as well, and his success has resulted in worldwide accolades for his work. Mr. Tibo resides in Montreal, Quebec with his family.

Bruno St-Aubin began his career at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. After receiving a scholarship, he began work at Metamorphosis magazine. After returning to Canada, he enrolled at Concordia University in their animation courses. Since 1988, Mr. St-Aubin has illustrated over 50 children's books. Mr. St-Aubin resides in Quebec with his family.

A young boy named Nicholas plays the central character in The Best Goalie Ever. Nicholas' dad asks Nicholas if he's interested in playing net for his team the following day, and Nicholas says "yes". His dad, tucking him into bed, wishes him a good night, and it suddenly dawns on Nicholas that he has never stopped a puck in life!

Nicholas spends the entire night thinking about being a goaltender, and he stays up all night worrying about stopping pucks. As you may know, athletes need their sleep to perform at their highest level, so Nicholas needed to get his sleep. Before he knew it, Nicholas' dad was getting him out of bed and he hadn't slept a wink! What would happen to Nicholas? Would he be able to help his team win despite being completely exhausted?

The 32-page book is an excellent story about preparing for a big game, and it is a good example of why children need their sleep - a message that parents routinely tell their children when sending them to bed! The story is humourous, and will make children laugh and smile when they read about Nicholas' goaltending debut. The pictures are colourful and vivid, and they help in bringing this story to life.

This book is definitely for readers between the ages of three to eight years-old due to its easy-to-read writing, and would be a good start for any child who is breaking into reading. The Best Goalie Ever takes a message that parents are trying to instill in their children, and makes it fun while avoiding the "nagging" that children sometimes tune out. Because of this, The Best Goalie Ever certainly deserves the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval, and comes highly recommended for all youngsters.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Neutering The Ferocious

I'm glad I have a red Florida Panthers jersey before it went extinct in this world. If you have a red Panthers jersey, kids, tuck it away because it is officially a collector's item at this point. I don't think you'll ever see the Florida Panthers go back to red after they unveiled their new alternate jersey tonight against the Penguins. You'd have a better chance of seeing a baby blue Panthers jersey than a red one at this point in the franchise's history. But I digress as we're here to rip apart examine their new threads. As the title of this article states, I was seriously underwhelmed by this effort. There are good elements in this jersey, but I think you'll come away like I did: disappointed, frustrated, and having more questions than satisfaction.

The Panthers, as you may be aware, already have a blue home jersey. There is something seriously wrong with NHL teams that create a third jersey in the same primary colour as one of their current jerseys. I'm thinking a distinct lack of imagination, but it could be other reasons. In any case, you can clearly see that yellow and red are accent colours for the Panthers, so there should be no mistaking what colours are in their scheme, right?

So I ask you, dear readers, where do they find the light blue?!? What is with the NHL's sudden obsession with light blue? Pittsburgh brought back their light blue alternates with great success. Atlanta decided to go light blue at home, and that design is still ridiculed throughout theleague. And then we had Colorado just a few weeks ago making their alternate jerseys into a celebration of baby blue. So, if you're the Panthers, why not follow the trend?

Here's a newsflash, Florida Panthers: YOU'RE NOT LIGHT BLUE.

Aside from the Penguins alternate jersey, the other two teams were oh-fer-two. You've now made it oh-fer-three, Florida Panthers, by joining the baby blue revolution. This is almost as bad as the teal influx into the league when San Jose joined as an expansion team. This had better be the last team to adopt baby blue as a "new" colour in their colour scheme, or I'm going to snap.

In terms of the design, there are a couple of things that I like. The new logo has been turned into an old-time logo by simplifying the panther's face and adding the circle around it. Yes, it bothers me that the whiskers are now gone, but the logo is admittedly a decent effort as a redesign. Could it have been more? Yes, definitely. You'd expect a more cartoonish logo on an AHL team, but the Panthers need to attract some new fans because the old ones are dressing like empty seats. And that's not good for the health of the franchise.

I'm not sure what effect that the new shoulder patch is supposed to be making, but perhaps they want to draw in the seniors and Canadian snowbirds with their TV morning show-like patch. Look, I get that these jerseys are supposed to be "new" and "different", but these seem half-assed right now, especially in light of what should have been.

The rear font moves away from their normal look, and throws in some useless Nashville Predators-esque lettering along with goofy block numbering. This is a weak effort, and it's going to be hell for jersey customization when considering names like "Clemmensen" or "McCabe".

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little too harsh. I mean, we haven't even seen them in action yet. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long as the Panthers took to the ice in Miami wearing their new jerseys.

The list of positives will be short. Again, we see a team break out the lace-up collar. I get that an old-time hockey jersey looks a little more vintage with the lace-up collar, but I'm starting to tire of it. It seems as though every team has at least one set of jerseys that have a lace-up collar.

Referee Kevin Pollack takes an up-close-and-personal look at Keith Ballard's new logo. While it would take some keen eyes to spot the whiskers missing at full speed, the new logo works on an elementary level. It looks clean and crisp despite being anatomically inaccurate. While I'm still not entirely sold on this logo, the fact that it looks like a panther while the players are moving means that it is doing its job.

That "Wake Up Florida" shoulder logo, however, doesn't even come close to their normal secondary logo. The palm tree-hockey stick logo actually makes one think of hockey in warm weather. If the Florida Panthers want to attract more youthful fans, they should stick with their classic logos, and stay away from the morning talk show logos. The new shoulder patch just looks dumb in game action. And to make matters worse, the Panthers are also wearing the logo on their breezers.

It still astounds me that the Panthers refused to go back to a red primary colour. This is exactly how I refer to the Panthers when I think of them, and it was helped by their Stanley Cup run in 1996. So how good would Tomas Vokoun look in a red jersey with his crimson red pads as opposed to the new alternate jersey? With Vokoun already wearing red pads this season in combination with his red-accented navy jersey, why can't anyone from the Panthers see how good that looks? There would be enough stripes on the alternate jersey if they used the same design that the monochrome look would be broken up. To me, a red alternate jersey would be a no-brainer in this case.

Also noticeable in this image is the single-colour lettering and numbering. Very clear white-on-navy blue font makes it easy to read. The Predators-style lettering isn't visible whatsoever, so it appears that they may be another useless addition.

I like the aesthetic that the socks create in terms of the dark over light look. It appears on a quick glance that the Panthers have their socks pulled up to the bottom of the knees. There's good striping on the socks as well, so everything is defined very clearly. Again, I'm not sold on the baby blue, though, so there is still some tweaking that could be done.

In saying this, there is little joy in Miami tonight. The Penguins defeated the Panthers 3-2 in overtime, and there is little to be excited about in terms of how the Panthers' new look. Sure, they scored a few points with their logo, their socks, and the legible font, but there are so many drawbacks to this alternate design.

All we are saying is give red a chance. It's part of your colour scheme, Florida, and you should be embracing it. The Panthers looked ferocious in red. They look tame in navy and light blues. And nothing is worse in a vicious catfight than cat with no moxie.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Best Jersey Per City

As you may know, this blog gets a lot of inspiration from around the Interwebs, particularly a little site known as Uni Watch Blog. Paul Lukas and Phil Hecken write phenomenal articles covering all sports, and they seem to have an appreciation for the aesthetics in the game of hockey. A commenter posted an interesting thought the other day, and I've decided that it might be something I can spin for this blog. We'll get to the comment in a second, but how many people have actually given thought to how many jerseys a particular city has seen? For example, the city of Denver, Colorado saw the Avalanche wear a number of different jerseys when one considers design changes and colour changes, but what about the Rockies? They wore some distinctive sweaters as well. That's what we'll focus on today: the best singular jersey per NHL city.

Now, the comment came from a gentleman named "Beardface", and it went as follows:

"You know what would be a fun project… Coming up with a list of the best possible uniform for each team in the NFL. Use any uniform in their past and choose the best one. now, of course, you’d have teams like Carolina where you have the default, but that would be a fun project, don’t you think?"

A fun project for sure, but I think it would be more interesting if we narrowed this down to NHL cities. With that knowledge, it will be far easier to include defunct teams that currently house NHL teams. Places like Denver and Minneapolis will have their former teams taken into consideration when examining those cities.

Essentially, what I'm doing is establishing an identity for that city based upon my own personal choices of what I like. There will be a few asterisks in this quick examination as well:

• WHA franchises, although not recognized in NHL history, will be recognized here.
• New York City and Long Island will be considered separate entities for the purpose of the examination. This relates back to the first asterisk in that the New York-based WHA team can and will be included in the potential choices.
• NHL teams that lasted less than one full decade without having the NHL re-establish a team in that city will not be considered. My condolences to Kansas City, Cleveland, Hamilton, and Oakland as those cities never saw the NHL return after their first short era in the National Hockey League. This also removes the majority of the WHA teams where the NHL never set up shop.

Ok, let's get down to business here. Remember that these are my personal choices for the best jersey ever worn in that city by a professional hockey team. This is not scientific, nor is it objective. I'm ok if you want to agree or disagree, and I encourage you to post your thoughts in the comments. Here we go.

• Anaheim: Say what you want, but I liked the eggplant jersey worn from 1993-06.
• Atlanta: The Thrashers have dressed pretty poorly, so I'm going with the 1977-80 Atlanta Flames jersey featuring the player's name on the rear.
• Boston: I wasn't around for the first time they wore the sweaters, but the 1993 throwback jerseys worn by the Bruins are still one of my favorite looks of all-time.
• Buffalo: Seeing Pat Lafontaine flying down the ice with all those yellow stripes on that blue uniform that the Sabres wore from 1987-96 is a thing of beauty.
• Calgary: Despite the Atlanta Flames and Calgary Flames looking identical, I still can see Theo Fleury pumping his fists as he slides across the ice in these jerseys that they wore from 1981-94.
• Carolina (Raleigh): The red Hurricanes jersey used from 2000-07 had an awesome glitter effect in the silver. It's the only one I think of when I refer to the Hurricanes.
• Chicago: I never get tired of the Blackhawks' red jerseys, but the jerseys worn from 1996-99 with the smaller, even hem stripes is a thing of beauty.
• Colorado (Denver): The darker colours used by Starter from 1996-99 on the Avalanche jerseys is how I'll always remember them.
• Columbus: I actually really like their current dark blue home uniforms. Classy and simple.
• Dallas: Dallas always will be the star-patterned jersey that they used from 1998-2003. It just makes sense.
• Detroit: The Big Red Machine always sticks out in my mind, but the 1986-2007 red jerseys were the symbol of hockey perfection.
• Edmonton: Despite all the history they have in blue-and-orange and blue-and-copper, it's actually the Todd McFarlane-designed alternate jersey that they wore from 2001-07 that I really like. It was noticeable on the ice.
• Florida (Miami): I really liked the red jerseys worn from 1998-2003. The vertically-arched name on the back and the deep red colour make this their best jersey to date.
• Hartford: I'm gonna get slagged for this one, but the dark blue Whalers jersey worn from 1992-97 is still my favorite.
• Los Angeles: The Wayne Gretzky era still ranks highly for me, so the 1992-95 silver-and-black jersey is my personal favorite.
• Minnesota (Minneapolis/St. Paul): No disrespect to the Wild's green jersey, but the North Stars' jersey worn from 1992-95 is still my favorite from that city. The stars down the side of the pants only make it even better.
• Montreal: I grew up seeing the 1984-97 Habs jersey everyday, so it's been burned into my mind.
• Nashville: The more I examined the legacy of the Predators, the more I realized that I didn't really like any of their designs due to some basic design stupidity. Letters that cross stripes and apron strings make it hard to appreciate how their jerseys look because it's such an eyesore. However, the white jerseys worn from 2005-07 without the captaincy designations are probably their best to date.
• New Jersey (Newark/East Rutherford): Merry Christmas! The green-and-red jerseys from 1982-92 are how the Devils should look all the time.
• New York (Long Island): I know you're all probably thinking that I'd choose this jersey, but I'm not. The 1978-84 road jersey represented the best times on the Island. I'm going with that one.
• New York (NYC): As much as I wanted to choose the patriotic stars-and-stripes of the Brooklyn Americans, the home jersey worn from 1990-96 is entirely NYC. Winning the Stanley Cup in 1994 at MSG also helps burn that image into one's mind.
• Ottawa: Senators fans probably won't agree with me, but sweaters worn in 1930-31 with the "O" in the middle were simply awesome. Thick stripes look so much better than thin stripes on a jersey.
• Philadelphia: The little nuances of the 1984-97 road jersey make the Flyers look so much better. The little sleeve stripe, the small hem stripe, and the gigantic area of orange with the logo in the middle make this my favorite look for the big, bad Flyers.
• Phoenix: Don't get me wrong in that I'm not saying I don't like the current red brick jerseys. I do. They're simple and classy. The problem is that I watched the Coyotes move into the desert with their southwest motif jerseys, so the 1997-2003 home jersey is what I remember best.
• Pittsburgh: Two Stanley Cups and one of the most dominant teams of the early-1990s says "no contest" for the 1988-92 road jersey.
• Quebec (Quebec City): Nothing is finer than the 1991-95 road jersey of the Nordiques. Simply one of the best looks of all-time.
• St. Louis: The darker blue on the road jerseys worn from 1992-94 is still my favorite look for the St. Louis Blues. I almost went with the St. Louis Eagles here, but the Blues still do have that very iconic look.
• San Jose: When the Sharks broke into the league, they were all about the teal. They essentially captured one colour, and used it to sell hundreds of thousands of jerseys. Why mess with a good thing? I still love the 1991-97 road jerseys.
• Tampa: The 1993-94 home jerseys are still my favorite due to what's on the back. The italicized font was ahead of its time, and really gave Tampa Bay something unique. If only for one season.
• Toronto: There is so much good about the blue road uniforms worn from 1992-97. The old-time Leafs shoulder logo, the throwback striping, and that vivid blue-and-white make this the jersey I refer to when thinking about the Leafs.
• Vancouver: Vancouver hasn't been the same to me since they abandoned their original colour scheme. The old logo and yellow-and-red on the black road uniforms used from 1992-95 looked really sharp.
• Washington: We're going to forget that period where the Capitals lost their minds and went away from the red-white-and-blue. The jerseys used from 1987-95 had so much right with them.
• Winnipeg: When the Jets moved away from John Ferguson's New York Ranger-esque design, they instantly became a better looking team. From 1990-96, the blue Jets jerseys were the standard for all things related to the NHL in Winnipeg.

So there are my subjective picks as to how I fondly regard each team. Again, these are my choices and nothing more. I encourage you to debate and/or offer other suggestions in the comments. I'm not saying I'm right, and maybe there's a jersey I forgot that should take the place of one of my choices. Either way, let the debate begin as to what jersey you think should represent the city.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

AHL News Lines

With the AHL schedule finally starting to balance out so that some teams haven't played a dozen more games than others, there are some impressive things happening in the minor professional ranks as AHL teams prepare their players for the Calder Cup Playoffs and, ultimately, a roster spot in the NHL. There are also a number of teams that have put up some impressive numbers thus far. Knowing this, let's take a look into the AHL this week.

• While the Texas Stars have the most points in the AHL right now, the Rochester Americans are still steamrolling through their competition. The Amerks have an impressive 0.853 winning percentage, and have compiled a 14-2-1-0 record through 17 games thus far. After opening the season 1-1-1-0, the Amerks have gone 13-1 with that lone loss coming at the hands of the Portland Pirates.
• How are the Amerks doing it? Balanced scoring, great goaltending, and solid defensive efforts. The Amerks have nine players in double-digits for scoring, and have six players with five goals or more. Czech goaltender Alexander Salak has been outstanding for Rochester, putting up a record of 11-1-0 this season, adding an outstanding 1.88 GAA and .938 save percentage to back up that record. After a sub-par season last season, Rochester is back with a vengeance this season.
• One team who has turned their fortunes around is the Grand Rapids Griffins. After starting the season 1-4, the Griffins have gone 11-1-0-0 in their last ten games. With the least number of games played in the North Division, leap-frogging both the Abbotsford Heat and the Manitoba Moose shouldn't be a problem if the Griffins can continue their hot streak. Former Toronto Marlies Jeremy Williams and Kris Newbury are leading the Griffins in scoring, while goaltender Daniel Larsson is leading the charge with his 7-2-0 record.
• The Manitoba Moose got some added firepower this week as the Anaheim Ducks sent forward Erik Christensen to Winnipeg for a reconditioning stint. That move was followed by the Vancouver Canucks reassigning forward Matt Pettinger to the Moose as well. All of a sudden, the Moose are flush with talented centermen. Christensen, wearing #17, scored in his Moose debut last night against the Hamilton Bulldogs, helping the Moose to a 5-3 win over their North Division rivals.
• The Boston Bruins made a couple of moves to help bolster the Providence Bruins this week. First, they reassigned Brad Marchand to the P-Bruins, and they followed that move up by placing Trent Whitfield on waivers with the purpose of sending him to Providence as well. I'm not sure how Whitfield's stock has dropped since he was with St. Louis, but he clearly isn't fitting into Boston's plans.
• Corey Locke of the Hartford Wolf Pack continues to lead the AHL in scoring, having posted 29 points in 19 games. Alexandre Giroux is on his heels as he has 24 points in 14 games. Brandon Bochenski of the Norfolk Admirals leads the AHL in goal-scoring with 12 goals in 21 games. Goaltender Brent Krahn of the Texas Stars has the best GAA at 1.20 this season. His 0.964 save percentage is also tops in the AHL.
• The Hershey Bears are leading the AHL in attendance. The Bears are averaging 9097 fans per game in their seven home games thus far. The Manitoba Moose sit second with an average of 6885 fans per game, while the Grand Rapids Griffins sit third with 6412 fans per game. On the flip side, Lowell draws the least amount of fans with 2001 per game. Toronto is second with a mere 2695 fans showing up to watch the Marlies. It shocks me that a city that boasts how it can support a second NHL team won't even come out to watch the future Leafs play. Then again, Toronto doesn't support anyone unless they are named the "Maple Leafs".

There are a few news stories coming from the AHL this week. More info coming up in Antler Banter this week, including a look at the two games against Hamilton this weekend. Get out and check out an AHL game, kids. It's great fun, and you get a chance to see all the next stars of the NHL before they make it big!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Friends In Incredible Places

I have spoken about my good friend, Michael, on a few occasions before. Michael and I worked together, we've played hockey together, and we're still friends to this day. Both of us have a burning passion for the game of hockey, and we try to get together when our schedules allow for some brews and hockey on the tube. Because we chat about hockey often, Mike and I routinely have great conversations about the game. Mike, however, writes an incredible music blog called Ear To The Sound because he also has an incredible passion for music and the music industry.

Without speaking too much about how Mike got knee-deep into music, I will tell you this: Michael is the Program Director for UMFM, the student-run radio station at the University of Manitoba. He hosts a weekly radio show on UMFM called Thank God It's Free Range, and he regularly has a solid lineup of musical talent and guests on his show. You can check out who is coming up on his show by hitting his show's blog - something entirely cool if you like independent music and awesome interviews.

And that's why I'm talking about him today. Michael asked me to submit a few questions for his most recent interview with Stephen Brunt, reporter for the Globe & Mail, and author of successful books like Searching For Bobby Orr and, most recently, Gretzky's Tears.

The interview itself is nearly 35 minutes long, and Michael asks a lot of questions about the book, the trade that sent Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, and everyone surrounding the most famous trade in NHL history. Mr. Brunt gives an excellent interview, and his insight into one of the more famous moments in hockey history is astounding. If you're interested in listening to it, you can hear it here on this nifty little audio player.

I have to thank Michael for sending me the audio of the interview. Michael, you're a true friend, and you're welcome on HBIC any time you like. Thanks for allowing me to send you a few questions, and thanks for taking the time to ask them to Mr. Brunt.

I also want to thank Mr. Brunt for answering my questions, and for a very informative interview. Gretzky's Tears is on the list of books that Teebz's Book Club will be acquiring shortly, and you've made the story sound all the more interesting. You have a guaranteed sale here, Mr. Brunt!

Lastly, I want to thank the readers who took the time to listen to Mr. Brunt's informative and insightful interview. I hope you gained a better perspective of what actually was going down during the time of "the trade", and I encourage you to check out Gretzky's Tears or one of Mr. Brunt's other books.

Just before I call it an evening, I do want to throw a shout out to Captain Canuck. He correctly answered the most questions right, and will be receiving the copy of Canadiens Legends: Montreal's Hockey Heroes along with a Montreal Canadiens keychain compliments of WholesaleKeychain.com. Congratulations, Captain Canuck!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!