Category: Uncategorized

Friday blog-keeping

Okay, among this afternoon’s blog-related items of note:

1. I finally installed a “Commenter Ignore Button,” [edit/update: which we will try on an interim basis /end edit]. If you click a little “X” next to the name of the commenter with whom you have a philosophical disagreement, that commenter should be ignored. If you have any bugs with the plug-in, please let me know as there are several “ignore” plug-in available on WordPress;

2. Ideally, I would like to keep everybody around community-wise, which should be easier with an “ignore” button…

But there were 20 comments that didn’t make the cut due to what WordPress flagged as inappropriate content while I was ill, and when I go through them, I may find some information that requires me to “prune the tree.” I don’t want to do it, but there are some basic rules of decency and polite discourse which apply to everybody. As I’ve said previously, I’m running a benevolent dictatorship here, not a democracy:

3. Regarding the website design and logo design, this is the LAST LAST CALL for any ideas. I’m looking for a 500 px by 150 px “banner” and a 150 px by 150 px “seal” logo…and web design-wise, I’ve got two people who’ve stepped up, but I’ll listen to pitches.

It’s time to get to some fan voting and get that shit done. The logo that ends up getting used will afford me the ability to both make the blog easier to read and to get some business cards to spread the word about the new blog…

4. I am very proud of the fact that I’m earning over a hundred bucks a month thanks to generous readers in terms of crowdfunding, but my goal remains to make $800-to-$1,000 a month (which ain’t all that much, all things considered) without having to resort to embedding ads on the page.

Now that I’m back at 100%, I believe that it’s time to remind you that http://www.patreon/themalikreport and http://paypal.me/themalikreport are available means by which you can support the blog.

I’m not asking for much by today’s standards–I’ll take any denomination from a buck on up, and $5 or $10 would be awesome–but there are about 400 of you who follow the blog on a daily basis, and I need to make a successful pitch to about 200 of you at the $5 level to honestly make this work over the long haul.

It sucks to have to ask for money, but that’s the way this model works, and I’ll have to start asking on a more regular basis. I don’t expect funds to increase by more than $5 or $10 at a a time, but by the end of the year, I’d really like to be making what is a livable wage for me.

Again, if you’re not willing or able to contribute, the best thing I can possibly ask you to do is to tell a friend or family member that this blog exists!

5. Speaking of crowdfunding, I’m going to head to Grand Rapids tomorrow to attend the Griffins’ regular-season finale against the Cleveland Monsters. Gas and supplies for the 240-mile round trip cost about $50, so if you’re willing to lend a hand, cool. Either way, this will be the first of what I hope are many trips to Grand Rapids this spring (and maybe one or two to Toledo?).

This was an awful year health-wise and a difficult year $-wise, so I didn’t get to games as I’d hoped, but I hope to make up for that during the spring playoff runs, the hockey gods willing.

6. Also in the content department, I’m still considering whether to do Wings grades as I don’t want to generate disagreement for the sake of discussion. Thus far, the MSM grades have generated a fair bit of vehement disagreement, but very little in the way of discussion.

As far as I’m concerned, the only way to grade a team with stats as bad as the Wings had this past season and with contracts as bad as the Wings had this past season is to “grade on a curve,” because there are only one or two players who fulfill the expectations created by their contracts, and on a team that had a season’s worth of negatives in the statistical department like the Wings…Things ain’t pretty.

7. Those are all the thoughts on my mind at present (blog-wise)…If you have any concerns, regarding the comments section, regarding content, you name it, please send me a Tweet, Facebook message or email. I respond most quickly to emails and Tweets, and in the constructive criticism and/or venting-about-so-and-so instances, privacy can empower a reader to weigh in with their concerns.

Fox 2: Murray Howe to appear in Westland this Saturday to promote, “Nine Lessons I Learned From My Father”

From Fox 2 Detroit:

Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, inspired many during his time here with us.

But not more than he inspired his own son, Dr. Murray Howe.

Dr. Howe joins FOX 2 to talk about a new book he’s written called “Nine Lessons I Learned From My Father.”

You can attend the Murray Howe Gordie Howe Book Presentation & Signing at 2 p.m. Saturday at Waltonwood Cherry Hill, 42600 Cherry Hill Rd. in Canton.

RSVP by calling (734) 335-1199

Here’s the video of Howe speaking with Ryan Ermanni:

 

Givani Smith responds to racist taunts on the scoresheet

Red Wings prospect Givani Smith posted a Tweet from “Herrle’s Farm Market” of all places, and it sounds like undignified fan behavior took place during last night’s Kitchener Rangers-Sarnia Sting game (in which Smith scored a goal and added an assist in Kitchener’s 5-3 win):

I don’t have any further details regarding last night’s incident, and to say the least, racist taunts are just disgusting and unacceptable…

And instead, the London Free Press’s Ryan Pyette reports that Smith played great hockey last night:

The Sting have a major Givani Smith headache right now. There isn’t enough Tylenol in the world to make him go away.

The Kitchener power forward threw his team on his back in the third period Thursday, turning a tied contest to the Rangers favour with a late goal and assist to wrestle back home-ice advantage with a 5-3 Game 4 victory before 4,289 Thursday at Progressive Auto Sales Arena. The best-of-seven OHL Western Conference semifinal is tied 2-2.

“He’s a big man,” Sarnia associate coach David Legwand said of Smith. “He can make plays down there (in the offensive zone). I thought we did a good job in the series so far (against him). Obviously tonight didn’t go the way we wanted. The first four games don’t mean anything now. Go to Kitch and win a hockey game (Friday).”

Sting centre Drake Rymsha, drilled from behind by Smith on his opening shift, tried to go after him at the final buzzer. Smith had everyone riled up, as usual. If you’re looking for him, he’s usually parked right in front of Sting goalie Justin Fazio, jabbing at him with his stick.

“He loves it,” Kitchener coach Jay McKee said. “I wish he enjoyed it less. We had the refs come over and talk to us about him many times — just stuff in between whistles. My response is that’s what we traded for. We wanted an energy guy who gets in the heads of other guys and he plays hard.”

McKee and Sarnia coach Derian Hatcher spent most of their hockey careers trying to stop players like Smith. It’s emotionally, mentally and physically draining.

“He can wear you down, especially junior (d-men) because of how he’s built,” McKee said. “We saw him a lot when he played with Guelph and our guys didn’t enjoy playing against him.”

Pyette continues…

Team USA prepares for the Under-18 World Championship, and all Russia has to offer

The Plymouth Observer’s Tim Smith penned an excellent article regarding the U.S. Under-18 team, which is heading to Magnitogorsk, Russia to participate in the Under-18 World Championship:

After reaching the first of two top-notch hotels the U.S. team will stay in while in Russia, players will be urged to kick back before kicking it up once they reach the rink.

“It’s going to be a little bit different,” [Drew] DeRidder said. “The food’s not going to be great. It’s going to be a little bit different atmosphere than what I’m used to here. You just got to eat the food, stay hydrated (by drinking bottled water), stay rested and make sure we’re doing everything we need to do.”

USA Hockey will make sure players stick to the script as much as possible, already having gone to great lengths to reassure players and their families that they’ll be safe.

One area of previous concern was a reported cloud of radiation hovering over much of Europe, but the all-clear sign was given several weeks ago.

“A few kids were worried about it, but I’m not worried about it anymore and the coaches have done a good job keeping us informed and telling us it’s not a problem,” DeRidder said. “I trust them. They’re not going to bring us somewhere where we’re going to be in any harm or anything like that.”

Continued…

Two video things: McCollum stops and some “Friday Funnies” + Tweets of note

Of multimedia-related note this afternoon:

1. The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a clip of two sequences of saves made by Tom McCollum during the Griffins’ 6-2 win over Texas last night…

2. And the Red Wings posted a “Friday Funnies” video…

FYI on Twitter:

 

MLive’s Khan issues Wings grades

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James have posted their 2017-18 Red Wings grades, and this morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan joins the mix.

Among Khan’s marks and remarks:

Jimmy Howard
W-L-OT: 22-27-9, GAA: 2.85, Save percentage: .910
Contract: One year remaining at a $5.3 million cap hit.
He started well and had some good stretches but lacked consistency and posted the worst goals-against average of his career while his save percentage declined from .927 last season. None of the goalies in the system are close to being NHL-ready, so the club might sign Howard to a short-term extension before next summer.

Khan continues…

Grand Rapids Griffins beat San Antonio via pairs of goals from McIlrath, Shine

The Grand Rapids Griffins are keeping their collective foot on the team’s gas pedal as the regular season winds down.

Dylan McIlrath and Dominik Shine scored 2 goals apiece, Filip Hronek scored, Libor Sulak registered his first assist and Tom McCollum stopped 36 of 38 shots as the Griffins won 6-2 over the San Antonio Rampage on Thursday night.

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

Continue reading Grand Rapids Griffins beat San Antonio via pairs of goals from McIlrath, Shine

Prospect playoff round-up: Fulcher’s Bulldogs advance to OHL conference final; Smith scores for Kitchener; Cholowski’s Winterhawks on the brink

Of playoff-related note:

In the OHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 30 of 32 shots as his Hamilton Bulldogs won 4-2 over the Niagara IceDogs. Fulcher was named the game’s 3rd star…

And the Bulldogs advanced to the OHL’s Western Conference Final, winning their second-round series in 5 games;

Elsewhere in the OHL, Givani Smith scored the game-winning goal and added an assist, finishing at +2 on 5 shots as his Kitchener Rangers won 5-3 over the Sarnia Sting.

Kitchener tied the teams’ second-round series at 2 games apiece, and you can watch highlights from the game here;

In the WHL, the Portland Winterhawks loaded up for what they anticipated would be a long playoff run, but the Everett Silvertips are a game away from taking Portland out.

Dennis Cholowski finished at -1 with 4 shots as his Winterhawks lost 3-1 to Everett, which now leads the teams’ second-round series 3 games to 1.

 

97.1 the Ticket’s Samuelssen weighs in on Ken Holland’s ‘mission’

97.1 the Ticket’s Jamie Samuelssen penned a lengthy column this morning, discussing Red Wings GM Ken Holland’s “mission” now that he’s been re-signed as Detroit’s general manager.

Samuelssen suggests that Holland is in fact attempting to maintain the “culture” of the Red Wings, over-reliance upon home-grown veterans included, until Steve Yzerman can eventually leave the Tampa Bay Lightning:

Has it worked? On the ice, the answer is obviously no. But after years of playing the short game – trading draft picks and young prospects for quick fix veterans – Holland is trying the long game. He is actually using the word “rebuild” in everyday sentences after seasons of dismissing them as too costly, too time-consuming and not nearly fruitful enough.

The Red Wings are a talent-poor organization right now, but Holland did flip Tomas Tatar for a first-round draft pick and said after the season that next year’s team would have as many as four or five new faces on it including, yes, promising prospects like Michael Rasmussen, Evgeny Svechnikov and Joe Hicketts.

Holland has been with the Red Wings since 1983 so he knows the good and the bad of the NHL. He also knows how hard it is to win and how nearly impossible it is to win consistently. I don’t believe that his goal is to make it hard on the younger players. I do think that he wants them to know just how hard it is and just how lucky they are to play for the Red Wings.

He does all this knowing that his logical successor, Yzerman, is entering the final year of his contract as the general manager for Tampa Bay, a team favored to win the Stanley Cup this spring. That’s why the two-year contract that Holland signed is notable. It gives him at least one full season to push this thing in the right direction. And either he can continue to see it through, or he can hand it over to Yzerman, who certainly knows a thing or two about the Red Wing Way.

Holland was thought to be one of the best executives in sports a decade ago. Guys like that don’t forget how to do the job. I don’t know what the next few years hold for him and given the current state of the team, it may not include a deep playoff run. So his accolades and accomplishments (ones that will certainly land him in the Hockey Hall of Fame) may be complete.

He wants to win. He knows that’s what the fans want as well. But I also think he is now driven to leave this organization so that the young players coming up know what it means to be a Red Wing. And it still means something to be a Red Wing.

Samuelssen continues, and I’ve remained impressed by the Red Wings players and even the coach’s unshakeable faith in the concept that the Red Wings’ winning culture is something that can’t be abandoned, even when you’re losing more games than you win…

But I have to disagree regarding the concept that the Tampa Bay Lightning’s GM is going to return to bring the franchise out of the wilderness. I just don’t see Yzerman leaving until the Lightning win the Stanley Cup, if he leaves Tampa Bay at all.

We can agree to disagree, of course…but I don’t see Yzerman coming back, not in a year, not two, not five and not ten.

 

Two Things: Nielsen on Danish Worlds; Marek and Friedman talk about Zetterberg’s longevity

Of brief Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff spoke with Frans Nielsen about the fact that the 2018 World Championship is being held in Nielsen’s home country, Denmark:

“It’s a big deal, something I think everyone is looking forward to,” Detroit Red Wings center Nielsen said. “They sold a lot of tickets. It seems like they’ve got a bit of a hockey fever coming there. You don’t see that every day.

“It’s good to see and hopefully we can get hockey even more on the map in Denmark, so we can get even more kids to play.”

There are just 27 hockey arenas in the entire nation, so for Denmark to welcome the hockey world to town is indeed a unique opportunity.

“We are starting to produce a lot of good NHL players,” Nielsen said. “It’s impressive what they do with the youth work back there. I think the next step for us is getting more rinks so more kids can play.”

Duff continues;

2. And among the topics addressed by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman during their “31 Thoughts” podcast, which is over an hour long:

45:39 Will Henrik Zetterberg be back for another season? He plays every game for the Red Wings, competes hard and sets an example like few others in the league. But how much longer will he play?

You can listen to the podcast here.