Breakdowns
Will Work For 2009 NHL Playoff Hockey!
Now I know that sounds a bit more negative than one would think – but its not, and I’ll explain! I love Hockey – its my life, I think you all know this by now. I am going to offer you all a special chance of a lifetime! I will be willing to become an ambassador of your business, product or service for the low price of trips to the 2009 NHL Playoff Games.
Here is how it works: I will wear your company shirt, uniform, or whatever you require employees to wear at your company and walk around talking to everyone I can about your product or service. I will then do everything I can to get on camera with your logo (I have ways, plus, I know what they look for.) Then, after all that “face to face” time is over I will blog about your company and my trip and experience working the 2009 NHL Playoffs for you.
My blog – www.dailydeke.com has a solid fan base and has been growing its readership over the past year. I also host a weekly podcast “The Weekly Deke” (or TWeekD as we so affectionately refer to it) where myself, Brian Schrembs from Saucerpass.com, Judy from BigWhinyDefenseman.com, Sandi Lincoln (our TWeekD Official Hockey Mom) from SandiLincoln.com and our fearless and genious-like producer Chris Roberts all chime in with our take on the NHL, Players and everything Hockey.
Its a win / win situation … I get to be part of the best game on earth played live and you get people who are at that game hearing about your company, seeing your company represented however you want it represented.
If you thinking about sending someone to an NHL Playoff game this year as a representative of your brand – who better than a die-hard NHL Hockey fan? Please drop me a line to discuss this amazing opportunity – bill.brister70 {at} Gmail {dot} com
2009 NHL Playoff Tweet Up
In less than 2 weeks we will be entering the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. 16 teams will battle out “Best Of 7 Series” and will eliminate or be eliminated on their quest to hoist the most coveted trophy in any sport. The Stanley Cup! This year the NHL and the fans of this awesome sport are holding the first ever “NHL Playoff Tweet Up” – On April 15th, 2009 there will be 15 parties going on all around North America celebrating the first puck drop of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Here is a list of host cities -
Boston
Chicago
Columbus
Denver
Edmonton
Hartford
New York
Orlando
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Regina
San Jose
St John
Vancouver
Toronto
If you want to see what plans have been made, head over to www.nhltweetup.com or, you can also follow the conversation on Twitter for up to date info and new announcements – @NHLTweetUp – if you want to host a party, enter your city and post the details about the event. You can see my post about the party I am throwing here – NHL Tweet Up Orlando … We will be throwing this party at the Celebration Town Tavern on Wednesday April 15th, 2009 starting around 5:30pm! I look forward to seeing everyone there!
2009 NHL Playoff Predictions
Yesterday Clint started the conversation off by giving us his predictions as to who he thinks will be in the playoffs in 2 weeks. Brian and I quickly threw in our two cents and here is the result. Now, before you start jumping and screaming as to “how could you pick …” – Lets see your line up! I think this could be fun … in the comment section lay out your East and West Conference playoff teams and whoever is closest, well, I’ll think of something … Maybe I’ll give you bragging rights on The Weekly Deke podcast – you can come on one Tuesday night and tell us all how silly we are for choosing who we chose! But until then … put your money where your mouth is! I look forward to seeing who wants to play …
Here are our predictions for the playoffs -
| Bill | Clint | Brian |
|---|---|---|
| West 1. San Jose 2. Detroit 3. Vancouver 4. Chicago 5. St Louis 6. Nashville 7. Columbus 8. Minnesota (Yea … I am hopeful) |
West 1. Detroit 2. San Jose 3. Vancouver 4. Calgary 5. Chicago 6. Columbus 7. St Louis 8. Anaheim |
West 1. San Jose 2. Detroit 3. Flames 4. Vancouver 5. Chicago 6. Columbus 7. Oilers based on their goalie alone. 8. St Louis blues |
| East 1. Boston 2. Washington 3. New Jersey 4. Carolina 5. Philly 6. Pittsburgh 7. Florida 8. New York Rangers |
East 1. Boston 2. New Jersey 3. Washington 4. Philadelphia 5. Pittsburgh 6. Carolina 7. Montreal 8. New York Rangers |
East 1. Boston 2. New jersey 3. Washington 4. Philly 5. Pitts 6. rangers 7. Carolina 8. Florida |
NHLGameTag.com – Turn Every Game Into A Tweet-Up!
It all started about a month ago when I was at a Tampa Bay Lightning game. I was updating my Twitter account with thoughts, rants and missed scoring opportunities Tampa was blowing. As I looked around the arena I wondered who else was on Twitter, tweeting the game. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a website people could “check in” on game days? That was all I needed to come up with the basic idea for www.NHLGameTag.com – the basis of my idea came from Damien who created http://www.boarding.fr
I am not a veteran of the “Tweet-Up” (thats when a bunch of people on Twitter set aside 2 or 3 hours to get out from behind their keyboard and hang out somewhere, usually at an establishment that provides the refreshing beverages) but I have been to a couple and if I knew there were 4 or 5 other people on Twitter at the game, it would be cool to take 10 minutes during intermission and grab a beer with them.
The name “Game Tag” came to mind when I thought of this because in order to check in on Twitter a person has to use the hashtag #NHLGameTag – Click HERE to learn more about hashtags – I looked at URL’s like gametag.com or gametaggr.com and most were taken, then I thought, this is for hockey fans and hockey is NHL so I grabbed up the NHLGameTag.com URL and called up my fearless producer Chris Roberts and asked him to host the domain while I try to find people who will work for free!
Telling my story to a few friends I got the “Thats a cute idea, good luck with that whole “finding people to do free work” thing.” One of my friends here in town Teddy Benson from Bretheren Software told me that he could probably knock out a program that would do what I wanted in about a week. So with that off my plate I turned to the Social Network that is Twitter! My first message went out on Feb 26th around 4:14pm – it read “looking for a graphic designer to help on a simple project, logo and color style work. DM me for deets.” At 4:17pm I received a DM from @kicksave20 asking “Hey man, what are you looking for?”
I called and spoke to Ryan and within 5 minutes we had our tag line – “Make Every Game A Tweet-Up” and he was off to the races. Ryan told me he would throw some simple logo ideas together and he would be in touch with me. 3 days later I had my logo – Amazing, Fast and Awesome work! Next came the introduction from @whistler saying “@icejunkies hit up @theillustrator” … I introduced myself to Melissa, asked if it would be ok to chat on the phone. 15 minutes later – I had a webdesigner.
Within 5 days of thinking this idea up … I had a working model online that I could show people. I dont want to say I was “shocked” at how trusting and willing those people were who expressed interest in my project. I think the word I want to use is humbled. I had an idea, I asked for help and numerous people JUMPED forward to help. www.NHLGameTag.com came from my brain, the idea, the request … it would never have become a reality if it weren’t for Teddy, Ryan and Melissa … and everyone who uses it to connect with new Twitter friends at the games. I am looking forward to growing this and adding new functions. I think NHLGameTag.com could turn into something fun … we all just gotta use it!
We launched this past Sunday March 15th around 8pm … since then we have had over 350 visits, 1200 pageviews and people are listing the games they are attending. Thank you all so very much! We also got a quick write up over at KuklasKorner – Tweet Up The NHL
Please check out Teddy, Ryan and Melissa if you need anything done.
Teddy – Bretheren Software
Ryan – KickSave Design
Melissa – Melissa Lobach Design Studio
My Guest Post At Saucerpass.com
If you listen to my podcast every Tuesday night you’ll hear the quick witted Brian Schrembs from www.saucerpass.com entertain us with his knowledge and updates regarding all things Fantasy Hockey! Brian has been such an amazing addition to The Weekly Deke podcast -Brian helped me put together my post Hockey For The New Fan and asked me if I would write up something along those lines regarding Fantasy Hockey. It is now up at www.saucerpass.com and you can read it here – Fantasy Hockey For New Fans … have a read, leave a comment. If you have thought about trying out Fantasy Hockey ever … this might help.
Welcoming Two New Additions To The Deke
I would like to take a quick moment and introduce two new additions to the wonderful family I have here at The Deke. Over the past 6 months or so we have had a couple regulars join us in the chat room during The Weekly Deke podcast. Tom and Kate have contributed to the discussions in the chat room, in the comment section of the blog and have even sent me email with their thoughts and opinions. Last month I asked them if they would like to join The Deke as regular contributors and they both agreed – so … I introduce to you Tom (@Hockeyrocker) and Kate (@Avsluvr)
Take a moment to welcome them, and I look forward to their first posts … I asked them both to send me a quick and simple bio for this introduction so here ya go:
Kate:
Hi everyone, my name is Kate, aka Avsluvr to those on Twitter and Throwdown for those in FHL. I love all things hockey. Talking, watching and playing are three of my most favorite past times. My first NHL game was 1994 in Quebec, Ontario – Nordiques vs LA Kings, Nordiques won. Ever since, I’ve been a fan of the Avalanche and Joe Sakic. During 2004 NHL lockout, I learned to play ice hockey at a local rink, and assisted with their Junior hockey program. I became a Sharks fan when I met my fiancé and began regularly attending Sharks games. The Sharks are such an exciting team to watch, I couldn’t help but become a fan. So now I am an Avalanche lover and a Sharks fan. I am looking forward to contributing to the Daily Deke….TTFN.
Tom:
I believe in the Penalty Shot, and the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Although I experienced neither in my brief adult hockey career. It’s an awesome treat to live a slap shot away from the Pacific Ocean, and a 30 minutes drive to the rockin’ Shark Tank. Where, for the past 10 NHL seasons, I’ve been a fan of the San Jose Sharks, attending games regularly. My other interests are bicycling, travelling, and spending time with my hockey teammate and fiance, Kate.
Eklund To PuckDaddy : Hello Pot, This Is The Kettle!
So today I was shocked to get a message about some dude named Sean Leahy, a PuckDaddy blogger, went off and made a post on Saturday about Brian Burke using Twitter to express his thoughts. My first reaction to the Puck Daddy post was – “HUH, WHAT, NO!!!” Honestly, those 3 words were the only words I was able to form while reading the post by Sean Leahy. The following quote is where I fell off my chair – “‘Burke’ is brutally honest on Twitter just as he is in interviews.” Since all this proverbial mess has hit the fan today, Sean has tried to back pedal and posted an “update.” I’ll let you all filter through the mess … I just hope BrianBurke does not have to close down his Twitter account, I think his updates are HILARIOUS!
So Sean’s post is HERE … As you can see he does go through the post with quotes around the Brian Burke name, but my argument to Mr Leahy is why didn’t you end the post with a “J/K” or even a “Gotcha!” would have been sufficient. Blogging FAIL! Now, enter our “savior” (notice the quotes) Eklund the Anonymous Hockey Blogger! *que superhero theme* … he goes onto post “I just spoke to Brian Burke regarding an article that came out on the PuckDaddy Blog this past Saturday on Yahoo.com … The Article is entitled “Follow the thought process of Brian Burke on Twitter”and is 100% bogus and has the Gm rightfully pissed off.”
What I find insane in Eklund’s post is first off – He called to confirm!!! Seriously, all you had to do is look at the Twitter account of “BrianBurke” and you would see the a URL that links to DownGoesBrown – a blog, written by a blogger, who blogs about Hockey! Now, secondly, Eklund goes on to preach to Mr Leahy :
“Greg and everyone at PuckDaddy should know better. Regardless of your intent, whether or not you believed that this was actually Brian Burke writing here, you gave no indication to the readers that you weren’t sure and reporting these “tweets” as quotes from Burke is not only morally bereft, it could cause further issues…Believe it or not, you can’t just massage a story to further an agenda…Well you can, but sooner or later it catches up to you in one way or another.”
I think what Eklund means by “one way or another” is when he was busted for plagiarism! You can read that story here – Eklund Plagiarises LA Kings Beat Writer … Thirdly, and lastly, lets not try to use this instance as a reason why the NHL does not credential bloggers, I don’t find this as “stereotypical kind of blogging” in any way. How can you sit on your pulpit, spewing stories with less factual content than Mr Leahy’s post and point a finger at him? I find your post about this whole topic insulting to the blogging community and myself! Then again – I am sure you don’t care that much, just makes suckers like me link back to your site – or do we?
Oh yea … one last thing … His name is Brian Burke, or Brian, or Mr. Burke … NOT Burkie! KTHXBAI
Hockey For The New Fan!
I received a message from a friend of mine a while ago where he said “So yeah, hit me back with a few good reasons why I should like hockey and tell me a few key things I need to know, understand and watch for in order to understand the sport and start enjoying it.” After some thought, and also some input from my amazing hockey network on Twitter, I have drafted a semi-short “How to enjoy and learn to love Hockey as a new fan!” Special thanks to my Hockey Twitter buddies who took time to contribute – Dani (@dani3boyz), Grant (@voteforgrant), Marcia (@mmpotter), Kate (@antheia), Tom (@HockeyRocker), Mike (@mikemcbride9), Jennifer (@mediaphyter), Brian (@saucerpass) and Schuyler (@schuylerb) – if you’re on Twitter and not following them – look ‘em up.
There were so many topics sent to me, I decided to go with the first 6 now, and continue the post in a few weeks with another 6 topics. Here is what I have come up with regarding aspects of the game that new fans should watch and look for. In each section there will be an italicized paragraph (that is the simplified explanation – props to Schuyler for being so concise and clear). The paragraph that follows is a more descriptive explanation taken from everyone who contributed. Before you dive in … I think one important thing you need to remember when watching a hockey game – Do not follow the puck, follow the play. With that said, I hope you enjoy and please leave a comment if you have any questions.
Teamwork and Speed – In hockey, the entire roster contributes to each win. Everyone plays. Everyone has a vital role. Like all sports, this is best appreciated at lower levels of the arena – even during the warm-up – but try to appreciate how fast the players skate and how quickly they stop, head the other way, and start all over again.
Hockey is one of the fastest sports a person can watch, and now that players are skating faster, shooting harder, and laying bigger hits, the game has become more exciting to watch. Chemistry is the first thing any hockey team needs. Even a team of all-stars needs to be able to live and work together for most of the year. No other sport relies so much on players working together as a team. Hockey is such a fast paced sport that team communications must happen on the fly and instantly, most of the time communication is a few words, gestures or the slap of the stick on the ice. Players are in constant communication with each other on the ice, the players on the bench and the coach. To take it a step further, the job of the coach is to find players that gel well with one another; very rarely will you find an individual on the ice doing everything himself. The prettiest plays come from great passing and positioning and some of the best players in the league would rather play set-up man for their teammates. Joe Thornton who plays for the San Jose Sharks comes to mind as he quietly puts up 80 points a season because there isn’t any flash to his production; he knows where to find his teammates. Another play-maker is Wayne Gretzky, everyone knows that name, The Great One – not only does he hold the NHL record in goals with 894, he holds the record in assists also, 1963 over twice the amount of goals. In order to be a great team, it must be developed with great team mates. Without that, a coach can lose a team from day one. One player not on board with the program can ruin any talent and momentum the team may have. Sometimes the best player in the world just isn’t a good fit in a locker room.
Rules – Like football, you don’t need to know every penalty in the book in order to easily follow the game. Leave tripping, boarding, interference and the like for later games. For the first one, focus on the basics – icing and offsides. Those are the genesis of most whistles, and not overly-complicated, so get those down-pat.
Just like in any sport, Hockey has a 312 page rule book which covers everything from the dimensions of the ice to “penalties assessed during overtime” – Your understanding of hockey rules will deepen the longer you watch and learn different aspects of the sport. A good first rule to learn is Icing – most of the time it’s easy to spot and the icing of the puck is not really an “interpretation” … it is what it is. Once you understand Icing you can then move onto others. I made a post about the Icing rule a while back, here you can learn what Icing is and how to spot it – Hockey 101 Icing
The NHL is always looking at the rules and game play and talking with their owners and GM’s about improving the sport and league keeping player safety in mind without sacrificing entertainment for the fans. I will have other rules posted to the Hockey 101 section of the Daily Deke, I will be adding more soon … Hockey 101
Skill – Think about the last time they were on ice skates. Never? How about roller skates or a skate board even? That should evoke memories of great imbalance. Imagine trying to hold a hockey stick, let alone make the passes, shots, decisions, moves, etc. that happen every second during a hockey game.
When you watch a hockey game, keep in mind the sports you usually watch (Baseball, Basketball, Football) all require skills and agility and speed and focus. However, they are not played on ice! I would say 99% of all hockey players playing in the NHL have been skating since they were 3 or 4 years old. They made their way up through Clinics, Jr hockey programs, travel leagues, high school, minor league teams – If you decide to give hockey a try in High School, you’re too late! Just as in any league some players have an unbelievable skill set but what goes overlooked is that each player in the NHL brings a different skill to the team they play for (eg. danglers, playmakers, grinders, superstars, offensive defensemen, defensive defensemen, etc). It’s not all about the superstars in hockey, it’s what each player brings to a team. During an interview, Brendan Shanahan was asked “Is Hockey Hard?” to which he answered “I don’t know, you tell me. We need to have the strength and power of a football player, the stamina of a marathon runner, and the concentration of a brain surgeon. But we need to put all this together while moving at high speeds on a cold and slippery surface while 5 other guys use clubs to try and kill us, oh yeah did I mention that this whole time we’re standing on blades 1/8 of an inch thick? Is ice hockey hard? I don’t know, you tell me. Next question.”
Respect – Believe it or not, those guys beating on each other live by a code of respect for one another, which is why serious injuries from fighting are VERY rare (most of them anyway).
Along with the “rules” that are written, there are so many unwritten rules in hockey. Most of them pertain to the idea of respect. Hit the star; be willing to pay the price. Keep your bad blood on the ice. NHL players do a very good job of policing themselves and ousting the players that don’t follow the code. There really isn’t a right way to explain the respect that hockey players have for their fellow players. Sure, they beat each other up during the game, check each other into the boards, sometimes they even tie up and throw punches. One thing that remains strong is the respect level these players have for their team mates, the team they are playing against, the referees and the sport. Keep in mind, you have 18 and 19 year old rookies playing against their heroes.
Fans – The knowledgeable, welcoming and passionate fans you encounter at every hockey game make you feel like you are part of something bigger than yourself, which is all you can ask for in a sporting experience.
There is nothing in the world better than an NHL fan. We are passionate about the sport, we are passionate about our team and we will destroy anyone who speaks negatively about our star player or next game. However, if you ask us a question about the sport or penalty or team we will go out of our way to get you an answer. Along those lines, the NHL hockey fan base is very “Family focused.” When I go to games, I always see many families sporting the jerseys. Also, the teams are always selling “family night” ticket packages. Usually the family packs consist of 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 soft drinks and 4 programs for a pretty good price. My wife, Dawn, tells me she has never been scared at a hockey game, she can’t say that about an NFL game or NBA game. The cost of fan gear (jerseys) generally exceeds other sports, and we gladly pay it to show our support. If that fan wants to turn into a weekend player, it’s going to run them more than the price of a basketball, for sure. People don’t spend money like that unless there is a passion. The seasons are long which, for some fans, can be excruciating if their team isn’t doing well. That doesn’t matter to the avid hockey fan. We keep showing up game after game with visions of it getting better if we can all just hang in there. Technology is another reason the NHL has the best fans. In a recent study, NHL fans are the most technologically advanced, that is why NHL.tv is a step in the right direction. Technology can also help keep ticket prices reasonable, make the teams a presence in the community, and get involved with social media and blogging
Jeremy Roenick Loves The Cheap Seats!
You heard me … Jeremy Roenick from the San Jose Sharks (the best team in the world) appreciates what we are doing here at the Deke! As you can see below, we are now part of the rotating banners on Jeremy’s website – http://www.roenicklife.com … well, actually … Go HERE
A couple months ago I sent an email to JR through his website www.roenicklife.com and invited him on to The Weekly Deke to chat with us about the Sharks, his career and his amazing outlook on hockey. Jeremy sent me an email asking me to contact his PR person Craig to work out the deets. Craig has been such an amazing guy to chat with via email. As of now, Jeremy will not be visiting us on TWeekD anytime soon, since he is focusing on his return to the Sharks ice and also adding to his content on his blog – again, http://www.roenicklife.com
Reading JR’s website has given me a whole new insight and increased my respect for the man. I knew about his passion for the game but what has surprised me has been his passion for helping people. Jeremy has focused his attention on Smile Train – an organization helping children born with cleft palates. This is a charity that is very close to JR since his nephew was born with a double cleft palate. From Jeremy’s website he says:
“It is my responsibility to inspire a child to smile when I am on the ice. When I am off the ice, it is my responsibility to help Smile Train be able to fix those smiles. Thank you for giving children the opportunity to smile, there is no better gift!”
Please, take a minute to check out Jeremy Roenick’s website and also Smile Train … I would like to thank Craig with www.roenicklife.com for being open to link sharing and getting my blog on JR’s website. Now, without further adieu …
2009 NHL Trade Deadline Hashtag!
Today we are launching the NHL approved Twitter hashtag. If you are not sure what a hashtag is on Twitter – Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol (E.G. #hashtag). Over the past week we have been voting on 9 different hashtags … this morning I took the top 3 vote getters and emailed them to Michael DiLorenzo – Director of Corporate Communications for the NHL and told him about our vote. I asked which one would he like to use as the “official NHL Twitter Hashtag” and his response was … *drum roll please*
#NHLTrade
So there you have it … sanctioned by the NHL and supported by US the Twitterverse, we now have an NHL Trade hashtag that we can use forever. I agree with Michael regarding his choice of #NHLTrade because it is only 9 characters, it is descriptive and also can be used for any and all trades that go down in the NHL. I would like to thank Michael for entertaining the voting results I sent him and for allowing myself, and everyone who voted the ability to help.
Here is the email I received from Michael this morning -
Dear Bill,
Thank you for your work regarding the use of hashtags related to the 2009 NHL Trade Deadline. I reviewed the results of your poll and found them interesting.
It is my feeling that we should use the #NHLTrade hashtag as a generic rollup of posts that are trade-related (but may fall before the deadline itself).
If you are in agreement, we should begin to propagate this message to the NHL fans in the audience.
Many thanks again.
Mike
**********************
Michael DiLorenzo | Director of Corporate Communications | The National Hockey League | o: 212.789.2657 | m: 347.534.6117 | MDiLorenzo@NHL.com | AIM: umassdilo | Twitter: @umassdilo
So, without further a due … I now officially launch NHL Trading, well, on Twitter at least.