With the NHL gearing up to finally hit the ice, the roster in Providence is seeing new additions as players head to Boston for camp. One of those additions can be found in Eric Baier, a former Providence College Friar and RI native.Video from the Providence Bruins pre-game skate this morning featuring Chris Bourque and Baier can be seen at GoLocalTV Providence!
After losing more than one hundred days of the 2012-2013 NHL season, the two sides finally reached a deal in the early hours of Sunday morning. Having a shortened NHL season is, of course, good for the sport of hockey. It also means that a lot of hockey players could be leaving the teams they have been playing with during the lockout to return to their respective NHL teams. One such player could be Cam Atkinson. Atkinson is currently playing with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL, but is property of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Atkinson spent last season between the NHL and AHL; he is poised to do the same this year after how well he has started the season. With 17 goals and 21 assists he currently ranks third in the AHL for overall points. In his last 16 games, Atkinson has notched 9 goals and 13 assists, notching at least a point in 14 of those 16 games.
“I think I’ve just been fortunate to play with some pretty good players,” Cam Atkinson said of his play lately after a recent win.
Despite Atkinson’s undeniable talent on the ice, he refuses to put his recent success solely on his own shoulders. Instead, he puts some of the credit on his teammates. “I haven’t been scoring in a couple games” said Atkinson, “but I’ve been finding other guys and they’ve been burying it. It’s been good.”
Some of Atkinson’s teammates have a different outlook. Ryan Craig has been playing on a line with Atkinson on and off throughout the season. Craig is also the team’s captain who returned to the Springfield Falcons after having last played with them during the 2005-2006 season, where he was also captain.
It’s great news for the world of hockey today as the NHL has agreed to terms, ending the lockout. A start date and more information should be released later today. Read the initial release here!
Jim McIsaac, Getty Images
On the ice you may love him or you might hate him; but off the ice it may be a little harder to not at least like Scott Hartnell. Filled with an upbeat personality and a big heart it’s easy to see why he’s won over so many fans in the NHL.
For starters, you’d think to play in the big show, you’d have to have a lot of balance. For Hartnell he’s chosen to put his occasional slip ups to good use with the #HartnellDown campaign, just one piece to the constant puzzle of charitable endeavors that Hartnell participates in throughout the season and now the lockout.
It isn’t just about being a charitable player off the ice, but a consistent one on it. Hartnell has been just that for the Philadelphia Flyers, since his trade to the team from Nashville in 2007. A defensively sound player, with a knack for gritty goals and a gift for agitating his opponents has earned him success in his position with the Flyers; it also earned him a bid on the NHL All Star roster last season.
A fan favorite in not only Philadelphia, but across the league, Hartnell was kind enough to answer a few questions for The Pink Puck.
The Pink Puck: It seems as though you’re always coming up with creative ways to give back to the community, beyond Harntell down, what’s next on the horizon?
Scott Hartnell: With the lockout continuing, we have a lot of time to do creative things for charities. JVR and myself had a two week competition for the victims of Hurricane Sandy and raised over 40k between the both of us. It was awesome!
The Pink Puck: It’s safe to say that a lot of players find you annoying on the ice. Do you take pride in being an agitator?
SH: It’s always fun to get under the other teams skin. It makes them frustrated I think, and could take them off their game. It also gets me emotionally in the game as well.
The Pink Puck: Do you ever feel like you’re underrated offensively?
SH: I wouldn’t say underrated- its always something that I’ve tried to work on, whether it be shooting or working on stick handling.
The Pink Puck: Thus far, you’ve had the opportunity to play with a lot of big name guys. Who is one player that you’d love to play with at some point in your career?
SH: I think Jagr was probably the icing on the cake for me. He was one of the hardest working players that I have ever played with, as well as one of the best. I learned a lot from him and am very thankful for that.
Times are tough, the Kings Dustin Penner is putting his skills into an intern position at Conan and brings the laughs while doing it. It’s always good to have a fall back plan!
[tubepress video=”SEPqAyZ3dRM”]
(Photo: TheAHL, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Okay, so maybe you don’t know what ODR season is, but for those not in the know it’s outdoor rink season. Or as many a hockey fan calls it, the best season ever! Many cities have outdoor rinks aplenty, all it takes is a simple google search to get the puck gliding so to speak. Of course, there’s nothing better than an outdoor rink of your very own, despite being time consuming and you’re a fool if you think anything to the contrary; the outdoor rink doesn’t have to be too costly. We found a site that claims you can make an outdoor rink for about $250, that’s a tag that’s well worth the price when you factor in the hours of fun and memories to be made once you hit the ice.
Skating outside is one experience that never gets old, even when you do. Spending countless hours playing hockey with friends, family and even the dog certainly has it’s perks. Snow falling and the twilight of the sky are just a few that can’t be found within the confines of your typical arena. While it’s certainly a labor of love, consider taking to the the backyard and build some memories Pink Puckers, ODR season can only be celebrated a few months out of the year.
By Rochelle Bergman
I sat. I waited. I had hoped. But still the strike is on! Will we see a game played this season, at all? Maybe. Don’t hold your hockey stick too high, there is a bigger chance that this season is out.
I sat. I waited. I had hoped. When I hear the TV news in the morning, I stop what I am doing to hear anything about hockey and the strike. The two sides seem to be so far apart that it will take a Christmas miracle to get the two sides even speaking.
I sat. I waited. I had hoped. One day while I was searching the net, I noticed this little column about the strike. I realized this is the Christmas miracle we have been waiting for. This is for the hard core lovers of the sport. It is for the people who spend their last dime for a ticket. For the lovers of cold hot dogs at the game. For taking your kid to the game for the first time and watching him doze in the third period, with a huge foam finger resting on his lap.
I sat. I waited. I had hoped. This little column made me smile, hope it does for you.
Have a good christmas and a safe new year! I will be back in the new year, with a strike or not!!!
If you’re anything like me you probably have a shamefully large collection of hockey cards in a shoebox somewhere collecting dust.
And if you’re even more like me you probably wanted to figure out a way to display those cards in something more impressive than just a binder. So why not make a beautiful one-of-a-kind hockey card collage?
They make great inexpensive last minute homemade Christmas or birthday presents or can add a little hockey flare to any room and the best part is every one is unique. All you need for this project is hockey cards (obviously), tape, and a frame. It’s as simple as that it!
When I say hockey cards I don’t mean your father’s vintage Bobby Orr rookie card – I’m talking about cheap mass-produced Upper Deck or O-Pee-Chee or any cards you can get your hands – McDonald’s cards will even work. Also for all of our proud hockey Parents out there a great way to display your son or daughter’s minor hockey cards and track their progress over the years.
Now depending on what size you want your collage to be, your number of cards obviously needs to very. I wanted mine tall but not too wide, so I chose 25 of my favorite cards cards. They very from players I respect career wise to players from my favourite teams – really could be anyone.
If you’re looking for cheap cards to use or if your collection is it really that large or if you want a specific player in your collage that you don’t have I recommend instead of buying a box set which might work out that you check out your local toys and collectibles store if they sell hockey merchandise and memorabilia.
The one near my house sells a hundred cards for a dollar so I picked up five of them before it did this project and for five dollars I ended up with every player I wanted in my collage. Just be sure that the cards you pick are all the same orientation – either landscape or portrait. I tried to mix both but it didn’t end well.
Once you have your cards and your tape it’s time to start putting it together. At this point it’s up to you really how you organize it, I could sit here and tell you to make it rows of five by rows of five but in all honesty it doesn’t matter how many cards you have a row – as along as they are all the same length. The size of your collage is really up to you but keep in mind if you wish to frame it you have to keep it within close proximity of dimensions that frames are available in. My collage ended up being 13.5in x 17.5in so I ordered a 14in x 18in frame.
I recommend laying out the cards in the design you think you want before you tape them together – that way you can make changes as needed. Once you’re ready to tape them flip them over and tape the backside – that way you won’t ruin the face of the card and you can’t see the tape once it’s framed.
When I started putting it together I taped the sides to the left and right of the stats on the back to create the individual rows first, then when I moved on to stacking them, I tapped of course the top and bottom sides. I also recommend putting a little tiny square tape where four corners meet to give it a little extra hold especially on the top and bottom rows that don’t have a lot of support.
Now it’s up to you whether to use big or little pieces of tape – for me it is only a temporary hold so I used little pieces to keep it together until my frame arrives.
So there you have it! Your one of a kind hockey card collage!
On Saturday night, the Springfield Falcons faced off at home for the final time of four meetings against the St. John’s IceCaps. The Falcons won the first three games all in regulation, but would not be as lucky this time. Ryan Johansen managed to tie the game with just 27 seconds to go, but it was not enough, as the IceCaps managed to win it in overtime to end their losing streak at 5 games. Two of those losses came at the hands of the Falcons.
“They were a desperate team, having lost five straight, and they played like a desperate team,” Falcons coach, Brad Larsen, said of the loss.
The Falcons and IceCaps exchanged early penalties but each held strong, killing off the penalty without allowing a goal. Rookie forward Sean Collins for the Falcons would get onto the scoreboard first. Collins’ linemate, Michael Chaput, took a shot from out by the blue line that bounced around off the traffic in front of the net before Collins managed to get his stick on it. Dalton Prout had the secondary assist on the goal.
“It was a weird goal,” Collins admitted, “Chaput took the shot and I was just lucky enough to be in front of the net to get my stick on it.”
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