hockey
We talk pucks and objects of that kind. We yell, complain, and analyze in the language of hockey fandom. Gretzky can do no wrong.
25 Years: A Look at the Nashville Predators
It doesn't seem like 25 years since the Nashville Predators joined the NHL. I remember it like it was yesterday; I was 13 years old and in eighth grade when the Predators joined the league. The expansion/relocation wave during the 1990s and early 2000s was very intriguing. NHL franchises were located in markets that no one ever thought would have hockey in them. Two teams in Florida, two more teams in California. Teams moving to Dallas, Denver, and even Phoenix. Now Nashville with a team? Amazing.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
What in the World is Going On with the Columbus Blue Jackets?!
I've always been fascinated by the Columbus Blue Jackets, even before the team officially debuted. It was back in 1998 (the year that the Nashville Predators debuted in the NHL) that I learned about Columbus getting an NHL franchise. That was a pretty fun period for me as a hockey fan, because I had never seen expansion like this in any sport. The Predators debuted in 1998, and a year later, the NHL returned to Atlanta with the Thrashers (they would move to Winnipeg in 2011), and 2000 gave us two teams: the Minnesota Wild (bringing the NHL back to Minnesota for the first time in seven years) and the aforementioned Blue Jackets.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
The Matt Duchene Trade: 5 Years Later
Hard to believe that it's been five years since the famous Matt Duchene trade. I watched the game that featured the trade and even now, I still can't believe what I saw. Even more amazing was the impact left from the deal, which included three teams: the Colorado Avalanche, the Nashville Predators, and the Ottawa Senators. Before I mention that fateful Sunday evening, I have to start this story with the 2016-17 season.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
NHL October 2022 Review
The 2022-23 National Hockey League season got off to a very exciting, interesting, and chaotic start; beginning with a pair of games in the Czech Republic just days before things got started in North America. As usual, 32 teams competing, 31 of them hungry for the Stanley Cup, while one team is looking to repeat. The month of October is setting a very wild tone to the season, and here are some of the teams who made some waves in the opening month.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Which Canadian Team Has the Best Chance to Win the Stanley Cup in 2023?
A brand new NHL season has arrived, and it's hit with the same question fans in Canada have asked for so long: is this finally the year? We all know about Canada's cup drought, which will reach an even three decades if none of the seven teams capture Lord Stanley's Cup this season. When the Montréal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the 1993 Stanley Cup Final, it was not only the franchise's 24th Cup, it was also the last Cup won by a Canadian team. When the drought began, there were eight teams in Canada: the Vancouver Canucks, the Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames, the Winnipeg Jets, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators, the Quebec Nordiques, and the Montréal Canadiens.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Is Auston Matthews the NHL's Next Great Scorer?
The 2015-16 NHL season was the lowest point for Canada's franchises, as all seven teams missed the playoffs. The worst of Canada's teams just happened to be the Toronto Maple Leafs, who went 29-42-11 with 69 points, the worst record in the entire league. However, that season, as terrible as it was, was all by design. The Leafs tanked to get the #1 pick, doing so after the team developed a knack for giving away their top first round. This time it worked out, as the Maple Leafs used their top pick in the 2016 draft to select their next big star: Auston Matthews.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at the 2010-11 Boston Bruins
The early 2000s saw a sports uprising in the town of Boston, beginning with the New England Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXVI. They added two more Super Bowl wins later on, and in baseball, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years, and won another championship three years later in 2007. The Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship in 2008, but regarding hockey, the Boston Bruins had to wait a bit to join the Boston Ring Party--as if they hadn't been waiting long enough as it is.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks
I can't believe it. This upcoming season will mark the 30th anniversary of the debut of the then-named Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. I was eight years old when the team debuted, I was barely getting into hockey as a whole, but I definitely remember the buzz over the Mighty Ducks. A year prior, Disney's Mighty Ducks film hit theaters, and it was due to the big box office numbers that the team came to fruition. I've lived in Southern California since I was three years old; at the time, I was attending elementary school in Anaheim, and I fondly remember the Mighty Ducks' NHL debut being a huge moment for the city--a key part of the league's expansion wave in the 1990s.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
The Marvelous Career of Nathan MacKinnon (So Far)
I cannot believe that this upcoming NHL season will be Nathan MacKinnon's tenth in the league. Tenth. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. I still remember the buzz surrounding MacKinnon near the tail end of the shortened 2012-13 season, which ended without a postseason berth for the Colorado Avalanche. At first, it was believed that the Avs would draft Seth Jones, but then the team's interest shifted to MacKinnon. I watched that year's draft, because the Avalanche had the #1 overall pick in the draft, and of course, we decided to draft Nathan Raymond MacKinnon, born in the Nova Scotian capital of Halifax on September 1, 1995, but served as one half of the NHL's Cole Harbour duo with the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at the 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes
After the Tampa Bay Lightning won their first Stanley Cup, hockey fans such as myself ended up going over a year without our favorite sport. I've been a hockey fan since I was a little kid, but to be honest, the moment I loved hockey the most was that 2004-05 season...because there wasn't one. I've experienced lockouts in other sports, but this was different. When hockey was gone, it felt like something was missing. It felt too quiet. It felt like a piece of myself was missing. WWE helped fill that void, but even so, with hockey gone, it was still too quiet for my liking.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at the 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning
I remember the 2003-04 NHL season very vividly; for positive reasons and for a negative reason. The season started a few months after I graduated from high school, and I remember being elated and stunned when Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne joined the Colorado Avalanche. As an Avalanche fan, I was salivating, but unfortunately, the acquisitions didn't help the team get over the hump and get back to that glory that they achieved three seasons prior. The negative reason was a big one, the dreaded "l" word was looming: lockout. There were talks of a lockout coming after that season, but I tried my best not to dwell on that. As I've done for my whole life, I focused on the positives, and one of them was the sudden rise of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at the 1995-96 and 2000-01 Colorado Avalanche
You know, I've been writing stories on Vocal for a little over a year, and it's hard to believe that this is my 500th story. What isn't hard to believe is the subject that #500 would be about. Something near and dear to me as a hockey fan: the Colorado Avalanche's first two Stanley Cups. First, a history lesson. Before playing in Denver, the Avalanche played their first 16 NHL seasons as the Quebec Nordiques, who were actually one of four teams who moved from the World Hockey Association to the NHL (the other three being the Edmonton Oilers, the Hartford Whalers, and the Winnipeg Jets). The Nordiques didn't have a lot of success in the NHL; in fact, they only reached the Conference Finals twice (1982 and 1985). Their only Adams Division championship came in the 1985-86 season, and in their final season in Quebec, the Nordiques would win the renamed Northeast Division, but both division titles resulted in first round exits.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
