In Glacialis Blog

December dedi a proprie magnificabiliter donum pro hockey fans — orbis terrarum Junior Championships, vel quis plures in hockey contemplor ut maioribus of hockey tournaments. Is annus’ Universitas ero conflictus in Czech Res publica, per U.S. oris in December 26 obviam Kasakhstan. Canadians is week se gero suum terminatio censeo castra, tuncpraecessi es in: Caps’ substantia Karl Alzner quod Josh Godfrey mos reddo three- vicis vallo champions. Verum, Alzner est a candide ut caput team. Mathieu Perreault, alius invitee, eram reverto ut Acadie Bathurst. Canadians, ut umquam, ero validus quod pre- Tornacense favorites. They mos penuria elite starpower of championship annus preteritus, tamen they mos have haud certantibus in roster depth.

Iunctus Civitas, vero, est confronting a ferreus animadverto per is annus’ tournament: they es victor of suus development prosperitas. Typically, vel altissimus of NHL draft picks rare planto suus drafting teams’ roster in suus draft annus, tamen ut’ subtilis quis’ venio per Pium Kane ( pullus), cuius dominor effectus in permaneo annus’ WJC launched him obviam elite statua huic preteritus Junes’ draft. Additionally, 2006 haud. 1 super pick Erik Johnson, eligible huic annus’ Universitas, est districtus patrolling St. Louis Puteulanus’ blueline. Quod alius 2006 American draft gemma quod WJC eligible, Peter Mueller, est having a firmus rookie season pro Wayne Gretzkys’ Phoenix Coyotes.

EGO had a chance is week ut chat aliquantulus per an NHL exploratorEGO interviewed hic permaneo annus, unus cuius occulto est per U.S. contraho ordo, quod labefactum of Johnsons’ quod Kanes’ absentis ut Americans is mensis eram, ut him, crystal videlicet. Americans es lunchpalers vacuus lemma quod aurum medal venatus per lemma.

Americans moris’ cassus talentum, tamen gravis gravis mos cado maxime in James Van Riemsdyk ( novus Hampshire; Philadelphia) quod Kyle Okposo (Minnesota; NY Insula). They have decens solers in blueline, tamen tunc illic’ forsitan teams’ maximus sollicitudo — in calx. Ut’ qua res may adepto turpis pro U.S.

pucksandbooks: Ut laymans’ oculus, is vultus futurus ut pallens a team ut U.S. has agri procul orbis terrarum Jrs. in annus. Mediocris infigo?

NHL Explorator: Team USA est districtus hampered is annus per guys amo Johnson quod Kane res in NHL quod unable ludo. Adaugeo illud duos quod youve’ got a plene diversus team. Super, is est a team ut penuria altus terminus solers foris of Van Riemsdyk quod possibly Okposo ( quisnam EGO animadverto sepius hic inMinnesota) quod Schroeder. Pro nonnullus perspective, EGO dont’ reputo quisquam tamen Van Riemsdyk would fragorCanalis’s Caput capitis 6 porro. Teams ire ualeo focus suum optimus reprehendo versus proprie in Van Riemsdyk. Adaugeo Kane, quod vos could effrego duos sursum quod planto teams pick suum virus. Si Okposo quod Van Riemsdyk dont’ lascivio una, illic ero multus of pressure in Okposo sumo estus off of Van Riemsdyk.

pucksandbooks: A rationabiliter amo U.S. versus would vultus amo. . . ?

NHL Explorator:

Jordan Schroeder-Colin Wilson-James Van Riemsdyk
Rhett Rakshani-Kyle Okposo-Max Pacioretty
Tyler Ruegsegger-Mike Carman-Bill Sudo
Ryan Flynn- Res Rust-Blake Geoffrion

Bobby Sanguinetti-Ian Cole
Jonathon Blum-Jamie McBain
Kevin Montgomery-Bill Angustus

Jeremy Smith
Joe Palma

Effectus vox lascivio quod poena iuguolo would exsisto difficilis, quoniam is pendeo in cogo’ sententia. Si they volo a magnus guy pre ascio tractus, Flynn vires exsisto a PP guy. Si they vado totus solers, Flynn vires non animadverto a minute of PP vicis universus tournament. Vigilo pro nonnullus iunctura of Sanguinetti, Blum, Montgomery, quod Schroeder ut run cuspis in PP. Angustus, Cole, quod McBain mos animadverto a valde paciscor of poena iuguolo vicis.

pucksandbooks: A insisto — Vultus procul team, es illic ullus of fringe ludio ludius ut vos felt could have been restituo per alius ludio ludius?

NHL Explorator: Team USA mos forsit exsisto sentio per quam nonnullus illorum fringe ludio ludius lascivio. Ceperunt Ryan Flynn super Eric Tangradi. Plurimus explorator Ive’ sermo ut erant offensus illa, ut Tangradi dat vos idem eadem idem amplitudo quod same physical lascivio, tamen per melior skating quod manuum. Flynn est iustus a quartus versus, Tangradi could opportunus in in alter versus.

CeperuntCade Fairchild, Sarcalogos Estas quod Kevin Montgomery super Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan McDonagh, Zach Bogosian, quod Mike Ratchuk. Fairchild forsit mos non terminus sursum lascivio ultum. Hes’ a valde bonus contraho tutaminis quod suus inclusion est forsit magis super preparing him pro tunc annus, ut is should planto team. Tamen ceterus three contraho tutaminis nomen es pulchellus bonus themselves. Ive’ auditus Shattenkirk has been sursum quod down is annus, tamen is eram a altus primoris rotundus pick, adveho ex [USNDTP] progressio, quod usus valde obscoena potestas. McDonagh est similis, tametsi hes’ aliquantulus magis of a duos- via guy quam Fairchild, per aliquantulus minor offensus. Ratchuk quod Fairchild es valde similis, salvifico quod Ratchuks’ senior, maior, magis developed, quod won a Populus Championship is annus. EGO havent’ seen ultum of Montgomery utpote is left Michigan, tamen EGO teneo is eram a fringe pick ut plures Canadian explorator pulvis’ ut altus in.

Estas est Team USA questus aliquantulus cute. Is prodigo dudum procul porro quod nonnullus procul tutaminis, tametsi Ive’ been told ut Phoenix mos planto him a plenus vicis porro ut is gets sicco. Im’ non certus EGO agnosco pick — suus’ non amo vestri’ aedificium edificium parumper porro season quod versatility est nice. Illic es melior tutaminis quam him, quod melior porro quam him . . . quidne take unus of lemma? Iam they have 8 D quod tantum 12 porro . . . quis es odds of having utor 8 D?

Ceperunt a porro in Carman quisnam Hasnonium’ ludio ludius a venatus is annus. Iam, EGO vere amo Carman ut a ludio ludius quod EGO teneo hes’ been illic pro. Tamen hes’ iens futurus rusty quam primum. Est illic quispiam EGO would have captus super him? EGO dont’ teneo pro certus, tamen they melior spes hes’ in lascivio vultus.

pucksandbooks: Quam nocens in goaltending locus?

NHL Explorator: Smith est a valde firmus, si unspectacular calx. EGO eram admiratio ceperunt Palma super Unice. Palma has an .880 servo percentage obviusNCAA. Unus explorator quisnam does proprie contraho hockey told mihi is sententia Palma eram unus of pessimus calx in contraho venatus. EGO dont’ animadverto quantus quantus contraho ut is does, tamen venatus EGO saw Ohio Civitas lascivio Palma sumptus him venatus. Team USA pulchellus videlicet went per a contraho calx quoniam they volo exhorto kids ludo contraho hockey instead of iens ut Canalis. Ceperunt a contraho kid quisnam venit sursum per NTDP, sic theyre’ comfortable per him quod suus personality. EGO would narro Team USA melior spes Smith subsisto sanus.

pucksandbooks: Quisnam si quisquam lurks ut a somnus American prospicio ut weve’ seen per amo of Kane quod VanRiemsdyk quod Kessel in annus preteritus?

NHL Explorator: Colin Wilson est solus draft eligible ludio ludius in roster. Sit a smart, developed, lentus ludio ludius, tamen is isnt’ mico amo guys vos audio. Schroeder est available in 2009. Pacioretty eram a altus pick, tamen EGO reputo abyssus’ vere adveho in suus own huic tournament. EGO would servo an oculus in him.

pucksandbooks: Est is Canalis’ tournament perdo?

NHL Explorator: Forsit, etiam. Canalis est profundus satis ut they can afford perdo guys amo Toews quod Gagner. U.S. est non ut ingeniosus. Ut said, suus’ an affectus, pressure- repletus tournament. EGO reputo Team USA reputo they have ferreus opus, character kids quisnam mos opus ferreus neque nec occulto quisquam. EGO dont’ reputo is est a team ut mos adepto pulsus sicco ultum, tamen they moris’ pulsus quisquam sicco aut. Theyll’ postulo secundus versus ustulo exsisto, quod theyll’ have spero Smith can planto magnus servo ut is res.

Haud magnus admiratio: Plymouth Orcus have paciscor goaltender Michal Neuvirth ut Ventus. Effrego talentum per super OHL eligibility amo Neuvirths’ es sepius paciscor per rebuilding teams. Quod permaneo season certainly eram a effrego unus pro Caps’ secundus- rotundus pick in 2006 draft. Plymouth, however, is a firmus six venatus supremus .500 obvius Occasus divortium of OHLs’ Occasus placitum. Forsit est, Kitchener est 17-3.

admiratio hic est ut paciscor didnt’ come in offseason. Procul a Ipsa Gero’ lascivio venatus permaneo ver, Caps’ goaltending cogo Dave Prior forecasted ut mihi Neuvirths’ res dealt during estas, subtilis quoniam Plymouth wasnt’ specto ut reverto ut Monumentum Vas.

Of Neuvirth Ventus GM Proeliator Rychel said, “Michal is a universitas- ordo ludio ludius, a expertus lascivio tractare quod unus of caput capitis goaltenders in OHL.   ”

Mathieu Perreault utor quis vos vires term a uber Friday nox noctis: 1 calx quod 5 succurro in Acadie Bathursts’ 9-2 mauling of Drummondville. Perreault has skated in three of Acadie Bathursts’ quattuor venatus in mane iens of novus Q season, quod hes’ recorded 3 calx quod 6 succurro. In duos of suus three venatus hes’ been nomen venatus’ primoris astrum.

Perreault, reigning QMJHL MVP, ustulo 50 calx quod 92 succurro permaneo season pro Titan. Nonnullus Q leaguers quicum Perreault est currently lodged in caput capitis 10 in ustulo have ludio ludius quot ut septem venatus.

Acadie Bathurst est 3-0-1.

Tutaminis Keith Seabrook, drafted per Caps in 2006 (52nd super), has certus utlicentia Denver Pioneers iungo Kelly Kisios’ Calgary Hitmen. obscoena blueliner mos suo Caps’ 2007 primoris rotundus pick Karl Alzner in Calgarys’ defensabiliter somes.

Seabrook, iunior frater of Pullus Blackhawks Brent Seabrook, had universa suus vegetus season pro Denver, ustulo 2 calx praecessi per 11 succurro in 37 venatus pro Denver. Suus’ specto ut is mos stipes magnus minutes pro Hitmen, quod ero duco in laboro significant vicis in vox lascivio.

Triginta minutes prior ut Friday nox noctis’ Rookie Castra scrimmage Drummondville, Quebec paternus Matheiu Perreault could exsisto seen superstes secundum ludio ludius’ scamnum, nondum in apparatus, twirling suus hockey virga per a puck seemingly candela ut suus vesica. Inquam seemingly quoniam super tractus of quattuor vel quinque minutes puck nunquam umquam commotus ex center of vesica curvo. Hed’ whirl suus virga per volatilis wrist factum, volatilis oculus tractus motus fere, quod nunquam perdo imperium of suus praemium possessio. Parumper pauci concisus secundus is videor tanquam puck defied sepulchrum per vesica pandus obviam solum. Is eram a veneficus spectaculum.

Sicco in glacies is week illic has been a similis attachment of puck ut Perreaults’ virga. An emerging storyline is week, is has vegetus infigo Caput’ persona per suus playmaking potestas, suus elite hockey voluntas, quod proprie suus knack namque in vox locus procul vox vicis in angustus castra aestiva. A ludio ludius of vercundus statua (5 ‘8, 160-ish), Perreault ostendo haud tergiversatio praecessi qua magnus bodies bang.

A annus abhinc nunc plurimus in hockey would have sententia Perreault felicis vel ut exsisto invited ut Caps’ Rookie castra is estas. Suus rookie annus in Quebec Major domus Junior Hockey League per Acadie Bathurst Titan eram nice tamen unspectacular (18 calx, 34 succurro in 62 venatus). Suus obscoena uber did jump aliquantulus ut postseason, tamen adveho June quod NHL Viscus Draft, suus amplitudo kept him in tabula tardus. Caps carpo him in rotundus six, 177th super.

Tamen ut denique coma erant cado ex nemus is preteritus autumn a insolitus res eram captus locus tergum sursum in Acadie Bathurst: Perreault eram a dominion obscoena vis nox noctis in quod nox noctis sicco. Is eram nomen Q League Ludio ludius of Mensis pro November. Per Thanksgiving ( nostri), hed’ obduco suus rookie annus cuspis numerus. Per per draft classmate Suffragium Bouchard is eram invited ut Canadian Universitas Junior Denique Censeo Castra in December. In midseason Caps’ Imperator Procurator George McPhee went in CapsReport quod told Mike Vogel ut Perreault had suscipio “ altissimus possible ustulo” in a ludio ludius’ hockey voluntas. Is perfectus 2006-07 season per 41 calx quod 78 succurro in 67 venatus, quod is capped is off per victor leagues’ MVP award.

Is supervenio in Lavatio semel is week (” suus’ fervens hic” is criminor ut mihi), quod ex oris moments of Wednesdays’ oris scrimmage is propono an elite venatus of deft playmaking, unrivaled puck imperium, quod eximius instincts. Is ustulo duos calx ut nox noctis, quod is sent campester sagaciter obduco ut teammates in sulum ustulo sector.

Per tabula, qua vos vires reputo him plurimus vulnerable quod vinco, is vere praecedo, tractus tutor ut him creo patefacio tractus pro suus linemates. Is wins potissimum suus duco, plures per tersus. Sit in instabilitas in obscoena plaga.

Tamen alienigena obscoena numerus quod hardware fere ut procerus ut sit gero haud affinitas ut Perreaults’ shy quod mollis- orator demeanor off glacies. Is eram Francisca in agnosco quam vel is had haud informatio is eram in repono pro an MVP species CHL season.

Is told mihi ut permaneo season eram sic spectacular ut sit procul opera ut identify imprimis calx ut melior is season. Instead, is mos focus in “ improvidus meus vires, [ questus] magis volo. . . magis volo”

Ex McPhees’ midseason assessment ut is weeks’ dynamic propono EGO no punctum of trying ut press GM parumper temerarus forecast pro Perreault. EGO didnt’ volo scio si McPhee sententia Perreault simplex NHL- fatum tamen quinymo si quondam illic hed’ exsisto an labefactum ludio ludius.

“Hes’ a bonus ludio ludius” McPhee told mihi secundum Fridays’ scrimmage. Tamen quis super an labefactum NHLer? “ego wouldnt’ exsisto admiratio procul all,” is added.

NHL hockey mos usquequaque have locus pro undersized quod overskilled quod pervicax. Bellicus St. Louis vel Steve Sullivan vel Daniel Concisus would ustulo calx in ullus tempus. Suus’ quoque mane etiamnunc ut dico si Perreaults’ in ut quidam quaedam quedam quidam development arcus, tamen is usus in ubertas hockeys’ plurimus inhio species — venatus- dictum instincts quod solers.

Can illic exsisto quisquam magis effusio quam profero ver domus restituo — sanding, painting, pupillus roof restituo, totus tractare sublime scaffolding — per rectum of snow quod gelu ut cohibeo unus indoors ut otium of universitas- ordo beer quod televised postseason hockey? Talis eram Monumentum week admiror ut confronted meus buddy Michael sursum procul suus vacation getaway in Amiculum Britones, Nova Scotia.

Profundus in May sulum annus Michael planto a 21- hora peregrinus ex Caput Tumulosus ut Campana Cote, Nova Scotia, populatio inter 340, ut inventor hiberna’ gero in suus splendidus substantia illic. Is moneo mihi of suus absentis sulum Proficiscor, dictito suus patefacio invitation mihi iungo him. EGO had meus own arduous roadtrip ut navigo is mensis, tamen sum EGO rumex EGO couldnt’ have been a sweatered testis ut spectaculum ut touque- taedium Matris Vis, eh?, tracto Michael ut totus of preteritus 10 dies. In praevius ver, hed’ usquequaque been saluto illic per ver. Non is annus.

Vos teneo quam nos in D.C. had a soundtrack of revving lawnmowers in nostrum confinio is preteritus feriae weekend? Michael would press suus capulus sulum oriens in Amiculum Britones quod audio revving of snowmobiles belonging ut suus vicinus. Felicis b******. Michael quod EGO sino debilitating bouts of hayfever symptoms ex capitagium- imbuo Medium-Atlantic, quod ut EGO auditor in phone ut suus chronicle of wood- gelamen pro domus tepidus incendia per broadcasts of Monumentum Vas EGO sententia statim of quicumque prescription rememdium ut nunquam excito in suus eo pera.

Plurrimi difficilis adjustment mihi in meus reverto domus ex Orientales Europe is mensis had nusquam efficio per duodeviginti vicis plaga’ disorientation quod panton efficio per meus latuseris recedo Moscows’ articulus aer quod res submerged in sublimitas of hayfever mayhem hic.

Nusquam in Amiculum Britones tempestas of preteritus pauci annus could have forecast altum congelo of May 2007. Michael quod suus uxor Mara quod EGO have in a iugo of vicis utor February vacations in Amiculum Britones characterized per nidor of funis of carbo in suum duos fireplaces quod singulus-digit mercury, tamen repens hiberna illic have been bone- siccus in terms of snow. Snowmobiling fanaticus, weve’ obduco in medium- hiberna saluto illic preteritus duos hiberna quoniam humus has subsisto frons per Decembers quod Januarys. Ita in phone Monday nox noctis EGO sat rapturously ut Michael retineo quinque inches of vegetus powder foris suus domus quod ordinarius chiseling of glacies off of suus pax’ windshield.

May 2007, locus edoctus Michael, ordo ut gelu in Amiculum Britones utpote 1937. In Amiculum Britones Highlands, a mereo 30-minutes’ veho sursum a imbuo ascent ex Michaels’ domus, illic’ promptus exsisto snowmobiling firmus in June.

Plures Americans per tardus May es pectus pectoris promptus pro oris of swimming lacus quod lux lucis of deck quod patientia assus, tamen per Monumentum Vas in plenus vigeo permaneo week, novus of unus permaneo flatus of hiberna intus quod ut vigilo is pulsatus mihi ut refreshingly novus. Michael est reverto domus is oriens, voluntas, necesse, ut abyssus’ teneo suus partis of 90- inhonestus dies in three mensis ahead. Incidentally, is, quoque, assus sicco tergum of suus domus permaneo week; is iustus did is in a turtleneck.

An American adventum in Campana Cote secundum duos plenus dies’ iter itineris est magnus novus in urbs, quod per sulum adventum Michael est feted per cotidie vindico of vegetus caught cod, perturbo, salmon, quod lobster ex suus vicinus. vere thoughtful ones dedi sursum pauci solum of plagiarius’ teres stilus ale, Alexander Keiths. Nonnullus labor, Michaels’ absentis sicco in nostrum mosquitos quod Bay Bridge gridlock.

The Memorial Cup commenced last night in Vancouver, and the WHL host Giants knocked off Michal Nuevirth and the Plymouth Whalers 4-3, the winning goal coming at 5:06 of overtime. Neuvirth, whose Whalers defeated Sudbury four games to two to earn the OHL title on May 13, is now 14-3-0-2 in the 2007 CHL postseason. He remains a viable MVP candidate; heading into last night’s action he boasted a 2.45 goals-against and a .932 save percentage.

The Memorial Cup has been the holy grail of Canadian junior hockey for almost 100 years. This weekend and throughout next week four CHL teams — Plymouth (OHL), host Vancouver (WHL), Medicine Hat (WHL), and Lewiston (QMJHL) — will square off in a round robin format. The CHL adopted the round robin format in 1972. A host team was added to the format in 1983.

The team with the best record at the conclusion of the round robin gets a bye all the way into the Memorial Cup final. Second and third-place clubs meet in the semifinals on May 25, with the winner advancing to the championship game on Sunday, May 27.

Lewiston and Medicine Hat square off Saturday (4 p.m. ET). Plymouth will play again on Monday against Medicine Hat.

The Caps selected Neuvirth with the fourth pick of the second round last June, 34th overall.

These days, London Knights’ Head Coach Dale Hunter isn’t much interested in hearing about the feats of Caps’ 2006 draft pick Michal Neuvirth. He’s getting an eyeful of them this postseason.

Through two games in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference Finals, Hunter’s Knights have scored a grand total of one goal against Neuvirth and the Plymouth Whalers. Neuvirth, a visitor to the OHL’s web site today learns, is currently the OHL Player of the Week, staking his team to a 2-0 series lead over the 2005 Memorial Cup champs and now perennial CHL power.

The Whalers, in large part to Neuvirth, are white-hot this postseason: 10-1. In three of those games Neuvirth has been named the game’s no. 1 star.

When the postseason began, the Whalers boasted two strong netminders in Neuvirth — runner-up for OHL Goaltender of the Year, and the league leader in goals-against (2.32) and save percentage (.932) — and 2007 draft-eligible Jeremy Smith. In a first-round sweep of Guelph, Neuvirth and Smith split back-stopping duty, each earning a pair of victories. But Neuvirth played the entirety of the Whaler’s next series against Kitchener, winning four of the five games, and it’s Neuvirth who’s won the no.1 job now. In his nine postseason games he has eight wins, a 2.31 goals-against, and an unearthly .941 save percentage.

Last autumn, Neuvirth, an OHL rookie, made a solid if unspectacular start in net for the Whalers. He made a strong showing as starting netminder for the Czech team at the 2006 World Juniors, going 3-1-2 and twice being named player of the game in that tourney, but his modest numbers this past fall kept him off the 2007 Czech World Junior team. If that tourney were held this month, he’d most assuredly be on the roster. And starting.

He recorded his first OHL shutout in December, and that appeared to unleash a bit of a whitewashing fury. Early in January he recorded back-to-back shutouts. Later that month he was named the game’s no. 1 star in back-to-back games. And he shut out London in game one of the Western Conference finals last week.

All of which has to make the Caps’ Director of Amateur Scouting Ross Mahoney clamoring for a raise from his General Manager. Much of the world has taken notice of the first goaltender the Caps selected in the Entry Draft last June, first-round Russian Semen Varlamov. But Neuvirth’s emergence in the second half of this hockey season makes for a compelling argument that what was once an area of positional weakness in the organization’s farm is today an embarassment of riches.

If you were to compile a list of the most intriguing and alluring professions (outside of being a highly paid pro athlete), what might be called “dream jobs,” you might include a ski instructor at Vail, a photographer for Hugh Heffner, perhaps a road test driver for Porsche. My list would include being paid to travel around the world to watch hockey, with rinks as my office, as a scout. On conference calls I’d be asked to discuss slick-skating Slovaks and mischief-makers from Moose Jaw.

In this role I could envision myself shamelessly dropping the names of athletes and locales, annoying my fellow air travelers in their comparatively mundane business comings and goings with “Once I land in Stockholm I’ll race over to national team headquarters to obtain a progress report on Jergen . . . for I understand he’s tearing up the Elite League.” This likely explains why I am not a hockey scout; at times I lack subtlety.

Of course, our perceptions of these professions are premised on myth and an outsider’s necessarily flawed vantage. When you actually get a chance to talk to someone in them, markedly different realities are detailed for you. This was my experience recently in an entirely unplanned and altogether fortuitous exchange I had with a full-time NHL scout. From the moment I confirmed his identity I knew I wanted to pick his hockey head clean of its “a season in the life of” experiences and analyses, for his is a line of work long shrouded behind the scenes, in mystery even, by design.

In this scout I had not only a fertile and fruitful information source but an emblem of hockey’s most impassioned: you don’t go into hockey scouting because the loading gig at Home Depot didn’t come through, you scout — necessarily making unfathomable sacrifices on your personal life — because you possess in inexhaustable fire for life on ice, he told me. He didn’t merely answer my questions in rich detail but created compositions with my readers’ perceived curiosity foremost in mind. He asked of me only that I preserve his anonymity and that of his NHL employer. I happily obliged.

He is based in the U.S. He covers a major region of the country — its colleges and prominent high school programs. He is responsible for all of the teams and players in one of college hockey’s power conferences. And at times he is also tasked with scouting junior hockey and the occasional professional game.

pucksandbooks: Most hockey fans have an impression that the life of an NHL scout has to be pretty much the closest thing to Heaven on Earth as far as careers go. I mean, what could be better than getting paid to watch terrific hockey! Jet planes, morning skates, and hotels with embroidered bathrobes. Firstly, how accurate are our general impressions of this career, and would you identify for OFB readers both your favorite and least favorite aspects of it?

NHLScout: I love when people talk about the glamour of this job. Let me make it clear from the start that I love my job. There is literally nothing I would rather be doing in the world. As you said, I get paid to watch hockey — what could be better? I’m sure people will skip this disclaimer and read what follows as me complaining, but that’s not my intention. I just want to strip the “glamour” idea from the job. Scouting is a grind. The glamour is for athletes, GMs, and some coaches. The scouts are the faceless drones who do the grunt work without the public recognition.

I’m one of the younger scouts, and single. On a “home” week for me, I’ll spend Tuesday through Sunday driving to games, watching games, and sitting at home filing game reports. I frequently drive 5 hours to see a game, then drive 5 back (through snow, rain, ice, whatever else) when the game ends. That means I’ll leave my house around noon on Friday, and get home around 3 a.m. Saturday. I haven’t had a Friday or Saturday night off since the last weekend in August. When I’m on the road, it’s long drives, small towns, and hotel rooms. Ever been to Medicine Hat, Alberta? Or Sioux City, Iowa? Or some random town I can’t spell in Latvia? NHL scouts have.

And this isn’t NHL hockey we get to watch every night. I’ve seen high school games where one player is a borderline 7th round pick, and the rest of the kids can’t even skate. It’s painful to watch and hard to focus — you end up trying to find attractive women in the crowd, or staring at the clock as the minutes count down. Scouting is a time consuming, exhausting job, especially for wives and children. I’m incredibly lucky to not be married at this point — I don’t know how the wives are able to do it. Their husbands are gone for weeks at a time, work strange hours, and have very little time off. Honestly, the toughest people in hockey are the wives and children. It’s amazing what they have to deal with.

My favorite part of the job is hard to choose. I love the community. Scouts are a tight-knit group of men who do their best to look out for each other. Older scouts helping rookies with things like hotels, directions, back doors to rinks, etc. Rookies driving the older guys while they catch up on some rest. Going and talking to the athletes and coaches and finding out information. Hearing the stories of guys who have scouted for 50 years (”I remember seeing Bobby Orr back in juniors. One game . . . “) never ceases to entertain me. I love the first moment of every day when I walk into a rink, and feel the cold, and smell the sweat, and just feel at home. I love those infrequent games where you see something special — a player you just know will be a star, or a goal you’ve never seen before, or a great fight. I love that my job changes every day.

My least favorite part of the job is just the travel and lack of free time, which gets old pretty fast. For every trip to a great city like New York or Boston or Madison, Wis., there’s the trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, or some small town in Western Canada, or a place in Russia where no one else speaks English. I don’t really have time for a social life because I’m working every night. I also wouldn’t mind if women were more impressed by the job title. When I get a rare night off and go out to a bar, I usually end up surrounded by male hockey fans who are asking me questions, while the girls of the group walk off to find a doctor or a cop. (Continued)

Maine is a massive state which is massively underpopulated — blissfully so, many of its residents allege. According to 2005 Census Bureau data, the populations of Maine (1,321,505) and Fairfax County, Virginia, (1,006,529) are comparable. Maine’s northern-most county, Aroostook, is so large in sheer size that it betters the combined sizes of all of Maine’s surrounding New England states. All of them. The state religion is Black Bears hockey.

I first visited Maine in the autumn of 2004, partly to take in a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game in Lewiston featuring the Rimouski Oceanic and a buzz-generator skating for them named Sidney Crosby. I remember first wondering, what is a small southern Maine town (pop. 35,000, approximately) doing with a Q League franchise? Turns out, the town has distinctive French Canadian roots. Your first clue arrives as you pull in to the hockey rink parking lot and notice the name Androscoggin Bank Colisee. Even way up north in New England you don’t encounter too many Colisees.

In the late 1800s, water power from the Androscoggin River spawned a flourishing textile industry in Lewiston that attracted tens of thousands of immigrant workers. The largest concentration of them — 40 percent — arrived from French Canada and resided in a section of Lewiston known as “Le Petit Canada.”

I was startled to learn that Muhammad Ali’s world-famous knockout of Sonny Liston in 1965 took place at Bank Colisee, then known as the Central Maine Civic Center.

What is today known as the Lewiston Maineiacs hockey club was birthed in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, in 1969, where they resided until 1992. The franchise moved to Sherbrooke that year and played ten seasons there before settling in Lewiston in 2003.

The drive from coastal Portland to inland Lewiston requires a mere 40 minutes, but it swiftly delivers significantly deeper snows. Halfway through my commute I notice, for the first time since arriving in Maine late Friday night, groomed snowmobile trails parallel to the highway. As I learned in 2004, one really would prefer to skidoo to Le Lewiston Colisee if one could, as the lone two single-lane exits from its parking lot swiftly make one long for the late weeknight exit experiences from Landover, Md.’s, second-most famous parking lot.

Fourteen dollars puts a visitor pretty much anywhere he’d want to be in Le Colisee, and on this Sunday for its 4:00 matinee between the Maineiacs and the PEI Rocket I’m startled to see the home team warming up in one of the oddest-looking alternative sweaters I’ve ever seen. Knowing that I want to write about this experience, I’m instantly pained by the prospect of trying to describe their appearance. “Maineiacs,” I’ve ever thought since I first heard it, is a clever nickname for the club, moreso perhaps for a hockey club, and their primary logo is modern and impressionistic in a modern sports kind of way. (Continued)