This week has marked the middle of the 2012 NZIHL season, with a bye for all five teams and a weekend off from tracking out-of-town games over social media for the fans.
It hasn’t been entirely hockey-free for me, thankfully, as the Chicago Blackhawks held their annual convention in Chicago, enabling their fans to watch the action on the livestream. Hopefully my flatmates didn’t get woken up by my shrieks of laughter at 6am as Andrew Shaw successfully made everyone else on the Chicago’s Most Wanted panel feel old by straight-facedly delivering the line “when I was growing up and watching you guys play.” The fans got quite a few great new stories out of the panels thus far, as well as a sneak-peek into the thoughts of players, team personnel and the front office staff on topics ranging from mental and physical preparation, the Olympic experience, life on the road and the role of team tough guys in today’s NHL. I’m hoping to be able to watch a little more tomorrow, but timezones are going to make that one tricky, for sure.
That being said, there will doubtless be more than enough posts and articles on the Hawks after this weekend, so let’s turn our focus back onto the NZIHL and see how things are shaping up for 2012.
After the cut, I’ll take a brief look back at the season thus far, throw some numbers at the wall to see what sticks, and make some predictions which will more than likely look entirely silly in hindsight. Good times for all!
Goodbye Puck Pie 