A Link Dump (in Slightly Snazzier Form)

Getting caught up and back into the swing now that we're coming up on Training Camp, so thought I'd make sure my cross-linking was up to date.

Since I'm doing my officiating comments and content over here this season, I'll be going live with the first of my weekly posts on the topic September first, looking at this summer's NHL R&D Camp.

Recent Posts:

• Capitals Outsider: 
• Careful Planning Ensures DCPS Beautification Day is Mascot-Disaster Free!
• The Lesser-Known Caps in the System (1/2) 
• Puck 'N Hockey:
• Matt Hendricks: Star Power - Confirmed!

In "real life" changes, I'm now working full time at a single rink (as opposed to splitting my hours between two), which has been part of the lag in getting things settled here at RtC.  We're going into playoffs this week for the summer adult leagues, hence why I'm using September 1 as a nice round starting point for the officiating posts.

Fun Facts About USA Hockey - Paperwork Edition

Fun Fact: If you ever misplace your USA Hockey number, you can always go to the main website and request a duplicate confirmation.  All you need is your last name, DOB, and the zip code where you registered.

Less-Fun Fact: College team managers apparently tend to register their entire teams at once, and when a player then tries to pull up a duplicate confirmation they have no idea what zip code he or she is registered under.

Even Less-Fun Fact: USA Hockey is closed on Sundays.  This means, among other things, that they do not answer their phones.

Spent 20 minutes with a young woman today trying to track down her USA Hockey number so that she could sub for a short-benched women's team going into their last playoff game of the season.  No dice, of course.  Eventually, she opted to just re-register so that she could play today (most USA Hockey affiliated programs won't let you play without proof of membership, because members are covered under USAH's blanket catastrophe insurance, and it avoids all kinds of potential legal headaches).

Silver Lining of the Day: We were pleasantly surprised to learn that if you register with USAH today, it classifies you as registering in the 2011-2 season.  So instead of buying her 31 days of player eligibility, she's now covered through the end of August 2012.

In related news, ref registration goes live tomorrow for the 2011-2 season, as does seminar/camp enrollment.  I'm looking forward to seminar this year, because I'll actually know what I'm doing.  It's amazing how much stress that takes out of the training course!

Prospects (in Many Senses of the Word)

For the past week, the Development Camp for the Washington Capitals has been going on down at Kettler Capitals Iceplex.  This means 40 pseudo-teenaged boys descending on the Ballston Commons Mall (a nice counterpoint to the Harry Potter release, which also occurred this past week at the mall).

I managed to poke my head in for several of the sessions, and for a very brief recap of the camp as a whole:

Off-Season. Hey, When Did That Happen?

Between picking up a new hockey director at Rink #1 and a general promotion at Rink #2, coupled with running up to Boston for a few playoff games, I fell almost completely off the grid in the last couple of months.  I've been working my way back, and unfortunately, RtC was at the bottom of the priority list when it came to catching up and getting the groove back on.

Life As I Know It:
I'm still writing the Community Hockey Beat for Puck 'N Hockey, and the occasional Officiating Commentary for Something's Bruin.  I'm still working various levels of management at 2 regional rinks.  I'm still logging hours as an off-ice official, and the occasional game as an on-ice official (hopefully to increase with the start of the next season).

I'm still actively following and cheering for several NHL and AHL teams, albeit at different levels of seriousness.  I've even kept up on the draft & trade shenanigans.  This year has been a hell of a learning curve for me, but I like to think I've come out the far side a better writer for it.

What it Means for RtC:
I'm legitimately hoping to ease back into a regular posting schedule for RtC over the summer.  Surprisingly, the DC Metro Area is rather active when it comes to hockey, so there's always something to talk about.  Now that things have settled down in my own life, expect to hear more about them with regularity.

I'll also be cross-linking articles that go up at SB and PNH, since this is my personal blog for the moment.  I may eventually shift things over to Red Line Roughing, but we'll see how that shakes out before I make any concrete decisions.

Two Days, Two Months, Same Difference, Right?

Right after my declaration of intent to get regular posts up and running, I proceeded to get promoted at one of the rinks I work for.  They asked me to take over most of the administration for the adult rec leagues, with a new season starting in roughly two weeks.

My entire online life (and ability to watch hockey) vanished like the dinosaurs.

Time flies, but it sure has fun along the way.

In my last post (somewhere around the time that dinosaurs were debating the benefits of feathers - Spoiler Alert: Velociraptors taste like chicken!), I mentioned that I had another potential writing gig in the works.  I've since confirmed that one, and picked up a third.  In between, I strained my MCL, so I've been a benched (and cranky) zebra on top of it all.  I believe the concise description would be "busy."

Things I've Done/Things in the Works - 20 January Edition

This will probably be a semi-regular feature, as this blog evolves.  A combination of link-spam for the articles I've published in the last week on other blogs, known upcoming posts on this blog, and general bits and pieces from my life.


Things I've Done:

My articles with Something's Bruin have started to go up.  They're titled "The Ref's POV," and should be publishing on a biweekly basis.  The second goes live sometime today: The Blame Game

Other accomplishments of the week include surviving the Congressional something-or-other without freezing to death (I worked 18 games in 3 days, although only 12 were tournament games), and spending half an hour serving as FAQ for an entire section of the bleachers at Caps practice during my break on Monday.

I always find those experiences disconcerting, because I'm fairly certain that I don't know all that much (my default Caps game co-attendee always laughs when I say that, because I'm how she keeps up on the hockey world, but there are levels of knowledge).

To follow up on that experience, last night I had a woman stick her head into my scorebox at 10PM wanting details on Caps practices.  Apparently I exude 411 vibes?  It's a valid theory - I've been asked for directions by random people on the street in almost every city and country I've visited (the two exceptions being Japan and Egypt).

Things in the Works:

A "Support/Disprove" post regarding hockey parents, which will serve as a follow up to my initial rambling assessment.  As is often the case, more research has proved elements on both sides of the argument.

Something involving another hockey blog, which I'll say more about once the first entry publishes.