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.

Tournament Time! Hockey Parents, Referees, No Sleep Tonight

Congressional Something-or-Other Tournament is happening this weekend at one of the rinks I work at, so I'm logging a ridiculous number of extra hours at the scorekeeping gig.  It's very different than my normal work, and not just because it's a tournament.  I've only peripherally worked with kids games before (and, surprisingly, only ever as a ref).  We've got several levels of play represented here, from B to AA-Travel (there's a team that came down from Toronto - 10 hours in a bus), as well as age ranges (Squirt/Atom to Bantam), so I've been getting a good look at different aspects/elements of hockey parents and kids teams.

Based upon 24 hours of extensive observation, I've come to some broad and generalized conclusions.  Brace yourselves.

All About the Angles (Spectator's Edition)

As is to be expected, given that the thing with Something's Bruin is a go (did I mention I'm ridiculously excited about that?  No?  Right, moving on), I've started paying a lot more attention to referees-who-are-not-me.  It should be a simple thing, right?  Organize the schedule, log some dedicated hours watching televised games, pay attention to what's going on on the ice when I'm at work.

As I'm sure we all know, it's never actually that easy.  For one thing, when they televise NHL games, the cameras follow that little matte black dot known as a puck.  This means that, at any given time, you're lucky to catch sight of one member of the four man crew.  It makes tracking referee movement difficult, to put it nicely.

Does anyone know how the streamed AHL games stack up?  I suspect they're not better than the NHL in terms of full-rink/larger picture aspects, but the low budget might actually work in my favour on this one.

Spending five days a week in the scorekeeper's box should help the situation.  It does.  And if you haven't spent time in the scorekeeper's box, it probably looks like a great view of the ice.  It is.  Right up until you try to see what's going on along the near-side boards anywhere outside of the Neutral Zone.  At that point, you can kiss your view (and the muscles in your neck) goodbye.

Granted, when it comes to refwork analysis, the games I work (both on and off the ice) tend to be two man crews, so they're useful for very different reasons.

Next project, getting caught up on writing assignments and tracking down an operating budget for the NHL.

Hit the Road. It Hit Back. Story of My Life.

Took a quick road trip up to Boston over the weekend for a Winter Classic viewing party and some socializing.  I had a blast, as I expected to, and had the surprisingly genuine pleasure of watching the game with a Pens fan who shares my approach to hockey fandom (Hockey First, Team Second, and remember that everyone's human, eh?).

While up in New England, I also caught the Manchester Monarchs/Providence Bruins game, and I'm shooting to have a write-up on the reffing involved done in the next few days for Something's Bruin (no idea if they'll use it, but if they don't, expect it to show up over here).

Today I played catch-up from the 20 hours of driving and 16 hours of drinking that were necessitated by the event (or, let's be honest, 16 hours of socializing and about 2 hours of drinking - my liver's just not that above-average).  Tomorrow I'm back to classes (winter session First Responder training, because I don't know how to take time off, apparently), and also back to the rink.

There's been a management shift over the holiday break regarding the scorekeepers that makes me a bit uncomfortable, but we'll see how things shake out.  I'm currently in the process of making it clear just how much they failed to train me initially, and the problems that Pointstreak manifests when one is dealing with a sketchy internet connection, so I may or may not suddenly be the new supervisor's least favorite person in a hurry.  Worst case, I end up swapping the majority of my hours to my other rink if things don't go well, but that would be a shame.

It's 2011, everyone.  Welcome back to the grind!