Some milestones

I am trying to be good.  I really am. 

It has come to my attention that behind my back, my name is being attached to silly accusations, and I have a strong temptation to address these things.  However, since I’ve resolved to stop the smack talk for the sake of peace in the Silver B galaxy, I will continue to bite my tongue even if it makes for less entertaining stuff to write about.  Besides, certain people are free to bring up their little accusations with me on Friday.  

So, onwards and upwards.  Let’s talk about some milestones that I’ve crossed over the past couple of weeks.

First, our game against the Ice Dawgs a couple of weeks ago was my 100th as a Puck Hog.  There’s nothing particularly significant about 100 games per se, other than that it’s a traditional milestone.  But, it’s still a good feeling to know I’ve played that many games for this great group of guys.  It’s a ton of fun every week, and not just because of the hockey.  All the postgame hanging out  we do into the wee hours of the morning at our pizza place or another local restaurant makes it totally worth it, win or lose.  We’ll talk or joke around about a gamut of topics - be it about the game we just played or mixed martial arts matchups within our own team.  It’s always a lot of fun and is the best way to kick off the weekend.

To date, I’ve played 103 out of 107 games for our team.  My “career” hockey stats look like this:

Singh10 Career Stats

My points per game went up a bit with the Hogs compared to when I played on the original Foothill Flyers, but I’ve been pretty consistent.  I’d like to think I’ve improved over the 100 games, but that might be a tough call.  The fact that my stats still show a little growth in light of facing more able players in our current league suggests that there was some improvement.  But hey, I’m still working on it.

Excluding some notable exceptions, at the time when Silver B was created, like most teams we Puck Hogs moved our whole team up to a higher league (the league we’re in now – Silver B).  We’ve had to face much tougher competition since then, which I’m glad we do.  Several of the original Silver B teams still retain much of their character from their Bronze League days, including the Misfits (formerly the Phantiaks, formerly the Phantoms/Kodiaks), Ice Dawgs, SMB (formerly Yo MaMa, formerly the Volcanoes) and our team, and I think there is something very positive to be said for that.

Another milestone that just passed was the second anniversary of the Hog Blog on July 5.  On the first anniversary last year, I did a quick summary, so I’ll do that again this time around.  In year two, the Hog Blog has seen:

• Visits: 11,085
• Posts: 54
• Comments: 134
• Busiest day: September 30, 2008
• Most visited post: “Holey the Goalie and Nogoalov” – 256 views
• Most visited page: “The Hog Blog” – 567 views
• Top five search engine terms: “hog blog hockey”, “bryan klein”, “puck hogs”, “puck hog blog”, “puck hogs roseville”.

I posted much more regularly last year, so I clearly need to pick up the pace.  Silver B, you have been warned.

On to year three!

Singh10.

Do not adjust your set

It’s not you, it’s me.

I’ve changed the design template of this blog again. I felt the desire for something new. This one seems to work for me and I hope it works for you too.

Singh10.

Happy birthday, Hog Blog!

I started this blog on this day in 2007, shortly after we started the Puck Hogs, as an online journal of my hockey experiences as a player, new captain, and a member of a new team. At the outset I wasn’t sure how long I’d keep up with it, because survival rates for new blogs aren’t that high. But, continuing with the Hog Blog hasn’t been difficult at all. The blog has allowed me to combine two things I like to do – playing hockey and writing – and even though I may not be all that great at either, I’ve had fun doing it.

As of this post, here are some random facts about the Hog Blog over its one year existence:

• Total visits: 8,591 (although 8,000 of those visits were probably from me alone)
• Total posts: 88
• Total comments: 181
• Busiest day: May 20, 2008
• Most visited post: “Don’t hate the playa, playa” – 173 views
• Most visited page: “The Puck Hogs” – 214 views
• Top five search engine terms: “hog blog hockey”, “skatetown roseville”, “new canucks jersey”, “puck hogs roseville”, and the name of a well known goalie in our league. Another interesting thing are the visits to this blog that came when people searched for other Bronze and Silver B teams.

An interesting anecdote: I went into the Skatetown pro shop after a game one day, and there were about three guys there getting fitted for and buying new gear. I didn’t know who they were, but one of them approached me after watching us play and told me that they decided to enroll in the Learn To Play Hockey program after visiting and reading this blog. That was kind of cool and tickled me in my happy places.

I also came to know that the powers that be at Skatetown also visited this blog, and I hope it has given them some more insight into what is going on in the minds of their customers, as disturbing as that might be.

I’m not sure how many friends or enemies I have made over the past year because I decided to post my thoughts online. I probably came out on the losing end of that one. But, I’m not playing nice to people and then speaking behind their backs, or being disingenuous about how I feel. Anything I write here, I would say at the rink in person.

So, thanks to all the readers and commenters who kept up. I appreciate the time you take to visit, read and comment, and I look forward to continuing on for another year.

Singh10.

New look Hog Blog

I’ve changed the look of this blog.  It just seems a little easier to read this way.  Hope all you puckheads like it.