New Years Resolution

Wanted to offer up a resolution for the Blog in the New Year. I'm resolving to do more "special features" on players and teams, especially early in the week before games start hitting. I've been contacting coaches and asking them for their two cents and have gotten great response (thanks, Coaches!). I'd also like to put it out there for readers of the Blog. What types of things would you like

Happy Diablo New Year

Skip the football tomorrow and watch a little pond hockey.

UPDATE: Highlights from today's game from ESPN.com

MHSHCA Rankings Updated

This week's MHSHCA rankings are out. No movement among the West Michigan teams represented, and only one new team moving into the polls (Rochester United in D-1). In D-2, Trenton moves up to the top spot, replacing Wyandotte, which was very impressive in the Big Rapids tournament this past weekend. GRCC remains atop the D-3 poll, despite suffering its first loss of the season in Milwaukee.

OK Conference Standings Updated

A coach's work is never done. That's why I'm able to post the OK conference standings on a Sunday evening. Thanks to Lowell-Caledonia head coach Mike Ballard for keeping track of the scores, standings and upcoming games for the three tiers of the Ottawa-Kent Conference and, more importantly, for sending them out. Standings as of today are posted below, and I would also refer to our friends at

TCC wins TC Tourney

Traverse City Central won the TC Tournament with a 2-1 victory over Orchard Lake St. Mary's, the second year in a row TCC beat OLSM for the championship. You can see some raw footage of the game here, thanks to Channel 9/10. You can also check out the TC Record-Eagle's story about the game and TC West's win over Birmingham Unified.Bonus video coverage of other games involving the TC teams (

Diablos 6 - Muskies 2

No Hope, MN - A great third period effort by the Diablos swamped a potential comeback bid by the Muskies Saturday evening as the Diablos went on to win, 6 - 2. Rocco Bonello and Jarick Losey scored goals in the first period to get the 'Blo's on the board and that 2 - 0 score held up into the third period. The Muskies were able to bat in a rebound early in the third to close the gap, but Ted Reiff was able to cover with a goal. After another Muskie tally, Dean Groth answered with his own. Rocco was able to bang home a one timer for his second of the night, and Larry Eckman was able to close out the scoring with his first of the season.

Goaltender Justin Alderink turned away 22 of 24 shots and the Diablo blueliners had an outstanding game keeping the Muskies from setting up anything in their zone. Andy Suerth, Andy Claypool, Mike Monroe, Todd Ewing, Peter Vanzyl, and Mat Lindquist had one of the Diablos' best games as a group.

This win keeps the Diablos in the top half of the AHA D1 West Standings with 12 points. Next game is on January 5 against the Diablos' arch nemesis, the Nemesis.

This video metaphorically shows the highlights from Saturday night's victory.



Official AHA Scoresheet - TR

The Blog Scoreboard

Saturday ScoresLowell-Cal 6 Kal United 5 (OT)Big Rapids 3 Jackson LC 2TC Central 2 OLSM 1Divine Child 7 TC Reps 0GR Christian 5 Grand Haven 2Jenison 9 Kal United 1South Christian 4 Wayland 2TC West 8 Birmingham Un. 1Friday ScoresGR Christian 8 Kalmazoo U. 0Grand Haven 2 Jenison 1Manistee 6 Wayland 5 (6 OT)Bay Area Thunder 4 S. Christian 1Catholic Mem. 3 GRCC 2Rockford 5 Jackson LC 4 (20t)

GR Christian wins Jenison Tourney

GR Christian beat Grand Haven 5-2 in the championship of the Jenison Holiday Tournament out at Georgetown. Game was tied 2-2 after two, and then GR Christian tallied three times in the third to get the win. Jordan Rose scored the the game winner in 3rd period and added another for good measure. Mitch Bryant was strong in the net for Christian to pick up the victory. Shots were 33-20 for GR

Big Rapids 3 Jackson Lumen-Christi 2

A well fought contest throughout the game. Special teams proved to be the difference in this contest. Big Rapids gets on the board first with 4:35 left in the period on a short-handed goal from Mike Hickson, with the assist going to Tom Hancock after an aggressive fore-check /steal /pass. Big Rapids wasted no time and scored again shortly thereafter, this time on a power play goal by

Wyandotte 8 Rockford 0

Wyandotte Roosevelt showed Rockford why they are one of the top teams in the state in the championship game at Big Rapids. Wyandotte wins 8-0 after 2 periods of play. Wyandotte places 3 forwards and a goalie on the tournament team (3 sophomores and 1 junior). Dan Cruickshank makes all tournament team for the Rams.

Manistee & Wayland Play 6 OTs

Report coming in that Manistee and Wayland played six overtimes in their tournament game today, with Manistee pulling out the victory 6-5. The game, which went 86 minutes and 10 seconds, was the 3rd longest game in Michigan High School Hockey history, according to our sources.Manistee got on the board first with a goal by Logan Rohdy (his first of three on the night) assisted by Brett Truxton.

Rockford 5 Jackson Lumen-Christi 4 (2OT)

Rockford and Jackson Lumen Christi went an extra 14 minutes of OT before Tyler Glass split the JLC defense and threw a backhand over the goalie's shoulder for the game winner. Rockford wins their 4th straight game to move to 7-3 for the season. Rockford advances to the Championship game in Big Rapids at 3 pm vs Wyandotte Roosevelt.

Catholic Memorial 3 GRCC 2

Catholic Memorial of Milwaukee hands the Cougars their first loss of the season with a 3-2 win in the championship of the Joe Raymond Memorial Tournament. CM got on the board with two quick even-strength goals, before Clayton Brackett responded with a low rocket from the blue line. Then, with the Cougars on the powerplay, they turned the puck over to CM's all-state forward Jeff Costello, who

Wyandotte 6 Big Rapids 3

Big Rapids spotted the third ranked team in division 2 hockey a quick 3 goal advantage in the first period but fought back to be down 3-2 at the period break on goals by Bill Clark and Paul Goggins . Clark's goal came unassisted while Brandon Madaj and Jordan Defever assisted on the Goggin's goal. Big Rapids kept the pressure on late in the first period with some nice defensive efforts

So 2007 and I are totally breaking up but we are so hip that I don't even mind if 2007 hits on my friends

(Tara Reid was nice enough to send me a picture of her ringing in 2008 taken with her future camera. Pledge this, indeed!)

Peace out, 2007. You kind of sucked but not as bad as your evil twin, 2006. I'm glad that asshole is dead.

My top 4 sports memories of 2007:

1. Watching the Mavs get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors and wondering why God could cure sick kids who will probably just grow up to vote straight-ticket Republican but couldn't cut the Mavs a break.

2. Reading this interview with Jeremy Shockey and suddenly craving Pancho's and a Miller High Life. No, I will never be able to defend or justify my Jeremy Shockey crush but as Dr. John (per Patton Oswalt) once said, "Some days an alligator is driving a car and some days you're wearing a hat made out of meat." Ok?

3. Little Known Sports Fact: Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash used to spoon and eat pistachio gelato while watching Dumb and Dumber when they were both Mavs. Nash still pines for those days.

4. Jerry Jones securing Tony Romo's ability to buy $67.5 million worth of Jager bombs and morning-after cab fare.


My Top 5 Movies of 2007:

1. The King of Kong
2. No Country for Old Men
3. 3:10 to Yuma
4. Superbad
5. Anything that wasn't Juno

My Top 3 Ill-Advised Travel Destinations of 2007:

1. London, England. Last time I was there, the Pope died. This time that little girl got kidnapped. I will not be returning to London any time soon. Next time I feel like paying $8 for a beer I will just go to a sporting event. Ta.

2. Norman, Oklahoma. If you live in Norman, you just aren't trying hard enough. You are lazier than me which is saying a whole lot.

3. Austin, Texas. I have a new rule. I will only go to Austin if someone is paying me to go there. You keep Austin weird, I am going over here to wash my clothes with something other than Dr. Bronner's. If you are unlucky enough to have a job that requires you to attend SXSW in 2008 like I do, remember one thing: as my friend Teyah once said, "Austin is one of those towns where you should always wear two pairs of underwear the whole time you are there."

Top 20 Artists I Didn't Care About of 2007:

1. Lilly Allen
2. Jens Lenkman
3. Radiohead
4. Mika
5. Fiest
6. Artic Monkeys
7. Iron and Wine
8. Blonde Redhead
9. The Liars
10. Deerhoof
11. Bright Eyes
12. M.I.A. (also the winner of "Amanda's Least Favorite Musical Artist of the Past Five Years" award by a landslide)
13. Okkervil River
14. Peter, Bjorn, and John
15. !!!
16. The White Stripes
17. Scissor Sisters
18. The Shins
19. Interpol
20. Justice

Top 3 Cars I Desperately Want of 2007:

1. 1957 Black Ford Thunderbird with Continental kit

2. 1973 White Corvette 350CI V8 with red interior

3. 1983 Mercedes Diesel 300D



And with that, I will now take a nap under my desk for an hour while Tina Yothers acts as my lookout/body double. Auld Lame Syne.

GRCC 1 Mt. Carmel 0

Grand Rapids Catholic Central moves to 10-0 with a win over Chicago-based Mt. Carmel (alma mater of Chris Chelios) in the opening round of the Joe Raymond Memorial Tournament in suburban Milwaukee. The Cougars go up 1-0 on a short-side rip by Matt Kane, assisted by younger brother Tim, early in the second period. Despite outshooting MC by a 35-22 margin, the Cougars can't get another one past

Holiday Hockey Tournaments

Lots of Xmas-time hockey going on this week, with tournaments local and afar. Will be heading over to Milwaukee tomorrow to see my folks and watch GR Catholic Central play two top teams from Wisconsin and Mt. Carmel from Chicago. Meanwhile, up in Big Rapids, the Cardinals host Rockford, Jackson and one of the top teams in the state, Wyandotte Roosevelt. Forest Hills Central and East Kentwood

Log on and be counted

I've had a bunch of people ask me how many visitors come to the Blog everyday, and I always respond, "Uh-h-h, I dunno." So I've installed a counter today to start tracking the number of visitors. (Don't worry, I won't start checking your cookies and spamming you.) If you'd like to look at the stats, there's a link at the bottom of the right hand column for the Stat Counter. It's a big fat

PC vs. TCW on TV

More TV coverage of high school hockey from Channel 9/10 up north. Check out these highlights of the Traverse City West vs. Portage Central game from last weekend. They also do "uncut" video of some games they cover, so teams can get a little extended tv/web time.

Merry Christmas from the Diablos

Pick One.

FOX 17 High School Hockey Highlights

Give it up huge for the folks at FOX-17, who have been aggressive in reporting on high school hockey this season. They've now added online video clips to the mix, beginning this weekend. They've recently upgraded their computer and editing system, and the news director promises that high school hockey clips will appear on the website right after they air on TV. For video highlight of some

Forest Hills Central 6 GR Christian 2

Thanks to photographer and veteran hockey dad Shane Hansen for shots of this game.

Mona Shores 6 FHN/E 2

Partisan Mona Shores students and fans who journeyed to the Lakeshore Sports Centre in Muskegon were rewarded Saturday afternoon, not only with free tie-dyed promotional shirts but also with an offensive blitzkrieg by the host Sailors. Despite a valiant effort and some hard hitting by the visiting Forest Hills North/East Huskies, the Sailors outshot their opponents and, but more importantly

Weekend Hockey Scores

Saturday GamesMuskegon CC 6 Manistee 0GRCC 7 Haslett 0Midland 6 Kentwood 4Mona Shores 6 FHN/E 2Lowell/Cal. 8 Northview 0EGR 5 Cadillac 3Grandville 4 Jenison 0Hudsonville 8 Holt 1FHC 6 GR Christian 2Friday Night GamesForest Hills N/E 5 EGR 1Muskegon CC 4 Kenowa 3Lowell/Cal 7 Wayland 2TC West 4 Portage Central 2Gd Haven 7 Kzoo Blades 6 (OT)

Grandville 4 Jenison 0

Andy Grypma broke a scoreless tie with two second period goals, and the Bulldogs added two late ones from Shane Hitchcock and Alex Stickland to propel Grandville to a 4-0 win over Jenison in a game played at the Van Andel Arena. Sophomore Nate Pratt got the win in net. Read about the game in the online Grand Rapids Press here, and thanks to Randy Ellen for the game pix posted above.

Hudsonville 8 Holt 1

After four straight OK Conference Tier 2 games that saw Hudsonville go 3-1, the Eagles welcomed the Holt Rams to Georgetown for a non-league match-up. After a back-and-forth start to the game, the Eagles tallied first when Trent VanderMolen tipped in a Ryan Rose shot from just outside the left circle. Just 41 seconds later, Parker Host found the back of the net with a blistering slap shot

EGR 5 Cadillac 3

The Pioneers get off the schneid with a 5-3 win over the visiting Vikings.

Lowell/Caledonia 8 Northview 0

L/C opened the scoring at 7:00 minute mark of first with a 5-on-3 PP goal by Justin Story and followed 15 seconds later with a 5-on-4 PP goal by Jordan Steger. L/C went on to out shoot Northview 37 to 13 in a two period mercy game lead by Drake Chittenden who had 1 goal and 3 assists. L/C netminder Corey Phillips stopped 13 of 13 for the shut out.The 8-0 win, combined with yesterday's 7-2

GRCC 7 Haslett-Williamston 0

Kevin Boman had a hat trick and Matt Kane added two goals and an assist to power Grand Rapids Catholic Central over a young team from Haslett-Williamston. Clayton Brackett scored a shorthanded goal, his fifth of the season, and added two assists. Junior defenseman Dominic Lefere added a goal on a shot from the blueline to round out the goal-scoring. Seniors Paul Ziemke and John Dery each

Saturday Hockey

Mona Shores vs. FHN/E (4 p.m. @ Lakeshore) - If you talk to people at the rinks and read the comments on MLIVE and the always informative OK Hockey site, the winner of this game will be the "favorite" to win the OK-1 conference. While I agree that a win for FHN/E certainly puts them in the driver's seat at 3-0, a loss by Mona won't mean as much. The Sailors' early season schedule has been

Midland 6 EK 4

Thanks to Hockey mom extraordinaire Carri Shipaila for the snaps of the EK vs. Midland game.

Forest Hills N/E 5 East Grand Rapids 1

Forest Hills Northern/Eastern turned it up a notch -- okay, actually it was several notches -- in the third period to earn a 5-1 win against East Grand Rapids. Senior Andrew Rennaker turned a hat trick, and goalie Sean Winks had 18 saves for Forest Hills.The teams played even at 1-1 through two periods, with FHN/E getting on the board first on a goal from Rennaker two minutes into the second

Lowell/Caledonia 7 Wayland 2

Lowell/Caledonia came roaring back after falling behind 2-1 early to claim the victory in this OK-3 matchup. L/C senior Jordan Steger had a hat trick and junior goalie Corey Phillips had 15 saves to earn the victory between the pipes.Wayland jumped out to the first period lead on goals by sophs Josh Pogodzinski (PP) and Tyler Schneider (ES). L/C got one from senior Bo Adams to make it 2-1 after

Muskegon Catholic Central 4 Kenowa Hills 3

MCC got an outstanding performance from freshman goalie Thomas Marine to hold off Kenowa Hills in a well-played game at Griff's Holiday Tournament. Marine had 36 saves, many of them in acrobatic fashion, and the Crusaders scored twice in the final 3:18 to pull out the victory in a see-saw game.After a penalty filled second period, the refs put their whistles away in the third to let 'em play.

Hockey Night in West Michigan

Kind of a light schedule tonight, though there are a few good league matchups. Also, the second bracket of the Griff's Holiday Tournament kicks off tonight, with the following teams: Kenowa Hills, Ottawa-Union, Manistee and Muskegon Catholic Central. (BTW, congratulations to West Ottawa, which won the first bracket of the tournament with a 3-2 win over West Catholic last night. South

8 Goals!

That's the amount of goals scored last night between John Driscoll and Marian Gaborik combined. After firing in his third (after a nifty dish by yours truly), here's what was going through JD's brain...



More from TheToddTime.com - yeah, the guy is named Todd.

The Diablo fan(s) were pumped after last night's victory. Fortunately, Peter Sinesio brought his skis.



I'm not sure that the Zamboni driver at the arena was pleased that Justin was standing on top of his machine.

Finally, in the "I Wouldn't Believe It Unless I Saw It" catagory, here's Sidney Crosby's fight from last night. All of your hockey info from across the NHL can be found right here.



Just in case the first video made you feel girly.

I need a recap - who's up?

12 Super Sophs

Everyone has a list at this time of year, so I thought I'd do my first one. This is NOT a "best of" ranking, just a list of some super sophomores that coaches, fans and other players have told me are off to a great start this season. I've seen quite a few of them play, and they're the kind of players you notice even when you don't know anything about the kid or the team.So caveat emptor: This

Alumni games on tap - UPDATED

Look for some old time hockey in the coming weeks, as teams begin the annual ritual of hosting alumni games around the Christmas break. There are a few games on tap (and no, that is not a beer reference. Everyone knows old guys drink out of cans on the bench, not a keg). Anyway, the games that I know of include:Grand Rapids Catholic Central will host its second annual alumni game on Saturday,

East Kentwood 2 Kenowa Hills 2

Ties usually suck. It's the whole "kissing your sister" thing. Tonight's game was the exception to prove the rule. This was a great high school hockey game. Lots of speed, tape-to-tape passing, great goaltending and even a penalty shot in OT. Both coaches have to be pleased with the effort they got from players tonight.The game itself: East Kentwood got on the board in the first period on

Portage Northern 10 Kalamazoo United 2

Portage Northern cracked a 2-2 tie with eight unanswered goals to win big in Kalamazoo. United jumped into the lead very early in the first period when Brian Phillips banged in a goal assisted by Matt Schettner. Northern answered right back when Matt Duris threw a wrister over the shoulder of Kalamazoo United goalie Steven Woods. Brian Mulhern assisted on Northern's first goal. The Huskies took

Driscoll's Email

After reading the Wikipedia article about Wingers, I thought I'd do a search for some video on YouTube. Nice!!!

Rockford 7 Muskegon Catholic Central 3

West Ottawa 8 South Christian 2

West Ottawa got goals from six different players in an 8-2 win over South Christian's Sailors in the Griff's Holiday Tournament. Noah Mihos got West Ottawa on the board early on an assist from Kevin Holt. South Christian battled back to get the equalizer two minutes later, when Teddy Van Vliet scored (assist to Dave Devries). The teams ended the first period knotted at 1-1.West Ottawa wasted

West Catholic 6 Northview 1

West Catholic scored three goals in a span of 1:03 during the second period to bust open a 1-1 tie at Griff's. The Falcons got on the board first with an unassisted goal from Nick Woronko three minutes into the game's first period. Northview's Steve Harwood tied the game at 10:11 of the second period, assisted by Matt Castle, with the goal coming seconds after N'view had killed off a penalty.

Diablos vs. Bruins

10:00 pm at The Peanuts Barn (a.k.a. Highland Schultz). Get your Thursday on!

Inspirational Video tomorrow.


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If you were thinking about seeing the indie film Juno and/or joining Facebook

Might I suggest that you instead pay three syphilis-ridden prostitutes to whip you with rusty razor wire while playing Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music on repeat in the background? Trust me, it will be a lot more enjoyable.

I am in no way qualified to offer movie critiques but just like any chimp that has had a three hour internet training course, I will offer my thoughts on the cinematic innards trail that is Juno.

Let's start with the Kimya Dawson soundtrack. That's right, she's the less listenable half of the Moldy Peaches. I can handle one song. Maybe. The entire movie? Nope, no thanks.

But the dialog of the entire movie leaves me begging for more Kimya Dawson to drown out the verbal diarrhea of hip indie culture hipster references. It's like Pitchfork became a person and then wrote a screenplay. STOP TALKING ABOUT SONIC YOUTH. PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT THE MELVINS. PLEASE DON'T MENTION IGGY AND THE STOOGES ANYMORE. PLEASE LEAVE DARIO ARGENTO OUT OF THIS.

I like those things. I don't need to be hit in the face with them. And speaking of being hit in the face with them, that's what this movie is. It's Facebook: The Movie! I refuse to use Facebook because I don't want to be poked, super poked, made to answer trivia questions, be given a dancing avatar of my favorite cast member from Ghostbusters or be reminded that today is Canadian Penny Collectors Day! Juno's kind of the same way. Hey, you like jokes about fuddy duddy parents who wear sweater vests and collect pictures of dogs? I got you some good stuff over here. What about the sheer hilarity of the image of a pasty legged gawky teenage boy in running shorts? Does that make you laugh? Well, buckle up Edda Mae because you're gonna get a dozen chances to giggle. Does someone talking on a novelty phone that is maybe shaped like some type of food or any other wacky object send you into convulsions of laughter? Better take your meds before the movie starts then. Are you still 15 and get really excited when people mention the name of a band that you like that you genuinely believe are obscure and speak to your teenage soul? Better see this movie before you realize that lots of other people know about that band too.

Movies work mostly because the audience sympathizes or roots for the central character if even in a minor way. Even No Country For Old Men somehow makes you dig a maniacal killer if only for his hairstyle and choice of footwear. But no character in recent memory has annoyed me as much as the title character in Juno. She's so spunky, anti-authoritarian and intelligent that she can use such big words and have such widely varying interests. However, all it takes for her to run screaming from an abortion clinic is the vague thought that her fetus may have fingernails. I know the word "abortion" must not be spoken nor dealt with in movies and to Juno's credit, it's the hippest pro-life film I have seen in ages! I sure do hope American Apparel makes onesies.

All in all, this movie was slightly better when it was called Ghost World and didn't involve teen pregnancy. I still love Michael Cera all the same though.

Wednesday Night Hockey

East Kentwood vs. Kenowa Hills (7 p.m. @ Walker) - Should be a good game between two teams that approach the game similarly. Both rely on excellent goaltending and disciplined play in the defensive zone to keep games close. They also try to make the most of good scoring chances because neither is an offensive juggernaut. Offensively, EK likes to play below the goal line and their powerplay can

Advance hockey coverage

This week's Advance hockey coverage includes a report on the City League clash between Ottawa-Union and Creston-Central, as well as a story about Rockford's 3-1 win over Grandville last week. (The Blog covered both games, and you can find more pictures from the OU-CC game here and Ram-Bulldog game here.) The Advance also reports on Kenowa Hills' sweep in the Petoskey Tournament and has a nice,

Diablos 4 - Buzz 3 (OT) Highlights

Footage from last Sunday Night's win vs. the Buzz. Song by Stompin Tom Connors. Bonus points for learning the words.

MHSHCA Rankings Updated

This week's MHSHCA rankings are out. Traverse City West and Traverse City Central each moved up a spot in their respective polls, and Grand Rapids Catholic Cental maintained its #1 rating in D-3. Mona Shores stayed put in the #9 spot in D-2.DIVISION 11. Livonia Stevenson2. Livonia Churchill3. Detroit Catholic Central4. Orchard Lake St. Marys5. Marquette6. Brighton7. Traverse City West8.

Wayland , GRCC Players Honored by MHSHCA

The Michigan High School Hockey Coaches Association website just updated its "Players of the Week" awards, and it has a distinctly West Michigan flavor. Wayland's Randy Beck garnered POW honors for his 5 goal/2 assist weekend in Kalamazoo, as the Wildcats racked up wins against the Eagles and United. The MHSCA also honored the GRCC Cougar trio of Kevin Boman, Clayton Brackett and John Dery for

Recap II: Diablos Win 4-3 in OT

(*Note: I had asked Jarick or Peter if they wanted to write a recap. Jarick first declined, but then I got one after I posted below. If anyone else wants to write a recap, send it in! (I tried posting Todd's email, but for some reason, the software melted down) - TR)

Good spirits filled the plywood box that made up the locker room for the night, setting the tone for the evening: work hard and have fun, no matter what happens on the scoreboard. Coming off back-to-back shutout losses, the Diablos knew all they needed was one good shot, one dirty goal, and the rest would follow.

The game got off to a fast start immediately as the newly-formed line of Losey-Reiff-Driscoll took the ice. Right from the opening faceoff, the Diablos skated the puck into the offensive zone, fired their shots, and drove hard to the net. A quick turnover led to a rush going the other way as Justin Alderink made a quick glove save. It would be a fast game. Several more chances were followed up by the Sinesio line, featuring the return of LW John Blasingame to the lineup and the premiere of Matt Lindquist at forward. The Ewing-Christenson-Monique Lindquist line spent most of the night doing the dirty work, shutting down the Buzz's top line and getting several looks as well.

Although the Diablos peppered goalie Ridgely with shots, the Buzz struck first at 11:16 of the first period as Schultz scored unassisted. The Diablos were 0-3-0 when the other team scores first, but they kept their spirits up and continued the forecheck. Their bad luck continued, however, as Bottenfield notched the second goal of the night for the opposing team 2:23 before the first intermission.

Justin stood tall in the second period as the Buzz circled the offensive zone. The lone Diablos penalty was borne of frustration as the puck repeatedly managed to find the stick of a black-and-yellow player. Once again, the hard work of the Diablos went unrewarded as Buzz player Neuman scored their third of the night with 3:19 left in the second.

Having gone eight full periods without a single goal, the Diablos knew they had to work as hard as ever on the ice. It seemed as though the curse would continue as the seconds ticked away with the goose egg on the board. But spirits remained high on the bench, teammates voicing their support for the strong plays in the offensive zone and the great stops by Alderink. The Diablos caught a break as the Buzz were caught with an extra man on the ice, and the power play would prove to be the turning point. At the tail end of the bench minor, LW Jarick Losey flipped a quick pass in the defensive zone to C Ted Reiff. Reiff made another quick pass in the neutral zone as RW John Driscoll streaked down the wing, entered the zone, and fired. At 12:31 remaining in the third period, the curse was broken, the shutout streak had ended, and the comeback had begun.

The Buzz defense stood tall, but the Diablos had tasted blood and wanted more. With another quick breakout late in the period, D Greg Smith sent a long pass to Diablos captain and LW Todd Ewing, who gave it to D Andy Suerth. Suerth, known more for his physical play and bench language, fired a quick wrist shot past the goalie for the Diablos second goal of the night with 4:30 left in the period. Captain Ewing, who struggled with an equipment issue throughout the night, led his team by example as he nabbed the game-tying goal off a great pass by C Dave Christenson with 1:52 in the game. In the dying seconds of the third, Alderink saved his team by stopping a breakaway chance, which gave the team much needed energy for the coming overtime.

Although they struggled to break out the puck early in the extra minutes, the Diablos turned up the heat in the offensive zone, firing shot after shot towards the Buzz netminder. The Reiff line had plenty of scoring chances as wingers Losey and Driscoll battled to clear the net and their center nabbed every loose puck. As the puck slid behind the goal, Reiff shot a quick pass to Losey, who shot the puck into the slot and true to form, he was the last to know as another ugly goal found its way off an opposing player and in with 1:52 left in OT. The Diablos had scored four unanswered goals late in the dying minutes of the game to earn their fourth win of the season in an amazing character win. - JLosey

GR Press Highlights Wayland

The Grand Rapids Press has a nice story on the Wayland Unified team, which is made up of players from Wayland Union, Byron Center, Thornapple Kellogg and Hopkins high schools. The Wildcats are off to a 3-3 start this season, but are somewhat banged up. They face off against Lowell-Caledonia, who just got back to full strength itself, this weekend (Friday, 8 pm @ Patterson) in an OK-3 matchup.

A letter to an old school chum...

(Blonde Ambition available in a super special direct-to-DVD release this month!)

Now, I know that it's hackish and cheap to say that Jessica Simpson "cursed" the Cowboys yesterday. I know that every media outlet has already make enough cracks about the fact that Jessica Simpson was at the Cowboys-Eagles game. But I don't care. It's one dead horse I could beat all day.

Dear Jessica Simpson,


Hey there! Gee, it seems like so long since we went to school together. Man, remember how you used to talk incessantly about your Christian pop album during theater and choir practice? Crazy days, good times.

So Jess, I see that you are dating Tony Romo now. That's pretty cool. You guys seem like a match made in Abercrombie Outlet store heaven. Some people are saying that you should not be at the Cowboys games. Now, I think that's silly. What they may not know is that you were actually at the Green Bay game two weeks ago when you watched Tones triumph over his childhood idol. The Michelob Ultras must have tasted that much better in the hot tub that night! If I was dating the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, I would totally go to the games. I've never been lucky enough to go to a Cowboys game in person. At Mavs games they drop Chili's coupons so I totally understand how fun going to professional sporting events can be.

Now, I would hope that you are intelligent enough to understand that as a celebrity you will attract the attention of both media and fans. In which case, it would behoove you (and your beau and his team) to conduct yourself with at least a modicum of decorum. And I don't mean that in a "Stand By Your Man"/a woman's place is in the home/barefoot and pregnant sort of way. I mean that you should UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES display your pink #9 jersey by repeatedly standing up and shimming and convulsing with your mouth agape like you are waiting for the Adderal to kick in before trying to earn a set of beads. Because by doing so, you give everyone an easy target.

I guess once you realized that Tones was playing like the third string quarterback/aspiring semi-pro golfer that he started as, you decided to go sit in a box. Good move. It indicates that you are at least as wise as American Idol alum Carrie Underwood who retreated from the sidelines to the boxes this time last year to watch Tones choke against the Eagles. In the box, you joined the ranks of other box-occupiers such as Avery Johnson who was bending Jerry Jones ear with advice. Now, let's rule out that Avery was giving Jerry any advice about success in sports. Unless Jerry wants to know how to psych out an entire city with teases of greatness followed by catastrophic collapses, I am going to assume you guys were talking about your favorite Papa John's toppings. I go with Canadian Bacon, onions and green peppers myself.

So in conclusion, I guess I just expected slightly more class out of you. I mean here you are, JESSICA SIMPSON! That's right, the Jessica Simpson who is not only the spokesperson for her own line of hair weaves and extensions BUT ALSO a line of vanilla and cotton candy flavored edible body mousse. The Jessica Simpson whose movie career peaked in the role of Daisy Duke! The Jessica Simpson that couldn't comprehend basic things such as brand names of common canned food items! I guess being friends with Eva "Hey Ya'll, I totally gotz my Sidekick done in Swarovski crystals that are Spurs colors and that spell out Tony's number and I will prove it by holding it up prominently when the camera cuts to me at Spurs games!" Longoria probably doesn't help.

Well, it's about time for my morning trip to the vending machine for a Diet Coke. I hope this letter finds you well and that in the future at any Cowboys games you attend, you will sit the fuck down and not dress or act like a sports-crazed tranny who just gobbled up a bottle of Phen-Fen.

LYLAS!
Amanda

Recap I: Diablos 4 - Buzz 3 (OT). Chicken Spared.

St. Paul, MN - Eight straight shutout periods was enough for the Diablos on Sunday night. In a third period barrage, the Diablos not only ended their scoring drought, but they completed a stunning comeback in overtime to defeat the AHA Hockey Buzz 4-3 at Pleasant Arena.

The Diablos came into the game disheveled, after failing to put the puck in the net for two straight games. Call it the "Coliseum Curse" - both games were played at the State Fair Coliseum. The first two periods were filled with bad bounces, missed opportunities, and a 3-o Buzz lead. The Buzz's Schultz & Bottenfield scored the game's first two tallies in the first period off of rebounds that seemed to seek out their tape. Good positioning and quick reactions gave the Buzz a 2-0 lead after the first. Their third goal was a nice shot by B. Neuman through a screen and the five-hole.

The key word Sunday night for the Diablos was patience. The Diablos kept the pressure up during the third period and were able to open the scoring with a John Driscoll finish off of a 2 on 1 started by a Jarick Losey pass to a streaking Ted Reiff. Reiff was able to pull up his hockey pants and slide it across to Driscoll who buried it on the far post at 12:31. The Diablos stayed patient and kept working the puck in the Buzz zone. Ten minutes later, Greg Smith moved the puck to Todd Ewing who tapped it back to Andy Suerth, making him some space. Suerth took advantage, skated in and wristed a shot high above Buzz goaltender Ridgely's blocker for the second score. The Diablos were the team buzzing now and just before pulling Justin Alderink for an extra attacker, Captain Todd Ewing punched in a rebound off of a Dave Christianson shot for the equalizer at 1:28.

Diablo Goaltender Alderink had a pretty uneventful third period with some solid saves, but with less than a minute made the save of the game as an unidentified Buzz winger was able to pick up a turnover and skate it right in. Alderink stood on his head to make the save and send the game to overtime. Overall, Alderink faced 25 shots and turned 22 away.

Starting off the four minute, running time overtime with a 5 on 4 power play, the Diablos were unable to attack deep into the Buzz zone. Once the teams were back to even strength, though, they worked it down in the Buzz end and Reiff was able to scoop up a free puck and work it behind the goal. He was able to find Losey down by the far post who one-timed an improbable shot off of Ridgely's skate and in the back of the net for the dagger.

The Diablos get the win and the two points. They're tied with the Muskies for the middle of the D1 West division with 4 wins and 3 loses for 8 points. The Diablos have a double dip this week with a Thursday game against the Bruins (who recently upset the Muskies) at the Schultz Arena in St. Paul.

Official AHA Scoresheet - TR

Dearborn Divine Child 4 Big Rapids 1

Big Rapids once again came up short against another tough Detroit area team this past weekend, losing 4-1 in a very physical battle. In the first period, on a 4 on 4 , Brandon Madaj scored on a nice pass, with Jordan Defever getting the assist. This would be the only goal for the Cardinals and after one period Big Rapids lead Dearborn Divine Child 1-0. The 2nd period once again proved

Mona drops pair

The Mona Shores Sailors fell short in a pair of games this weekend, dropping a 5-1 decision to the Huskies from Port Huron Northern on Friday night at the unfriendly confines of the McMorran Pavilion, just a slapshot away from the Canadian border. The Sailors were treated to a three goal outburst in the 2nd period, including a powerplay goal by Ryan Axsom.The Sailors continued to outshoot

Kenowa sweeps Petoskey tourney

Kenowa Hills won the Petoskey Tournament with a 3-1 victory over the host team on Friday night and 7-1 win over the MERC Jets on Saturday. Knights players Travis Nichol, Joe Hankins and Zac Smith were named to the All Tournament Team.

D-3 Challenge Pictures

A few shots of the West Michigan teams that participated in the D-3 challenge. I'm woefully short of quality shots of Cadillac and Big Rapids, but did touch base with some fans of those teams and hope to get more. A few observations from the Showcase:GRCC's LINE CHANGE: Even though Cougars Kevin Boman, Clayton Brackett and John Dery have played together for years, the three haven't played as a

Saturday Scores

Rockford 3 Bay Reps 0Wayland 10 Kal. United 4PC 4 Mattawan 1FHN/E 5 Grandville 2Brother Rice 3 TC West 1Lowell/Cal 6 MCC 4Waterford 4 Reeths Puffer 2Portage Northern 5 Jenison 2Kenowa Hills 7 MERC Jets 1GPN 5 Mona Shores 3GR Christian 3 West Catholic 2D-3 ChallengeRiverview 5 Cadillac 3Flint Powers 5 EGR 2GRCC 8 Grosse Ile 2Divine Child 4 Big Rapids 1

GRCC 8 Grosse Ile 2

Grand Rapids Catholic Central wrapped up a weekend of dominance at the Divison 3 showcase with an 8-2 win over Grosse Ile. After a slow start, the Cougars played four-and-half minutes of near perfect hockey to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 6-1 lead. Grosse Ile came out ready to play and took a one-zip lead, which they carried until a bad change with 2 minutes left in the first resulted in a

Rockford 3 TC Bay Reps 0

Rockford (5-3) travels to Traverse City and picks up a 3-0 win against the Traverse City Bay Reps. Rams played excellent team hockey and controlled the play throughout the night. Tyler Hall (assisted by Andrew Beeg) got the Rams off to a one-goal lead in the 1st. Rockford extended the lead in the 2nd with goals from Shea Mills (from Noah Greco and Tyler Glass) and Jake Chaffee (from Mason

Diablos vs. Buzz

We'll finish off the first go-round vs. the Buzz. Dec 16 @ 9:00 pm.

Diablo Twin Powers Activate!!!


View Larger Map

Lowell-Caledonia 6 Muskegon Catholic Central 4

After being out played by FHC in a 7-1 defeat Friday night, L/C comes back with full lineup (suspension & injuries) to defeat Muskegon Catholic Central 6-4 in a high noon game at Patterson. MCC out shot L/C 33 to 26, but junior goalie Corey Phillips played his best game this year, stopping 29 of 33. L/C scored 5 of 6 goals on the power play. L/C was lead in scoring by senior Jordan Steger (1 G/

Reeths-Puffer 1 Gibraltar-Carlson 0

RP's coach told me last week that his sophomore goaltender, Eddie Young, "doesn't get enough love." The kid is 4-2 with two wins in OK conference play and boasts a gaudy .945 save percentage through the first five games. Last night, he posted his second shut out of the season as RP won its first of two in the Waterford-Kettering hockey tournament. Joey Sterritt got the game's only goal with

Wayland 5 Kalamazoo Eagles 3

Wayland took a quick 3-0 first period lead on goals from Tyler Schneider, Ayden Lawrence, and Randy Beck. In the second period, Wayland became a little undisciplined taking three penalties and giving up two power play goals to the Eagles, scored by AJ Hammond and Tyler Ankney. 3-2 after the second. It looked like Wayland was going to pull away in the third period on a goal by Ross Hinkle, but

Friday Night Scores

Hudsonville 5 Jenison 1Kenowa Hills 3 Petoskey 1Port Huron N. 5 Mona Shores 1Portage Northern 4 Okemos 2FHC 7 Low/Cal 1Riverview 2 EGR 1Grosse Ile 4 Big Rapids 3GRCC 9 Gaylord 4Wayland 5 Eagles 3Reeths-Puff 1 Carlson 0

Portage Northern 4 Okemos 2

Portage Northern came back tonight to win a very exciting contest by a 4-2 score. Nik Basford and Blake Ramos each scored powerplay goals for Okemos in the opening period and carried a 2-0 lead into the second period. Portage Northern then tallied 4 consecutive goals to pull out the victory. Kevin Campbell got the Huskies on the board early in the 2nd period with a nice assist from Nicco

D-3 Challenge Summaries

CHELSEA 8 CADILLAC 5Chelsea wins a track meet, despite two goals from Cadillac defenseman Jiri Lindstrom and one apiece from Adam Hodges, Sean Kennedy and P.J. O'Hagan. GROSSE ILE 4 BIG RAPIDS 3The Big Rapids Cardinal Hockey team faced a tough Gross IIe Red Devils team in their opening Friday night game at the DIII Showcase. Big Rapids got an early jump on the the Red Devils only 50 seconds

Hockey Night(s) in West Michigan

Per my previous post, I'm headed up north to Gaylord to see the D-3 challenge, so I'll be depending on all of you in the blogosphere to keep me updated. Once again, that email is brian.h.edwards@gmail.com. I'll have my laptop and will fire it up to report on things as the news comes in during this very full weekend of high school hockey. Friday GamesHudsonville 5 Jenison 1Kenowa Hills 3 Petoskey

D-3 Challenge - UPDATED

Plan on heading up to north this weekend, where I'll be watching some of best teams in Division 3 play in the Gaylord Showcase. There will be good representation by West Michigan teams including Big Rapids, Cadillac, East Grand Rapids and GR Catholic Central.While there are no teams from the U.P. this year, there are still some powerhouses. Watch out for Flint Powers (5-1 overall), which has

Ottawa-Union 8 Creston-Central 0

GR Press preps editor Jane Bos did a column today on the notion of the Grand Rapids Public Schools creating coop teams when they head to the OK Conference next year. "Pooling the talent," she wrote, "would make them stronger."I think she kind of misses the point. One sport where the GRPS schools already have coop teams, of course, is hockey. Central and Creston high schools have cooped their

MCC's Cutter featured in Tribune

A nice Q&A piece on Muskegon Catholic Central's senior defenseman, Erin Cutter. The Spring Lake resident, who played this fall on the West Michigan Stars, talks about his new coach, his travel experience with the Stars and his hopes for a successful senior season.

The Mavericks? You mean the country band?

They're pretty good. Stan Lynch from the Heartbreakers produced an album for them back in the 90's. What's that you say? There's a basketball team that also shares that name? Hmmmmm, are they any good? I have no idea what you are talking about.

The Dallas Mavericks are making me so disappointed and sad that the only thing that will cheer me up is to share my 2007 Favorite Kreepie Kats with all of you. You're welcome!





Where it all started.



"You kids ever seen the bottom of a lawnmower? It's wild!"




Still want to be a writer?



The reason I will never watch any Peanuts cartoon holiday specials.



If I had a nickel for every time I told someone to "grow some ovaries" I wouldn't be eating a packet of peanuts I got for free at the Mavs game on Saturday.

(Kreepie Kats Kourtesy of Gawker )

Why Twelve Days?

Some of you have communicated your dismay in the lack of posts during the bye week. My apologies, however here is the reason why I have been preoccupied. More pictures on the sidebar below.

Chronicle Coverage

Nice feature piece on Mona Shores' all-state defender Brock Carlston as part of the Muskegon Chronicle's high school hockey package. And a tip of the hat to longtime Chronicle hockey reporter Troy Ruel for helping spread the word about the Blog.

Rockford 3 Grandville 1

Looks like Rockford has a leg up on Grandville in the OK-1 race. The Rams got on the board first when Tyler Hall ripped one past Grandville goalie Ryan Wysocki just 3:40 into the game (assist to Andrew Beeg). Grandville tied it at the 6:10 mark when Ian Strayer fired a snipe-shot of his own, beating Rockford's Forrest Andrus to the stick side corner (assists to Andy Grypma and Brad Beilstein

Slap Shot - 30th Anniversary

Last week was the 30th Anniversary of the movie Slap Shot. Perhaps you've heard of it? Enjoy.

I NEED TO KNOW WHERE I AM SUPPOSED TO GO TO TURN IN MY INDIE CARD? I DON'T WANT IT ANYMORE. NO REALLY, I AM DONE WITH IT. YOU CAN HAVE IT.

I want to start this off with a humorous anecdote. I originally met Steve Nash when he used to come to the art house theater that I worked at back in 2003. He was always super cool and I always made sure to NOT say anything to him that would out myself as a super nerd fan. Then one day while waiting for seating to begin for his movie, he was perusing the selection of DVDs and soundtracks that we sold in conjunction with whatever hip art films we were showing at the time. I asked him if he needed any help and that's when Steve Nash and I had our first conversation. It went like this:

Steve Nash: "Ummmm, well, ummmmmmm, do you like indie rock?"
Me: "Sure"
Steve Nash: "Cool"

Which lead to further conversations and eventually me getting Steve Nash into some of his beloved indie rock shows. Because Steve Nash is so nice and Canadian that he thought he needed MY help to get into shows and didn't realize that just saying "I'm Steve Nash" was more than sufficient.

But Nash is in Phoenix now and I have reached a decision which was cemented with the publication of this absurdity:

Stereogum Goes all BOP! Magazine

I'm done with indie rock. It's too precious. And my hair is too fine and thin to be cut into layers with bangs. Not to mention that while I'd love to be a wise and wholesome brunette, I am unfortunately naturally a whorish and superficial blonde. Have you ever tried to buy a shirt at American Apparel if you are a 34DD? I just wasn't built for this fey little indie rock world. Irony gets really confusing to me because I don't understand if I am supposed to claim that I like bands that I don't really like to prove that I don't care what people think of my musical taste. Or am I supposed to hate bands that other people like me enjoy to prove that I am ahead of the curve? It's all too confusing. And since I don't like to put a lot of thought into ANYTHING in my life, I am peace-ing out on indie rock. I can't keep my !!!s and my Girl Talks separate from my Iron & Wines and Band(s) of Horses.

I am going to listen to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and sports talk radio and just hope for the best. See you indie rock kids on the other side. Call me or drop me a line when boobs don't scare you anymore.

Wednesday Scores

Rockford 3 Grandville 1W. Catholic 5 S. Christian 0Portage Central 8 Kal. United 0Reeths Puffer 3 FH Central 2Kalamazoo Blades 6 Mattawan 1Trav. City Central 5 Cadillac 0

Please Allow Me to Explain

From time to time, I am forced to explain my dislike of baseball. Usually I don't like to talk to humans for too long so I offer one of the following explanations:

1. I live in Dallas and the Texas Rangers are a horrible awful team
2. I played shortstop on a girl's softball team for three years during which I never did anything remotely interesting
3. The Rangers
4. I was the stat girl for the basketball and football teams in school so I actually vaguely grasp the rules of those sports
5. The Rangers

But there's more to the story. I will now regale you with the tale of the day I realized I don't like baseball.

The year was 1993. My Dad had recently separated from his third wife. He decided to have a daddy-daughter bonding day. He told me he was taking me to Atlanta for a big day of fun. We would go to my personal Mecca, The World of Coca-Cola. We started the tour at the top floor and slowly wound our way down 100 years of soda history. Finally, we got to the bottom floor where my 12 year old brain exploded upon learning that the tour would end with me being given the opportunity to literally drink my own body weight in soda. If I had to guess, I would say I probably drank approximately 278 liters of soda within a 30 minute time span. Once I drank enough soda to make myself physically ill, my Dad sprung the big surprise on me. We were going to see a Braves game! Well, he told this to me in segments between my frequent trips to the bathroom and the two times we had to stop so I could throw up the high fructose corn syrup that was coursing through my body on the streets of downtown Atlanta.

By the time we got to the stadium, the majority of the soda and bubbles and syrup has escaped from my body. But left behind was the caffeine and paranoia that comes with such a large and sudden dose of a stimulant. Imagine taking a 12 year old with a small bladder and a meth problem to see some MLB action. Thanks Dad!

As we walked into the stadium I realized there was a HUGE statue of Ty Cobb directly in front of me. Not a good sign. Once inside the stadium, I convinced my Dad that I should commemorate my first professional baseball game with a commemorative cup filled with Atlanta's own Coca-Cola. As the game started and the sun went down, I realized that when someone hits a pop fly ball it is nearly impossible to see when your vision is shaky due to a severe caffeine overdose. So I opted to hold my commemorative Braves cup over my head to prevent the inevitable skull crushing injury that I decided was my fate.

That's when I turned around and noticed the then Mrs. David Justice sitting in a box right behind our seats. As I was a HUGE fan of the recently released Flintstones movie, this Halle Berry sighting was particularly exciting. I informed my Dad that a real life movie star named Halle Berry was sitting behind us! It was at this point that I figured out that my Dad had gone beverage for beverage with me only he decided to forgo soda in favor of ice cold beers. Unfortunately, my hunch was confirmed when my Dad stood up and starting waving his arms in the air and screaming "HOLLY LOOK AT US! HOLLY OVER HERE! HOLLY WHY ARE YOU IGNORING US? HOLLY'S A BITCH! HOLLY, YOU'RE NOT A VERY GOOD ACTRESS! HEY EVERYBODY IT'S HOLLY! SAY HI TO HOLLY!" Which Halle Berry seemed to not appreciate. Weird.

So as our entire section rushed to take pictures of Halle "Holly" Berry and I once again began cowering in my seat in a fetal position with my commemorative cup perched protectively on my head, my Dad decided it was time to call it a night. As we walked back to our hotel at the CNN Center, I realized that I would probably never be able to untangle the thought of baseball and the feeling of having just drank 398,264 sodas from being eternally intertwined in my mind.

That was the first and last baseball game I have been to. The sight of a baseball game on TV makes me feel like I just came down with Crohn's disease.

But I will probably still just cite the Rangers when people ask me why I don't like baseball.

Student & Athlete Highlights EK Falcons

Check out this cool website called Student & Athlete, which featured EK's win over Cranbrook. This is an excellent presentation and you can tip them to your own team's news as described on the contact page.

Wednesday Night Hockey

Rockford vs. Grandville (7 p.m. @ Walker) - Yeah, it's only December 12, but this is an important early-season league game that could help determine who can compete in the OK-1 and who is an also-ran. The Bulldogs are off to a good start (5-1 overall; 1-0 league), with the only blemish coming courtesy of a tough Saulte St. Marie team in the Soo Tourney. Rockford's .500 record (3-3 overall; 1

Diablos 0 - Ice Gators 4

Tough night for the Diablos. They put 25 shots on the Ice Gator sub goalie last Saturday night, yet all 25 hit the "6 hole" and the Ice Gators walk away with the shutout. Official AHA Scoresheet. - TR

More Advance Coverage

More high school hockey coverage this week in the Advance papers, including recaps of Northview's win over South Christian, Kenowa's thrilling 3-1 victory over Hudsonville and Forest Hills Central's win over EGR. There's also a "Top 10" list that includes high school hockey in the mix, and it's a pretty good one based on what I've seen so far.

GR Press Hockey Coverage

Holy schnike! It's just after midnight and the GR Press is rolling out some serious hockey coverage on MLIVE. Check out the Press hockey page for stories on players from the high school hockey teams at Northview, Rockford, South Christian, Wayland, West Catholic, Forest Hills Central, Creston-Central, and West Ottawa.UPDATE: The Press offers this season preview on all the hockey teams in the

MHSHCA Rankings Out

The Michigan High School Hockey Coaches Association just posted their first rankings for the 2007-08 season and there are a few West Michigan teams in the mix, most notably GR Catholic Central, which is rated #1 in D-3. Also rated highly are TC West in D-1, as well as TC Central and Mona Shores in D-2. Rankings are below and can also be accessed at MHSHCA site.DIVISION 11. Livonia Churchill2

Advance Hockey Coverage

Always good to see the Advance papers cover hockey in the Grand Rapids area. This week, check out stories on Rockford's weekend split at Walker, Hudsonville's exciting win against Forest Hills Central and Jenison's 2-goal victory over Northview. Plus, you can also get the details on East Kentwood's stirring, come-from-behind victory against Cranbrook and the Grandville Bulldogs solid

Text Messages Sent During Yesterday's Cowboys v. Lions Game

I swear I will be done mentioning my birthday after this. The only reason why I bring it up now is because all my Jason Witten-ing that I usually do lead more than one person to predict that Witten would score a touchdown to commemorate my birth.

Here's a redacted transcript of text messages sent to me during yesterday's game. All names have been changed to protect the innocent:

12:10pm from "Delbert" - Are the Lions trying to scare us with those fugly jerseys?

12:43pm from "Delbert" - We might have to knock the Lions out one by one.

12:55pm from "Delbert" - Roy Williams defended a pass, even if he did have to cheat!


1:10pm from "Aa Dude" - Did Grampa (Wade Phillips) just come out of the bathroom with the newspaper in his hand?

1:27pm from "Delbert" - Obviously, Witten will be catching a TD pass for your birthday in the second half

2:43pm from "Aa Dude" - Peepaw (Wade Phillips) figured out football again!

2:56pm from "Delbert" - No way Witten's going out like that on your birthday!

3:08pm from "Delbert" - YES! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

3:08pm from "Aa Dude" - I will suck Witten's dick

3:10pm from "Jorsh" - Happy Birthday! Love, Tony

3:17pm from "Delbert" - GO FUCKING COWBOYS!!!! NFC EAST CHAMPS!!!!!


11:12pm from "Thomas Jefferson" - How 'bout them Cowboys!

11:18pm from "Thomas Jefferson" - You should write a sitcom about how sunny Romo is and call it "That's Our Tones"

11:22pm from "Thomas Jefferson" - Let's go get a cherry phosphate and catch a nickel moving picture!

Now I am just waiting to hear Kitna bitch about the two pass interference calls that weren't made or how the Cowboys moved the goal post two feet to the left right before the snap on that Lions missed field goal. So John, when you said you guaranteed 10 wins this season did you forget to include a margin of error? Always remember to give yourself some wiggle room.

YOU Go Live in Utah's Special "YOU Go Beat Utah" Edition A/K/A Mavs Game Professional Seat Filler For Hire

(Photo Courtesy of Me; Blurriness Courtesy of Blackberry Curve)

I spent my last night as a 26 year old winning free tacos at the American Airlines Center. I didn't even think that Carlos Boozer knew it was my birthday but apparently he did and decided to give me an early birthday present by getting himself fouled out of the game. Then Josh Howard was all "well, I guess that means I have to get her something too" so he went ahead and scored 47 points by himself. Did I mention that I think Matt Harping is a total tool? Stackhouse had himself a nice little hot streak of three pointers in the second half. And if any Utah players missed their free throws in the second half, I would like to think that it was my offsetting brick waving that spooked them. Or the fact that we were sitting behind a pack of particularly hyperactive Hasidic teenage Mavericks fans. When the sun goes down on Saturday nights, those guys LOVE to stand up.

So Saturday night's game reaffirmed my shaky faith in the Mavs and reminded me that they might still at least TRY to win some regular season games. I would also like to point out that my record in the past year for games attended with earned tacos is 3-0. When I go to games at the AAC, the Mavs not only win but they win AND score at least 100. So I would like to offer my services as a good luck charm to the Mavs. In return for complimentary seats at all home games, I will guarantee all games I attend will end with the Mavs winning and scoring more than 100.

The damning evidence that I am one year older and probably not any wiser:


It all started out so civilized. Marjorie even ordered up a big tall glass of milk


Just being silly after drinking too much Dr. Thunder out of our shared thermos


I'm auditioning to be the next Pat Summerall/chimp


Josh's hands got shaky from all the caffeine in that Dr. Thunder


Not pictured: Mark Followil openly staring at a cop's ass directly behind us


The moment in the evening where we all started working a little blue


The moment where Josh replaced one of his eyes with a wolf's eye to distract everyone from his rampant man-orexia


The part where it starts to get sloppy and unprofessional


The picture no one knew was being taken


The part where Josh starts talking about his "goose" being "cooked"


The part where TJ and I try to look presentable


The end.

Hockey Shots - Week of Dec. 3

Shots from several games this week, including Rockford's win over Royal Oak...East Kentwood's come-from-behind victory over Cranbrook...the battle of Christian High Schools (GR vs. South)...a city league matchup between GRCC and Ottawa Union..OK-Tier 2 games between Hudsonville and FHC plus Kenowa Hills and Hudsonville...and a few from the Portage Classic (PN vs PC). Thanks to Gary Guest, Carri

Hockey Weekly Previews Division 2 and 3

High School Hockey Weekly is out with its previews of Division 2 and Division 3 this week. Can you really call it a "preview" when the season is six weeks old? At any rate, some teams from West Michigan are missing, but still worth a look.

Saturday Night Hockey

East Kentwood 3 Crankbrook 2The Falcons pick up an impressive come-from-behind road win over the defending state champion Cranes. Ben Belton gets the win between the pipes for East Kentwood.Grand Rapids Catholic Central 9 Ottawa-Union 0Cougars pour it on the Ottawa-Union team and end it after two. Son-of-a-blogger Quinn Edwards pitches the shutout for Catholic Central, which moves to 6-0 on the

Mona Shores 5 GR Christian 0

MS goalie Dan Harwood earned his first shutout for the Sailors by turning away 15 shots from the visiting GR Christian Eagles. Shores continued to shoot first and ask questions later, firing 46 shots on Eagles goalie Mitch Bryant. Bryant made several impressive saves from point blank range to keep the Sailors honest. Mona's Brock Carlston and JC Boyd both recorded multi-point games, with

GRCC's Janecyk featured in Michigan Hockey

Grand Rapids Catholic Central goalie Adam Janecyk is profiled in the Dec. 10th edition of Michigan Hockey. For whatever reason, they decided to stick the story amongst the highlights of the girl's high school preview - maybe it's because Janny is such a ladies' man? Seriously, he's an exceptional goalie and an even greater kid. He's been a great role model and mentor to my son, who backs him

Northview's Harwood nets a hat trick

Check out the blog's first video highlight: Northview's Steve Harwood scores the first of three in a 6-4 loss to Jenison Friday night. His younger brother, Robby Harwood, got the assist with that beautiful, feathery soft pass. (Video courtesy of D. DeMilner)

Hudsonville 4 Forest Hills Central 3 (OT)

Games like this are the reason that goalie parents have high blood pressure. Both tenders had high-highs and low-lows tonight. FHC goalie Derek Hess had a horrible first period. He gave up a goal on the first shot he faced and let in another on the just third shot fired at him. Just like that it was 2-0. Then, early in the second period, the Forest Hills Central defense left Hudsonville's

Friday Night Recap

This is amazing. I've been getting emails, texts messages and phone calls with updates from West Michigan teams around the state. So far, I have received dispatches from games in Howell, Cranbrook and the Soo, as well as some closer to home.Rockford 3 Royal Oak 1 Rockford gets two goals in the third period to win. The Rams outshot Royal Oak 40-10 for the game. Jake Chaffee gets the Rams on

Re: My earlier statement regarding the Dallas Mavericks and regular season games

Very early into this season, I said that I wasn't that concerned about the Mavs winning a massive amount of regular season games because it is the post-season that I really care about. I guess I forgot to mention that I was assuming that the Mavs could handle winning at least 50% percent of their games. I never really conceived that the Mavs would be 12-8 at this point in the season. I never wrapped my head around the Mavs being third in their division behind San Antonio/New Orleans/Oklahoma City/Witchita Falls Hornets.

If you would have asked me on Wednesday night what component of the Mavs frustrated me most, I would have probably said "Dirk No-hit-ski" without hesitation. However, I have never thought it was fair to place all the blame on one player. And if Dirk can score 32 as he did last night and the Mavs still allow the Nuggets to sodomize them so violently on the court, this is not a Dirk issue. Where's any semblance of defense? What is going on? Is this really how you're gonna let this season turn out?

Here's my idea: Encourage Mark Cuban to buy the Chicago Cubs and subsequently sell the Mavs to Jerry Jones. Then teach Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Jason Witten, Julius Jones, Marion Barber and Patrick Crayton to play basketball. Then rename the team the Dallas Basketball Cowboys. Everyone wins!

Hockey Night in West Michigan

Late night post because I'm over on the East side of the state on business 'til late this afternoon. While there are a few West Michigan teams headed this way for Friday games at Cranbrook and Howell, I think I'll put the peddle down and head home for Hockey Night in West Michigan. You'll most likely find me at:Forest Hills Central vs. Hudsonville (8 p.m. @ Patterson) - Should be interesting to

Mona Shores 4 EGR 1

Thanks to some erstwhile dads from Mona and EGR both, we've cobbled together this report: This game was close on the scoreboard through two periods, though Mona controlled a lot of the action. EGR got on the board first on an unassisted goal by junior Jeff Kallil. Forward Bret Grevel started the scoring for the Sailors in the second period and the score remained 1-1 through two. In the

Wednesday Night Hockey

Mona Shores 4 EGR 1 MCC 4 Grand Haven 3 Kenowa Hills 3 H'ville 1Mattawan 2 Kalmzoo Eagles 0 Kalmzoo Blades 8 United 0Gaylord 2 Cadillac 1DeWitt 5 Lowell-Caledonia 2TC Central vs. Petoskey

Kenowa Hills 3 Hudsonville 1

Kenowa handed H'ville its first loss of the season, thanks to a superb 33 save effort from Knights' goalie Zac Smith and a balanced attack. Kenowa's first goal was just a hustle-type play from its third line. Junior Paul Kloska chased down a dump-in and fed Eric Dye, who buried it to give KH an early lead. Kenowa's defense held the lead until Hudsonville's Jaron Grzegorczyk tied it up at 4:40

Wednesday Night Hockey

Kenowa Hills vs. Hudsonville (7 p.m. @ Walker) - My "one to watch" pits these two OK-2 contenders. Kenowa Hills' Knights are 2-1 overall (1-0 in conference) with wins over Jenison and a split at the Alpena Showcase. Hudsonville' Eagles are 5-0 for the young season, including wins over Portage Northern, Holt and West Ottawa. H'ville also won its own Thanksgiving Tournament with wins over

Rockford's Hall named Player of the Week

Congratulations to Rockford senior Tyler Hall, who was named one of the state's Players of the Week by the Michigan High School Hockey Coaches Association. Hall was cited for his performance in Rockford's 3-2 comeback over EGR. The senior forward scored all three of Rockford's goals, including the game-winner (pictured above) with 1:18 left in the third. Click here to read about it (and take

Advance Hockey Coverage

Lots of excellent hockey coverage in the Advance Newspapers this week, and you can find many of the stories on the web, including a great write up of the Rockford-EGR game, a report on the Kenowa-Jenison game and a mini-review of the South Christian season to date. There's also a report on Kenowa Hills' recent showing in the Alpena Showcase and a brief story on Forest Hill Northern/Eastern's 4-

MCC Coach, Team Profiled in GH Tribune

A nice profile in the GH Tribune of Muskegon Catholic Central's new coach, Patrick Rabbitt, who is a familiar figure to hockey fans up along the lakeshore.

Portage Classic

A very festive atmosphere at the Wings arena tonight with a puck drop ceremony, chuck-a-puck fundraiser and the two ADs squaring off in a shooting competition. The crowd at Wings Stadium looked to be 2500 strong, and there were tons of families with little kids, including one seven-year old who kept yelling, "You suck, 35!" at Huskies' goalie Barry Toornman during the second period. And yes,

I hope they have stepladders over at Azteca America.

I work down the hall from the Azteca America television studios. In general they are decent neighbors. Except for one employee. I will call him Rico Suave. He wears a very tight doo rag, exceptionally baggy pants, constantly walks around holding a Swisha Sweet in one hand and is paid to troll the halls. See, I use the word "troll" because he is approximately 5 foot 5 inches tall. Which is fine except that he seems to think he is actually a menacing gangster type. In his mind, he cuts an intimidating figure. Which is simply not true. He makes me laugh when he does things like block the elevator door while talking loudly into his cell phone about how he is "livin' like Scarface" in the "214" etc.

But today he really made me laugh. As I was leaving the dark and drafty snack machine area, he requested that I (or as he refers to me: "little mama") "holla" at my "boy" before then becoming enraged at my ambivalence towards the notion of holla-ing. And by enraged, I mean that he informed me that "that's aight, you missing out and you know it". Here's the problem with that entire line of logic. I stand approximately 5 foot 7 in bare feet and flirt with 5 foot 9 in heels. I decided to turn around and walk towards him to ask him if I really was missing out. By the time I was close enough for him to realize that I could use his head as a convenient place to set my Diet Coke I had just purchased, he excused himself with a surprisingly meek:

"Nahhhh, I'm just playing. We cool"

We cool indeed.

I Don't Like Mondays

There's this.

But wait, there's more!

God, I hate when people take my picture when I am just trying to get out of my chauffeur driven black Denali pulling up to Teddy's in Hollywood on a Saturday night!

Number three huh?

THE FUCKING HORNETS?

As the spawn of two Georgia alumni and proud wearer of a 1982 Bulldogs Sugar Bowl tshirt, I think the BCS system is officially confusing and stupid and made for people who also enjoy the logic and science behind Magic 8 balls and scratch off lottery tickets.

Ok, you can either choose to be successful but curvy and deal with fuckery like this

Or you can drop that weight and be successful and happy! God, she has kept that weight off and looks great. Oh yeah and by the way, Anna Wintour considers her a fashion icon.

But fear not, there are some things in the world that aren't soul crushing:


A casserole of democracy, oil, socialism and totalitarianism I guess sort of works.

Scratch that, here is rock solid proof that democracy works!

Monday Night Hockey

Portage Northern vs. Portage Central (tonight, 6:30 p.m. @ Wings). Who needs football when you can watch a great matchup like the one on tap tonight in Kalamazoo? The crosstown rivals, two of the top teams in the SWMHSHL, face off in the Portage Classic this evening at 6:30 p.m. at Wings Stadium. PC features a high-scoring offense, lead by senior Jared Hook. PN takes a team-oriented "No

Grand Haven Seeing Double

Short article on the Bucs hockey team in today's online version of the Grand Haven Tribune.

Bus trips from H-E-double hockey sticks

Nothing like a December road game in Northern Michigan to create some team bonding, especially when the bus breaks down. Both GR Christian and GR Catholic Central had long rides home from games last evening, thanks to motor-coach malfunctions.The Cougars, fresh off a 3-1 win against Alpena in the Huron Shores Challenge, were delayed when its bus wouldn't shift out of first gear about halfway

Rockford vs. EGR

A great Saturday night matchup between two young OK Tier One teams that have just 11 seniors between them -- 6 for EGR and 5 for Rockford. Both teams also lost their first league games, making this one crucial in what may be a wide-open conference race.East Grand Rapids' youth showed in the first period as it gave up a goal and then, on a powerplay, turned the puck over twice to give Rockford

Wayland vs. Northview

Rolled down to Southside this afternoon to check out this OK-Tier 3 matchup. Northview avenged a loss to Wayland a week earlier with a 6-3 win in league play. Have to admit, part of my curiosity was to see how good a player that Northview's Carolyn Harwood is. She's a senior and has two younger brothers on the team. She's only about 5'2", but is a good skater, goes hard to the net and

Wes Walz Retires / Diablos vs. Ice Gators

There goes my hero...

Saturday's Results

Big Rapids 6 Lowell-Caledonia 3 Northview 6 Wayland 3Rockford 3 East Grand Rapids 2Grandville 4 Reeths-Puffer 1Grand Haven 2 Portage Northern 2 Forest Hills Central 9 Jenison 0Flint Kearsley 5 Kalamazoo United 0University Ligett 7 Mattawan 3TC Bay Reps 7 GR Christian 1 Detroit Bishop Foley 4 West Catholic 3 (OT) GR Catholic Central 3 Alpena 1 (Alpena Showcase)Trenton 7 Mona Shores 1 (Davison