Love for Hockey

My senior year picture

My last season of competitive hockey in high school was the most memorable. I finished the season with 9 goals and 11 assists in 14 games. I received the "Most Inspirational" award for my team. I was always the one who tried to get the team pumped up. I was always trying to get everyone motivated and into the game because I felt it was important to have everyone on the same page as a team.

Hockey is more than just a sport to me. Hockey is a lifestyle. Every hockey player knows what I am talking about. Having team dinners before every game, waking up at 6 in the morning for an early skate, having off ice conditioning every other day, growing that playoff beard. It's all a part of being a hockey player. Having your families come out to watch you lay some people into the boards. Everything about hockey comes together to make it a lifestyle.

My team had a clear understanding of this lifestyle and we all abide by it. Without my team's support for each other we would not have made it to the state finals my senior year. Our team was one of the best in the state for 5A. We were practicing 3-4 times a week and all of us had a shared love for this amazing sport.

My senior year team

On big games that we knew were hard fought wins we would celebrate after with a maybe a team outing like going out for desert or all of us going to a Grizzly game. I'll never forget the memories I shared with that team and what we all did for each other to be a team. Viewmont's legacy of having an all-star hockey team every season will continue to live as I know the coaches strive to have an impact on all of the players as they did on me and all of my teammates at the time.

Some of the team celebrating after a big win

Protect The Goalies!

Apparently NHL GMs agree to some extent and have vowed to remind their players to protect goaltenders outside of the crease. 

The thing is, how common is the scenario that got Miller hurt? How often are goaltenders hurt coming out to play the puck? How often do goalies come out that far to play the puck? You hardly even see goalies playing the puck behind the net anymore.

The Lucic hit was bad and he probably should have let up sooner, but it’s not a recurring NHL problem.

Ryan Miller (goalie) getting cluttered in the crease

If the NHL is serious about protecting goalies, it needs to look at what teams are doing to their own goaltenders.

How many times have you seen a defenseman shove an opponent into the defenseman’s own goaltender? There’s no statistic tracking this, but it sure happened last season when New York Islander's Blake Comeau (a forward) shoved Ranger's Michael Sauer into Islander goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov writhed around in pain for a minute or two but was able to finish the game.

Bottom line the NHL needs to take protecting goalies seriously. They are the ones risking the most putting themselves in front of that puck to stop a goal. Without goalies there would be no hockey. After this past season with the many injuries that occurred things need to be taken more seriously. 

How to Snapshot

As a hockey player there are two shots that you should practice ALL the time until you are a master of both, the wristshot and the snapshot. The wrist shot will provide you with a very powerful and accurate shot, while the snapshot will give you an accurate shot with a very quick release. The snapshot is the best shot to use while in close to the net because you don’t want to give the goalie any time to set up, or any indication that you are about to shoot. The trick to a good snapshot is not giving any clues that you are about to shoot, getting the shot off in a fraction of a second, and being accurate. 

TJ Oshie's near perfect snapshot

First is the hand location where your hands are important for generating power on your shot. For the snapshot I like to have my bottom hand a bit lower than with the wrist shot, and a bit high than with the slapshot; I usually put my bottom hand close to the middle of the shaft. 
Body position is next. With the wrist shot your shoulder should be facing the net, but with the snapshot the chest should be facing the net. The snapshot is mainly used while you are skating towards the net and you are in close. You won’t have time to set-up for a wrist shot so you will need to be able to snap the shot off right away.
Third would be puck position. You want to have the puck to the side of your body (where it would be if you are stickhandling with the puck on your shooting side). You need the puck here so you can shoot it whenever you want.
The key to a good snapshot is  to get the puck off as fast as possible. All you want to do is get your hands out in front of your body while still cupping the puck, and then really pulling back with your top hand and pushing forwards with your bottom hand. 

Why Hockey's Incredible

By now you guys realize that I am a hockey maniac and a sport fanatic. Here are some interesting hockey stories if you care to read.

I like the story about the family of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the goalie of the Anaheim Ducks. When 'Jiggy' was growing up in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, his father worked as prison warden and his mother worked as a school bus driver. When the cost of hockey equipment grew too expensive, Dad asked JS, the youngest child in the family, whether JS wanted to continue to play hockey. When JS said yes, his parents took out a mortgage from their home to pay for the expenses. Whether it was 100% pure parental love or faith in their 12 years old child that one day he will become one of the skilled goalies in National Hockey League. Pretty remarkable story to have this little kid who barely got pads to play hockey became an NHL great.

Pavel Datsyuk skating hard

Next story is about a player who was "diamond in the rough", Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings center. Datsyuk has been one of my favorite hockey players. The 28-year old native of Sverdlovsk, Russia, was overlooked for many years by scouts who thought he was too small and would not be fast enough to be in the NHL. At 5'11", 185 lbs, Datsyuk would be small compared to most of the other players over 6'1" and more than 200 lbs. That is the whole point - Datsyuk is not an enforcer, he is a hockey player with magical hands. He moves the puck as if it was on a string, invisible string from his stick, release at the right moment to a teammate or shoot the puck on the moves that others could only dream of. Datsyuk shoots when you thought he could not and when the goalie thought he would pass the puck. I enjoy watching Datsyuk because of his natural skills, balance on his skates, the speed and strength from his legs and the "silky-smooth" passes that kept opponents guessing.

These two stories are interesting to say the least. And of course you hear things like this all the time in any and every sport, but it remains important to me to show the heart and dedication of players who have made it to the bigs in hockey.

Bauer Vaoper APX 2 Skates

Now I know this isn't all exciting for someone who knows nothing about hockey, but I must say.. these skates are SICK. They've finally gotten close up pictures of Bauer’s latest skate, the Bauer Vapor APX 2 skates. Bauer has decided on a darker look for the APX 2 skates, removing much of the light gray from the original APX skate and replacing it with a darker gray on the APX2. Gone as well is the red stripe which is on the original APX skate. Also new and improved on the Bauer Vapor APX 2 skates is the tongue – which as you can tell from the picture is longer than usual. They’ve definitely accomplished a new ultra-soft three piece tongue to prevent lace bite (and of course to flop). 

The new 'beauts' themself

Flopping is a hockey term used for when skaters flop their tongue of their skates over their laces. It's become much popular as a look and a comfortable fit in the hockey world.

Additionally, the Bauer Vapor APX 2 skates are using the new Tuuk Lightspeed Edge holder. This is basically what holds the blade of skate in place. The unique feature on this holder is the trigger which can be seen in the hole closest to the heel. This trigger will allow players to quickly swap out broken steel in a matter of seconds. You'd be surprised at how many times players may ruin their blades or have them come out.. this new addition will make it extremely accessible to be fixed thus eliminating a lot of worry on keeping your skates in good shape.

Finally, you can see that the eyelets on the Vapor APX 2 skates are new as well. That’s because they will be using a new and innovative lacing system. While I don’t really know what affect that will have, you can definitely tell from the picture below that it is different.

Hockey skates these days can be as expensive as eight hundred dollars. The way they have revolutionized is incredible. They are extremely light, more efficient to put on, and all around get more and more versatile. So the next time you watch a hockey game, look for a skater with these on! Then you can say "hey I know those skates!"

The NHL Lockout

The Lockout in a Nutshell

The 2012 National Hockey League lockout is basically the suspension of the league and games as players and other members of the league are on strike because of new regulations and wages. It was officially instated September 15, 2012. The owners of the league's franchises, Gary Bettman, declared a lockout of the members of the National Hockey League's Player Association after a new agreement could not be reached before their deadline. The lockout is currently delaying the start of the 2012–13 NHL season, which originally was scheduled to begin on October 11, 2012. A total of 327 games have been canceled as a result of the lockout, and the season is currently scheduled to begin on December 1, 2012 as a shortened season with no more than 66 games per team as compared to their original 82 games.

The desires to reduce the players' guaranteed share of 57% of hockey related revenues, introduce term limits on contracts, eliminate salary arbitration, and change free agency rules. The union's initial offers are to mainly increase revenue sharing between owners and fix salary caps. The dispute is the third lockout in the 19 years since Bettman became Commissioner in 1993, following player lockouts in 1994–95 and 2004–05. The owners identified their key issues in their first offer, presented on July 13, 2012. The main issues are as follows:

• Reduce the players' share of hockey-related revenues from 57 percent to 46 percent.

• Set a maximum term of five years on all new players' contracts.

• Eliminate signing bonuses and set a uniform salary for each year of a contract.

• Extend entry level contracts for players entering the league from three years to five.

• Extend qualification for unrestricted free agency from seven years in the league to ten.

The players' union waited a month to offer a counter-proposal as it requested additional financial data from the league. When introduced, the proposal had the potential to save the league as much as $465 million and would feature an enhanced revenue sharing system that would help lower revenue teams; yet, is still being debated. 

I just hope the league pulls through soon and we can get these players back on the ice... without the NHL the world is just missing too much.

What It's All About

What up everybody my names Dylan Saladino and I love everything about hockey. I am 19 years old and am a sophomore at Weber State University. I play hockey in men's leagues around Utah and intend to play for Weber next season. Hockey is my life and everything about it influences me and my life every day.

My senior year in high school when I played for Viewmont

This blog will be all about hockey: new gear, current events in the NHL, cool stories around the world, and everything else under the sun about hockey. If you don't like hockey I suggest you tune into this blog because you will be surprised at some of the cool things the hockey world has to offer.

I know not everyone loves hockey and everyone's got their own favorite sport which is fair enough. But I believe that hockey players have more passion for their sport than any other sport player out there. Unfortunately the NHL is in a lockout right now which doesn't give much credibility to the "passion" hockey players have for the game, though, many NHL players are across seas and all over the world still playing the sport they love in multiple leagues.

Just to get you pumped on hockey and what it has to offer here is a cool introductory video to the NHL and its remarkable season of 2011-12. The things these players do are just unbelievable.