Is that all there is?

Sept. 25 2010: Red Deer, Alberta

Red Deer Rebels 8, Edmonton Oil Kings 1

A major junior game's been on my hockey bucket list for some time. I can check that box off now, but this game wasn’t bucket-worthy; it didn’t come with the drama and intensity of the Junior A tilt the night before in Brooks.

Why major junior? In the ways that matter to me, it's the highest level of competition in North America short of the NHL. The very best - your Crosbys, your Tyler Myers, never play a minute in the minor leagues. They just move straight from juniors to the NHL. And the teams aren’t part of a farm system – they are out-and-out competing for the Memorial Cup, without having to compromise their competitiveness to meet the needs of a parent club.

This was the home opener for the Rebels, and they laid on quite the ceremony - complete with balls of fire - to introduce the team.

The Red Deer fans were out in force, and I assume they love the team since they buy a lot of its licensed merchandise.

That captures part of the reason it wasn't as much fun for me as Brooks; it lacked that down home volunteer-run aspect. Of course, major junior is effectively professional, so it's their job to put on a professional-quality event. They do a good job of that in Red Deer.

THE GAME: This game was much more NHL-like than the Junior A game, though not in a good way. As in the NHL, there's a lot of emphasis on defensive positioning, taking away passing and skating lanes - which is how to win games, but not necessarily fun to watch. Neither is a rout. The Oil Kings looked like they barely practiced with each other, rendering them unable to move the puck out of their own zone in the early action. This, combined with a starting goalie who played like a human pinball machine spitting the puck back to Rebels' forecheckers, made for a game that was out of hand early. Edmonton had to make do without captain and first-round Buffalo draft pick Mark Pyskyk, who was not back from the NHL camp. Of course, he hasn’t practiced with the team either.

About Red Deer: I can’t tell you anything. Plans for a leisurely drive through the Alberta badlands, with time to check out the town, went up in smoke when my rented Sentra abruptly gave up the ghost Saturday morning.

It took seven hours for Hertz to truck the replacement in from Calgary so all I could do was drive to the game.

Whaddaya Got? What are the Rebels supposed to be rebelling against? After all, the whole foundation of Canada is based on the act of not rebelling. Then there's the logo: a cow skull with hockey sticks through it. Who are they rebelling against, their bovine overlords? In Alberta that battle’s been decided.

It was probably all put together by marketing consultants. And they achieved their goal, judging by the aforementioned licensed merchandise sales.

Since I’m a sucker for tradition, I appreciated the Oil Kings for picking a name with historic resonance, for their tasteful uniform design, and even the crown logo borrowed from the Dionne-era L.A. Kings.

My wife will be sad to read this: There was a fight. Props to Edmonton's young Jesse Pearson, who took on older, bigger Colin Archer late in the first and, I say, won the decision. Still failed to light a fire in his team.

The arena: The Enmax Centrium's squat concrete form presumably reflects the practical needs of a place with cold, windy winters. The olive green seats prove Red Deer no slave to fashion. I figured the place was built in the 70s, but it turns out to have opened just before the Rebels’ first season in 1992. Not much else to say except the sightlines are good.

Game reports: Here and here.

Dynamic Heavy Haul

Sept. 24, 2010: Brooks, Alberta
Calgary Canucks 4, Brooks Bandits 3 (OT)

This blog's back to the rinks for a two-game tour of Alberta junior hockey. The goal: experience hockey in one of its spiritual homes.
The itinerary was dictated by time-off constraints and frequent-flier availability. That placed me in Brooks, about two hours east of Calgary on the prairie, for an Alberta Junior Hockey League game, in the second tier of junior, one step below major junior.
When it comes to arenas, I prefer old barns with character. Not what I found here; Centennial Regional Arena is barely 10 months old, rising out of the prairie south of the town, paint still gleaming.
It stands to reason; the town is small but seemingly prosperous thanks to quite visible petroleum drilling. So they're going to build the nicest darn ice arena they can. The Bandits are celebrating their tenth anniversary, and they clearly have strong volunteer support.
The game was clearly a social scene, though the place was less than half full. I overheard one fellow say, 'It's such a beautiful arena; we just haven't grown into it yet.'
The game had lots of end-to-end action, due perhaps less to the teams' offensive abilities than their inabilities to nail down their defensive systems early in the season. It ended with a 3-on-3 overtime - the latest carnival sideshow hockey's powers that be have developed to avoid ending games in ties.
Hokey minor-league touch: Select Bandits wore sponsor's names on the lower back of their sweaters. Captain Brett Howe, for example, wore 'Dynamic Heavy Haul' on his butt. He lived up to the billing, scoring all three Bandits goals. He was a force on the ice, and his force of will gained Brooks a game-tying goal late in the third. He demanded the puck from a teammate, bang, bang, BANG stick on the ice, he got it, he buried it in the net.
Really minor-league touch: Less than half the Calgary players had their names on their sweaters. Maybe Matt Heseltine will get his name on after his hat trick tonight.
My wife will be happy to read this: There were no fights.
Player notes: Calgary goalie Dusty Nickel didn't start, despite his awesome name. I'm also pulling for Bandit Lane Menage to rise through the hockey ranks, high enough to play in a game broadcast in French. Then he needs to score a hat trick, so the announcer can say 'Menage a trois.'

Game report here and boxscore here.

Alberta bound

After a long hiatus, hockeywanderer is about to live up to its name, assuming SkyWest can roust a crew for my flight to Calgary. Look for updates, depending on wifi access on the Canadian prairie and my patience for writing on a phone keyboard. This is hockeywanderer, signing off from SFO.

A Book Report

"Africa United"
by Steve Bloomfield
This book called to me in June from the new releases table of the local bookstore. A book on African soccer! Just before the first African World Cup!
In other words, the book had the exact effect on me that the publisher desired. Ka-ching!
That topicality turned out to be one of the weaknesses of this still quite interesting book. It came off as having been assembled hurriedly to meet that marketing-driven deadline. Then again, how else does a book on African soccer land in an American bookstore? "Africa United" is a snapshot of soccer in 10 African nations, evidently put together as author Bloomfield, a Nairobi-based correspondent for British publications, conducted his reportage.

Stories range from the fairly well-known story of the Ivory Coast team's role in brokering a case-fire in the nation's civil war, to a timely (and prescient) chapter on the institutional problems that weakened the South African national football team. Bloomfield also talks about the less-well-known world of domestic football in nations like Congo and Nigeria, and football's continuing cultural resonance in the midst of the social destruction wrought by wars in Somalia and Sierra Leone.

The word "football" reminds me of my pet peeve about the book, at least the U.S. edition. Apparently the American publisher just ran an auto-replace of the word "football" with "soccer" to the point of maddening distraction - even in proper names. For example: "Leo Mugabe, the president's nephew, was chairman of the Zimbabwe Soccer Association (ZIFA)." Memo to the editors: the audience for a book like this already knows the game is known as football in most of the world.

Final summary: a good read if you find the topic interesting.

Published by Harper Perennial.

Author's website: http://www.africa-united.co.uk/

Pominville, Arizona

Jan. 18, 2010: Glendale, Ariz.
Buffalo Sabres 7, Phoenix Coyotes 2

I usually try to see my beloved Sabres in San Jose on their rare West Coast swings. This year I tried something different: instead of driving the Nasty Nimitz to San Jose, I flew to Phoenix. It allowed me to burn a soon-to-expire Southwest frequent flier ticket; helped me deal with a case of cabin fever; and advanced the HockeyWanderer mission of experiencing sports in exotic environments (hockey where cactus are native).
It was also a great value proposition. Thanks to the dubious economics of the NHL in Phoenix, I got a seat three rows from the ice for less than $35, even counting the Ticketbastard fees.
As a Sabres fan, I was not alone. In the parking lot, on the concourses, in the stands, the blue jerseys were everywhere. Well not everywhere; there were more than 6,400 empty seats, (see photo) so jobing.com would have been pretty empty without the Buffalo diaspora.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, a lot of those Buffalo fans were rocking Tyler Myers jerseys. He thanked them with an early goal. Sabres fans had a lot to cheer as the game quickly got out of hand, largely because of Ilya Bryzgalov's shaky netminding.
The population of Pominville increased by two on the night, but fans in the arena thought it was three because the PA announcer never publicly corrected the scoring on a goal that was corrected to linemate Hecht. So a load of hats got thrown on the ice -- how often does that happen to a visiting player?
Anyway, jobing.com was a nice enough place to watch a game, at least being able to sit below the phalanx of luxury boxes that curse modern sports arenas. It also enjoys their blessings, such as free flowing concourses, and short lines for concessions and bathrooms. (The low attendance must help.) Unfortunately, it is not actually in Phoenix; it's a fairly long drive out to Glendale, which may well be one of the Coyotes' problems.

Fan-friendly touch: free parking!

Leading economic indicator?: The 'Yotes can't even sell ads on one of their Zambonis.

Token observation about the actual hockey game: Myers is good. Scarrry good.

Game reports here and here.