I should be feeling pretty good right now. The Chicago White Sox are in first place. The Blackhawks are coming off one of their best seasons in years. The NHL playoffs are off to an exciting start…but something is missing.

Griffins playoff hockey.

Each spring I always look forward to covering the Griffins in the AHL playoffs. It’s easy to explain why. There’s something special about rolling out to Van Andel Arena with the windows down and the sun shining. For the last few months, we’ve all had to bundle up and trudge through the snow and ice to get to the rink. That got old in early December. Now that spring is here and the weather is getting nice, it is a welcome change.

Unfortunately, we won’t be treated to spring hockey this year in Grand Rapids. As a member of the media, as well as being a fan, that’s disappointing. Hopefully the Wings and Muskegon Fury will make long playoff runs to help fill my springtime hockey void. 

KICK SAVES

I saw some of the greatest hockey video of all-time today. I came into work and my boss said, “Did you see the video of a young Dan Harland on SportsCenter, last night?” I had no idea what he was talking about.

It was a little kid at a Calgary Flames game dressed exactly like Flames goalie Mikka Kiprusoff. And when I say dressed exactly… I mean exactly. Not only did he have his number 34 jersey, but he had matching Vaughn gloves and pads in Kiprusoff’s exact color scheme. But that wasn’t the kicker…he also sported Kipper’s trademark red stubble on his face which his parents probably painted on.

During warm-ups for last night’s Sharks/Flames game, Lil’ Kipper copied every move of his idol from behind the glass. From shuffling across the crease, to taking water breaks, to stretching…it was hilarious. 

I grew up idolizing Ed Belfour and Felix Potvin, but even I never got THAT involved in trying copy my favorite goalies. If I did, my parents would be too embarrassed to take me to a game. I make enough noise and draw enough attention when I’m there, anyway. 

PULLING THE GOALIE

Now that the Griffins’ season is over, it may also be the end of my “Sieve Scribe” blog for a little while…it depends how much Randy and Randy can convince me to add new entries. 

I hope you enjoyed my tales of Blackhawk hockey, my disappointing hockey season, and Griffins talk for another year. 

You may remember last year, I made detailed predictions for every NHL playoff series. Okay, you probably don’t remember… but I did.

Anyway, I’m not going to do that this year. I will leave you with my Stanley Cup pick. I’m taking the Canadiens over the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals. How awesome would an Original Six final be? But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pens go all the way…and I wouldn’t be shocked if the Wings didn’t make it out of the second round.

Is that a decisive enough selection for you? Didn’t think so, but we’ll see what happens. Enjoy the playoff hockey and I’ll see you at the rink.

I’ve played goal since I was eight years old, but something happened last night that had never happened to me. Ever.

For the first time in my hockey career, I gave up an overtime goal in the playoffs. Season’s over.

It wasn’t very dramatic either. Remember that team with the two MSU players I bragged about beating a couple weeks ago? Perhaps it was karma, but one of those guys ripped a slap shot low to my glove side from the top of the circle, 13 seconds into the extra period. I couldn’t believe it. Raw Talent’s playoff run ends in a 3-2 loss.

As I kneeled in silence thinking about what went wrong, “superstar” decided to give me some grief before going to celebrate with the rest of his teammates. 

“Gotta watch out for those 65-footers,” he chirped before skating away.

I couldn’t believe my ears. Who does that? Who rubs in a win in an adult-league hockey game? Who rubs in a win in the NHL? Shouldn’t you be happy enough you won the game? 

Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy. Livid says it best.

Fortunately, I managed to control my emotions…to a degree. Let me tell you how hard that can be when you have your season taken away from you in an instant.

I can’t even imagine what a professional goalie feels like when he gives up an overtime goal, especially one that ends his team’s season. 

Is there a time and a place for trash talking? I think so; it can be harmless in most situations. Late last night wasn’t one of those occasions, at least not for me.

Now I have a long summer to think about how to stop those long slap shots before next season. 

KICK SAVES

It’s too bad the Griffins aren’t going to the AHL playoffs. If they were, I would bet we would see Muskegon’s Justin Abdelkader in a Grand Rapids uniform. 

The former Mona Shores High School star and national champion at MSU made his Red Wings debut Thursday night.

He played over 11 minutes and coach Mike Babcock seemed pleased with his effort in the Wings’ 3-2 win.

Abdelkader signed his entry-level contract today. He may not see any ice time during the Wings’ playoff run, but he will be a valuable practice team player and could fill in for any injured regulars.

To think that only a year ago he was holding the NCAA championship trophy in St. Louis. If things go well in Detroit, maybe he’ll be a part of a Stanley Cup champion this spring.

It’s now when the finality of my own hockey season burns even deeper. All I needed was maybe one more save…

So much for keeping up with my New Year’s Resolution. I haven’t filed a “Sieve Scribe” in over a month, but as always, there’s a good excuse (with me there always is)!

Basketball had taken over my life for the past month and my knowledge of hockey suffered because of it. It got so bad that I had to miss three consecutive games of playing goal for my “Raw Talent” team on Thursday nights. After my team posted two lopsided victories in my absence, I was afraid to answer the telephone. I was totally prepared for the “we’ve decided to part ways” call, or even better, “the team has decided you need to be sent down to the minors for a conditioning assignment.” Fortunately, I was welcomed back with open arms last Thursday.

Good news for me, I wasn’t nearly as rusty as I thought I’d be and made a couple of sick glove saves to preserve a 6-5 victory over a stacked team that included two former MSU players (yeah, I’m going to give myself some props for that). 

Will the Grand Rapids Griffins be as welcoming with my return to the blogging world? I don’t know. I’m happy to see my picture is still on the front page of the website; I guess they haven’t completely forgotten about me. I haven’t forgotten them either, and now that basketball is finally winding down, I’m ready to hit the stretch-run.

Hopefully I don’t need a conditioning assignment here either.

KICK SAVES

It’s good to see that my fellow bloggers have managed to update their pages during my prolonged absence.

I don’t have the exotic travel tales of Tim Doty and I’m not up in the press box for every home game like Michael Zuidema and Larry Figurski, so it’s hard for me to compete sometimes. Speaking of, how does Doty get time off to go all Clark Griswold on a European vacation during basketball season?

Anyway, the playoffs appear to be out of reach for the Griffins, but I’ll be interested to see how the team finishes out the season. With three home games on tap for this week, now would be as good a time as ever to build some momentum, even without team MVP Jimmy Howard, who is back with the Red Wings.

Speaking of Griffins goaltenders, congratulations to Ferris State’s Mitch O’Keefe for stealing the backup job from under my nose. I figured the “dozens” of scouts at my last game would have been impressed with my fast glove to earn me a call-up.

Chalk it up to yet another disappointment in my hockey career.

It took something pretty monumental for me to channel swap to-and-from the Daytona 500. I mean, what if my boy, Kevin Harvick, was able to capture back-to-back 500 wins?  I figured I had to keep the channel locked to catch every lap Sunday…until I saw who was starting in goal for the Detroit Red Wings.

Our own Jimmy Howard, making his first start in two seasons, was brilliant in a 1-0 loss to Dallas, and I found myself glued to the TV watching Jimmy stone the Stars.

“Detroit may have found itself a goalie,” said NBC analyst Pierre McGuire after one of Howard’s 30 saves. I was so happy for him…and we all know that something pretty remarkable must happen for me to be happy for a Red Wing. I’m guessing it has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve talked to Jimmy a number of times and consider him my own personal goalie coach. Okay, that may be a stretch…but I was impressed.

He was at the top of his crease and challenging shooters throughout the game. It’s guys like Howard and Marc-Andre Fleury that turn butterfly goaltending into a thing of beauty…their speed is astounding. 

While it was a shame Jimmy couldn’t get the win, I think there were quite a few folks in Detroit that had smiles on their faces. Will Howard take over the starting job for the playoffs this season? No. Next year…now there’s a good possibility. 

Good job Jimmy. I’m sure I speak for all the Griffins’ fans when I say we’re looking forward to having you back for the stretch drive.

MAC IS “REALLY” BACK

If you weren’t among the 10,000-plus on hand for Friday’s Grand Rapids debut for Darren McCarty, you missed out. 

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical about what D-Mac could do…but he owned the rink. He was the physical presence he’s always been, he caused havoc in the slot, and he still has an impressive shot.

No one saw a hat-trick coming in only his fourth AHL game…but that’s what we were all treated to. Yesterday I read a quote from Wings GM Ken Holland saying that the team is likely to offer McCarty a contract. Why not? He apparently still has some magic left…and with the Wings as banged up as they are right now, why not give him a chance.

Good job, D-Mac.

FAIR AND BALANCED COVERAGE

Two shouts out for Detroit Red Wings in one blog? Typically I’d say that’s two too many. Let me close out by saying that a team on the western shore of Lake Michigan is getting hot…no I’m not talking about the Milwaukee Admirals.

My Chicago Blackhawks enter today six points out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference after winning four of their last five.

This just in: Jonathan Toews is awesome…and he’s 19.

Sorry, I had to balance out this blog that was extremely Red Wings-biased.

So that’s it. I think it’s fair to say this is a pretty well-rounded addition to the “Sieve Scribe” library. We’ve got more to talk about next week after a pair of games against goal-scoring former Griffin goalie Drew MacIntyre and the Manitoba Moose. 

See you next week.

Blame the weather.

Blame my busy schedule.

Blame Tim Doty.

Blame Canada (sorry, South Park reference, I actually love Canada).

Blame somebody, but don’t blame me for my lack of a blog entry for the past couple weeks. I refuse to take accountability. Call it a character flaw. 

I actually DO blame Doty for my absence. Let me tell you why. I ran into the author of “Cherry Pickin’” in Hudsonville last week where we were both covering Alex Debniak’s signing to attend Stanford on a football scholarship. I told him I had been struggling to find material lately and he told me he’s gone weeks at a time without entering new blogs.

Quite simply, I thought, “If he can do it, why can’t I?” 

There’s your reasoning. Perhaps after calling out Mr. Doty we’ll both be motivated to bring you new material (on a timely basis). That’s my hope. Whether or not it actually happens, we’ll see.

LET’S TALK HOCKEY (ISN’T THAT WHY WE’RE HERE?)

Maybe another reason I’ve been struggling to come up with material is the fact that I haven’t seen the Griffins play in nearly three years (okay, maybe it’s more like three weeks). Actually, the last time I saw the Griffins in action was on January 18…a mere 29 days ago.

Good news for us, the Griffs play five home games in the next nine nights, starting with tonight’s tilt against Lake Erie.

Darren McCarty is here, dollar dogs, dollar beers…it should be a great way to kick off the weekend. Too bad I gotta work. 

MAC IS BACK

Speaking of McCarty, I had the chance to meet him after practice Thursday. As you’re all well aware, I’m not the biggest Red Wings fan in the world, but McCarty was super nice to interview and to talk to. He made me a fan.

Every media outlet in town has wanted to talk to him since he signed with the Griffins and I’m sure he’s been asked the same questions time-and-time again. He seems like a class guy and it’s no wonder he’s earned such a great reputation with Wings fans. Here’s hoping this deal with the Griffins works out for all parties involved and gets McCarty back to where he wants to be, the NHL.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

I’m sure all of you (unfortunately) have seen the gruesome video of Richard Zednik’s neck being sliced open by a skate. Even the most hardened of people can turn ill when viewing video like that.

After seeing what happened, I immediately thought of my days playing mite hockey in Chicago. I was in my first year of playing goal when a similar incident did serious damage to Buffalo Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk. 

The very next day after Malarchuk’s injury, my dad (who was also my coach) made a stop at the local pro shop to purchase me a neck protector (which wasn’t very popular back in the late 80s). He said he’d never let me on the ice again without one.

Fast-forward to today. Not only do I still wear a collar to protect my neck and clavicle in goal, I also use one of those clear plastic pieces that hang off the bottom of my goal mask (Jimmy Howard and Chris Osgood use one as well, if you’re looking for a visual reference).

I’m not going to go out and say every hockey player in the world should also be using some kind of neck/throat protection, but you at least have to think about it.

I thought about what would happen if someone suffered an injury like Zednik in my men’s league, where there are no trainers and there are no EMTs at the rink.

The results could be catastrophic. 

Just some food for thought to close out this week’s blog. Be safe out there everyone. I’ll see you at the rink.

I used to LOVE the NHL’s All-Star weekend. When I was growing up, I remember some great performances. Who could forget Ray Bourque going 4-for-4 in the accuracy shooting competition? What about Al Iafrate (and his mullet) whipping a 105+ mph slap-shot in the hardest shot competition? And of course I remember all-star goalies Peter Sidorkiewicz and Craig Billington making cameos at the Montreal Forum in 1993. Ah, memories!

I used to look forward to watching the skills competition every year, and if I had a game or practice, I made sure to pop in a VHS tape and set the timer (man, I wish I had a DVR back in the day). 

Fast-forward (pun intended) to Jan. 26, 2008. The skills competition just isn’t the same. Goalies shooting pucks. A terrible system for determining the fastest skater. Judges for the shootout competition? Are you kidding? You’re going to have Tim Riggins try and tell me how good Alex Ovechkin’s “bat” move was on Chris Osgood?

Don’t get me wrong, “Friday Night Lights” is one of my favorite shows, but come on. What’s Riggins doing sitting rink-side at the NHL skills competition? Shouldn’t he be preparing for the Dillon Panthers’ latest last-second victory (which seemingly happens at the end of each of their games).

The choices for the other judges weren’t nearly as fun as the ones the NBA pulls out for its slam dunk contest.

Scott Mellanby? If Vincent Lecavalier shot a rat instead of a puck in the shootout, Mellanby would have given Vinny a ten.

I know the league is trying to do something new, but let’s get some greats to come out and judge.

Steve Carell (a.k.a. Brick Tamland) is a hockey player. I’d love to hear his comments. “I love hockey, I love lamp.” Heck, bring out Red Wings fan “Uncle Joey” Dave Coulier. He’s entertaining…to a degree. Did you watch him in “The Surreal Life” a couple years ago? I gained a whole new respect for him for keeping Flavor Flav and Jordan Knight in check. 

That’s enough for this week’s blog; I guess I should “cut…it…out.” Wow, that’s lame. Sorry.

Here’s a novel concept: a “Sieve Scribe” entry on griffinshockey.com about the Grand Rapids Griffins. I know, I know…you want to hear more about the Blackhawks, but you’ll have to wait for another time.
 
Maybe you’d like to read about my random takes on the NHL, or perhaps I’ll put together an expose on skate sharpening, but that’s all going to be put on the back-burner this week.
 
Here we are, just past the half-way point in the season and the Griffins are on the brink of getting over the .500 mark. I’ve probably been to a dozen games this season and I can think of two constants I’ve come to expect when I cover a game:
 
1) Mark Hartigan is probably going to get a point or two.
 
2) Jimmy Howard is who you thought he is. Real good.
 
Everything else from there is up in the air. Fortunately, the team has dug itself out of the big hole they left themselves in early in the year…you remember, when they couldn’t find a way to win at home.
 
But thanks to Howard, the Griffins have a chance to win every game they play, and that’s pretty important because the Griffins aren’t scoring many goals. Coming into the weekend only three Western Conference teams have scored fewer goals than the Griffs, yet thanks to Howard and Adam Berkhoel, they’re still right in the playoff mix.
 
Jimmy’s season is even more impressive knowing he’s playing with a recently broken pinky finger. I interviewed him before Tuesday’s charity event with the Sled Wings and saw he still has his finger wrapped. The injury kept him off the ice for the sled hockey game, but he’s still playing great hockey. Without him, who knows where this season would be.
 
Chances are we wouldn’t be talking about a three-game winning streak and a chance to have a winning record by Saturday night.
 
KICK SAVES
 
Oscar nominations were recently announced and there’s a ton of love for “Michael Clayton” and “Atonement,” but George Clooney has nothing on my man Randy Rice.
 
Randy is the Griffins' public relations assistant, and he made his acting debut during last week’s home games against Rochester.
 
He’s the guy you saw on the video board acting like a penalized American player wearing a bra and applying lipstick after tearing off his jersey in disgust for the penalty.
 
I thought the acting was excellent and it must have had a positive effect on the Griffins; they beat the Amerks in both games. 
 
Hey Randy, it took Susan Lucci nearly a lifetime to finally win an Emmy. Don’t get discouraged with the Oscar snub. 
 
Keep at it, bro.
 
Until next week, enjoy your hockey and say hello to Mickey Redmond before Saturday night’s game against the Wolves. 
 
Bingo Bango, I’m out.

Happy Wednesday, Griffins fans.  I hope everyone has recovered from hours-upon-hours of skating at Rosa Parks Circle this weekend. I think I finally returned to normal this morning. You’d think playing hockey would condition me to leisurely skate for a couple hours without waking up the next morning in serious pain. At least that’s what I thought. Instead, I woke up Sunday with blisters, muscle cramps, and dehydration. Alright, maybe not dehydration, but it was a rough on me!

Fortunately, I was able to enjoy Sunday’s NFL games with my feet up on the La-Z-Boy to take away the pain. It also didn’t hurt knowing my Packers were already onto the NFC Championship after Saturday’s win over Seattle. Go Pack Go!

Anyway, I was really surprised (and pleased) with the big turnout during my shift on Saturday night. I really thought there wouldn’t be too many people out on the rink at midnight, but I was pleasantly surprised to see skaters elbow-to-elbow doing laps. Apparently the event generated some $17,000 for the Griffins Youth Foundation, and that’s the most important thing of all.

To think that “The Great Skate” will allow more kids to play the greatest game in the world helps erase any of my so-called “pains.” I know I speak for the Griffins when I say thanks to everyone who took part. Hopefully this event continues to grow and gain even more popularity in the future.

Kick Saves

Did I really blog about the perils of unsharpened skates last week? Wow. It doesn’t get any more boring than that. What’s next? The role of the fight-strap in hockey jerseys? Plexi-glass and its effect on society?  I know…hockey tape: the leading source of waste in ice hockey playing countries.

I’ll try to keep things a bit more interesting in the coming weeks.

“More Blogging, More Problems”

As if I didn’t have enough problems turning in one blog on time (for the record, this week’s “Sieve Scribe” was sent in AHEAD of schedule, thank you), I’ve added to my blog duties on my station’s website.

I’ve been asked to document my training routine for this year’s 25K River Bank Run.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to finally take to the asphalt.

If I survive this year’s race, I figure I’ll be in great shape to make a run at the back-up goalie spot at the Griffins’ training camp this summer. 

Does Coach Stothers know about this? Not yet, but hopefully he reads this blog so he knows my intentions.

Hey, maybe this running thing could pay off with a roster spot.

Check out my blog, as well as other training blogs from anchor Val Lego and reporter Meredith Ter Haar, at wzzm13.com.

Time to get back to training; I’ll see you up in section 110 for tonight’s “Winning Wednesday” game against the Amerks.

Congratulations, Red Wings. You finally beat the Chicago Blackhawks over the weekend. Thanks for adding to our misery over the past few weeks. It’s not bad enough that Jonathan Toews injured his knee, now we have to give up our 2007-08 domination of the NHL’s best team.

My Hawks have lost seven straight heading into the weekend and have nearly ruined any chance of making the playoffs. I know what you’re thinking, “Good, now you can stop talking about the Blackhawks. You do realize you live in Grand Rapids.” 

Perhaps I do talk too much about the Hawks, but they’re what I know and what I love. I’m not a bandwagon fan that loses interest if my team struggles. The Hawks have been down since the days of Roenick, Belfour, and that one guy that plays defense for your Wings, but I’ll continue to watch as many games as I can.

I’m not throwing the towel in on this season but the future is really bright for my team. You Wings fans got a first-hand look earlier this season.

KICK SAVES

Is there a more helpless feeling for a hockey player than when he/she loses an edge on their skate? I don’t think so. That’s what happened to me as I hit the ice before my game last night.

As soon as I tried to scuff my crease I hit the deck like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football. Pretty embarrassing.

Hockey players rely on their skates as much (if not more) than any other athlete relies on any piece of equipment. The bad news for beer leaguers like me…there are NO sharpening options when you take the ice at 11:30 at night.

A sharpening stone helped me survive my game (a 7-3 blowout loss in case you were wondering). Let me tell you, it’s pretty tough to play goal when you can’t stop on your left skate.

Anyway, let my misfortune be a lesson to you. If you think your skates need a new cut…they do. Don’t learn the hard way.

That’ll wrap up this edition of Dan Harland gives you advice on how to survive the game of hockey. We’ll be back with another edition soon.

ONE MORE THING

I hope to see a lot of you at “The Great Skate” Sunday morning at Rosa Parks Circle.  I’ll be out there from midnight to 1 a.m. with our weekend anchor, Val Lego. 

Yeah, it’s kinda late, but it’s a pretty cool thing to be under the lights in the middle of the night…and it supports a great cause.

Even if you can’t hit up the late shift with me, you should definitely make a trip downtown this weekend. 

See you next week.

Here we go again. After a “brief” holiday vacation, it’s time to get into the routine of busting out a new “Sieve Scribe” on a weekly basis. That’s one of my New Year’s resolutions, to actually be on time and consistent with my blog entries. Unfortunately, my resolutions usually die out by the first week of February. So here’s an advanced apology if things go south. 

What did you all get for Christmas? Anything hockey related? I had the privilege of checking out my first Hawks game of the season. Brent Seabrook had a pair of goals in a 3-2 win over the Oilers on December 23 in front of a rockin’ house of over 20,000 at the United Center. I found that to be pretty cool, since I was wearing my Brent Seabrook jersey to the game that night. He scored those two goals for me…I know it!  

Perhaps the best hockey-related gift I received happened yesterday with the “Winter Classic” at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium. I hope all you hockey fans had a chance to watch this on a big HDTV. It was awesome. The snow falling throughout the game, Ryan Miller wearing a stocking hat over his mask, the Penguins wearing some of the sweetest throwback jerseys in sports history…too cool!

I know, the game didn’t go off perfectly. It took over three hours to play due to the snow accumulation and the random ice problems. But to have over 70,000 on hand for a hockey game, it just really got me thinking about where this concept could go in the future.

Can you imagine…

The Toronto Maple Leafs against the Wings at Comerica Park.

Or my personal hope: Wings at Blackhawks on a January night at Solider Field in Chicago.

Was it the best hockey ever played? No. But to be a part of it…everyone involved knew how special it was. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff had the best quote of all last night: “To hell with the cynics.”

Cynics and “purists” aside, every hockey fan wants their team to play an outdoor game. 

The possibilities are endless, and the NHL would be foolish not to give every cold weather city a chance to host one of those games. A football atmosphere for a hockey game, to me it’s the best of both worlds.

KICK SAVES

There are too many cynics in this world. It seems that nothing can happen without people questioning the integrity or realism of what they just witnessed.

Case in point: Sidney Crosby’s game-winning shootout goal in the “Winter Classic.” Every sports message board you go to has people talking about how the NHL rigged the game to not just go to a shootout, but to have Crosby win it.

Let me guess, Ryan Miller received a boat-load of money to be embarrassed by Crosby and lose a game? I don’t think so.

Is there reason to be skeptical of sports at times? Of course, just ask compromised NBA officials or one of the many baseball players that has taken the needle.

Just because a few bad apples have jaded your view doesn’t mean everything is crooked in the sports world. Sometimes cool things can happen on an impromptu basis…cool things like a game-winning shootout goal by the NHL’s best player on a frozen national stage.

That’s enough time on the Dan Harland soapbox for one night. Until next week, here’s hoping 2008 is the best year of your life.

See you next time.