Word Getting Out

Well, I've never been the kind to keep my mouth shut...it's why my friends rarely, if ever, tell me secrets. Although, I can say proudly that anything a coach has told me after telling me to turn my recorder off (or otherwise telling me that I can't print it) has stayed with me.

Not that I spilled any state secrets or anything, but I did an interview over at Runnin' With The Dogs as part of the "Gauntlet" series.

Between that, the post I made at Miami Hawk Talk, and folks like Chris at Western College Hockey checking out the RWD interview, the truth is getting out there.

One note on the interview, by the way...on my comment about everything working out for Phil Kessel, and RWD's "[Except for the whole cancer thing.]" comment...I'm sure Phil wishes he'd never had cancer, but the reality is that may have been one of the best things that could have happened for his career. Not that I'd recommend it as a career move or anything, but now, Phil is on billboards for Vs. that say, "His story is inspiring...until he scores on you," instead of people wondering what happened to the guy who was supposed to be the best American-born player since Mike Modano.

In my experience with Phil, he's never been a big fan of media attention, and the kind he got before and during his brief collegiate career was generally scrutiny, and plenty of it. Even on the day he signed with the Bruins, someone on the media conference call asked him about the Blarney incident. Phil Kessel may be the first person to find the NHL media easier to deal with than college. Go figure.

Anyhow, in the discussion of my ouster from my former employer, it has come out that I will be doing some freelance writing for the folks at USCHO. Yep, that's true. In fact, I'm going to be going down to Princeton on Saturday to see the Tigers take on Cornell and write a feature on the breakout season for Guy Gadowsky's boys.

Of course, that's not exactly going to pay the bills, so I am naturally looking for more substantial employment. Quite conveniently, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers sponsored a job fair before last night's game agaisnt the Norfolk Admirals, so I headed out there last night.

Job fair went reasonably well...if nothing else, it was fun to stand in front of the folks from the Islanders (and then again with the folks from the Sound Tigers), and talk about working with the likes of Jeff Jackson, Greg Cronin and Billy Jaffe. Yes, I am an insufferable name-dropper...just ask my fraternity brothers how far out of the way I took a conversation to mention my first interview with Mark Johnson in '05 - at the Northford Ice Pavilion, Quinnipiac's charming home until the opening of the TD Banknorth Sports Center and a place where I imagine Johnson wondered why in the world he was there.

But the real highlight of the evening was the game, which the Sound Tigers won, 4-3, coming from behind. It was fun to see some of the college hockey notables on both sides, especially the Sound Tigers' starting line of UNH's Trevor Smith, Niagara's Sean Bentivoglio, and Minnesota's Kyle Okposo. The Admirals also had a nice college presence on their top line with Western Michigan's Paul Szczechura and 2004 Hobey Baker winner Junior Lessard.

The Sound Tigers do a nice job with their game production, including a pregame video where various current Isles boast that they were "Born in Bridgeport." The big thing, though, was that it was awesome to hear a pro hockey crowd engage in a "Sieve" chant, which is a nice staple of the college game that I always want to see more of in the pros.

Not being a member of the working media for the time being, I took the liberty of encouraging the abuse of Norfolk's Marc Denis. I found a group of fans who were being particularly abusive and taught them the "Sieve -> funnel -> vacuum -> black hole -> YOU JUST SUCK" taunt, which is one of those things I always wanted to do, but never really had company on.

Okposo, by the way, looked really good, scoring the game-tying goal for the Sound Tigers. Whatever you think of Garth Snow's comments following the Okposo signing in December - and I really hope the Isles don't look up my comments on what Snow said if they think of hiring for me to do anything - it's clear that Okposo is developing nicely in Bridgeport, and good for him.

Speaking of which, I have no clue why Garth said Lucia needs to "look in the mirror." The man's hair is clear evidence that he looks in the mirror just plenty as it is.

OK, maybe on that note, it's time to call it a night.