Stanley.

Well I met an old friend this past weekend. I had to go to his stomping grounds to say hello, you see The Stanley Cup is back in Detroit for the 4th time in 11 years. Everybody calls the Cup simply Stanley.

Stanley moves around a lot but he seems to really enjoy Michigan these days and he really wants to stay around for a while, there really isn’t any reason to think he won’t.

About 140 of us lucky folks from Cambridge and Hespeler in particular made the 3 hour trek to Detroit this past week end to celebrate with Detroit Red Wing Kirk Maltby and Stanley.

When I was a young kid playing hockey the Stanley Cup and hockey in general was my dream. That is all I wanted. I didn’t care about golf, baseball, school or anything but hockey. I never got to live my dream for obvious reasons, I just wasn’t a good enough hockey player. I think anybody who reads this blog or is a hockey fan in general may have had a similar dream.

That being said I was lucky enough to have a good friend who has lived the NHL dream and the Stanley Cup dream. Malts has won the Cup 4 times and has let us all celebrate with him each time. I have drank out of the Cup, raised it above my head and watched with pride and joy as my friends and family have done the same.

They call the Stanley Cup the Holy Grail and the hardest trophy in sports to win and I fully believe that. I may not have won the Cup or had a damn thing to do with it but I was able to share some time with Stanley for the 4th time and that’s not all that bad is it.

Here is a couple pictures from this past weekend.

The first one is my daughter Emma in pink and Kirk’s daughter Ella, Emma is 6 days older then Ella and they really are two peas in a pod.

Below is a picture of Malts and my brother John with the Stanley Cup and some of the chaos.

Don’t worry hooligans I’ll be back shooting my mouth off next week same as always.

Not much hockey to talk about these days???

I’ll do my best to keep focused on hockey but my blogs are starting to be very un-hockey related.

Funny how none of the Leafs wanted to move at the trade deadline and now Tucker is gone, McCabe is on his way out and God only knows what’s up with Meatball Sundin.

Jose Theodore a Washington Capital, that just doesn’t sound right.

Do you remember when Don Cherry snapped on coaches corner and told Jagr to go back home and eat an onion, damn I still find that funny.

I’m finding my morning Tim Horton’s coffee just isn’t doing it anymore, it just tastes different and I’m not happy.

Watch out for the Phoenix Coyotes, they are about 2 years away from being one hell of a team.

Breakfast question, when you order your eggs and toast and hashbrowns what meat do you get? I’m thinking most get bacon but the odd time the sausage is good and the ham comes in 3rd place for me.

Bacon, sausage and ham mmmmmmmmmmmmmm I’m loving the pig, greatest animal ever.

So I’m watching the Olympics and all these little people are kicking ass in gymnastics and diving. The Chinese syncro diving girls are 4 foot 6, just insane.

Poor Bob Luongo, he goes from one crap team that can’t score to another team that can’t score. The fans of Vancouver will not be happy.

Do you know who Blake Comeau is? You will and Islanders fans will be very happy about it.

Speaking of the Olympics, that Great Wall of China is awesome, I’ve never seen it in person but I’d love to.

I think my Phillies have quit on each other, I’m not sure anything bothers me more.

Quick trivia, don’t look it up. Who had more career points Lindros or Forsberg.

I hear that these hybrid cars are great for obvious reasons but nobody knows how to fix them yet? That worries me.

Just picked up Ben Sheets in a fantasy baseball trade. I was thinking a good team name in fantasy baseball would be………….Ben Folds 5 Sheets. Thanks I’ll be here all week.

I hate cutting the lawn.

Trivia answer Forsberg 885 Lindros 865. Closer then you thought I bet.

Last weekend 3 beers 0 chicken wings! What a loser. I will make up for it this weekend, mark my words.

I had some readers curious about the pie iron I mentioned last week. Here you go http://www.pieiron.com/

No blog next week as I will be in Detroit for a Stanley Cup party. It’s not all fun and games kids, I will be writing a blog on the event with pictures etc. Look for it Sept 30/2008. I promise you it will be top notch.

Less then 2 months to opening night, have a great weekend.

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) – The Philadelphia Flyers reached an agreement with head coach John Stevens on a two-year contract extension on Thursday.

Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“I am very excited,” Stevens said. “This is something that we talked about in the early part of the summer. We knew that it was just a matter of time before we got it done. I love being a part of this organization and the direction that the team is heading.”

Stevens, who had agreed to a one-year contract extension worth a reported $650,000 in December, finished his first full season behind the bench with a 42-29-11 record, good enough for fourth place in the Atlantic Division and a sixth-seed in the postseason.

However, the 42-year-old led his club to a surprise berth the Eastern Conference finals, one season removed from having the worst record in the NHL.

“John is very deserving of this contract,” said Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. “He is a very energetic coach who brings a lot of enthusiasm and passion to the game, and we look forward to working together over the next few years.”

Since his hiring on October 22, 2006, Stevens has compiled a 63-71-22 mark in 156 games, his first foray into the NHL coaching ranks after a successful tenure in the American Hockey League.

Prior to his elevation with the big club, Stevens was the head coach for the Flyers’ AHL affiliate — the Philadelphia Phantoms — for six seasons (2000-06), compiling a 230-181-33-25 record to go along with 29 playoff wins and a Calder Cup championship in 2005.

Content Copyright 2007, The Sports Network. Distributed by XML Team Solutions.

Happy Saturday Morning hooligans.

Funny how the hockey world works. 10 years ago everybody was a monster like Lindros now the little guys like Kane, Giroux and Gagner are popping up all over the place.

Very weird by I’m not a big fan of Corona, just don’t like putting lime in my beer I guess.

Now a lime in my rye and ginger, now your talking.

Since we are on the topic of booze, you know the old saying the early bird catches the worm. I’m thinking the walking home at 5am from a night of drinking bird has a pretty good shot at the worm as well.

Rumour has it the Canucks offered Ryder the same 3 year $12 million offer, wow is potential goal scoring really that hard to find?

Do you remember when I said Brett Favre would be the starting QB of the Packers this year? I meant the Jets, sorry for the typo. It happens, I was alwasy bad in spelling.

FYI I spelled always wrong on purpose, I thought that would be funny.

So you grab a dandy lion when you are a kid and you sing “mama had a baby and her head popped off” as you flick the yellow head of the dandy lion off it’s stem with your thumb! Who the hell came up with that saying, holy crap.

Is it me or is Joe Thornton starting to wear out his welcome in SJ? The shine just seems to be coming off a bit.

Morgan Freeman should have stuck to driving Miss Daisy.

This is the dog days of summer as far as hockey goes, man is it ever boring right now.

Does everybody know what a pie iron is? Last weekend we had some tasty treats around the fire made by the worlds greatest invention “the pie iron” Please do yourself a favour and give it a try.

Sean Avery will be a huge bust in Dallas, They say everything is bigger in Dallas except Avery.

This Sundin thing is really dragging on too long, he really is a Swedish meatball.

Manny Ramirez is wearing #99 in LA, why do I bring this up? Because somebody else started to wear #99 in LA 20 years ago. Wayne Gretzky became a LA King 20 years ago.

Only 3 comments last week? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Have a great weekend.

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) – The Philadelphia Flyers announced Thursday that Craig Berube has been named an assistant coach.

“Craig will bring new energy to the Flyers’ coaching staff,” said general manager Paul Holmgren. “His knowledge of, and experience with many of our young players will be invaluable.”

Berube, who spent part of the 2006-07 season as an assistant with Philadelphia, put together a 46-27-4-3 mark with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League a season ago.

The 42-year-old Alberta native carved out a niche as an enforcer over a 17- year NHL career with five teams, including the Flyers. He enjoyed two stints with Philly (1986-91; 1998-2000), recording 20 goals and 54 points along with 1,138 penalty minutes in 323 games.

In 1,054 total contests, the burly winger nicknamed “Chief” racked up 61 goals, 159 points and 3,149 minutes in penalties.

Berube’s hiring fills the vacancy created when Terry Murray was hired as Los Angeles Kings head coach. He joins Joe Mullen, Jack McIlhargey and Reggie Lemelin as assistants to head coach John Stevens.

“I’m very happy to get a chance to return to the NHL with the Flyers,” said Berube. “A year ago, going back down to the Phantoms was a good opportunity for me to get experience and to show that I could be a head coach.”

In addition, the club announced that John Paddock will be the new head coach of the Phantoms, replacing Berube.

The 54-year-old Paddock enjoyed a brief NHL career with the Capitals, Nordiques and Flyers.

However, he is better known as a head coach and general manager in the AHL and NHL. He won two Calder Cup titles in 1988 and 1999 with Hershey and Hartford, and spent four seasons as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets from 1991-95.

Last year, Paddock went 36-23-6 as head coach of the Ottawa Senators before his firing late in the regular season.

Content Copyright 2007, The Sports Network. Distributed by XML Team Solutions.

So Mats is going to sign this week they say, blah blah these damn Swede’s are a pain in the ass.

Looks like I’m going to Vegas in October, it’s my first trip to Vegas, God help me.

A vodka and seven made with grey goose is a tasty little drink, add a lime.

I’ve decided Jeff Carter needs a nickname and I’m not talking Carts or something boring like that. Let’s hear what you got, so far I like Jeff “The Iron Pig” Carter.

Speaking of the Flyers, young Claude Giroux looks ready to make the leap and become an everyday NHL player. He has been compared to many player so far but I think the best comparison would be George Costanza. They both have beautiful hands. Seinfeld fans will appreciate that little joke.

I read earlier this week a 16 year old invented a water powered jet pack. That amazes me. When I was 16 I was lucky if my socks matched.

So I was walking into the bar Thursday night after hockey and some cougar asks me if my name is Ralph. I’m thinking what the crap, no I’m not Ralph and she pouts like only a super cougar could. So I guess she was waiting for a blind date named Ralph? Anyway the point of the story is the boys have started calling me Ralph, damn crazy nicknames.

Is there a worse sports city right now then Toronto? No Toronto professional team has a shot at winning anything. It’s so bad with the Leafs the fans want them to lose, what a mess.

Scotty Bowman now a Blackhawk. Wow the Hawks are serious. Great to see.

The Red Wings signed Filppula to a 5 year $15 million contract. He is Zetterburg lite, once again a great signing by the Red Wings.

WNBA brawl, that is great.

Quick off the top off your head, if I was a NHL player who do you think I would most likely be?

Is there any good sitcoms to watch? With out sports and shows like Dexter, Californication and Entourage I would have nothing to watch anymore.

They say Briere and Gagne are training this off season with an insanely strong trainer who has a 66 inch chest. I hope to God it’s not Dolly Parton.

Why do players like Doug Weight and Mark Recchi hang on? They won a Cup, I think it’s time to pack it in boys.

Little bit of fun before I head out, ask me any question and I’ll try to answer. Ask about hockey pool advice, how to deal with a cranky co-worker, what type of wine to serve with chicken wings. Feel free ask away and I’ll answer the following week. I think we could have some fun with this.

It’s a long weekend up here in Canada so it’s a quick one this week, have a good one with lots of beer sun and fun, take care hooligans.