Mike Chen's Hockey Blog
Category: NHL
General NHL posts
Where Did You Buy Your Customized Jersey?
by Mike Chen on 09/25/08 at 12:07 PM ET
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With the season just a few weeks away, many fans are shopping for new jerseys, especially with third jerseys being announced. From my experience, if you buy a customized replica off NHL.com, the lettering and numbering is heat-transfered on, not stitched on. It looks cheap and feels flimsy, and they only provide true stitching when you plunk down $300 for an authentic jersey.
I’m a dedicated fan but that’s just not in my budget. However, I’ve heard fan chatter about other places providing actual stitched lettering and numbering even if you bought a replica jersey (the RBK Premiere).
Are you happy with your customized jersey? Help out myself and other fans by posting where you got it and how the lettering/numbering was in the comments.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Jerseys,
Gretzky, Maloney, and One Fan’s Perspective
by Mike Chen on 09/24/08 at 09:28 PM ET
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Just a quick follow up to this post, here’s a transcript of my email Q&A with Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky, GM Don Maloney, and Coyotes blogger Paul Becker of One Fan’s Perspective
Phoenix Coach Wayne Gretzky
Q: Once you got Ilya Bryzgalov, did you approach your team’s defensive
scheme differently?
A: “With the acquisition of Bryzgalov, we didn’t really change our defensive philosophy. But his play certainly gave his teammates confidence to play at the best of their abilities.”
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Marketing, Phoenix+Coyotes, Wayne+Gretzky,
Gretzky, Maloney Lead Coyotes Resurgence
by Mike Chen on 09/24/08 at 03:08 PM ET
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(Note: This is the unedited version of my original column for FoxSports.com posted here. As you can see, they cut a bit for length purposes, but I’m posting the original here. Also, I will be posting a compiled Q&A with Gretzky, Maloney, and blogger Paul Becker either later today or tomorrow.)
Perhaps it’s appropriate that the Winnipeg/Phoenix franchise has had both jets and coyotes as their mascot. After all, the Winnipeg Jets flew down to Arizona, springing back to life – like a phoenix, of course – with Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk as ambassadors into an untapped marketplace. During that team, the franchise survived Keith Tkachuk’s contract demands, Brett Hull’s blink-and-you-miss-it tenure, an arena where part of the upper deck couldn’t see the whole ice, and a team logo that appeared to be half coyote and half Predator (the kind Schwarzenegger fought, not the Nashville kind).
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Don+Maloney, Phoenix+Coyotes, Wayne+Gretzky,
Seen Stamkos? No, Really, Seen Him?
by Mike Chen on 09/24/08 at 11:00 AM ET
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I’m not sure what Tampa Bay puppetmasters Oren Koules and Len Barrie are thinking with their pushing of young Steven Stamkos (and I’m pretty sure this was their decision) but I wonder if it’s really worth it to put so much pressure on young Stamkos’s shoulders. Didn’t they learn anything when “Crazy” Art Williams dubbed his #1 pick the “Michael Jordan of hockey”? Pressure and expectation can crush a young player, as well as distort their perspectives on professionalism and ego.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Marketing, Steven+Stamkos, Tampa+Bay+Lightning,
Nothing Says Hockey Like British Mullets
by Mike Chen on 09/22/08 at 02:52 PM ET
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While mullets and arena rock have their unfortunate associations with hockey, I’m still kinda puzzled by this whole “Kick Off The Season With Def Leppard!” thing the NHL put together. I’m all for reaching out to new audiences and demographics, but I’m trying to figure out the whole thought process. I’m thinking the meeting went something like this:
Gary Bettman: The NFL launched their season with a concert. We should do the same!
Bill Daly: Awesome! (Forms devil horns with fingers and head bangs for a few seconds) Who should we get?
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Marketing, Music,
The Off-Off-Season
by Mike Chen on 09/17/08 at 09:32 PM ET
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I like to think that the NHL season has four actual seasons: pre-season, regular season, playoffs, and the silly season. The silly season stretches from the day the Stanley Cup is awarded until three weeks after free agency opens up and is filled with pre-free agency trades and post-July 1 outrageous contracts. After the silly season dies down, then comes the actual off-season. You know, that boring stretch where the only interesting discussion is speculation about a potential third jersey or which player is dating which minor celebrity. I call this period of time the off-off-season, and it runs to about the second week of September, or just before training camp starts.
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Off-season,
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