Collection Update For April 3rd and Site Update For April 5th AND Some Semi-Old Francis News

Thanks to a friend of mine, I had quite the surprise for my collection come in the form of a gift package I knew he was sending me, which arrived this past Tuesday (April 3rd). Inside that package, I discovered...

- A box of Fantastic Four bandages. (a small homage to the fact that I once was a huge Fantastic Four nut)

- A Soo Greyhounds puck.

- A canister of Tim Horton's hot chocolate powder.

- A copy of the Fire On Ice video, about the Pittsburgh Penguins' 1995-96 season, the best individual season Ron Francis ever had point-wise.

AND

- A 1980's-early 1990's ERA PITTSBURGH PENGUINS JERSEY!!!! :D

Still debating if I want to get a "Francis", "9" or "10", and a "Badger Bob", "Pens 25th Anniversary", and "NHL 75th Anniversary" (depending upon which season I want to honor) ironed/stitched on the jersey. Stay tuned...

I saw the Fire On Ice video a couple of nights ago...and before I proceed with my brief review, I want my friend to know, if he is reading this, that the video itself is a highly appreciated addition to my collection.

BUT, I cannot help but feel that the video's content left a bit to be desired...ESPECIALLY considering that it was overall a dynamite season for not only Ronnie and his line with Lemieux and Jagr, but also the Pens in general. The entirety of the video consisted of...

- Interviews with Craig Patrick, a couple of other members of the Penguins brass, and Tom Barrasso.

- Highlights upon highlights upon highlights out the wazoo.

- Troy Loney and Bryan Trottier "discussing" the highlights, after every five to ten minutes of said clips.

Highlights are great...but you need way more than those (and two former players chatting) to make for a decent video. Before this, I thought "One To Grow On", about the 1997-98 season, was a disappointment...but, at least that had player interviews AND insights into aspects of the Pens games and practices. Not to mention how OTGO did not have the low budget feel Fire On Ice somehow did.

So as of my writing this, my favorite team made video/DVDs are the 1993-94 Pittsburgh Penguin Highlights (Which actually gave insight into the players' home lives!! Not every day you come across that, people...) and Raising Canes (about the Carolina Hurricanes' 2001-02 season). And it is my opinion that whenever a hockey team wants to put together a season video/DVD, they *really* should look to those two as shining examples of the correct way of doing such a project.

All that said, the best parts of FOI were...

- The comparison of the Penguins to the steelworkers who helped Pittsburgh eventually grow into metropolis it is now.

and

- The two-three minute montage of highlights featuring Ron Francis when it was mentioned that the Penguins would, unfortunately due to a leg injury, not have his services for the 1996 Eastern Conference Final battle vs. the Florida Panthers.

Anyways...it should also be mentioned that thanks to finally obtaining a blank Soo Greyhounds puck, I now have the second of the four remaining team pucks I'd love for Ron to somehow sign. The other two being the Whalers and Penguins. I happen to have a 2001-02 Carolina Hurricanes puck that I got during the playoffs that season...and it happens to be my very first Canes collectible ever.

As you can guess, the autographed puck I do have is a Toronto Maple Leafs one...specifically from the 2001-02 season, the Leafs' 75th Anniversary one. That puck I happened to get at the Canadian pavilion in the World Showcase in Walt Disney World's Epcot right when I started to get into hockey, making it my very first hockey collectible ever. Funny story: The girl who sold me the puck was from Ottawa AND therefore a fan of the Senators, who were facing the Leafs in the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the time. We had a bit of fun ribbing each other over the fact that I liked the Leafs logo AND was pulling for the Hurricanes, who were to get either the Leafs or Sens if they surpassed the Montreal Canadiens (the other team puck you could buy from the kiosk, ironically enough) in the Second Round. The rest, as most know, was/is history... ;)

Oh yeah...I did mention in the title that there was some belated Ronnie news, didn't I? Well, there is.

Youth hockey in the Triangle area took a major step forward on Thursday with the formation of a new program that will increase accessibility to the sport while making it possible to compete at the highest level.

The program, Canes Youth and Amateur Hockey, is a partnership between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Raleigh Youth Hockey Association. The Hurricanes will sponsor the top teams in the RYHA, which will allow them to play at some of the biggest tournaments in North America. In addition, the team will also support the RYHA's house teams.

The affiliation with the Hurricanes, along with the help of former Hurricanes captain and future hall-of-famer Ron Francis, will support the rising amount of talent that is already being produced through youth hockey programs in the area.

"At the end of the day, what's really going to work out is the kids," said Francis, who is now the Director of Player Development for the Hurricanes. "The kids are really going to benefit from this, and really that's what youth hockey should be all about."

Before I happened upon that yesterday, I had heard about the Canes Youth and Amateur Hockey program's start about a couple of weeks ago, and thought about how such an association/idea has Ronnie's name all over it. And, I am quite glad to see that being much more than a mere hunch.

Also, besides updating the Multimedia page, I also added a couple of new links, Carolina On Ice and Jackie Manuel's Posse to here and the site's Links and Acknowledgements page.

Current Music: "Standing There" by The Creatures