VIDEO: Full Connor McDavid Pick

I felt this deserved to be forever in the archives:

Connor McDavid Selected #1 by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft

Connor McDavid was selected #1 overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft tonight. I have the draft coverage from NBC Sports on my television and I'm trying to take in as much of this draft as I can. 

The Edmonton Journal Cult of Hockey Blog is already asking if McDavid can save them:

It was a transformative moment for the franchise, easily the single-most important move the team has made in more than a decade. It trumps the acquisition of Chris Pronger, a move which brought the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. Likely it even trumps the flurry of exits by Pronger and others immediately following that playoff run, the associated moves which launched the current epoch of darkness in Edmonton.

Ah. I cannot wait to watch this kid start to pile up the stats.

Taylor Hall with the Funny

Welcome to Edmonton, Connor. Don't mess up everything we've built the last 5 years! #FutureIsBright

— Taylor Hall (@hallsy04) June 26, 2015

Connor McJesus Day

It's a little much, but it's funny.

Book Review: A Matter of Inches (by Clint Malarchuk)

A lot of people know Clint Malarchuk for one reason and one reason only (if you're my age anyways and haven't watched the game dating back to the 80's):

My buddy at work Darryl played hockey in the minors for a long time. He always used to call me Clint Malarchuk.

When I was looking for a book to read this summer, I wanted a baseball book. Instead, I picked up Malarchuk's book and found a story more about life than hockey; with some great hockey tales mixed in.

I have a lot in common with Malarchuk unfortunately. The man struggles with OCD, and I think I do as well. I'm more convinced with reading this book that I have a form of it.

The book made me miss hockey season, and had me feeling excited for the start of next season as the 2014-2015 season ends. I crushed this book in about a week.

I found it to be a great story of perseverance, toughness, struggle, and real-life. Malarchuk is a good honest man that trouble found, and he is like me; he seems to fail time and again but he simply will not quit. He fights sobriety and illness with the same tenacity he used to carve out a great hockey career.

This is a powerful story of bravery with some nice hockey tales mixed in. All-in-all, one of my favorite hockey reads ever (probably top five all-time). I have such respect for Mr. Malarchuk as a person.

BRASS BONANZA!

I finally figured out what the song was that I loved in NHL '94. It's a tune that I just took to as a kid, and it turns out it has some history and tradition to it besides just being a catchy tune. I decided today was going to be the day that I went searching for it on the interwebs.

The song or tune is called 'Brass Bonanza' and apparently what I was hearing those 20+ years ago in my friends basement next door was occurring when the now defunct Hartford Whalers were in play.

I had no idea that back in those days, EA Sports actually hired professional organist Dieter Ruehle to do unique organ songs for each arena. For that era; in a video game, well that's back when EA Sports really did put it in the game if it was in the game. Those days are now sadly gone. Here's a really cool blog post with an interview with Ruehle that helped me track this down on YouTube.

Here's an NHL.com article about The legacy of Brass Bonanza, where it's called the most famous song in the sport.

And finally, here it is. Starting at 1:26 in the below video. As it was said in one of the descriptions I saw on YouTube: 'The Classics never die'.

Connor McDavid energizes HNTB

 

Connor McDavid is going to be a generational talent in hockey's heartland up in Edmonton. He's going to save the franchise we love up in Canada, and therefore we're going to start writing about hockey again.

The kid from Richmond Hill, Ontario is going to be fun to watch. With it, we'll pick up his Imports Dragon NHL Figure, NHL 16 for Playstation 4, and probably NHL Gamecenter next season. We will also do some nightly NHL on Fanduel. McDavid is "going to spark a lot of interest in the collectability of hockey cards" according to one hobby shop owner.

It's going to be a fun run, none of which would have been possible if McDavid had not ended up in Edmonton.