Wading through entry draft preparations

I'm knee-deep in draft-related stuff now. The HF servers got moved today, far enough in advance of the draft that I hope this means that we'll be able to handle the enormous spike in traffic on draft weekend. I think so.

I'm getting much closer to finishing the features I'm writing on draft-eligibles. I have only Rajala and Bertilsson left. I'm very close to finishing Rajala and then Bertilsson will be tough because of his lack of English. It will probably be mostly his coach talking.

A few years ago when I had covered the draft, but no players leading up to it, I came away with the impression that 18-year-olds have much less to say than other players because they just haven't has as many experiences to put things in perspective. But I found working on them this year more interesting than I had anticipated. The biggest drawback was having to deal with parents. That's not fun. Luckily it's not often.

I found out that it's a myth that all Swedes speak English. They understand English, but they can't all respond.

Another thing I came away with was that there's much less consensus about where someone should or will be taken than fans like to think. Opinions vary widely on guys. Who's to say who's right at this point. We won't know for a few years.

Oh and the combine is critical. It's not until then that teams really decide who they are going to take with their picks. So to me it's pretty worthless to do a mock draft until after the combine, after some scuttlebutt actually comes out. Looking forward to that happening next week!
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South Carolina Stingrays on to conference finals

The South Carolina Stingrays took down the Florida Everblades in the ECHL South Division finals tonight. I picked them in preseason, and they came through, despite a ton of roster changes. No reason they can't beat Cincinnati in the conference finals as well. Goaltending wins championships, and the Stingrays have it with James Reimer. I hope they win another series so I can goto the Kelly Cup Finals again this year. Last year I went to Cincinnati for them, and that was an enjoyable little trip. I'm rooting for an Alaska Aces/Stingrays final, one that doesn't interfere with another hockey trip I am doing in early June.
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Ekman-Larsson story done

Whew. This one was a tad difficult, because I didn't get much out of the player himself. When I introduced myself, OEL said his English wasn't very good, and almost got a translator to help. I wish now that he would have. Thank god for Kevin Doell, who I contacted later. He helped out a ton. Doeller went above and beyond what was asked of him, as is his usual.

Here's a link to the finished OEL story. And here are the ones on Robin Lehner, Adam Polasek, Erik Haula, and John Henrion as well. I still have a few more coming.
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The internet is cool

I just Facebooked someone in Sweden I needed to finish a story, and they wrote me back within five minutes. All of this while sitting out on the patio at Panera Bread, enjoying the lovely spring weather. Some days I can't believe they pay me for this.

Well, then there's those days where I'm stuck inside transcribing for hours, or fixing up some poorly-written copy. That's not fun. But today is.
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