Hockey Nirvana

‘Ovechkin and Crosby – New Best Friends Forever’
courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

It’s official: Penguins and Capitals in Round 2.

I’ll have more to say on this later in the week, but suffice that right now? I AM STOKED. This is the playoff series I’ve always loved and was hoping for this year. Even if it isn’t the Conference Finals, I don’t care. I could care less about the rest of the playoffs at this point: THIS IS THE SERIES TO WATCH.

Look for a series “pre”cap here on Friday; I’ll be posting one up on WLDC as well. Obviously, the one here will be more biased towards my Penguins…and I’ll most likely take crap from Caps fans on the WLDC site. But that’s okay.

This is what playoff hockey is all about. To quote Igloo announcer John Barbaro:

ARRRRRRE YOOOOOOOOOOU READYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?????!!!!!

Facts Ma’am, Nothing But the FAQs

My freelance boss for CGL is Herb Beas. He’s the Line Developer for the BattleTech license and a great guy. Overworked like no-one else I know, yet he handles it with…well, sarcasm and a wit sharp enough to not just kill sacred cows, but spit them over a raging fire until they’re juicy and medium rare.

So today I popped over to the game’s official forum and apparently, the lack of sleep has gotten him into rare form. He posted a brilliant FAQ for the game’s more…ardent…players and I have to share. Partly because he doesn’t maintain a blog, and partly because well, that post would’ve probably come from me in a few years if I was in his position.

Non-gamer readers may want to peak at this, too – you may not get the concepts, but you’ll definitely love the wit. It’s all served up right after the jump.

Eastern Quarterfinals 2009: Flyers vs. Penguins

Fleury Slows it Down, courtesy of clydeorama

Tonight, the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.

Tonight, the real NHL season kicks off.

Tonight, the Penguins collide with the Flyers. A battle for Pennslyvania. And probably the most intense matchup in the entirety of the first round, East or West.

Looking at the stat sheets, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are practically identical. Records, points, goals for and against, you name it. They’re basically copies of each other, if you look at them from a pure statistical viewpoint.

But as Pens and Flyers fans know, it ain’t all that.

By a long shot.

Time of Triumph (AFD!)

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! (Ok, TOTALLY NOT REAL!)

I’m so giddy, I can’t contain myself. The official press release goes out tomorrow, but I’ve got permission to post the news here a little early…

I’ve inked my first novel deal with IMR. It’s set in the BattleTech: Dark Age era, slated for Summer 2010 release. Working title? Time of Triumph.

The gist of the novel is mostly set among the far-flung Clan Homeworlds, telling the tale of a newly decanted warrior making his way among the ruins of Kerensky’s dream. The plan, at this time, is to also have a few flashbacks into the mysterious “War of Reaving” that fans have been aching to know about since, well, the last five years or so.