Shaved Ice – October 8

Judging by the schedule we’re looking at this week, hockey has officially started.

I spent the majority of my Sunday (after the Tigers game, of course) at Yost Ice Arena. Gotta say, the renovations make the historic building look that much better; I was very impressed with the lighting inside the arena. It was worth the trip – here’s our photo galleries and recaps of the Blue/White Alumni Game and Skate with the Wolverines event, and the Griffins’ 4-2 win over the Lake Erie Monsters that followed.

The Spartans, meanwhile, kick off their season tonight (I’m driving up in a few hours). Get ready for the game with our season preview from media day, where Tom Anastos said it would be a “baptism by fire” for his young team.

We fired up our Michi-gamer feature for another season today. Happy to announce that Bauer Hockey is the title sponsor for our daily feature highlighting the Mitten’s best. First nod goes to Chad Billins, find out why right here.

Michigan native Drew Miller is off to play hockey…in Scotland, of all places. Henrik Zetterberg is keeping it a bit more conventional, and playing for a Swiss team.

 

This training camp video from the Griffins is awesome, check it out.

Ilya Bryzgalov is sharing his latest theories on the world (humongous big, right?), this time saying that Russian players might not come back to North America after the lockout has concluded. Doubtful, in my opinion – the best players want to play in the best league.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg captain Andrew Ladd has changed his mind, and won’t be heading to Russia at all.

Sidney Crosby says he’s holding out hope that the two sides of the lockout staring contest can work it out, or that somebody will finally blink. I’m paraphrasing here, by the way.

The intro video for the Muskegon Lumberjacks…terrific video.

Off to Munn soon for the Spartans’ opener. Then back to Yost tomorrow. Then more Yost, and who knows. Gotta love this time of year – hockey, hockey, and more hockey.