It seems, more and more, the business of sports is becoming public domain in recent years.  We’ve seen it first-hand here in the Boise market as the town’s minor-league baseball team, the Boise Hawks, makes an effort to get a new ballpark. 

The media has thrown around dollar figures ($25 million), locations, complications, you name it.  A couple weeks ago, one of the key figures in the ownership of the Chicago Cubs (Boise’s parent MLB organization) was in town, saying that improvements needed to be made to the team’s facility or else the Cubs would pull out. 

The owners of the Hawks, who are completely separate from the owners of the Cubs, have even whispered the dreaded “R” word – relocation. 

Maybe it’s just the way mass media is any more.  It’s such an information-hungry, fast-moving industry … maybe we’re just hearing about it more than ever.  Or perhaps I’m just more aware of it now that I work in the sports industry. 

The Montreal Expos move to Washington, DC.  The Seattle Supersonics move to Oklahoma City (don’t get me started on this).  The Atlanta Thrashers heading to Winnipeg.  The city of Los Angeles, in ways, in almost a blatant courtship to swipe someone’s NFL franchise.  Buffalo, Jacksonville, San Diego, whoever.  It seems someone is destined to move their football team to LA, it’s just a matter of who and when.  College athletics departments are changing conferences like you and I change pants. 

We see it at this level.  The Johnstown Chiefs became the Greenville Road Warriors.  The Victoria Salmon Kings withdrew from the ECHL so the franchise could join the Western Hockey League.  The Central Hockey League’s two finalists, Colorado (ECHL) and Louisiana (“gone dark”), have both left the league. 

Y’know what drives about 95 percent of it?  Money.  And I could be estimating low at 95 percent.  Because the remaining five percent links back to money quickly … for example, a better television deal which, in turn, generates more money both directly (rights fees) and indirectly (added exposure makes the product more appealing to sponsors). 

That’s the hard part for fans – they’re often the one who are held hostage by all of this. 

The WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers have come out and said they need 2,100 season ticket holders to be economically-viable.  Who gets hurt if they only reach 1,800 and move the franchise from Medicine Hat to (hypothetically) Trail, British Columbia?  Not the coach, not the players.  They just load up the equipment into a moving van and start rehearsing the cliché, “we’re so excited to be in Trail now” soundbites. 

It’s the 1,800 people who bought season tickets to support the Medicine Hat Tigers.  The kids with their foam fingers and autographed Tiger cap who have grown up watching players like Tristan King, dreaming of one day playing hockey at that level.  Those are the people who get hurt. 

And that’s the dirty underbelly being exposed.  In years past, Art Modell could back up his United moving trucks and sneak out under the cover of darkness, catching many by surprise.  Is anyone going to be the least bit surprised when (note I said “when,” not “if”) the Phoenix Coyotes finally pull up stakes and move to … well … anywhere else but Phoenix? 

Of course not.  Because the business of sports has become such big news that anyone who pays attention to the news knows that the Coyotes can’t draw flies in Glendale and can’t seem to find an owner – aside from the NHL itself – who actually wants to keep the team there. 

Who loses?  The fans.  The few that buy tickets and faithfully don the Coyotes jerseys and head to Glendale to support the team.  The worst part of it all is that they’ll have to watch (and listen to) their team is taken from them. 

The Yakima Bears, who play in the Northwest League alongside the Boise Hawks, have openly said they plan to play one more year in Yakima before they bolt town for fresh digs in Vancouver, Washington.  Talk about the ultimate in cruelty for the hard-core Bear fans in Yakima … “hey, we’re out of here just as soon as we can but, until then, please keep buying tickets and merchandise.” 

It’s not something any ownership group should aspire to do and I’m not insinuating or implying there’s anything sinister at play in Yakima.  But, when the allure of increased revenue comes calling, it happens.  It feels like the rate that it happens has increased from “occasionally” to “sometimes.”  

That’s the price of business.  And, unfortunately, the business of sports is front-page news, so we all see it coming.  We’re seeing it more.  And we’re seeing it start to hit close to home.  We just hope that the casualty of the almighty dollar isn’t the home-town Hawks.  Baseball in the summer, hockey in the winter.  Does it get better than that?

Back in 2005, when I was working as a sports reporter/anchor at KIVI-TV, I remember getting a handful of phone calls from concerned fans when the Bank of America Centre changed its name to Qwest Arena.

“So,” the calls generally began. “Where is this new arena where the hockey team will be playing?”

Fast forward to August 2011, where I figure it’s time to cut this one off before anyone asks:

We’re playing in the same building as always. Same locker rooms, same concourses, same zamboni tunnel, same address. Same great experience, brand-new name for the building that houses it.

Welcome to CenturyLink Arena Boise.

Here’s a question I have been asked – why did we change the name of the building?

Simple. CenturyLink purchased Qwest Communications. Thus, Qwest doesn’t exist any more and all the contracts and commitments that Qwest had in the community have been taken on by CenturyLink. From a business standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to pay for the naming rights to a building and leave a defunct name on the building itself.

Hence, the switch from Qwest to CenturyLink.

I know getting used to a new name can be a pain in the you-know-what. After all, I was the one who screwed it up in front of about 250 people at the re-naming luncheon on Thursday. Always a good thing to do in front of the corporate bigwhigs who flew in to be at the luncheon. Oops.

Felt so dumb that I think I apologized to everyone, including the woman running the hot dog stand on Main Street.

From the fan’s standpoint, about the only thing that will change is the logo on your tickets. Instead of the Qwest logo, it’ll be the CenturyLink logo. Virtually nothing else will change.

The way I figure it is it was time for a name change anyway. When Idaho won the Kelly Cup title in 2004, they did so on the Bank of America Centre ice. The run to the 2007 Kelly Cup included a ton of fantastic memories at Qwest Arena. So, you see … if this team wants to put its name on the ECHL’s championship cup for a third time, a venue name-change was necessary.

It wasn’t Tyler Spurgeon’s injury, it wasn’t Richard Bachman’s recall to the American Hockey League. Idaho lost the 2010 Kelly Cup finals against Cincinnati because the name of the arena hadn’t been updated.

Now that we’ve rectified that mistake, we can move on to filling the roster and gearing up for the inevitable third ECHL title. More news on players coming soon as head coach Hardy Sauter gets his squad set for the upcoming season.

Opening night is October 14 in Utah. Home-opener is Saturday night, October 15, here at Qwe … uh … CenturyLink Arena Boise!

I’ll give Steelheads head coach Hardy Sauter credit … he certainly has a sense of humor.

A little over six months ago, an opposing player’s last name had the home team’s play-by-play broadcaster so flummoxed that he resorted to identifying him only as “Lewis” and repeatedly apologizing to the family of the player if they happened to be listening to the broadcast online.

Tuesday, the home team traded for that player. That leaves the broadcaster (me) in the awkward position of having to get the player’s last name correct for 72 games this coming season instead of a mere handful of contests.

(*sigh*)

To be fair, I think I did a pretty decent job with Aaron Lewadniuk’s last name (loo-WAD-nee-uk) the rest of the season. But that first night … February 1 at Qwest Arena … was ugly. He was known as everything from Aaron Loodnuk to Lawidnuk to Lieuwendyk (not to be confused with Joe NIEUWENDYK, the general manager of the Dallas Stars) and, eventually, Lewis.

Lewadniuk assisted on Ontario’s only goal that night and was all over the ice, so I had many, many chances to bludgeon his name. I didn’t miss a-one of ‘em, either. If I even saw the puck trickling toward number 20 in a Reign jersey, I started to get the cold sweats.

I actually toyed with the idea of calling him CJ Stretch, another Ontario forward, every time because his name was simpler. And hey – we’re on the radio. Who is gonna know? Well, the people watching online via the America One Network would know. But, that way, only PART of my audience would think I was a moron, instead of everyone as they listened to me stammer through Le … Lew … Lewahhh … Lewi …. Lewadniuk’s name every time he skated the puck into the offensive zone.

What made it all the worse for me is my last name – Hoenike. Hen-uh-key. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue the first time you see it, so I’m sensitive to killing names. Ontario doesn’t travel a broadcaster, so I didn’t have the luxury of asking the Voice of the Reign because … well … they don’t have one.

Left me on my own and I did a poor job that night. When I heard that Coach Sauter had pulled off a trade with Ontario, I was praying it’d be anyone but Lewadniuk. Not because he’s a bad player … he’s pretty good, scoring a goal and adding three assists against Idaho last season for a team that didn’t score a whole lot … but because I didn’t want to have to run the risk of introducing myself as the guy who didn’t have a clue how to say his last name.

As for the trade itself, I think it’s a great trade for both sides. Geoff Irwin, without question, is one of my all-time favorites. I absolutely love the way he plays and he’s genuinely a good kid. That gets thrown around a lot, but let me tell you a quick anecdote to back up my claim.

Last February, the team volunteered at the Freedom Resource Center, handing out food to needy people in Canyon County. It was a breezy, chilly day at the Idaho Center and the distribution line was outside. As players started to leave, I was in charge of getting their jerseys back. They all returned promptly and orderly, except for Irwin – because he stayed. On his own, without being asked to do so.

“There are still people in line,” he told me when I told him he didn’t have to stay.

Sauter and previous coach Derek Laxdal put a premium on character people in the locker room and, in my opinion, Geoff Irwin is a poster child for a high-character kid who happens to be a dang good hockey player.

Geoff Irwin is a good hockey player. Aaron Lewadniuk is a good hockey player. You don’t score 52 goals in two seasons in the Western Hockey League (and 17 more in Ontario last season) without sorta knowing what you’re doing on the ice. It’s tough to lose Geoff, but we’ll still get to see him a few times this coming season (Ontario’s first trip to Boise is January 6 and 7) … and, as the old adage goes, you’ve got to give up something of value to get something of value.

Even if the value comes with a name that gives the home team’s broadcaster a case of the yips.

There are buzz words, catch phrases, that get really hot at times.

From the whole Charlie Sheen “winning” absurdity to Homer Simpson’s “d’oh,” a lot of them originate in pop culture. Others originate from day-to-day life. Prior to September of 2001, the letters “W,” “M,” and “D” in succession didn’t mean much to anyone (unless you’re one of those morbid types who was in a Walter Mondale Death Pool). These days, WMD is pretty much its own word, despite defying virtually every rule of grammar and phonics.

When I was growing up, it was Attention Deficit Disorder.

WILL: “Hey doc, I’ve got this nasty bruise on my ankle.”
DOCTOR: “It’s Attention Deficit Disorder.”
WILL: “Uh, what?”
DOCTOR: “Just trust me. Take this Ritalin and it’ll go away.”

Both my nephew and brother have been diagnosed with forms of ADD and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Personally, I don’t buy it. I think I’m just so uninteresting to talk to that they have to find something else to do to keep from dying of boredom.

One of the hot-button buzz words right now, especially in athletics, is “concussion.” Just ask Steelhead athletic trainer Jason Switzer. He had to say that word more than he cared to last season. Rather than run down the list of people who dealt with concussions (or concussion symptoms), it’s probably easier to go down the list of those who didn’t. Let’s see … um … I didn’t. I’ve had a bunch in my life, though. Once concussed myself mowing the front lawn, but we don’t need to talk about that any more because it’s rather embarrassing. It’s not like that post just suddenly appeared in front of the house.

Let’s just say it was an issue last season. It ended Matt McKnight’s season. A couple years ago, rookie forward Jimmy Kerr had to retire after being on the receiving end of a vicious hit to his nugget. Goaltender John Daigneau was never quite the same after suffering a concussion during a wild line brawl in Phoenix.

You don’t mess around with brain injuries. You just don’t. Brains are fairly hard to live without. No matter what fans think of some ECHL officials, I’m willing to bet a lot of money that they all physically have functioning brains inside of their skulls.

John Heska, a college professor in Kamloops, British Columbia, had an opinion piece last week in the Kamloops Globe and Mail newspaper dealing with the topic of blows to the head in hockey. In short, he wants them gone. His premise is simple:

“While the NHL has been a leader in concussion management after a player has been injured, it has been painfully slow to implement changes that would reduce brain injuries in the first place.”

He theorizes (and I tend to agree) that the lower rungs of the ladder will fall in line with the top:

“The NHL’s influence on youth hockey is unmistakable, and kids will mimic what’s modeled.”

As will the assorted minor leagues across North America.

Taking a zero-tolerance policy on head shots (akin to the NFL) won’t, in and of itself, rid hockey of concussions entirely. It will, however, reduce them. Empirical data is pretty clear in demonstrating the following equation:

Less Concussions = Good for Sport

So, while it may lead to fewer “oooohhhhhh” hits showing up on SportsCenter, it’ll also lead to fewer players like Jimmy Kerr, who saw his professional career ended after seven games. Seven. Being physical doesn’t mean “aim for his earhole.” You can be strong, aggressive, and physical without taking out a guy’s teeth with your shoulder.

Do it, NHL. Do it, professional hockey. Draw a line in the sand. Be a good ambassador for growth in the sport. Help make it a safer game to play.

You can probably chalk this one up – at least partially – to my self-professed hockey naivete.

Hockey Prospectus came out with its first-ever organizational “prospect” rankings this past week, ranking the Dallas Stars 28th out of 30 NHL teams in terms of its prospects.

Essentially, Hockey Prospectus doesn’t appear willing to part with much of its paycheck at the betting window based on the caliber of kids who aren’t yet on Dallas’s roster.

And, since Idaho is Dallas’s ECHL affiliate, that caught my attention.

So I decided to scroll through the players that H.P. (not Hewlett Packard) tabbed as Dallas’s top ten prospects.

Forward Reilly Smith, who just completed his sophomore season at Miami of Ohio, was tops on the list. He was followed by Scott Glennie, the team’s top draft pick in 2009. Jamieson Oleksiak, this year’s top selection, is number three, followed by Philip Larsen, Alex Chiasson, and Brenden Dillon at 4-5-6. Seventh is goaltender Jack Campbell, Dallas’s top pick in 2010, eighth is defenseman Patrik Nemeth. Colton Sceviour is ninth and John Klingberg is tenth.

Two things jumped out to me – (1) No former Steelheads on the list, and (2) No Tyler Beskorowany (which is technically covered by no. 1, but I felt it warranted its own notation). Let’s address them in reverse order.

First, former Steelheads’ goaltender Tyler Beskorowany’s omission from the list. “Besko,” Dallas’s second-round pick in 2008, split the 2010-11 season between the ECHL and the AHL, his first season as a professional. He has prototypical goaltender size (a legit 6-foot-5) and came out of a strong junior-hockey league in the Ontario Hockey League.

Um, pardon me for asking, what else could he have done to warrant inclusion? He absolutely dominated the ECHL level – one Western Conference coach voted Beskorowany as the league’s MVP despite the fact he only played 20 games at this level – with a .928 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average. He played 18 games in the American Hockey League, which is the highest level of minor-league hockey in North America, and cooled all the way down to a .921 save percentage and 2.58 goals-against average. If he had played enough games, he would have been tops in the ECHL in save percentage and top-ten in the AHL. He was selected for the ECHL All-Star team and was named the ECHL’s goaltender of the month in January. He pitched a shutout in his first professional start with the Steelheads and later had an AHL shutout as well.

PS – he’s 20 years old. Twenty.

In a system that, according to Hockey Prospectus, is weaker than the quality of professional baseball in Tibet, a player with those credentials can’t even crack the top ten?

Color me confused.

So let’s take a closer look at the ten players Hockey Prospectus selected. Above and beyond the “no Steelheads” thing, which shouldn’t come as a great shock (I’ll explain why in a moment), one key thing caught my attention – six of the ten aren’t even in the Stars minor-league system yet, and don’t figure to be this coming hockey season. Smith, Oleksiak, Campbell, Chiasson, Nemeth, and Klingberg all appear to be slated to play in college, juniors, or overseas.

Translation: of the ten, only four are actually available to the parent club at this point.

That could either be a really good or really bad thing, depending on your point of view. If your glass is half-empty, you’re asking “are the guys we have really so bad that players who aren’t even pros yet already grading out as better players?” If your glass is half-full, you say “when these players start joining the Stars organization in the next year or two, the mother ship could be primed for a MAJOR jump in the standings.”

There are arguments on both sides and I’m not a scout, so I’ll leave that debate alone. It isn’t uncommon for teams to draft players and then follow them through juniors or college – like the Stars did with Beskorowany – you just hope they grow and develop at a good pace so they can hit the ground running when they get into your system.

It shouldn’t be a great surprise that no Steelheads made the list. Generally-speaking, the best prospects bypass the ECHL level altogether. It’s not a universal truth (see: Beskorowany, Tyler), but teams usually send their top prospects either straight to the NHL or to the AHL. Players assigned to the ECHL usually come her e to improve elements of their game. The Stars knew Tristan King could score, but they wanted him to become a better two-way player. Next stop, Idaho.

Highly-touted goaltenders can see time at this level (see: Beskorowany, Tyler) because there are a limited number of goaltender spots available in any given system. Two in Dallas, two in Texas, and two in Idaho. So, in Dallas’s case, you have Kari Lehtonen signed to a big deal with the parent club, a solid young goaltender in Richard Bachman in Texas, and you want to get Beskorowany on the ice. He’s young, you want him to play. Next stop (at least for 20 games), Idaho. If Brent Krahn could have stayed healthy in the AHL, it would have been longer.

Speaking of Bachman, was he not included in H.P.’s list because he’s 5-foot-10? Sooner or later, someone is going to realize that the dude just stops pucks. Isn’t that what you want a goalie of any height to do?

Anyway, the players who come to Idaho are developmental players. They’re players with specific skills that need to be polished. So they’ll sometimes be overlooked next to the shinier, glitzier top picks that head straight to the AHL. Does that mean Matt Tassone has no chance to play in the NHL? Absolutely not. It just means his ladder is one rung taller than some other players.

After all, the Steelheads have seen more than 15 move on from Idaho to the National Hockey League. At some point, prospect list or no prospect list, Beskorowany will add to the number of alums to pull on an NHL sweater.

So take the list for what it is … a list. It makes for fun conversation and a lot of “what if’s,” but players aren’t promoted or demoted based on their ranking on Hockey Prospectus.

Which NHL prospects will be assigned to the Idaho Steelheads this coming season? Find out starting on October 15 in downtown Boise as Idaho plays its home opener against the Utah Grizzlies. Ticket packages begin at just $275 per seat for all 36 home games – call 108.383.0080 and ask to speak to an account executive to make sure you have your tickets!

I don’t know about you but, for me, this part of the off-season is equal parts blissful and maddening.

Blissful because Boise is absolutely beautiful in the summer.  Especially summers (like this one) where the Big Fella upstairs seems content to keep temperatures under 105.  Looks like a good weekend to go hang out at Mores Creek.

That’s the bliss.

The agony is waiting to get back into the swing of things for hockey.  The ice isn’t in at the arena … and won’t be until mid or late September … and there are no players milling about.  No school visits, no pre-game press kits to put together.  No Bud Light Idaho Steelheads hockey show on KTIK with myself and John Mulhern.  No Barb, the team’s travel coordinator, counting out per diem money for the upcoming road trips.

That’s not to say we’re not hard at work up here.  Season 15 of professional hockey in the Gem State begins on October 14 when the Steelheads travel to West Valley, Utah, to take on the Utah Grizzlies.  Home opener the next night here in downtown Boise.  Promotions to plan, Season Tickets to sell.  Lots to do.

Thankfully, that includes some player signings.  In the past few days, we’ve learned that Chris Hepp will be returning this fall along with rookie forward Eric Rex.  Wonder if Canisius College used Wreckx-n-Effect as his official goal song.  Rump Shaker or New Jack Swing.  Maybe the Land of the Lost theme song or something.  I vow to do the T-Rex dance every time he tallies, which will make Jessica Flynn at Red Sky Public Relations very happy.

Anyway, seven guys have locked down their spots in training camp.  Should be announcing an eighth soon (when it comes to announcements like that, I’m the guy who is *nudge* on the case *wink*), so keep your eyes on IdahoSteelheads.com to read all about it.

It’s fun to see the puzzle pieces start to fall into place.  It’s fun to read about players and daydream about what they might be able to do on the ice once they pull on a Steelheads’ sweater.

But I can assure you this – there will be someone who comes out of nowhere to surprise us this season … unless you do what the media sometimes does and pretty much list everyone on Earth as a candidate to be the next Boise State head coach, just so they can break out the “as we first told you” line when the hire is announced.

(I can make that joke and get away with it since … well … I used to be one of the guilty parties back in my TV days at KIVI-TV)

Think about training camp in 2009.  The Steelheads had the Captain, Marty Flichel.  Mark Derlago had made the move from Bakersfield to Boise.  Ashton Rome had joined the team and AHL-caliber players like Tyler Spurgeon and Mark McCutcheon had signed contracts.  There was also this little rookie out of Cornell that no one knew much about.  Played with some spunk, seemed to be around the puck a lot.

His name was Evan Barlow.

Seventy-five points and an All-Star Game MVP later, we were all well-acquainted with Evan.  A year later, there are a lot of people out there who know him as one of the premier scorers in AA hockey after he has put up almost 160 points in around 120 ECHL games (regular season and playoffs).

Now think about 2010’s training camp.  Derlago was back, Flichel was still here, Matt McKnight was back, playoff hero John-Scott Dickson was headed to town, and fellow All-Star John Swanson returned as well.  We were waiting on immigration papers for Aki Seitsonen so he could also join the squad.

When we discussed the scorers for the team, Kael Mouillierat’s name rarely, if ever, came up.  All-Star, All-Rookie Team, point-a-game guy.  It didn’t take long for him to establish himself as a primary scoring threat for the Steelheads.

So … who will it be this year?  Rex?  Maybe Chad Nehring blows up in his first full professional season after getting a taste of the pro life in Idaho this past spring.  Maybe it’s someone whose name we haven’t even heard yet.

Maybe that’s part of the bliss of this time of year as well.  Everyone is knocking on greatness’s door.  All they need is the opportunity.

Be there to find out who it is … full-season ticket packages start at just $275 per seat.  Partial plans can be had for as little as $279.  Give us a call and sign up now so you can tell your friends that you were there when …

Ahhhh, summer.  At last, you’ve arrived.  Time to get outside and do stuff because, you know, once winter hits, it’s time to go inside and watch the Idaho Steelheads.

So I am.  Went to the 4^th of July parade in downtown Boise, where I found a hole to my liking and used it to re-sprain my ankle (they keep telling me the swelling will go down, but mine actually seems to be going up … I don’t do anything conventionally).  Friends from across the state line in Nyssa, Oregon, are driving into town Friday so we can go to the Boise Hawks baseball game.  And next week, it’s home to Spokane to be the best man in my baby brother’s wedding.

To be fair, calling him “baby brother” is a bit of a misnomer.  Though he is younger than me, he makes me look like a Kenyan distance runner when we stand side-by-side.  He played a little pro football, slugging it out in the trenches, before he decided it was more fun to just stand around and intimidate the heck out of people without doing a thing.  Being 6-foot-6 and about 340 pounds has that effect.

As best man, I get to give a toast.  I’ve thought of a couple good anecdotes to tell and my only goal is to be funnier than the maid of honor.

We’re hopeful that the Steelheads will get married this year as well.  Married to their favorite friend, Kelly.  You know, the sterling silver piece of the Cup family.  I’ve already called dibs on the best-man speech.  It’ll go a little like this …

“Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for joining us here … what a happy day.  Kelly, back where she belongs, with the Idaho Steelheads.

(wait for gratuitous applause)

(get impatient if it doesn’t come)

What a ride it has been through the years.  Evan Barlow’s crossword puzzles, Chris Hepp losing ‘Moustache Boy’ a team-record 49 consecutive times, Bryan McGregor anointing himself the ‘B-Mac-Thrilla,’ Steve Oleksy’s weird hats.  Tom Wandell having to be told after a game that he scored a goal.  Andy Pate’s historic one-save performance.  Doug Plagens’ obsession with the fish tacos in Victoria.

(pause for polite laughter)

Lotta good stuff.  Evan winning ECHL All-Star MVP, Matt Climie winning games for Idaho in the ECHL and Dallas in the NHL … in the same week.  Mark Derlago setting single-season scoring records.  Twice.  Marty Flichel being named to the ECHL All-Decade team.  Derek Laxdal, Coach of the Year.  Guys being named All-ECHL and All-Rookie.  Leading the league in points in 2009-10.

Of course, not everything is perfect.  You guys remember James McEwan trying to climb out of the penalty box here in Boise during the final game in Phoenix Roadrunners history?  Thank goodness the referee got a hold of him or else I might have had to actually go down there and do something.

(another pause for polite laughter, but expecting a little bit more laughter than last time, so you better come through for me)

We’ve lost some friends along the way.  Christian Friberg, Barry Potomski, some of our favorite fans, too.  We all wish they could be here with us to share this moment and, of course, we’re thinking of them as we celebrate the Idaho Steelheads and the Kelly Cup.

This is a good match, the Steelheads and the Cup.  A lot of people have worked hard and invested a lot of time and emotion, hoping this would happen.

So this is all of our moment.  Raise your glasses and share a toast with me.  To the Idaho Steelheads … and the Kelly Cup.

Cheers.”

It can happen.  The work is already taking place.  RSVP your spot at the table by calling the Steelheads front office (208.383.0080) and making sure you have your ticket package for the coming season … opens on October 14 in Utah, with the home opener October 15 here in Boise against the Grizzlies.

See you at the arena!

NHL free agency is underway. Unrestricted free agents from east to west and points unknown are putting their names on the dotted lines for various teams.

One of the biggest fish out there to be snared – former Dallas forward Brad Richards.

The guy has been linked to more teams than former big-league pitcher Mike Morgan, who pitched for 12 teams in a career that seemed to last longer than the Holy Roman Empire did.

One of the teams said to be seeking Richards’ service is the Buffalo Sabres. The team’s owner has two teenaged daughters, one of whom set the city off by tweeting (what else), “So no Richards.”

Town goes ballistic, thinking they’ve missed out on the high-scoring centerman. Radio phone lines lit up because the owner’s daughter took to the Twitter airwaves. We’re talking big-time crisis in Buffalo.

Shortly thereafter, the post is deleted and the 16-year-old puts out another tweet, claiming the previous tweet regarding Richards was, in fact, a “butt-tweet.”

Upon hearing this story from Boise’s resident Sabres expert, Steelheads account executive Mike Brady, my first thought was, “her butt has phenomenal typing skills.” Not a single typo from that posterior. Could your butt do the same?

The ECHL has also started moving into free-agent phase, with a couple of players already signing for teams in the east and, Friday, the league announcing each team’s qualifying offers.

Maybe we can get this girl to butt-tweet “So no McKnight” to see if we can get the same reaction in Boise.

Head coach Hardy Sauter made qualifying offers to seven players – essentially retaining their ECHL rights for the upcoming season: forwards Kael Mouillierat and Geoff Irwin along with defensemen Chris Hepp, Cody Lampl, Matt Case, Steve Oleksy, and Dustin Friesen.

Don’t read too much into who is and isn’t qualified. For instance, former head coach Derek Laxdal extended a qualifying offer to forward Ashton Rome last summer, knowing full well Rome had already signed a contract with an American Hockey League team. Yet he didn’t qualify the organization’s all-time scoring leader, Marty Flichel.

Reasoning is simple: Laxdal knew that Flichel, should he opt to play in the ECHL (which he did), would sign with the Steelheads, so he didn’t spend a qualifying offer. However, the coach wanted to protect Rome’s rights in case the AHL deal didn’t work out. The Steelheads would have had first crack at Rome at the ECHL level – to either bring him back to Boise or to swap those rights to another team.

So, while it is interesting to note that Sauter used five of his seven qualifying contract offers on defensemen, I advise you against over-thinking which players were and weren’t qualified. Sure, he’d like these seven guys on the team again next season. He sees a value in them as players. That’s why he gave them qualifying offers. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t value others who wore the Idaho sweater this past season.

For Sauter, now the fun really begins. He’ll work with the players that he offered qualifying contracts to, talk to other ECHL players who weren’t qualified by their respective teams, and search the hockey world for fresh faces to fill out his training camp roster. It’s hard to get more than three minutes of his time before his cell phone rings as interest in playing in Boise remains high.

If you haven’t been, it’s time to start checking IdahoSteelheads.com on a regular basis again as player signings start to leak out.

One I can assure you we won’t be announcing – Brad Richards. We couldn’t fit him under the ECHL salary cap. Well, not unless we wanted to have a one-man roster. Odds are stacked against a team that plays one-on-twenty every night.

One more assurance before I sign off – exactly zero percent of this post was butt-blogged. Rest easy, Steelhead fans, and start getting pumped up. October isn’t that far away.

When you are recovering from a sprained ankle (don’t ask), you wind up on the couch, ice on your foot, with a lot of time to think about completely pointless things.

One such pointless topic floated through my mind recently as I watched ESPN’s “SportsCenter” talk about the recent spate of trades featuring quality NHL players like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Devin Setoguchi.

The thought – Thank God that kind of stuff doesn’t happen in every-day life.

“Shocking news out of the Albertson’s on Federal Way tonight,” the news report begins. “Kara Schirado, a long-time employee, has been traded to Paul’s Market in Homedale for a weekend stock clerk to be named later and unnamed future considerations.”

That, pardon the language, would suck.  Not that there is anything wrong with Paul’s Market (I know the Zatica family, they’re great people), Homedale (home of the mighty Trojans, where you don’t just play the team, you play the whole town), or Kara (seriously, I wouldn’t accept anything less than a bakery assistant manager for her).  Just the notion of having your whole life turned upside down like that at a moment’s notice with virtually no input and/or warning.

Think back to the 2009-2010 season.  January.  Defensemen Brendan Milnamow and Matt Sorteberg meet me at my then-house in southeast Boise to shoot a promotional spot to run on the video wall at Qwest Arena.  Brendan gets to take a running shot at Ivan, one of our old sales executives, while Matt and former head coach Derek Laxdal give you some tips on the kinds of things you can put in your blue cart.  You know the one, you’ve seen it ten times.  At least.

We shoot the spot, have a blast, and head on about our day.

Next morning, Brendan and Matt arrive as usual for a pre-game skate before a game against the Utah Grizzlies.  Matt is summoned into Laxdal’s office and promptly thanked for his service, told to clean out his locker and head down the hall.

He’d been traded.  To Utah along with fellow defenseman Kyle Radke in exchange for Dustin Friesen.

That night, I stood with Matt up in the Sport Zone as his promotional spot about smart recycling … the one we had shot the day before, prominently featuring Matt in the Steelheads jersey he would never wear again … aired on the video wall for the first time.

“My lasting legacy,” he said with a laugh.

He also told me about an expensive plane ticket he was going to have to scrap.  Y’see, Idaho’s schedule had a nice, big gap in it, allowing Matt to book travel back home to appear at his school’s “Alumni Weekend” function.  Problem, though, is that Utah didn’t have the same gap and he’d be heading out of town with the Grizz after the game.  So much for that trip home.

No warning, no chance to prepare.  Just grab your stuff and go.

Imagine that’s you.  You’ve moved across the country to chase your dreams.  You’ve found a town and a team you enjoy.  Then, one day, without any notion that it’s coming, you’re told you have to go.

And it isn’t just going away.  It’s not like you’ve been cut and, thus, still have some control over your future.  You’re being told where you have to go to continue your career.  You have to go to another city that you don’t get to choose.

No thanks.

It’s one of the big downsides of being a professional athlete.  There are a lot of perks, a lot of benefits.  But you also become a commodity.  A moveable item.  No matter how much you like a city, no matter how happy you are on a team, a coach or general manager can see an opportunity to use you to acquire someone (or something) else.  Just like that, it’s off to … in this case … Utah.  Loading a bus with 25 guys that you don’t know.

For Matt, it worked out well.  He played in Utah again this past season and (aside from a rather grotesque injury that led to the loss of about 70 percent of his original teeth) did fantastic.  Doesn’t always work out so well.

I mean, Steelheads president Eric Trapp could trade me to Wheeling for an account executive, marketing assistant, and a case of chocolate milk.  He strengthens two departments in his front office, not to mention the bones of every non-lactose-intolerant person in the front office … meanwhile, I load up the Green Hornet (my truck) and head cross-country to call games for the Nailers.

Thankfully, those kinds of trades don’t happen … and you can’t trade injured players.  I KNEW this sprained ankle would come in handy somehow …

One of the things I like to do during the summer … well, during the season as well, but I have less time then … is surf a handful of hockey blogs to keep myself up-to-date with what is going on.

A lot of them are Dallas Stars-related, because of the affiliation partnership the Stars share with the Idaho Steelheads.

News of the Stars’ preseason slate of games started to leak on Tuesday and there was a matchup that caught my attention: the Stars will travel to Houston on September 23 to play the Phoenix Coyotes.

It’s not that uncommon for two teams to play in a third city during the preseason.

However, I think it could be deemed quite unusual for two teams to travel to a third city (Houston) to play a preseason game in a non-hockey venue (Reliant Stadium).

Yup, you read that right. Reliant Stadium. As in, the building where the NFL’s Houston Texans play their home games. The Texans, as you’d probably guess, are on the road that weekend in New Orleans (or will be, if there is actually an NFL season) (Also, I’d start Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson in that game if I were you).

Pseudo-outdoor hockey. In Houston. In September.

Um, really?

I could see that drawing attention in Toronto, Buffalo, or an equivalent “hockey” market. But Houston? In September? Can hockey be played on water skis? What do 5,000 fans in a 70,000-seat building look like? Will it matter whether or not Reliant Stadium’s retractable roof is open or closed?

I guess we’ll find out. Maybe we’ll get a guest blog from Joe O’Donnell, the former voice of the Idaho Steelheads, after the game. He lives in Houston now, calling games for the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League.

One blogger pointed out a fairly-obvious goal of this game – if they can make this game physically work (read: can they keep the ice in good enough condition to play an NHL game?) in September in southern Texas, that opens up a whole lotta possibilities for the NHL when it comes to scheduling their annual “Winter Classic.” The game won’t be confined to Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, New York, etc. It opens up the possibility of rising star Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning hosting a game at Raymond James Stadium. Maybe even the Dallas Stars – assuming they can get to a point where their performance on the ice catches NBC’s attention – hosting a game at Cowboys Stadium.

In effect, this game could be nothing more than an unofficial dress rehearsal of an outdoor game in a warm-weather climate. But with roster spots on the line.

As for this preseason game, it would be kinda cool to tune into that game and see Matt Climie in net for Phoenix with Richard Bachman in net for the Dallas Stars. I just hope they’re not required to wear water wings to participate.