Maybe I'm figuring this picks thing out? After a dreadful start with my weekly Thursday night predictions, I've put together back-to-back strong showings. Last night, I correctly called eight of the nine games. My only loss came via shootout in Columbus. (Does that make me 8-0-1?) I knew I was crazy to take the slumping Hitchcocks.
Unfortunately, the holiday schedule will put me on the sidelines next week. There are no games next Thursday, Christmas Eve. I hit that break just as I was heating up. That's just not right. Your fearless prognosticator will return to take a crack at an 11-game slate on New Year's Eve.
That's still a ways off, though. Let me get back into the here and now. Today, in this week's Five for Friday, I'll ponder a who, a what, a where, a when and a why as we glide into a mid-December weekend.
To find out the likely destination for the Canadian outdoor game, and why the Rangers have yet to fire GM Glen Sather, you must be an ESPN Insider.
E.J. Hradek
Senior Writer, ESPN The MagazineABOUT THIS BLOG
E.J. Hradek
E.J. Hradek is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine, joining the staff prior to its launch in 1998. He began covering hockey as a writer/editor for Hockey Illustrated in 1989. The following year, he beat the Stars to Dallas (by three years), taking over as the editor of Beckett Hockey Monthly. When the Stars finally did arrive in Big D, he hosted a weekly hockey radio show and tried (unsuccessfully) to convert ESPN's Skip Bayless to the greatest game on ice.
In 1996, Hradek left Dallas, but not the Stars. Relocating back to the New York area, he became a part-time pro scout for the club, seeing more than 100 NHL/AHL games for each of the next two seasons. The scouting gig was a great learning experience, offering a different view of the game.
Hradek grew up in Tuckahoe, N.Y., about a 40-minute train ride from New York City. Despite the proximity to the Rangers, Hradek embraced the Islanders when the expansion franchise debuted in 1972. Eight years later, he was part of the sellout crowd at the Nassau Coliseum that witnessed the Islanders' first Stanley Cup championship.
