Congrats to the Anaheim Ducks, 2006-07 Stanley Cup Champions. This falls on the heels of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the cup. Big wins for expansion clubs. I have a theory about Stanley Cup Championship cities. These cities often produce USA Hockey Peewee National Champions about 6-8 years after the Stanley Cup win. Why, because all kinds of kids and parents age 4-6 get caught up in the excitement, get involved, and carry on the dream. For hockey to be strong in this country, we need competitive teams to come out of places like Florida, Texas, California and the Carolinas. I'm glad to see California's first Stanley Cup win.

Did you notice they like to talk about the farm kids made good. Travis Moen is a Saskatchewan. I can't remember if they wanted to credit the Niedermayers success to being raised on a farm too, but they talked about it. While being raised on a farm might in theory help (it's got to hurt on the financial side of things), I like the Saskatchewan thing. I heard recently that Saskatchewan produces more NHLers per capita than any other state/province. With a population right at a million, they claim a few dozen NHLers. For some reason I like that statistic.

While I'm on the subject of Canada, it's now been 14 years since the Stanley Cup Champions called Canada home. Since the Montreal Canadians won the Cup in the 92-93 season, the Red Wings and Devils have each three times, the Avalanche won it a couple, and Anaheim, Carolina, Tampa, Dallas and New York have all claimed it for a year. I'm actually beginning to wish a Canadian team would win it. The home of hockey should win the cup every decade or so...

Did you see that the news about the possible move of the Nashville Predators to Southwest Ontario? While I can see that the Predators might not be as successful as they can/should be, I'm not sure that SW Ontario is a going to be fertile ground for corporate sponsorship. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd also like to see the strong tradition of Junior hockey continue to thrive in the area. An NHL club could jeopardize some of the OHL teams in the area. In any event, I wish Mr. Balsillie, co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM) based out of Waterloo, Ontario, the best of luck regardless of where his new team plays.

On a different note, a number of you have been asking about what are plans are for the 2007-08 season. First, we will be expanding into Midgets. You can stop sending those emails! Midgets will happen. Secondly, there is likely to be some geographic expansion to MYHockey. This expansion, however, definitely be driven by volunteers. If you are interested in seeing Minnesota, the western provinces, Quebec or the Maritime provinces represented in MYHockey, I need volunteers to help. Expanding takes quite a bit of work to set up all the leagues and clubs. This will only be done in areas where people are willing to help with the entry of game scores. The squeeky wheel will definitely get the grease. Time for you to squeek!