I'm getting really excited about the new site that will make it's debut this fall for the new season. I've had the banner designed for a few months and started playing around with the new name on the banner. Let me just say, it's going to be awesome! A little hint and irony, the banner will be very similar to the new CC website design, which was not at all planned (aka I didn't copy it). I had this design about a month before I saw the new CC site so this accidental similarity should work out pretty well. I'm hoping the voting will pick up and we can start to see the front-runner. Right now, my tiny summer traffic has kept the low vote total pretty close so it's wait-and-see for now. As far as the new site, Google/Blogger have added some sweet new features that I'll be implementing on the site. I could add them on this one now but I'm going to try as hard as I can to hold off and keep them for the new site. One of the new features will be a blogroll with live update RSS feeds below the link, making it easier to see what the other teams and their bloggers are up to. Speaking of blogroll, apparently this blog isn't worthy of the new Gayzette blogroll. No surprise there, considering how I like to spell the paper ;). Skae, on the forums, looked into the matter and I have yet to get a response, haha. Anyway, enough of that. Hope summer is going well for everyone and be sure to check out my political blog I've started!
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Opinion: Sertich always concerned with the big picture
By DAVID RAMSEY
Marty Sertich has the skills and the smarts to play for the Colorado Avalanche.
The question is - and always has been - if he's strong enough. The Avs obtained Sertich on June 10 from the Dallas Stars for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2009 entry draft.
Sertich, 25, stands 5-foot-8 and weighs, at best, 165 pounds, but his size, or lack of it, never has held him back.
And he's skating in a hockey era made for him. Since the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the league has been smart enough to emphasize grace over brutality.
Sertich has been sneaking through defenses and finding ways to score all through his career. He ranks among the more prolific scorers ever to play for Colorado College.
He won the 2005 Hobey Baker Award - college hockey's version of the Heisman Trophy - the same year he led CC to the Frozen Four.
He collected 52 points - 27 goals and 25 assists - last season for the Iowa Stars of the American Hockey League.
Sure, he doesn't look like a dominating player, but he is one. Substance always trumps appearance.
Sertich is smart enough to refuse to rest on his past. He's working this summer at his home in Roseville, Minn., trying to add might and bulk to his still-thin frame.
He remains hungry for more. During most of his CC career, Sertich planned to play professionally in Europe, most likely Germany, but decided to chase his life-long goal following graduation.
He wants - he's always wanted - to play in the NHL. When Sertich was a child, he didn't watch cartoons. He watched hockey videos.
From the time he was 5, Sertich has schemed to travel to the game's pinnacle.
"I've had a great time," Sertich said of his time in Iowa, "but my goal is to make it up there."
By up there, of course, he means a place on the Avs roster.
He has a strong chance. Sertich plays the game with the blessing of a personal radar system. No, he didn't buy it. He just has a knack for avoiding mind-altering, career-threatening hits.
Defenseman Mark Stuart played three seasons alongside Sertich at CC. Stuart now plays for the Boston Bruins.
"He's a real smart hockey player," Stuart said, "and he's shifty. First of all, he knows you're coming and, second, he can get out of your way real quick."
Sertich laughed when asked about his ability to escape. He's never, despite years of challenging a wide assortment of hockey goons, suffered a concussion.
"I don't know," he said. "I'd say about 95 percent of it is luck. Maybe I'm wearing the right kind of helmet. Obviously, I don't go out there trying to hit people."
That's because he's smart. Sertich always has been adept at delivering pain in the way that matters most. He places pucks in the back of the net.
