Nice to be missed…

Yeesh, take a few days to get back on the horse, and the “where are you”s start! What’s Anon 12:17 gonna do when I go on vacation? (Hi, buddy!!!)

Ump: As I go to bed Thursday, I’ve not heard/seen anything concrete about Collins signing in Germany. Wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve ever heard, though. Will keep you posted. (You keep me posted?) (We’ll have other stuff to talk about soon.)

A note in a Larry Brooks story the other day sparked a thought: Nolan Pratt was 0-9-9 in 82 games for the Lightning; Harlan Pratt was 0-15-15 in 70 for Bridgeport and Springfield. Has a set of brothers ever played more professional games in a season without scoring a goal? (Tack on 12 playoff games if you’re so inclined.) I’m not interested enough to do the research, but…

A co-worker (name withheld) has been singing the Danbury “Hell on Ice” jingle around the office the past couple of nights. He’ll be hearing it for a while if the Evil Empire keeps this up. As Brian writes, Game 4 is tonight, and Game 5 is Saturday, 7:30 both nights, in downtown Danbury. If you go, say hi to Steve Feldman for me. And if you don’t mind, I’m just gonna call Muskegon the Lumberjacks, OK?

Lotsa neat Dennis Bonvie stuff here from Jonathan Bombulie after one of two stunning sweeps this week.

So the national team moves on to Round 2 at the Worlds. It’s Finland today, Latvia Saturday and Czech Tuesday. Russia won Thursday, but Alexander Kharitonov is expected out for the tournament. Kharitonov, you’ll be excused if you don’t remember, was one of the most electric Sound Tigers in five years. Unfortunately, he played only two games, both on the road, in the sweater on his conditioning assignment…

Michael Fornabaio