Ty Conklin vs. Jussi Markkanen!

Of course, I'm not talking about who will start in goal for Edmonton tonight; I'm referring to the American Hockey Fan's annual "silliest sounding name competition."

It just worked out that those two ended up head-to-head today.

Weird coincidence, no?

I think Conklin's in the lead for now, based on the funny K sound, and my tremendously scientific assertion that he's the only guy in the NHL whose name can be most accurately pronounced by a goose. Plus, I don't know that much about Finns. For all I know, "Markkanen" is about as exotic over there as "Smith."

Regardless, perhaps I should hold off, as I've repeatedly stated in the past, making predictions is for chumps.

Or chimps , as it were.

And no, I'm not talking about Barry Melrose, who picked Dallas to win it all, by the way.

I'll go with the monkey, thank you very much.

But as we go into game 2, with the whole series seemingly swinging on the goaltending issue in Edmonton, something that is completely in the hands of the coach, I say the best thing to do is sit back and enjoy the little details that make our game so unique.

Like this gem of a video that my buddy Jack hipped me too. He got it off of Deadspin , I think- it's made the rounds, but if you haven't seen it, it's worth a look and a listen if you're not someplace where rampant homophobia, foul language and inappropriate use of the term "tit-fucker" is frowned upon. You know, like work, or Brian Bellows' house. Seriously, fair warning- it's dirty, and I've already watched it about 25 times.

Still, I wish I had the tape of the dive that inspired this:



At any rate, yeah- Jack's a Buffalo fan, and a good egg.

He had this to say to me in the email where he sent me the link, and it’s pretty much all the hockey analysis you need. I’ll give him the last word:


Hey Ritch,

Here's the link to the Google Video…If you have another party for the game, definitely let me know. I can't believe Roloson's out. I hate Brindamour and his big stupid face so much.

-Jack