hot topic 101

2012-02-19T19:48:00.001-05:00

Final Ship 6 BU 3

2012-02-19T19:40:00.001-05:00

Ship 5 BU 2

2012-02-19T18:50:00.001-05:00

Ship 4 BU 2

2012-02-19T18:25:00.001-05:00

Ship leads 3 2

2012-02-19T18:03:00.001-05:00

Ship 2 BU 2

2012-02-19T18:01:00.001-05:00

Ship leads 2 1

2012-02-19T18:00:00.001-05:00

Ship leads 2 0

2012-02-19T17:39:00.001-05:00

Ship leads 1 0

2012-02-19T17:00:00.001-05:00

Ship vs Bloomsburg puck drop at 5 15

2012-02-13T07:02:00.001-05:00

Ship hockey playoffs this weekend...

College Ice Hockey Frozen Four

2012-02-11T07:08:00.003-05:00

NCAA Men's Ice Hockey

As we near the end of another college ice hockey season, I am reminded of some great seasons in the past and am excited to watch the frozen four.

If I mentioned phrases like March madness or final four, the immediate thought for many men and women basketball fans would be the division I college basketball championships that are played every March and April. Since I am not a basketball fan, until March, I thought I would parallel the division I and division III ice hockey championships called the frozen four.

Like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball final four, the ice hockey frozen four is played in the March and April time frame for the season that ends in February. The semi-finals and finals of the hockey tournament became known as the frozen four in 1999.

This article will give you the background and the detail that you need to follow the season which begins in September and concludes with the post season tournament in March. If you cannot remember all the detail, do not worry because you are welcome to return here for a refresher :)

NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Structure

Before I get into the frozen four it is important to understand how the NCAA is structured between divisions and conferences. Unlike the NFL where you have the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC) with appropriate divisions below each conference, college ice hockey exists with divisions first then conferences below each division.

Division I

The division I schools are the big powerhouse colleges and universities across the nation as sanctioned by the NCAA. This group of colleges typically has the most enrolled students, larger budgets, better facilities and offer financial aid in terms of scholarship awards.

Division II

Up until 1999 there was an officially NCAA sponsored division II but post season tournament play in the frozen four was suspended due to lack of support. At that time, any college or university that participated in the division II was divided to play up in division I or play down in division III.

Division III

The division III colleges are the smaller schools which do not offer any type of scholarship awards for the athletic programs and generally attract local athletes. Enrollment for DIII can range from 500 students to 20,000 students.

NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

Tournament play for post season ice hockey began in 1948 with four teams and has grown as noted below.

Division I

Each year sixteen teams from each of the six conferences in division I compete in a yearly post season single elimination tournament that gets played in four regional areas across the united states. The winners of each of the conference championships receive an automatic bid into the tournament while the selection committee awards the additional teams based on competition and anticipated match ups. A single regional area is selected prior to the start of each season to host the semi-finals and final game in the tournament.

Division III

Since there are additional conferences in division III than in division I, the tournament section process is a bit different. Past tournaments included twelve teams representing ten conferences champions plus two additional teams. The teams for division III also play in regional areas but the locations may be different than the division I counterpart.

NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Frozen Four

The semi-final and final game of the post season tournament are the final two games and therefore are known as the frozen four. This is true for both division I and division III.

College Club Ice Hockey and Levels of Ice Hockey

As you can imagine not all colleges and universities can be sanctioned by the NCAA for division I or division III. The schools that elect to bypass the NCAA, due to strict rules and high budget requirements, offer competitive ice hockey in what is know as club hockey. Club hockey is played in three divisions and the quality of play can be as good as NCAA. The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is the keeper of club hockey in the United States.

The ACHA, in its 20th year for 2011, also has post season tournament play simply called the Men's (D1 or D2 or D3) or Women's (D1 or D2) National Tournament.

To play college club ice hockey is an honor by itself because it is the next level up from travel ice hockey. Travel ice hockey is typically more disciplined, skilled and structured than most high school varsity teams. To give you an idea where college ice hockey falls in the hockey Zamboni trail (little hockey humor) see the levels below (listed from highest to lowest).

AHL (triple A of hockey)
ECHL (double A of hockey)
International or Olympic ice hockey (unless played by pros)
Junior ice hockey - further broken down to Junior A, Junior B, Junior C
College ice hockey (NCAA - Divisions DI, DIII)
College ice hockey (ACHA - Divisions D1, D2, D3)
Midget hockey - also known as travel 18U depending on age and skill
High school hockey - Varsity triple A, double A, A
Midget hockey - also known as travel 16U depending on age and skill
High school hockey - Junior Varsity double A, A, B
Bantam hockey
Pee-wee hockey
Squirt hockey
Mite hockey

Travel Ice Hockey and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

2012-02-08T17:26:00.005-05:00

Glaciers - Silver Sticks - Eastern, PA

This ice hockey tournament is local and typically attracts teams from all over the country. The teams that register are required to register for the level that their team plays in their league. For example - Our team for this tournament was considered Bantam "B" so we entered the Bantam "B" level.

Not all teams were as honest as we saw our first year in travel hockey attending our first tournament. Our team faced one Bantam "B" team and two Bantam "AA" team - W-0, L-3

Raiders - Thanksgiving Day - Rochester, NY

This was one of the most exciting tournaments we entered because we knew we were going to play at least one Canadian team. You have not challenged your team until you have played a Canadian ice hockey team. We entered the tournament as a Midget Minor "A" team and played other Midget "A" teams.

As we drove to Rochester, NY during Thanksgiving break (we ate first) it snowed on the way to upstate NY - It was very exciting! Hockey and snow? Could there be a better combination?

Our first game during this tournament was against a Canadian team which we tied. We were off to a great start and my son had a goal in this game. Our next two games we lost (one with seconds left in the game) but we did not mind as this was the first real traveling we did for travel hockey. A bunch of us even went to Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester for dinner and had a fantastic time. W-0, L-2, T-1

Raiders - Martin Luther King - Bowie, MD

Being a Midget Minor "A" team we knew that we were a middle of the pack team and never had high expectations of the team. All the parents got along well as did the kids playing together so there was never an issue of going to a tournament.

Anyway, we drove down to Maryland during the MLK holiday and began play in the tournament. We played our first game against a much bigger Midget "A" team and we thought we were going to get crushed. To our surprise we won the game and my son had two goals. We won our next game and found ourselves with two wins. Our third game was unbelievable as we had the opportunity to play in an outdoor rink. Wow was it cold. We wound up winning that outdoor game and had one game to play - the Championship game. It was the Old York Raiders vs. Raleigh Storm. It was not an easy game but we won - Champions of our first travel tournament and we were so proud of the boys. W-4, L-0, T-0

Wildcats - Thanksgiving Day - Eastern, PA

Although we found ourselves playing with a different travel hockey team, we were now playing on a Midget Major "A" team and had two tournaments already with this team. As we did not win any games in either of the first two tournaments, we began to see this team building character and really playing team hockey.

So with a Turkey leg in hand, we began another Thanksgiving holiday break traveling for ice hockey and drove about one hour west to plays other Midget "A" teams. This tournament we had the distinct pleasure of bringing our godson with us to watch his cousin play ice hockey and score a goal. We did manage to get away with a win, in this tournament, but enjoyed the company of family. W-1, L-3, T-0

Wildcats - St. Patrick's Day - Northern, WV

I can tell you now that driving down to West Virginia was difficult at best. We got caught on Route 13 in Delaware and screamed the entire length of this slow, one lane road that seemed to be 1000 miles long.

Eventually, we made it to West Virgina as we drove over a 20 mile bridge. It was an amazing drive over the water and we highly recommend that you take this trip at least once.

While our Midget "A" team played some fantastic hockey they fell short in the championship game because they had given everything they had in the semi-final game just hours before.

Recapping the tournament...

The tournament appeared to be normal Midget hockey and we wound up splitting the first two games. It was game two where we really began to see what our son was made of. During game two while he played wing, he was on several odd man rushes heading towards the goal with the center. Each time he and his teammate had a 2 on 1 opportunity vs. the goalie it resulted in missed shots (all taken from the center without a single pass to his wing man). Following that game I had never seen my son so angry at the game and lack of team play. When it came time to play the semi-final game my son had elevated his game, scored two goals and put his team into the championship game. That game was our championship game as the team played like we never had seen. Unfortunately, the team used all their energy and fell short in the championship game played only two hours after the semi-final game. W-2, L-2, T-1

Joss Stone vs Rihanna Music Showdown

2012-02-01T04:44:00.010-05:00

Jazzy vs Shawty

Quite honestly, the Urban dictionary defines shawty as a fine ass woman. This definition is the bases for this article as I compare many aspects of two female singers and their different singing styles. I heard the word shawty used in one of the songs from one of these artists and just had to look up the meaning. I found a good explanation from the Urban online dictionary.

I swept my music collection and picked out my two favorite women artists that I feel best fits the description of shawty and came up with the foxy English Joss Stone and sexy Barbados Rihanna (who uses the term shawty in at least one of her songs).

When I completed my research, I was amazed how close these artists actually are in many different ways. Take a look below and decide for yourself which singer should win this showdown. At the end of each category, I display my vote.

Joss Stone vs. Rihanna - google images

Joss Stone from England
joss stone - a sexy female music artist
Rihanna from Barbados
rihanna - a hot female music artist

winner - It only took the first page of google images, that appear from the links above, for me to decide the winner of this category. I saw many different types of images of Joss with many different hair colors and I saw many images of Rihanna with many different hair styles. All factors considered in the pictures I saw, hair color alone gives Joss Stone the win here.

Joss Stone vs. Rihanna - birth country winner

Joss Stone was born Joscelyn Eve Stoker on April 11, 1987 in England. At the time of writing, Joss is 24 years old.

Rihanna was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988 in Barbados. At the time of writing, Rihanna is 23 years old.

winner - On one hand I vote for the English born Joss Stone since I was also born in April and I enjoy the English born Bass Ale (on draft). One the other hand I vote for the Barbados born Rihanna since my wife was also born in February. My experience in life with these situations indicate that this is a tie.

Joss Stone vs. Rihanna - album, cd, mp3 winner

Only the first five studio albums released were compared. download Joss Stone (click blue for Rhapsody MP3 from any of the first five albums)

2003 - The Soul Sessions
2004 - Mind, Body, Soul - First single released "You Had Me"
2007 - Introducing Joss Stone
2009 - Colour Me Free
2011 - LP1

Only the first five studio albums released were compared. download Rihanna (click blue for Rhapsody MP3 from any of the first five albums)

2005 - Music of The Sun - First single released "Pon De Replay"
2006 - A Girl Like Me
2007 - Good Girl Gone Bad
2009 - Rated R
2010 - Loud

winner - I have listened to all of the songs from both artists and I have to say this is an extremely difficult choice since Joss reaches me with her music and Rihanna turns every song into gold. Although I have every single released by Joss Stone, I have to go with Rihanna as she has the most US number one hits that I like. Both artists have a very good song in their first single released.

Joss Stone vs. Rihanna - grammy award winner

Joss Stone (grammy wins listed below)

2006 - Best R&B Performance by Duo or group - Family Affair

Rihanna (grammy wins listed below)

2007 - Best Rap Song Collaboration - Umbrella with Jay-Z
2009 - Best Rap Song Collaboration - Run This Town with Jay-Z/Kanye West
2010 - Best Dance Recording - Only Girl In the World
2011 - Best Rap Song Collaboration - All of the Lights with Kanye West

winner - I have to say that this one is a flat out tie and I think both artists should have more grammy awards than they actually have. Both artists sing in different music categories and this appeals to me since I like all types of music.

Joss Stone vs. Rihanna - website winner

Joss Stone

tabs presented on the website - news, tour, photos, store, blog

Rihanna

tabs presented on the website - news, video, images, music, shop

winner - Since I am a technology professional, I did not vote in this category due to my lack of technology knowledge in website architecture but I have navigated through both websites and feel they are professional and represent the character of each artist.

Conclusion

I have performed searches in google and found some great pictures of both artists, listened to all their music that I own, have read all the detail on both artists, researched the many music websites I have compared music statistics on both artists, have visited the websites of each artist and I have concluded the following:

both artists have had extremely bad hair days
both artists have either a body piecing or tattoo
both artists sing in different music categories
both artists have released at least five albums
both artists have at least one dvd
both artists exist on my PSP mp3 player
both artists are foxy and sexy
both artists have been featured with another artist
both artists have had an alum peak at number two in the US
both artists have had red hair or have appeared as a redhead

winner - Based on the tie score of one win each, I am forced to break the tie. I have to say that the grammy showdown award goes to Joss Stone who emerges with an edge in images, song content and powerful voice in her songs. Please take the poll to decide the best female artist in this music shawty showdown. I would like to see a duet or concert with both artists but will settle for a blu-ray high definition video of each singer.

winner - Stone

Kate Beckinsale vs Rachel Weisz Movie Showdown

2012-01-06T03:26:00.014-05:00

Hot Mummy vs Sexy Vampire

Monsters are typically the main attraction in horror or science fiction movies or stories. There have been some famous monsters over the many years but none more popular, in my opinion, than the Mummy (undead monster) and the Vampire (mythical monster). Perhaps all the undead and mythological monsters live on monster street in cougar town where they can do the monster mash :)

I enjoy the entertainment in mummy and vampire movies and have especially enjoyed the Hollywood version of the movies I present in this article. The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), Underworld (2003) and Underworld Evolution (2006) both have great action monster story lines and both have great leading lady actresses that are worthy of a deeper look or should I say worthy of a showdown.

In anticipation of the next installment of Underworld, I compare two of the most visually delightful monster movie actresses with the third release of The Mummy and Underworld and present my vote on the winner of this showdown.

I recently purchased the third Mummy and the third Underworld movies, on DVD, for about $10.00 US dollars. I was not crazy about watching them, based on the previews I saw, but the price was right so into the cart they went.

I like movies that entertain me and I especially enjoy movies that continue their story line for each installment (such as Kill Bill series, Bourne series, The Matrix, Pirates series or Spiderman). Although I do not usually provide a review on the movies I watch, I felt that these two movies deserved a review because they are the third movies in the trilogy and pertained to two sexy actresses.

So what do The Mummy and Underworld have in common? A cat - one has a cat fight and one wears a cat suit :)

Mummy 3 and Underworld 3

NO Weisz in The Mummy 3, NO Beckinsale in Underworld 3, NO Compare

How can the third sequence of a series have been made without the same leading cast that made the epic hits?

When I first saw the movie trailer for each film, I was excited to see more detail because I enjoyed watching the first two of each series. As I began to read reviews and dug into the film detail, I realized that these two movies were not going to be the same caliber which made them famous. Perhaps it was the acting or the lack of main characters from the previous installments, but these two movies will stand out in my mind as underachievers at best. Although I really enjoyed the first two of each set, I did not like the third in each set.

OK, truthfully I can see how Underworld 3 did not include Kate Beckinsale since the movie was intended to be told before her time but she could have been brought in at the end to link all the stories together. As for The Mummy 3, it did not even follow the theme of the first two, let alone include Rachel Weisz.

Beckinsale vs Weisz - google images

winner images - It only took the first page of google images, that appear from the links above, for me to decide the winner of this category. I saw many different types of action shots, bikini pictures, close ups, movie stills and raw beauty of both actresses but a vampire latex catsuit beat a lady mummy wearing minimal loin cloth any day so the winner here goes to Beckinsale.

winner movies - I do not necessarily think that oscar count is an indication of a better actress and I do like the top grossing movies of each actress but Weisz has done a good job in the comic book adaptation movie Constantine and therefore is the winner here.

winner overall - I have performed searches in google and found some great pictures of both actresses, watched the trilogy of The Mummy and Underoworld, read the content on many websites, watched youtube movie clips on cat fights and catsuits and stumbled on many favorites on stumbleupon. I present some facts, on each actress, before I declare a winner:

Beckinsale was born in England
Weisz was born in England
Beckinsale is 37 at the time of writing
Weisz is 41 at the time of writing
Beckinsale has been acting since 1991
Weisz has been acting since 1993
Beckinsale has played a vampire in a monster movie
Weisz has played in a mummy monster movie
Beckinsale looks sexy in a catsuit
Weisz looks sexy in a cat fight
Beckinsale has done eighteen movies
Weisz has done twenty three movies
Beckinsale has appeared in Esquire magazine
Weisz has appeared in Esquire magazine
Both have won Best Actress awards

Based on the tie score of one win each, I am forced to break the tie. After reviewing their career, images and movies my vote and the oscar showdown award goes to Beckinsale who emerges with a better esquire shoot. I would like to see both actresses in a mummy or vampire movie and will settle for a blu-ray high definition video of each.

winner - Beckinsale

PayPerPost

2011-12-24T06:03:00.001-05:00

You know where to go with a doubt