By now, I'm sure everyone has heard of those garden gnome pranks where you steal a gnome from an unsuspecting garden-owner and send it on a trip around the world. Passing it along to other friends and taking pictures of the gnome at famous landmarks.
What we at The 6th Sens are asking you to do is take our website logo below:
And take pictures of the logo at some significant landmarks from wherever you're at. If you're from out of town, no worries, the same thing will apply to wherever you're from. If you're in Toronto and want to take a picture of the logo in front of the ACC, go nuts. If you take the picture of the logo in front of some structure/building that we might not recognize, please write up a brief writeup for why it's significant.
This Garden Gnome contest will run for the duration of the first week and we'll reward points as follows:
- 1 point for one picture.
- 3 points for two pictures
- 5 points for three pictures
Also, as the pictures are submitted, we'll publish them on the website. Have fun with it and get creative.
While you're busy creating a Twitter account or spamming some forum (or both) as part of the first challenge of our Jared Cowen autographed jersey t-shirt contest, I'd encourage you to listen to the latest episode of our podcast.
Joining us on this week's podcast was The Ottawa Citizen's Ken Warren.
As always, you can subscribe/download/stream the episode or entire catalogue of episodes from Itunes. Or you can download the file by right-clicking and saving this file. Or you can simply stream the episode below. We hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions or comments about the podcast, please leave us some feedback in the comment thread below. Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoy the show.
Here's the tracklisting for the episode: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Beat the Devil's Tattoo; Ted Leo and The Pharmacists Woke Up Near Chelsea; Fang Island Daisy; and Dead to Me Ran That Scam.
To clarify. Yes, you can do both options and we will reward you with a point for each successive option. All I ask is that you email the website with the URL of the message board thread or link if you choose to do option 2.
Again, here are the options available to you readers:
2) Once you have created your account, follow us on Twitter by going to The 6th Sens Twitter page and clicking on the follow button. (If you already have a Twitter account and are following this site's Twitter, proceed to step 3.)
3) Send us a Tweet (message) saying something about the jersey contest. Include your first name and last initial so that I can keep a tally of your points.
Option 2:
1) If you're a member of any Hockey related messageboard, post a thread or a message on that board and plug this contest.
2) Once this has been done, send us the link to the post/thread in an email. You can email us at the6thsens at live dot com.
A few weeks ago on one of the podcasts, Tim and I mentioned that we would be running a contest here at the website. Well, the day has come. We were due for a contest so here are the glorious details:
Each day for the next two weeks, will feature a challenge.
Each day's challenge will have a varying degree of difficulty of 1, 3, or 5 points.
The more intensive the challenge, the more points that you would receive upon the challenge's completion.
At the end of the two weeks, whomever has the most accrued points, wins.
In the event that more than one person has the most number of points at the conclusion of the two weeks, there will be a tie-breaker. (Tim and I will discuss this and come up with some reasonable conclusion.)
By now you're probably wondering what it is that you would be competing for. Here it is -- an autographed Jared Cowen Spokane Chiefs Jersey T-shirt. (The size of the shirt is a large.)
Here is the first challenge and there are two choices and each is worth a point:
2) Once you have created your account, follow us on Twitter by going to The 6th Sens Twitter page and clicking on the follow button. (If you already have a Twitter account and are following this site's Twitter, proceed to step 3.)
3) Send us a Tweet (message) saying something about the jersey contest. Include your first name and last initial so that I can keep a tally of your points.
Option 2:
1) If you're a member of any Hockey related messageboard, post a thread or a message on that board and plug this contest.
2) Once this has been done, send us the link to the post/thread in an email. You can email us at the6thsens at live dot com.
After my last Roman Wick article, I know there was still some confusion as to why Wick was still Ottawa Senators property. To help alleviate this confusion, I've corresponded with Jay Grossman who explained the situation as:
Without looking at the specifics of Wick’s case, this would be logical since the NHL has taken the position that any player that has been drafted from a Euro country that does not have a transfer agreement with the league (currently only the Finns do, but the Swedes are to follow shortly, confidentially) would be qualified for defected status under the rules of the old CBA, effectively giving clubs rights in perpetuity to those players, subject to an offer sheet (you may remember this happened years ago when Teemu Selanne received an offer sheet the Jets matched on his first contract).
Hopefully this alleviates any questions that you readers have.
With a podcast to prep for on this Thursday afternoon, here's a consortium of links to satiate your appetite for Senators news:
Hockey Capital: After watching today's episode of Hockey Central featuring Ottawa's Assistant GM, Tim Murray, James Gordon chimed in with his thoughts on the unmitigated disaster that has been Pascal Leclaire's 2009-10 season and included this exchange between Tim Murray and Hockey Central's host Doug MacLean...(Ed. note: Thanks to Bruce Garrioch via Off the Posts, here's an audio link to the interview.
MacLean: "So, what the hell have you guys done to Pascal Leclaire?"
Murray: "It's been bad, Doug, right off the bat. I agree. I think we're all to blame...him, us, everybody. It's been terrible. It's been a terrible situation...
A terrible situation and a terrible cap hit. (Un?)Fortunately, a positive has come out of Leclaire's situation -- With more ice time, Brian Elliott's development at the NHL level has mirrored his play in the minors. He just keeps getting better with each progressive season.
"It was as bad as you could ever feel for someone and their family," MacLean said. "I didn't know Brittanie, but she sort of became a part of us. Nothing, including getting fired, could compare to what we went through with that."
I seriously hope that getting fired and immediately getting scooped up by a television network doesn't compare to the death of a Blue Jackets fan.
Ken Warren: In one of the Citizen's featured sports stories, Warren looks into Bryan Murray's philosophy that he needed a tougher team to compete in the playoffs and raises a lot of questions regarding how well suited this team is for playoff success. It's a good read and it should translate itself into a good interview because Warren will be our guest on the next episode of The 6th Sens Podcast.
Two wins have taken some of the pressure off, but many questions remain. Who will replace the offence lost by the knee injury to Milan Michalek? Will the weak power play ever produce? Will Alex Kovalev wake up from his post-Olympic slumber? Will Brian Elliott be able to maintain steady goaltending into the playoffs? Will a more physical Senators squad be able to compete against loaded offensive teams such as the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins?
Don Brennan: Good ol' Don takes a gander at Ottawa's recent success against the Buffalo Sabres and champions Ottawa's penalty killing units. With a 7-point lead and two games in hand against the Senators, Ottawa needs to beat Buffalo to have any chance at staking any claim in the Northeast Division crown. Imagine that Ottawa could somehow cut the difference down to 1-point by their final April 10th game against the Sabres in Ottawa. You couldn't write a better script for the end of the regular season, not only would the fans be celebrating Alfie's 1000th game, home ice advantage would be at stake. It would make for a surreal atmosphere at SBP.
Sens Chirp & Ottawa's Consensus: Both respective blogs detail the cases for Andy Sutton vs Anton Volchenkov contract negotiations this summer. Speaking of Volchenkov, Eklund threw fiscal sanity out the window and forecasted a 5 year, 28 million dollar free agent signing with the Red Wings for the Senators' blueliner.
Five For Smiting: Bloguin brethren and a personal favorite of mine, FFS has nailed it in his most recent article. Never has Get the hell off my team, you fucking floater been so eloquently used.
Black Aces: Jeremy Milks examines the new intercounty baseball team has adopted the traditional civic colours of black and red, and seemingly upstaged the Senators by using a stylized "O "logo very reminiscent of the shoulder patches the Sens currently wear. The highlight of Milks' piece came in the comment thread where one reader compares the Fat Cats cats-eye logo to a vagina and Milks responded with the very brief, .....uh... I didn't want to say it... but...
I concur with the Black Aces take on the Senators uniforms. The current uniforms are ugly, bland and failed as a modern revision to what was otherwise a respectable logo. Why the organization didn't go with the image below, I'll never know.
After my last Roman Wick article, I know there was still some confusion as to why Wick was still Ottawa Senators property. To help alleviate this confusion, I've corresponded with Jay Grossman who explained the situation as:
Without looking at the specifics of Wick’s case, this would be logical since the NHL has taken the position that any player that has been drafted from a Euro country that does not have a transfer agreement with the league (currently only the Finns do, but the Swedes are to follow shortly, confidentially) would be qualified for defected status under the rules of the old CBA, effectively giving clubs rights in perpetuity to those players, subject to an offer sheet (you may remember this happened years ago when Teemu Selanne received an offer sheet the Jets matched on his first contract).
Hopefully this alleviates any questions that you readers have.
With all due respect to tonight's ongoing action between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators, the most interesting thing to come out of tonight's game was a detail slipped by Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino during the second period intermission.
And please note that I'm paraphrasing this...
Cosentino spoke with Tim Murray about possibility that Roman Wick, a 24-year old draft pick from 2004, will partake in next fall's training camp to try and earn a spot on the Senators.
While he was drafted by Ottawa in the fifth round, 146th overall, Wick will be recognized by most hockey fans for his performance in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where he notched 2 goals and 3 assists in 5 games for the Swiss. Besides his strong showings against the vaunted Canadian and American teams, the combination of Wick's size (6'1", 195 lbs), speed and offensive awareness raised some eyebrows. (Ed. note: In Pierre McGuire's case, it raised something else.)
Consentino's comments definitely piqued my interest. I had always assumed that as a 2004 draft pick, Wick's rights had expired and he was no longer exclusive property of the Senators. According to USA Today's NHL Free Agency Primer, Wick would qualify as a restricted free under two circumstances:
Restricted free agents - Group IV: Players who have never signed a contract, are considered "defected" and whose club retains the right to match due to the club making a qualifying offer; or
Restricted free agents - IPE: Players with insufficient professional experience to qualify for free agency but have received qualifying offers from their clubs, who retain their exclusive rights.
I tried rummaging through the NHL's CBA for some more clarity. Since Wick will have played three professional seasons overseas, I don't that he fits the criteria for the IPE qualification for restricted free agency. Instead, Wick must be a defected restricted free agent. As long as he's exclusive property and isn't defective, that's all that matters. (Ed. note: If you want to read up on Wick's numbers, you can click here.)
For a franchise that is completely devoid of offensive prospects who could foreseeably make the jump and have an impact within the next year or two, it's fantastic news to hear that a guy like Wick may be coming to camp to earn a job. (Ed. note: Yes, even if it means more Pierre giddiness between the benches.)
After a battery of tests and a MRI, it's been confirmed that Milan Michalek has some structural damage to his knee that may not require surgery. He's scheduled to miss one to two weeks rehabilitating the knee and if it doesn't respond well to treatment, surgery may be nessary.
This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I suggested that Michalek and Jason Spezza be split apart on the team's top line.
Ottawa Senators (37-30-5) Vs Montreal Canadiens (36-29-7) @ 7:30pm, Bell Centre Television: Sportsnet
Including tonight's game, there are ten games left on the schedule. And depending on your perspective, it's plenty of time to turn things around or piss away a playoff position. According to Sports Club Stats, Ottawa still has an 89.6-percent chance to make the playoffs -- a number that still seems favorably high when you consider that the ninth place Thrashers are only 4 points back of the 5th place Senators.
What bodes well for Ottawa is that the Thrashers are the only team on the outside of the current Eastern Conference playoff picture who could conceivably catch the Senators and usurp them from the playoff picture. That doesn't mean Ottawa's comfortable with their recent plight.
A few days after Bryan Murray came out and indicated that the team's fortune was strictly in the hands of the players, with a 1-7-1 record in their last 9 games, it now seems as though management's looking for any kind of spark and has taken matters into its own hands.
Originally, I had assumed that Smith was recalled as a prospective replacement for the injured Milan Michalek, but that's not the case. To make room for Smith on the roster, Ryan Shannon has been scratched from tonight's game. Consequently, it begs the question, if Smith's recall can't inspire the Senators, where does the team go from here?
If the answer turns out to be Mike Brodeur, then I may consider alcohol as a viable coping mechanism.
This Senators team is more overrated and confusing than a season 6 episode of Lost. For a team whose confidence is as fragile as Ottawa, it will be interesting to see how they respond to the urgency of playing for sole possession of 5th place in the Eastern Conference.
Here are the lines for tonight's game:
Cullen-Spezza-Alfredsson
Foligno-Fisher-Kovalev
Ruutu-Kelly-Neil
Smith-Regin-Winchester
Brian Elliott gets the start while Filip Kuba will miss tonight's action because of some undisclosed injury.
Michalek's Injury
According to Sportsnet, the leg injury that Milan Michalek suffered when he collided with a goal post in Atlanta, may be worse than originally expected. Michalek will undergo a MRI and further tests on his knee sometime this afternoon.
Leclaire Vs Elliott
Watching the Senators goaltending situation unfold reminds me a lot of the Senators 2007-08 season. Like Ray Emery, Pascal Leclaire has been given every opportunity to reclaim his job but has failed miserably to re-assert himself as the number one guy. Admittedly, Cory Clouston has said that the goaltender debate is drawing to a conclusion...
"We're going to have to have one guy, I'm not going to say carry the whole rest of the load, but one guy is definitely going to have to step up."
Melnyk Cashes His Chips In
Since November 24th, 2009, The Euge has sold his 9,635,800 shares in BioVail, the pharmaceutical company that generated his fortune. So for those keeping track at home, Melnyk can sell high on the BioVail stock, but Sens management still doesn't understand the premise of selling high on some of its players.
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 