Dave:
Dave founded Blue Seat in December 2008, pretty much at the whim of a friend (thanks Becky) and some severe boredom during the winter months. That’s probably not the best way to start a blog, but hey, it worked. As Blue Seat grew, Dave was asked to contribute to Puck Prospectus, and was the lead hockey writer on Stalking Steve Phillips (RIP). In addition to Blue Seat, Dave contributes on a regular basis to Blueshirt Banter.

Dave can be reached via email here, or via Twitter here.

Jeremy:
Jeremy joined Blue Seat Blogs before the 2009-2010 season. Jeremy is a veteran blogger, whose works have been published in numerous popular publications, such as the Chicago Sun-Times and AOL. In addition, Jeremy has been featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter. Along with Blue Seat Blogs, Jeremy writes for The Blog of Champions, a sports and political blog, and is the site editor of GiantsGab, one of the foremost New York Giants blog.

Jeremy can be reached via email here, or via Twitter here.

Jurgenno88:

Jurgenno88 – Christian – joined Blue Seat Blogs in the 2009-10 season. A rookie blogger based in the UK, Christian was a main writer for UK Sports website nasports.co.uk as well publishing on several German football websites and writing in MMA publications. A huge fan of the Giants, Rangers and Knicks, Christian jumped at the chance of joining Blue Seat Blogs and is part of a new website focusing on New York sports – from a UK perspective - beginning in August.

Chris/Jurgenno88 (Confuses himself sometimes!) can be reached via email here, or via Twitter here.

Stas / Mike Axisa:

Every now and then, you will see a post by Stas. Stas helped get the site off the ground in the beginning. A hefty work schedule limits his posting, but you will see a few posts from him occasionally.

Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues also posts occasionally. Mike also helped get the blog off the ground in the beginning, posting several links from RAB. As you can imagine, Mike is very busy running the best Yankees blog out there, but he will generally post big news when Jeremy, Jurgenno, or myself are unavailable.

Update: I also took the Sanguinetti watch down (thanks Heath). No point in having that one up anymore.

Update 6:15pm: Don’t forget to check out jurgenno’s take on coach John Tortorella’s exit interview below.

For the rest of you who will be attending the viewing, or for some reason have a 3D TV (Buy me one? Please?), it will definitely be an interesting experience. I don’t think it’s going to be anything outlandish, where a slap shot seemingly comes at your head, but I would think it’s something comparable to the movie Avatar (in which Sean Avery delivered his best acting performance of all time). It will be a subtle 3D, which is probably perfect for a hockey game. Can you imagaine how much flinching there would be if a Zdeno Chara slapshot seemingly comes right at your face?

I kind of wish I could attend the viewing, it would be something worth the $20, just to see how the technology works. But hey, I’m a little geeky, so I’m probably the only one who would be interested in that. If you are going tot the viewing, drop me an email. We definitely want to know how it was.

FORMER YANKEE/YES NETWORK ANALYST JOHN FLAHERTY AND FORMER RANGER/MSG NETWORK-1050 ESPN ANALYST DAVE MALONEY TO BE HONORED AT HALLIGAN-MCGUIRE IRISH AMERICAN SPORTS GOOD GUY AWARDS LUNCHEON ON MONDAY, MARCH 15, AT GALLAGHER’S STEAK HOUSE TO BENEFIT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY FEATURING IRISH CULINARY DELIGHTS

***REMEMBERING TWO IRISH-AMERICAN SPORTS LEGENDS IN NY
DICK MCGUIRE AND JOHN HALLIGAN

New York, March 1—Two beloved New York sports figures of Irish American heritage who recently passed away will be remembered at a St. Patrick’s week benefit luncheon. On Monday afternoon, March 15, at 12:00 noon at Gallagher’s Steak House in New York City, Dick McGuire, the legendary St. John’s and New York Knicks star and NBA Hall of Famer, and John Halligan, the Rangers and NHL public relations executive, historian and author, will be honored with the creation of the “Halligan-McGuire Irish American Sports Good Guy Awards.” Teri McGuire, Dick’s loving wife of 54 years; John Flaherty, former Yankee and YES Network analyst; Janet Halligan, John’s loving wife of 41 years; and Dave Maloney, the former Ranger/MSG Network-1050 ESPN Radio Broadcaster, will be the inaugural honorees at the luncheon to benefit Fordham University.

Tickets are priced at $75, and include a three course luncheon menu and a donation. For information and tickets call Cirillo World at 212-972-5337 or email johnnycigarpr@aol.com. Gallagher’s Steak House is located at 228 West 52nd Street (between Broadway and Eighth Avenue) in New York City (212.245.5336).

A native of Bergenfield, NJ, and a longtime resident of Franklin Lakes, Halligan began his career in the Rangers publicity office in 1963, upon graduation from Fordham University. Over the next 20 years his role expanded to include vice president of communications and business manager. Halligan left the Rangers for a public relations position with the NHL in 1983, before returning to the Rangers in 1986. He went back to the NHL in 1990 before retiring in 2006. He wrote several books, including “100 Ranger Greats: Superstars, Unsung Heroes and Colorful Characters” and “Game of My Life: New York Rangers.

An Ode to a Perfect Game: 1991 NCAA College Hockey Final, Northern Michigan 8, Boston University 7 – 3 OT

The phrase “best game of all time” is a loaded, debatable, and exhaustive topic, full of heated arguments and empty threats to other people’s well-being. Not being a big person, I don’t take the phrase lightly.

If I had to put my ass on the line, though, I would say that the 1991 NCAA Final between the Wildcats and Terriers should go down as the best game ever played. Let me air my bias…growing up in the sticks introduced me to the value of VHS and HBO (there were later revelations but we won’t go there), in particular because my parents liked to tape random things and never tape over them. This included the Tom Hanks classic The Money Pit (put it on your list of 100 movies to see before you die), Elvis Stojko nailing a quadruple axle (I once thought he and Elvis Grbac were the same person), and the music video for Snow’s “Informer” (I like to think I half-“sticks”, half-“street”). There was also a tired old JVC of NCAA college hockey finals, including the 1991 game. I may have watched it two hundred times, though it was abbreviated because it was a replay of the game.

What parts were abbreviated? Only two of the overtimes…what a bunch of assholes…

When I started making money, I launched a crusade to find a full version, which took me to the Upper Peninsula and back with no luck. Finally, a couple of years ago NCAA On-Demand starting releasing DVD’s of championship games, and I got the whole thing in my grubby hands.

I proceeded to watch a masterpiece.

At the beginning of the game, you had the usual banter about the big players, including Scott Beattie of NMU who would be screwed out of two consecutive Hobey Bakers despite putting up 163 points over two seasons and 86 games. The Wildcats also featured the dynamic Dallas Drake, Jim Hiller, Brad Werenka, Mark Beaufait (who would go on the terrorize the IHL on the Orlando Solar Bears and then the German league with the Berlin Polar Bears), and goaltender Bill Pye. The Terriers? Only Keith Tkachuk, Tony Amonte, Shawn McEachern, and Scott LaChance; all of them would be playing in the NHL the next year.

NMU also featured a little-known pest of a player named Darryl Plandowski, who had been told by coach Rick Comley that his assignment that day was to shadow Tony Amonte.

Guest commentator Doug Woog (I called him the Wooger, rhymes with “booger”) jokingly predicted that, with all the high-powered offense, the score could end up 8 to 7. The other commentators chuckled.

Regrettably, the St. Paul Civic Center (where the game was played) had just recently switched from completely clear boards (glass and boards, not kidding) to the usual white boards.

Boston ran away with it in the first period, jumping out to a 3-0 lead as Pye looked downright terrible. Future NHLer Ed Ronan tallied twice on either side of a Sacco goal. By the second period, though, momentum flipped in a big way, as the high-octane NMU offense shifted into overdrive and leapt ahead 7(!) to 4. Beattie had posted a stunning hat trick among 6 unanswered goals, and Plandowski scored twice. BU pulled starting goalie John Bradley in favor of Scott Cashman, who summarily stopped the bleeding.

By the final period, it appeared that NMU would coast to the finish. What they hadn’t accounted for was that the shock of the NMU attack had worn off, and Jack Parker’s team wasn’t done by a long shot. Sparked by an amazing-effort assist by Amonte (splits D, flings the puck across to McEachern while sprawling to the ice), the Terriers inched within one of the Wildcats, 6-7. At about 40 seconds left, LaChance dove and chipped a crossing pass to Sacco to tie the game. The final 40 were absolute bedlam, with chances throwing Pye and Cashman around the crease like rag dolls. With 5 second left, Amonte beat his man and went in on a breakaway. Winding up, he ripped a low wrister with one second left.

Pye somehow gloved it.

For the next two overtimes, the post would be rung no less than 5 times. Chances for both sides exhausted the D and the goalies. By the third overtime, the entire pace was weary. Then, out of nowhere, NMU weaved together passes into the Boston zone. As the Terriers’ D scrambled to shut the play down, Plandowski sent a drop-pass between his legs on an overlap with Beaufait. Beaufait took it to the right post, driving to the net and drawing the Terriers towards him. At the last second, Beaufait threw a pass back to the slot to a wide-open Plandowski who put it home.

The crowd, chock-full of Michiganders, erupted. With the camera focused on the pile-up, an NMU player did a full “wild man” in front of the camera.

It had all the elements: an underdog upset, major lead changes, pivotal goals, flashy goals, and an unlikely hero in sudden death. Altogether, it’s a must-watch for any hockey fan, though you will probably have to buy it. Either way, it’s my pick for the greatest game of all time.

Also, if you want to cover the Olympics here, shoot me an email, or leave a comment, and I’ll set you up with an account so you can login and write some posts.

In the mean time, Jeremy (and maybe Mike) will cover anything big here.