Jordan Leopolds Heart Warming trade

March second of this year the Columbus Blue Jackets traded defensemen Jordan Leopold to the Minnesota Wild in a heart warming trade. Leopold, a Minnesota native played for the Jackets for a while before the general manager of the Wild received a letter from Jordan's eleven year old daughter Jordyn wrote to him. After reading the letter Jordan's wife Jamie started to cry. In the letter, little Jordyn writes : ''my dad is lonely without his family'' Leopold's family lives in Minnesota a 14 hour drive from where he was playing in Columbus. His daughter definitely change that.

The letter also reads "I'm lost without my dad, so is my mom, 2 sisters and my brother." To me this is really really sad because not growing up with my dad would have completely changed who I am. I couldn't imagine never seeing my father, it must be really tough. She goes on saying "the wild haven't been wining a lot of games lately, the team needs some D", this is not only true but  funny because this young girl is practically telling the Wild's GM that his team is doing bad. This part made me laugh because it was so true.

Also, Jordyn is solely the reason why her father was traded, most fans and people that aren't even fans like to believe she convinced the Wild to get him. "Trading Jordan Leopold was about doing the right thing for a guy who was a great pro for us," the Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. "He's done everything we asked him to do the right way". Kekalainen also tweeted "it's not always just about business" with a picture of the letter from Jordyn. In my opinion, this whole story is really heart warming and the Minnesota Wild association is very classy for doing such a thing.

NHL Playoff Bracket Challenge

For many years now, the National Hockey League has started a NHL playoff bracket challenge. As a fan, you can choose what you expect to happen during the playoffs. This is a way for fans to interact with each other and have fun with making their own bracket. Also, NHL.com gives away prizes to the people with the top three brackets. The way it works is by points, if you guess the winner of a series in the first round you get ten points, if you also guess how many games out of the seven game series you get an extra 3 points.

Link to make your own bracket

If you guess the whole bracket or the closest you could win two tickets to the NHL awards in Las Vegas and a brand new Samsung S6 Edge. To the person who comes in second place, they would win a Samsung Curved SUHD 55' TV and a Samsung S6 Edge and for third place a Samsung S6 Edge. In my opinion, the winners of the bracket challenge are very lucky people because those prizes are pretty expensive for guessing a bracket for a sport.

The way the bracket works is that the eight teams from the west are on the left side and the eight from the est are on the right. The first round matches for the west are St Louis vs. Minnesota, Nashville vs. Chicago, Anaheim vs. Winnipeg, and Vancouver vs. Calgary. On the est the matches are Montreal vs. Ottawa, Tampa vs. Detroit, New York Rangers vs. Pittsburg and Washington vs. New York Islanders. In the first round yo must also pick the number of games the series will finish at out of seven games. From there you choose 4 teams that move on to the second round of the playoffs, you then pick just what team moves on the the third round and so on for the two teams that play in the finals. For the Stanley cup finals you pick how many goals will be scored in that series as well as a winner of the cup. 

In my bracket you can see I've chosen the Chicago Blackhawks to win the cup against the Tampa Bay Lightning with 19 goals scored in the series. I believe the when Kane returns for Chicago in the second round of the playoff, they'll have an unstoppable team. 

The NHL Introduces GoPro's

Recently, the National Hockey League has introduced the use of GoPros's on referee helmets. I think this is a really cool idea because fans can now watch from a camera view never used before.  As a big fan of the game, being able to watch highlights from my favourite games from the view of an official is really cool to me. Also, this can help referees make tough decisions as in if a goal counts or not. The adition of GoPro's on NHL officials could change the outcome of many games.

The players have also been enjoying themselves with this new technology. Many of the leagues best have been sent to New Jersey to have GoPro's mounted to their helmets to showcase their skills. Sidney Crosby, PK Subban,  Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Towes and more stared in the very first GoPro; On the Ice with the NHL video. From watching the video many times, I believe that the players are having a lot of fun with the GoPros. The video showcases them goofing off and laughing with trainers and other players. For me, this is fun and cool because players can have fun while demonstrating what the GoPro can do. I think that GoPro has chosen the right sport to show off their product, the angles in the videos are spot on and really show the stick handling, skating and shooting of the players. As a big fan of the game, I can learn from the videos, I can see how some of my favourite players do moves and handle the puck.
GoPro; On the Ice with the NHL video
Also, in the recent NHL Allstar game, the referees wore GoPros on their helmets for one of the first times. During the game, you could watch the view from the view of the refs. As a fan, I watched the game from an angle I've never seen it from before. I love the new technology, it makes the life of a fan a lot better. To conclude, GoPros are a really good idea to be added into the NHL.

Detroit Keeping the Playoff Streak Alive?

Will the Detroit Red Wings keep their unbelievable playoff streak of 23 straight seasons alive? With the second highest playoff streak in NHL history, the Wings could make 24 straight playoff appearances. Boston had a streak of 29 straight appearances from the 1967 season to the 1995 season. Detroit is currently at the bottom of the list of teams to make the playoffs.

Every season, 16 teams (8 from the west and 8 from the east) battle for in my opinion, the best trophy in the world of professional sports. At this moment in time, Detroit has 97 points in 6th place, but places 7 (Pittsburg), 8 (Boston) and 9 (Ottawa) are not far behind. One win can put Ottawa tied with Detroit and Boston ahead of them all. In my opinion, this is what makes the NHL playoffs so exiting. Seeing your favourite team make the playoffs is the best feeling as a fan. Detroit is currently in the wildcard position, the scariest place to be at the end of the regular season. For those who don't speak hockey terminology, the wildcard is 8th place or the last team to make the playoffs. Detroit was in this place just a few days ago but they won against Carolina to move up to 6th place.

NHL standings as of today

Being a Chicago fan, I hope Detroit doesn't make the playoffs because they could be a potential threat in the finals if both teams make it that far. In the playoffs, both teams have a pretty close record. Detroit has won the cup many more times than Chicago, being 11 to Chicago's 6. With both teams being part of the original six teams, they have a history starting back in 1917 when the league was founded. Also, with the experience of going to a Blackhawks vs. Wings game that went to shootout, and Chicago ended up losing, I think that these two teams in the finals would be a tough series.

In my opinion, the two of the best hockey players in the world play  on each team. For Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk who has two cups to his name and my personal favourite player Patrick Kane on Chicago with only one. Let's remember, Kane is only twenty-six years old and Datsyuk  is thirty-six so in Kane's defence he's a much younger player. I hope Detroit doesn't make the playoffs because they could be a potential threat to Chicago.

Patrick Kane on the left and Pavel Datsyuk on the right.