News

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Hockey Halloween Everyone!

To celebrate the UHB's first Halloween, I wanted to find an appropriate video to show our hockey fans. I found this on YouTube and thought it was perfect. It's a spoof on the "Friday the 13th" movie series and of the main horror villain, Jason Voorhees. Enjoy.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Clark, The Canadian Hockey Goalie

Meet Clark, a Canadian hockey goalie who also enjoys playing baseball in the off season. What is unusual is that he does it in his full goalie gear.

Monday, October 26, 2009

How It's Made: Goalie Masks

My favourite of the How It's Made series. Hockey goalies are often seen robbing shooters of a sure goal. It's only fitting that they should wear masks.

Part 1: Making the mask


Part 2: Painting the mask

Sunday, October 25, 2009

How It's Made: Hockey Gloves

How It's Made takes a look at the gauntlets of the hockey world. In other words, it shows us how hockey gloves are made.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

How It's Made: Hockey Rink

Cool. I knew they painted the ice, I just didn't know how. Now I do.

Friday, October 23, 2009

NHL.com and CBC Fantasy Hockey

Two more links have been added to Fantasy Resources in the sidebar. They are NHL.com and CBC Fantasy Hockey 1-on-1. Both links provide valuable insight and advice on how to manage your fantasy teams. You can even send in a question to have answered on NHL.com, which by the way, has partnered with Yahoo! Fantasy Hockey.

How It's Made: Goalie Pads

I remember when kids used Sears catalogs as leg pads when they played goalie. Part 4 of the series shows us how professional goalie pads are made.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

How It's Made: Hockey Pucks

Part 3 in the series looks at how hockey pucks are made. Rubber muffins. Just like Mom used to make!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

2009-10 Yahoo! Teams Roto

1.

Huron Pirates
Johnnyboy
2.

Don't Toews Me Bro!
Francis H
3.

Puckers
Nick
4.

cdm
Tina G
5.

the owners 33
keenan.mahoney
6.

McLoven
Kevin
7.

JoeDogg
josefvanhamme
8.

Flurries
Adam H
9.

Quahog Dice
scottyten10
10.

CareyPriceIsMyCousin
winstunt88
11.

Les Habs
LeafBasher
12.

Stars and Cowboys
potter
13.

Guelph Storm
bigmurray68
14.

Bladerunners
azac
15.

Wild about the Wild
ffootball182
16.

Houston Wild
xavierthierry31

How It's Made: Hockey Sticks

In the second video of the How It's Made series, we learn how another type of blade is made, the stick blade, along with the rest of the stick.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

2009-10 Yahoo! H2H Teams

STICKS







1.

Alberta Advantage
agoodburn






2.

Robin's Runners
Melissa






3.

Team Vector
canucks_rock16






4.

Faux Hawk Greenies
White Devil






5.

Guelph Knights
coeurnoir






6.

docs blade2
Scott






7.

Never Forget
Fredy






8.

Timmonen and Pumba
Voyager86






SKATES







9.

Wing Nutz
bowmansback






10.

Texas Tornado
Havoc Fanatic






11.

Commissioner's Crew
azac






12.

Hockey Lover
Ricardo C






13.

Halifax HC
Evan






14.

The Haie
lars_hoffman13






15.

husky
husky






16.

Puck Junkies
Anthony M







You must be a member of this league to view team links.

How It's Made: Hockey Skates

Here is the first part in a series of videos about how hockey equipment is made. Since the name of this site makes reference to blades, let's start with how hockey skates are made. Action!

Monday, October 19, 2009

UHB Champions

CHAMPIONS

2009-10
YAHOO H2H: Robin's Runners
YAHOO ROTO: Wild About the Wild
FANTRAX ROTO: raf69it

UHB History

Yahoo! H2H, 2009

Week 2: Oct12-18
  • Robin's Runners scores more SHGs (3) than two other teams combined to score PPGs (2).
  • The first pending trade in league history is made. In a blockbuster deal, Team Vector offers Pavel Datsyuk, Andrei Markov and Brad Boyes to Halifax HC for Dany Heatley and Carey Price, dropping Viktor Stalberg.

UHB Hall of Fame

 Hall of Fame

I've been kicking around the idea of having some sort of Hall of Fame for this site but I don't quite know how it would work. I don't have any idea what criteria I would use and not sure how we would go about electing members to the Hall. I suppose I could install a reader's poll, which is one of the widget options on this site but I don't think that has a way of limiting one vote per visitor. Maybe it does, I'm not sure. Maybe I should install it and run a test.

Does anyone have suggestions on what would be the best way to go about this? How would the ballot list work? What criteria would you use to elect a team or GM to a fantasy hockey hall of fame? Is this even a good idea? I would like to think it is but right now it is just a seed that needs to be watered.

In any case, a UHB Hall of Fame is still a long way off seeing as this is the first season of the league's existence. Still, I would like to hear your ideas. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Return of Peter Puck

Is it just a coincidence that Peter Puck, the cartoon character, and former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington are both back in the limelight? Pocklington's nickname at the time of the 80's powerhouse Oilers was of course, Peter Puck. Now one is once again promoting hockey while the other is promoting a book with a shocking claim.

New Peter Puck cartoons return to CBC after an absence of over a quarter century. Rights owner and former hockey broadcaster, Brian McFarlane, struck a deal with SEGAL Licensing making the company the global licensing agent for the character. McFarlane and SEGAL Licensing claim to have big plans for the "poke-check Professor," starting in Canada.

I always thought Peter Puck would be a good name for a fantasy hockey team, especially if the owner's name was Peter. I know two guys named Peter who are involved in hockey pools, and you would think one of them would have taken my suggestion. One of them has even started playing hockey in a rec league. He is Peter Puck!


Saturday, October 17, 2009

Which NHL goalie do you start?


In fantasy hockey, goalies account for a significant amount of your score even though you might only carry two of them on your team. Let's say however that you have three or even four and that you can only start two of them each night. Who do you pencil in? Sometimes you're not sure which goalies real life NHL coaches will start. They might decide to give their #1 starter the night off  for a bit of rest. You don't know for sure, do you? That is until now.

Two sites that do their best to forecast the starting goalies each night are GoaliePost.com and LeftWingLock.com. I've included both links in the sidebar under Fantasy Resources.

Last season, I used Goalie Post and I was very satisfied with it. Their accuracy rate was near perfect. It was free to use until this year when they decided to start charging $10 for a membership. That is still not a bad price considering that it might help you earn some cash winnings from your pool(s). I considered getting a membership, however I wanted to look around a bit and see if there was another service that was similar. By luck, I happened to see a link posted on Twitter pointing me to LWL. They have been around since 2006 and according to their stats, have a very high accuracy rate. So I am giving LWL a try and hopefully the results will be as satisfactory as they were with Goalie Post. After all, if you are in a head-to head league, missing a start can be devastating to your week. Don't miss another start with these two sites.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Fantasy Sports Girl: Jessi Rates NHL Goalies

I am thinking at least one team in our Yahoo! H2H league would have benefited from viewing this video ranking NHL goalies for the at-the-time upcoming season. Then again, maybe they were doing too much looking and not enough listening. If that's the case, I can understand. Jessi can have that effect.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

League Settings: Fantrax UHB (Roto)

General
  •  League Name: United Hockey Blades
  •  League Description: 4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 2G, 5BN, 3IR
  •  Public/Private League: Public
  •  Duplicate Player Allowance: Not Allowed
  •  Scoring System: Rotisserie
  •  Maximum # of teams: 16
  •  League Creator Username: azac69
  •  Commissioner Team Name: None

Schedule
  •  League Stats Begin: Thu Oct 01, 2009
  •  League Stats End: Sun Apr 11, 2010

Player Pool
  •  Player Pool: All teams
  •  Players traded out of league's player pool continue to accumulate stats: Yes

Roster  
  • Minimum Total Players: 20
  •  Maximum Total Players: 25
  •  Minimum Active Players: 0
  •  Maximum Active Players: 20
  •  Maximum Reserve Players: 5
  •  Maximum Injury Reserve Players: 3
  •  Maximum Minor League Players: Not Used
  •  Enforce legal rosters: Always
  •  Suspended players may be moved to Injured Reserve: No 
  • Injured Reserve players count toward roster limitation rules: No 


Lineups
  •  Lineup Change System: Owners enter lineup changes
  •  Lineup changes are executed: Daily
  •  Lineup Changes are locked 00:05 hours:minutes before first game of the day.

Trades
  •  Trade System: Owners propose their own trades
  •  Trading Period: All Year
  •  Maximum Trades per Team: Unlimited
  •  Trade Deadline Date: Not Used
  •  Trade Voting System: Owners & commissioner
  •  Days to Vote: 2
  •  # of Objections Required: 9

Claims/Drops
  •  Claim/Drop System: Owners perform their own claims & drops
  •  Maximum # of Claims per Season: Unlimited
  •  Maximum # of Claims per Week: Unlimited
  •  Waiver Wire Process Used: Yes

Free Agents
  •  Claim System: Free for all (1st come 1st serve)

Waiver Wire
  •  Priority Order: Reverse Order of Standings (serpentine)
  •  Claims Per Team: 1st team in priority order gets 1 player, then 2nd team, etc.
  •  Waiver Wire players are processed: After a selected # of Days
  •  Waiver Wire claims processing time: 3:00 am
  •  Players remain on Waivers for: 3 days

Draft
  •  Draft Type: Automated
  •  # of rounds: 25
  •  Draft Date & Time: Wed Sep 30 2009, 9:00PM EDT
  •  Draft Order: Serpentine - Random
  •  Undrafted players go to the: Waiver Wire

Keeper League
  • Keepers are imported from a previous league by the Commissioner: No
  • Keeper league going into future seasons: No

Links






Here is some hockey related apparel and merchandise from various designers that I am more than happy to refer to you. Any purchase made through any of these links allows me to receive a referral fee as an associate of those designers.



Hockey Blades

Hockey team logo designs for hockey fans and players of all sizes and ages. Purchase apparel and merchandise to show off your beer league and fantasy hockey teams.



This single page lens about the UHB is dedicated solely to the Yahoo! Head-to-Head league. It contains all the information pertaining to Yahoo! UHB H2H that you would need to know on how and when to join, rules, settings, etc. It was created before the UHB blog as the original UHB website but now will be used as an archive backup and to direct outside visitors to the blog site.
UHB Lens





Another lens, this time focusing on the Fantrax roto league. This is similar to the Yahoo lens in that it explains how to join as well as what the rules and league settings are. This is known as UHB2 since it was the second league created after the one at Yahoo!
UHB2




Affiliates


The Hockey Card Show

Promo apparel and merchandise for an online video show about two guys who use hockey cards as a conversation piece and a good excuse to talk about hockey.
Ice Hockey Designs
This store has an endless selection of hockey designs from which to choose. Choose a design you like available on t-shirts, mugs, hats, stamps and more.
Visit Ice Hockey Designs today and get a gift for the hockey fan in your life.




Fantasy Monster Hockey
Fantasy hockey player with blood red hair and massive hockey stick, with blue tribal crest and flaming background! "Hockey" text gives serious attitude! Fantasy hockey shirts and gifts!





Trust Me, I'm A Goalie
B/w goalie graphic available on t-shirts, hats, mugs, stickers, key chains, etc.





Eat, Sleep, Play Hockey
Awesome hockey t-shirts and gifts with hockey player and Eat, Sleep, Play Hockey banners and flourishes! Great hockey gifts for players and hockey fans! Perfect for high school, college and professional hockey players!




Embroidered Hockey Skate
A great design for women who play and love hockey! Skate boot has pink laces and is filled with pink and purple flowers. This embroidered design is available on various apparel including pullover hoodie, jacket, polo shirt, sweatshirt and t-shirt. For more embroidered hockey designs, click on link.



Hockey Girl Store
Pink Hockey Girl designs on t-shirts. Player number on back.






Hockey Mask Poster
Hockey mask graphic design. The most infamous halloween mask there is...the hockey mask!

A very spooky and effective rendering that would make a great addition to anyone's wall of horror.


Hockey Moms Gone Wild
For all of those crazy nights during the hockey tournaments.Orange liquid spilling out of a martini glass with a mini hockey stir stick and puck at bottom .
Available on t-shirts of all sizes, styles and colours.



Shoot Like You Mean It!
T-shirt with hockey puck bursting through chest and ripping a hole in shirt. Available in several sizes, styles and colours.





Hockey Skates Greeting Card
General Card for the "Hockey Person" you know. Can be customized to suit your needs.
Two sizes to choose from: Greeting Card and Note Card.




Monroeville Zombies
A unique zombie shirt that captures the essence of Dawn of the Dead. Also the name of Zach's hockey team from Zach and Miri make a porno





Fighting Roosters 1
Fighting rooster hockey logo
Rooster wearing hockey skates putting up its dukes an taking a fighting stance.
Available on many styles and sizes of apparel.



Embroidered Canadian Flag and Hockey Player
Super t-shirt design features an embroidered Canadian flag and hockey player with text saying Canada hockey.
Also available on jackets, sweatshirts and tote bags. Several sizes and colours from which to choose.





Hockey Junky


We proudly serve Hockey Fanatics Worldwide... One Junky At a Time!

Yahoo! UHB League Settings (H2H)

Yahoo! League Home: http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/uhb

Format: Head-to-Head
League ID#: 91759
League Name: UHB
Password: bladerunner
Draft Type: Live
Draft Time: Sun Sep 27 1:00pm EDT
Maximum Teams: 16
Max Moves: 3 per week
Max Trades: No Maximum
Trade Reject Time: 3 days
Trade Deadline: March 4, 2010 (tentative)
Waiver Time: 2 days
Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo Sports
Trade Review: League Votes
Post Draft Players: Waiver Wire
Max Games Played: NA
Edit Roster: Daily
Start Scoring On: Oct. 1, 2009
Roster Positions: 4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 2G, 5BN, 5IR

Forwards/Defensemen Stat Categories: Goals (G), Assists (A), Plus/Minus (+/-), Penalty Minutes (PIM), Powerplay Goals (PPG), Powerplay Points (PPP), Shorthanded Goals (SHG), Shorthanded Points (SHP), Faceoffs Won (FW)

Goaltenders Stat Categories: Wins (W), Goals Against Average (GAA), Saves (SV), Save Percentage (SV%), Shutouts (SHO)

Divisions: 2 (8 teams each)
Playoffs: Division winners automatically qualify but get seeded according to point standings along with the other 6 teams that qualify.

View Rules

Record Holders: UHB (Roto)

Coming Soon!
This spot will be dedicated to archiving the league records set since the formation of the UHB Roto.

UHB Rules

(see league settings)

These UHB rules are in addition to the Yahoo Sports rules. You are expected to learn them and abide by them. Ignorance of the rules will not be accepted as an excuse. The UHB and its commissioner reserve the right to add to this list and/or modify any existing rule at any moment for the good of the league.

1. No manager shall use the name of a real NHL or other professional/minor league team for their team name. Names of famous people, characters and works are also prohibited. Anything copyrighted will be rejected.

2. No vulgar terms or language shall be used in whole or in part as a manager's team name or manager name.

3. Team names shall not be changed once the regular season commences. If a manager changes his/her team name after the official season opener, their roster will be locked until said name is changed back to its original one. You may experiment with as many name changes as you want between the time you sign up right up until the time of the first official games that count in the standings. At that point, the one you choose will be the one you keep all season.

4. Team icons must be family-friendly and are subject to the same criteria as rule #2.

5. Good-natured trash talk will be allowed within reason but must be kept rated PG.

6. All of the UHB Commissioner's decisions are final.

7. Failure to comply with any of these rules will result in having your team roster locked and possible banishment from the league, following a league vote.

8. To claim the UHB fantasy league prize (the mug), the winning manager must provide a shipping address to where I, the Commissioner, can send it. All costs will be assumed by me, the league's Commissioner, including shipping and handling with the exception of possible custom's duty fees. The prize awarded will be the one that is posted on this site and indicated as the UHB Cup (League Trophy), no substitutions. The winner will however have the choice of choosing between the white/gold or blue/grey versions.The UHB Commissioner shall not be held responsible for the winning team manager failing to provide a valid shipping address. If no shipping address is provided, the winner agrees to waive his or her right to the prize and no cup shall be awarded. All personal information will be kept private and will not be used for any other purpose.

9. Should I, the UHB commissioner, end up winning the league championship, I agree to award the runner-up in the championship finals, a consolation prize, that being a Basic Dark, UHB t-shirt (one of two designs) as indicated here on this web page. Runner-up will have the choice of what color and size the t-shirt shall be. No substitutions will be allowed for the consolation prize. As with rule #8, runner-up will be required to submit a valid shipping address upon the finish of the season or relinquish the consolation prize. Consolation prize will only be awarded to runner-up if the UHB commissioner wins the UHB championship. If any other team wins the league championship, no consolation prize is awarded.

10. Joining this league means you understand and agree to these rules and conditions.


Yahoo! Roto League

1. Currently there are no additional rules to the standard Yahoo Sports rules. There is no trophy awarded for this league at this time.


Fantrax Roto League UHB2 
1. Currently there are no additional rules to the standard Fantrax rules. There is no trophy awarded for this league at this time.

UHB Record Holders

Yahoo! UHB Head-to-Head

Individual Weeks Records  
as of week 25, 2010

One Week Totals
Forwards/Defensemen


BEST      TOTAL               TEAM                   GM                   YEAR
GOALS                    32                             Texas Tornado                       (Havoc Fanatic)          2009-10
ASSISTS                  45                           Alberta Advantage                     (agoodburn)               2009-10   PIM                         112                          Hockey Lover                            (Ricardo C)                2009-10
PLUS/MINUS        +27                             Guelph Knights                          (coeurnoir)                 2009-10
PPG                         17                            Texas Tornado                         (Havoc Fanatic)          2009-10
PPP                          36                            Texas Tornado                        (Havoc Fanatic)          2009-10
SHG                          3                            Robin's Runners                              (Melissa)                2009-10
SHP                           5                              Wing Nutz                              (bowmansback)           2009-10  
FW                         240                         Hockey Lover                              (Ricardo C)               2009-10

WORST      TOTAL               TEAM               GM                   YEAR
GOALS                    3                                       Puck Junkies                  (Anthony M)                2009-10
ASSISTS                 7                                        docs blade2                             (Scott)                2009-10
PLUS/MINUS       -22                                       Guelph Knights                    (coeurnoir)               2009-10
PIM                       16                           Timmonen and Pumba/husky  (Voyager86)(husky)           2009-10
PPG                         0                                              several teams tied                                          2009-10   PPP                         1                                         docs blade2                           (Scott)                2009-10
FW                         42                                        Robin's Runners                    (Melissa)               2009-10

One Week Totals
Goalies

BEST      TOTAL               TEAM                   GM                   YEAR

WINS                    7          Commissioner's Crew/Never Forget           (azac)(Fredy)                  2009-10
GAA                   0.50                                    Wing Nutz                    (bowmansback)                2009-10
SHUTOUTS          3                                      Puck Junkies                 (Anthony M)                      2009-10
SAVES                323                            Commissioner's Crew                   (azac)                        2009-10
SV%:                  .984                                      Wing Nutz                    (bowmansback)               2009-10


WORST      TOTAL               TEAM                   GM                   YEAR
GAA                         9.61                                    husky                                   (husky)                  2009-10
SAVES                     9                                         The Haie                    (lars_hoffman13)            2009-10
SV%                        .706                                     husky                                    (husky)                 2009-10

Season Records

Final Season Standings
Most Wins
Most Losses
Most Ties
Most Points
Best Winning %
Least Wins
Least Losses
Least Ties
Least Points
Worst Winning %

Team Stats Totals
Forwards/Defensemen

Most Goals
Most Assists
Most PIM
Best +/-
Most PPG
Most PPP
Most SHG
Most SHP
Most Face-offs Won

Goalies
Most Wins
Lowest G.A.A.
Most Shutouts
Most Saves
Least Wins
Highest G.A.A.
Least Shutouts

Transactions
Most Trades
Most Moves

UHB Trophy (The Commissioner's Cup)


This is the trophy that teams will be competing for in the Yahoo! UHB Head-to-Head league. The trophy is paid for by the administrator of this site (the league commissioner), including shipping and handling but excluding duty fees should any apply. It is delivered to the league champion after the end of the season, once he or she has provided a valid shipping address to the commissioner.

Since I, the commissioner, also have a team entered, I will award a consolation prize to the runner up, should I win the league championship. For more details, click here.

Join UHB League

Join one of our free, UHB fantasy leagues and enjoy the NHL season with the sense of being a coach and GM of your own hockey team.

2009-10 Season

Yahoo! H2H 

Yahoo! Roto

Welcome to the UHB!

logosportswear.com, Share and SellUnited Hockey Blades (UHB) is a fantasy hockey league that uses Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Hockey service as a third party to help organize and operate its league but is not affiliated with Yahoo! in any way.

Currently there are a couple of leagues; one head-to-head and one rotisserie. Both leagues are free to join, though there are limited openings available. Interested managers can request to be on a waiting list, should more openings become available.

UHB Arena is the official blog of the UHB and welcomes all current and former fantasy league members to visit and stay up to date on news, resources, videos and advice. Actually, all hockey fans are welcome! Make UHB Arena your link to the fantasy rink!

The UHB logo is protected by copyright and any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.



League Settings: Yahoo! UHB (Roto)

League ID#:
249880
League Name:
UHB (Roto)
Password:
bettmansucks
Custom League URL:
http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/uhb_roto
Draft Type:
Autopick Draft
Draft Time:
Sat Oct 10 12:00am EDT
Max Teams:
16
Scoring Type:
Rotisserie
Max Moves:
No maximum
Max Trades:
No maximum
Trade Reject Time:
3
Trade End Date:
March 4, 2010
Waiver Time:
2 days
Can't Cut List Provider:
Yahoo! Sports
Trade Review:
League Votes
Post Draft Players:
Follow Waiver Rules
Max Games Played:
82
Weekly Deadline:
Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on:
Thursday, Oct 1
Roster Positions:
C, C, C, C, LW, LW, LW, LW, RW, RW, RW, RW, D, D, D, D, D, D, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR, IR, IR, IR, IR
Forwards/Defensemen Stat Categories:
Goals (G), Assists (A), Plus/Minus (+/-), Penalty Minutes (PIM), Powerplay Goals (PPG), Powerplay Points (PPP), Shorthanded Goals (SHG), Shorthanded Points (SHP), Shots on Goal (SOG), Faceoffs Won (FW)
Goaltenders Stat Categories:
Wins (W), Goals Against Average (GAA), Saves (SV), Save Percentage (SV%), Shutouts (SHO)

International Zazzle