We've Moved

To find out where, click here or on the Mayflower truck...


Oh, and if you're reading this in a RSS reader, you're going to have to visit the new site and update your feed.

October's Most Popular Posts

Thanks, as always, to everyone who keeps reading The Rink. We're consistently surprised by all the folks who stop by to check us out (October set a new single-month record for visits), and we look forward to an even more exciting November.

Here are your top ten most-read posts for October:

1. You Know You Have A Huge Fundraising Advantage When...
2. Mmmm... Downie
3. Hopefully This Isn't A Metaphor For The Season Ahead
4. Of Russians And Hat Tricks
5. Dear Lord, Don't Let The PensBlog See This
6. 2 Girls, 1 Cup
   
7. Japers' Rink Blogroll
8. Ooohhh... Sexy
9. Where's This Stuff In "The Code?"
10. A Brief History Of John Erskines

From The Department Of Self-Promotion...

A couple of weeks ago, James "Tapeleg" Gralian of the fantastic Jerseys and Hockey Love and Tom Luongo, one of my co-conspirators at NHL FanHouse, started a puck podcast called The Rink.

The first two episodes featured segments with Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy (duh) and Sherry from Scarlett Ice, and last night I took a turn chatting with the boys. The resulting podcast will be published in two parts, with the first part now available here (I haven't listened to it yet, so you'll have to tell me how it is). Go check it out - at the very least, click through so James and Tom will think I'm a big driver of traffic - and if you want to have some fun with it, take a pull off your favorite adult beverage every time there's an awkward pause or I say "without question."

Come With Me If You Want To Live

Blogger has a new, poorly branded social networking widget that allows "followers" of a blog to display a link to their Blogger profile on the blog they're following and get RSS updates on their dashboards. Follow?

I think Kevin at BMR understands it better than I do, but in any event, if you head over to his site, you'll see in the upper left his herd of sheep list of followers, myself included.

Bottom line: I've added the widget to the sidebar at the bottom. Sleek, Plank and Stevens8204 are already on board, and my respect for them has, like, quadrupled since they did so. Now it's your turn, and not just if you have a blog of your own, either. Literally, it's just about the least you could do for me... ingrates.

July's Most Popular Posts

Thanks, as always, to everyone who keeps reading The Rink, even through the dog days of summer. We continue to be pleasantly surprised by the number of folks checking us out (visits were up 88% over July '07 and well over 1,000% over July '06), and if we can all just make it through August, hockey awaits in September.

But enough about us. Here are your top ten most-read posts for July:

1. Backstrom Goes Camping
2. Step Back From The Ledge
3. Pucks In The Fiftieth State
4. 2 Girls, 1 Cup
5. Ovechkin's ESPY...
6. In Defense Of Jose, The Defense In Front Of Jose
   
7. Controlling The Message
   
8. Where Have All The Dicks Gone?
   
9. Primary And Secondary Scoring
   
10. Japers' Rink Blogroll
    

Happy Belated Birthday... To Us

With all the excitement around the end of Development Camp, it seems that we missed our own birthday. On Saturday, The Rink turned three-years-old, which is 21 in dog years (and an absolute eternity in Internet years), so finally we can have our first sip of alcohol in celebration.

This is the post in the comments to which you all now thank us for our tireless efforts and perform other acts of sycophantism while we scratch our head and wonder where the last three years went (hint: into 1,978 posts... oy).

Oh, and fret not - actual substance returns in time for lunch.

May And June's Most Popular Posts

Laich and Green. Green and Laich. Finkle and Einhorn.

I'm a little spent discussing those guys (if you missed this past weekend's triple-header, here are Parts I, II and III), so here's an open thread/recap of May and June's most popular posts. Thanks to everyone for your continued readership and participation in the comments, and I know that July's going to give us plenty to talk about - let's hope it's mostly good news.

Your top ten most-read posts for May and June:

1. The Hottie Hockey Show
2. Ovechkin Planning Wonder-Spawn?
3. Ovechkin Wins The Hart (a.k.a. The T-Shirt Post)
4. GMGM on Huet: "We Expect To Sign Him"
5. 2 Girls, 1 Cup
6. Carrie Milbank: The Japers' Rink Interview
   
7. Japers' Rink Blogroll
8. For Those Of You Scoring At Home...
9. The Curse Of The Unveiling Four
10. Caps/Flyers: A History Of Carnage And Mayhem (thanks for not updating "Today's Top 5" in nearly three months, Steinz)
    

Hockey-Reference.com Sponsorships

I've gotten a couple of inquires about The Rink's sponsorship of Alex Ovechkin's page at Hockey-Reference.com, and we basically decided to do it to support a great site (and, of course, the traffic doesn't hurt either).

Check out Mirtle's post on the matter for more, and if you feel like dropping a few bucks to get your message out, most of the Caps can be yours for a year for just $10. Oh, and Daniel Briere will cost you $40 - come up with something clever and maybe we'll go halvsies with you.

April's Most Popular Posts

Fueled by the excitement of a late-season run and the first taste of the post-season in half a decade for playoff-starved Caps fans, The Rink set monthly bests in views, visits and visitors for the third consecutive month. Obviously, we couldn't do it without you guys (and more than our fair share of Flyer trolls), so a sincere thanks goes out to all of you.

Your top ten most-read posts for April:

1. Caps/Flyers: A History Of Carnage And Mayhem
2. 2 Girls, 1 Cup (filthy, filthy people)
3. Japers' Rink Blogroll
4. Malkin: Ovechkin Is The Best Player In The NHL
5. Note To Mike Wise
6. Obama/Oshie '08?
7. Game 4: Caps @ Flyers
8. Tuesday Roundup/Gamenight: 'Canes @ Caps
9. With Each Goal, A Milestone
10. ... And Then There Was Golf

February's Most Popular Posts

Thanks to the "The Girlfriend Curse", trade deadline day, and the Google gold that is "2 Girls, 1 Cup" (ya buncha pervs), The Rink established a new record for page views, visits, and visitors in February (this, on the heels of setting new marks in January). Of course, the acquisitions of three new players from three of the most hockey obsessed media markets in the world (Montreal, Vancouver, and Columbus Russia) didn't hurt either. So welcome to The Rink, new peeps, and continued thanks to long-time readers.

Your top ten most-read posts in February:

1. Romovechkin?
2. Caps Get Huet For A Second Round Pick
3. 2 Girls, 1 Cup
4. Get To Know Joe Corvo
5. Japers' Rink Blogroll: 1,670 Hockey Links And Counting
6. How Much Green For Green?
7. Raise Your Hand If You're A Douchebag
8. How Do You Say "Rebuild" In Finnish?
9. Breaking Down Ovechkin's Goals
10. Today's Front Page

January's Most Popular Posts

Now that we've turned the page on January, let's take a quick look back at what, despite an All-Star break and a baby break (thanks again to everyone for such nice words and wishes, and to the maternity ward at the hospital for putting up with me), was the best month (readership-wise) in Rink history.

Here are the most viewed posts of the year's first month:

1. Uh Oh...
2. It's Official: Ovechkin Has Signed
3. 2 Girls, 1 Cup (this thing is a juggernaut, and you people are filthy animals)
4. Japers' Rink Blogroll: 1,670 Hockey Links And Counting
   
5. "Ovechkin Lets Capitals Contract Expire"
6. Tuesday Roundup/Caps 6, Pens 5 (SO)
   
7. Boudreau Goes To Plan B
   
8. Ragenomics: The Ovechkin Deal
9. The Rising
   
10. Thursday Roundup/Leafs 3, Caps 2
    

November's Most Popular Posts

With December upon us, let's take a quick look back at The Rink's five most read posts of November. They include some mascot abuse, Halloween leftovers, international incidents, America's finest and, of course, the mother of all blog rolls:

1. The Japers' Rink Blogroll (which has added 72 new links since it was originally posted)
2. Joe Finley: Less Popular In Wisconsin Than Low-Fat Cheddar
3. (Hat)Trick Or Treat
4. The Top 10 (Plus Two) American-Born Players Of All-Time (thanks, Mike Modano)
5. US And Russian U-17s Drop 'em In Dmitrov

The Rink Gets A Makeover

Change has come to Japers' Rink, and just in time for the new season (if you're reading this in a feed reader, click on over to check out our new look). Expect some more tweaks in the days and weeks ahead in an effort to make your experience here even better.

Special thanks to Chris Donovan for helping us put this new look together.

Let us know what you think - either in the comments or email us at the address towards the bottom of the sidebar. Thanks!

Programming Note

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be in Columbus tomorrow night for the draft. Rather, Ken and I will be out at Kettler for the unveiling and other festivities. We'll be updating the site throughout the evening, so be sure to check back often, and if you see us there, be sure to stop us and say hey.

The Rink: Now In Languages I Don't Understand!

A quick note to let y'all know that I've added a few buttons in the upper right corner. Click on a flag and the site will be magically translated into a language that I either slept through in high school or never even had a chance to learn. I haven't quite figured out how to make the buttons translate anything other than the front page, but that can't be too hard (if any code geeks want to lend a hand, shoot me an email).

So добро пожаловать, willkommen, bonjour, benvenuto and hola, and sorry we don't have Swedish yet - bug the folks at Google to make it happen.

Oh, and one last thing - the buttons work much better in Firefox than IE, but then again, doesn't just about everything?

One Thousand Down, Many More To Go

Lost (until now) in the flurry of posts yesterday was the fact that the David Perron note was the 1,000th post here at The Rink.

Thanks to everyone for reading and participating in this little community and here's hoping the next thousand are as much fun (with a lot more winning mixed in).

Site Feed Issues

Apparently there have been some issues with the site's feed over the past few days that seem to have been resolved. If you missed anything, I urge you to go back and look over the past few days' posts, as they're truly among the great writings in the history of Western civilization.