Bidding Adieu to the Year That Was (Part One)

Before we get too far into the summer to even remember it, let's take a few minutes to look back at the year that was.

It was a heck of a year that was capped off with a good Stanley Cup Finals. But, surely, it wasn't all about the Finals. Here's a rundown of all the stories, hits and great goals from the past year. I'm sure I missed a bunch of interesting items, so feel free to add your own in the comments and I'll be sure to keep this list updated. This is only part one, though. It chronicles June 07 through December. The second half will be up on Friday.

Clearly, the links on this list are completely unbiased. Totally.

JUNE 2007

• We did some prospect profiles for the draft in a unique way. Those were fun for the whole family. (6/7)
• The Boogaard Brothers took us to hockey fighting school. (6/9)
• Surprisingly, the Mike Keenan hiring in Calgary did not end with the destruction of the universe. (6/14)
  
• Teenage boys posed for photos in hockey sweaters. I mean, um, it was the NHL Draft. (6/23)

JULY 2007

• Free agency is a hell of a drug. (7/1)
• We were first introduced to JR. (7/5)
• The Staals got arrested. I'm still mad I wasn't invited to the party. (7/25)
• July was really pretty boring.

AUGUST 2007

• Kevin Lowe snatched up Dustin Penner from the Ducks. That worked out really well. (8/2)
• Kansas City tried really, really hard to get a hockey team. That didn't pan out either. (8/9)
• We figured out a template for starting a successful hockey blog. (8/13)
• The Islanders released new jerseys. Sort of. (8/15)
• I wasted much of my summer previewing each and every team. The experience can only be described as long and painful. (8/18)
• Cuthbert and Avery broke up. (8/27)
• The new Canucks jerseys looked like crap. (8/30)

SEPTEMBER 2007

• John Tavares acted like a whiny 17-year old. (9/4)
• The Stars put up some hilarious billboards. Naturally, we had our own ideas. (9/6)
• NHL.tv was discovered. (9/7)
• A lot of people in Pittsburgh weren't allowed the chance to buy tickets to the Ice Bowl. Considering their team was, um, playing in it a bit of a fracas ensued. (9/8)
• The Blackhawks set a record by getting eliminated from the playoffs before the season even started. (9/20)
• The Canadian dollar officially broke even with it's US counterpart. No more north of the border discounts. (9/21)
• Hawks owner Bill Wurtz died. Things changed pretty drastically after that. (9/26)

OCTOBER 2007

• The Ducks and Kings played some games in jolly olde England. (10/1)
• Darren Eliot wanted to crown Evgeni Malkin rookie of the year. There was a slight problem with that. (10/3)
• I outlined some tips for watching a hockey game. (10/4)
• NHL.tv was a bitch. I think I was the only one it didn't like. (10/6)
• Here's where all those Paul Stastny shenanigans started. Hey, he was on pace for 218 points! (10/8)
• Jason Blake was diagnosed with leukemia. I apologized for calling him names. (10/9)
• The Wild started a feud with Gary Bettman that would later somehow be transferred to Pascal Leclaire. (10/15)
• Gary Bettman responded by putting out a hit list. (10/16)
• Jon Toews scored what could easily be the goal of the year. (10/20)
• Here's where the epic battle for control of the universe started between Minnesota and Colorado. (10/22)
• Captain Canada returned to Edmonton and, to no one's surprise, cried a lot. (10/23)
• Den LeBatard proved once again that he is a ridiculous human being. (10/26)
• The Devils unveiled their new arena. (10/27)
• As the epic battle for the universe continued, I found a lost script for an iPhone commercial. (10/29)
• Randy Jones gave the Flyers their third major suspension of the year. (10/30)

NOVEMBER 2008

• Pascal Leclaire's run of shutouts quickly brought him to the top of GB's hit list. (11/1)
• Al Arbour returned to coach a game at the Coliseum. I screwed up all the numbers in the post. (11/2)
• We finally found out what was on The Great One's iPod. (11/3)
• Barry Melrose said some mean things about Newark. I renamed the blog. None of it was funny. (11/7)
• The 2007 Hockey Hall of Fame Inductees. (11/9)
• Some kid was hilariously scared of a puck. (11/9)
• JR told us about scoring his 500th career goal. (11/11)
• Sean Avery and Darcy Tucker didn't make nice at the Hall of Fame Game. (11/12)
• Paul Stastny finally took control of the known universe. (11/13)
• Messier cried at his Hall of Fame induction and, as you might expect, it was hilarious. (11/14)
• Jiri Tlusty acted like, who would have guessed it, a kid. (11/16)
• JR talked about beer, appeared depressed. It wasn't pretty. (11/20)
• The Caps fired Glen Hanlon on Thanksgiving. Sometimes being a dick pays off. (11/22)
• I joined FanHouse. (11/25)
• More evidence surfaced proving that Kristian Huselius and Mike Keenan have a tenuous relationship. (11/25)
• At this point, the Flyers had more man games lost to suspension that the rest of the NHL. Seriously. (11/27)
• A detailed breakdown of how to create your own TML rumor. (11/27)
• Dining out with Doc and Chico was always fun. (11/29)
  
• Pascal Leclaire sacrificed himself for the good of Canada. (11/30)

DECEMBER 2007

• Hockey Night in Canada did a snazzy piece on blogging. CLICKLCIKCLCICKLCLICK (12/3)
• The Bruins put out an awesome commercial in an effort to scare up All-Star votes for Savard and Chara. (12/3)
  
• It's always fun when a Zamboni catches on fire. (12/4)
  
• I apologized to the MSM on behalf of blogs. Sort of. (12/5)
• The Thrashers thought they had acquired Gary Roberts, but it was really only Mark Recchi. (12/10)
  
• A look back at 15 years of Gary Bettman's reign. (12/11)
• Melrose visited Newark, backtracked on his comments. (12/11)
• Gary Roberts destroyed Ben Eager. (12/12)
• We discovered that TML fans have poor YouTubing skillz. (12/12)
• Bill Belichek spied on Atlanta's Don Waddell. Best in-game entertainment of the year. (12/13)
• I butchered my first Ice Sheet at FanHouse. It was fun nonetheless. (12/14)
  
• George Parros shaved his mustache. The world has not been the same since. At least the was for charity. (12/15)
• Gary Roberts continued his annihilation of the Eastern Conference by messing up Andy Sutton. (12/17)
• I headed to Atlantic City where, believe it or not, I came out ahead. Some awesome guest bloggers filled in: Sean Leahy, the Pensblog boys, Ryan from the VicTimes and Loser Domi.
• We found the one and only Florida Panther fan. (12/27)
• New Years Resolutions were made. They sucked. (12/31)

More in ahead in Part Two...