By Denis J. Puska

There are a couple of questions that I keep coming my way lately. How is Puska on Pucks going thus far? Are you pleased with the results? Etc.

As we approach the holiday season, I have many blessings to be thankful for and one is this internet hockey show. I have some numbers I want to share with you regarding our website and listenership.

Since we launched www.puskonpucks.com during the first week of October we have had more than 20,000 hits on our website. One number I know that advertisers and business people look at nowadays when it comes to websites is the unique visitors. Well that number so far is just under 1,000. For being as young as our show and website are, I think those numbers are very encouraging as we move forward in the new year.

Our number of listeners to continues to grow every week as we develop new topics and get new teams on our program. Our total number of listeners through www.blogtalkradio is approaching 2,000 which is also very encouraging. We don't have a firm number of listeners from OurSports Central, but my feeling is that those figures would be considerably higher.

We have a lot of plans for the new year including more road trips to various arenas including Toledo, Johnstown, and we are working on a trip to the AHL Outdoor Game in Syracuse, NY. Much of this will depend on schedule and funding available. We appreciate your show ideas and suggestions. Please continue to let us know what you think and if we are on the right track.

If I had to ask Santa Claus for a present for Puska on Pucks it would be that each and every fan that we have tell a new person about the show. I would also like to thank my broadcast-media relations colleagues of the various teams and leagues for continuing to accept our emails. If you could forward them on to your season ticket holders that would be terrific.

More Numbers

Attendance figures continue to be encouraging in professional hockey despite the economy. I think teams are doing their best to give value for their product and find new ways to entertain fans with not only the on-ice product but intermissions, etc.
It was sad to see a casualty last week when the Chicago Blaze of the All-American Hockey League closed its doors. The team was very successful on the ice but couldn't translate that behind the scenes. I think the AAHL has a terrific product and will need to work on ownership stability and making sure they do their background checks before awarding franchises as all leagues should.

Do I think there will be more teams shutting the doors in the new year? I don't think so and believe that everyone should be able to squeak their way through the remainder of the season. As for growth, it sounds like the Southern Professional Hockey League is already looking at adding franchises next year. I think there are some good viable locations such as Augusta, GA and Greenville, SC. Return trips to Richmond, Roanoke and Jacksonville can only be possible under the right conditions.

World Juniors
It's a week before Christmas and that means the World Junior Hockey Championships are getting closer and closer. I will be able to at least watch it the next day on the computer. I don't have proper access to the NHL Network to see some of the games so TSN's great website is going to be the only way. This could be an interesting year for Team Canada. I don't think they're going to breeze through the Championships like they have in the past and this road to another gold medal could be full of potholes and snowbanks.

By Denis J. Puska

It's a question I ask every time I walk into an old barn. If walls could talk, what tales could they tell?

It is so fitting nowadays as many of the old buildings close to make room for the larger modern facilities with corporate boxes, multi-media scoreboards and additional seating, to reminisce about the past as we look to the future of the sport.

It's that feeling you get walking into an older building. The concourse is haunted with a sense of history, the teams, the athletes, thousands of stories from thousands of fans who cheered, laughed, cried, roared in the stands stretching before you.

Some of my favorite old arenas where up North in Ontario. The McIntyre Arena in Schumacher, South Porcupine Arena and the old arena in Kapuskasing. My dad took me to that old place to watch hockey when I was really young.

I'm excited to see that there are plans to restore Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, even though it's going to be much different than the original. It's nice to see the old structure on the outside and I am sure it will retain that sense of history on the inside, even with the renovations. Leafs v Buffalo Sabres, my first game at Maple Leaf Gardens while I was in college. Bought my tickets on the street from somebody and sat up high in the blues or reds. Again, at the Gardens, I saw Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and a great contest in the Detroit/Toronto rivarly.

When I was in Montreal for the St. Leonard International Midget Hockey Tournament I was fortunate enough to attend a game at the old Montreal Forum. The team was allowed to go to the game and the bus dropped us off near the arena. The team did their best to make sure that the players all had tickets near one another. There were not enough tickets to go around so we had to go outside to purchase our own. It was a Montreal and Hartford game which was pretty cool as well. I couldn't believe my luck and got a ticket 13 rows up from the penalty box.
The seats in that old building were so narrow and you felt like a sardine squished in there. It was pretty amazing to walk around the old Forum, and their hotdogs were the old style and looked like a piece of bread. It was a fun night and one I won't forget.

When I look at some of the older buildings that I have been to over the years broadcasting hockey games, I think of the Pepsi Coliseum in Indianapolis, Knoxville Coliseum in Tennessee, Perani Arena and Event Center in Flint, McMorran Place Arena in Port Huron and Hara Arena in Dayton.
I have been to some of the amazing new buildings across the United States such as Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Florida, and Time Warner Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Montreal Canadiens ceremony

It was amazing the other night to watch the 100th anniversary ceremony for the Montreal Canadiens. It was a very classy event as they brought back many of the old timers. I like the way they had the players participate in a pre-game skate to get things underway.

Had to feel sorry for the current players that had to wait around for the game start after the long ceremony. It certainly inspired Montreal as they probably played their best game all season.

I have been fortunate over my 20 plus year broadcast journalism career to interview the likes of Frank Mahovlich, Henri Richard, Steve Shutt, Ralph Backstrom, Guy Lapointe and the late Maurice ‘Rocket' Richard. All were gracious and amazing people to spend a few moments with.

I believe that the Montreal Canadiens are the No. 1 franchise in professional sports and rank above the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox or the Dallas Cowboys or the Green Bay Packers, etc. The Canadiens have had such a rich tradition over their 100 year history that nobody in sports can match and probably ever will.