Congrats Jed!

From the NHL:

NEW YORK (April 26, 2010) -- Kurtis Foster of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jed Ortmeyer of the San Jose Sharks and Jose Theodore of the Washington Capitals are the three finalists for the 2009-10 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey,” the National Hockey League announced today.

Well, my vote is clear but so is the winner - a bad broken leg (Foster) or some blood clots (Jed) doesn't compare to losing a kid and then starting a charity (Theodore). I was actually surprised to read the real story about Three-or-More, figuring instead that they gave him the nomination for overcoming hair loss and a STD.

Joking aside, all three of the candidates showed 'qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey' so congrats to all three. Especially Jed.

Congrats Jed!!!!!!!!!

Jed Ortmeyer scored San Jose's first goal in the Sharks come-from-behind win over Minnesota tonight. It was Jed's first since January 8th, 2008. As many of you know, Jed is a favourite of mine so I have to say that seeing the box score was a nice bonus tonight.

Go Jed Go!!!!!!

(He'd better not do it again when we face San Jose on the 19th...)

Welcome Back Jed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though Puck Daddy made a snide comment in his Death Watch today about it, he did alert us to some fantastic news - Jed has made it back to the NHL!!!!!!!

From the Preds homepage:

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has recalled forward Jed Ortmeyer from the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League.

Ortmeyer, 30 (9/3/78), has 23 points (10g-13a) in 55 games since joining the Admirals on Dec. 3, 2008 – he missed the first 24 games of the season due to a knee injury sustained in Nashville’s game against Dallas on Feb. 23, 2008, his last NHL game played. In 2007-08 – his first season with the Predators – the Omaha, Neb., native played in 51 games, recording four goals and four assists.

Since 2003-04, the 6-1, 188-pound right wing has played in 228 career NHL contests, tallying 32 points (13g-19a).

After the aforementioned knee injury Jed had blood clot issues again and he battled to get back on the ice. He did it and he now has made it back to the show. I hope he sticks, he deserves it.

Go Jed!!!!!

Peepin' Foes: Nashville Predators

She-yoot, while NASCAR nation takes a week off to prepare for the calamity that is racing in Bristol, the Rangers are down to cause some calamity in Tennessee against the Predators on Thursday. Somehow I don't think a lotta Dale Jr. fans are going to fill the Sommet Center to see the crashes and collisions (between Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival, as the puck slides right past them).

All kidding aside, it is sad to see that the Predators will not have Scotty Hockey favourite Jed Ortmeyer in their lineup. After a knee injury last year, Jed had more blood clots that cost him the start of this season. He got back on the ice but has been unable to get out of Milwaukee. He is doing pretty well - 21 points in 45 games - despite playing on a team that features Huge Mistake Hugh Jessiman. Well, congrats to him on making it back to playing, those blood clots are serious business. At least he gets to wear the best jerseys in professional hockey. But back to our game ahead:

Where We Are: Struggling for our playoff lives. After a pathetic performance in Carolina, the Rangers need to get points where they can and Nashville needs to be two points that they get. Especially seeing as coming up after this is a home and home with Philly that it is quite difficult to be optimistic for.

Where They Are: The Rangers will be the third Eastern team the Pred face in a row and Nashville lost the first two - a 4-1 smacking at the hands of the Flyers and a 2-1 OT loss to the Caps. Nashville is currently holding down the last playoff spot in the West, even though they have five less points than the Rangers, who are ninth in the East.

Who To Watch For: Jason Arnott is just as big, just as skilled and more experienced then he was when he was a Ranger killer with the Devils. I heart Stevie Sullivan, who battled all the way back to the NHL after nearly two years off dealing with back issues. Shea Weber, the defenseman, has 211 shots - that is more than any Blueshirt aside from Scott Gomez. Gomez has two more shots but two less goals 15. And Gomez is a first line center. But with Weber, Dan Hamhuis, Ryan Suter and Greg Zanon, Nashville's defense blows the Blueshirts way. Outside of Zanon, the other three are young and have scary skills.

What To Watch For: A stellar performance by Pekke Rinne. Somehow the young Finn has been lost in the rookie of the year conversations despite some top notch work. He is carrying a 2.27 gaa and .921 save percentage after unseating apparent one-year-wonder Dan Ellis. With Hank suffering from stomach issues (even though he says he's fine), the Ranger net will not be as well protected as Nashville's. Outside of the paint, see if the Rangers have any chemistry as the new coach has decided to start the line juggling. Nice to see Borat Antropov already claiming injury - the same thing he did when they put the screws on him in Toronto.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: Wade Belak - the former goon of the Leafs - is plodding along for the Preds. It would be nice to see Colton Orr make short work of him but you never know, Belak may get lucky like he did against No Brains Brashear. Hopefully we will also see a Avery/Tootoo tilt, just because it would be funny.

Also Check Out: The Mighty Mirtle actually took a road trip to NASCAR land to check out the Grand Ole Opry and you can check his impression of the city in Part 1 and Part 2. He managed to find someone literate down there to write about the Preds for SBN at On The Forecheck although one of Hockey's Ladies of Greatness is a Pred blogger so you should also give her a glance, hehe.

Yeah Jed!! Good Luck!!

In a small piece of news that went under the radar last week, former Ranger fan favourite Jed Ortmeyer returned to professional hockey. Unfortunately it is not in the NHL:

The Predators reassigned the 30-year-old right wing to Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Wednesday after sending him through waivers. Ortmeyer had missed all of training camp and the entire season because of a blood clot in his leg. --The Tennessean, 12-4-08

Being as he went unclaimed through waivers down to the A, Jed will have to really shine if he is to make it back to the NHL this season. The good news is that he is off to a great start with an assist in his first game and the game winning goal in his third! As I went on a futile quest for photos of Jed's goal, I found that the Quad City beat writer attributed it to a Mike Ortmeyer, but it was certainly our boy; gotta love small town journalism. Coincidentally, another former Ranger property - Huge Mistake Hugh Jessiman - was out with an injury for Milwaukee.

Sadly the Admirals (who have the coolest logo in all of sport) do not have any more games in the NY/CT area this season so we won't get a chance to see him wearing the skull and bones. Nonetheless, we want to wish Jed the best of luck from a distance and hopefully he will make it back to the big show before too long!!

NHL Four-cast: Nashville Predators

1 - Why is this team worth watching? Well, I watch to see former Ranger Jed Ortmeyer (get well soon!) but for someone not in the Jed fanclub, you should tune in to see Jordin Tootoo. Tootoo is the Little Ball of Hate for the new generation and is a little crazy to boot. Other than that ... well, I donno what to tell you. They play some up-tempo hockey but don't necessarily have the guns to pull it off, at least not yet.

2 - Are they better or worse than last year? Worse. They gave away puck-mover Marek Zidlicky, goaltender Chris Mason and tough guy Darcy Hordichuk while acquiring a few minor leaguers and some draft picks. And you can't forget that sniper Alex Radulov jumped ship to go to home. So all of that adds up to one happy fanbase. All five of those guys must be pissed!

3 - Who should YOU draft in fantasy? J.P. Dumont and Jason Arnott are both good for 70 points while the streaky Martin Erat should come in around 60. Ryan Suter is on his way to becoming a top flight defenseman and he is good for numbers across the board - points, plus/minus and PIM. Shea Weber will get a lot of ice time as well and he likes to shoot the puck. Dan Ellis put up some magical numbers last season so it will be interesting to see how he handles the burden of being a starter. If Steve Sullivan can actually make it back to the NHL from the back problems that kept him out of the league last year, then he will certainly be worth grabbing. But he is no Mario so I don't think we will see him again and that is a shame because he was a helluva player.

4 - What should we re-name this team ('cause Predators is lame)? Back in the early '80s there was minor, minor league hockey in Nashville named the Southern Stars. Why the hell didn't they go with that? It would have been fantastic and endearing and I would imagine that the jersey wouldn't end up on a zombie somewhere.

We Still Love You Jed ...

As I professed my fandom for Brendan Morrow in the Stars Four-cast, I figured I would take a look around to see if there was any update to Scotty Hockey favourite Jed Ortmeyer.

I couldn't find anything as to his progress recovering from ACL surgery but I was able to find something that flew beneath the radar: Jed doing a meet and greet and autograph session for some kids back in May. Glad to see Jed still carrying himself with class and doing the right thing. Best wishes for a full recovery and spot in the Predators' lineup come this fall ...

EDIT: Glad to see others miss Jed too ...