While hockey remains in its dog days of summer, I’ve still been a little focused on the real world; seeing friends, going on walks, that type of stuff. It’s been really nice to get a bit of a breather and remember that there’s more to life than just crunching out several hundred word pieces about a sport that we all love and hate, though I’m starting to inch back into a routine this week.
One of the reasons for that? The outpouring of support for this site. The kind words that came from all of you during launch weekend and the explosion of social media attention that came from the first week or two of the site’s existence absolutely blew away my expectations; I was expecting something very small and low-key and instead wound up with a hockey twitter army rallying behind the project. So, on that note, thank you to all of you who have helped bring attention to what’s happening here.
On that note, I did promise a giveaway once The Faceoff Circle’s Twitter account hit 3000 followers, which it did yesterday. As such, I’ll be sending off two t-shirts from my Teespring Shop to lucky people this weekend.
If you’d like to enter as a member of the general public/readership for the first one, use this Widget here to harvest a handful of entries, most of which come from interacting on Twitter:
Faceoffcircle Tshirt Competition
Alternatively, for those of you who have already become paid subscribers, leave a comment on this post telling me what you’re most excited for in this upcoming NHL season. A random commenter will win the second shirt!
If you don’t like your odds in a contest but would still like a shirt, or would prefer to get a hoodie, long sleeve, tank, or mug instead, click here to get $2 off any of your purchases this week. The only exception are stickers, which are only $2.50 to begin with. Remember that not only will these pieces of clothing make you incredibly stylish, but they’ll also help support this site. Both the contest and the coupon code will end on Friday.
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I’m most excited to watch the Leafs young players continue to develop.
As I began writing in February, I’m looking forward to my first full year writing about hockey.
I’m most excited for the Leafs progression, hopefully proving the “sophomore slump” to be just a myth. Also really excited to see what comes from you throughout the year!
I can’t wait to see what the young Leafs will do this season. I’m really 50/50 on which way it will go but certainly hoping to see the “rise” continue.
Excited to see Marner’s progression this year. I feel like, of the big three, he may see the biggest jump in effectiveness. Also, while probably not totally ‘NHL related’, I’m very interested in seeing how Liljegren’s season goes. His season probably goes a long way in showing us what he’s going to be long term.
I’m excited for what will (hopefully, fingers crossed) be the first time we’ve seen back-to-back seasons with the same starting goaltender play the majority of games and maintain above league average goaltending for the first time since… Eddie?