In the hockey player’s arsenal, the stick is often the key weapon. Certainly comfortable skates, helmet and gloves are important, but the stick, and especially its curve, is often the most personal and the toughest to get right. From one model to another, the manufacturers tweak them and not always for the better. It’s especially true for snipers that it’s not only the curve but the lie of the blade that is part of the calculation.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but when a player has cement hands, you could hand him a curtain rod and it will work as well as any curve or lie. But when you’re the type of player who has the puck more often than your share, the stick becomes a surgical tool that you use to carve up the game. And as you recount the the play-by-play post mortem at the bar, the moves get even better leading up to lighting the lamp.

It's the day after the first Saturday of REAL league activities. Finally, the regular season has started with a first look at the revamped teams. Despite some missing regulars yesterday, particularly from the Loggers, we could see the LFA " remixed " teams at work. After an attempt to balance the teams without having to move too many pieces, and all while accommodating various buddies who want to play together during this expansion year, I see that we have not quite hit our target; Close but no cigar !

The date was known by all but the result of the selection committee meeting to shake things up and choose new players to fill the teams remained hypothetical. Who was going to move and where were they going to end up? In addition to the arrival of a plethora of new players to fill the positions we were also going to shuffle the deck. The good thing about all of this is that a minimal number of the 53 regular players and goalies, before the arrival of the new 13 players, had to pack up their bags, change their socks and switch squads. In a strange and lucky way, all but one of the players traded (eight in all) will face their old team on Saturday, so this will facilitate the coordination for jersey switching.

The roots of the League Federale des As date back to 1999 with the creation of the SATNITE HOCKEY BROTHERHOOD which has evolved over time, and for legal reasons, still exists under the name Hockey Brotherhood Association or HBA. Although today's on-ice activities are conducted through the LFA, comradeship and healthy competition persists. This remains a challenge, because with the arrival of several new faces from all over the metropolitan area, the most important aspect of our league still needs to be implanted in our recruits and many replacements as the family grows, as it more than doubled its "membership" in the last year.

It was somewhat of the worst kept  secret, but this morning the LFA announced to its pool of substitute players that there are twelve places available as full-time players in the league. At the September 1st draft, it had been decided to keep these vacant spots available so that the  phenomenal amount of new players that have joined the league over the last month could all be seen. The LFA did the same thing during its inaugural year (2013-2014 season), but then, there were only six vacancies, which again allowed the new talent to be seen. A draft of the new candidates will be held next Sunday, September 28 and between now and then, applicants need only to communicate with management, should they be interested in the full time spots.

After weeks of preparation, we finally started the new season! Even though the next few weeks will be exhibition matches, it will serve as a chance for new players to get a feel for the league and allow the selection commitee to analyze the core of our six clubs. We can officially say, it has begun! 

With the first games under our blades and the start of a new season, we saw the six new teams for the 2014-15 season of La Ligue Fédérale des As. We didn’t necessarily have the close games were were hoping for (with the exception of the 3-2 victory of the Bily Kun Czechers against the Rouge Horizon Tomahawks). The other games were a blowout, even if at least one of them was close until the third period.

Unlike the days when the return to school meant the end of our freedom and the long sunny days that flowed any way our imaginations would take us, back to hockey has however, always been a feeling of genuine enthusiasm and joy. Not only is this the chance to catch-up with your BROTHERHOOD friends that you don’t get the chance to see during the off-season, but it is back to business. 

On the eve of the draft, it is with a weary spirit of exhaustion that I put these lines together, reminding myself that you should not exceed 400 words when writing an article these days, as people now lack concentration and lose interest quickly -- a sad mutation of our species, when you think about it; don't be surprised if I don't respect this approach, as it is for your own good.