And Now For Something Completely Different

Part Two of the postseason report card for the forwards isn't done yet,but here are a few Michigan-relevant things from around the internet (and maybe a couple that aren't related to the Wolverines):

The finalists for the Selke Trophy have been announced and rest assured, the trophy will be going to a good home. The finalists are Pavel Datsyuk (who is a lock to win it, IMO), Henrik Zetterberg, and Michigan's John Madden.

A reader passed this along: The NHL has released their final rankings for the upcoming draft. Burlon, Czarnik, Pateryn, and Wohlberg all made the list. Burlon is ranked 41st amongst North American skaters, Czarnik is 88th, Pateryn is 146th and Wohlberg is 172nd. At the midterm, they were 57th, 116th, 162nd, and 189th respectively, so the draft stock of all four of our incoming freshmen has gone up.

Edit: Bob Miller pointed out that 2009 commit Lee Moffie is also on the list as the 181st ranked North American skater.

San Antonio lost Game 4 to the Toronto Marlies, so the best-of-seven series is now even at 2. Neither Porter nor Kolarik managed a point in the loss.

Edit: They also lost Game 5 2-1. Kolarik had an assist. They're now down 3-2 in the series.

Blog Posts That I Liked and Haven't Linked Yet:
Genuinely Sarcastic, a glaring omission from the Blogroll which has since been corrected, posted a slew of Red Wings/Avs videos from Youtube which got me all fired up for our second round series with the Avs.

Hoover Street Rag had a recap of their trip to Denver, which sounded only slightly better than our drive out there. I'm a big fan that the next few Frozen Fours are very doable: DC (next year) and Tampa (2012) usually have cheap flights and the Detroit and St. Paul Frozen Fours in 2010 and 2011 are very, very drivable.

SpliceToday had an article about the Michigan/Notre Dame game which reflected on "the pain of relevance". It pondered the question: Is it better to be a high-profile program, knowing that if you lose to, say, Appalachian State, you're never going to hear the end of it, or a fan of a team that is largely irrelevant in the eyes of the world? I'm with the author, taking crap from people after a loss isn't fun, but it would be a lot less fun to not be mentioned at all. Apart from The Horror, in which case I would much prefer toiling in obscurity. It was a pretty good read.

Other Stuff:
Note: The following is not an advertisement.
CentSports (affiliate link....if you'd prefer not to use that one, click here) might be my new favorite website. Basically it's a sports betting site that uses advertiser money to pay for wagers. Since the bettor isn't putting up any money, it's apparently legal. They give you 10 cents to sign up and if you ever go "bust" then you get another 10 cents so you can get started again. Once you get $20 you have the ability to cash out. There are a few people listed who have won a couple hundred dollars. You probably won't get rich doing it, but it's kind of a fun, stress-free way to gamble on sporting events. It certainly made the Rockets game last night more interesting, even though I only won like 65 cents. Try it, it's fun. And if you hit a few bets in a row, the amounts of money might end up paying for lunch or something. Plus, if you use the affiliate link above, I get a bonus of 5% of the bets you win (they don't take money from you, it's a bonus for me)....so use that one and win me a few pennies!

Also, WDFN has partnered with some sites around the blogosphere in an effort to give the fans a bigger voice and they asked if I would like to be a part of it. I've been listening to that station since it first came on the air (I miss Damon "The Dog" Perry), so it was flattering to hear that they like my site and will be adding a link to TBTYB on their Michigan page shortly. I've added a link to the sidebar and will be trying to give a heads up when they've got Michigan content I think you might enjoy