Who is Ed Lau?

I don’t cry often.

Funerals, weddings, tear duct examinations, whatever…I seldom shed a tear. That’s just the way I am. However, any time I think of the Canuck’s ‘94 Stanley Cup heroics or see the video clip of Jovo jumping up and down in the penalty box in ‘04 or sing the Canadian National Anthem with 18,629 of my closest friends at GM Place, the waterworks are as good as guaranteed. That’s how much I love the game of hockey.

I’m from Vancouver, where the Canucks are as much of a religion as any other form of worship. My personal blog, the.[Ed]ition began in November of 2006, through which I met fellow SlapShotSquaders Michael Kwan, Gary Jones and Rainer Schmoll. I brought up the idea of a hockey blog to Michael earlier this year since I found that the response for hockey posts on my personal blog was lackluster, probably due to the fact that the majority of readers are American, where hockey comes somewhere after shuffleboard on the list of sports. For guys that live and breathe hockey like Michael, Gary and I, it made sense to start a focused hockey blog where we could rant and rave about everything that’s happening in our favorite sport.

I look forward to discussing all the vital issues in hockey as well as trade rumors, game analysis and other news. Don’t worry…not every post will be about how much we hate the Leafs.

Who is Michael Kwan?

Some of you may already know me, Michael Kwan, from my personal blog Beyond the Rhetoric. Others may recognize me from my freelance writing duties around the web, producing a variety of content for sites like John Chow dot Com, Mobile Magazine, and Think Computers.

But it’s not my freelance writing that brings me to Slap Shot Squad dot Com. Well, not exactly anyways. I came to meet Ed Lau earlier this year and somewhere along the line, we decided that we should start up a hockey blog together. Maybe it’s because I did a handful of posts during the 05/06 NHL hockey season on my blog, dishing out my playoff predictions, hockey pool picks, and a link to help keep up with the NHL free agency.

I guess my relationship with hockey started shortly before the Vancouver Canucks 1994 playoff run. Fellow Vancouverites probably remember that era all too well… the one that ended in game seven with the New York Rangers. During those years and the ones that followed, my bedroom walls were plastered with images of Kirk McLean, Pavel Bure, Cliff Ronning, and the rest of the team that wore Halloween-colored skates on their jerseys. It’s a little sad that the only member of that squad still on the ice today is Trevor Linden.

Hockey is a way of life for good ol’ Canadian boys. I’m glad that I now have a proper outlet to express that passion.

Who is Gary Jones?

Big G is here to crack some skulls and talk some hockey.

I am the Sales & Marketing Manager at BlueFur.com and part owner of Manticore Media Group. I handle 12 full time staff and a handful of contractors to keep over a 100+ servers online. I exude the word grit so hockey and I just go hand in hand.

I met Ed and Michael through Evil Panda slayer John Chow. After reading Ed’s and Michael’s blog I found out they are passionate hockey fans and it became a topic of conversation at Dot Com Pho’s. When I heard they were going to start a hockey blog, something I had contemplated doing, I was all over them. When I offered the hosting and domain, I’m sure they agreed thinking “How bad can he be?”

I look forward to the 2008 season and can’t wait to do some slams of Bettman.

Who is Rainer Schmoll?

I’m here to talk, rant and bitch about hockey, specifically the Canucks and maybe some Bettman-bashing tossed in there for good measure (which is a hobby of mine).

I am an injured worker who is dealing with severe permanent pain. I own the Thinkreferrals Business Network which I started long before I was injured on the job and it keeps on growing, though slower now that I have limitations. I started blogging on my ThinkBlog on January 1st, 2007 and love the power of my blog for all of the Thinkreferrals Business Members.

Currently I am the Old Guy on the Blog. I have been a Canucks fan since game one in 1971 and before that I was an avid Montreal Fan. I played hockey for over 10 years and Trevor Linden is my all time favorite Player on and off the ice. On average, I get to between 10 and 15 games a year with Gary Jones.