It was about midnight last night when the site suddenly went down. All three Gallofs resembled a Muppet skit as they sat trying to figure out which Gremlin just muddled up the site. Then it hit me . . .

So you wanted to run a hockey site, eh?

Yes, my mental voice even has a Canadian accent. After all, it IS hockey.

There is a supreme respect to anyone who can make a living or at least make a hearty dent at one with a site. From Greg Wyshynski’s amazing Puck Daddy, to James Mirtle’s par de excellence From The Rink and the strong SBNation network of bloggers, to Lyle Richardson’s must-read Spector’s Hockey, to Dave Pagnotta’s Fourth Period site and Hockey Style magazine,  to the masterful news aggregation of Kuklas Korner, to rumormill’s Eklund and Hockeybuzz, to the great HFboards forums and beyond…they do what they do well and it clearly takes one hell of an effort to get it all done.

I am not here to compete with them. HockeyIndependent.com is designed to compliment them and to add our own brand to the fabric of hockey online.

Magazines are being cut left and right. Newspapers have hit a wall. Beat writers are disappearing. Online content has filled a gap in all of sports, but especially in the shrinking paper space of hockey.

Freelance writers are still angry when you mention that we bloggers are replacing them. Yet, it holds true in almost every publishing market. The focus, mostly, has turned to a online based focus. Within that realm, those passionate fans or newbie writer has made that jump far better than the writer who needs the paycheck in a undefined online market during economic upheaval.

Do I think bloggers should replace them? Not at all. Quality and content should reign supreme in any publishing venue.

But it doesn’t these days, and it’s a damn shame. Because readers deserve the best content that can be provided.

This site contains both published and freelance writers, newbie bloggers, established bloggers, and anything in-between all this. Our concentration is content and we hope that our merry band of hockey bloggers will find our niche as hockey fans come more and more to the web.

It will take us some time to get up to speed. We actually are live two weeks ahead of schedule. Word was out even when we were in testing by some overeager peers who were being tremendously supportive.

In my day job, I am a Tech and Art Production guru for a 110 year old business to business publishing firm in NYC. Scott Gallof, your friendly neighborhood NY Rangers Senior Writer builds website for another division of that same company. Phillip Gallof, another confused Ranger fan, is playing the waiting game to find work in the field in tough times.

All three of us did this site, planning it out between Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stouts and Padilla cigars. This is a family affair, and I hope you have our trust in that we are off in the right direction. Because of our expertise, we will seek to progress how the site works as well how readers interact with bloggers.

We are planning all sorts of things, including brand new technology come October or November to use on the site. We will always seek to advance the concept what a hockey site is about and how we can best cover hockey and provide information.

So, upon this midnight clear, as the site went down as if Obi Wan Kenobi himself went to our hosting Death Star and turned off the tractor beam, one could likely hear Gallof’s cursing all along the south shore of Long Island.

So you wanted to make a hockey site, eh?

Yes, indeed. Excuse me as I roll up my sleeves.

- BD

ps. If the site is running slow for you, we have a Google Gears SpeedUp Tool for your browser! Please join IntenseDebate to post in our commenting system. Easy to join and take part.

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