Had an impromptu tête à tête with a (male) downy woodpecker during my walk in Grey Nuns White Spruce Park today.
A great pleasure anytime an unexpected little miracle flies into my life, however briefly. This handsome fellow provided the highlight of my day.

Reposting with correct graphic. Doh.
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Oilers w/ 10 GP since 4 Nations. At 3-7-0 they posted the worst record of any NHL team for their last 10. Worst goal differential as well (-13).

The 32 teams range from 6-16 points & average exactly 5-4-1 = 11 points.

Not many playoff teams in the bottom 10:

Oilers have played 10 games since 4 Nations. At 3-7-0 they have posted the worst record of any NHL team for their last 10. Worst goal differential as well (-13).

The 32 teams range from 6-16 points & average exactly 5-4-1 = 11 points.

Not many playoff teams in the bottom 10:

I've been enjoying the wide pairing of inner solar system planets Mercury and Venus, as both make their way towards Earth on the evening side of the Sun.

Venus is the higher, brighter one, tho not for much longer.

Far below it is innermost Mercury, nestled between the treetops in this capture.

Decided to walk outside today despite the wind chill, & was well rewarded when I encountered this magnificent Great Horned Owl just chillin’ in the crotch of a tree along Red Willow Trail here in St. Albert

Venus is in its best "Christmas Star" mode this year, adding a brilliant steady gleam of pure white in S-->SW during evening twilight that will hold its own with any ornamental light.

Of course it's not a star at all. It's also not a drone. 🤨

My compliments of the season to one & all.

One of the big stories from #Oilers third 10-game segment was the emergence of secondary scoring from the forward ranks.
Draisaitl & McDavid have been bringing it all season, but the rest of the forwards have really surged after a dreadful start.

The great tabla maestro Pandit Zakir Hussain has died, age 73, & i am deeply saddened.

Saw/heard him perform live on a number of occasions & met him a couple of times, the first at a workshop associated w/ his Masters of Percussion tour.

Hussain was also a member of the great fusion band Shakti.

According to Natural Stat Trick, since the beginning of 2022-23 Bouchard is #1 among NHL d-men (min 1000 minutes) at 5v5 in the displayed categories: SF%, xGF%, HDCF%. This version sorted by SF%.
Not bad for a powerplay merchant.

Lest you think the above is simply a product of Bouchard playing 6 series in those 2 years, here’s the same data sorted by points per game. Min 5 GP.

Just 5 D averaged 1.0 P/GP, with Bouchard comfortably at #1.

He’s pretty good at getting the puck to McDavid, isn’t that something we want to see?

So did they select Team Canada or Team November? How about picking guys with a history of producing in the big games?

Playoff scoring leaders for d-men, last 2 seasons. 5 guys of all nationalities scored as many as 20 points.

#1 Evan Bouchard had 21 more* points than #2 Miro Heiskanen.

Same paragraph. 27th. Not good.

Craig Simpson scored 56 goals in 1987-88 plus 13 more in the playoffs. His 3 primary centres that year were Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky & Mark Messier.