Cluster Puck

There's some very interesting round table like discussions taking place over at Battle of Alberta amongst members of the Canadian blogging community on various topics related to the upcoming NHL season. Great stuff.

Check it out:
NHL Brainstorm!

They're up to part 2 at this point (#3 is Sunday) in what appears to be a continuing series. It's Canadian only for now but who knows maybe they'll open it up here stateside, especially to bloggers covering the Northwest division.

Battle of Northwest
Bring it on.

Anyways, back to Alberta and our friends up north from... la belle province sans merci. If anyone is interested in learning more about the unusual and fascinating dynamics of this complex place of great hockey, great beauty and so much more you might want to check out:

Against the Grain:
An Irreverent View of Alberta

Books explaining Alberta are needed. Despite what the rest of Canada chooses to think about Alberta, it has now become necessary to make conversation with this brash, unruly and unpredictable province. No matter how intense the desire to avert the eyes, ignore Alberta, that strategy just won't work any more.

And books about Alberta are useful because they offer information on this now-unavoidable power within the national family, although no one book will provide a curious or dismissive out-of-province Canadian with a definitive answer. Alberta is a chameleon, prone to instant switchbacks, various disguises and multiple identities. Reader beware.

Indeed... beware.