Ahoy, and happy Humpday. Wednesdays typically aren't much fun, but we've got a little bit of information to share today.

First and foremost, it's great to know that Owen Fussey will be back in Columbia this fall. He fills a myriad of roles in Coach Mann's offense, and the Inferno are likely to have him around more often this year than they did last year. During the previous season, Owen was under contract with the Marlies, and thus could be recalled at will. That's why he only played 53 games with us last season; he was in Toronto for another 14 games. But under his new deal, Fuss is under contract with the Inferno, not Toronto. What this means is that, although AHL teams *can* sign him and call him up during the season, he's likely to get more ice time here. Still, knowing Owen and his abilities (he won the Calder Cup with Hershey in 2005-06), he's likely to spend at least a little time in the "A." Before the season starts, Owen will be attending the Manitoba Moose's AHL camp so as to get some extra conditioning, re-acquaint himself with AHL scouts and to spend some time in his hometown of Winnipeg.

As you can see, Owen's signing graphic had him on a fishhook; when called for his theme, Fuss was enthusiastic about fishing and spending time near the water. We thought it would be ironic if someone caught him for once.



On to other news. The Inferno have teamed up with Entertainment Publications and Sally Foster to help get the word out about their school fundraising campaigns. So, Blaze and the gang have been visiting schools all across the Midlands for the last several weeks, and will continue to do so through early October. Who knows, maybe Blaze will be visiting your kid's school... Be sure to let us know at ajbembry@columbiainferno.com or rebeccac@columbiainferno.com  if you spot The Spotted One at school.

This past weekend Blaze was also around town supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As you can see from the following photo, he kept some pretty, ahem, curious company.



While we all hope, and know, that the Force was with Obi Wan Blazeobi, we aren't exactly sure why Cocky is in this picture. The event was at the Chick-Fil-A on Bush River Rd. in the Boozer Shopping Center. Why was Cocky, a kickin' chicken to be sure, at Chick-Fil-A, a place that causes so much suffering for his kind? You don't see Blaze hanging out at Michael Vick's house, do you?

Blaze also got a chance to play fireman when this picture was snapped.
 
So far the good people at the fire department on Laurel Street have denied Blaze's application for employment. He's already got a job. Well, if you consider goofing off, making people smile and hugging kids a job. Lucky pup.

Finally, submitted for your approval, is a graphical representation of our 2007-08 season. Now, some things may change here in the next couple of days (you'd have a hard time believing how difficult it is to make a schedule in the ECHL), but for right now, this is accurate. Just right-click, select "save as," and you can then make the schedule sheet your desktop background on your computer...



New background here

And a smaller one here
That's all for today!

Greetings Inferno fans!

Today is a pretty important day, so far as I'm concerned, because it marks the first use of our new blog feature here at ColumbiaInferno.com. As the season approaches, this space will be updated very frequently; on almost a daily basis. We'll have practice reports, small interviews, pictures from the previous night's game and much more. The weather around the Capital City may not make many think of hockey, but I assure you that the office is planning all sorts of great promotions to ensure a great experience at the ol' Coliseum. On top of all that, Coach Mann's team is shaping up quite nicely, with some familiar faces from last season, and some fresh ones, too. We've got some new players to announce in the coming weeks, and I'm pretty impressed with what Troy's been able to put together. There's a lot of talent, plus some grit and character to go along with it.

While we're waiting for some news in terms of the roster, I'd like to take a minute to explain what's been going on with some of the release graphics recently. As I'm sure most of you have noticed, the releases for Offers, Sparre and Faulkner are just a little bit different from what we've typically been doing. In the past, the web graphic has just been some colors, a little text and a headshot. If we were lucky enough to have an action shot of the player (such as Tyson Marsh), we'd use that. We here at the office were A-OK with this format up until one Mac Faulkner nixed it.

You see, Mac *hates* the color orange (he fits in well in Columbia), and when he signed he told us not to use orange in his background graphic. He said, jokingly, that we should give him an island theme. Bad idea. It came across as a challenge to us, so that's why Faulkner was on a tropical beach with a parrot on his stick in the picture. The graphic was essentially posted to get a rise out of Mac, and it kind of worked. Not long afterwards, some of his teammates were calling him to inquire why his "island party was coming back to Columbia."


Mac's graphic became something of a joke, and before we knew it, each new player to sign with the club was asked what they wanted their graphic theme to be. New winger Daniel Sparre was interested in a graffiti-style theme, so that's why he's posted on a brick wall.

Our new trainer, Jessica Judge, didn't want anything outrageous; hence her simple graphic.


New defenseman Sean Offers likes to surf, so his picture became part of a surfboard.
 
We like to think that the graphics help you get to know a slightly more personal side to the players; it's something completely unique to each player.


So there you have it: the story behind the crazy graphics. We're still waiting for someone to choose robots, pirates, ninjas or lumberjacks as their theme.

Is there anything else you'd like to see in this space? Comments? Questions? email me with your first name and location at ajbembry@columbiainferno.com.