Hockey Wilderness Welcomes Bruce Ciskie

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Wilderness, as part of our rebuilding efforts, the Hockey Wilderness family is pleased to welcome a new member. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of the AOL Fanhouse, one individual made a decision, came to us and said "I want to bring my talents to the Wilderness". And it is with great honor and pride that I introduce to you, the newest member of the Hockey Wilderness editorial staff, Bruce Ciskie. (Follow him at twitter.com/bruceciskie)

Hello, Wilderness peoples. Before I tell you who I am (unfortunately, I can't tell you why you should care ... that's up to the individual consumer), let me thank Nathan for the (solicited) invitation to join the team. As a Wild fan, hockey fan, and someone who enjoys blogging in his spare time, this just makes too much sense.

For those who don't know, I've been around Minnesota and covering hockey for over 15 years now. I've done high school play-by-play, covered section playoff games and state tournaments, and for the last six years I've done radio play-by-play for Minnesota Duluth men's hockey.

(You may not know this, but the Bulldogs won the national championship last month. THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.)

I currently serve as the Sports Director for Red Rock Radio in Duluth, a company that has local broadcast rights for the Wild and Vikings, as well as UMD football and men's hockey. I do morning sports cut-ins on three of our Duluth stations, one of which is KQDS 94.9 FM, a rock station that has affiliate stations around northeast Minnesota (KQ 105.5 in Grand Rapids, KQ 106.7 in Babbit and Ely, KQ 95.3 in Grand Marais, and KQ 101.5 in the Brainerd Lakes region).

I was one of the original blogger hires at FanHouse, started by AOL in 2006. I served as the site's NHL Editor for a few months starting in December of last year. FanHouse -- as we know it, at least -- died March 1, when it was officially taken over by The Sporting News. I didn't travel a lot, but it was a great chance to talk to some big names in hockey (I interviewed Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Cal Clutterbuck, T.J. Oshie, Jamie McBain, Tom Renney, Ed Olczyk, Bob McKenzie, Darren Eliot, among others, for stories on the site).

I'm not going to besmirch my experience there, as I learned a lot about writing and interviewing during my time there, and worked with some great people. But the loss of FanHouse left a bit of a void when it came to talking and writing about hockey on a regular basis. While I have written regularly on my blog (ciskie.blogspot.com), it wasn't the same as being able to interact with the people at FanHouse and our readers.

I'm excited to come on here at Hockey Wilderness, and I'll be doing my best to cover the upcoming NHL Draft, which is in St. Paul next month. While I don't expect it to be a banner year for Minnesotans at the top of the draft, it's still going to be interesting to follow, as the Wild finally appear to be building a team the right way. Chuck Fletcher might not be able to make a big splash with "casual" fans with his first-round pick, but you'll know about whoever he is by reading this site.

You may (check that, "will") get (more than) a few opinions from me about hockey. I'll be around in the comments, because I'll never run or hide from something I write. I may have worked WITH Jay Mariotti for a few years, but I'll never be LIKE him.

Ok, now be nice and say hello.