Hi guys, it’s the webmaster. Risto asked me to post the following message.

Dear reader,

For years now, I have been busy blogging here at www.ristopakarinen.com, about different kinds of topics. Things that make me laugh, make me cry, make me go hmmm, and things that make me me.

Now, after several emails from you – and you know who you are, I hope so, anyway – pointing out that not everybody loves hockey I think I finally understand what you mean.

A reader from Italy put it this way:

“I love your blog. It’s like that convenient store you always run to late at night when everything else is closed. The one friend that’s going to surprise you with exotic illegally imported cans of olives that have writing in a language you’ve never heard of. That one neighborhood store that’s also the post office, Ticketmaster pickup, and a bingo parlor.”

That’s when I realized something had gone awry with my blog.

And I’m nothing if not sensitive to my readers’ wishes. Without you, there’s no blog. Without a blog, there’s no me. Without me, I’m nothing. I’d be like a one hand clapping in an empty hockey arena, or a slap shot into an empty net on an empty pond in eastern Finland. (Nobody lives there, you see).

So, I have decided to split my blogging between hockey and unhockey. I’ll keep on blogging here at ristopakarinen.com/home, because home is where my blog is, but I will also launch a new blog at ristopakarinen.com/hockey because that’s where the hockey writing will be.

The Puckarinen site is all about hockey. I’ll post news, thoughts, my stories that have been published elsewhere, occasional podcasts, my Twitters, and other hockey musings.

Two sites for the price of one is a deal very few media outlets are willing to give you in these economic times. I hope you’ll be twice as happy — even, or maybe, especially, if you only visit one of them regularly.

See you here and there,
R

There you have it. Bookmark both pages.

— webmaster