Dater’s Daily: MacKinnon’s birthday, Bob Hartley living his best Russian life

Good Wednesday to all. The first day of September is here, and so we can now truthfully say: there will be an Avalanche hockey game this month (Sept. 28, preseason game).

• It’s also Nathan MacKinnon’s 26th birthday today. People forget he was just 17 when the Avs took him first overall in the 2013 draft. I was there in New Jersey for that draft, and still well remember a boat ride that the NHL arranged for the top prospects, their families and the media, as part of a general media availability thing with them. I still remember sitting at a picnic table with MacKinnon’s mom, dad and sister for a talk about him for a feature story I was writing. Here is that story (Denver Post)
• Here’s a video Bob Hartley did from Russia, which shows how he’s living these days. (YouTube)
• Bob Hartley – man, what a character. He’s still the last coach to have won a Stanley Cup with the Avs. Three Western Conference finals that all went to seventh games and one Stanley Cup in his first four years coaching the team. Not too shabby.
• He’s won championships in Russia as a coach too. He won a championship coaching the Avs’ former minor-league club, the Hershey Bears. He’s one of the most underrated coaches in hockey history, in my opinion.
• Sportsnet: It hasn’t been a banner summer for U.S. women’s teams. First, the soccer loss, and now hockey. The U.S. Women’s team staked themselves a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes but didn’t score again. Oh, Canada wins gold for the first time since 2012.
• Vancouver: The negativity report in Vancouver is HIGH. One of the most negative markets in the league is chewing up its team…
• There are “A” holes in the Red Wings lineup (Detroit Hockey Now)
• Yesterday, I watched a GREAT documentary on a minor-league hockey team from 2005, the Danbury Trashers, owned by a man who “The Sopranos” might have been based on. It’s on Netflix as part of their “Untold” series, and I highly recommend watching it. Here is a great story too on what it’s all about (Washington Hockey Now)
• I finished that book I recommended recently, about the movie “Dazed and Confused” and it was tremendous (Barnes and Noble)
• I’ve been watching the chilling but very well done Nat Geo series on 9-11 the last couple days too. Twenty years ago almost now. Still doesn’t seem real. On Sept. 8, 2001, I can still very well remember flying from Newark N.J. to Stockholm Sweden, and flying right over the Twin Towers and just marveling at the sight. Three days later, they were gone. Still doesn’t seem real.