May 2, 2010: Many of you who have been following this site for a long time have probably noticed that the updates have become much more infrequent in the past few years. It's been interesting for me personally to have run this site through a long period of change in my life, starting as a university student, moving to Newfoundland for grad school, returning to a few years of dead-end jobs and ultimately establishing myself in a career. Life has taken another positive turn for me of late - I have bought a house with my long-time lady friend and shall be moving within the month.

I have never really been one to reflect on something that I've only ever done as a hobby when the mood strikes, but it hit me not too long ago that I've been at this for seven years. Seven years! I've been recognized in OHL buildings by fans (I have fans?), corresponded with members of the media, team employees, and former players, and in a lot of ways been granted an "in" into the league in a way that I never expected by being just some dude with a website. This site and the Q site average 20,000 unique hits a month between them during the regular season - numbers that absolutely stagger me - and I have never once taken any of that for granted. I love the fact that something I decided to start to do on a whim one day in late 2002 while procrastinating from writing a history term paper has connected with so many other people, and I have made many good friends by doing this.

And on that happy note, I am taking a break.

This past year has been a remarkably busy one for me, and I managed to make it to only six OHL games all season long - two in London, two in Windsor, and one in each of Peterborough and Kingston. Generally speaking, the CHL bug bites me hard as the leaves change colour every year; this year it never happened for me, and the labour of love of doing this site became, in many ways, a labour. With some major life changes in store over this coming summer, I do not want to grow to feel "obligated" to maintain this site during a period in life when I will likely not have the time or energy to do it properly. I want to still love doing it, for free, the way I always have, coding every letter of HTML, taking nearly every photo, and writing nearly every word of text. I do not want to get burned out.

I still may update once or twice over the summer if I find interesting things to share, and I will still check email, but otherwise this is it from me until September. This is not the end. I'll be back, with batteries recharged, as the days grow shorter and the warm weather fades into another hockey season. I promise. I love everything about doing this website. It's just that everyone needs a holiday every seven years or so.

See you in September. See you at the rink.

March 14, 2010: My friend Adam Bruckschwaiger joins the Hall of Fame.

March 6, 2010: In the years since 2006 as my focus has shifted from the OHL to junior hockey in general, the Top 20 Rankings on this site have become more and more out of date. I've pretty much ignored them for the past four years as I've concentrated on other projects, but if traffic numbers are anything to go by, they're still remarkably popular. And so, as I'm now finally able to say once again that I've been to all twenty current buildings in the OHL, I've spent the past few weeks overhauling the entire thing.

So what's new? A lot of profiles have been re-written to better reflect the current situation, but the biggest change has been that the scoreboard category has been completely re-evaluated. In 2005, a video board was pretty much an automatic "A"; now, as they become more and more common across the CHL, it takes actually knowing how to use it to get a decent grade (and HD doesn't hurt either).

Three rankings are quite likely out of date - I have not been to Erie, Barrie or Sault Ste. Marie since they installed their video boards. I will re-evaluate on my next visits to those places, and in the meantime they have been kept with the same ranks as before. This is almost cetainly unfair (to Erie in particular), but with no better plan, it will have to do for now.

Enjoy the new rankings.

February 23, 2010: For the fifth time since 2005, I can once again say that I've been to all 20 current arenas in the OHL, following my weekend trip to the K-Rock Centre in Kingston. The Frontenacs page has been updated with a new writeup and photo. I also saw the Knights take on the Petes this past weekend, and the Peterborough page is also slightly updated. Finally, I've revamped the Top 20 Rankings for the first time since 2007 - while I can't pretend they're 100% current, they're more accurate than they were. They should be rolled out later this week, so check back for another update.

January 8, 2010: One of the truly nice things about running a website like this is that every once in a while, some nice, random stranger will send you something absolutely amazing. With that thought in mind, thank you, Ian Kelso for sending me this beautiful exterior photo of the Hamilton Forum.

November 8, 2009: A new entrant to the Hall of Fame. Also, Cobo Arena has been given a short stay of execution and will remain open into the new year, although demolition is still imminent next year.

October 11, 2009: Season seven of the OHL Arena & Travel Guide kicks off fashionably late today. Seven years ago I was a university student with acres of free time and disposable income. Now I'm older, with a proper job to consume my time and rent and car payments to be made. Growing older happens to us all, but those of you who are long-term readers of the site probably have noticed just how sporadic the updates have become in comparison to what they used to be. I also don't have season tickets anymore, and having the free time to attend 71 CHL games (as I did in 2004-05) looks unlikely to ever happen again. I still love junior hockey and still want to keep updating the site, but travelling every weekend as I once did is probably not going to happen for the foreseeable future.

So then what's on tap for 2009-10? I have tickets to see the Red Wings in November, and am 100% confirmed that I will be going to one of the two games Kingston plays over the Christmas holidays, as my workplace shuts down between Christmas and New Year's and I will therefore be on holiday. I'm also planning to see a Michigan State game in Lansing, and beyond that, we'll have to see.

Updated today: The Sarnia Sports and Entertainment Centre has finally achieved corporate sponsorship and is now the RBC Centre. Links are checked and odd pages around the site are updated with little bits of out of date information now gone. Ticket prices are updated for 2009-10 - the recession appears to have landed this year, with the average ticket price now $15.54 in comparison to last year's $15.24, and in fact one team (the Wolves) has lowered prices across the board for this season. This year's cheapest tickets are once again in Plymouth, while the most expensive tickets once again belong to the Rangers, who charge $18.50 for an adult admission. In addition, I have new pictures on the WHL pages for Kelowna, Regina, and the old Regina Exhibition Stadium.

Oh, and I've created a fan page on Facebook for the site. The link's on the index page.