Last night ended the final championship series in the minor leagues.  A few leagues wrapped up quite a while ago, and wrap up who won what.

 

In the AHL, the Binghamton Senators won the Calder Cup, beating the Houston Aeros four games to two.  The Senators won behind a rookie goaltender, and a first term head coach.   But their lineup also had 15 players who had played in the NHL this year at some point.

In the ECHL, the Alaska Aces beat the Kalamazoo Wings four games to one, to win the Kelly Cup.  The Aces had won the Cup in 2006, and lost in the finals in 2009.  This was Brent Thompson‘s second year behind the bench as head coach.

The Central Hockey League pushed their championship series to seven games, with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs winning the Ray Miron President’s Cup over the Colorado Eagles.  The oddity here is that the Eagles will be leaving the CHL to move to the ECHL, while the Mudbugs could be leaving for a less expensive league, like the NAHL (American junior hockey).  The CHL has seen a lot of change this season, and more may be on the way.  Terry Frei of the Denver Post talked about the Mudbugs after their victory.

One of the first leagues to wrap up their season was the Southern Professional Hockey League.  In the SPHL, the Mississippi Surge swept the Augusta RiverHawks 3-0.   In other news, the Mississippi Surge is being sold, and the SPHL Board of Governors approved of the sale, to the owner of the Pensacola Ice Flyers.  So alls well that ends well, right?  Right?

In the junior leagues, the Dubuque Fighting Saints won the USHL title, while in the NAHL, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs won the Robertson Cup.

UPDATE: As was pointed out by Scott in the comments, I made a big mistake.  The Surge are being sold to a group that owns the Pensacola Ice Flyers, not the Augusta RiverHawks.  Thanks for the correction, SM. #SCOTT!

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Today’s bonus content is something that has helped me focus on my writing, or most anything I need to sit down and do by myself.  When it’s too easy to get distracted, or pulled away by outside forces, I use something called the Pomodoro technique.  It’s actually really simple, but the structure is what matters:

– Set a timer for 25 minutes.  If you have a smart phone, you have a timer.  I also have a little program called Pomodoro that puts a 25 minute timer in my menu bar on my laptop (you can find it in the Mac App Store).  But really, any timer will do.

– Work on ONE THING for that 25 minutes.  Don’t switch tasks, don’t go check email or feeds or twitter.  No multitasking.  Just do that one thing.

– After the 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break.  Check email, facebook, whatever.   After the 5 minutes, do another Pomodoro.

– After 4 Pomodoros, take a longer break.  You’ve earned it.

That’s it.  It’s amazing how much working on one thing only can help you, and knowing that you will have a little time to do all the other things that get in your way when you are writing.  Distraction free environments are only so good if you choose not to be distracted.

What I find is that after the 25 minutes, I’m not ready to take a break.  But that’s what focus will do for you.