Colorado Avalanche Blogger Will Radke on Writing Hardships

The Colorado Avalanche have a lot of fans, and some of them take the time to become a blogger. It’s not as easy as it looks!

On this Colorado Avalanche fan site, as on any other, bloggers come and go. Every now and again, you get the one who’s willing to stick it out. Here at Mile High Sticking, we have two that made their year’s anniversary. Let’s look at one today, Will Radke.

Will is a former hockey player himself who just graduated from my favorite players alma mater, the University of Minnesota. Luckily he was born in Colorado and is an Avalanche fan, so I didn’t have to hold his state of residence against him!

Will has been responsible for giving us some behind-the-scenes look at how hockey works. In his first posts, he dissected what was actually going on with the Avs defense:

Will hasn’t been a big fan of Semyon Varlamov’s:

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But he holds John Mitchell in high esteem:

My favorite post of Will’s is actually that time he disrespected Tyson Barrie’s performance at the Stadium Series game:

I’ve got nothing against T-Bear, but I had been maniacally angry after that game, and Will’s post helped explain some of the breakdowns I saw in evidence. Indeed, the whole voice of the piece indicated the frustration I’d felt at that game.

That’s one thing I really appreciate about Will. He’s got an engaging voice. He likes to joke grammar comes hard to him — and there have been a few battles between us — but voice is hard to teach. Luckily, Will has his.

Here’s what Will has to say about his time at Mile High Sticking:

What are some of your favorite posts you’ve written?

Probably my piece on the Avalanche toxic culture because I think it’s almost Av’s fan’s worse fear, but it’s rarely spoken about. And also the fact that one goalie will most likely be moved because of the expansion draft because I felt that a lot of people weren’t aware of the effects the draft will have with it being so far away.

How did you become an Avs fan, and what do you love most about the team?

I was born in Denver and started getting into hockey when I was 3 living in Indiana. As a result we used to go watch a lot of the Fort Wayne Komets (then apart of the IHL). When I moved to Wiscosin around 5, my parents had lived in Colorado a long time so I became an Avs fan by association. I like winning… :)-

More serious answer — back when I used to play I was almost pure speed, so watching guys like Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene play is so fun to me, that’s also probably a very pathetic answer.

What are some things you’ve learned from writing for MHS?

First, it’s a lot harder than it looks. I’ll often remark that I have to write an article and people will comment as if it’s an easy school assignment that will take 30 minutes. Secondly all the great staff and readers we have who- even though I don’t always comment back- bring new ideas to my head.

What do you hope to achieve moving forward?

I’m content writing and hope people enjoy my articles, but outside blogging I’ve been coaching 4 years now and look to continue to improve as a coach and teach some kids!

What advice would you offer to new writers for the site?

Think outside the box. It’s hard to be unique when there’s a million blogs out there. My goal is to never write an article I don’t believe in just to be the “hot take,” and as a result it takes a lot of creativity to create meaningful editorials even twice a week. At the same time look at the other bloggers on and off MHS, I can’t say how much I’ve learned just in presentation and diction that I’m sure have made my articles easier to read just by reading others.