Well, it’s that time of the year again…the time when hockey action officially ends and the withdrawals officially begin. It hasn’t even been a week since Chicago lifted the Cup, and many of us are already counting the days until October 7^th. Surviving the off-season is a challenge, but when one is prepared for the challenge they’re about to face they tend to get through it better than those who go about it blindly. So to help you prepare, here is a hockey lover’s guide to helping you get through the off-season (relatively) pain-free.

June 22^nd marks our first taste of hockey during the off-season, with the ’10-’11 schedule set to be released on that day. You may have noticed that it’s being released about 3 weeks earlier than usual, and we have Mr. Gary Bettman to thank for that. I like to think it’s his way of saying “Here’s the schedule for next season, hockey addicts. Plan your lives accordingly.” In all honesty I’m not exactly sure why it’s being released so early, but you won’t hear me complaining.

The day after that we have the NHL Awards, which is always a fan favorite because while we love seeing the boys out on the ice, nothing quite compares to watching your favorite (or least favorite) hockey player awkwardly accept an award with a 15-second max. speech. Unless English isn’t the player’s first language, and then it’s more like 10 seconds and you can barely understand a word being said (I’m lookin’ at you, Datsyuk). But hey, no one ever said these guys were expert orators, and their awkwardness is just another reason to love them.  You can catch the awards that night on Versus at 7:30 ET.

Closing out the week will be the NHL Draft on the 25^th and 26^th, where we will finally find out the answer to the question, “Taylor or Tyler?” In addition to that we’ll be able to enjoy all the other things that seem to always accompany the draft: ridiculous rumors, blockbuster trades (let’s not forget that the Pronger trade was done at the draft last season), and of course the chance to watch your team draft the next superstar-in-the-making. You can catch the first round of the draft June 25^th at 7:00 ET on Versus, but rounds two through seven which take place on the 26th will not be televised, so you’ll want to be constantly checking your team’s website to get updates on the players they’ve drafted.

The real challenge to a hockey addict’s sanity comes after the NHL Draft, because that’s when things slow down significantly. Free Agency begins July 1^st, and for the first week there will be constant signings and trades and you’ll be refreshing the NHL.com home page 100 times a day to see who signed where. But after that we’ll enter a point where the highlight of your hockey week will be your team signing some minor league prospect that will probably never even play a game for your team…and that’s rough. The month of July is truly the dog days of the hockey off-season, and this will no doubt be the time where you’ll be so desperate for hockey that you’ll resort to watching games from last season 20 times, popping in that Stanley Cup DVD to relive the good ‘ole days, and maybe view Slap Shot a couple of times for good measure.

But fear not, for there are plenty of good resources for suppressing your craving for hockey during the off-season. First and foremost there is the NHL Network, which will supply you with a never-ending lineup of hockey action and the latest in hockey news. If you don’t have the NHL Network on your TV, you can watch it online here anytime for free. Now if you want to go back and watch specific games from last season, you can visit Hulu and there you’ll find past games (some full, some condensed) to watch for free as well.

Before you know it it’ll be September, where you begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Training camp starts in the first couple of weeks, and you’ll have your first real chance to hear (and possibly see depending on your proximity to your team) how your players are doing coming back from the break, who’s battling an injury, who came back from summer in less-than-stellar shape, and which prospects are fighting for a starting spot on the team among other things. Immediately after is pre-season, and while the games don’t count, I think we all can agree that hockey is hockey and after an off-season that seems like it lasts forever you’ll take what you can get.

I don’t think I need to say what comes next, hockey lovers. Because if you’re anything like me, you already have a countdown of your own going until that fateful day when real hockey returns. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I find that to be true about hockey.  As tough as it is, going for such a long period of time without hockey will only strengthen your love for the game, and we all know that in the end it’s worth the wait.