I don’t want to be accused of not being an equal opportunity zennist. And I know there are a few of our friends here that also love Mikey. Since this is his first rodeo at the All Star Game AND he’s an alternate Captain, here’s YOUR moment of MIKEY Zen:
Pants' idea of lunch!
a REAL sad panda - but hot!
those guns should be outlawed!
no snuggie needed
Dear Mr. Letang, in honor of the All-Star Game, we wish you the best of luck. We hope you keep your helmet off as much of possible, perhaps your shirt too, and get in front of the camera as much as possible please. Don’t be a wall-flower because we voted for you, we want to SEE you – A LOT. THANKS – we here at WUYS.
whip my hair
Only if this comes with Kris Letang in it with room for two like a double wide!
The Coyotes really know how to party! Only in a place where it gets to be like a million degrees would they give away a wearable fleece blanket. Beer for a buck? I am so there. But does it come with a belt? Because that is what is in for this Spring – EVERYONE knows that.
Now what kind of hockey bloggers would we be if we didn’t do our own Mock Draft for NHL All-Star Game? Terrible ones, that’s what kind.
Just to preface, this draft was conducted via Gmail chat and remained mostly civil and professional, with the exception of when Pants drafted Sharp and when Chuck drafted Letang. Choice , colorful language was used. There were threats of violence and the removal of earrings and press-on nails before engaging in a girly slap fight. We learned how from watching Mike Green.
And these guys…
Pants vs. Chuck
We used a very highly scientific method of selecting these teams, which included not only their obvious talent and season performance thus far, but also how awesome their hair/beards are.
So here you go…
TEAM PANTS
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TEAM CHUCK
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Forwards:
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Forwards:
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Defensemen:
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Defensemen:
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Goalies:
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Goalies:
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So based on this mock draft, who do you think will win this year’s All Star Game? Who will be the MVP?
Chuck suggested that Brent Burns should dye his beard black a la Brian Wilson of the SF Giants. Thus it only makes sense he would be on Pants’ team. FEAR THE BEARD. And we’re not talking about that Amish nonsense the Staal boys grow during playoffs.
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Brian Wilson |
Brent Burns (the hockey player) |
I hope you’ve cleared your schedules for All-Star weekend. If you’re not snowed in (Chuck) or 2839.97 miles away (me), please go to the events and report back! At least the free stuff, like…
Red Carpet Arrivals [NHL.com]
Saturday, prior to the Honda NHL SuperSkills, players will arrive at the RBC Center to a red carpet runway. The players will arrive at staggered times from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. All will walk and interact with fans and media.
Hive five, great success.
Schedule of Events (all televised on Versus):
Friday – 8 PM ET (5 PM here, leaving work early!)
NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft
Saturday – 7:00 PM ET
NHL Skills Competition
Sunday – 4:00 PM ET
NHL All-Star Game
I got it!
This works out well for me since I’m moving out of my apt and all I have left is a beach chair and my television. I can tape up boxes while I watch the festivities. I’m guessing the draft will be my new favorite part of the event, because it’s likely to be more competitive than the actual game.
You’ve been warned or not warned but I’m not sure which is better. Even I don’t take my love for Ovechkin too seriously that I didn’t laugh my butt off seeing this! Enjoy.
battle of the blades anyone?
This song = tioght. *gets gangsta*
Also awesome is the fight at the 2:08 mark, featuring former Bruin PJ Stock. He straight messes that guy up!
(Thanks to Chocolate Iced, for sending it to me. He is a true friend.)
True story, circa 2006. The setting: Casa Vega restaurant, Los Angeles. We’re outside waiting for our table. I’m turned to the side talking to someone. The front door opens, people come out, I do not look up. A full 30 seconds later:
Lisa: Shannon! Did you see? That was Wayne Gretzky!
Me: WHAT?! NO! Why did you wait till he was gone to tell me.
Lisa: Oh well. He saw you.
And thus went my one and only chance to meet the one and only Gretzky.
Once upon a time at Pants' house...
When I was in 9th grade I was reading Gretzky: An Autobiography. One night we were sitting at the dinner table and the living room door opened itself for no reason. Just swung halfway and stayed there. We all looked at each other. My brother called out: “Wayne, is that you?” And since then Gretzky has been credited with every weird thing that’s happened in my house. Can’t find your keys? Wayne took them. Why is the cat eating that plant? Wayne didn’t feed her. What happened to all the hot water? Wayne used it washing that fantastic hair.
An epic of epic epicness.
Gretzky played 1695 NHL games (including playoffs). He scored a total of 3238 points. Go ahead, drool. That’s a 1.91 point-per-game average over a 21-year career. And he had only 643 penalty minutes. In 1981-82, he scored 92 goals. In 1985-86, he scored 215 points in 80 games. There are too many records to name, read them all here.
To give you perspective, Sidney Crosby has played 474 NHL games (inc. playoffs). He has 654 total points. If he stays on this pace, he will need 22.84 more regular seasons to match Gretzky’s numbers. At which point he’ll be almost 46 years old. [Note: Did all this math myself. Admittedly suspect.] As Yahoo’s PuckDaddy points out, Ovi would have to average over 43 goals per season for the next 14 seasons to catch Gretzky. [Link]
Raise your glass.
Today’s NHL is a different place and the very idea of a 92-goal season, or most of Gretzky’s other staggering accomplishments, seems insane. Perhaps the only reason I’d ever wish to be older, so I could have really appreciated Wayne in his heyday. It must have been something to see.
Happy birthday, Wayne Gretzky. You can keep all those car keys and TV remotes you stole.
congrats - perhaps!
Today is failing at life.
First off, it snowed this morning just in time for my morning commute to work. (Me + slippery snow – no morning caffeine = grumpy) We are supposed to get 8-12″ more tomorrow night and the Bruins got shut out by the LA Kings last night. Then I get to work and read on www.boston.com that Marc Savard has been diagnosed with his second concussion in 10 months and will not play.
Thanks, Hockey Gods. Way to add more rock salt to my wounds.
OW!...quit it...
Savard took a hit from former teammate Matt Hunwick on Saturday in the Bruins’ 6-2 win over the Avalanche. While this latest concussion is deemed “moderate”, this news still leaves me feeling sad and frankly worried for Savvy’s future. I worry that this is the beginning of the slow, downward spiral of yet another talented player’s hockey career.
One very sad Canadian Panda. It breaks my heart.
Many an NHL superstar has been felled by this dreaded injury (i.e. the Lindros Brothers, Pat Lafontaine, Matthew Barnaby, Keith Primeau, Adam Deadmarsh, Steve Moore, etc, etc.) and while the league has taking measure to lessen these injuries and punish those who intent to injure, the fact remains that concussions will always be a part of the game.
Until they encase everyone in bubble wrap and staple fluffy pillows to the boards.
"Mommmmmmmmm, can I play hockey NOW?"
Not likely, folks. Hockey is a contact sport – a rough, physically demanding game where 200 lb men skate at top speed straight into each other, sometimes with enough force to shatter glass. Insane, right? But we love it all the same.
I hope that Marc can recover soon. I hope he can rejoin his team (who have been playing amazingly well as of late. Last night’s hiccup excluded, of course.) and help them as they push toward the playoff. I sincerely, with all my heard, hope that his career as one of the preeminent NHL centermen is not over.
Because that would also make me one very sad panda.
We want less “sad” and more of this please…
Happy PANDA!
*thankyouandgoodnight*
We are just two minutes into tonight’s Penguins-New York Islanders game and there have been two fights already. I know they have a week off but for the love of all things hockey and Canadian, PLEASE DON’T HURT LETANG OR FLEURY tonight. Or you will screw my weekend. I’m just sayin’. I know there are a few other people who feel the same way.
please don't get hurt tonight
can't let a day go by without a photo of his hotness
ignore the princess on the left - fleury is adorable!
I think Geno and Crosby should just come clean like Zetterburg and Luongo and say, “I just don’t want to attend. Thanks but no thanks .” Which leads to a whole other discussion, should there be an All-Star game? Because with the All-Stars dropping like flies – what does that say to us fans? It sorts feels like the ultimate F-You – D-listed like the entertainment. Dissed and disrepected.
knee looks good to me
Ok, was anyone watching the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Fliers last Sunday? Because this is a priceless little nugget of gold. Not because it was a rematch between the Stanley Cup teams of last year but because Marty Turco mocked Pierre Mcguire on national TV – NBC to be exact. Mike Milbury plows over him between periods when NBC has hockey games and everyone else talks over him. He’s the kid no one liked but kept showing up to play and always thought he should be captain. Someone even refered to his Stanley Cup Ring as his ‘decoder ring’ which prompted me to ask Mr. Cherrie “He played hockey? He has a ring?” Mr. Cherrie shrugged and pulled up the internet and did some research. He won them as a ‘scout’ and assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. That’s like getting ‘most improved’ by proxy which explains why he wears them all the time.
Who saw the season premiere of Modern Family on ABC? When the beloved station wagon starts rolling empty toward the cliff while they watch helplessly? The father jumps on the hood, starfish-style, in a desperate attempt to do something, anything. And his wife stands by and yells, “What’s the plan, Phil?!” Tell me NHL, what is the plan?
Clay Aiken will perform the US National Anthem on Sunday at the All-Star Game. Stop laughing.
If I was invisible (Wait... I already am).
Clay is a native of Raleigh, a Canes fan and he has performed the National Anthem there before. I can’t talk smack about Clay because the first thing I did when I heard this was open iTunes, click on “Invisible” (of course I have it) and belt it out. It’s a great song with creepy lyrics.
But I do have to say something. We’ve previously addressed the NHL’s tragically D-list celebrity appeal [here]. If only we were famous, we could class this joint up a little bit instead of marveling that the guy who played (Plays? Is it still on?) Lex Luthor on Smallville isn’t really bald after all.
But Clay Aiken? NHL, WHAT IS YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC? Clay was on American Idol in 2003. His last Top 40 hit was a Christmas song in ’05. His current record cracked the charts for a single week in June. Do you think Willa Ford was busy?
Clay’s new album and tour are called “Tried and True” – featuring all standards. Admittedly, they sound great. But Michael Buble is Canadian, couldn’t he sing the anthem? Even his own? If only Westlife were American, they could have done it.
Aloow us to be Frank.
I’m sure Clay will kill it and hey, it’s only one song. I just don’t see how this makes any sense for the NHL. Maybe Aiken’s performance will turn a whole new middle-aged generation of Claymates into avid hockey fans.
So I just finished watching my Kings spank the Bruins, sorry Chuck. I sent you a text. Touched by God had an assist and it was a shut out – 2-0 on Timmy the Tank – not since 2000 have the Kings blanked the Bruins and they have beat the Bruins the last 5 times – yay Kings! Awesome fight below.
But riddle me this Batman – because this is not the first time I’ve had to yell at the TV at an NHL team. Why on earth, when they are winning, do they go into the same stupid thing. I see this in football too and for lack of a better explanation, I can only call it ‘prevent defense’. They’ve been grinding it out in the opposition’s end for the first 2 and 2/3’s of the game which is WHY THEY ARE WINNING IN THE FIRST PLACE and then all of a sudden, they just fall back and start chipping it back and allow the other team to hang out in their end and almost ALWAYS end up either losing the game or ALMOST losing the game. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Why change strategy when the first one was working for you?
respect my authoritee!
OK, I know I am not an NHL coach but if any one has a legitimate coherent answer to this question, I’d really love to hear it because I seriously, do not understand WHY. The Kings almost lost the game switching to this idiotic strategy. I didn’t understand it when I watched football with my Dad and I don’t understand it now seeing it in hockey. It’s just plain lame.
not to be out done in the hair department today
every girl loves a sharp dressed man
we must include one shirtless op - can rock a mullet too
your final moment of zen
Mike talked about his All-Star Game alternate captaincy before the Caps went out and spanked the Leafs [Video]. They play the Rangers today on Versus… damn, I wanted to watch Elk Hunter.
My stylist did this.
The real All Star is Mike’s cowlick though – how do you even get a helmet on over this hair? And because you know Ovi hates to be bested at anything, he tried to show Mike up with a ‘do of his own.
Is good, yes?
I’m still Team Green.
not this 'ovechtrick' ...
i can't wait for february 17th - dawn!
lights, camera ... ACTION!
Introducing Mike Green, All-Star Game alternate captain for Team Staal. I control the universe!! This could not wait for Mikey Monday.
Now I'm going to have to buy a jersey!
From the NHL.com article, I just loved this part:
Green has been the NHL’s most dynamic offensive defenseman the previous two seasons, but he has also steadily improved his work at the defensive end. He has eight goals and 21 points this season for the Capitals, and he is fourth in the League in time on ice at 26:02 per contest.
The 25-year-old Green is a two-time finalist for the Norris trophy and a two-time NHL first-team All-star. He’s lead all defensemen in goals and points in each of the past two seasons and in goals for three straight years.
If you don't want attention, don't drive an orange Vespa.
And from the Capitals website:
Green, a two-time member of the NHL’s end-of-season NHL First All-Star Team and a two-time Norris Trophy runner-up, has led NHL defensemen in goals for three years in a row. He has also been tops among NHL defensemen in points for the past two seasons and is one of only two active defensemen with a 70-point season in his career – the other being Lidstrom, the opposing Captain. Green this season ranks fourth in ice time per game among NHL defensemen.
To top off today’s lovefest, the chairty organization Sporting Generosity has named Mike their January Player of the Month for doing good things for lots of people. [Link] No sad puppy face for Greener today!
Our hero.
I wanted to include Shea Weber in the Skills Competition post, but there are really no YouTube videos of his game highlights. Just big, bone-crunching hits. Shea almost won the ’09 Hardest Shot with a 103.4 mph slapper [video]. Chuck’s pal Chara beat him by 2mph. When you’re going that fast, what’s 2mph?
So we’re giving Shea a little Foxy Friday love in hopes that it boosts his internet profile. *wink*
I'm laughing because I'm going to hurt you.
Wikipedia has informed me that Weber grew 5 inches in one year (that hurts) and was 6’2″ at the age of 15 (that’s awkward). I like the name Shea, but I bet it helps to be a giant so high school kids aren’t mean to you.
Weber became the Preds captain at the end of last year. He also won Olympic gold with Team Canada. He currently leads the team with 29 points and the Predators are 4th in the Western Conference. That’s ahead of the Blackhawks, folks.
Real conversation with my brother:
Pants: Going to a hockey game. Sharks vs. Predators.
Brother: The Predator is someone’s mascot? Is that even allowed?
Pants: Predators. Not the Predator.
Brother: Oh. Bummer. ScyFy should do a Shark vs. Predator movie starring Schwarzennegger. They could play hockey.
At the Sharks vs. Predators game two weeks ago, Shea just looked like a nice guy. Until he leveled someone with a huge hit. But that’s how we roll here at WUYS – we like it rough. You might even end up ass-over-tea kettle in your own bench!
Chuck pointed out that this is two Nashville Foxy Fridays in a row. Someday I’ll break out the photo of me & Steve Sullivan at the 1994 Albany River Rats Calder Cup Championship event and show you all what foxy really means. (Note: I will never show you this picture. It’s too embarrassing for both of us.)