Bio: CI

- Posted in Chocolate Iced

Favorite Team(s): Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, Boston University Terriers

Home Team: New York Islanders

Favorite Players: Alexander Ovechkin; Jarome Iginla

Team(s) I hate: Montreal Canadiens, Boston College Eagles

Player I hate: Sean Avery (What a jerk)

Hockey Wife: Christine Simpson, Versus reporter ( I always thought she was hot in a Stiffler’s Mom kinda way.)

Stiffler's Mom?

Hockey Girlfriend(s): Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux (They are hot. See photo.  Gotta support the stars and stripes!)

The Twins

Favorite Hockey Memory: Watching the Terriers win a national championship.

Ted paints the stairs … RED!

- Posted in Randomness

Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Caps, in an effort to REALLY rock the red, had the stairs in the Verizon Center painted his favorite color RED. Now that’s a man I can really get behind who not only owns an NHL team, but knows how to interior decorate! You go, Ted!

Dammit Geno (Episode 1)

- Posted in Dammit Geno

It’s NHL Media Tour day in NYC and there will certainly be tons of fun photos floating around by this afternoon (all over Twitter already!).  They might as well give up now because I don’t see how they can top this:

Uhhhhh...

DAMMIT GENO! What are you doing?  Evgeni Malki (ak.a. Alternate Captain Awkward Turtle) has let someone cut a a racing stripe in his hair.  Will he be taking off his shirt in a taxi cab in his quest to become Patrick Kane?  Whatever product he’s hawking never stood a chance against his ‘do. [photo from @pghpenguins]   And he looks SO uncomfortable, like someone’s making him swear the oath he won’t tattle on his friends when they go in Prince John’s yard:

Spiders, snakes and a lizard's head...

Earlier this summer, Geno wore this to celebrate Coach Bylsma’s visit to Russia.  Yes it is a t-shirt with a picture of a scarf on it. And he thinks he looks PIMP in it.  The extra shirt he’s carrying probably has a picture of an umbrella, because Mama Malkin didn’t raise no fool.

As someone who’s been known to use the hashtag #ibelieveingeno, I fully support Malkin despite waning point production and the fact that he seems to be the magician’s assistant – Crosby puts him in the box and he disappears when you really need him.  BUT, I have hope for this season.  Let’s just get him some more Pens gear, a buzz cut and a fresh start.

Guilty secret …

- Posted in Randomness

Long before Ovie was a glint in his father’s eyes, I was a hockey snob and actually except for Ovie, I still am. I LOVE GOALIES. I like my hockey, like I like my movies – hard, fast and violent! And I want to give a shout out to the two men who’d I’d most like as a Hockey Hero NHL Sandwich – one who just had his jersey retired and one, who will most likely have his retired soon – but were both ardent competitors against each other and I have to say, it’s what is lacking in the NHL today – Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD GOALIES GONE? Patrick made the game exciting because he wasn’t afraid to mix it up! Martin is a wall and a gentleman but you don’t mess with him.

Black People Like Hockey. No, really. They do.

- Posted in Chocolate Iced
Hey Ya’ll!
Please welcome our new WUYS contributing blogger, Mr. Chocolate Iced! *cue cheers and whistles*  As a dude, hockey fan, and African-American male, CI will offer his insight, manly wisdom, and unique perspective about this sport that we all love.  He’s also a real life lawyer, so he can explain all that pesky arbitration/collective bargaining/contract type stuff.  ‘Cuz Pants and Chuck don’t do no math.
~ Pants and Chuck
I know what you’re thinking, “a black guy that has been a hockey fan since he was about twelve years-old, plays ice hockey now, and occasionally writes for a hockey blog…really?”  Yes, really.  Allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is Chocolate Iced, your male contributing blogger on “What’s Up Ya Sieve?” and a puck head who happens to share skin color with the President.  I grew up playing a lot of street hockey in Long Island, New York and rooting on my hometown team, the New York Islanders.  (Yes, I hate the Rangers, thanks for asking.)

Not me…but we are out there…

I don’t remember how I became a hockey fan, but I always remember hockey being lots of fun to watch.  There was (and is) something so great about the speed of the game, the physical nature, the skill, the ice, everything.  Once I got to BU as a college freshman in 1997, that was it, I was really hooked.  I didn’t start playing ice hockey until a few years ago, but it’s the thing I look forward to most each week.
It’s a fact: the vast majority of the players in the NHL (and in every other hockey league in North America) are white.  However, black players, although still rare in hockey, have made a significant and lasting contribution to the game.  The very first black player to play in the NHL was New Brunswick’s own Willie O’Ree, who skated for the Boston Bruins on and off from 1958 through 1961.
O’Ree also won a couple of scoring titles in the WHL, scoring 38 goals in both the ’64-’65 and ’68-69 seasons.
Another past great, and the first black player inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame, is goaltending legend Grant Fuhr.  Fuhr won four Stanley Cups with the Oilers in the 1980s.  He also had a sweet ‘fro back in the day.
Right now there are more than 25 black players in the NHL, including Mike Grier (Go Terriers!), Wayne Simmonds, Jarome Iginla, P.K. Subban, Ray Emery,  and Stanley Cup Champion Dustin Byfuglien.

One of my favorite players in the league right now is Evander Kane, who was named after Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield.  You remember Kane, he’s the guy that did what the Bruins should have done by beating the crap out of Matt Cooke last season.  Suffice it to say that I wouldn’t want to drop the gloves with Mr. Kane anytime soon.

Well, that’s it for now kids.  Until next time remember, “Hockey is for everyone.”  (Cue lame record scratching and “rap” music.)

Wake up in the morning feeling like…

- Posted in Randomness

We at WUYS love fans.  We love when they dress like excited freshmen – hat, shirt, pants, buttons, jacket, ID case all with the team/school logo.  We love bumper stickers and license plates, flags on lawns, all of it.  But tell  me, is this too much?

Shark Toast!

I would use this.  I wouldn’t buy it, but I’d laugh every day about my Shark toaster.  (Note: I really, really wanted this Battlestar Galactica toaster for a long time, and the inherent joke for fans is a million times better.)  No one can really argue this is aimed at female fans, and I don’t feel gender-oppressed by the Sharks toaster.  Guys make toast.  They’re sure as hell more likely to eat this, which actually looks partially toasted and centrally burned.  I am, however, offended by things like this:

This is what the NHL thinks we want: a $325 Swarovski crystal-encrusted Bruins purse made from license plates.  It has a velvet lining!  I’m definitely buying it for Chuck to carry at her wedding.   I used to have a regulation jersey with Niedermayer on the back (you have to buy a 42, it’s too many letter for a smaller size!) – I know what it’s like to swim in the men’s merch.  Thankfully Alyssa Milano, in her quest for continued relevancy, has come up with a few women’s t-shirt options that actually fit (have this one, LOVE it).  But I also have a pile of Men’s Small or Youth Large shirts which, while boxy and too big, feel like what I should be wearing at a game.  The moral of the story, NHL, is that I will buy your stuff as long as it’s cool.  You don’t have to insult me.  You just have to make me breakfast.

Hawks launch NHL '11

- Posted in Randomness

I’ve never been one for video games (as Mr. Pants sits across the room yelling at his StarCraft squadron).  But if I were going to play, it would be NHL 11.  Captain Howdoyoupronouncethat, Jonathan Toews and fan favorite Patrick Kane (who made my ultimate dream come true by bringing the Cup to a Jimmy Buffett concert) were on hand at the NHL Store in NYC for the launch of the game:

These two look like they should be borrowing your biology homework and nervous about meeting your dad when they pick you up for the prom.  Is the whole NHL 17 years old?  Anyway, they’re clearly having a great summer of Cup revelry and I am happy for them!

Skip to the 5 minute mark for the trick shot competition (official video here).  I am impressed – the number of fans, or at least tourists, standing around watching is solid.  It’s not The Today Show, but I was at the NHL store three weeks ago and was literally the only person in there.  (Mr. Pants was not around to buy me the awesome Whalers zip-up I really wanted.)

Worst Beard vs. Best Mullet

Fun fact: When you type in “Jonathan T”, Google suggests “Jonathan Toews” first and “Jonathan Taylor Thomas” second.  Who is still Googling JTT?!

Pants' favorite thing of all time ever.

I now pronounce you Mr. Hilary Duff.

- Posted in Randomness

Mr. HILARY DUFF

This just in from US WEEKLY: “TEAM PLAYER: NHL player Mike Comrie, 30, new husband of Hilary Duff, 22, and formerly of forward for the Edmonton Oilers, took a pay cut to sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins to help develop their hockey franchise.”

Let me translate this for you as a publicist myself, Hilary told Mike that in no uncertain terms was she moving to the frozen tundra that is Edmonton because not only is Edmonton as dead as her career, the basement dwelling Oilers have no prospects this season either and SOMEONE has to pay for that gaudy bauble on her finger even with a pay cut!

But I want to be a fly on the locker room wall when training starts and I hope to god someone in Edmonton reads US Weekly and faxed it over to the Penguins so they know their Saviour is coming! Because we all KNOW the Penguins need help building their franchise because Mike did such an awesome job in Edmonton!

** Note from Pants: Poor Mike Comrie wants to win a Cup so badly he’s willing set his pseudo-famous wife loose around the Penguins.  That is desperation!  My fiance won’t even let me in the state of PA and I never had a Disney Channel show or veneers on all my teeth.

Olympic 2010 musings…

- Posted in Dawn Loves, Randomness

THE RUSSIAN MACHINE

I love Canadians because they gave us hockey and aspirin with codeine without a prescription, but living in the most pass-aggressive city in the U.S. I know when I’m being told to piss off! Living close to the border, you’d think that we’d get lot’s of hockey here but you’d be wrong. U.S. NW peeps are NOT hockey lovers. When given the opportunity of a life time to see Men’s Olympic Hockey, the Canadian’s scared the crap out of the U.S. citizens warning us of long lines at the border and the fact that we were not worthy of Men’s Ice Hockey tickets – so forget it!

But I was not so easily daunted. My love for Ovi was too great. Someone had to represent for those non-Canadian players. So we drove the 2 and half hours and found to our amazement, no border wait! It was like a McDonald’s drive through but with no “May I help you?” When asked at the border why we were going into Canada, the border guard laughed in our faces that we thought we would get Men’s Ice Hockey tickets.

And it gets even better, we picked the day that the U.S., Canada and Russia were playing. We raced down the ‘CANADA HOCKEY PLACE’ what they renamed GM Place where the Canucks play, to try to score tickets to the U.S. game, they wanted face value for the game even after the first period! HELLO! I don’t think so.

So we decided to go the box office and see if actual tickets were available. Now, don’t get me wrong, Team Canada had some lovely players, Martin Broduer is one of my favorite honeys, and I have a certain weakness for goalies, and I cried when he was replaced by Snidley Whiplash (AKA Robert Luongo) but I was there to see the BEST HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE WORLD – ALEXANDER OVECHKIN.

My first priority at $125 a ticket was to see if there were any tickets available for Russia vs. Slovakia. There were  about 5 seats still available! HOLY H-E – DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS! Two were front row.

You have got to be kidding me?! We stood there stunned in silence because we really had resigned ourselves to sitting in a bar, watching the game with a bunch of drunk Canadians who had been too polite to say anything too rude to me about my Ovechkin Eastern Conference All-star Jersey other than, “Ovechkin?! Ovechkin?! …. Ahhhh .. yeah. He’s pretty good.” Seriously. That is the best a Canadian can come up with to slander Ovechkin.  So we bought the tickets and I did the Dance of Joy – Balky –style!

We had a clear view as you can see of my beautiful photo of OVI. I also have a lovely shot of his FABULOUS butt too! I don’t want to discuss the multiple missed shoot-out shots … that was a terrible, terrible dream! And let’s just say that it was a good thing the Canadian’s were really, really drunk from their win earlier in the day from – let’s be honest – A SHOOT OUT WIN OVER SWITZLERLAND?  

Anyway, we had to do the walk of shame up Robson Street to get to the tram to get back to our car for the long drive home. But it was one of the BEST HOCKEY experiences a hockey fan could ever have. And shame on the Canadians for making the U.S. hockey fan think we didn’t have a chance to share in the HOCKEY LOVE. Cause we did!

And one more thing, I find it VERY interesting.  Only AFTER CANADA hosts the Olympics, the NHL is considering no longer allowing NHL players to play in the Olympics …And guess where the 2014 Olympics are? SOCHI, RUSSIA ! Hate OVI Much?

We also got a warm up puck and I have to say, Sergei Fedorov was kind of hot too … And yes, this is MY photo because that was how freakin’ close I was and it was probably good there was plexiglass between me and him because it took an astronomical amount of self-restraint to not cause an international incident.

Penguins calling!

- Posted in Pants Loves, Well OBVIOUSLY.

Every year, teams whore out their players to deliver season tickets for photo ops.  I wonder – how strongly do they vet these lucky recipients first?  Because I could totally act normal.  Then if Sid or Max (or Kris or Flower…) rang my doorbell, we would have a hostage situation.  Even in those shoes.

Crosby, Talbot ringing doorbells.

Video of Sid’s season ticket delivery.  Smart PR people (damn us!) picked lots of boy children.  Absolutely no one looks like their going to faint or squeee.  He does pet their dog, but frankly this could be a lot more fun!  I’ve done my ten years of handling high-profile celebrities with relative composure.   I deserve the chance to have a total fangirl moment, right?  It looks like they sent Max to a house full of chicks.  Well OBVIOUSLY.

Foxy Friday

- Posted in Foxy Friday, We Love

Welcome to our new feature, Foxy Friday!

Every week, we’ll each choose one hockey player (NHLer or College) who embodies what we feel is the essence, the spirit, nah the quiddity of Foxy Friday – to be smokin’ hot and a wikked good hockey player.

Sure there are other “foxy” criteria that we could consider, like that they build homes for orphaned puppies in the off-season, but we are going to be totally superficial and just go with the two most important ones – blazing, incandescent attractiveness and Harry Potter-like magic skills with a hockey stick.

Chuck’s Pick: Matt Gilroy, New York Rangers

Former BU Terrier.  NCAA Champion.  Hobey Baker Winner.   Stone Cold Fox.

Uh, Hello.

In your eyes...the light...the heat...

One of the most amazingly understated guys to play the game.  And maybe one of the dreamiest…

*le sigh*

Pants’ Pick: Can I go with the same one and give a BU alum double the love today?  Matt Gilroy did NOT live in Warren Towers dorm his  freshman year, I can tell you that much.  It would have looked like the Zac Efron part of this great commercial for Stand Up 2 Cancer:

Go Staalsy, it's your birthday.

- Posted in Birthday Boy

Happy 22nd birthday, Jordan Staal!

So you didn’t grow up next to the Staal’s sod farm in Thunder Bay, Ontario? Neither did we – and they don’t make ‘boys next door’ like this in the US. Jordan’s done a lot in his 22 years: drafted 2nd overall, in his rookie year he was the youngest player to ever score a hat trick or score 2 shorties in one game, oh and he’s won a Stanley Cup.  At 22 Chuck and I still ate ramen noodles and thought bars on the Sunset Strip were cool.

All suited up.

Staalsy is a prime example of a core belief here are WUYS: hockey players make other athletes look like little girls: During game 1 vs. Montreal in last season’s playoffs, the top of Jordan’s foot was sliced by a skate blade, severing a tendon. He had surgery that night and was back on the ice 6 days later. He missed only 2 games – the only 2 he’s ever missed, regular season and playoff, since joining the Pens. He’s had another surgery and an infection, so he’ll miss the start of camp (9/17) but expects to be ready to play the Pens opener on October 7.

  And vs. Detroit, I get the tingles.

Jordan is distressingly handsome, always smiling and can run someone over like a freight train. His playoff beard is among the NHL’s most unflattering. He’s like a giant, excited and slightly Mennonite-looking golden retriever. We think he’d wait patiently while you try on 8 pairs of jeans, compliment the pair you buy and then knock out the first guy who comments on your ass (unless it’s Max Talbot).  So happy birthday, Jordan, and get well soon.  See you in October!

Best sign ever - Giordano Bros., San Francisco

Mike Green Paid For This

- Posted in Mikey Monday, Pants Loves

Disclaimer: I can’t get enough of Mike Green. He’s hysterical. His birthday is the day after mine. That haircut. Between his website and Twitter… maybe I’m giving Mikey too much credit, assuming his hipster/tool personality is at least somewhat ironic. He could be serious, in which case I will delete this post at a later time and claim I never wrote it.

He's kidding. Isn't he?

Mike makes $5.25 million/year before he even suits up with the GEICO Caveman. Just because you’re bringing in the bank is no reason to spend it all in one place. Like the Mohawk Parlor. Not our Mike – he’s got too many other brilliant ideas. Mike did an episode of MTV Cribs (A. Who knew that was still on? B. Have they run out of rappers?) and revealed way more than your typical fan/blogger/stalker should really know.

And so I bring you a future WUYS favorite series:

Mike Green Paid For This
Episode One: The Bathroom

Photos of Mike’s bathroom are a tribute to the power of the internet. We should not be privvy to where he flosses his teeth. Unless it looks like this:

I'll have the beef & broccoli, please.

You may need to adjust the angle of your monitor to take in the magnitude of patterned, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling reflection. It’s the bathroom at the Double Rainbow Chinese Restaurant after a fire sale at the tin foil factory. The best part is: there’s a mirror. In a frame. Attached to a wall of mirrors.

Try not to think of the bathroom’s intended purpose. Mike is very pretty, perhaps he just admires himself endlessly – Mike looking in the mirror looking at Mike looking in the mirror looking at… until it’s time for practice. He could use the guest bathroom for everything else – it’s much more, um, functional.

Other bathroom - BORING.

Mike spends his money like he used to be fat (he was) and kinda awkward (also true). Not anymore (debatable). Next time, we’ll see how Mike picks up chicks.

This ice is not reflective.

Best. Commercial. Ever

- Posted in Randomness

Crosby Brings it Home

- Posted in Pants Loves

Sidney Crosby continued his casual campaign for world dominance today by hitting a batting practice home run at PNC Park.   Sid, who could get arrested for indecency while wearing shorts, went yard on his second round of pitches.  Somebody get Theo on the phone – next time the Pens bow out in May, I expect to see Crosby running bases at Fenway.

Check out the video below as Sid ‘aw-shucks’es around like he doesn’t plug into the Matrix at the Lemieuxs’ house every night and download more awesomeness.

Other Pens players Matt Cooke, Craig Adams, Mike Rupp, Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz and uber-cute Marc-Andre Fleury also got their shots in while WUYS mascot candidate Max Talbot, the King of Questionable Shorts, was undoubtedly being more fun than anyone else.

Max plays the field. Literally.

Complete photos at the Pens Photo Gallery.

Sportscenter had great banter for the clip, including both hosts whining “Why do you get to be good at everything?!” then professing their love for Sid. They sounded liked Jonathan Toews.

Who's Steve?

- Posted in Chuck Loves

Oh Oh, I got a funny story about “sieve” too!!

So at every Boston University home hockey, there is a banner hanging behind one of the goalie nets – it reads “GOALIE” when BU’s goalie is in that net, “SIEVE” when the opposing goalie is in that net.  So, I’m at a game with Cousin Thomas (hockey player and LA Kings fan [unfortunately]) when this exchange happens…

Cousin Thomas: Hey, who’s Steve?
Me: Steve?
CT: Ya, Steve.
Me:  Steve who?  I don’t know no Steve.
CT: Steve – that guy on the banner.  Who is he?
Me:  *looks up at banner quizzically*
Me: *starts laughing hysterically*
CT: What?
Me: Don’t you mean “SIEVE”? That “T” is an “I”
CT: *looks sheepish*
Me:  Hooked on Phonics worked for me!
CT: Shut up.

That guy, Steve…he sure is an awesome goaltender.  What’s is GAA?  Like 15?  Sweet.

Word of the Day: Sieve

- Posted in I'm Always Right

My real-life fiance (he’ll be guest blogging later), slightly resembles Sidney Crosby and is also a chef.  As a sieve is a kitchen utensil, he is familiar with the idea.  Except apparently chefs pronounce it “seeeeeve”, like Steve without the “t”.  (Now I’m thinking about Steve Sullivan.)  We debated the possibility that I, Chuck and 2 million other NCAA Hockey alumni have been mispronouncing the word all along.  Unlikely, right?  I mean, some of us (okay, not us) went to Harvard.  Luckily, Dictionary.com has a handy little audio pronunciation guide, which proves yet again that I am always right.

Goalie? Sieve!

Fiance also does not grasp the analogy of a holey-goalie being like a sieve. I explained with several burst of fight song and rude comments about Boston College. Even UrbanDictionary.com agrees! He said, “You’re dumb.” But at least I was pronouncing it correctly.

Bio: Chuck

- Posted in Chuck Loves

Favorite Team: Boston Bruins, Charlestown Chiefs

Home Team: Boston Bruins

Favorite Players: Marc Savard, Cam Neely, Joe Thornton, Marc-Andre Fleury

Hockey Boyfriends: Joe Thornton (odd number months); Marc Savard (even numbered months)

Team I Hate: Montreal Canadiens

Player I Hate: Ulf Samuelsson, Darius Kasparatis, Matt Cooke

First Hockey Crush: Eric Lindros

Hilarious Hockey-Related Memory: My in-depth conversation with Josh Jackson, aka “Charlie Conway” about  and Ray Bourque’s Stanley Cup win.  Location: Fox Studios, circa 2003

Courtesy of http://rocibel.tumblr.com

Bio: Pants

- Posted in Pants Loves

Favorite Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

Home Team: San Jose Sharks (for now)

Favorite Player:  Crosby/Tanger/Talbot/Staalsy/Flower… who can decide?

Hockey Boyfriend: See above.

I bet they snore.

Almost embarrassed to admit I like: Mike Green – mohawk, Lamborghini, Geico caveman and all.

Team I Hate: Detroit

Player I Hate: Oooooh, Ovechkin.

First Hockey Crush: Scott Niedermayer!

Hilarious Hockey Memory: I asked Brian Rolston to my high school prom.  Really.

Daily inspiration:

Max tells Philly fans to stuff it.

What does "shhh" sound like in French?

Things we like

- Posted in Randomness

Max schooling a goalie…