In case you’re not hip to the Instagram, it is an online photo/video-sharing & social networking services that lets users take photos, apply a digital filter, upload them, and share them with the world.

There are well over 30 million accounts on Instagram, and while the majority of them seem to be teenage girls taking countless selfies making the duck face or people taking photos of their food (of which I am guilty), there are a few accounts that truly capture our attention – the NHL hockey player.

Their accounts aren’t run by some publicist or PR team.

It isn’t some slick marketing tool.

It’s just regular dudes, being silly and taking photos of their lives.

Instagram is foxy because it gives us, as fans, a snapshot into who these players are off the ice.

Instagram is foxy because it endears these super human athletes to us more.

Instragram is also foxy because it provides endless entertainment, in pictographic form.

Here are a few of our faves –

b_ryan9 – Bobby Ryan.  Lots of photos of adorable cats.

hank30nyr – Henrik Lundqvist. No explanation needed.

EMALKIN71_  – Geno Malkin.  Lots of photos of him being Russian and hilarious.

No52 – Mike Green.  All things hipster.

colbycohen36 – Colby Cohen.  A boy and his golden retriever.

bollig87 – Brandon Bollig. Beards. Babies.  Chicago.

jlupul – Joffrey Lupul.  Many photos of him looking exceptionally attractive. But sadly none from the Body Issue.

DD2527 – Dustin Penner. I love him so hard. So incredibly hard. Can’t we just date already?

harryz87 – Harry Zolnierczyk.  This photo alone is worth the follow.

tseguin92 – Tyler Seguin.  Recently reactivated.  Nearly not enough photos of Marshall.

It’s said that 58 photos and a new user is gained every second on Instagram.  So where are you, NHLers?

Time to get on your photo on!

So WUYS, what your favorite NHL instagram account?  Share it with us in the comments section!

In this week’s BeardWatch, we give praise to the best of what’s still around in the Conference Championships, your current frontrunners for 2013 Playoff Beard of the Year, Jaromir Jagr, Pascal Dupuis, Johnny Oduya,  and Dustin Penner.

#BeardWatch2013

Read the rest [here].

Well, folks.  They did just that.

New Jersey Devils resistance was utterly futile.

Shiny.

Last night, the Kings went into full-on beast mode and beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 to clinch the first Stanley Cup in the franchise’s 45 year history.

This team, and their entire playoff run was epic – one of firsts, impressive records, and feats of altheticism and skill that make us super jealous.

The Kings barely made the playoffs and are the first ever eight-seed to win the Cup.  They did so with an impressive 16-4 record and a unimaginable 10-1 road record.

They rolled over the #1, #2, and #3 seeds in the Western Conference in dominating fashion and matched the second-fastest run to a Stanley Cup Championship in modern NHL history.

It was no surprise that Jonathan Quick won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.  Pretty sure his goals-against-average was like -4 and he had a save percentage of eleventy billion.  (It was actually 1.41 GAA and .946 save percentage – both NHL records)

Quick also became the 3rd American-born player to win the Conn Smythe.  Fellow goalie Tim Thomas won last year (like we could forget) and waaaay back in 1994 (when Quick was 8 years old), Brian Leetch from the NY Rangers won it.

Another little tidbit of trivia info – Leetch and Quick both went to school at Avon Old Farms in Connecticut and played in Hockey East (Leetch at Boston College, Quick at UMass Amherst).  Oh and Thomas went to University of Vermont – also a Hockey East school.  HOCKEY EAST REPRESENT!

Daddy, you won! Can I have some M&Ms?

The game itself had a intensity befitting a potential Stanley Cup cliniching game and there can be no doubt that its defining moment came in the first period when the Devils’ Steve Bernier boarded Rob Scuderi.

Scuderi was left bloodied and bruised.

Bernier felt shame and was ejected, resulting in a five-minute power play for the Kings.

During that five minutes, the captain Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, and Trevor Lewis each scored goals.  The Kings never looked back.

Brown also added two assists and became just the 2nd American-born captain to raise the Cup.  He managed to accomplish that which the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, could not do in his eight year tenure with the Kings.

Anze Kopitar has poised himself on the edge of NHL super stardom.  He tied for the playoff lead in points (20) and goals (8), and finished a ridiculous +16.  Not only is he the first Slovenian to play in the NHL, but now he’ll be the first ever to have his name engraved on the Cup.

He also is the first ever to wear this in a post-game interview.

All hail King Kopitar!

This team was chockful of talent and size and skill and they peaked at the most perfect time.  Their regular season was inconsistent at best as they struggled to score goals, but something special happened after Darryl Sutter took over the team midseason.

So special in fact, that it earned them the most coveted and respected trophy in all of sports.

We are very much looking forward to the Kings’ summer with the Cup and all the photos, tweets, and stories that will undoubtedly follow.

We want to see Dustin Penner eat some pancakes out of the Cup.

We want to Carter and Richards take the Cup on a sunset stroll on the beach.

But most of all, we want to see the players, and their family, friends, and fans, savor every moment of this incredible accomplishment.

CONGRATS to the 2012 Stanley Cup Champion, Los Angeles Kings!

While we don’t like the Devils, we have to give them props for not laying down in front of the purple and black freight train and for pushing the series to a Game 6.

Last week, the Devils were down 3-0 in the series, teetering percariously on the edge, Jonathan Quick poised to send them tumbling into the abyss of the SCF sweep.

No goal for you.

But leave it to Marty Brodeur, the 4o year old future Hall of Fame netminder, to bring the Devils back and for the players like Parise, Salvador, and he of the creeper ‘stach, Henrique, to step up big time.

Have the Devils totally messed with the Kings’ hockey chi?  Will they come from 3-0 down to win their 4th Stanley Cup?

Mike Richards and his heterosexual life partner, Jeff Carter are determined to not make that happen.

Their epic bromance will conquer all.

Most epic of bromances.

If there ever was a time that these two needed to step up, it is tonight.

Time to silence all those hater and critics and to show the Flyers fans what they could have had.

I have confidence in the Kings.  They just need to play the way that they’ve been playing the entire playoffs.  With physicality, skill, strength. But most importantly, to play like one being,  a hockey borg, if you will.

Take a deep breath, boys.  Keep calm and carry on.

Exhale.

Saturday night Drew Doughty went from an over-priced, cry-baby, cheese-burger eating hold out to a Rocket Man shooting lazers out his ass and smacking Devils like he was at a carnival and Brown was taunting him with a donut for each one he could take out!

Clearly Drew is VERY motivated! That’s my boyfriend!

The Kings now have the NHL record of 10 road wins in the post-season. But they don’t do well at home. So tonight Magic Cat is wishing you the best of luck boys!

A little something extra between the paws!

Obviously, we’re slightly biased because we pretty much eat, sleep, and breathe hockey since we’ve started this blog.  I mean, not like we didn’t follow hockey closely before WUYS but we’ve progressed to a Beautiful-Mind-writing-on-the-window level of crazy.  But I honestly believe that there is no greater trophy in the history of sport.

Yesterday was the Stanley Cup Finals Media Day, when all the players don their Tuesday best (hooded sweatshirts), trims up their playoff beards (except Dustin Penner), and face the press gauntlet.

Not only does the day allow writers to ask important (and totally ridiculous) questions of the players but it provides us with amazing photos of playoff beards.

Here are some highlights from yesterday’s Media Day at Prudential Center.

• Dustin Penner.  This beard is a fluffy mess.  And I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT.

Got a craving for some Penncakes.

• Just when you thought Mike Richards couldn’t get any dreamier, he goes and does this.

Dustin Brown. Fully committed to this Amish look.

*harumph* *crosses arms*

A beard like a beautiful sunset

Faustian.

Richards and I ’bout to tear this mutha up!

You’re welcome.  

]]> http://whatsupyasieve.com/2012/05/30/stanley-cup-finals-beard-appreciation-post/feed/ 5 http://whatsupyasieve.com/2012/05/30/our-post-on-puck-daddy-scf-preview-best-beards/ http://whatsupyasieve.com/2012/05/30/our-post-on-puck-daddy-scf-preview-best-beards/#comments Wed, 30 May 2012 13:55:01 +0000 http://whatsupyasieve.com/?p=10783 If you go seven months without seeing an acquaintance, you might greet them with, “Wow, you look so….” The word the Devils and Kings need here is hairy. These teams last met in October and it’s a wonder if they’d recognize each other now without the numbers on their backs.

Each team has been presented with one trophy this year. Both captains opted not to touch their Conference chalices, but only one will lift the Cup in 2012.

Will a playoff beard be the first to kiss Lord Stanley’s prize, or find itself waiting to see whom the captain hands the Cup to next?

Click [HERE] to read more…

Captain Brown vs. Captain Parise.

Sometimes it can come in the way of physical beauty.  Other times from athletic prowess.  Still other times from humanistic endeavors like building houses for the poor.

In the case of Dustin Penner, it comes in two ways.

The Facial Hair and The Funny.

Dustin Penner is…subdued.
[click pic to watch the video]

There are few who can doubt that Penner’s “Man of the Mountain” facial hair is a thing of wonder.  Clearly it is one of the best things about the Kings’ unexpected journey from #8 seed to the Stanley Cup Finals.  (Besides the stellar goaltending of Jonathan Quick)

I’m legit obsessed with it.  Its fullness and ebony hue are exquisite.  It just looks SO RIGHT AND PERFECT.

If loving you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.
[click pic for video]

Other reasons why I’ve seen fit to bestow this great honor –

• He shares a birthday with my mom.  Momma Chuck would approve.
• He’s 6’4″, 245 lbs – a whole lotta lumberjack for us to love.
• He LOVES the LA Kings twitter.  So do we, Dustin.
• He’s funny, just like his mom and grandpa.  Now this is a family BBQ what we’d love to go to. DP and I would crush the competition in the three-legged race
• He injures himself eating a stack of delicious pancakes…then buts that self-deprecating humor to good use by hosting a charity breakfast at a local IHOP.

Hmmmmm….pancakes

So fluffy. Want to touch.

Winner, Winner, Pancake Dinner!

I only wish I had this much time on my hands ….

The win didn’t come without controversy when Brown took out Rozsival with a devastating hit and a penalty wasn’t called because the Coyotes were off-sides. Just after Rozsival was taken off the ice, LA scored and the hand shake line was less than cordial with the classy Coyotes fan throwing crap on to the ice.

Pancake’s interview after the game was self-deprecating referring to Quick as Mr. Vezina-Smyth. He also said that he was going to enjoy this trip to the Stanley Cup more than the last.

Stat Girl has a few things to tease your brain with:

LA KINGS are the first 8th seed EVER to dispatch the 1st, 2nd and 3rd seed teams.

LA KINGS have broken the NHL record with 8 straight road wins in a play-off season.

LA KING have broken the NHL record with 10 straight road wins in consecutive seasons.

So a BIG WUYS congratulation LA KINGS! Here’s to your second trip ever to the Stanley Cup Finals.

As Cartman loves to say: “GO KINGS GO!”

Shane Doan takes Trevor Lewis’ face for a wipe board. OK-  he did turn but a delayed penalty had already been called for slashing on BROWN so all Doan needed to do was reach for the puck – not take Lewis’ face for a ride. He got thrown out which was appropriate – IN MY OPINION.

Mike Smith slashes Dustin Brown in the back of the knees. They get MATCHING penalties because the ref thinks Brown is embellishing – HELLO! Anyone who gets the craps smacked out of the back of their knees with a goalie stick by a 6’3” MONSTER isn’t embellishing ANYTHING.

As one commentator said, “If that was acting, it’s some of the best to come out of Hollywood in years!”

Then Hanzal decides ride Brown into the boards like a whore on Saturday night. Fellas, I get it, you’re frustrated. You got your asses handed to you by an 8^th seed team for a second night. But this is UNACCEPTABLE.

Then – my favorite of the night – Dustin “Pancakes” Penner decides enough is enough and when a scrum breaks out to quell it, he just sits on Antoine Vermette. Awesomesauce. Nothing says shut your face like a 6’ 4” manbeast sitting on your lame ass.

Oh did I mention that Jeff Carter, man of the hour, got a natural hat trick? The first one for the Kings in the play-offs since  – oh – Wayne Gretzky in 1993? Yeah … that happen too last night!

HAPPY SUTTER/ANGRY SUTTER

OH WHAT A NIGHT! Feel good about that one guys. Mad respect for your play. But I knew that –

In this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the fates select which beards will have a chance to realize their true potential.

Five teams remain. Five beards (OK, six) have emerged as top contenders for Beard of the Year.

None of these teams made it past the second round last season, so the promise of greater bearded glory shines bright. Some faces are familiar, some are new. All are hairy.

Read more [HERE]

Is the stanley cup hiding in there?

This week’s beard update. Here’s where it stands. The Sedin’s are disqualified because they always have one and it’s always groomed. Shea Weber started too early but I’ll include him solely because of its sheer awesomeness but he’s out of the running and same goes for George Parros. And believe it or not, there is actually an attractive man under that obnoxious 70’s facial hair and horrible hair cut!

As Mr. Cherrie says, "This is made for riding!"

No wonder Detroit keeps winning, the entire team can grow one in a day!

Who knew? Evidently not Boston ...

Mike Green is growing something MAGICAL! HOLY COW!

let's hope more goals come flying out of Patrice's beard ...or somewhere else - SOON!

where on earth did this come from? because one minute is wasn't there and the next - BAM! scooby doo !

no wonder this series is tied 1-1 ... penner and wallin.

does this really surprise any of us? ALL MAN ... ALL THE TIME.

Winner winner chicken dinner! Why is this young lady smiling? Because she took the challenge!