Number One!

My beloved Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup.

More Proof That Hockey Is the Coolest Game on Earth

The Stanley Cup is the oldest, most storied, and most venerated trophy in North American sports. This year The Cup belongs to The Chicago Blackhawks, one of the Original Six. As befits the champion of a professional league, the city of Chicago held a huge parade to honor their team. An estimated 2 million fans showed up to hoist The Cup.

There will be another kind of parade in Chicago later this week--the Annual Chicago Pride Parade. The National Hockey League and The Chicago Blackhawks will be participating in this parade. Hawks player Brent Sopel and The Stanley Cup itself will be part of a float sponsored by the Chicago Gay Hockey Association.

Now, how fucking cool is that?

Gold!

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A Proud Canadian

In more Olympic hockey-related news, apparently the International Olympic Committee is upset with the behavior of the Canadian women's hockey team after they won the gold medal (mouse over the link for a chuckle: "hockey women drinking"--sounds like a Canadian version of Girls of Spring Break or something). According to the article,

Several Canadian players returned to the ice surface at Canada Hockey Place roughly 30 minutes after their 2-0 win over the U.S. on Thursday night. The players drank cans of beer and bottles of champagne, and smoked cigars with their gold medals draped around their necks.

Erotica Canadiana: until now, spoken of only in whispered tones.
This story made me break out into a grin so wide that the top of my fucking head nearly fell off. Check this out:

In a statement released late Thursday, Hockey Canada apologized for the on-ice party.

"The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone," the statement read.

Canadian through and through.

Thank you Team Canada. Thank you Hockey Canada. Thank you CBC.

One Down, Two to Go...

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Note to Self

Next time the Winter Olympics are on change your start page in Firefox so you won't need to see depressing crap like this cluttering every square inch of your computer screen:

U.S. stuns Canada
Team Canada falls to U.S.
What's wrong with team Canada?
U.S. Hockey stuns Canada
Waking Its Neighbors, U.S. Upsets Canada
Groan, Canada, groan
Marty Brodeur blows it against the Americans

Bleh.

I'm Easily Amused

This headline made me giggle: Blackhawks trade Barker to Wild. I'm sure he'll fit right in.

Left/Right

From the New York Times:

According to sales figures from [hockey] stick manufacturers, a majority of Canadian hockey players shoot left-handed, and a majority of American players shoot right-handed. No reason is known for this disparity, which cuts across all age groups and has persisted for decades.

Most Canadians, like most Americans, are naturally right-handed, so the discrepancy has nothing to do with national brain-wiring. And how you hold a pencil, say, has little or no bearing on how you hold a stick. A left-handed shooter puts his right hand on top; a right-hander puts the left hand there.

This difference extends to golfers too, by the way, for reasons that might be obvious only to a Canadian: the swings are somewhat similar, and most of us have held a hockey stick long before we've ever heard about golf.

The article, thankfully, makes no attempt to politicize this fact. Neither will I. It's just a quirky thing that I, as a one-time hockey player, find somewhat interesting. I myself shoot right, so I guess that puts me in the minority among my countrymen.

The article puts forward some possible explanations for this phenomenon, but the best one is not really an "explanation" at all. From the staff at a hockey shop in Vancouver, on how to decide if a kid will be a left or right-handed shot: "We give the kid a stick and see what they do."

I envision a world in which this basic hockey principle is extended into all areas of pedagogy, ushering in an era of worldwide brotherhood and equality. Well, you'd still get 5 minutes for fighting.

Rink of Dreams

This is... beautiful...



The Winter Olympics are coming soon.  While I generally don't have much nice to say about the Olympics, I must say this: the level of hockey at the last few Winter Olympics has been the highest ever. Unlike other "world championship"-type events, we have the best players in the world actually playing their best. I like soccer/football, but the World Cup is nothing but dull games with predictable winners, made even worse by a level of officiating more appropriate to pro-wrestling. Football's league games are a lot more entertaining and competitive than anything I've ever seen during a World Cup tournament. When Canada, The U.S., Sweden, Russia, Finland, and the Czech Republic (along with several up and coming hockey powers) send out their best hockey players, it's neither dull nor predictable. Nor is it decided by the referee.

I'm psyched. Go Canada!

Locked in the Trunk of a Car

The Tragically Hip are legendary in Canada. I'm certain I've posted this video before, but probably poorer quality. This is The Hip at their peak, lyrically and musically (or so I think). Too Canadian to make it down south:



Too Canadian? Get outta here:



"I had the dream of having no room"... I've had that dream every night since the day I was born.

Tower of What?

Today as I was checking the hockey standings, I discovered that I can read Dutch:

Hockey: is there anything it can't do?

Why I love Hockey, No. 1

I ask you, in what other sport could you see anything approaching the sheer awesomeness of this [image source]?


It's been fifty years since the introduction of the goalie mask. A nice round-up of the goalie mask's impact on pop culture and hockey psychology can be read here. Money quote:

But beyond the sociological aspects of the mask is a widely accepted truth: They're just bitchin' cool.

Damn straight.

Game On!

I'm kinda tired of blogging right now. Usually when I say that I start back up again the next day (or sooner), but I've noticed that it isn't as fun when I try not to swear too much and/or give a shit whether I'm taken seriously. (What, you haven't noticed how hard I've been trying? Jeesh...)

And hockey season has started.


Go Bruins!

Quote of the D'eh

From a New York Times editorial celebrating Canada Day:

Back home, hockey highlights lead off SportsCenter. That is the height of civilization.

— SEAN CULLEN, a comedian

Damn straight.

WTF!?

Damn, these Malaysians sure know how to make a Canadian boy feel at home! I arrived in Johor Bahru to find this in the lobby of my hotel:


The real story.

Sports News

My beloved Boston Bruins defeated the hated Montreal Canadiens 4-1 to sweep their first-round playoff series 4-0.

Onward to the Cup, boys!

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Hockey Moms Against Sarah Palin

I'm always looking for hockey-related stuff, so I'm a bit surprised I just saw this for the first time tonight:



Now tell the truth: do you know the difference between "icing" and "offside"?

First Place!

As I'm writing this my fantasy hockey team team is in first place! With no less than five Boston Bruins on my roster (Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Chuck Kobasew, Dennis Wideman, and Tim Thomas). Coincidentally, the mighty and beloved Boston Bruins are also in first place! If there were hockey gods they would be smiling...

Click to enlarge and witness the full glory of the 2008/09 Miyazaki Maroons!


Too bad that, aside from the other ten guys in the league, I'm probably the only person in the world who gives a rat's ass about this. But hey, one takes pleasure where one finds it, right?

Props

My beloved Boston Bruins smoked/trounced/pounded/creamed/beat the shit out of/etc. the hated/accursed/spawn of Satan/despoiler of children who could have spoken English but for bad luck/scourge of the hockey world/etc. Montreal Canadiens by a score of 6-1 the other day.

I realize that I'm probably the only regular reader of this blog that likes hockey, but who can tell me a) why this Bruins win was significant, and b) why Milan Lucic rocks? No prizes are offered, but you will earn my deepest respect.

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I happen to think that ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is one of the best bands in the world. Why don't you?

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead-So Dividedalt. link

This Week in Hockey

This just in from the CBC:

U.S. vice-presidential nominee and self-proclaimed hockey mom Sarah Palin will take centre stage at centre ice on Saturday night.
Palin, the governor of Alaska and John McCain's Republican running mate, agreed Wednesday to drop the ceremonial first puck at the Wachovia Center, where the Philadelphia Flyers host the New York Rangers in Saturday's season opener...
[...]
Palin will be joined at centre ice by the winner of the team's "Ultimate Hockey Mom" promotion.
Every hockey mom entering the contest received a free Puck-er Peach lipstick ...

Hmm... hockey... Palin... Wachovia... Philadelphia... New York... hockey mom... lipstick...

Coincidence? I leave it for you to decide, dear readers... And leave you with this gentle reminder:

You know, just because the thing I saw wasn't there doesn't mean there wasn't something there that I didn't see.