Hockey Blogette

Cue the Whitesnake: Kyle Quincey, Take Two

2012-02-21T18:40:00.002-05:00

Try to stay with me: The forever Captain (Steve Yzerman) traded Steve Downie to the Avs for Kyle Quincey then turned around and traded Kyle Quincey from the Tampa Bay Lightning to Detroit for the Wing's first-round pick this year and Griffin Sebastien Piche. Bottom line: We lost Piche and a draft pick for round two with Mister Quincey.

If you denote some skepticism, you are absolutely right. I am very skeptical of Kyle Quincey in this organization. I'd be lying if I didn't still hold it against him for trying to make Ken Holland and the owners look like assholes for not giving him a championship ring in 2008. As the story goes, during the 2008 playoffs, Kyle was a Black Ace for the duration of the playoffs. As per usual, The Red Wings include all Black Aces in the center ice photo. Quincey did not qualify for his name to be engraved on the Stanley Cup. Per team policy, Quincey was not presented a Stanley Cup championship ring. That summer, Quincey spoke to the media about how he felt slighted by the organization for not receiving a ring. Kyle has since tried to downplay that entire incident but the fact is that it happened. At the end of the day, he went to the media and made the organization have to defend their actions. Going to the media and acting as if the organization that drafted him, had mistreated him. We all know that's not the case. If the ring was that big of a deal to him, they sell class rings at Wal-mart. He could have purchased one of those and played pretend for the low-low price of $99.98!

Hopefully, the several seasons that Kyle has spent elsewhere have helped him mature and become more humble. Players who believe they are entitled have no place in the organization.

And to those suggesting that Kyle was acquired because Lidstrom is... ya know... the "R" word or Brad Stuart is... ya know... the "L" word, I say.... SHUT YOUR PIE HOLES!

I won't miss you, United Center.

2012-02-21T08:22:00.004-05:00

GAME ON!

Detroit Red Wings v. Chicago Blackhawks
at the United Center
8:00PM
Game can be found on: Fox Sports Detroit, NBC Sports Network, TSN2

I know, guys. I'm shocked that I did a gameday preview too.

Detroit has traveled to Chicago to play in the United Center for the final time this regular season. In the three meetings so far this season, each team has won once in their home arena and Detroit won on the road to take the season series lead so far. Tonight the Wings will attempt to tally another win in the United Center to quiet those pesky "Detroit Sucks" chanters that seem to exclusively reside in Chicago. Tonight will mark the return of Jimmy Howard. Howard is coming back after a index finger injury and will be backed up by new number one back-up, Joey MacDonald. Dan Cleary is also looking to make the return after he had fluid drained from his knee.

The Red Wings will look to improve upon their 15-15-1 road record and extend the gap between themselves and the Vancouver Canucks in the standings. The Red Wings currently sit atop the NHL standings with 84 points, the Canucks are currently in second overall with 82 points, and the Hawks sit in tenth place with 71 points. As soon as the Red Wings take the ice tonight, one of the biggest rivalries in the NHL will reignite.

23 and counting...

2012-02-20T17:11:00.004-05:00

Over the past few days, several have suggested that the Wings' current record breaking home winning streak is more important than winning the Stanley Cup. The current home winning streak is awesome, but it's not the big picture. Perspective, my friends, I've got it.

The big picture is the Stanley Cup. Teams don't play as hard as they do, through injuries and adversities, to become the first loser in the Stanley Cup Finals. NHL Teams today, play to win. Regardless of the fact that sometimes it doesn't always seem like some teams are playing to the biggest picture, it's generally the driving force. When free agents sign with teams, it's not to break a record. Sure, it's nice to have that icing on the cake but players sign with teams they think can win. They sign with organizations who they believe can take home the biggest prize at the end of the day. Cuppy, Cuppy, Cuppy and what not.

As far as records go, there can always be someone to come a break your record and take that honor away from you but no one can take a championship away. For instance, There will only ever be one 2007-2008 Stanley Cup Championship Team. No matter how many wins or losses the team goes through, no one can take the honor of being a Stanley Cup Champion away. I'm sure the 1929-1930 Boston Bruins didn't think that anyone would tie or break their record until the 1975-1976 Philadelphia Flyers did it. Both teams, given the way the sport has changed in the last 30 years, probably thought that no other team would be able to tie or break it yet one team did.

Breaking the record and being able to witness it is amazing. It's a testament to the players who work hard every game to make sure the fans at the Joe see them at their best. Sure, seeing the Wings break a record that was held by two different teams in very different eras of hockey is fantastic. And yes, seeing the team hold on to team records for many years is great. But do you think that the 2011-2012 Red Wings would rather be record breakers or champions? I'm sure the Red Wings would love to shatter records forever but in the Red Wings organization it don't mean a thing if you don't get that ring.

Wait... It's Valentine's Day?

2012-02-14T18:45:00.002-05:00

In Red Wing land, this is not Valentine's Day. It's true, Despite whatever Wingman/Blind Date/Blah Blah Barf thing that Amway is sponsoring tonight, it's a night much more important than Valentine's Day. It's a night that history could be made. HISTORY. Breaking records is more important than some random necklace Kay Jewelers pawned to every man in the metro area. It's more important than that box of chocolates that fell off your table and into your dog's loving mouth who is now getting sick from them. It's definitely more important than some flowers that will mold then die in a week.

Sure, tying records is fun. But breaking them? It takes a special team to break them.

It's almost time for the team to begin their quest towards history. And just because it's a night more important than Valentine's Day doesn't mean there won't be any kisses.

It's tough to be a goalie

2012-01-04T13:06:00.007-05:00

Where's Kevin Hodson now?

After spending his first year in professional hockey as a Chicago Blackhawks prospect, Kevin Hodson signed to the Detroit Red Wings in 1993. Kevin would spend his first two seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings due to an over crowding in Detroit's depth chart at the goalie position. It wasn't until the 1995-96 until Hodson made his NHL debut. Kevin posted a shut out against the club that let him slip away, the Chicago Blackhawks. Kevin played only two games that season but won both games for the Red Wings. During the Championship 1996-97 season, Kevin spent time as the franchise's third goalie and only found his way into six games. Despite not meeting usual qualifications, Kevin Hodson's name was indeed engraved with the rest of his teammates on the Stanley Cup. After the departure of Mike Vernon, Chris Osgood slid into the starting position for the Red Wings. The promotion of Osgood also meant that Hodson would move from third goalie to full time backup. For a second year in a row, Hodson and Osgood would lift the cup together again. Following the 1998 cup win, Norm Maracle who had taken Hodson's third goalie position would challenge and win the position of backup goalie to Chris Osgood. Months after officially losing the backup position to Maracle, Hodson would be traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Bill Ranford and Wendel Clark. Kevin would play two season with the Lightning before being sent back to Detroit as a Viper. Following the 2000 season, Hodson was traded to the Montreal Canadiens but wouldn't play again until 2003. After a trade left him as the odd man out, Kevin opted to retire than return to the minors in January of 2003. Later that year, Kevin Hodson would come out of retirement to join the Finnish Elite League playing for the Jokerit. However, Hodson would leave mid season and never return to the game.

Upon his retirement, Kevin returned home to Ontario and earned Bachelor's Degree in Business from Algoma University. Kevin now works as a financial adviser with Edward Jones.

Photo courtsey of Vickie Kula

He's a Hawk?

2011-12-28T18:18:00.004-05:00

Where is Martin Lapointe now?

Marty was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings 10th overall in the 1991 Draft. Marty split time between his junior team the Laval Titan, the Red Wings AHL affiliate the Adirondack Red Wings, and the big club for most of his first four years. Lapointe would go on to play from 1995 to 2001 with the Red Wings exclusively. Just three years after winning his second Stanley Cup as a Red Wing, Marty departed from Detroit set for Boston. Lapointe played for the Bruins for three years before moving on. Marty signed with Detroit's Central Division rivals, The Chicago Blackhawks, following the lockout in 2005. He spent the majority of three seasons in Chicago and even briefly served as their captain before being traded to the Ottawa Senators in February of 2008. The Senators would become the final team that Marty would play for professionally. In 2009, The Chicago Blackhawks hired Lapointe as a pro scout. Despite his time away, Marty Lapointe is still welcomed with open arms to Joe Louis Arena. After 10 years with the organization, Marty still has many fans who still don his jersey at Joe Louis Arena.

Photo Credit to Mike Cohen

Some Things... I Just Don't Understand

2011-12-21T16:40:00.003-05:00

In the NHL, You can be given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for over celebrating a goal. A rule that I don't agree with personally. Arenas are allowed to play obnoxious music, shine lights on the opposing goalies, and wear out the goal horn button but players themselves are now limited to what they can do?

In the HBO special 24/7 Rangers Flyers, We see the officials assess an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to Artem Anisimov following his short handed goal celebration (as can be seen below).

Quickly following the game, various members of the Rangers organization including Anisimov apologized for his colorful celebration. I don't see why such an apology was necessary. I also don't agree that a penalty should have been assessed.

In the 1992-1993 season, when Teemu Selanne did a much more animated version of what Anisimov did, no one was up in arms regarding that.

Has the game of hockey changed so much in the last 20 years that in addition to the many alterations hockey has gone through, goal celebrations will now be made obsolete? Excessive celebrating is the term used most often to describe what Anisimov did. What if it had been a milestone goal? Would it then have been considered unsportsmanlike conduct or would it have been considered "okay" given the circumstances? Excessive celebrating shouldn't be an infraction. If Anisimov skated over to Mathieu Garon and taunted him face to face or something along those lines I could see an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty being assessed. But for mimicking a shotgun, I can not.

Where's This Wing Now?

2011-12-21T14:54:00.007-05:00

Ever wonder what your favorite Red Wing of yesteryear is up to today? Or maybe just curious as to what happened to that one guy? If you have, you're in luck. Every Wednesday, we will have something called "Where's This Wing Now?". WTWN will feature one former Red Wing a week to let you know what they were last known to be up to.

Where's Jesse Wallin Now?

Drafted to the Red Wings 26th overall in the 1996 Entry Draft from the Red Deer Rebels, Jesse Wallin spent five seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. Those five seasons included being a member of the 2001-2002 Roster. In the years since his time in Detroit, Jesse has retired and returned to the junior club that the Wings drafted him from. Jesse now serves as head coach and general manager for his former junior team, the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League.

Decorating for the Holidays: Red Wings Style

2011-12-14T19:47:00.006-05:00

Wife/Husband/Girlfriend/Boyfriend complaining that your plaque of Olympia Stadium isn't festive enough and that your Red Wing memorabilia doesn't have the Christmas touch?

DUMP THEM.

Wait a second... There is an alternate solution.

Just as always, the Red Wings have you covered with holiday gear to show off your team and holiday spirit.

Look! It's hockey playing Santa... and a creepy little Red Wing logo with limbs.... Okay, this one might not have been the holiday design teams' best idea but it's better than pine cones on your table.

Some snow people in a hat. Or is that a bag? Whichever it is, it's probably a good idea for those with children being that it's plush.

Declare your fandom to all that come to knock on your door this holiday season with this door wreath.

Who needs a stocking with some snowflakes and puffy paint when you could have this?

Red velvet hat with a white fur trim. YAWN. This is the Santa hat to rock. In fact, I'm pretty sure Santa rocks this hat.

Mint edible candy canes? PSSSSSSSH. Go with these plastic Red Wing candy cane ornaments. As an added bonus, the children cannot consume these and make your entire house into a sticky mess. Although, I'm pretty sure if children DID try to consume these... they'd end up in the hospital.

You could top your tree with a yellow star to represent the star of Bethleham ORRRRRR you could top your tree with something like this star.

Decorating with hockey equipment brings the locker room onto your Christmas tree

This Santa rocking Wings gear is much less creepy than the first one. Mainly because there is no creepy logo skating beside him. Seriously, what WAS that?

In an effort to make the Canadians feel more welcome in the United States, you could put a Maple Leaf on your tree as I do.

Why do they make Smores into people and dress them up as different characters? I have no clue. Did I buy the hockey player smore? Oh you know it.

Decapitated snowman head on a hockey puck. Does it ever make sense? No. Is it on my tree? Of course it is.

Just in case anyone wants to plan out plays, it's always good to have a rink board on your tree.

GIANT LOGO. That's pretty much reason enough.

It's a head. With a Red Wing hat. And a button that says "#1 Fan". Sure, why not.

Is this a snowman? The marshmellow man? Kyle Wellwood as a Red Wing? No clue but it's got a logo so it made the tree.

No Christmas tree is complete without Al the Octopus going all King Kong on it.

Dorothy got it right.

2011-11-30T11:10:00.008-05:00

You've now entered a strange land. A land filled with unimaginable things. Unimaginable sights, sounds, and scenes. Your mind is about to experience things and ideas that you never thought could come to be. You've just entered...
The Red Wings Twilight Zone.

NO!

Not THAT Twilight!

Damn teenage movies...

"Them" instead of "Us". "They" instead of "We". "Their owners" instead of "Mr and Mrs I".

Steve Yzerman...

in Detroit...

wearing Bolts gear...

debating if he'll come to the Joe...

WHAT IS HAPPENING? Up is down. Black is white. It's all going dark. Oh, what a world! What a world!

WHY WOULD STEVIE NOT WANT TO COME HOME TO THE JOE?!?

A couple explainations that I could think could be at work for the reason why it was even up for debate if Stevie would watch the game at the Joe: A) He doesn't want the focus on him when his team is fighting for a playoff spot B) Coming back to Joe Louis Arena as a Bolt is effecting him harder than he thought it would C) A combination of "A" and "B" D) He's really busy and in his mind has better things to do.

Professionalism says "A" is the answer. As a general manager, Stevie is focused on making sure his team is successful and thus not focused on sentimental memories of years gone by.

Wishful thinking says "B". If the answer was "B", maybe it means that Yzerman misses Detroit. Maybe it means that he misses the organization, the city, the people, and the fans.

Sentiment plus logic says it's "C". Maybe he does miss some parts of being in Detroit and this return is hard on him but he wants to be successful in his new role and doesn't want any distractions.

Pessimism and anti-Wings fans would say "D". He's moved on and Detroit is a memory in the review mirror.

Whatever reservations or commitments that were or are making Steve Yzerman miss or question a return to Joe Louis Arena I'm sure are valid.

Regardless of if he comes to the Joe or not:

Welcome HOME, Stevie
(Even if it was just for a day or two)

Gobble, Gobble, Dangle

2011-11-24T05:01:00.003-05:00

With today being Thanksgiving day, here are some Wings things to be thankful for:

"The Ageless Wonder" Nick Lidstrom

Larry Murphy's love of hot dogs

Mickey Redmond-isms

Tim Horton's at the Joe

The endless entertainment of the threesome bromance of Mike Commodore, Brendan Smith, and Cory Emmerton

The entire team, coaching staff, front office, and ownership for being the best in the league

Pavel Datsyuk as a whole

Tomas Holmstrom's back side

That we are able to interact with the legends of years gone by on a regular basis thanks to an organization that never forgets

Ian White's cheekbone

$9 beers (Try watching college hockey. No beer at all)

Henrik Zetterberg's love of Beyonce

Dan Cleary's lack of eyebrows

Darren Helm growing his hair out AND growing a mustache thus causing the fangirl/puck bunny types to leave him alone

That the Wings do not have cheerleaders

Ty Conklin's mustache

That the Red Wings don't go for a gimmicky third jersey

Seven more years of Niklas Kronwall

That the Wings have found places in the organization for many of our favorite newly retired players

That the Wings aren't last in the league

That it's almost December THUS almost Mursak time

Sweden, Canada, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovenia/Yugoslavia for bringing us some of the best players from outside the United States

That mispronouncing Justin Abdelkader's last name leads to hours of entertainment

That some people don't like "Just for Men" gel (see: Miller, Drew)

Jimmy Howard

That Brett Lebda has settled with a new team... And it isn't ours

Oh yeah... Friends, Family, Health, Happiness, Food, etc. The standard, mushy, Miss America sentimental stuff and what not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The kid returns tomorrow... Yawn

2011-11-20T17:43:00.007-05:00

"Sidney Crosby... has just sneezed"

"Crosby just ate a peanut butter sandwich WITH the crusts"

"Sid will return on September 19th... to Chuck E. Cheese"

"There is no change to Crosby's condition but he did just buy a new hat"

"There were games held today but who cares? Sidney just looked at his skates"

"Crosby's return is essential to the NHL. The entire league is in jeopardy of folding without his return... okay... we made that last part up... But still!"

Since January 5th of 2010, I have heard nothing but progress reports and lots of 'there is no progress' reports regarding Sidney Crosby's concussion and playing status. After months and months of hearing about his return, tomorrow Crosby will return to the ice. Now I'm not going to say that I don't care about his return. I do... to a minimal extent. I never want to see someone that young have their career ended and I am capable of recognizing his talent. Maybe with his return, I can stop hearing about every move he makes. The National Media has really made the situation stale for me. Initially, I cared because I watched how a concussion injury plagued Andreas Lilja when he was on the Red Wings and I understood how frustrating the symptoms are. After months of hearing that he had no change and that there was no time table every day, I began quite frustrated with the coverage. On September 7th, almost every ounce of care towards the situation left me.

In case you live under a rock, September 7th was the day that the plane carrying the Lokomotiv hockey team crashed. The crash claimed 44 lives. Sidney Crosby had scheduled a press conference to update his status on that day. The status update was essentially a "there is no timetable or update but let us explain how concussions work" type of event. Press conferences take time to set up. They take time to get everything together. However, they also can be postponed quite easily. It was that moment that respect for Sidney, all those working on his behave, and the national media diminished significantly. Many media outlets covered the Crosby press conference first and covered the plane crash secondly as a hockey after thought.

44 people losing their lives were not as important as one player's concussion?

26 other professional hockey players were not as important as Sidney Crosby's injury?

Sidney Crosby is an important player, but he's not the only player that matters.

Let's get neurotic in here!

2011-11-05T16:16:00.004-04:00

If you are not the superstitious type, you should probably stop reading right about.... now.

I think it's time to lean towards our superstitious sides. It's time to really get neurotic and play up to that side of ourselves. Now if you don't personally have that side, right on. Good for you. Carry on and do whatever you do on game day that doesn't involve this stuff. I, however, am a VERY superstitious person. Just ask my mother. She was banned from watching Wings games for years when she was identified as a jinx. For the record, the jinx eventually went away but I still get nervous when she watches clutch games.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Tonight would be the night to bust out the juice, the mojo, or the lucky charms. Tonight would be the night to do the lucky rituals or things you do. If you didn't watch the first five games and have watched every game since, perhaps you should not watch tonight to see if you are the jinx. But naturally, DVR it and watch it later.

Now I wouldn't suggest that others do something if I wasn't willing to do it myself. I have some items that I exclusively save to wear during the playoffs or important games. I will be wearing those items tonight to see if they help. Call me or any of my neurotic friends fools all you want but the Hockey Gods are serious business. If they have it out for your team, you have to try to change the tide somehow. So this is my own personal effort to try and appease the Hockey God.

Good Luck to the Red Wings tonight.
And if all else fails, may they make their own luck

Motivation and Key points

2011-11-02T16:59:00.003-04:00

I'm not a hockey coach but I do know a few things.

To win you have to be aggressive. You have to fight and claw for every point. Everything must be earned. No one is going to hand the Wings a win. No one is looking out for the Wings. No team is going to say "Well, The Wings have dropped five in a row, they're frustrated, and they could really use a win. So, let's just NOT play to the best of our ability." That's not going go happen. It's frustrating but tonight will be a battle. Just as every game has been so far.

A few key-points that I believe the Wings are going to have to do to win tonight:

-Stay in control-
Generally speaking, the other team can't score if the Wings keep the play in their zone.

-Don't take bad penalties-
If they know that grabbing the guy they're chasing with their free hand is going to send them to the box for holding, then they shouldn't do it. Sounds like a very stupid statement but taking stupid penalties needs to quit happening. It's the split decisions type of penalties that need to be avoided. Our penalty kill may be good, but they saw the ice more than they should have last game.

-Put. Pucks. In. The. Net.-
Quite obviously the Wings need to be more offensive. They need to not worry about making the highlight reel by any means. Go for the ugly goals. Go for the scrappy goals. They need take any chances they can take. ANY OF THEM. If they've got the goalie beat on a break away, they need take the shot.

-Jimmah keep on Jimmah-ing-
Last game Jimmy Howard was great. Tonight, he needs to put up the same effort. Especially if the offense continues to struggle.

-If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win-
The Wings will need to have confidence that they can do the 'right' things. They'll also need to remember that they are a talented group and can achieve anything.

Everyone needs a little motivation now and again:

“Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.”

I don't know who Frankie is... but do what he says!

2011-10-28T22:16:00.005-04:00

DANGER!!!
DANGER!!!
PANIC!!!
PANIC!!!
RUN TO THE EMERGENCY EXITS!!!
TAKE COVER IN YOUR BOMB SHELTERS!!!
DISMANTLE THE TEAM!!!
FIRE EVERYONE!!!
CHANGE EVERYTHING!!!

What? Too dramatic?

The Red Wings dropped their third game in a row with a 4-2 loss against the Sharks tonight. This loss was met much hysteria, outlandish suggestions of what the team should do next, and just plain foolishness.

"Let's fire Mike Babcock!"

"It's all Jimmy's fault!"

"Problems start at the top... Let's fire Ken Holland!"

"Let's make significant moves that will extremely effect the dynamic of the team because we don't have depth!"

Dropping a few games in a row happens. It sucks. But it happens occasionally. Three is not a significant number if you really think about it. Granted, Inside a three game slide is not where the Wings want to be. The way the Wings played on some nights is not up to the level of play that this team is capable of. I know that, You know that, The team knows that, The coaches know that, and I'm sure the front office knows that. It's still really early in the season for anyone to be panicking just yet. This is just the eighth regular season game. There are 74 remaining games for the team to get it together. No one likes losing. Mike Babcock has made it perfectly clear that he does not like to lose. The three losses are done, however. There is no way to get those three games back. The key for everyone is to look forward to the games at hand. Suggestions that the Wings should use up their remaining cap space to land a power-forward have also been discussed. I understand that there is cap space available. Trust me, I get it. But using that cap space IN OCTOBER after losing JUST THREE GAMES would be jumping the gun a bit. Emmerton, Brunnstrom, and Commodore are all available. There are options. There are different roster combinations and switch-ups that the coaching staff might want to do that could and can still be made. Not to mention that many have also forgotten that Mursak will eventually make his return to the team once he has fully healed. I don't believe that the team is in dire straits. Changes will be made and the team will battle back.

Ramblings of perspective and what not

2011-10-22T21:37:00.003-04:00

As much as I am disappointed with the loss tonight, I think many need perspective on this loss. After two goals were scored in the first period, fans began attacking everyone in the organization. Some of the blame was justified but some was overkill. The statements that the Wings cannot play "good teams" or are "incapable" of winning were almost laughable. Coming into this game we were 5-0-0. Obviously, we can win but tonight just wasn't our night.

This game was ugly. I will not deny or dispute anyone about that fact but it is just the sixth game of the season. Realistically, the Wings were not going to go 82-0-0. Did I expect we would get stomped like we did tonight? No. I don't believe anyone could have seen that coming. They need to use this game as an example of what not to do. Use this game as a building point to get stronger. It is, after all, just the sixth game of the season. Last season, we lost two of the first six. Granted, none were like the beating received tonight but those two losses didn't define our season. Just like this loss will not define our season. We are still 5-1-0.

5-1-0 is not a terrible start by any means. In the last five seasons, the Wings have had worse records in the starting six games.
2010-2011 4-1-1
2009-2010 3-3-0
2008-2009 4-1-1
2007-2008 4-1-1
2006-2007 3-2-1

Was the team going to go undefeated forever? No. That's just unrealistic in today's NHL. Should everyone jump ship and become fans of other teams now? Do what you want but I know this team better than that. They will put in the time and do their best to improve, fix the mistakes, and get better. The team is in transition still and many fail to realize that. There will be speed bumps and hiccups along the way of this season. The point is that this is a long season. There are still 76 games to play and throwing in the towel after one will not solve anything. Have faith in the team that they will do what needs to be done to fix any issues that there are. Improvements will be made, Changes will happen, and Lessons will be learned.

All the Difference or No Difference at all?

2011-10-16T18:53:00.012-04:00

The subject of fangirls and puck bunnies seems to always pop up in conversations about females in the hockey world. How are puck bunnies and fangirls different? Are they different? Are there boundaries that separate fangirls from puck bunnies? These questions got me wondering: What is the difference between a hockey fangirl and a puck bunny?

I posed this question to some of my followers on twitter and other random people in the hockey scene. The responses were varied when it came to defining a hockey fangirl but were nearly unanimous when defining a puck bunny.

Most everyone who responded defined a puck bunny as a female who is all about getting with the players. Some also defined a puck bunny as someone who only likes the sport for good-looking men. MK (@One4theDagger) said that "[Puck Bunnies would] rather have the hottest players on their team of choice then the most talented," she went on to say that puck bunnies "ruin the enjoyment for other female fans by everyone now stereotyping us as a whole as puck bunnies." Essentially, the definition of puck bunny boiled down to a hockey groupie. No surprise there.

A hockey fangirl seems to be the harder to define. Some suggested no real difference between the two, while others described a fangirl as a dedicated, loyal fan of the game of hockey. MK said "A fangirl to me is a fan who knows the game, knows the players, the stats and details of their team of choice...but.. They still find players attractive like any female fan. The guys are hot, talented and rich. If a female has eyes and hormones, you can't blame them... especially when they are playing a sport you love." Jason (@Waffleboard) said, "The difference to me is the sex. Both are pretty obsessed with X Player(s), but fangirls don't make it their life's goal to have one inside of them. Or if they do, they're at least a bit more tactful about it and don't advertise it." Ian (@inflemingdunha) said, "Fangirls are girls that have mega crushes on players". Others said fangirls were girls who find players cute.

With vastly different definitions, the line between a fangirl and a puck bunny seems to be either very narrow or on the other side of the world. With answers, more questions seem to arise. Are some fangirls actually puck bunnies? I followed up with MK by asking her if she thought some puck bunnies hide under the title of fangirl. MK said, "I'm sure. Who wants to admit they're skanky? Especially if their friends are mostly fan girls and they're the odd one out in a worse way. But they're typically easy to spot out. They usually only know the hot players, how much they make, their birthdays, and where they hang."

There seems to be a gray area that the term fangirl falls into. Some are not anywhere in the neighborhood puck bunnies, but some are. Some are true female fans with eyes and the ability to notice a man's attractiveness, and some are only fans for the attractiveness. As a negative or a positive, the term certainly strikes up a debate.

Man, I love college

2011-10-11T20:46:00.000-04:00

College hockey kicked off it's season last week and over the weekend 8 Michigan Colleges played 16 games to really kick off hockey season right.

In Michigan State's first game of the weekend on October 7th they squared off against Boston College. While Seniors Brett Perlini and Trevor Nill both scored for the Spartans, the Eagles proved to be a tough opponent as the Spartans were defeated 5-2. In Michigan State's second outing of the weekend on the 8th it was the all Sophomore show. Sophomores Lee Reimer and Greg Wolfe shared the scoring duties for the Spartans including Reimer's OT goal to give State a 3-2 win against Air Force. The top performer on the score sheet this weekend was Sophomore Lee Reimer with 2 goals and an assist in the win against Air Force. The Spartans are 1-1-0 to start the 2011 Hockey Season off.

The University of Michigan Wolverines kicked off their hockey season with a 5-0 win against Niagara on October 4th. Juniors Chris Brown and Lindsay Sparks each scored two goals a piece in that win. Senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick recorded the shutout as well as an assist on the Wolverine's second goal of the game. This weekend, Michigan were faced with a double header against Bentley. On Friday, the Wolverines defeated the Falcons in a 5-1 win featuring goals from Seniors Greg Pateryn, David Wohlberg, and Luke Glendening as well as tallies by Junior A.J. Treais and Freshman Alex Guptill. On Saturday, the Wolverines continued on their roll as they defeated Bentley in a 4-1 contest. Freshmen Phil Di Guiseppe netted two goales while fellow Freshman Alex Guptill and Junior A.J. Treais each netted one a piece. Top performers of the week were Senior Shawn Hunwick with the shutout win against Niagara and Juniors Lindsay Sparks and A.J. Treais who each had 2 goals and 2 assists throughout the week. Michigan now stands 3-0-0.

The Ferris State Bulldogs kicked of their season with a pair of games against St. Lawrence. Junior Travis Ouellette led the Bulldogs to a 4-2 victory over the Saints on Friday by netting two goals in the Bulldogs' season opener. Freshman T.J. Schlueter and Junior Kyle Bonis also got in on the action with a goal a piece. On Saturday, The Bulldogs dominated with a 5-1 win over St. Lawrence to sweep the weekend. This time, it was Junior Kyle Bonis with a pair of goals to lead the Bulldogs in scoring for the night. Senior Jordie Johnston, Junior Travis Ouelette, and Sophomore Cory Kane each scored goals in the victory. The Bulldogs' top performer of the weekend was Kyle Bonis with 3 goals and 1 assist. Ferris State is currently 2-0-0.

The Lake Superior State Lakers started their season before most other teams. On October 1st, the Lakers defeated the University of Alabama-Huntville Chargers by a score of 3-2. Freshman Chris Ciotti, Sophomore Kyle Jean, and Junior Zach Trotman each scored a goal to give the Lakers the win. The next night, the Lakers defeated the Chargers 2-1. The line of Juniors Nick McParland and Ben Power with Freshman Chris Ciotti proved to be the Lakers' top line. McParland scored both of LSSU's goals with helpers from Ciotti and Power on each. The top performers of the week for LSSU are Junior Nick McParland who leads the team in goals with 2 and Freshman Chris Ciotti who leads the team in points with 4 (1 goal and 3 assists, respectively). The Lakers are now 2-0-0 with the weekend off from regular competition for the Blue and Gold game.

The Northern Michigan University Wildcats kicked off their season against the Wisconsin Badgers. On October 7th, the Wildcats defeated the Badgers 3-2. Senior Justin Florek, Junior Kory Kaunisto, and Sophmore Reed Seckel each scored a goal to lead NMU to the win. The next night, the Wildcats weren't so lucky falling 2-3 to the Badgers. Both Wildcat goals were scored by Senior Justin Florek. The top performer of the weekend goes to Senior Justin Florek with 3 goals. The Wildcats are now 1-1-0.
The Western Michigan University Broncos faced up against the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers this weekend. On Friday the 7th, the Broncos stomped the Chargers with a 7-1 victory. Junior Matt Tennyson and Sophomore Shane Berschbach each had a pair of goals in the victory. Freshman David Killip, Sophomore Dan DeKeyser, and Junior Dane Walters each had a goal in the win as well. On Saturday, the Broncos kept rolling with a 4-0 win. Freshman goaltender Frank Slubowski recorded the shut out for the Broncos. Senior Kyle O'Kane, Junior Trevor Elias, Sophomores Chase Balisy and Shane Berschbach each scored goals to defeat the Chargers. Top performers for the Broncos this weekend include: Freshman goaltender Frank Slubowski for his shutout victory, Sophomore Shane Berschbach for leading the Broncos with 3 goals this weekend, Junior Matt Tennyson who had 2 goals and 1 assist, and Sophomore Chase Balisy who had 1 goal and 3 assists for the Broncos. WMU is now 2-0-0

The Michigan Tech Huskies faced the American International College Yellow Jackets in this weekend. The Huskies defeated the Yellow Jackets by a score of 4-3 on Friday. Freshman Blake Pietila netted two to assist Tech in their win. Junior Steven Seigo and Senior Jordan Baker both scored in the victory as well. On Saturday, Tech defeated AIC in a 3-1 victory. A pair of goals by Sophomore Jacob Johnstone and a goal by Senior Brett Olson led the Huskies to their win. Top performers for the Huskies this weekend were Freshman Blake Pietila with 2 goals and 1 assist, Senior Jordan Baker and Junior Steven Seigo who each had 1 goal and 2 assists. The Huskies are currently 2-0-0.
The Oakland University Grizzlies have been very busy since the kick off of this season. The Grizzlies traded wins on September 23rd and 24th with the Liberty Flames. OU lost 4-1 on the 23rd but rallied back to win 3-2 on the 24th. Oakland swept their next weekend series beating University of Michigan-Dearborn 5-3 on September 30th and 6-3 on October 1st. Oakland participated in the ACHA showcase this past week. On October 7th, The Grizzlies lost to Minot State by a score of 5-2. On the 8th, OU rallied to a 5-1 win over Arizona. And finally on the 9th, OU lost to Illinois by a score of 5-2 to conclude the weekend. The top performers in the past seven games were: Jordan MacDonald, Adam Novak, and Billy Balent who are in a three way tie for the points lead with 7 a piece. Oakland is now 4-3-0.

A Very Scrappy Birthday To Me

2011-10-10T12:03:00.002-04:00

To kick off the return of Scrappy Monday, since it's my birthday, I decided to feature a few of my favorite fights/scraps.

And the Pièce de résistance

New Season, New Content

2011-10-06T17:25:00.003-04:00

As I do several times throughout the year, I've come up with daily features to look out for since we are entering a new season of hockey.

Mondays will go back to being Scrappy Mondays where videos of recent or classic fights will be posted.

Tuesdays will be a weekly state of Michigan college hockey round up.

Wednesdays will feature an NHL player in their younger days.

Thursdays will be the day to look for Jackhole posts. The Jackhole posts will no longer be a weekly event but more of a "when the situation warrants it" type of deal.

Fridays will contain the "Player of the Week" as well as the returning Fan Profile posts. A fan submitted vote for who ruled the NHL for that week.

Saturdays will be reserved for all the latest suspension news.

Sundays will be a weekly update of how the Grand Rapids Griffins are doing.

In addition to these new features, I will still be my usual ornery self and post rants as I see fit. This new schedule of sorts will not start until the 10th. As always, all features are on a trial basis. If there is a feature that you liked that is no longer being done, let me know. I'm open to bringing back any of the features of days gone by.

It's not snobbery, it's legacy.

2011-09-28T13:35:00.003-04:00

The subject of the original six teams needing to meet each other more has been brought up a lot quite frequently by fans of all six. The infrequency of the meetings and the fact that original six teams often don't meet the others even once in a season have both been uniting issues amongst original six team fans.

Often, this subject is met with slurs and anger from fans of the other 24 teams. Most non-original six team fans seem to believe that the fans of the original six teams are snobs and think they are better than the other 24 teams. It's not that, I assure you. It's the simple fact that for a quarter century six teams were the only teams in the league before it grew to what it is today. Six. It's a history that can't be rewritten. The specialness of being fans of an original six team franchise is not lost on fans who don't remember the good old days.

Some of us were taught by our parents who were taught by their parents who remember the days of Olympia and the days when only six teams fought for Lord Stanley's cup. For 25 years, only six teams made up the NHL. Nine franchises haven't existed in the league as we know it as long as the NHL consisted of just six. Seven of the franchises have been relocated since the beginning of the NHL but none of those are members of the original six family.

Being a fan of an original six team franchise seems to lend some stability and consistency to investing in that team. No matter how good or bad of a season any of the original six teams are having, there are always people filling the seats. Yes, sometimes the seats aren't always full but they are fuller than most.

I can't speak for all the original six team franchises, but I will say that history is a huge part of what the Detroit Red Wings are. If you doubt that fact, just walk into the Gordie Howe entrance of Joe Louis Arena.

Upon entering the building you'll be met by three larger-than-life bronze statues of Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio.

If you're lucky, you'll be there on a night where one of the legends is in the concourse signing autographs which happens several times during the season.

As you make your way to your seat, look up. That's all you'll have to do to be reminded of the legends from the original six era.

And if you're truly lucky, you'll be there for a special occasion when the legends come out to celebrate the triumphs of the latest team.

It's not snobbery, it's a celebration of history and tradition.

Don't call me woman like it's an insult

2011-09-28T10:20:00.002-04:00

It's fairly easy to get me fighting mad. I'm not even going to lie about that fact. But nothing pisses me off more than some man deciding he has to educate me on the sport of hockey because I'm a woman and I don't know any better. When did being a woman in the hockey world become some sort of handicap? I go to games, I go to training camp, I watch the highlights, I follow the players, I read the stats, I watch the delightful suspension videos. I know the game without some patronizing asshole "teaching" me about it. I don't need guidance as to who is on the Red Wings' roster because I've got that down. I don't need memory refreshers as to what happened last year with the Wings because I was there. I watched from training camp to the very last game.

I'm never really a fan of the battle of the sexes in the hockey world because I believe that everyone has a place. That being said, I am sick and tired of women being made to look like they are stupid individuals who know nothing about the sport and who only attend games to get their MRS. When I attend games, I watch the hockey and perhaps I talk to friends but I don't need someone there to entertain me during the game. Why? Because I'll be too busy WATCHING IT. I'll give a little steam to their argument because some women are there for the wrong reasons. But they choose to ignore the masses that are there for the right ones.

So many men like to lump all women into this category of fragile, no nothing girls and that's not the case. If you've ever spent any time with female hockey players you would know that's not the case. And yet, many look at females in the hockey world as some sort of inferior species and often use the line "What do you know? You're a WOMAN". Being a person in the hockey world that happens to be a woman isn't some sort of curse or handicap. I can assure you that my lady parts do not interfere with watching, talking about, or even playing the game.

So men, the next time you feel the need to educate a woman on the sport, make sure she actually doesn't know.

One doesn't equal all

2011-09-23T00:07:00.003-04:00

During the shootout at tonight's Flyers/Red Wings game in London, Ontario, someone threw a banana peel at Wayne Simmonds. Assumed to be a racist action, the trolls of the internet went wild in the wrong direction. Instead of shaming the one fan that did it, Irresponsible people have turned all the fire onto the Red Wings fan base. It wasn't a home game. They were not playing in Detroit. But instead of looking at the residents in the city of London or considering all possibilities, most have chosen to attack the city of Detroit and all it's fans.

I am not a racist. I do not appreciate being lumped into that category for the actions of one person who's affiliations are not known. Where was I during Banana Gate? At home, annoyed that Philly doesn't allow out of market streaming of games. Guilty by association via the potential that we might like the same sports team doesn't fly with me. If someone sets a house on fire or shoots someone, am I now guilty because we are from the same place? Do I now take responsibility for everyone's actions? That's unfair to assume that everyone believes as that one clown does. It's also unfair to assume that the fan wasn't a fan of another team. Who's to say that fan wasn't a fan of a different team? To be honest, we don't know anything of this person.

The actions of that person are deplorable. I hope they find the person and make them an example. That being said, the actions of one don't represent all. If the person was a Wings fan, it doesn't mean that all Wings fans are racists. If the person was just someone from London, it doesn't mean that every person from London is a racist. One person's stupidity does not represent an entire section of people.

I'm baaaaack

2011-09-21T12:11:00.011-04:00

A few of the sights from training camp

I'm not going to spit a million stats or a bunch of player information because you've no doubt read that 300 times from 300 different blogs saying the same thing. Here are a few of my thoughts during training camp:

Prospect with sick mitts:
Tomas Jurco
It was a treat to be able to watch the kid mess around and do some trick shots on the last day of camp after the last practice. I would love to see Jurco and Datsyuk go trick for trick.

Show offs:

Tomas Tatar
On the first day of camp, Tatar managed to get a shot off on net... with his head.

Todd Bertuzzi
During a lull in practice, Todd started doing some puck juggling. At one point, he flipped the puck in the hair, caught it on his head, then bounced it to his stick.

Most interactive:

Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom
There was one child who loves to walk up to the glass and say "Hello" to the players. Most players ignore the children and distractions. In opposite fashion, Nick and Homer made a point to say hello, wave, and toss the kid a puck.

Favorite lines:

Bertuzzi, Abdelkader, Helm
For those who were able to watch the Red and White game, it was very apparent that this line has the ability to be very productive. While watching them in practice, it's very noticeable that these three feed off each other.

Cleary, Datsyuk, Eaves
This line has some sick potential. Usually I don't like to see the Euro twins split up, but this line is a refreshing exception to that. Eaves and Cleary seem to be able to clear space for Pav to do some magic. I'll be looking forward to seeing what this line can do when in a game environment.

Take a chill-pill:

Mike Commodore
I was happy to see that Commie rolled into camp prepared to fight for a job. My only critique would be that he needed to loosen up a bit. He seemed very tense most of the time. Now I wasn't a person would followed Commodore throughout his entire careers so that might just be his face or how he conducts himself in training camp. It just seemed like perhaps he was a little bit too in his own head.

Most patience:

Brendan Smith
Brendan's patience for waiting to become a Red Wing has been reported on all week. I admire his patience for dealing with morons more. Every day of camp there was an annoying woman who would yell "Brendan" approximately 100 times during any given practice he was in. For the record, I'm not exaggerating on the amount of times this broad shouted his name. I was impressed that he never told her to shut up.

Oh, this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

2011-09-07T14:46:00.004-04:00

This summer has been one of those summers that you wish that you could forget. This morning, myself and the hockey world learned of a plane crash that has shaken and continues to shake this giant hockey family of ours to it's core.

A plane carrying the Lokomotiv hockey team of the KHL crashed and almost all on board perished. As a hockey fan, first thoughts were complete sadness and prayers sent to the families of those players, coaches, and all on the plane. After a moment, the tragedy hit home. Closer to home than I ever expected. Three former members of the Red Wings organization joined former NHLers and KHL stars on board that flight to Minsk.

The three that hit home:

Stefan Liv
December 21, 1980 - September 7, 2011

Stefan Liv was a fourth round draft pick for the Detroit Red Wings in 2000. Stefan spent just one year with the Red Wings organization and played most of the with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the 2006-2007 season. Liv earned five medals while representing his home country of Sweden including gold medals in both the Olympics and World Cup championships in 2006.

Ruslan Salei
November 2, 1974 - September 7, 2011

Ruslan Salei was drafted into the NHL 9th overall in the 1996 Draft to the Ducks. After spending 11 seasons with the Ducks franchise, Salei turned into somewhat of an NHL journeyman. Salei played for 10 teams in his professional hockey career (Lokomotiv was set to be his 11th). Rusty, as he was affectionately known as, was a very funny individual and a rough and tough player. A proud Belarusian, Salei competed 14 times in international competitions representing Belarus.

Brad McCrimmon
March 29, 1959 - September 7, 2011

Brad McCrimmon was a talented coach and former player. McCrimmon was drafted 15th overall in the 1979 Draft to the Boston Bruins. Brad played for six NHL teams in his career including a three year stint with the Detroit Red Wings. After retiring, Brad took up coaching. Brad served as head coach for the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL and Assistant Coach for four NHL franchises. Being the head coach of the Lokomotiv was supposed to be Brad's way of breaking back into the world of being a head coach in professional hockey since he hadn't served as a head coach since 2000.

I know my words have not done justice to the amazing lives that these players lived nor can I fully attest to how many lives these players have touched. All who are in mourning have my deepest sympathies, my thoughts, and my prayers going out to them. Not just the families of the the three that hit close to home. Hockey is a family and today we lost too many of our brothers.

Children are left without fathers, Parents are left without children, Wives have lost their husbands, Many are left with the loss of friends, and fans have lost their heroes. At the end of the day, We are all left with terrible circumstances and broken hearts.

Don't cross that line

2011-09-05T21:02:00.002-04:00

Jackhole of the Day

The Jackhole tweeter who crossed the line

A lot of people chirp at players. Some are funny, some are weak, some are played out, and some are completely out of line. I'm amazed by some of these people who spend their time attacking players. If you don't like someone, don't follow them. Or don't concern yourself with them. Instead of doing that, these types go out of their way to attack these players that they don't like. Tonight, one of these people who love to chirp players, started in on Paul Bissonnette and Mike Commodore. After a few mild tweets, this clown hit Commie with this:

@commie22 yeah says the one who will die like a the bitch belak and hang himself cause he can't win

Chirping is one thing but that is a whole different story. Insulting someone who just passed away and also predicting someone will commit suicide is pathetic and disgusting. If you didn't notice, I haven't plugged this assclown's twitter handle and it was for a good reason. I believe that people should know that there are jackholes out there saying these terrible things to players but I do not believe that they should be given any sort of spotlight. Attention is usually what these people want. Essentially these characters are cyber bullies that are no different from anonymous commenters who say despicable things. They try to get under your skin and rattle you. The trick is to pay them no attention.

So if you pay them no attention, Why is this guy a jackhole?

Because there is never an excuse or reason to encourage or tell someone to kill themselves. NEVER.

Lay off. Seriously.

2011-09-02T13:01:00.002-04:00

Jackholes of the Week

Sports Media for exploiting the death of Wade Belak

I understand that everyone wants answers as to what happened and if it can be prevented in the future. The problem is that the sports media personalities are so concerned about getting the answers to the questions that they want to know that they are forgetting some major things.

They're forgetting that Wade was a son, a husband, a friend, and a father. They are forgetting that he was a human being and is not a science experiment or example. No sensitivity has been shown and false reports are coming out hourly. I hope that none of them have to endure the media hell that Wade's family has had to endure since his passing. The media should not be hovering around, trying to get pictures of the body, and slandering Wade's name.

The sport of hockey is a family and right now we should be rallying around the Belak family. We should be supporting the families of the fallen players. We should not be treating them as spectacles. They are grieving and the media should respect that and take a step back.

I'm sorry. Should I take my shirt off so we can talk hockey?

2011-08-30T21:12:00.002-04:00

You know what I love just about as much as unsolicited "how to succeed in the hockey world" advice? A hot poker to the eye. But of course, I came home from a long ass day at work to a new email here at the site. It was a little unsolicited advice for how I can succeed. The advice is all over the map but the kicker was this comment:

"If you showed more cleavage on twitter, people would follow your blog more and take your hockey opinions more seriously."

It went on to say that people can't really take me seriously unless they have something interesting, like breasts, to look at. It also said that females in the hockey world need to show skin to be taken seriously. Funny, I thought it was the opposite. Gee, I bet that's exactly how Bob Mckenzie got all his hockey acclaim. It was the titties. Mystery solved. Bob just showed the world a little cleav and then the hockey world took notice. (You're all very welcome for the mental image you all have in your minds of Bob Mckenzie's cleavage.)

Since when does a photograph give you credibility? What does that say about the hockey folks that have cartoons as their avatars? It shouldn't say anything. The opinions expressed and knowledge shown should over shadow whatever photograph is next to the name. If you can't look past a person's avatar to acknowledge their hockey knowledge or opinions then you probably aren't the type of person that hockey types want to be followed by.

So the special Monday Jackhole goes to:

Mister Email Sender
because objectifying myself to gain followers is not on my personal agenda.

Really? Cause that's not funny

2011-08-28T10:24:00.007-04:00

Jackhole of the Week

Dirty Red Wings Secrets on tumblr

The description and premise of this tumblr "blog" says:

I know there are fans out there who have dirty secrets, here's your place to share them. Or, not so dirty secrets. Whatever you like.
*These are all wishes, don't take it seriously. The intention is to make people laugh.*

I'm not laughing. I don't find crazy funny. I have no clue who runs this "blog" but I'm slightly disturbed by the content. Some "secrets" are as tame as a Vancouver fan confessing her love for the Wings. But some... some are crazy confessions of crazy fangirls.

I don't follow this "blog" but they tag players that I follow so all the sudden I have to see how some young girl would like Drew Miller to take her virginity. This "blog", tumblr, whatever the hell you want to call it freaks me out and I think it's slightly disgusting. The creator defends it saying that they're silly cute little wishes that girls have about situations that will never happen or something along those lines. I think it's fueling the crazy.

Anonymous nice statements about the Wings are one thing. "I'd like to meet [insert player's name]" or "I think [insert player's name] is awesome" aren't bad at all. It's the "I'd make a porno with..." or "I'd do [insert dirty act] to [insert player's name]" that are the problem.

I have stated before and I will state again. I am not blind. I can identify a player as attractive or not. However, when I walk into a rink, my first thought isn't "That's a nice piece of ass right there" or "Hang on, let me pull down my shirt so that I can get some attention from the guys!". The players may be attractive but they're not sex objects. They don't workout so that you'll notice that they have a nice ass. They work the glutes to get the extra push, the power, and the strength in the corners.

It's not my intention to make a bunch of high school girls cry. So if you're a high school girl that is about to cry because I don't like your dirty high school thoughts aired on the internet just stop yourself. And you could also stop yourself from being crazy. Love hockey for the sport, not the "sexy" men-folk that play it. If you're having trouble connecting with hockey as a sport instead of hockey as a meat market, go watch women's hockey or learn to play yourself. Fierce ladies kicking ass or kicking ass yourself will get you into the spirit of the sport.

If you're against women's hockey, playing hockey, and learning to love the sport for the sport then perhaps you are a lost crazy cause.

My only suggestion would be then to maybe just keep your "dirty little secrets" as secrets.

Pink- it's not love at first sight

2011-08-25T13:35:00.006-04:00

Under female based sports marketing schemes, any ladies reading this should automatically buy anything I attempt to sell them now because I covered the female sports marketing basics. Make it pink, make it sparkly, make it flashy, and make it ooze girlyness.

Does Jimmy Howard rock a hot pink jersey onto the ice? No. Does Nick Lidstrom dunk himself in glitter prior to every game? No. So why would I, a female fan, need or want to wear a pink or sparkly jersey? If pink and flashy shiny materials were part of the players' uniforms them maybe I'd have less of an aversion to them. But in the NHL, pink and sparkly aren't part of the jersey color-wheel.

"We wear pink to show that we're girls"
Give me a break. I don't believe for one second that a woman should have to wear a pink jersey to distinguish that we are female. I wear a standard jersey and have never been mistaken for a man in my life while wearing said jersey. I would imagine if you were that adamant about showing off the fact that you have lady parts, fitted jerseys and fitted t-shirts would be an alternative.

Fitted jerseys and t-shirts are one thing but changing the color scheme entirely is a whole different animal. If the team's colors are pink, then by all means wear pink. In the case that your team's colors are pink I would hope that you wear pink to support your team. But if your team's colors are red and white or blue and yellow, pink is not an alternative to those colors. When you see a sea of Red and White in the crowd at Joe Louis Arena that's for a reason. The reason is the people are representing the Wings by wearing their team colors. Pink is not one of their team colors. Pink is not any NHL team's color.

Please, Take your jersey fashion advice from Nick.

If he's not wearing a pink/sparkly/glitterized/flashy/girly hockey jersey, then neither should you.

It's just not right....

2011-08-19T11:03:00.003-04:00

Jackhole of the Week

The idea people behind NHL 2012

Including legends into the new video game? I approve. Making it so legends can switch teams and play for any team? Disapprove. Big time. You can put Steve Yzerman on any team you want. No. Just no. Steve Yzerman only wore one jersey in the NHL and that was the Winged wheel and now you're going to let some douche canoe put him in a Pittsburgh jersey or an Avs jersey? Gordie Howe only played for two teams. One is the Red Wings and the other no longer exists. But now we can just throw Gordie on the Sharks or Coyotes and it's cool? No thanks.

What should have happened:
Pick talented former players from all teams and make those player available to those teams. So maybe it would be: Yzerman and Howe for the Wings, Sakic and Roy for the Avs, Chris Chelios and Stan Mikita for the Hawks. Perhaps allow any team those players played for in their career to pick them.

For example: Chris Chelios played for Montreal, Chicago, Detroit, and the former Thrashers. So make him available to those teams and those teams only. Steve Yzerman only played for the Red Wings so make him available only for Detroit. Patrick Roy played for Montreal and Colorado, So allow the Avs and Habs to pick him.

Players that have moved around quite a bit would have lots of teams to choose from. For instance, Brett Hull could be played for the Flames, Blues, Stars, Wings, and Coyotes. Luc Robitaille could be played for the Kings, Penguins, Rangers, and Wings.

I understand that some teams don't have the history that others do. Some teams haven't had the quality of players that others have. However, those teams need to make their own history. Develop their own legends, not take the legends from other teams. If a team doesn't have an All-Star former player, then no legend would be available. It's no offense against the newer teams, but you can't just fake history where it didn't happen.

Maybe they just need Eskimos

2011-08-18T11:01:00.002-04:00

Maybe players don't need harsh critics. Maybe players don't need adoring fans. Maybe players don't need jackhole bloggers telling them how to live their lives. Maybe all players need is their own personal "Eskimos". I've lost a few in that terminology, I'm sure. Many variations of this story have been around for quite a while but this is the variation that I'm referring to.

A man is sitting in a bar when a priest walks in. The man says to the priest, "Don't waste your time here. I happen to know there's no God."
Priest says, "Yeah, how's that?"
The man says, "I was exploring the north pole once. I got blinded in a snow storm during my time there. I was blinded and freezing to death and I prayed, 'If there's a God, save me now.' And, God didn't come."
The priest says, "How's that? You're alive. He must have saved you?"
"God never showed up. An Eskimo came along and took me back to his camp and saved me."

So I say again, maybe all players need is their own personal "Eskimos". The ones that save them from themselves and their demons. The ones that are there for them when no one else is. Hockey may be a family when tragedies come along but, during the year, it's mostly segregated sides watching battles of a year long war for the coveted prize.

Darren McCarty has "Eskimos". Now I do not know all the circumstances surrounding everything that has gone on in former Red Wing Darren McCarty's life. Truly, No one but Darren himself does. I do, however, believe that Kris Draper and Darren's ex-wife were Darren McCarty's "Eskimos". Darren's ex-wife was the "Eskimo" that opened his eyes and saved him from himself with merely just words. Kris Draper was the "Eskimo" that helped Darren work towards his goal of coming back to the NHL a few years ago. You see, players need people there to support them. They need people to be there for them when fans aren't around and the bright lights of the biggest stage in hockey have dimmed.

Players don't always struggle publicly as DMac did. Sometimes players keep the battles in their lives unknown to the public but very known to the people around them. I just hope that each of those players struggling with demons find their "Eskimos" and get saved rather than fall victim to their demons.

Koombaya then dangle?

2011-08-12T21:17:00.003-04:00

While looking through photos from various hippie gatherings across the world looking for a specific photo, I came across this photo.
This picture was taken at the Rainbow Gathering in Russia.

Boy, that guy looks awfully familiar. Really... Familiar...

IS PAVEL DATSYUK SECRETLY A HIPPIE?!?!?

Order of protection forms available once you sign your contract

2011-08-12T15:09:00.003-04:00

Jackholes of the Week

CRAZY GIRLS

I know. I know. I know. Going after the crazies again? Yes. Yes I am. And with good reason too.

I came across a person's post that said something to the effect of:

"Walking past [a certain player's] house. Should I go knock on the door?"

Are you crazy or stupid? Or crazy stupid? Why in the world would you ever think about that, LET ALONE, post it?

Some players have KIDS and WIVES. You know, happy little FAMILIES! STOP. JUST STOP. Nowhere did any player sign up for a creepy young girl to stalk them. That's not in their contracts. Being passionate is one thing. I appreciate passionate. I understand passionate. But stupid crazy? That's a whole different animal. There are boundaries. There are lines that shouldn't be crossed. Visiting players' houses uninvited? Definitely on the no list. Actually it's on the "Fuck no! What are you stupid? I'm calling the cops!" list.

Please girls, if you find yourself about to do this, don't. It makes me sick that anyone would even bother invading a person's personal space like that. I would be just as offended if someone said "Walking past JennHo's house. Should I go knock on the door?" if I didn't know you. All the crazies that feel the need to do insane things to get to a player's attention should join a support group. Perhaps call it "Crazy Hockey Girls Not-So-Anonymous" and get treatment for your problems. Because, stalking players, is a problem. A big, sick problem.

Just Drink the Kool-Aid, Dammit!

2011-08-08T18:37:00.003-04:00

I've spoken many times about how much I love twitter. In the off chance you missed it, it's a whole lot. Many still fight the urge to join twitter. They say they just don't get it. But I assure you, you don't have to get it to join it.

Twitter is one of the only outlets that lets you talk to players, sportscasters, fellow fans of your team, and fans of opposing teams. Where can you chirp BizNasty and have him sometimes chirp back? That would be twitter. Where can you express your gratitude and admiration for DMac to DMac? That would be twitter. Where can you get all the latest contract news and breaking hockey news? That would also be twitter. For hockey fans, Twitter is an amazing resource that some aren't taking advantage of.

It's all in who you follow. If you follow two people that you knew from high school who don't particularly tweet then twitter probably won't be much fun for you. If you follow a bunch of like-minded hockey fans and players that interest you along with writers who write articles you read and broadcasters you watch continuously then twitter will be fun.

Most all of the NHL official team twitter accounts as well as the NHL's own twitter have contests that they do. You can win anything from t-shirts to signed memorabilia. The NHL, as a whole, has found ways to gain and keep followers by making it more than just an information source. The contests give you extra incentive to join.

As with any social media outlet there is a human factor. With the human factor comes drama. Keep in mind, if you don't like what someone has to say, you don't have to follow them. There is no rule that fans have to follow each other just because they share the love of the same team. Just like there is no rule that bloggers have to follow each other just because we blog about the same team. Although most bloggers do follow each other as a courtesy, it is not a requirement. The great thing about twitter is you choose who you want to know about. Just because someone follows you, it doesn't mean you have to follow back if they don't interest you. It's not like facebook where it has to go both ways.

As with anything, I just challenge you to try it. You might not like it and quit. Or you might end up like me. I've made some of the most amazing friends, talked to some of the best hockey minds, interacted with some of the world's best players, and had a lot of fun along the way.

So join up and if you need some suggestions of who to follow: I have a list of NHL twitter accounts, you could follow Hockey Blogette or you could follow me. In any case, just try it.

"So what's the big deal about that Vladdy guy anyway"

2011-08-07T10:12:00.007-04:00

A while ago, I had a newer Wings fan asking me questions about the Wings and their history. After several minutes of random questions, the fan asked me the question that has been in the back of my mind for months. "What's the big deal about that Konstantinov guy, anyways?"

My original thinking was: How could these newer fans not know? Why aren't they educating themselves on the history of our team? They know about the fight night... How could they not know about Vladdy?

Vladdy was a great defenseman known for an aggressive style not often associated with Russian players coming out of the Soviet programs. Not only an aggressor, Vladdy was a defensive force and had a touch for being on the ice at the right time. In 1996, Vladdy won the plus/minus award with a +60 rating on the season. Vladdy was the first player since Gretzky to hit a +60 rating (Wayne had +70 in 1987). No player since has tied or beaten Vladdy's plus/minus rating making him the only player in the to reach that number in the past 23 seasons. Although Vladdy never won a Norris trophy, He did receive a nomination. In what would be his final season, Vladdy was the runner up.

Many argue that Vladdy wasn't that great but Nicklas Lidstrom would beg to differ. In interviews, when questioned about who was the better player, Nick has said "At the time of the accident, I thought he was the better player of the two." Nick also said if the accident hadn't happened, "He would have had lots of years in this league with lots of success too." When the defenseman highly regarded as the best defenseman of our generation and perhaps all-time says that he believed that a player was better than him, you stand up and take notice. We will never know what Vladdy's career would have been like if the accident had never happened. Maybe Nick would still be an alternate captain and we would be celebrating another Norris Trophy win for our captain the Vladinator. A person could drive themselves crazy with the "what if"s.

The accident shook our fanbase and organization to it's core. One of our brightest stars dimmed by a series of unfortunate events. Seeing the players that were once celebrating a Stanley Cup win then camp out at a hospital to visit and check on their teammate was not how the summer was supposed to go. The accident still haunts many that remember the details oh so vividly. But as a testament to the resilience of the Detroit Red Wings, They used Vladdy as the thing to fight for. The reason for winning. When the team won the Stanley Cup in 1998, they recognized him as part of the team and had his name engraved on the Cup. When they one, Vladdy was brought the cup in his wheel chair and wheeled around the ice with the aid of his Russian five counterparts. To this day, Vladdy is still included in all major Red Wing celebrations. From cup wins to retirement ceremonies, Vladdy is still present. I personally will never forget the cheers and cheering as loud as I could during the Steve Yzerman retirement ceremony when Vladdy took to the ice. A moment like that sticks with someone.

If Steve Yzerman is the heart of our organization, Then Vladdy is the soul. The Wings still have a locker for Vladdy despite the cruel reality that he will never be capable of playing hockey again. When one of the biggest names in hockey, Brett Hull, came to Detroit he had spent the majority of his career wearing the number 16. Brett changed his number to 17 for his years with Detroit. Why? Because unofficially, Vladdy's number is retired. No player has, and I believe, ever will wear the number 16 with the Detroit Red Wings for the rest of this organization's future. Over 50 players have worn the Winged Wheel with the number 16 but only one will be remembered for it. Long after the accident, Vladdy still remains a huge part of this organization's drive. Respect and love are still shown to our fallen Wing. I'm not sure if I've been able to articulate how important Vladdy is or was but not a season goes by without remembering who he was and how special he is.

Good lookin' out, Sean

2011-08-05T14:00:00.003-04:00

I announced a couple days ago that the "Jackhole of the Week" was making a triumphant return and that today would be the return post. I intended on using someone else for the jackhole but then my hipster homeboy, Sean Avery, came through for me. So without any further ado, the Jackhole of the Week.

SEAN AVERY

Sean Avery was arrested today for shoving a police officer. The police were responding to a neighbor's complaint of loud music during a party at Sean's house. Reportedly- Sean called them "fat little pigs", told them to come back without their badges, shoved a cop and slammed the door behind him. After slamming the door in the cops' faces, Sean then came to his senses and cooperated with law enforcement. Sean was held on $20,000 bail for the charge of battery on a peace officer. Sean was released on bond and must go to court in early September regarding the matter. Assaulting police officers is wrong. There. I said it. I did the proper politically correct thing.

For some odd reason I feel the need to stick up for Sean, even just a little bit. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he started his career here in Detroit. I'm not sure if that's it but nevertheless I tend to defend that hipster fashion-forward forward. There is no excuse for what Sean did and I'm not trying to make any but everyone should stop acting like it's the end of the world or that they are so shocked that Sean lost his temper. Everyone knows that Sean has had issues with his temper. It's no secret. No one was trying to hide that fact. Obviously, Sean lost his temper. Was shoving the cop wrong? Of course and I'm sure Sean will not deny that fact when he's in court. If reports are true, it was one shove. Sean did not lay the guy out or beat the fuck out of him and we are not sure what the cops said to Sean. Let's face it, Cops occasionally run their mouths and sometimes cops are dicks. (If any cops from the Eastpointe Police Department are reading this... I'm clearly not talking about any of you... Honest... You're all angels... I swear...) Provocation is no excuse for assault but it stands to reason that something might have occurred in the exchange between the cops and Sean to set the altercation off. Also, It was 1:00 am and Sean was having a party. Perhaps alcohol played a part in the incident as well. Alcohol, as we all know, impairs judgement. So with that impaired judgement, perhaps Sean didn't use his anger management techniques like he would have in a sober situation.

Any way you look at it, Sean was wrong. He shouldn't have laid a hand on the officer. Sean will have to deal with the consequences of his actions. I just hope that the NHL doesn't decide to step in on this matter. Patrick Kane was involved in an assault and theft case and was not suspended. Granted, Kaner doesn't have the track record that Avery has but if you're not going to suspend one-you shouldn't suspend the other. But with Gary Bettman running the show, I'm sure Sean will face minimal charges with the state of California and maximum charges with Il Duce.

I'm about to punch yo, lights out

2011-08-04T09:58:00.004-04:00

I usually try to start every day by watching some sort of hockey related video prior to really getting into my day. Whether it be some sick stick handling by Pavel Datsyuk, A funny interview, or a fight; I usually like to get a hockey fix every day in the summer. It makes a longer than planned summer a little bit easier to get through. I've found that watching the hits and fights I tend to get pumped up for a great day.

Unlike some that believe that fighting and hitting should be removed from the game, I love them. A great goal, Great saves by my goalie, Some nice clean hits, A fight, A win, and a beer and we've got ourselves a good night in my book. So I invite you to start your day off like I do with some classic Red Wings fights and hits.

(1:17 is my favorite broadcaster moment "HERE COMES CHEVELDAE"
Classic.)

DANGER! Get on the floor!

2011-07-29T17:18:00.004-04:00

Detroit Red Wings

Darren Helm

Honestly when I started the polls to figure out who would represent the Wings, I figured it would be Nick or Pav or Z. I was wrong. You voted for Helm so here goes nothing.

Darren Helm is often noticed as one of the fastest skaters in the league. Although Darren has yet to make it to an All-Star weekend to test his skills, he is highly regarded around the league for his skating skills. Helm works very hard in the off season doing football drills and off ice training to maintain that lower body power that allows him to lap the competition when skating.

Darren has cemented a spot on the Red Wings' penalty kill. Moves like the moves that Darren displayed in the 2009 Western Conference finals during a penalty kill helped establish him as a force when down a man. What starts as a run of the mill penalty kill, turned into a game of keep away for Darren Helm.

At a team Halloween party, Darren came dressed as... Todd Bertuzzi. While most people would be afraid to mimic or mock Todd Bertuzzi, Darren Helm took that challenge up with his elaborate costume. Darren even went to the trouble of getting all of Todd's tattoos drawn on him in sharpie by a local tattoo artist.

Unfortunately for Helmer, He wasn't born ugly. Well... to be honest... I've never seen pictures of baby Darren so I don't KNOW that he wasn't born ugly. I just know that he isn't ugly now. Oh what a price that poor kid has to pay. Being an ugly hockey player is like living the dream. People don't treat you like you're a long-haired Canadian pop star when you're ugly. If you're young and ugly, people focus purely on your talent on not your money maker. By money maker I mean his face, Dirty birds of the Internet. Helmer often brings out the worst in some female fan girls. From explicit confessions to what they would do to him to girls literally following him or demanding his attention. Helm does seem to be able to handle dealing with the crazies quite well. Ok, sometimes he does look terrified and like he wants to run far away from some of these broads but MOST of the time he looks okay.

Being just 24 years old, Helmer is the present and future of our organization along with Justin Abdelkader. Now many will criticize Darren for his lack of finishing skills when he's in on net. Those people should remember two facts: Due to much offensive strength Darren didn't need to be one of our top scorers and that the majority of his ice time seems to come on the penalty kill. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is. Does he need to be bashed and beaten down because he wasn't in the running for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy? Absolutely not. Darren is young and is still finding his niche and role with our team. Be patient, it's not like he's creeping up on 30 and consistently screws up and doesn't do anything for our squad.

Clean Slate, Buddy.

2011-07-28T20:46:00.003-04:00

Winnipeg Jets

Derek Meech

After the season concluded, Derek Meech announced that he was intent on parting ways with the Detroit Red Wings. On July 1st, he signed with the newly formed franchise in his hometown, the Winnipeg Jets. As Wings fans, most if not all of us wished Derek Meech well with his new club. Questions were raised by some new Jets fans as to why the majority of us weren't upset at Meech's departure and curious as to why he would want to leave the organization.

Derek wanted a bigger role with the Red Wings. A bigger role than what the Red Wings were willing to give Derek. Derek is not a bad player by any means but when you compare him to our youth, Meech fell a little short. During the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, Derek Meech played in 90 games of a possible 164 games he could have played in. In those 90 games, Meech acquired just 13 points. Most chalk his lack of production up to experience but if you look at Darren Helm that excuse loses steam. Darren, who is three years to Derek's junior, played in 91 games in those two seasons nearly doubled Meech's point total. Granted, Derek splits time between defense and forward but members of both positions out preformed Meech.

Being that Meech is three years older than the younger guys that stepped up and took his place on the team, you wonder if the work ethic isn't there. Jakub Kindl, Darren Helm, and Justin Abdelkader are all three years younger than Derek. But for some reason, the coaching staff put their faith in the younger guys instead of asking Derek to step up. They put their faith in the older players nearing the ends of their careers instead of asking Meech to step up. They even went out and got new players instead of asking Meech to step up. Now don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Derek Meech in the slightest. I just wonder if maybe he wasn't given the chance or advanced along in our league because he didn't try hard enough or didn't want it enough. It takes a lot to want to be a player and even more to want to break into the Red Wings line up. The Red Wing line up is notoriously hard to crack and Derek just couldn't keep the spot even when he did crack the line up.

Is Derek lazy? I don't think so. Could he have tried harder? Maybe. I hope the Derek chooses to step it up with his new club, the Winnipeg Jets, and cement his spot on their roster so that his job status will never be questioned again.

Clean slate, Buddy. Make the most of it and Good Luck.

A very Laich-able guy

2011-07-27T21:59:00.003-04:00

Washington Capitals

Brooks Laich

I heard rumblings from some Wings fans in the early off season about how they would love to see Brooks Laich on our squad. Now we know that didn't happen but at the time it had me checking into this Brooks Laich character. I knew of him but I honestly didn't look too much into him. Mainly because I tend to keep my focus on the Western conference and the players we see or will see multiple times a year. I discovered, for a player on an opposing team, I don't hate him. That's not because of his "ladies man" or "hottie" status. Brooks is a very hard working, dedicated, caring hockey player.

Brooks is a very charitable guy and always has been. In juniors, Laich helped his hometown raise money to buy a Zamboni for the local arena. Actively involved in charity work, Brooks is known to support charities related to multiple sclerosis and the charity Athletes Against Autism. But Brooks seriously cemented his good guy status when he stopped to help two Capitals fans change their flat tire after the game seven loss in the 2010 playoffs. He stopped to and helped them put on their spare and then apologized for the Caps early exit from the playoffs.

Brooks' off ice niceness wasn't the only thing that impressed me. His work ethic during summer training is impeccable. From lifting weights in skates to countless on ice drills, Brooks puts in the extra effort in the off season. Don't believe me? Below are two videos of Brooks' off season training.

Prepare to get bombed

2011-07-26T16:12:00.003-04:00

Vancouver Canucks

Ryan Kesler
Sure, Ryan Kesler is a talented hockey player. Sure, Ryan was a key piece to the 2010 USA men's hockey team. Sure, Kes has a Selke trophy. Sure, Ryan is from LIVONIA, MICHIGAN. But today... Today we need a laugh. And thankfully, Ryan does some very funny stuff.

SO I GIVE YOU:

Kesler Bombing

Kesler Dancing

Kesler... Rapping

Not my most insightful blog but... I mean... Ryan Kesler singing "Baby Got Back"

Farewell, to the last of the Grinders

2011-07-26T10:30:00.000-04:00

When I wrote a blog about what might happen this off-season, I never expected to be right. I never expected for Joey MacDonald to resign, Chris Osgood to retire, Ty Conklin to sign, and now... Kris Draper to retire. But unfortunately for long time Wings fans, That is the case.

There would have been no Grind line without Kris. He's centered that line like no one else could. From winning the Selke Trophy to helping the franchise win four Stanley Cups, there will never be another player like Kris Draper. Kris is the guy that pushes himself harder than any other player on and off the ice. Drapes encouraged the rest of the team to follow his lead. Often leading off-ice/away from Joe Louis Arena work outs, Drapes took the fitness both on and off the ice as his project.

Kris may not have been drafted by our organization, but he's ours. He may not have been born in Michigan but he's a Michigander and a Detroiter to us. He's been naturalized after just short of two decades with our organization.

Thanks for the memories, Kris!

Thanks for everything, Enjoy retirement, and we'll miss you like crazy!

The retirements of some of our most favorite Wings have come too closely together it seems. So here's what I suggest: players who have names that end in "strom", are Swedish, and are the last remaining Red Wings from 97' cup year have to stagger their retirements... by a few years.

He doesn't drink... Or swear... Or rat his hair

2011-07-25T22:29:00.005-04:00

Toronto Maple Leafs

James Reimer

With a butterfly style of play and a fundamental approach to goaltending, James Reimer seems to really have his stuff together for a young goalie. James held a 20 win, 10 loss, 5 overtime loss record this past season. It's not an undefeated record, but for a young goalie that's quite impressive. Of course, I usually find an connection to the Red Wings or Michigan and I indeed found one with Reimer. James an emergency call up due to the injury of Vesa Toskala. Who did James back up? A goalie that found himself in the same position a few seasons later. Of course I'm referring to Joey MacDonald who was our emergency call up this past season due to a goaltender injury

At just 23 years old, James is on route to becoming of the Maple Leaf fan favorites. Reimer is also a very faithful individual. As a Mennonite by faith, James attends church regularly.

As a testament of sorts to James' popularity with Leaf fans, I encourage you to watch Reimer. A Bloge Salming and Down Goes Brown production/parody to the tune of Rebecca Black's "Friday".

Pay no attention to the hipster behind the curtain

2011-07-25T15:30:00.001-04:00

Ryan Lambert wrote another article in which he disses every Red Wing fan by calling them idiots for not agreeing with his opinion. Is that right? Did I get that right? I personally wouldn't know what Ryan Lambert said in his article because... I don't read them. For me, there is no sense in reading the vomitous dribble put to words in which he insults the city of Detroit with tired cliche insults and slings mud at an entire fan base.

So Ryan has spoke to every Red Wing fan on the planet now? He has? No, He hasn't. Red Wing fans, for the most part, disagree with Princess and thus Princess hates Red Wings fans. You don't see him slinging the insults or disparaging remarks to any other team. Why? Maybe it's because they don't stand up for their team like Red Wing fans do. Although I'm sure his reason is something along the lines of, "No other fan base is stupid enough to challenge my opinions".

Pity for poor life choices? Because being a blogger who spends the majority of his time concerning himself with a fan base and team that he claims to hate is so worthy of praise and accolades. (If you didn't denote sarcasm, you should have) Dissing the Red Wings is Ryan's bread and butter. The Yahoo guys know that if there is an article about the Red Wings that needs to be written about a subject that is important or means something to the Red Wing fan base, then Lambert is going to be on the by line. Why? Because they want page clicks. They want a thousand angry Wings fans to read every single negative word that Lambert has to say, get their blood pressure up, talk/tweet/text/facebook/blog about how mad it makes them, and thus in return they get more page clicks.

Ryan Lambert will never be assigned to a post where he will have to take a Pro-Red Wings stance. His niche is being negative towards this franchise and pissing off Wings fans world wide. So when you see a by line with Lambert's name and a title that is Red Wing related, expect it to be a hate filled article that will, nine times out of ten, piss you off. So you then have a choice, either read it and feed into his ego driven post about how he's so much better than anyone who has ever supported the Red Wings or don't bother and skip over it. There is no one forcing you to read his writing. It is not a requirement to be an NHL fan. He's just a jackhole so why waste your time?

One of the good guys

2011-07-24T09:34:00.005-04:00

Tampa Bay Lightning

Steve Yzerman

Steve Yzerman was... Wait... What do you mean Stevie isn't a player so the player profile for Tampa wouldn't count? Pshhhhh... Fine!

Vincent Lecavalier

First and foremost, I want to quickly acknowledge Michigan State Spartan and Kalamazoo, Michigan native Adam Hall. That being done, Vincent Lecavalier is one of the good guys. Extremely charitable and involved in the community off the ice. Vinny made it a point to raise a few million dollars for the All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. That few million dollars was to fund a center to aid children and their families battling pediatric cancer and blood disorders. In response to Vinny's charitable efforts, the hospital named the center: The Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. Some players help the community just enough but Lacavalier goes above and beyond to help the community in the city that he plays in. The NHL honored Vinny with the NHL Foundation Player Award in recognition of his commitment and service to charities in the community. As the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny sets the bar high for his fellow teammates and players across the league. Now that's how leadership is done.

The punishment should fit the crime

2011-07-23T08:36:00.003-04:00

St. Louis Blues

T.J. Oshie

Everyone knows that coaches hate when players miss practices. But in the NHL, players opt out sometimes. Sometimes they miss morning skates, practices, and scheduled events. Oshie missed a practice on March 28th and it was "unexcused" so they punished Oshie by sitting him two games. I understand they like to keep order and have everyone working out and practicing together but is missing one practice such a big deal that he needed to be sat for two games?

The "Do what we say or else you're a goner" attitude has always floored me about some organizations. How is running your organization like a dictatorship where the players are second class citizens right? You can't play the game without players. The players are the key element in hockey. I fully understand that missing a practice is a big deal. But the punishment? The punishment was as severe as if T.J. had hit someone with a blindside hit or been involved in a dirty altercation on the ice. I agree that they needed to do something to make their point to check in and let the staff know that you aren't going to be there. I disagree with making him sit two games. I think they should have fined him or something along those lines but done so in a discreet manor. Instead, they made him look like a 12 year old that got grounded, shared it with the media, and made Oshie into a punchline. Order and discipline is one thing, but demoralizing your players is another.

Quick hit:
TJ's family has a thing for the letter "T" much like the Dugger family has a thing for the letter "J".

TJ's parents are Tim and Tina. He has two siblings, Taylor and Tawni.

What kind of example are you, Junior?

2011-07-22T21:03:00.005-04:00

San Jose Sharks

Joe Thornton

If you're looking for a fluffy "Gee, how great is Jumbo Joe!" piece then you're reading the wrong blog. I never particularly liked Joe Thornton in the first place but this past playoff series cemented the fact the I will probably never like him.

I despise players who dive. I hate diving with the fire of a thousand suns. Of course, we all remember the Game Five swan dive that Joe took after receiving a light tap on the skate by Johan Franzen. But just in case you didn't see it, watch below:

A light tap on the skate and the jackhole falls like he was just shot by a sniper in the rafters? Oh please. Shall we tattoo "FRAGILE" on his forehead? As the captain of the team, you would expect that he would act with some sort of dignity but NO. That's apparently not how Joe operates. He also had issues with snowing Jimmy Howard. For those of you not familiar with the term (how are you not familiar?), it's when you stop and turn your skate so that ice/slush/water sprays the goalie in the face. It's a completely disrespectful, low thing to do to try and get under a goalie's skin.

You would never see Nicklas Lidstrom dive on a person like that. You also would never see Nick disrespect another team's goalie by snowing them like Joe did to Jimmy Howard. If that's the leadership in that organization, then maybe that's the answer to why they have yet to win the Stanley Cup or even a conference championship. I'm not saying that Joe is the sole reason why they haven't won, but it all starts with leadership.

So, Joe dons the "C" and sports the number 19?

Well Joe, This is what a real captain that wore 19 looked like. Take notes.

Can he change?

2011-07-21T08:34:00.003-04:00

Pittsburgh Penguins

Matt Cooke

I'm not even going to play and act like I haven't already formed my opinion on Matt Cooke. I have. I think he makes very poor choices when it comes to hits. In fact, I'm no entirely sure that Matt Cooke knows how to hit cleanly. I'm sure he can, but it doesn't seem to be in his nature. Before anyone starts jumping up and bringing in Todd Bertuzzi for no good reason, hear me out.

Matt Cooke was a member of the Vancouver Canucks during the Steve Moore incident. In fact, he replaced Bertuzzi on the line Todd was playing on during his suspension. Having lived through that unfortunate mess with the Vancouver Canucks, Matt should have known that hits and questionable plays have consequences. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Before I state my case, I'm sure some Pens fan is sitting there going "But.. But.. But.. TODD BERTUZZI". What about Todd Bertuzzi? He had a very bad situation when it came to the Steve Moore incident, served his suspension, did his time, paid the money, and has moved on. If we ignore the number of games that either player was suspended, Matt Cooke has been involved in more questionable incidents than Todd. Todd's only other major indiscretion happened prior to the Moore incident and was a suspension for leaving the bench to help a teammate during a fight. Granted, leaving the bench to help a teammate during a fight is against the rules but in the grand scheme of things it's not that bad. And for that incident, Todd served his time. I'm not minimizing the Steve Moore incident by any means, I'm just making the point that Todd being excessively violent was an isolated incident.

Over the past three years, Matt has been involved in at least five situations where the league has either assessed a suspension or should have assessed a suspension. Five. That fact leads me to believe that every Pittsburgh fan that says that the Ryan McDonagh elbow was an isolated incident lives in a bubble. From elbows to head shots, Cooke seems to be unable to learn his lesson. Matt Cooke, following the 10 game suspension at the end of this season, expressed how he needs to change. It's true. He does. That's something that should have happened in 2009 after he had been suspended twice for bad hits. Only time will tell if Matt is capable of truly changing.

Nasty or Smart?

2011-07-20T21:54:00.005-04:00

Phoenix Coyotes

Paul "Biz Nasty" Bissonnette

Did I really have any other choice except to profile Biz? Some might say yes but I don't think I could do a player profile and not include Biz Nasty. Some say that Biz is a joke and a disgrace to hockey. I think Biz has made some very smart moves. Shocked? You shouldn't be. Biz has made an entire side career by being ridiculous and making fun of himself. From a deal with a clothing line to becoming one of the most popular athletes on twitter, Biz has found his niche.

When your career mostly consists of being the healthy scratch or the bench warmer from the fourth line, you tend to be forgotten about. Instead of being the guy that everyone forgets, Biz has made himself into the player that everyone remembers. People talk about him more than any player on their roster. Granted, the talk isn't about his spectacular playing style but you're still talking. Biz triggers something for hockey fans across the NHL. Some hate and chirp him, some love every ridiculous thing that he says or does. Some may not like that attention or the joke he makes out of his lack of playing time but he does bring in a whole new demographic to the sport and has fun with his situation.

Is Biz making a joke out of himself a bad thing? No, it might be the smartest thing he has ever done in his career.

Maxime Talbot: Traitor or Opportunist?

2011-07-19T22:18:00.004-04:00

Philadelphia Flyers

Maxime Talbot

It used to be that a player didn't want to be traded to or sign with their arch rival. It used to be a taboo thing to play for the team you feud the most. It used to be. The Pennsylvania rivalry has existed as long as the two franchises have. A sort of bragging rights type of rivalry much a kin to the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry (Go Green). Well in the world of rivalries, Maxime Talbot just crossed over the dividing line and became a Flyer.

I saw many Penguins fans say that Max was a traitor and left to, in some way, intentionally hurt the Pens. First of all, I'm sure that wasn't the case. A player usually doesn't leave a franchise for their rival franchise out of spite. Look at Hossa. Hossa didn't leave the Penguins for the Red Wings out of spite. He left because he thought he could win with the Wings. He then left the Wings for their arch rival to try and win with Chicago. Some players want to win and winning is their sole objective. Take a look at Chris Chelios. The former face of the Blackhawks franchise left for Motown for a chance at winning, and winning he did.

Maybe the recent struggles that the Penguins have had led Max to doubt the winning ability of that franchise. Players don't play the game to lose. They play the game to win or have a chance at winning. My educated guess on the matter would be that the Pens didn't offer Talbot the type of offer he was looking for. Maxime obviously wanted a multiple year deal with some zeros like he got from Philly.

Does leaving the Pens for the Flyers make him a traitor? I don't think so. Does it make him an opportunist? Quite possibly.

If today is the day

2011-07-19T08:16:00.004-04:00

Days like today are the days when the non-emotionally invested "fans" revel in the fact that they don't give a fuck. The past month has been a roller coaster ride when it came to the fate of one of my favorite goalies, Chris Osgood. It looks like today might be the day that Ozzie will hang up the skates.

I will always have a soft spot for Chris. Even though I had considered the possibility that Chris would hang them up, I never accepted that to be the case. And when he hung them up, I expected to watch a press conference full of "Don't cry for me Argentina" jokes and classic Osgood satire. But it looks like one of my all-time favorite Wings will probably hang up the skates via telephone call. I understand that a low-key, no hoopla affair is right up Ozzie's alley but you can't help but know that Chris deserves all the hoopla. We would not have won the cup in 1998 or 2008 without him and anyone who says otherwise is a fool.

When I met my fabulous group of hockey friends, some of our first jokes involved Chris Osgood. From quoting his Red Wing yearbook interview to laughing at him drinking Pepsi on the ice at training camp, Ozzie was the center on our attention. When people were down on him in late October, that same group of friends and I made a sign that simply said in big bold letters "We love you Ozzie".

Today is one of those days that I'll be glad to be at work missing all the action on twitter. So many want to discredit Chris Osgood and bash him. To all the Ozzie haters I simply say, Fuck you. If today is the day that Ozzie says goodbye to his playing career then everyone should check their negative bullshit at the door and celebrate the career of Chris. Jimmy would not be the player he is today without Ozzie. This organization would not be the way it is today without Ozzie. I would not be the fan I am today without Ozzie. Losing Ozzie will be like losing an internal organ or rather getting a transplant. A big piece will be missing out of that locker room and I hope whatever goalie replaces him steps up in a huge way to try and fill that void.

If today is the day:

Ozzie,

Thank you for everything that you have done for this organization. Thank you for giving so much of yourself to make this team what it is today. Thank you for the hard times and the good times. Thank you for everything. No matter what the HOF voters or bullshit sceptics say, You belong in the Hall of Fame in my book.

We'll miss you and we love you, Ozzie.

More than you'll ever know.

If today isn't the day:
THANK WHATEVER GOD YOU DO OR DO NOT BELIEVE IN.

Jason Spezza: Le Model

2011-07-18T16:32:00.003-04:00

Ottawa Senators

Jason Spezza

You all might know Jason for playing with the Ottawa Senators but did you know that he started off as a child model? I'm not kidding you. Jason modeled for Minute Maid, Woolco, and Kmart.

He also has the nerdiest laugh on the planet.

The Ottawa Senators are also known for some cheesy stuff. See below:

Additions to this post may come later tonight.

Sloppy seconds anyone?

2011-07-17T21:16:00.004-04:00

New York Rangers

Sean Avery

I know that the league, the Stars organization, and Sean Avery have all worked very hard to move past the "sloppy seconds" situation. I'm bringing it back up. Why? Because I think it's horseshit. Sean getting a six game suspension for saying that other players tend to fall in love with his sloppy seconds is stupid. Down right stupid. Technically, Sloppy seconds isn't even that big of an insult. We all say it. It's more of a "I had her/him first for the record" type of saying. And let's face it, two of Sean's exes did end up dating other players THUS they got Sean's sloppy seconds. I don't think that Sean deserved to sit six games and go into treatment. To me, this fell into a classic case of Colin Campbell deciding he didn't like a player. And when Colin Campbell decided he didn't like a player they got everything and the kitchen sink thrown at them.

Cited as the main reason the Stars dumped Avery was because then coach, Dave Tippett, had said he told Avery not to talk to the media about his former girlfriends and was very upset when he did. Really? That's why you kicked him off the squad? Because he talked about his former girlfriends when you told him not to? What a cop out. Why not sit him for a game? Oh no. You wouldn't do a silly thing like that. Just get rid of the guy all together. So smart.

Now don't get me wrong, Sean has a tendency to be a jerk sometimes. We all know that. But that's Sean's job. He's an agitator. That's his role. He's the guy that rattles cages and throws the top guys off their game. Most people hate Sean Avery, I kind of don't. That might have something to do with the fact that he made his start here in Detroit. No matter how much he loves ladies fashion or dresses like a hipster, I kinda like that little fucking jerk.

Left college for... the Islanders

2011-07-16T23:08:00.005-04:00

New York Islanders

Kyle Okposo

I gave the Chicago Blackhawks and Duncan Keith crap about the reason he left Michigan State early possibly being because the Hawks potentially made him leave. Well when looking for an Islander to profile I came across the fact that the Islanders forced the hand of Kyle Okposo to leave the University of Minnesota. Not only did they get Kyle to leave but when questioned about it, Garth Snow trashed the Minnesota team and it's coaching staff. Kyle played with the team up until December. That's smack dab in the middle of hockey season when Kyle announced he was leaving to his teammates.

As I said before during the Hawks profile, there is no trade route or free agent market to go to when a player on your college hockey team abandons his squad in the middle of the season. I agree with the statement that the coach at Minnesota, Don Lucia, had to say about the matter.

"We have had numerous players sign and play in the NHL, but just as important many more move on to have successful careers after graduating from the University of Minnesota. We have always and will continue to work to ensure our players reach their potential on the ice and in the classroom."

When you sign up to play college hockey, it is not only about the hockey. It is also about the education. If you do not want an education, then college hockey probably isn't the route you should be taking. At the end of the day, these guys that go to college for a year then leave for juniors or the AHL are taking a spot and a full ride scholarship away from a player that might need and want to be a student athlete for that college.

He's not fat... He's just big boned.

2011-07-15T11:55:00.004-04:00

New Jersey Devils

Martin Brodeur

I always knew that Marty Brodeur was very accomplished... I just didn't quite comprehend how accomplished he is. I'm not one for flipping the script to the statistics side of the game but... I mean... Good gracious look at these accomplishments.

Calder Trophy Winner
Ten time All-Star Game participate
Three time Stanley Cup winner
Four time Vezina Trophy winner
Five time Jennings Trophy winner
Two Olympic gold medals
Two W.C. silver medals
Second place in playoff wins with 99 Wins
Third goaltender in history to win the Stanley Cup with a Game-7 shutout in 2002–03.

Hold onto your hats on this one. Here are the records that Marty holds:

Most shutouts
Most combined shutouts
Most regular season wins
Most wins in a single regular season
Most minutes played in a single regular season
Most overtime wins
Most consecutive 30 and 35 win seasons
Most 40 win seasons
Youngest goalie to obtain 300-400-and 500 career wings
Only goalie to reach 600 wins
Most games played
Most minutes played by a goaltender
Only NHL goalie to score a game-winning goal
Tied for most career goals by a goalie
Most shutouts in a playoff run
Most shutouts in the finals
First goalie to have three shutouts in two different playoff series

Fatty Brodeur

Is he fat? Not really. Does he carry more weight than the average goalie? Sure. For his height and weight, if you calculate his BMI he is considered overweight. I had a feeling that Marty might not be in this boat alone so I tested the heights and weights of 10 goalies in the BMI calculator. Of those tested, only three goaltenders were considered to be in the healthy weight range. Those goalies were: Miikka Kiprusoff, Ryan Miller, and Pekka Rinne. The goalies considered overweight were Jonathan Quick, James Reimer, Jimmy Howard, Tim Thomas, Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo, and the 178lb goalie Chris Osgood. While BMI calculators might be good for doctors to indicate the health or proper weights of "average" folk, they're really not applicable to NHL goalies. And for the record, of the ten goalies compared against Marty, he was not the highest in weight. Granted, he was second but that first prize went to Roberto Luongo who edges out Marty in the weight category. He's bigger but he's not fat.

It wasn't "Goodbye", It was "See you later"

2011-07-14T15:38:00.004-04:00

Nashville Predators

Mike Fisher

Earlier today, Mike Fisher tweeted this:

Reading this tweet made me question a few things. Why shouldn't/wouldn't Ottawa welcome Mike back? Mike didn't publicly ask for a trade like former Ottawa Senator Dany Heatley. In fact, He didn't ask for one at all nor did he want to leave Ottawa. You don't spend 11 seasons with one team by accident. Mike was the franchise and would have been a franchise player but it was not in the cards. When a team says they're rebuilding and you're a part that they want to get rid of, there is only one thing to do. That one thing is to leave the organization on as positive of a note as one can and make a new start with your new team.If Mike had some master plan of deserting Ottawa I don't think he would have went to the trouble of building a home for himself and his wife there.

Now that I've brought up his wife, I'll say what I said from the beginning. Carrie Underwood is not Mike's agent. Carrie isn't the General Manager for the Senators nor is she the General Manager of the Predators. The likelihood that this was some grand scheme by her is ridiculous. I'm sure she was very happy to see Mike go to Nashville on a personal level. Did she in some way orchestrate this trade? No. And the fans that said they would disown both Carrie and Mike for his trade are just as ridiculous.

Disowning a player for their spouse? Red Wings fans didn't disown Sergei Fedorov when he was with tabloid magazine queen, Tara Reid. Why? Because the personal lives of players shouldn't effect your opinions of them. If you were a Mike Fisher fan before he got with his wife, then you should still be a Mike Fisher fan. Because, even though is marital status changed, his skill and ability as a player have not.

Mike Fisher has spent an unknown number of hours raising money for charities like Roger's House and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Not to mention, he runs several hockey camps during the summer including one in Ottawa. I assure you that even though Mike no longer plays for Ottawa, He has not forgotten the city that made him.

I'm sick of it. You're sick of it. Let's be sick of it together.

2011-07-14T10:01:00.003-04:00

"Hahaha. Let's have Mike Commodore wear number 64 so he'll be Commodore 64. Hahaha."

That joke was funny for about an hour when the Red Wings signed Mike and has grown tired and played out. I am completely not for this whole notion that Mike Commodore HAS to wear the number 64. In fact, I'd prefer if he didn't wear 64. But if he does or doesn't is his choice. When the rest of the NHL chimes in and wants a player to wear a number so that they'll get a good laugh out of it, I have issues with that. When a certain blogger known for hating the Red Wings chimes in and wants Mike to wear that number so that blogger can have a good laugh, I have a problem with that. When fans of the Wings say that the only reason that they'll support Mike Commodore is if he wears 64, I have an issue with that.

If the only way you'll support Mike Commodore on the Detroit Red Wings is if he wears 64 and is the punchline of the season for the rest of the NHL then maybe you should reconsider why your fandom. I'm not saying that wanting him to wear 64 makes you less of a fan, I'm just saying that if that is the sole and only reason you would support him then maybe you shouldn't even concern yourself with him. A number shouldn't determine whether or not you like a player. I 100% guarantee that Mike did not come here to be a joke or the team's gimmick. Players don't come to this team thinking, "Wow, I sure would like to be the laughing stock of Detroit!" They come here to have a good chance at winning, to win, or to be a part of one of the best organizations in professional sports. The number they choose should not reflect upon how you view them as a player.

Furthermore, the rest of the NHL putting pressure on Mike to wear 64 should just mind their business. At the end of the day, I don't pressure Patrick Kane to change his number to 20 because I think I could have a good laugh of it. Why? Because what number a player wears is and should always be of the player's choosing and not due to pressure by people who think a computer joke is funny. Those hellbent on making Mike look like a jerk if he doesn't end up wearing 64 should really reexamine their lives.

With that, I'm done discussing this issue. Mike will make his choice for himself in Traverse City at training camp.

I don't want to be invited to the family reunion

2011-07-13T08:52:00.005-04:00

Montreal Canadiens

Carey Price

Carey's struggles have been noted everywhere. After two rather strong seasons with the Habs, Carey began to struggle. In the 2007-08 season, Carey started 41 games and of those 41 games he won 24. In the 2009-10 season, Carey again started 41 games but this time only won 13. In terms of grades, that's like going from a low D-/high F range to a straight up F. Carey bounced back slightly last season but is still not on the roll that the Montreal Canadiens would like. But let's face it, Carey's struggles isn't want caused me to profile him.

Before I give the real reason why I profiled Carey, here's a little background information. Carey was born in Anahim Lake, British Columbia. Carey's father was a goaltender as well. Although Jerry Price (Carey's Dad) didn't get a chance to play in the NHL, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers organization in 1978. Carey is of native heritage. Carey's mother, Lynda, is the former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation. Lynda often expresses how very proud of and excited the native community is for Carey in his NHL career.

Let's discuss the weird part. Carey has two cousins in the NHL. Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes and Keaton Ellerby of the Florida Panthers are both second cousins of Carey. Can you imagine that family reunion?

+

I'd be scared too, Carey.

Requested or Imposed

2011-07-12T13:04:00.006-04:00

Minnesota Wild

Dany Heatley

First and foremost, I would like to say that I am not minimizing Dany Heatley's past. I am merely looking beyond that. We all know about the unfortunate accident that resulted in the passing of Dan Snyder. We know that Dany was responsible. And we know that Dany's career has taken a different route that anyone has expected since the accident happened. But there's more to Dany Heatley than a tragic accident. Dany Heatley was born in Germany and holds dual citizenship between Canada and Germany. Despite having been born in Germany, Dany often represents Canada in international competitions. Dany has won 4 Gold Medals, 3 Silver Medals, and 2 Bronze Medals in international competitions while representing Canada. Although Team Canada often pushes Sidney Crosby as their poster boy, Dany is the All-Time leading point and goal scorer for Team Canada.

In his nine years in the NHL, the Minnesota Wild will be Dany's fourth team. Despite having only played a few seasons with each team, Dany holds franchise records in every city he's played with. Dany holds 6 records with the Ottawa Senators, 1 record with the now moved Atlanta Thrashers, and 1 record with the San Jose Sharks. He holds the league record for most goals in an All-Star game. Heatley also holds a place in history by having scored the first game-winning shootout goal.

Dany requested a trade to get out of Atlanta in hopes of moving forward after the accident. He requested a trade to get out of Ottawa in hopes to get more of an opportunity to play. He was traded to the Minnesota Wild for Martin Havlat. My question is: Was this a trade that the GM of the San Jose Sharks came up with or did Dany request a trade yet again? I would imagine Dany wasn't too thrilled that in both of his seasons with the Sharks they advanced to the Western Conference finals and lost both years. It's quite obvious that Dany wants to win and wants to be an integral part of that win. Did he request this trade? Not that I'm aware of but it would fit the pattern. So, Will Minnesota be the place for Dany or will we hear of another request to move down the road? Only time will tell.

The NHL is taking over twitter

2011-07-12T08:06:00.003-04:00

Hockey players have been joining twitter like CRAZY. With so many people joining, I had to update the NHL twitter account list. Very few are gone but a lot more are added.

NHL Team Twitters

New York Islanders - Vancouver Canucks - Tampa Bay Lightning

Nashville Predators - St. Louis Blues - San Jose Sharks

Ottawa Senators - Pittsburgh Penguins - Phoenix Coyotes

Toronto Maple Leafs - Philadelphia Flyers - New York Rangers

Atlanta Thrashers - New Jersey Devils - Montreal Canadiens

Colorado Avalanche - Minnesota Wild - Los Angeles Kings

Boston Bruins - Florida Panthers - Edmonton Oilers

Washington Capitals - Detroit Red Wings - Dallas Stars

Columbus Blue Jackets - Chicago Blackhawks - Carolina Hurricanes

Buffalo Sabres - Anaheim Ducks - Calgary Flames

NHL Players, Former Players, and Television Personalities

Hockey Night In Canada

Jamie McGuinn
Eric Tangradi
Tyler Seguin
Shane O'Brien
Martin Biron
Brandon Prust
Bill Sweatt
DJ King
Alexander Steen
Henrik Lundqvist
Jake Gardiner
Krys Barch
Marc-Andre Bergeron
Ryan Hollweg
Colin Wilson
Kevin Poulin
Steve Kampfer
Ben Scrivens
Aaron Voros
Sean Avery
Carl Gunnarsson
Frazer Mclaren
Taylor Chorney
Linus Omark
Daniel Winnik
Darryl Sydor
Jamie Lundmark
Brian Sutherby
Kyle Okposo
Oscar Moller
Ben Maxwell
Austin Watson
Brandon Archibald
Ray Emery
Travis Turnbull
Ryan O'Byrne
John-Michael Liles
Brett MacLean
Mike McKenna
Zach Redmond
Rowe Andrew
Brent Burns
Nick Tarnasky
P.K. Subban
Mark Stuart
Jonathan Quick
Brad Richards
Martin Brodeur
Ryane Clowe
Yannick Weber
George Gionta
Matt Lashoff
Victor Hedman

Red Wing connections

The Prospect Parade
(some of them at least)
Tomas Jurco
Ryan Sproul
Brendan Smith
Alan Quine
Tyson Teichmann
Trevor Parkes

Former Wings
Former Red Wing and current agent to Drew Miller
Jason Woolley

Former Red Wing and all around bad ass
Darren McCarty

Current Wings
The only current Red Wing on our team
Mike Commodore
(Welcome to Hockeytown, Mike)

(disclaimer- I went through great pains to try to verify that the accounts were indeed the player, personality, or team BUT as with anything on the net it is very hard to be 100% sure unless they are verified by twitter. Some players, personalities, and teams have been having a hard time getting their accounts verified by twitter. So, If there are any impostors in the list I sincerely apologize for the mistake.)

A brief trip to La-La Land

2011-07-11T18:40:00.003-04:00

Los Angeles Kings

Anže Kopitar

As always, I have to shout out the Michigan boys on the roster. Sending some mitten love to the Michigan boys: Matt Greene and Alec Martinez.

Anze is the frist Slovenian to play in the NHL. A pretty big accomplishment for someone who is just 23 years old. In Kopi's five seasons with the LA Kings, he has won 11 LA King awards. These awards included two nods as the Most Popular player on the Kings and a nod as the best defensive forward. Anze holds the record for most consecutive games played by a player on the LA Kings with 330. The streak of games stopped when Anze broke his ankle in March of this year.

Kopi speaks five languages. Slovene, Serbian, German, Swedish, and English. His grandmother was an English teacher and taught Anze and his brother both to speak it. Growing up, Anze considered Sergei Fedorov to be one of his top favorite players.

Anze also does something that I rarely see players do. He goes and sits on the bench in an away arena after the game. I was there to witness it once after a game in Detroit. I find that quite interesting seeing that the arena was not completely empty (hence how I saw that he does this). Maybe it's a quirk. Maybe it's a superstition. Or maybe he just wanted to sit on a bench in a mostly empty arena. Either way, I'll be on Anze watch after the December 17th game at Joe Louis Arena.

Why would you do that?

2011-07-10T17:12:00.005-04:00

Florida Panthers

Ed Jovanovski

First and foremost, I want to give a shout out to Detroit native and Spartan alumnus David Booth.

I was going to do Jovo-Cop for the Phoenix player but trade deadline tossed Ed back to Florida so it really works out for me. I've got to bring up his conduct in the playoffs. Yes, I'm aware his conduct isn't a profile but it still baffles me. If you didn't closely pay attention to the playoffs then you might have missed the fact that Jovo-Cop was wearing a full face mask during that series. You might have also missed the fact that he was involved in many scrums and even threw a few blows out. Here's my issue, how are you going to start a fight or attempt to start a fight with a full face mask on? That, to me, is in the same league as the douche bags that threaten to fight the players when they're standing behind the glass. It's just makes no sense. How about you wait until your face heals fight fair? You know, like a man.

Quick hits on Ed:

Ed is Macedonian by heritage (both of his parents immigrated to Canada from Macedonia)

Born just across the border in Windsor

Runner up for the Calder Memorial Trophy during his rookie year

This upcoming season will be Ed's fifth season with Florida Panthers

Spent seven of his 16 year career in Vancouver

A collegiate success story

2011-07-09T15:21:00.005-04:00

Edmonton Oilers

Shawn Horcoff

I harped on the Chicago Blackhawks and Duncan Keith for not finishing his college career and preached that collegiate athletic success stories do exist. Shawn Horcoff is one of those success stories. Shawn spent four years at Michigan State and completed his degree prior to starting his NHL career. Horcoff is no dummy. He was on the CCHA All-Academic Team two years running and received a degree in Math and Finance. Not only was Shawn successful off the ice but he also was successful on it as well. All in the 2000 season, Shawn received a nod to both the NCAA West First All-American Team and the CCHA First All-Star Team as well as the nods of CCHA Best Defensive Forward and CCHA Player of the Year. Now Shawn is the captain of the Edmonton Oilers, has a thriving NHL career, and also has a degree to fall back on in case anything should ever happen to his playing status. Collegiate success stories do exist.

And few random hits on Shawn:

Shawn Horcoff has the same condition as Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer. It's called heterochromia, a condition caused by the lack of or excess of melanin in the irises. This condition has resulted in Shawn having one brown eye and one green eye.

Shawn is close friends with Jason Bay of the New York Mets. The two both hail from Trail, British Columbia.

He married his teammate's daughter?!?

2011-07-08T09:04:00.003-04:00

Dallas Stars

Brenden Morrow

Let me address the big giant elephant in the room when it comes to Brenden Morrow. Should they have stripped Mike Modano of the captaincy and given it to Brenden? Let's be honest, the Dallas Stars played both Mikey Mo and Brenden. Once let locked Mike into a five year extension, they stripped him of the captaincy to lock Morrow in for six and gave the reasoning that Brenden would relate better to the younger guys. Well I think the Stars got it wrong. Why? Because who did Mike Modano influence and spend the most time with while with the Wings? Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader. Two of our team's youngest players. So that whole, Morrow is better with the youth thing was just a ploy to get Morrow to lock up for six seasons.

I don't like to discuss the players' personal lives in great detail very often. Mainly, because it's really none of my business to do so. BUT. See how big that "but" is. I like big "but"s and I cannot lie. Also, I'm sorry for getting Sir Mix-A-Lot stuck in all of your heads. Back to the matter on hand, Brenden Morrow is married to a lovely lady named Anne-Marie and has three children with her. His father-in-law is his former teammate Guy Carbonneau. HOLD THE PHONE. His former teammate? Does that mean that Brenden was macking on his teammate's daughter while they were teammates? That, to me, is beyond weird. If an NHL locker room is anything like a non-pro locker room then I would imagine they talk about the ladies from time to time. Can you FREAKING imagine that conversation? "Yeah, last night I took this great girl home and we had a blast" "Oh yeah, Do I know her?" "As a matter of fact, it was your daughter." "Say WHAT!?!" I'm sure they have made it work and it probably didn't go down like that but it still baffles me. He married his teammate's daughter...

I'm sorry. Gesture boy said WHAT?

2011-07-07T17:51:00.003-04:00

Columbus Blue Jackets

James Wisniewski

A Michigan boy. Shocked? Well... Let's cut the crap from right off the start. I didn't even bother to try to find something I liked about James Wisniewski. Why? Because I'm still holding on to the animosity I feel after his comments on NHL Live.

"For me, knowing Detroit’s history they don’t really pay the market value for a defenseman or any player"
James Wisniewski on NHL Live

A chance to win or money. A chance to play for your hometown team or money. A chance to play for one of the most honored franchises in all sports or money. Apparently, for James it was all about the money. I'll spare you my random ABBA references at this time. James got a six year deal at 5.5 million per season deal from Columbus. I'm sorry... is this the same James Wisniewski that was suspended two games for gesturing at Sean Avery? The same James Wisniewski that split time between three teams and only played 50 games just two seasons ago? What has this guy done to deserve 5.5 million dollars? 51 points this past season. Not bad but where is this guys Norris trophy nod? Doesn't have one you say? What about a Stanley Cup? Surely this guy has Stanley Cup experience to demand such a high rate. No? Okay then. So why would we even consider giving this joker just 700k less than our future hall of fame, seven time Norris trophy winning, 4 time Stanley Cup champion, Gold Medalist of a Captain? Oh that's right. We wouldn't.

That statement made it seem like Detroit doesn't pay their defensemen but I've looked it up via every blogger's best friend of a resource: CapGeek. On average per player Detroit isn't the last in the league. In fact, currently they hold the fourth highest average salary per defenseman in the league at an average of 2.99 million per defensemen with 7 players signed. We're hardly the Blues or the Stars who both have 8 defensemen signed for an average of 1.9 million per d-man.

I have a feeling this is all the Brett Lebda effect. You inflate one "Enh" defenseman's salary and every player says "This is bullshit! I work harder than that guy! I'm better than that guy! Pay me more!". And to be honest, all these defensemen threatening to leave for the KHL if a team here doesn't pay them exorbitant amounts of money are sick. Ridiculous amounts of money to buy ridiculously large houses that will be left vacant and on a bad real estate market when the team realizes that they overpaid you and send you packing.

You're from Michigan, James. I really want to like and support you as a Michigander but right now... Just say you're from Ohio.

Maybe there's something in the blood

2011-07-06T20:05:00.003-04:00

Colorado Avalanche

Paul Stastny

Paul Stastny comes from a very hockey filled family. His Uncles Anton and Marian both played in the NHL as well as his older brother Yan and his Hall of Famer Dad, Peter. Not much is ever made about Peter Stastny but he does hold several records that most people don't credit him too often with. Peter was the first European trained player to reach 1000 points, holds the record for most points in a road game, and was the first player in NHL history to collect of 100 points in his rookie year. That's pretty impressive, huh? Well Paul holds a record as well. Paul holds the record for the longest consecutive point streak by a rookie.

Now how many records or relatives didn't draw me to the Stastny family. It was the amount of time they've spent with this franchise. When I say franchise, I am of course including the time when the Avalanche were indeed the Quebec Nordiques. Paul's dad Peter was in Quebec for 10 seasons, Paul's Uncle Anton was there for 9 seasons, and Paul's other Uncle Marian was there for 4 seasons. The former Quebec Nordiques drafted the son of one of the Nordiques most decorated and favorite players in 2005. Collectively the Stastny family has spent 28 seasons and counting with the Avalanche franchise in one form or another. Coincidence? Or is it in the blood?

Ramblings on the future

2011-07-06T10:20:00.002-04:00

We all play the "What if" games everyday when it comes to the Wings. What if Ozzie retires? What if Ozzie doesn't retire? What if Draper retires? What if Draper doesn't retire? A million what ifs can be made. I want to make it clear that I would like to see both Draper and Ozzie on the ice in Traverse City come September. The likelihood that I will see both is getting slimmer by the minute. Am I a dreamer for wanting these players that I've watched for years to stay with the team? Maybe. But like I discussed in a previous blog, that's because I am emotionally invested in them. Below are a list of possible happenings and my ramblings of what I would like to see if they come true.

Osgood is forced to retire from hockey

If Chris Osgood is left with no other choice but to retire from the game there are three possibilities that I would like to see him consider for a career post his playing career. The three possibilities are Assistant Goalie Coach to Jim Bedard, Goalie coach for the Grand Rapids Griffins, and color commentator. Making Chris the Assistant to Jim Bedard would allow him to still support and mentor Jimmy Howard which is very important. It's been made obvious that Jimmy looks to Chris for strength and guidance in times of stress and uncertainty and I believe having Chris there for Jimmy in some capacity would be good for Jimmy's mental state. If that is an impossibility, I would not mind seeing Ozzie take over the reigns as goalie coach in Grand Rapids. Not only would he still be able to help Jimmy (from a distance), he would be able to nurture and foster the goalie talent in Grand Rapids. If coaching isn't on the horizon for Chris, I wouldn't mind seeing him kick Pierre or Larry out from between the benches. A naturally charismatic and entertaining guy, Chris would bring a whole new style to the commentators.

Kris Draper is left with no other choice but to retire

If Kris Draper, one of the most dedicated Red Wings, is left with no other choice to retire I can only see him doing one thing. That one thing would be becoming the Director of player fitness and health. Does such a position exist? Probably not but I'm sure that the Red Wings could or would create such a position to keep Kris with the organization. Kris is usually the guy that leads the workouts and motivates the guys to hit the gym. Keeping Drapes in that type of role in an official capacity and not in an player capacity would likely make the transition from player to former player a lot easier for Kris. The job that I propose would also give Kris the opportunity to spend time with his family and be able to be there more for them.

Conklin returns to the Red Wings as a back-up goalie

If Ty Conklin, the crazy Alaskan native, returns to the Wings as a backup I'd like to see only one thing. I'd like to see him step up to the plate more than he did before. That's not to say that in the 2008-09 season he didn't, but I'd like to see him push himself more if given this monumental opportunity. If Ty comes in and doesn't push himself or doesn't perform like he should, many will question the decision not to go with Chris Osgood as the backup. I think, if given the nod, Ty would step up to the plate to the best of his ability. I just hope that he could be as calming and influential to Jimmy as Ozzie is/was. An American born goalie duo is the stuff that dreams are made of and I'd like to see a successful duo on the Wings.

Grand Rapids is stuck with a Goalie-Go-Round

There has been talk that Joey MacDonald would like to be the third goalie in our system yet again if possible. I like Joey Mac. I do. Even if he does drive a monster truck that's double my height. That being said, I'd hate to see a veteran goalie like Joey push one of our prospects aside and start in Grand Rapids. The Wings just showed tremendous faith in Jordan Pearce by signing him to a two year deal and I'd like to see him be given an opportunity to prove to the Wings that when they're ready, he'll be there. If Grand Rapids splits the games or even does a 60/40 or 70/30 percentage on the starts it would, in my opinion, be good for the development of Pearce.

Who do we pair with Commodore?

I'd like to see them pair Jonathan Ericsson with Mike Commodore. Before the Jonathan Ericsson hate parade comes to Hockeytown, hear me out. Mike and Jonny E are both similar in size. Mike is 6'5" and E is 6'4". Mike tips the scales at roughly 228lbs. while E weighs in a 218lbs. Very close in height and not TOO far off in weight. That being said, I think Mike could be able to teach E how to use his size and practice good on ice methods for his size. Many complain about how many penalties E takes but lest we forget that the last really big defenseman we had took a lot of penalties too. Drawing a blank? Jiri Fischer. E took 87 minutes in penalties in this past season. Looks like a lot right? Not exactly. When you're taller it seems like you can't get away with much. The extension of a stick looks much more dramatic due to the larger wingspan. Boston Bruins Captain and all around terrifying dude, took one more penalty minute than E this regular season. Just three seasons ago, Chara took 27 more penalty minutes than E when he amassed a collection of 114 minutes in the box. Jiri Fischer had a few years of consistent penalties as well. Fisch took 59 in 55 games, 67 in 80 games, and 75 in 81 games. Not exactly the numbers of one perfect captain who in his career has never had more than 50 penalty minutes in one regular season but numbers like that aren't uncommon amongst the tallest of defenseman. I think Mike could help E get grittier and use his size better.

And with that I'm done rambling.

Sparty? Or not?

2011-07-05T20:06:00.004-04:00

Chicago Blackhawks

Duncan Keith

The choice for the Hawks should have been harder but to me it wasn't. "No Michiganders? Ooo! There's a Sparty on the roster! Sold!!"

I got to thinking after I picked Duncan. Is a Sparty still a Sparty if they walked away from the team? The school? East Lansing?

Duncan completed one full year as a Michigan State Spartan and even scored the game winning goal during the cold war game against the Spartans nemesis from Ann Arbor on October 6th, 2001. The next year after just 15 games with the Spartys, Duncan left Michigan State University to play in the WHL for the Kelowna Rockets. Now things turned out well for Duncan but I can't see the reasoning behind leaving in the middle of the school year and middle of the season. I would have like to see him finish his college career at State or stay as long as he possibly could. Collegiate players are usually really awesome role models for kids. "Hey look kids! I didn't have to give up my education or my dream and I'm in the NHL!" Don't get me wrong, I understand that many college hockey players leave their teams for the NHL. However, Duncan didn't leave the team for the NHL. He left the team for Canadian juniors the season after he was drafted by the Blackhawks (2002). This whole situation has led me to question the Blackhawks. Did the Hawks pressure Duncan to leave Michigan State? Did they pressure him to leave college to go play in the Canadian junior league? I don't know which I'd rather hear the scenario is. If Duncan left because he wanted to then I question his loyalty. If Duncan left because the Hawks made him then I lose respect for the organization. It's a very touchy situation. I pretty much guarantee that Hawks fans will take a "Who cares! It turned out well" mentality when it comes to the questions I have. At the end of the day, I just don't see why he couldn't have finished the season out before leaving for the WHL. That part baffles my mind. College hockey isn't like the NHL. You can't just go out and get a guy from Ohio State or Notre Dame to fill the void left by the unexpected departure. It just doesn't seem right to do that to a team.

Since Duncan walked away from Michigan State, is he less of a Sparty?

Here's how I break down scenarios involving Duncan Keith and other players:

Duncan or A U of M player - I pick Duncan because he was a Sparty even for a short time
Duncan or A Red Wing - Usually the Red Wing because strong loyalties towards the Wings.
Duncan or another Sparty - Usually the other Sparty wins the battle especially if they stayed as long as they could prior to being drafted or called up to an NHL club

"He left us! He left us!"

Das Wunderkind

2011-07-04T17:30:00.003-04:00

Carolina Hurricanes

Jeff Skinner

Before I get started on what interests me about Jeff Skinner, I want to give a shout out to the three Michiganders on the Canes. Tim Gleason, Drayson Bowman, and Chad LaRose keep up making the mitten proud.

At just 19 years old, Jeff Skinner has accomplished quite a lot. He cracked an NHL line up at just 18 years old. He was the first 18 year old since Steve Yzerman to play in the All Star Game (suck on that Sid). Topping off a stellar year with winning the Calder Trophy makes the year I was 18 look rather lame. It's been covered many times that Jeff started his hockey career pulling double duty as a player and figure skater. Skinner was no slouch as a figure skater either. Seeing as he won the bronze medal at the 2004 Canadian Junior National Figure Skating Championships I would say that he might have a back-up plan career.

Jeff is the youngest of six children. SIX CHILDREN. His parents are lawyers. Now the interesting part is that three of his older sisters play or played college hockey as well as his older brother. Highly educated, hockey involved family. Now they don't or didn't just play for the local random community college leagues. No, no. They play or played for the likes of Cornell University and Harvard.

Now I always seem to find a Detroit connection somewhere along the way and I bet you're wondering where the Detroit connection is. Ever heard of the Detroit based law firm Dickinson Wright PLLC? The law firm that former Detroit mayor Dennis Archer was the chairman for? One of the partners in that firm happens to be Andrew Skinner. Who's Andrew Skinner? That would be Jeff's Dad. I've also been told that Jeff's older sister Andrea also is a lawyer for the firm. While the two don't practice out of Detroit, the company's headquarters as well as the majority of locations are in Detroit and scattered across the state.

What's Kevin Bacon got to do with it anyway?

2011-07-03T08:45:00.003-04:00

Calgary Flames

This 30-30-30 thing has proved more challenging than I thought. When it came to the Flames, no one even sparked my interest.

Sure they have a Livonia, Michigan native (David Moss) and they have a Swede from our captain's hometown of Vasteras (Mikael Bucklund) but those aren't really too interesting.

Everyone talks about Jarome Iginla all the time so more random information about him would be fueling the, pardon the pun, "He's so wonderful" flames. Although, most would be surprised to know that he partly owns the Kamloops Blazers with Shane Doan, Mark Recchi, and Darryl Sydor. Talk about strange bedfellows.

So I'm going to do the most mature thing that I could think of and choose the Flames' player responsibly:

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger by the toe.
If it hollers let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!

You are it Olli Jokinen!

I'm always looking for obscure connections to Michigan or the Red Wings. Olli Jokinen has a couple connections to both.

Olli is familiar with the Eaves family. Why? Patrick Eaves' dad, Mike Eaves, coached Olli while playing for the HIFK during the 1996-97 season. The next year, Mike Eaves would leave the HIFK for Pittsburgh and Olli would get a future Red Wing and a future record breaking Michigander as teammates.

During the 1997-98 season, Jokinen played along side of many future NHLers. Niklas Backstrom. Niklas Hagman. Bob Halkidis. Jarkko Ruutu. Kimmo Timonen. Interesting that all those future NHL players were on the squad but the two connections that sparked my interest were their goalie that year and a breakout defenseman. The goalie was Flint, Michigan native Tim Thomas. The defenseman? Newly departed Red Wing and Dearborn, Michigan native Brian Rafalski.

I'm not sure how Olli's profile turned into a game of "six degrees of separation" but it's all I have.

Now, let's laugh.

Wait... Buffalo has other players BESIDES Ryan Miller?!?

2011-07-02T16:47:00.004-04:00

Buffalo Sabres

I could go on and on about how Ryan Miller is one of ten Miller Spartys. I could brag about how, as a Spartan, he set the NCAA record for most shut outs with 26 and earned the nickname "Unscoreable". I could go on and on about his silver medal, his Vezina trophy, and the fact that he's the first American player to win the NHL foundation award. I could say all that but... did you know other players actually exist on their roster? I know that comes as a shock but here are a few random hits about various members of the Buffalo Sabres.

Ville Leino

Finnish and used to be a Red Wing. All you need to know.
(Please note the troll face)

Patrick Kaleta

Patrick is the fourth Buffalo Native to play for the Sabres. Unlike his counterparts, Kaleta has spent the most time as a Sabre and played the most games.

OH! And he might have one punched knocked out Patrick Kane in a bar in 2010.

Robyn Regehr

Although Regehr spent most of his life in Canada the first six or seven years of his life were spent abroad with his parents who are Mennonite missionaries. In fact, Robyn was born in Recife, Brazil.

Mike Grier

BORN not RAISED IN SOUTH DETROIIIIIIIT!*

*The particular direction of Detroit I'm not entirely sure of but he was indeed born in Detroit.

Uniquely enough, Mike Grier is the first African-American player born and raised in the United States.

For the sake of 30-30-30 and those who will hit me with technicalities, they are now all one player.

Their new collective name is:
Paryikellebyn Griletnohriller

Welcoming a Commie to Detroit

2011-07-01T17:04:00.004-04:00

If you're trying to figure out who this Mike Commodore guy is do you really want to look at statistics?
Bo-ring.

Or are you going to read through hours of his tweets to try and get a handle on who he is?
Come. On.

I've been watching far too much of the latest televised court case and I've come up with some circumstantial evidence to deduce who Mike Commodore is.

Exhibit A- Propel Fitness Water
It's not pop so chances are he takes care of himself somewhat

Exhibit B- That's a damn book right there!
I'm thinking that book might not just be for show and perhaps... HE READS!

Exhibit C- Cash
The amount of cash tells us that Mike probably doesn't use credit cards and opts for using cash because generally it is more financially responsible to do so.

Exhibit D- Floral Drapery
This shows us that perhaps Mike is in touch with his feminine side (that or he's in touch with someone else's feminine side. HEY-O!)

Exhibit E- Lack of Clothing
This shows us that Mike is perhaps conscience of going green and opts not to turn the air conditioning on. How swell.

Exhibit F (shown below) - Hangs with Ronald McDonald and Children at charity events
This might mean that he's not the spawn of Satan

This is not scientific so I suppose we will have to wait and see who Mike is and how he fits in with the club and city.

I'm not crying... my eyes are just a little sweaty today

2011-06-30T12:26:00.004-04:00

How can you cheer for a team or player and not become emotionally invested?

How do you cheer for a team or player with no strings attached?

For instance:
Flyers fans,
Your captain just got blind-side traded to the Kings.
You can't tell me you don't care or that you've already moved on from that.
It's your captain.
It's the one player you put your faith in to be there.
You care.
There's emotion there.

Regardless of what some would lead you to believe, it is important to get emotionally invested in your team and it's players. Why? Because I don't think you can fully enjoy the successes or mourn the failures of a team or player if you aren't fully invested. Take the stats and the commentary out and you're left with emotion.

Look at Atlanta Thrashers fans. They are absolutely devastated that their team was taken from them. Why? Because they were emotionally invested in that franchise, that team, and those players. Does this mean that they will abandon the franchise now that it has been relocated? Some will and some won't. Some will not cheer for the Jets and simply support the players that were before anything else to them, Thrashers. They're hurting as a hockey fan base because they cared.

Your favorite player just got into a car accident. Do you:
A) Not care because it happened off the ice.
B) Only sorta care because it might effect your team.
C) Care immensely because you care about him as a human being as well as a player.

I hope the answer was "C" for everyone. These players are human beings and we should show them respect as human beings when situations such as devastating personal events occur and effect their lives.

Can you imagine if people didn't care when Vladdy got into is car accident? What if people didn't care that he'd never play again? Fortunately enough for Vladdy, people did care about him. And fortunately enough for Vladdy, they still care to this day. People still respect him and feel for him as a person. Getting choked up? That's because whether you realize it or not, you are emotionally invested.

Hockey is a great sport but there is and always will be a human aspect of the game despite any one's best efforts to make it not so.

So take a risk and make your investment in a player, team, or organization today. I doubt that you'll regret it.

That's not funny. Not funny at all.

2011-06-30T10:25:00.005-04:00

Anaheim Ducks

Bobby Ryan

When I decided to profile Bobby Ryan I was kind of taken aback that he had a different birth name. Robert Shane Stevenson. Not knowing anything about Bobby or his past I immediately laughed and searched for a reason why a US Born hockey player would need to use a stage name. What I found wasn't exactly what I was looking for. According to reports the name change was more than just a marketing ploy by an agent. It was actually a move by a fugitive in order to keep himself from being found by federal agents. That sounds like a bit of a tall tale or the beginning of a soap opera storyline but no. It's not. On October 30th of 1997, Robert Stevenson (Bobby's dad) was convinced that Melody Stevenson (Bobby's mom) was on drugs. His method for confronting this drug problem? Ripping a door off the hinges and beating his wife. She had multiple injuries including broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a fractured skull. Instead of facing the charges of attempted murder and other felony charges, Bobby's dad fled with his family. While on the run, the Stevenson family became the Ryan family after the movie "Saving Private Ryan". While living in California under the assumed names, Bobby thrived in the hockey program. Three years later, law enforcement caught up to Bobby's dad and extradited him back to New Jersey where he pleaded to jumping bail and aggravated assault. Bobby's dad then legally changed his name to Bob Ryan. Despite all the trials and tribulations, Bobby's parents are still together and they are very much still a family. It's a pretty unorthodox story that I hadn't expected to find when profiling just some random Anaheim Duck. I guess it just goes to show that every path to the NHL is not smooth.

Random tid-bits about Bobby Ryan:

Born on St. Patrick's Day 1987

Played for the Iowa Chops.
I planned to place a picture of a pork chop here when I discovered that the mascot for the Chops... is indeed a pig.

Favorite NHL City is Vancouver

Plays left wing on a line with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf

When Bobby is relaxing he enjoys to watch
True Blood- Standard
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives- Who doesn't?
One Tree Hill- This one throws me...

Won silver medal with team USA at the Vancouver Olympics.

Enjoys country and alternative rock.

Start of something new

2011-06-29T12:10:00.010-04:00

Setting the rivalries and hate aside:
Getting to know some of the rest of the NHL

30 player profiles from 30 teams in 30 days

I'll be profiling 30 players for each of the 30 NHL teams alphabetically skipping the Detroit Red Wings until last starting tomorrow. The players profiled will not be the players usually profiled by the NHL. For example, when it comes to Pittsburgh's profile you'll be hard-pressed to find a Crosby profile.

For the Detroit Red Wings, it will go up to a vote over which Red Wing should be represented both via polls that will appear on the side of this blog as well as polls taken place on the Hockey Blogette twitter account.

Reasons: Patrick Eaves

2011-06-27T23:09:00.005-04:00

Five Random Reasons Why We Should Keep Patrick Eaves on Our Roster.

Hobo Quotient

No one Eaveses like Patrick

His community involvement

Who would make Chris Osgood listen to Bette Midler if he wasn't here?

His incredible work ethic

Take off your shoes. Stay a while.

2011-06-20T10:18:00.005-04:00

Just when we all were about to be locked up in padded rooms due to the anxiety of many of our favorite players possibly not being on our roster next year the news breaks that Nicklas Lidstrom will indeed return for his 20th season.

The news could not have come at a better time. Many of us are watching the approach of July 1st come very quickly. Almost too quickly. We have players that we need to get signed and get signed quick. With the announcement of the return of one of Detroit's most favorite adopted sons, we all can let out one huge sigh of relief.

Thank you Nicklas Lidstrom for allowing us to watch you be amazing for (at least) one more year.

Make yourself at home. I'm sure the Wings will give you an unlimited amount of Lingonberry jam if you want it.

All aboard the crazy train

2011-06-17T08:09:00.002-04:00

My "Dear Puck Bunnies, You're so crazy" blogs are beginning to write themselves. To the point where I can't even make this shit up if I tried.

I went on to that trendy blog site tumblr, Which if I'm being frank is less like a blog site and more like twitter for pictures, gifs, and videos but I digress. While on there I pick up on a conversation that 10 or so individuals were reblogging back and forth to each other. It looked rather odd for a moment then I realized it was addresses. No big deal, right? Upon closer inspection I noticed that these weren't just regular run of the mill Joe Blow addresses. These were the addresses of the players and former players of the Wings and discussions about how they were going to drive by their houses or park outside and stare at them.

Near immediately I got sick to my stomach. These are players and former players to these girls. But more importantly these are people. They are fathers and husbands and human beings. They are not attractions in a zoo to be stared at. I don't care what line of work that they are in, these guys and their families deserve some level of privacy. It's disgusting, disrespectful, and most of all CRAZY. Where do these girls get off thinking that this is okay? If I found out that some girls were parking outside of my house to stare at me, my family, my spouse, and my children I would kick their asses or call the cops. There have to be boundaries and apparently these girls are unaware of the limits that are and should be in place between fans and players. Hockeytown may have no limits but when it comes to the players there are limits.

That's a wrap

2011-06-16T05:53:00.003-04:00

The 2010-2011 Season has concluded.

Your new Stanley Cup champions are
The Boston Bruins

Congrats to the Bruins and their fans for a great run.

Special congrats to Flint, Michigan native, former Detroit Viper, and Conn Smythe trophy winner
Tim Thomas

It's officially time for the dreaded off-season.

Hello Mister Soapbox! So nice to see you!

2011-06-13T10:15:00.002-04:00

Every now and again I feel the sudden need to jump upon my soapbox and scream to the puck bunny community, "KNOCK IT THE FUCK OUT!!!"

I recently read statements from a group of girls whose plans for the summer include a trip to Manitoba (to stalk Darren Helm) and plans to search the Michigan State University campus high and low looking for Justin Abdelkader.

Before I commence my rant, I should take the time to say this:
Shockingly enough, I am not a robot. I can indeed recognize when a player is physically attractive or not. The ability came with this set of eyes and brain that I was gifted at birth. They're really swell. If you don't have them, I suggest acquiring them. But the difference between myself and puck bunnies (there are numerous but I'll just focus on this one) is that I recognize some one's talent prior to forming an opinion of if they're good or not. "Oh, that Darren Helm! He's just SO dreamy! NEW FAVORITE PLAYER ALERT!!!" I'm sorry sunshines but that's not how it's supposed to work. The players aren't playing to be the next Jonathon Taylor Thomas or whoever graces the pages of Tiger Beat these days. Becoming your piece of hot man meat is not why they're busting their asses working out right now. It's for the sport, the team, the opportunity to play, and the Stanley Cup.

That being said let's move back to the "Hey! You're CRAZY" portion of this rant. Following someone around is considered by most to be, DUN DUN DUN DUN, stalking! Believe it or not they have laws against that. There is actions players could take against you for your crazy ways. I understand some people want to meet players but trying to meet them this way makes me sick.

"Stop judging me!" No.

Question. Do you HONESTLY believe that a player would touch you with a 50ft pole after he discovered the bullshit and psychotic stuff you did in order to meet him? If the roles were reversed and someone was following you around, you wouldn't think it was sweet or that the person was a good match. You would think they were CRAZY and call the cops.

Now before I get accused to some bullshit by some assholes who hate me and my blog let me say this: I don't give a fuck who you bang. If you sleep with the players solely to sleep with player then give yourself a gold star in puck bunnery. My issues with the puck bunny community are many. So many that I could probably write a book called "Puck Bunnies: Why I Hate Those Skankholes". The issue that concerns me the most is the insane behavior. The behavior that sometimes makes me concerned for the players and their families.

I'm curious as to what the voices in the puck bunny's heads say. Do they cheer them on or are they being muted by the noise that has filled their head due to contact with others in the puck bunny community? Where do the lines between just wanting to meet a player and becoming obsessed/turning into the chick from The Roommate stop or begin?

If any of those broads are reading this:
Before you purchase that ticket to Manitoba or take exit 106B to merge onto I-496 W/US-127 N toward Downtown Lansing consider if you would like someone following you. Someone interrupting your life, your summer, your free time. Someone stalking you. It's not flattering to them. I'm sure of it. It's creepy. Please stop. Just stop. That's really what you need to do. Just stay home or go to Frankenmuth or something. Just don't go there. Don't be that crazy. Just don't.

Overdue Jackholes: Party of Two

2011-06-11T18:38:00.004-04:00

Party of two fan bases that is.

Bad behavior has been reported in both Rogers Arena and TD Garden. From baby booing to popcorn throwing, both fan bases have not shown the respect towards the other team that each team deserves. A team does not make it to the Stanley Cup finals by accident or chance.

So the Jackholes of the Week are:

The fans of both the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins that are acting a fool/being disrespectful

I understand what's on the line and that seeing the other team win or get a "gimme call" makes your blood boil. That being said, lashing out at family members of the players or young fans of the opposing team for being young fans of the opposing team will not win your team the Stanley Cup. Try to represent your favorite team/organization with dignity and respect or risk becoming the next thing that the hockey community mocks for days on end.

Sportsmanship
it's a virtue

(Fans shown are most likely not the baby booers or popcorn throwers)

Lesson Two: Don't add letters

2011-06-07T18:56:00.003-04:00

Lidstrom
(Lidström for those with European keyboards)

As in
Nicklas Lidstrom

The one mistake I see and hear made by people outside of Detroit the most is pronouncing Lidstrom as Linstrom or Lindstrom.

There is no N!

The 4 time Stanley Cup champion, 12 time All-Star, 9 time first All-Star, Olympic All-Star, 2 time Viking Award winner, 6 time Norris Trophy winner, World Championship Gold Medalist, and Olympic Gold Medalist has done enough to deserve his name said and spelled correctly.

Did I mention that he holds at least 10 NHL records and 11 team records with the Detroit Red Wings? I didn't? Consider it mentioned.

So all together now...

If you spelled it correctly you get a bag of Swedish fish!

If you spelled it incorrectly you get detention...

This has been spelling with JennHo. Don't be dumb.

Let's talk spellcheck, baby.

2011-06-05T11:26:00.002-04:00

I don't usually like to call out people for their misspellings. I do the passive aggressive activity of putting out a tweet that corrects all my followers but today... today I snapped.

I go on the twitter to discover this:

Notice that Stevie is spelled Stevey. Clearly incorrect.

So after months of subsiding my neurotic need to spellcheck nicknames of the Wings I finally responded with this:

Does the social media character now hate me? Probably.

Unless you were born and raised a Red Wings fan you can never understand how disrespectful it is for the forever captain's nickname to be continuously spelled wrong.

Lesson One: Spell Thy Former Captain's Nickname Correctly

2011-06-04T09:49:00.005-04:00

STEVIE
pronounced
(Steve-E)

As in Stevie Y.

There is no "y" in the nickname Stevie. It is indeed an "ie" and always has been. Very few results pop up when the other spelling is typed in and even Google tries to correct Stevey (it pains me to even write that) back to the correct spelling of Stevie.

In fact, it seems the only people that misspell the forever Captain's nickname are: Social Media Types that can't take a hint, Blackhawk fans that use the misspelling as an insult, Flames fans who think they've got the scoop on what Yzerman is up to these days, and misguided people on the Hall of Fame message boards.

Now that we've established that Stevie is always sans "y", Let's spell it.
All together now!

If you correctly spelled Stevie, You get a gold star! Yay for you!

If you continued to misspell Stevie, write 100 times on the chalkboard "There is no Y in Stevie" until you get it into your brain.

Until next time, This has been spelling with JennHo.

No day like today

2011-05-31T08:49:00.003-04:00

It looks like today is the day that the NHL will announce that hockey is being move out of Atlanta and relocated to Winnipeg. I believe most of us thought that we would be seeing the original Jets team (the Phoenix Coyotes) come back to it's home instead of the Thrashers being taken. The city of Atlanta has gone through the loss of an NHL team once before when the Atlanta Flames were moved to Calgary in 1980 less than a decade after it's founding in 1972. It took 19 years for Atlanta to get their franchise back and just a mere 12 years later, it's being taken away again.

Condolences to the true Atlanta Thrashers fans who supported their team when no one else did.

Today is also apparently the day that Manitobans and Peggers alike have been looking forward to since 1996 when their franchise was taken from them. Granted, no one saw this playing out as it has but it seems that the people of Winnipeg will be watching NHL hockey front and center sooner rather than later. I have heard from Manitobans since the team left that they wanted their team back. Now this team that is being moved there, It's not their team but it's a team. Here's hoping the city of Winnipeg embraces this new hockey club, whatever team name that they choose to call themselves, and the fans that ultimately will come with them when they move. Cherish this team and come out to support them in full force to prove to the rest of the NHL that a mistake was not made in this move.

Congratulations Winnipeg you have gotten what you wished for.

As a Detroit Red Wings fan, I cannot imagine the pain or longing that both of these cities and their hockey fans have gone through and are continuing to go through. Seeing that the city of Atlanta has gone through this process twice, I would hope that the fans in Winnipeg are sensitive and understanding towards the Thrasher fans. I also hope that the Thrasher fans do not act hostile towards the fans of Winnipeg. Both cities have dealt with the loss of a team in the past and should relate on some level on how the other is feeling. This next season is going to be a season of adjustment and change. Here's hoping it will all work out for the best.

Oh no! I've gone cross-eyed!

2011-05-29T00:31:00.002-04:00

I've come up with a wonky point system for choosing which team that should be rooted for in the Stanley Cup finals.

Vancouver is awarded one point for being a Canadian team and Boston is awarded two points for being an Original Six team.

Vancouver gets one point for having a Swedish Captain while Boston gets zero for lack of Swedish Captain.

Vancouver collects one point for having had current Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi on their roster in years past and Boston collects one point as well for Brad Stuart.

Vancouver collects one point for having former Red Wing Mikael Samuelsson on the roster while Boston gets zip for number of former Red Wings.

The Red Wings are filled with Swedes so the number of Swedes on a roster matters. Vancouver collects five points for their Swede collection while Boston fails to collect a point or Swede.

The Red Wings lost a great American player on their roster so in honor of Rafalski the number of Americans is a factor. Vancouver obtains six points and Boston gets on the board with four.

Seeing that most of us are from Michigan, our fellow Michiganders count too. Boston is awarded four points (two for each Michigander) and Vancouver collects two points for Livonia native Ryan Kesler.

Two extra credit points are awarded to both teams for having former Detroit Vipers players Sami Salo and Tim Thomas on their rosters.

Vancouver is docked three points for Robert Luongo.

Boston is docked three points because Chara scares me.

Vancouver is docked two points for having someone on their roster who's name is too close to Janik.

Boston is docked two points for having an in with the officials... er... I mean... Gregory Campbell on the roster.

Illogical as it may be, Once it all shakes out, It looks like we should be rooting for the Vancouver Canucks to win the 2011 Stanley Cup.

No, No, they can't take that away from you

2011-05-25T17:08:00.005-04:00

A great American.
A great Michigander.
A great player.
A great man.

Brian Rafalski gave everything he had to the Wings and today announced his retirement. Unlike other players who would have stuck around to collect a paycheck, Brian opted to pursue life away from hockey and walked away from a six million dollar purse. It just goes to show that some players aren't all about the money.

There is so much that I could say about Brian. Instead of rambling on about statistics and silver medals, I'd just like to say:

Thank You Brian Rafalski for everything you did for the Detroit Red Wings, Hockey in Michigan, and USA Hockey.

They say that life begins at retirement. So Brian, Here's to your new life.

Congratulations on your retirement!

Gone before his time

2011-05-23T08:55:00.003-04:00

Highly regarded as the best up-and-coming American born goalie, Ian Jenkins was supposed to be doing off-season work outs. He was supposed enjoying his summer before heading to the London Knights next season. Instead, Ian was involved in a tragic accident. Ian was described as a great kid, very caring, motivated, and very passionate about the game of hockey. It is tough to see anyone fall victim to a situation like this and even more tough when you consider that Ian is just 15 years old.

This morning, University of Michigan hospital confirmed that Ian passed away at 7:54AM after fighting all weekend long. It is the most heart-wrenching thing anytime a parent loses a child. I cannot imagine what Ian's parents are going through right now.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Jenkins Family, All of Ian’s friends, Classmates, Teammates, Coaches, and anyone who is affected by this tragedy.

Ian Jenkins
Rest In Peace
1995-2011

Spin Thed Spin!

2011-05-19T09:57:00.006-04:00

Name?
Sarah, SP, Spin, Spin Thed, wondrous being of light and splendor....j/k ;)

Favorite team?
Oh, there are other teams besides my Red Wings? Weird....

Who is the most underrated player?
Hate me for it or whatever, but the Tuzz has been better for us than anticipated. I dislike all the Tuzzi hate.

Who is the most overrated player?
On our team or from all teams? In the league, I think it's Cindy.

What is your favorite jersey (regardless of if you own it or not)?
Stevie Y.

What is the most important piece of hockey memorabilia you own?
The puck that Steve Yzerman skated the length of the ice to give me. Worth more than gold.

What’s one rule you’d like to get rid of and why?
I don't pretend to believe that I know what's best for the league.

What one rule would you add in it’s place and why?
See the last question.

Who’s creepier- Ovie or Crosby and why?
Have you seen those commercials with Ovie? Yeah, that's what I thought. However, even though Ovie's creepier, Crosby is infinitely more annoying.

Which team has the best logo?
I think I'm a tad biased here.

Who is your favorite all-time player?
Stevie Y.

Who is your favorite player now?
Pav

What team do you love to hate?
Anaheim

What player do you love to hate?
Joe doesn't-deserve-to-wear-19 Thornton

What do you think about puck bunnies?
Can of worms: opened. I think they exist, clearly, but I think too many people assume they spot a Puck Bunny based on clothing alone. I disagree. I think the essence of the Puck Bunny has more to do with her intentions than what she's wearing. Then again, at 12, I was convinced I was going to eventually become Mrs. Kozlov. So maybe every young hockey fan has moments of delusion.

What player do you like that’s not on your chosen favorite team?
Steven Stamkos

What team surprises you the most this year?
TBL - however, I shouldn't be surprised based on who's at the helm.

What is your favorite hockey memory?
Too many to name. Probably when I saw Stevie lift the Stanley Cup for the first time. Tears!!

Which team has the worst jersey (third jerseys included)?
So many ugly options....but I've always hated the Sharks' jersey. Teal doesn't look good on anyone.

Of the floundering teams which team should pack up and move to a new market?
I hate the thought of moving teams because I can't imagine losing my team, so I will remain neutral on this.

Do you think the NHL will ever let that happen?
See last question.

Do you follow other sports besides hockey or are you a one-sport fan?
Compared to hockey, I find most sports to be extremely boring - so I don't 'follow them.' But I do enjoy going to all live sporting events.

What player from all the other teams that would you love to have on your team?
Stamkos

Do you believe that a fan can cheer for more than one team and still call themselves the biggest (insert team name here) fan?
Eh, it depends. I believe people can root for more than one team, but when it comes down to it, I think they should choose where their alliances lie. But I'm not the fan police, so I don't really care who you're rooting for...the Wings have my heart forever.

Keep it or Get rid it
Ticket Stubs: keep - I'm the biggest packrat known to man so this is a no-brainer.

Kesler Dancing: keep - Whatever would I do to celebrate if we got rid of it? The Kaner shuffle? I think not.

Swedish Style Tailoring: keep

Stephan Walkom: Honestly, I didn't know who he was so I had to look him up. I think our refs need a huge overhauling.

Sergei Fedorov: keep - The Russian Five stole my heart when I was 12. He was one of them.

TimBits at the Joe: keep - om nom nom.

Shoot out: Ughhh...get rid of. I hate that games are determined by this.

Colin Campbell: get rid of.

Tickets to an Atlanta game: keep - Atlanta deserves a team just as much as anyone...and I happen to know a pretty cool fan who adores them. ;)

Gap in a Flippy's teeth: keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Shed a tear for the Eldest Flippy, who is leaving us. Boo.

Puck Bunnies: keep - I like to be entertained

Wooden Sticks: keep - all about preferences.

Crazy Nicknames for players: keep - I love me some Hobo.

A signed Bertuzzi picture just for you: keep - I've been a Bert fan since he got here...

Biz Nasty on Twitter: keep - my favorite lovable jackass.

Season of Jackholes

2011-05-16T14:05:00.006-04:00

Forget the Season of Love... This was the Season of Jackholes

I didn't realize that I had called out that many people for their jackhole behavior this season but apparently I did... 68 or so times.

So who topped the jackhole offender list?

Fans
Shockingly enough, as a fan, I didn't think that the fans would be tops on this list BUT they indeed were.

Fans that boo
Fans that leave
Wings Fans that boycott the Wings
Fans that throw beer bottles
Canucks fans that went after Theo Fleury
Fans that blame Carrie Underwood for Mike Fisher being traded
Fans that booed Chris Chelios on Chris Chelios Night in Chicago
Fans that blindly hate the Red Wings and Detroit for no good reason
Fans that instigated the altercation with Rick Rypien
Chicago Blackhawks fans for their consistent smack talk
Fans that formed the angry twitter mob
Fans that are two faced
Lots of different types but fans none-the-less.

---The rest of the list consisted of---

The Skankholes
Skankholes rain the gamut from the girls that desecrated jerseys to make slutty dresses to puck bunnies and crazies.

The Higher ups
Gary Bettman, The NHL, Bill Daly, Colin Campbell, and Rene Fasel

The Officials
From Stephan Walkom to Jay Sherrers and everyone in between

General Managers, Coaches, Arenas and Organizations for their poor actions
Mario Lemieux, Jay Feaster, The Calgary Flames, The Anaheim Ducks, Randy Carlyle, Lou Lamoriello, Jeffery Vanderbeek, and Xcel Energy Center

Players
Paul Bissonnette, Adam Burish, Rene Bourque, Sidney Crosby, Joe Thornton, Matt Niskanen, Niklas Hjalmarsson, James Wisniewski, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Patrick Kane, Patrick Kaleta, Brooks Orpik, Brett Lebda, Dan Ellis, Rick Rypien, and Tom Kostopoulos

Twitter/Writer/Media Types
The Flyers Hive, Greg Wyshynski, Robert Tychkowski, Sherri Thornhill, Mike Milbury, and The Pittsburgh Penguins commentators

One person is noticeably missing from the previous category. That's because he gets his own section for being the current Jackhole of the Week.

Ryan Lambert
For his attacks on the City of Detroit and the entire Red Wings team in his "eulogy".

It's no secret. I don't like Ryan Lambert. I don't like what he has to say. I don't like the vomitous material that he has published. Granted, I don't read much of his writing anymore. The people of twitter and fellow bloggers tend to fill me in on the gist of the shit talking. I tend not to give page clicks if all that is on the agenda is to piss Red Wing fans off. Before anyone says "You're picking on Lambert", The venom goes both ways. I don't like him. And I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that he doesn't like me from the brief exchanges we've had. I'm more than alright with that. Besides, I'm sure we wouldn't have much in common. I'm not into skinny jeans or American Apparel hoodies.