Free Hockey

Seriously, not even going to discuss my absence here of late.  LIFE, let's just leave it at that.  All is well, just busy with life.  My life includes hockey so let's get going with -

How about that OT game on Wednesday night, folks!!  Talk about getting your dollar's worth of entertainment, huh?  The first time my good friend and neighbor, Wendy, caught overtime in a hockey game, she turned to me and excitedly said; "oh, it's free!"  Huh?  She explained; "At the Brave's games when it's extra innings, that's free baseball - you only paid for 9 innings." 

She's right, y'all.  Free Hockey.  In The Cup Final.  Eat It Up. 

When all is said and done, the Cup hoisted by the winner, *cough, Bruins, cough*, we're gonna be jonesing for the game.  We'll be counting down the weeks, days and hours till it starts back up again. 

Let's take some time to appreciate all the things that go along with playoff hockey.

"Doc" Emrick
Mike "Doc" Emrick is the NHL's in-game Commentator Supreme High Commander In Chief.  He's the shit, plain and simple.  He's been doing it for so long and while I'm honestly tired of him by the time we get to the Cup Final round, I wouldn't want anyone else calling the games.  It's gotta be hard coming up with new exciting words and catch phrases each season to sell the game on tv.  He's trying to educate new viewers while not insulting us hard core fans' intelligence.  He succeeds, mostly, doing so while having to put up with the likes of Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury.  So, how can the man who's been calling NHL games for 40 years get on my nerves, you ask?  I'll tell you in just a minute...first, let's just listen to Doc call a game. 
You will have chills and you will find yourself completely transported.  It's why he's the best. 



Hockey Drinking Game
This is not exclusive to the playoffs, or just the NHL.  Not by any means.  It just happens to be one of my favorite things in life, for a very good reason: I'm a Wild fan.  Every season there's a player on the Wild who catches my attention by delighting me or irritating me to no end.  It's typically someone who's name embodies the game (Spurge!) or his manner of playing (Skoula!) or perhaps it's something he does off the ice (Konopka!).  The rule of the drinking game is simple: everytime the chosen player hits the ice, makes his signature play - good or bad, you take a shot.  This game has gotten me through many a torturous Wild performance over the years. 

Doc Emrick Playoff Hockey Drinking Game
Doc tends to pick a couple of key words each post season and then uses the bejesus out of them - driving me to distraction and many a rant via text messaging to my NHL friends across the country.  This season his chosen favorites are: 
1. Peel
2. Drift
3. Drag (as in toe drag)
Go ahead, I dare you.  In fact, pick just one of them and take a shot every time Doc utters it during Saturday night's game.  I guarantee you'll be dead of alcohol poisoning before the end of the second period.  You will not live to see the Cup hoisted this year. 

The 25 Stages of Playoff OT Hockey
Credit to Sean McIndoe who can be found blogging on the Triangle page of the the Grantland and is also known as @downgoesbrown on twitter. 

Truer words have rarely been transcribed: The 25 Stages of Playoff OT Hockey

Andrew Shaw's Reaction To Scoring The OT Winner
My family here in GA and I have been trading our own made up NHL headlines to describe the outcomes of the playoff games.  Wednesday night, make that Thursday morning's game ending prompted me to send this text:
Operation Shaw and Awe - Hawks Take Game One in Triple OT

Here's Andrew Shaw of the Hawks, who just happened to be mic'd up for that fateful period  


And his interview afterwards



I have to toddle off to work now my fellow hockey fans.  Yep, life getting in the way of watching Game Two.  I know my phone will be buzzing all night with updates and fun messages from hockey family members so it's all good.  I hope to write again before Game Three.  In the meantime remember that this is just a game, these are just grown men playing a game for a living and that they do it  BECAUSE IT'S THE CUP 

 

Wild Vs Hawks: Game Two

GAME ONE RECAP

We didn't win.  Close game, Hards was amazing, Suter was Studly. 

You've all read everything there is to read on game one at this point so there's no need for me to rehash it. 

What They're Saying To Your Face
If there's one complaint/concern about the Wild this post season it's the fact that they are consistently inconsistent.  Okay, okay - that's THE complaint/concern about the Wild in any given season, for any given game.  Even Parise and Suter admit they don't know why sometimes the team shows up and sometimes it doesn't.  And just in case it wasn't clear enough to the Team of 18,000 how inconsistent their team is, apparently the rest of the NHL has figured it out as well. 

From Chicago Trib's coverage - Quote from Patrick Kane:

 

 “When they play like they want to, they can score four or five goals a night and keep it out of their net with maybe one of the best defensemen in the league [in Suter]. It’s a dangerous team. You definitely have to be careful with them. They’re a team that I’ve watched throughout the year and it seems like one night they look like the best team in the NHL and the next night they look like they don’t even want to be out there.”

 

Wow. Just Wow.  The Wild should have that last sentence printed up in giant lettering and pasted in front of every locker, shower head, urinal and on every hockey stick.  How embarrassing to know that's what the rest of the league thinks of you. 

 

Wild vs Hawks - Game Two

First Period: Wild Suck. Frolick scores - Hawks up 1-0

Second Period: Wild Suck. Frolick scores - Hawks up 2-0. Seto scores late in the period. Hawks lead 2-1.

Third Period: Wild Suck - nobody's watching anymore. Hawks win it 5-2.
Best tweet of the night: "Well, at least Lindy Ruff will have a job next season."

MEMORIES

Rachael Blount takes us back, waaay back.  And I find myself laughing out loud reading names like Chris Chelios, Dave Manson and Mike Peluso - Shane Churla, Basil McRae, and Mark Tinordi.  Holy Old Time Hockey! 

 

HOCKEY COVERAGE EXTRAORDINAIRE

I don't go a day without listening to the Backhand Shelf Podcast.  You shouldn't either.  CAUTION - Effinghiemers Fly Freely so keep your volume low at work. 

 

Backhand Shelf - The Score Blogs  - Justin Bourne, Jo Innes, Cam Charron, Jake Goldsbie, etc.

 

Twitter Feeds To Follow For Fun:

@Starting_Goalie

@notkevingorg

@Hockey_Humor

@CauseItsTheCup

What They're Saying To Your Face, Part II
Really Wild?  Fight Till End... AGAIN??  Is Leipold so broke from Parise's and Suter's contracts that he couldn't afford the printing of SOMETHING, ANYTHING new for the playoff slogan?  The guys at Backhand Shelf even made fun of this rerun.  And we wonder why we're the laughing stock of the league?

 

Dear GEICO - You SUCK

 

Dear Duluth Trading Company: Ewwwww

 

Breach Baby Turns 39...AGAIN!
Give it up for Robyn who's celebrating another turn around the sun.  Hope you had a fun night celebrating with friends and cake!

 

 

HOCKEY 101

So y'all know I'm currently living in the Peach State where hockey is all but forgotten.  I am making good headway converting my new friends and neighbors.  To their credit they're asking very good questions and are picking up on the game much quicker than I could have hoped for.  They're learning the nuances of the game; it's periods, not halves or quarters.  Icing, hooking, holding, tripping, off sides and the biggie: Pursuing The Altercation.
Then there's the whole hockey vernacular to learn.  I needed some help with this part.  I'm not a huge fan of John Buccigross but he's come up with the following videos that have come in quite handy when helping my new hockey friends understand my "second" language:

Bucci's Hockey Lingo Part One

Bucci's Hockey Lingo Part Two

Sorry for the links instead of straight up video embed - technical difficulties which may or may not be 'stupid user' related.

Many of the newly converted hockey fans here are quickly learning the importance of the goalie, that last line of defence and almost always the hero on any given play. 



But mostly, because if they can do those splits with all that equipment on, well...just let your imagination take over and have a nice little break there...