Thank you for not only being an amazing hockey player, but being an amazing person too. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

We all know hockey players are the best players out there. The tweets below show they can not only make us laugh with their wit and sarcasm, but that they have amazing hearts too.

First we have the Senators Erik Karlsson who apparently isn’t good at cards:

» Continue reading “They Said What?!? – Hockey Players Being Amazing Edition”

Penner gets a lot of flack, but he sure scores some important goals. Photo by Linda Hamilton

If you read anything I write over on Get Higher, you’ll see in today’s post that I officially claim the award for worst blogger this week. Unfortunately, life takes over sometimes. So here, I’ll talk about briefly the Kings last three games (all wins) and then move on to discuss their chances in the second round.

» Continue reading “Kings Advance To Second Round”

Who shall claim you this year?

During the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Aerys NHL writers have been revealing their picks for the NHL award categories. You can find the previous prognostics over on the side bar.

The Jack Adams Award is awarded to the NHL coach who, according to Wikipedia, is ”adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success”.

This season was a year of comebacks when it came to coaches. Bruce Boudreau, fired by the Washington Capitals last year and hired by the Anaheim Ducks, has taken them near the top of the Western Conference. Michel Thierren, who was fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, was hired by his former team the Montreal Canadiens and took them from the bottom of the Eastern Conference to near the top. So no surprise these two are widely predicted to be finalists for the trophy. Is there a better story than that?

Yes. The Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks led the league in wins, going for 25 straight games without a regulation loss. They led the Western Conference, won the President’s Trophy, and are the favourite from the West to go to the Stanley Cup Final. So, of course, Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is the favourite to win the Jack Adams award.

Who can play spoilers to these three? A couple of other coaches.

Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins took his team to the top of the Eastern Conference, even with injuries to star players Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and James Neal.

Speaking of injuries, no team experienced more than the Ottawa Senators. Yet coach Paul MacLean still found ways to help his team win without feeling sorry for themselves. Could they be nominated? Possibly.

However, I think the three finalists will be Michel Thierren, Bruce Boudreau, and Joel Quenneville.

This is all Scott Niedermayer’s fault.

Last September I was attending the Canadian Olympic Heroes parade, minding my own business when he turned up on the last float in the parade, smiling and waving enthusiastically to an adoring crowd. It turned out he was being inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. Gosh, who knew playing hockey and eating bananas would earn a fella such an honour?

Then in January, the Anaheim Ducks announced that Nieds would be the new assistant coach of the team. It was all too much, he was everywhere. That’s when I looked at the ceiling and over to my Martin Brodeur photograph only to see Scott Niedermayer skating off to the side of the net.

The universe was telling me something. The universe was telling me that it was time I waste a few hours on eBay looking at Scott Niedermayer paraphernalia. The universe is a strange and wondrous place.

Indeed, I struck Nieds gold that day and found something I can never un-see. I am not sorry for revealing the 1991-92 Ultimate Draft Picks set to you because I know you will enjoy it as much as I do. Well, maybe not all the leaning towards going topless portraits but hey, to each their own.

» Continue reading “Hump Day Hockey Cards: The Definition Of Ultimate”

Get used to seeing rinks like this one. (Photo: Natalie Litz/ Flickr.)

Yesterday a report was released that the Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at the Big House will not be the only outdoor game of the 2013-2014 season. Instead, the plan is to start a “stadium series” which will include five more games taking place outdoors during the second half of the season.

Here is the proposed schedule:

• Anaheim Ducks vs. LA Kings at Dodger Stadium, Jan. 25
• New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers at Yankee Stadium, Jan. 26
• New York Islanders vs. New York Rangers at Yankee Stadium, Jan 29
• Pittsburgh Penguins at Chicago Blackhawks, Soldier Field, March 1
• Ottawa Senators at Vancouver Canucks, BC Place, March 2

Rumor is the Devils and Islanders will be the home teams for the games at Yankee Stadium, while no word on who is the home team between the Ducks and Kings. The other two, the home team is obvious due to the location.

The difference between these games and the actual Winter Classic? These games don’t get the 24/7 treatment to our knowledge. (If they do, my reaction changes.)

» Continue reading “Why Have Only One Outdoor Game Per Season When We Can Have Six?”

Don’t know about on the ice but off it, these two teams are going to miss each other once realignment goes into affect next season. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Today we’re going to do something different for this feature. Usually we mention the best player tweets from the past week. While I’m sure some players have said some crazy things, I want to focus on what some official team twitters have been saying. Apparently there are a couple of teams that want to be like the Los Angeles Kings.

Speaking of the Kings, let’s start with their tweet to the New Jersey Devils last Monday:

» Continue reading “They Said WHAT?!? – Team Twitters Edition”

You may remember me from such fights as:

• Jay Rosehill vs Mike Rupp on October 10, 2009
• Jay Rosehill vs Brandon Prust on December 5, 2011
• Jay Rosehill vs Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblonde on April 15, 2012
• Jay Rosehill vs Chris Thorburn on April 6, 2013

Oh, you get the idea. Rosie is pretty fantastic. If he’s been on your team you know how hard it is not to love him. When he returns as a member of the opposition, say with the Flyers, and winds up scrapping with one of your team’s heavyweights, say Colton Orr, you know it even more with all the tugging that suddenly starts happening to your heartstrings. Did I mention how fantastic he is?

» Continue reading “The Hawt Trophy: Jay Rosehill”

Somebody had a point scoring streak recently. No seriously…he couldn’t believe it either. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

This weeks’ edition brings tweets from some of our favorites and while we don’t like to post the same guys…well other guys need to step up to their level.

» Continue reading “They Said WHAT?!? – Tweets From The West Coast”

He da man.

After a few months of stacking small piles of hockey cards all over my apartment, I finally had the chance to spend some time to properly organizing overthinking my card binder. Rather than coming up with a specific plan or actually putting any cards into the binder, I decided to look at Marty Turco cards on eBay because TurcoMania still runs wild in my heart.

It was then that I stumbled upon the “You Da Man” Marty Turco card pictured above. I had somehow forgotten about the 60 card Sidelines subset that made its appearance in the 2009-10 Upper Deck Be a Player Signature Series set. When the set was released, Sidelines cards weren’t anything new for hockey card fans or collectors with or without a sense of humour.

The 1992-93 Pinnacle Sidelines Subset (which I will get to at some point) was very informative. How would I have ever known that Luke Richardson was a rocket builder? And other cards popped up here and there with news about what players were doing off the ice, many of them related to the sport of golf.

Let’s relax, unwind and take some time to enjoy a few of the anecdotes and guffaw inducing moments brought to you by a handful of the 2009-10 UD BAP Sidelines cards.

» Continue reading “Hump Day Hockey Cards: You Da Man, Marty Turco”

There’s a lot of Eric Lindros hockey cards that make you scratch your head. It’s easy to forget that he was kind of a big deal before suffering so many concussions. Whether it was that star power or just a fluke of the 1990s, we’re definitely glad for it.

Happy Wednesday!

» Continue reading “Hump Day Hockey Cards: What The What?”