I've posted first NHL career fights before, but hadn't even thought to track first NHL career goals. well, that changes now. although I don't know if a better one in the regular season is possible than the following on 3/20, from Jamie McBain, 22-year-old defenseman, of the Carolina Hurricanes, previously of the Albany River Rats (AHL) and University of Wisconsin. it's a painful one for Penguins fans, as he beat the Pens, in Pittsburgh, with this. McBain's first? the winning goal against the defending Stanley Cup Champions with 0.9 seconds left in overtime .
now, a fight. (I know there was another first NHL fight this month but didn't note what it was, sorry.) here Brett Sutter, of the AHL's Abbotsford Heat, called up again to the Calgary Flames, got his first NHL fight against Brett Festerling, Anaheim Ducks, 3/23. I saw Sutter play just three nights earlier vs the Lake Erie Monsters in Cleveland (and because I was at that game, I wasn't able to watch the Carolina-Pittsburgh game above). a mere two minutes into the game (which Calgary won 3-1), this was a definitive win for Sutter (the 8th member of the famous Sutter family to play in the NHL) according to the hockeyfights.com page:
also, tonight I noticed that the hockeyfights fan page on Facebook was at exactly 15,000 fans (I joined in the old days when it wasn't even 5000). as a fan of round numbers I had to capture it:
I mentioned it on Twitter, and almost immediately:
happened a few days after:
and earlier this month I woke up to:
hey, in all three cases the account has far more "followers" than "following" so it's kind of exciting. (the official NHL account was only following 5500 people with about 340,000 followers when I got added. around trade deadline time, because I'd been using the #nhltrade tag, though not much.) although I think the most exciting, hockey-wise on Twitter, would be to get followed by @DownGoesBrown, or @dellis39...
if I haven't said this already, the three most beautiful words in hockey are "Stanley Cup Winners." and the two most beautiful are "goalie fight." I posted a good junior hockey one recently, where the goalies fought, along with everyone else, in a line brawl.
then at Puck Daddy today, a fight was posted of goaltenders Steve Summerhays of the Green Bay Gamblers and Nick Pisellini of the Chicago Steel (USHL, American junior hockey). they got penalties and game ejections (and have since received multi-game suspensions). what makes this unusual is that it happened just before the shootout, so their backups had to take over. (if only fans could fight to get out of seeing a shootout...) yes, I'd call it a staged fight, based on the fact that these two have battled before, and are friends off the ice. so this brought out complaints from both hockey fans and trolls in the comments that it makes hockey look bad or whatever. but still, worth a look. warning: shirtless goalie footage!
and last night, in the much-hyped SCF rematch Penguins @ Red Wings game (which I was very tempted to go to, since I could easily find seats for under $50. it's been a long, long time since you could get seats that cheap for the Blackhawks vs the lowliest opponents), right after the Wings won 3-1 and some kind of unpleasantries were going on (I didn't watch this closely enough to judge who's right and wrong here. surely you can find it being argued in agonizing detail at Kukla's Korner, Puck Daddy, etc.), Wings goalie Jimmy Howard got feisty (mercifully, the YouTube link disabled commenting):
ha: "in a city that traditionally has liked fighting goaltenders, Jimmy Howard has joined the list." screenshots from when I watched live:
and of course, now there's this. I didn't join but a FB friend did. I'm not anti-Crosby, just pro-goalies punching people (if provoked).
I got home Sunday afternoon from a game and caught the last half of Boston @ Pittsburgh. all of a sudden I saw a Bruins player down, and as he was being checked out and put on a stretcher, I learned it was Marc Savard after a hit by Matt Cooke. terrible...
if you read this blog and you follow hockey you've almost certainly seen video of this incident elsewhere, and seen the debate over what the NHL should do about a dangerous hit like this. at first I thought almost no one was defending Cooke, not on Twitter or blogs I read, but as the comments piled up on the Puck Daddy piece on the hit, a lot of disgusting commenters showed up. the Boston Globe's Bruins blog commenters (and the comments section there--I read it after both Blackhawks-Bruins games this season--seems fairly reasonable) wasted a lot of space chastising the Bruins for not taking immediate retaliatory action (late in the season trying to secure a playoff spot, in a 2-1 game?). I wouldn't have been bothered by retaliation, and I won't mind at all if something happens when these teams meet again March 18, but the macho posturing and name-calling of the Bruins (and of any fan who didn't think they should have attacked right away), got tedious. anyway, I don't feel I have much to add to this discussion. friend of ALC, Bruins blog Hockey Gone Wild has this page cataloguing Matt Cooke's history of dirty hits now.
non-hockey but sports-related: I haven't tried to read much yet about recent rape allegations against a certain well-known football player, but on Twitter I stumbled across a link to this piece on the sports humor blog With Leather. um...it's not that I think the story is 100% off-limits mentioning on that site (and yes, I get the movie reference in the title), or Deadspin, but that piece is a complete and total misrepresentation of why rape happens (hint: it's NOT about being "allegedly horny"). the commenters, whether they think the incident may have happened or not, are as full of inane misunderstanding. I had to hold back to not put this all in caps with many exhortations to STFU.
there was a piece on the political blog Pandagon I had in mind for the next time a story like this broke. but I didn't think I'd have to use it for the exact same athlete (who I haven't named, to avoid this turning up in searches). from summer 2009: "Sports culture, rape, and why it’s not about being hard up". it dissects the common view, when a celebrity is accused of rape, that "he didn't have to rape, he could get any woman he wants."
and the final paragraph sums up things I think about a lot and rarely address here. (I agree with what she says, but would add that I see many female sports bloggers with similar "ugly views" and also using problematic language.)
The world of sports has a lot of great things to offer---I’m not even really a sports fan, but I can appreciate the thrill of competition, the wonder at the limits that the human body can push, the grace and skill of the athletes, the highs and lows for the fans. I am a political blogger, after all, and my enthusiasms aren’t that different. But for reasons that are admittedly complicated, the world of sports has also become a sanctuary for misogynists who want to let their hair down. It’s not just one thing that makes this so---the routine objectification and disdain for women’s full humanity you see in sports exists in all sorts of environments, from video gaming to business to rock music. But for some reason, when it comes to sports, it’s just heightened dramatically. In fact, it seems a lot of men love sports precisely because it’s a venue where they can just indulge some of their uglier views with the secure realization that no one will call bullshit.
well...time to lighten the mood up next with some relatively frivolous posts--a lot of exciting stuff has happened and overwhelmed me from writing much...
since my access to Olympic coverage is as lousy as the day before (see the cranky comment I put on the previous post) with no hope of improving any time soon, I am forced to just put up old hockey cards and screenshots from NHL.com. oh, who are we kidding, that's absolutely what I wanted to post anyway! I couldn't see any of the Finland-Belarus or Sweden-Germany men's games today (or the women's game that was actually a close one), nor curling (which is a surprisingly popular Twitter topic), nor all the stuff Americans were winning a lot of gold medals in. I did see the Czech Republic-Slovakia game. good game, even if Slovakia lost. Teemu Selanne set an Olympic record in the Finland game, and Jaromir Jagr did quite well for the Czechs. so here they are from my recent purchase of 100s of 1993-94 cards for $6 from an antique mall in downstate Illinois (I had several for each player but these were my favorites):
and here's your NHL.com headlines, which needless to say couldn't miss out on fun with the countries' names. (this shot of the Belarus goalie is making me sad...)
more from Hockey (1969), to preview the two Blackhawks-Blues games this week. yes, again with Penguins in the photos. oh well.
Blue Ray Fortin (19) and Noel Picard (4) are foiled by Penguins Binkley (30) and Price (right). In his frustration, Picard almost hooks Price.
so, I happened across an item that the St. Louis Blues' D.L. King, referred to as the team's enforcer, would be returning to play after being out since October with an injury. and my thoughts were approximately:
ADKLFHDSLFHDSFJDSJFHKJJKFDSJAK seriously OMG you mean this is what the Blues are like WITHOUT their enforcer?
THIS IS WITHOUT THEIR ENFORCER?!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
really? the nasty game I saw at the United Center in December, and the infamous four-fights-including-Toews'-second-NHL-fight-ever game Jan. 2 in St. Louis? those were without their designated tough guy? (although Cam Janssen seems as much of an enforcer, maybe they have two?) they're in the top 5 teams for fighting majors in the NHL without King...oh boy.
yeah, so I admit I wasn't paying close attention to the Blues until soon before the Hawks finally played them this year, not till December, so I forgot who wasn't playing. well, whether King is in this week's games or not, I just want to remind the Blues, to adapt a phrase from the Cookie Monster:
Hockey fights are a sometimes treat
obviously I like them and so do the hockey fans I know. a game with a lot of tension and roughing and near-fights can be entertaining. a fight or two at the right moment--after a questionable hit, or to spark some energy in your team and its fans, or just to give your fans something to enjoy when the team is hopelessly behind (you certainly know what I mean)--is fine.
Blue Jimmie Roberts (6) fails to get past Penguin Noel Price.
but there's such a thing as too much, when the game just gets slowed down by all the fights, and you don't look good, you just look like you're covering up for your lack of skill, and that's what the January game was like. (to be fair, the Blues have been winning games recently after a lousy start with the new coach...)
so...resist the urge to constantly goon it up, okay? or if you must, just save it up for a bench-clearing brawl. I'm fine with one every once in a while...
Face-off! Red Berenson, St. Louis, vs. Lou Angotti, Pittsburgh
Hockey (1969) has a lot of material on each of the then-12 teams in the NHL. perhaps I'll post the whole chapters on each team (and finally have a blog post with an "read more after the jump" in it). for now, a couple from the opening section of color photos. these are for the two games the Blackhawks are playing vs. St. Louis Blues this week--Wednesday's in Chicago, and Saturday's in St. Louis (the big Second City Hockey-organized Chicago fan/blogger trip). I'll be at both. no shots of Blues vs. Blackhawks in the book, unfortunately.
St. Louis goalie Jacques Plante splits to his left a split-second too late.
to commemorate the Detroit Red Wings @ Pittsburgh Penguins game on NBC today that got a little bit of hype (but all the Maple Leafs trade news this morning wiped it out as a discussion topic on Twitter!), one of my very favorite shots from the 1969 book Hockey:
Linesman Willard Norris hangs on for dear life as Pittsburgh and Detroit battle along the boards.
believe or not, I had a Martin Brodeur post planned for today, having nothing to do with his goaltending accomplishments. this tweet by loser_domi brought me to the Mom's Recipes section on Brodeur's website, and it seemed holiday-ish, so why not? then, there was some excitement tonight (see a bunch more relevant shots at the bottom of the post). so...it's even more timely, right?
anyway, here we are on the recipe page...
huh, I'll give that the benefit of the doubt (it's supposed to be Mom talking?) and assume it means "Hey, let's go have fun in the kitchen," not "Back in the kitchen, woman." the English on this page isn't 100% accurate, but the recipes are perfectly understandable. The recipe for "Traditional fudge from Quebec Canada" ends with "The result should be sweet and delicious." which is how EVERY RECIPE should end.
the one that cracks me up is a simple recipe, made of only Cool Whip, Jello, and two kinds of canned fruit. now, to my readers not familiar with the American Midwest, here we would call that more of a "salad" than a dessert. salad, in the Midwest/Heartland/you know, where true Americans live, often means something gelatin and/or mayonnaise-based. (it can be even be a savory dish made with gelatin or a sweet dish made with mayonnaise--try not to think about it.) sure, there are vegetable salads here, but those will be called "green salad" (if green). anyway, the reason I like this recipe? again, it's Cool Whip, Jello, and canned fruit, but the recipe name is "Mousse aux fraises." French makes anything sound elegant...
yes, that's French, not French Canadian, but I didn't think anyone would mind. another from my vast collection of old recipe booklets (Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, 1965 print of 1954 booklet)
as for Brodeur breaking the all-time NHL shutout record tonight...I was all excited watching the Bruins win their first in 5 games with a 2-0 shutout over the Senators, and remembered just in time to try to find a feed again of the Devils at Penguins game. I'd had one early and it vanished. with 4 minutes left in the game, Devils were up 4-0, and I got ready to take lousy screenshots of history!
Happy Holidays, indeed. the Pens fans saw their team shut out at home in the last regular season appearance of the Devils in Mellon Arena. the hometown crowd sullenly applauded the accomplishment...
congratulations! and even though baking cookies is more my style, I could be convinced to try to make that fudge for the Blackhawks @ Red Wings game-watching get-together this week...
before I post today's Boston vs Chicago countdown, a roundup. lots of good stuff here.
Jeff of Blackhawk Up got to do the Five Reasons [He] Loves Hockey at Puck Daddy. I posted a defensive comment directed at another commenter about "bandwagon" accusations and, as happens anytime I post anything remotely personal and/or political and/or angry on the Internet (including some recent posts here...), I got all wussy about seeing if anyone responded (never sure what's worse, being attacked or being ignored) so I didn't check back.
Kukla's Korner asked today about Your Favorite Hockey Related Websites/Blogs and invited readers to promote their own blogs, too, so of course I did. I named a bunch, but not any specific Blackhawks blogs because I'm too petty and vindictive that only one is blogrolling me so far I didn't want to play favorites. oh, and I'm wracked with guilt about those of you I didn't mention there, don't worry...I mentioned that Third String Goalie posts so much good stuff it's hard not to link every day. look, I'm linking today, because Dec. 15 is the anniversary of the first game played at the old Chicago Stadium (I'm ashamed of not knowing that already) and he's got a nice piece up, vintage postcard and all.
Oklahoma City might be getting an AHL team next year. I'd noticed the Anaheim Ducks don't have an AHL affiliate this year...but OKC's team would take over the Oilers affiliation. I'm confused already.
watched the Leafs-Caps game online Sat. night. I actually predicted (to myself) they'd beat the Capitals last time (they did, 2-1), but seeing them come from losing 2-0 going into the second period to win 6-3 was pretty impressive. the 29th-place team beat the 1st-place team (and the Leafs are up to 27th now!). I read the NHL.com recap and saw...something not quite right:
heh. I think you can get your portrait taken for a few dollars at Walgreens, if you need a new one. I left the feed on and saw Canadian nightly news for the first time! there were two stories about hockey before they got to the sports results. wow, that country should get another NHL team or something.
some town where there's a battle over allowing pond hockey, and later a story about concussions in youth hockey
not to detract from a serious story, but: pink hair = awesome. I left it on and the Caps-Leafs game was rerun (a shorter, intermission-less version) afterwards; I didn't even know they did that.
NHL.com posts so much material and has to do much of it so quickly, that I'm not bashing them for making the occasional mistake. but I will point them out!
that word made me think "fiesta" first, then "fiery," but I realized they meant "feisty" (which my dictionary defines as "lively or flamboyant in manner or appearance." flamboyant? okay, they probably meant the second definition, "spirited").
tonight I saw Scott Hartnell, The Guy In the NHL Who's Actually Uglier Than Brent Sopel, and the rest of the Flyers play the Penguins. there were 2 goals and 3 fights within barely the first 6 minutes of play! (someone Twittered to the effect: "hey Flyers, 1975 called, they want their style of hockey back") Pens won 6-1. Flyers were in Boston last night, and as noted, my friend Dan attended as his first Bruins game this season. I'd hoped to watch it all online because he had a good seat and I could have maybe got a screenshot of him, but the feed (it was NESN! yes, #getjackedwardsontwitter!) vanished after the first few minutes and I didn't find one again until the painful third period. (then it ended before the NESN Blackhawks preview).
he saw the Bruins lose, but he did get to see the kids' hockey during intermission result in a fight (there were no fights in the actual game). and he'd seen the same thing happen (but with younger kids) during a Providence Bruins game. I love New England! I mean, of course it's awful in some ways...but funny in others. not sure if video has turned up (and I wouldn't feel okay posting it if it did), but it's worth noting.
so here's a New England fight that turned up on hockeyfights.com this week, a brief Whalers-Bruins fight from 1992. I know very little about these teams circa that era, but I did like the old jerseys, the utter indifference of the fans in the front row seats, and the nugget of wisdom at the end:
...it's nice to know there are some things you can count on:
all screenshots taken during a very busy night of watching hockey online, 11/28/09. the hat trick was of course Crosby (for an eventual 8-3 defeat of the Rangers, on Fleury's birthday, too!)--wow, all that hat-picking-up really takes up time in a game. bonus cliche--a feature during a Penguins game where they show cute pictures with the Stanley Cup, which I'm sure no one is tired of seeing, unless they're a fan of any of the other 29 teams:
last night also featured shootouts in 6 of the 13 games. in fact, I watched three different games where the home team led 3-2, then the visiting team tied it with less than a minute left in the third period, then no one scored in OT, and it went to SO. (even eerier, two of these, Senators @ Bruins and Capitals @ Canadiens, were virtually at the same time) visitors won two (Caps, and Red Wings @ Blues), but fortunately the Bruins won theirs.
now, I can't say I wanted the Wings to win, of course, but I was getting worried for the mental health of the Wings bloggers I read. the team was on their longest scoreless streak since 1977, so many of these bloggers probably hadn't seen them do that badly in their lifetime...
wait, haven't there been Hawks games recently too? yes, yes, that'll be a separate post. (as will a special one-month-of-a-little-chippy! post tonight. time to get more chai, or whiskey)
...by Sidney Crosby. instead of the requisite Halloween festivities for adults my age (dressing up in “slutty” costumes/ogling those in slutty costumes) I stayed in on a cold night with a frozen supreme pizza (yeah, so I ate the whole thing tonight, but not in one sitting!) and the internet and the (rain-delayed) World Series, except I couldn’t find an online feed and my TV was in the other room, so I only watched hockey. suspenseful Leafs @ Habs game (would have preferred the Leafs to win, but at least they [finally?] scored first, and wrecked the Canadiens’ comfortable lead late in the game, as Montreal fans were singing a goodbye song—ha!). and I figured I might as well take a look at the Wild @ Penguins game, and…FIGHT!
…I thought I could use my extra hour for daylight savings tonight to watch the video of Crosby’s (relatively minor, but still—it’s Crosby) beatdown of Marek Zidlicky, and the rest of Crosby’s entire NHL fighting career. okay, that still left 57 minutes. plenty of time to reheat the pizza and wait for my bottle of Great Lakes Brewing’s “Edmund Fitzgerald” beer to cool. turns out this was Sid’s 4th fighting major (the others were 12/20/07, 1/3/09, 4/5/09, thx hockeyfights.com!).
should you need to see it for yourself, it’s right here. I don’t know if the Pittsburgh crowd considered that a “treat” tonight, but it’s a hell of a lot rarer than just seeing the Pens winning. which, btw, they didn’t, so congrats to the Minnesota Wild for their first road win of the season (and against the current Stanley Cup champions, of course). now they won’t tie the 0-9 road start of the Ottawa Senators in 1992-9OH MY GOD, LOOK, RIGHT HERE is where you see me give up having any hope of a social life ever again. well, hope all of you who “went out” and “had fun” and “talked to people” enjoyed it!
Trying--for real this time--to blog regularly, but I do get distracted by adventures to abandoned factories filled with parade floats (see above) and such. (And sorry right now the blogroll's a couple years out of date.)
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