Gold Medal: I'm conflicted

Wow. Was that a great hockey game, or what?! I think my heart is still pounding! I admit: when the Olympics began, I wanted Team Canada to win, because of my love affair with Sidney Crosby. However, my patriotic side took over last weekend, and I was Team USA all the way. I jumped off my couch when the game was sent to overtime. Never have I been more excited (okay, Game 7 last year).

So there we are: Olympic Gold Medal game, in OT. It doesn't get better than that. I'm entirely bummed that Team USA lost, because they played an awesome game. I'm extremely proud of them, and think they represented the USA so incredibly well. However, I'm glad that Sid scored the winning goal. One, because it proves how awesome he is, and two, because he's just cute :) Let's go back to point number one, shall we? Sidney Crosby IS hockey. He is undoubtedly THE BEST player currently playing in any league right now. You Ovechkin-lovers out there need to wake up and realize this. Sidney Crosby saved Canada's ass in the round-robin game. He won them a gold medal tonight. Sure, he didn't have any points in that game vs. Russia, but oh that's right--neither did Ovie.

You know what else made me happy? Seeing Ken Hitchcock leap out of his seat to celebrate the winning goal. Seeing Ken Hitchcock celebrating on the ice with Team Canada. Hitch deserved that win. I love that man.

Team Canada was packed with stars and great players. Team USA was packed with stars and great players. (I wonder what practice for the Penguins will be like tomorrow: does Brooks Orpik run Crosby? score on Fleury?) It'll be interesting to see if the NHL allows their players to continue playing in the Olympics. Either way, I'll be watching in 2014. Will you?

I disagree!

I'm none-too-pleased that the Blue Jackets fired Coach Hitchcock today. While I think something needed to give to salvage next season, I don't think firing Hitch was the right move. While I don't know him personally, I know that he's a great coach and a great man. And he lives and breathes hockey. Right now, that's more than I can say about the majority of the CBJ.

I watched the first period of the game against Colorado last night, and I thought, "Wow. We're putting up a fight. Way to go, boys." But then they peed down their legs and lost 5-1. Pathetic. I"m going to the game tomorrow night. It'll be interesting to hear the crowd's reaction to the coaching change. The new interim coach is Claude Noel, who's been with the organization longer than Hitch. I don't think he's the answer. They need to hire a new coach in the off-season. Kevin Dineen, anyone?

In happy hockey news, the Olympics start next week. I love the Olympics. I am an Olympaholic, and proud of it. What's even better is that I will be attending the Olympics for a weekend, and hope to catch a men's hockey game while I'm there. I can't wait--how fun will Olympic hockey be?! You can bet your bippy that I'll be watching as much Olympic coverage as I can. I hope the U.S. televises the hockey games.

The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth

I have a confession to make: I'd never make it as a professional hockey player. Forget the part where I can't skate and have no coordination. The part that would take me out of the running is the pain. Specifically, dental pain. You see, I had my wisdom teeth taken out yesterday. This was a surgical procedure done by medical professionals in a clean and sterile environment. I was given pre-op and post-op instructions and have the liberty of recovering for three days before I return to work. I'm dealing with the pain, the bruising, the swelling. I can lay back on my couch and relax. It's really not that awful.

Hockey players? They don't have these luxuries. Most of their dental procedures seem to come during a game. Many a player has lost a tooth (or five), had lips bloodied by sticks or punches to the face, or have broken their jaws. And most of the players return during the same game or in the next game. Seriously? I'd be laying at home on my couch crying for my mommy. Again, this would make me a horrible hockey player. When Kris Russel took a puck to the face on Thursday's CBJ game in Boston, he got his lip stitched up and returned for the rest of the game with a face so swollen I'm surprised he could see where he was going. Earlier this season, Raffi Torres was out for two games after having his mandible broken in a game. He came back wearing a cage for a few games to protect his still-healing jaw from further damage. Do you know how I'd protect it? By not playing until I was all better.

This is not the first time I've commented on the toughness of hockey players. They're not right in the head, and that's probably part of it. But I honestly don't know how they do it. It's no secret that I don't have the highest pain threshold, though I have managed to recover without taking any heavy-duty drugs. But there is no way I would have even thought about attempting to run a marathon or play a hockey game yesterday. This is just one more reason why I love hockey. The men who go out there night after night are insane. Who doesn't like to watch a bunch of crazy people?

January 10, 2010: Mario Day

Here's some fun information: my husband is the biggest Penguins fan ever. EVER. His passion for the team is what has made me into the Penguins fan that I am. The boy can recite stats and plays from games past with the best of them. Mario Lemieux is by far his favorite hockey player, and tops on his list of all professional sports players. My husband has been within touching distance of Mario in the past, but has never shaken his hand or had his picture taken with him. Until today.

Today is my husband's birthday. I didn't get him a card. I didn't buy him anything all that exciting (unless you consider a range finder exciting). I didn't even take him out to dinner. Here's what we did do today:

For those of you who aren't the hockey fanatics that I am, this is Mario Lemieux. Mario Freakin' Lemieux with my husband. (Mario's on the left, just FYI, as he's not my husband...). I honestly don't know who's more excited about this, me or my husband. I am so excited that this picture exists, I can't help but share it. I want to tell everyone, "Mario Lemieux! Was here! My husband shook his hand! I said, 'hi.'" I also saw Mario bend over to autograph some stuff for some little kids--holy nice view, batman! But I digress.

Mario was here as a dad and a coach. His son plays for a AAA hockey team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mario is the coach. The team was in town today to play the AAA Columbus Blue Jackets at one of the local ice rinks. So we went to the game. Why not? It's free, it's open to the public, it's hockey--all sorts of awesome. Admittedly, we were there to see Mario. We thought there may be more "stalkers," but I think we were the only ones. The kids played a game this morning, then left the rink for lunch, and came back for the second game. We were there when they trickled in from lunch. Mario's son actually held the door open for me. The game was actually pretty fun. There was this one kid on the Penguins team who was about 4 feet tall and skated like there was no tomorrow. He didn't score, but he was dynamic and so darn cute. And small. The Penguins beat the Blue Jackets 5-2, in case you were wondering.

After the game we siezed our opportunity for a "hello." Other people were lingering outside of the locker room, and Mario did sign some pucks and memoribilia for other them. He walked by, and my husband said "hello," and got a "hi" back. He stopped to sign some stuff for another person, and I pursuaded my husband to ask for a picture. He did, and Mario obliged. My husband held the door open for Mario as he left the rink, and that was that.

Happy Birthday, sweetie. I hope you like your picture.

World Junior Championships

I'm guessing not many Americans watched--or even knew to watch?--the World Junior Championship Gold Medal game last night between the USA and Canada. I watched. (Okay, I watched most of it, since I was flipping between shows on CBS.) It was a great game! Team USA pulled out an overtime victory against 5-time defending gold-mdealist Canada. That's quite a feat, especially considering the tournament was played in Saskatoon, Saskatchtewan, so Canada had home-ice advantage. Not to mention 7,000+ rowdy spectators. With awesome cheers ("Eh, Oh, Canada Gold!"). The crowd taunted Team USA, but they weren't rude about it. I think that was one of the things that made me happiest watching the game--the good-natured spirit of the tournament.

The best part of the night was the sheer jubilation on the faces of Team USA when they won. These kids play for nothing more than a gold medal, a hat, and the chance to hold a rather small trophy. Sure, some of them will go on to NHL or other professional careers. But in this tournament, they're just kids playing a sport they love for no monetary reward. It makes the game that much more enjoyable to watch. Perhaps that's why I love the Olympics so much. (Although, it has lost some of its luster now that professional athletes can participate.) I don't play sports, but I love watching people who are so passionate about what they're doing.

In NHL news: I didn't watch the CBJ game last night because it wasn't televised. I haven't read any recaps about it either, though I know they lost. When the anchors says the Canucks "dismantled the Blue Jackets" and that a) they weren't the first team to do so and b) it wasn't hard to do so, I know it was an awful game. On the bright side, the Penguins finally won after a five-game skid. And the Capitals named Ovechkin as their new captain. Hmm. Okay, good luck with that. He is the face of the franchise, and I respect that. I just think that maybe there are other players on the team who would do a better job.

Happy New Year!

It's a new year, so maybe things will start to look up for the Blue Jackets. Lord knows the last few weeks have sucked, save for that overtime win that stopped the losing streak...for a time, anyway. The season is half-over, and the Blue Jackets are so not even close to making the playoffs. Unless their forwards decide to find the back of the net--even in a shootout, is that too much to ask?--they're not going to get any better. I will say that, after watching the last few games, they've played better defensively and the goaltending has improved. But really, they're not having a good season. This is not news.

What is (old) news is the trade of Jason Chimera to the hated Capitals for a defenseman (Jurcina) and a veteran forward (Clark). Okay, so here's my question: why did Washington trade their captain? How little did they think of him? Or were they just trying to find a good excuse to give Ovechkin a run at the captaincy? Go ahead, make him the captain--he's still a jackass. But I digress. I watched Jurcina and Clark play in the past few games, and I think they're decent. Jurcina is solid, and Clark can skate. They seem like nice guys. Then again, I think most hockey players are nice guys. Except for the Flyers--they're just thugs.

I will say that I'm sad that Chimera is gone. He was on the top of my list of "nice guys" here in Columbus. I hope that he does well in Washington, and I'll do my best to keep tabs on him (oh, did I mention we now have the NHL network? Oh yea...). On the ice, Chimera brought good energy and decent play. Off the ice, however, he was a special guy in the community. Most notably, he befriended the Salmons family last year and was part of their support system through Ryan's illness. He was also the Blue Jacket's new rep to the NHL players' association. Their old rep now plays for San Jose (Maaaaaaaaanny Malhotra!). I think the CBJ should stop losing their NHLPA reps. I'm just sayin'.

And hey, since it's New Year's Day, did you watch the Winter Classic? How awesome was that? I can't say I was rooting for either team, but I would have paid good money to have been there. Watching hockey outdoors? Does life get any better than that? (Okay, hockey in general is pretty damn awesome). I also liked how they announced the U.S. Olympic team--those little kids were so cute. And props to Tim Thomas for high-fiving all the little dudes as he came on the ice in his Team USA sweater. See? Hockey players rock.

Tomorrow I'm going to watch the quarter-final game of the WJC from Canada on the NHL network. Did I mention how excited I am to have this network? :) I have the best husband in the world. We stayed home last night and added the NHL network to our cable subscription last night so we could watch the USA-Canada game. Much more fun than being out with a bunch of crazy drunk people.

Here are my bold predictions for the rest of the 2009-2010 NHL season, and the men's Olympic hockey standings:

• The Blue Jackets will not make the playoffs, finishing 11th in the Western Conference.
• The Red Wings will squeak into the playoffs in 8th, and probably make it to at least the conference semi-finals.
• The Blackhawks will beat the Canucks for the Western Conference championship.
• The Capitals will make the playoffs and lose in the semi-finals.
• The Penguins will also make the playoffs (causing me much joy and stress), but will lose to the Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals. (They can prove me wrong by winning--I'm down with that).
• The Chicago Blackhawks will win the Stanley Cup...unless they play the Penguins, in which case, the Pens will win because I will sell my soul for the victory ;)
• In Vancouver, Team USA wins bronze, Team Russia wins silver, and Team Canada wins gold. I know I should root for the Americans, but I'm totally rooting for Canada. Shh. Don't tell my husband.

What's in a name?

I've figured out the problem with the Blue Jackets: they don't have enough players with cool names. Think about it. Our team has Rick Nash, Steve Mason, Jason Chimera, Mike Commodore, Derrick Brassard... none of these are fun names. They're very...plain. The most fun we have is probably Rostislav Klesla, and he's on IR right now, so you can't even say that every night. We have Jakub Voracek and Jan Hedja, and those are kind fun, but it's not nearly as fun as Saku Koivu or Miroslav Satan (pronouned "Sha-tan," but extra fun for the double entrendre). Look around at all the fun names in the league. Wojtek Wolski. Jarkko Ruutu. Jarome Iginla. Jonas Gustavsson. Jaroslav Havlak. Evgeni Malkin. You get the picture--there are a ton of fun names out there, and most of them do not reside on the CBJ. Perhaps if we can acquire some more fun names, the team will be better. It's a good theory. I'm sure the team will take anything at this point to help them win games, no?

Barring any big to-dos in the next few days, I'll be taking a holiday break. Don't be sad. I will have plenty of hockey talk when I return :)