Regina has been an absolutely great experience. If I don’t get a job, I feel very confident that I have several reference letters to lean on to get one.
It’s kind of a bummer to be writing about how it is coming to an end… I really don’t want to leave. It is so refreshing to be around people who have the same interests as you and the same passion towards news and work.
I will be having a discussion with my News and Program Directors this week to see if there is space for me somewhere in the company if it can’t be here. I’ve gotten addicted to news, it’s absolutely a thrill every day. You have a real mix of talking to some people on the best days of their lives and others the worst. This keeps me going, I’m glued to everything going on here in Regina and it feels so nice.
I really am sad that it will be coming to an end. I’ve made some friends here and hopefully I’ve worked hard enough to be considered as a valuable employee.
First off, I know this isn’t posted in the second week but I will write two this week.
Second off, practicum is amazing. I love Regina and I love 620 CKRM.
My second week consisted of a lot of news coverage. Scrums at City Hall, attending council meetings, going to Mayor Michael Fouguere’s State of the City address and getting primed for the Scotties this week, which I went to yesterday and will be attending again on Friday.
At the Scotties I put together a few packs and a streeter on pin collection, met Jennifer Jones and interviewed Saskatchewan Skip Stefanie Lawton after her evening draw victory over Nova Scotia (good game, by the way!) which I will be coming back to post here later. Expect a blog post tonight or tomorrow with a collection of my stuff.
Also, before I forget… a story I did got picked up by CP for the the wire for the first time! Who says practicums aren’t paid.
I really do wish I could write more, but honestly I am loaded up with work here (including weekends, but it’s fine I LOVE IT SO MUCH) and will write a more in depth one in the coming days.
I miss Calgary and my friends but easing that is how much I love it here and all the new friends I have already made.
Practicum is amazing in the sense that I now KNOW I can work in a radio news room, I am ready for work.
I was born there in 1989, raised in the communities of Huntington Hills and Beddington Heights, and have always called it home. I went to high school at John G. Diefenbaker, graduated form the University of Calgary and all my friends live there. I’ve been to other places, sure, but I always had roots in Alberta’s largest city.
This meant a few things, by default:
1. You hate Vancouver, and everything about it.
2. You hate Edmonton, and everything about it.
3. You hate Saskatchewan, and everything about it.
3B. Seriously. Especially the Riders.
When it came to find a place to go on my practicum, I was willing to go anywhere. Seriously. Anywhere. I just wanted to learn, contribute and hopefully impress. My instructor Richard Stroobant, who I now consider more of a friend and mentor than a teacher, pointed me towards some contacts in Regina.
Now, I had never been to Regina. I had never even been to Saskatchewan. The only thing I knew about it was it was the capital city, the Roughriders and Pats play there and that it was evil.
After a week of interning at 620 CKRM, Regina may be one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to. The people here are happy, always smiling and have passion for their sports. A lot of them hate the Flames too so that is an added bonus.
The people here make this city. Everyone I work with are good people and I have already been afforded opportunities. I have recorded voicers for an air news, conducted many interviews- from a contestant on Masterchef Canada to the provincial Trade Minister to a new member of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission- and have been on air with the legendary Rod Pedersen. I’ve been to media scrums for Saskatchewan’s new photo radar and Ben Heenan’s NFL contract announcement, and met Seattle Seahawk Jon Ryan and NHL Hall of Famer Ray Bourque.
I must make special mention to Rod Pedersen, who has been nothing but a generous class act. I can’t believe he let me onto his show as some greenhorn from Calgary, I can’t believe he let me ask questions to Arash Madani and Ray Bourque and I am indebted to him.
I can’t believe how much I am enjoying Saskatchewan.
Friends in Calgary- relax on the hate of Saskatchewan and Regina. It’s a great place and I already don’t want to leave it.
It’s hard to describe the feeling that overwhelms me during spring. If there is a majesty associated with sport, the Stanley Cup playoffs is the royalty. The Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy in the world to win and is the oldest trophy in North American professional sports. It creates legends annually and players play through unimaginable pain. It’s just… there are no words.
This will be Part 1 of my playoff preview, and I’ll look at the Eastern Conference today and the Western Conference tomorrow. Let the best damn event in all of sports begin.
ATLANTIC DIVISION
#1 Boston Bruins vs #4 Detroit Red Wings
Season Series: Red Wings 3-1
Patrice Bergeron and the Bruins should slide past the Red Wings.
The Red Wings made the playoffs for the 23rd consecutive season and in their first season in the Eastern Conference. It wasn’t without question marks, though. The Red Wings set a franchise record for man-games lost to injury, including a significant chunk of time without both captain Henrik Zetterberg and superstar Pavel Datsyuk. It looked very doubtful that they would continue the longest playoff streak in the NHL.
The doubt will continue as they draw the best team of the regular season and last season’s Stanley Cup runners up, the Boston Bruins. Detroit showed masterful depth to overcome their injuries but the Bruins are that much deeper. The Bruins ran away with the season after the Olympic break and Jarome Iginla, considered to be past his prime, is playing excellent hockey along side pivot David Krejci and winger Milan Lucic.
Backing up a strong, two-way Bruins powerhouse is Finnish netminder Tuukka Rask- arguably the best goaltender in the world right now. With Zetterberg already a question for the Red Wings, old reliables like Johan Franzen and Daniel Alfredsson will be expected to carry a bulk of the load.
I just don’t see it happening. The Wings are dotted with players of a championship pedigree, but so are the Bruins, and their’s way more youth in the B’s legs.
Boston in 5
#2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs #3 Montreal Canadiens
Season Series: Lightning 3-0-1
It’s been a weird season for Tampa Bay. They returned to playoff form with some surprise performances and a new head coach, but
David Desharnais, Vanek and Pacioretty will be too much for Lindback.
a post Olympic break saga saw captain and leading scorer Martin St. Louis shipped to the New York Rangers for their captain, Ryan Callahan. Steven Stamkos, elite goal scorer, was still rehabbing his broken leg and when he finally returned he was without the set up man he had been with his whole career.
Despite this very public rift, last years acquisition of goaltender Ben Bishop from Ottawa was worth every bit of Cory Conacher as the mammoth American goalie amassed 37 wins in 63 games… before he got hurt.
The Lightning’s loss in net is certainly Montreal’s gain. Not only do Habs snipers have Anders Lindback to shoot at for the foreseeable, their own masked man Carey Price is raring to go after an injury shortened second half. Montreal is playing excellent hockey right now and in a match up of aggressive offences the more stingy defense undoubtedly belongs to the pride of Quebec. Montreal led the entire league in blocked shots, meaning a lot of Stamkos bruises but not a lot of goals in this series.
Not only that, Max Pacioeretty and Tomas Vanek are more threatening than Steven Stamkos right now. No St. Louis, no Bishop- no second round for the Bolts.
Montreal in 6
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
#1 Pittsburgh Penguins vs #4 Columbus Blue Jackets
Season Series: Penguins 5-0
The Penguins dominated the Blue Jackets all year. The Blue Jackets are making their second playoff appearance in franchise history. Nathan Horton, a proven playoff performer signed by Columbus last summer, is not available. Pittsburgh is offensively led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Chris Kunitz. Columbus has first time 30-goal man Ryan Johansen.
Sergei Bobrovsky has the chops to carry Columbus to their first series victory.
It’s really amazing… that Columbus is going to win this series. The Penguins last tasted Cup glory in 2009 and made the Conference Finals last year before being man handled by the Bruins. That word right there is one of two reasons that I think Columbus will win. They’re tougher than the Penguins. By. A. Mile. At season’s end, they are (alongside the Los Angeles Kings) one of the NHL’s highest hitting teams. They have big bodies that are skilled like Nick Foligno and Brandon Dubinsky as well as skill guys like Artem Anisimov. It will be hard for Columbus to play up to Pittsburgh level but far too easy to bring the Penguins down to theirs. They will smother Crosby and Malkin like syrup on cheap Denny’s pancakes- leaving the birds flightless.
Reason #2 that the Jackets will upset the Pens: the crease matchup. Sergei Bobrovsky proved his Vezina season during the lockout year last year was not a fluke and continued his high level of play. He remains the root of any Columbus blossoms. Marc Andre Fleury had an excellent season himself in black and Vegas gold, but his playoff history deserves heavy consideration.
Since backstopping the Penguins to a Stanley Cup in 2009, his following four playoff campaigns have yielded the following save percentages: .891, .899, .834, and .883. In 31 playoff games since the his cup win, Fleury has an average save percentage of .864. That is just terrible and, even worse, consistent. Now, Fleury could turn around this reputation and mop up the Blue Jackets like most people expect… but I don’t see it happening. Congratulations on your first series victory in franchise history, Columbus.
Blue Jackets in 6
#2 New York Rangers vs #3 Philadelphia Flyers
Season Series: Tied 2-2
This looks to be one of the closest series of the opening round. The Rangers have shifted their style under new head coach Alain
Giroux and first-year Flyer Steve Mason will be in tough against the Rangers.
Vigneault and the Flyers have a roster dotted with seven 20 goal scorers. The two squads split the season series at two games a piece. This series may be chalked up to various X-Factors.
I believe that this series hinges on the performance of 3 players: Rangers Rick Nash and Henrik Lundqvist and Flyer captain Claude Giroux. If Lundqvist can be the rock and Nash can elevate his level of play to the levels seen in Olympics and World Championships, the Rangers will win. If Claude Giroux can return to being the temporary best player in the world, as coined by former Flyer coach Peter Laviolette, the Flyers will win.
How do I see this series going? The Flyers prove to be too much for the Broadway Blueshirts.
Flyers in 7.
Western Preview tomorrow. Until then, enjoy a great playoff video.
I’m debuting a new series, kind of like my Film Favourites, this week. Welcome to Cool Canucks, where I will write a mini-bio of a Canadian that is relatively lesser known but still accomplished some pretty spectacular feats. This will also be a way to utilize my Bachelor of Arts in Canadian History that doesn’t involve me helping you pick out cool books at Chapters or asking if you’d like to make your meal a combo.
I’m going to kick things off with one of my favourite Canadians, Dr. Norman Bethune.
Norman Bethune’s Tale of the Tape
Born: March 4th, 1890 in Gravenhurst, Ontario
Died: November 12th, 1939 in China
What makes this Canadian Unique: A vocal communist and a medical doctor, Bethune is considered a national hero in China.
Mini-Bio
Norman Bethune was born in 1890 in Gravenhurst, Ontario. He was educated in medicine at King’s College and enrolled in the University of Toronto in 1909. When Canada went to war in 1914, he left his education to serve in the ambulance corps and treated battlefield wounded. A shrapnel wound would result in 3 months recovery and a return home to finish his degree in medicine. He returned to England in 1917 to work in a Children’s Hospital.
It was during this time that he developed tuberculosis, likely due to his close contact with the sick, and spent time recovering in a sanatorium in New York. Upon his recovery, he moved to Montreal. He took a special interest in the socioeconomic effects of disease, offering free medical care to the destitute of the city. Becoming a proponent of socialized health care, he traveled to the Soviet Union in 1935 to study their system of government.
Bethune, right, at a mobile medic unit during the Spanish Civil War.
His stay in the USSR sparked his interest in communism and as a result he joined the Communist Party of Canada upon his return. This was pretty radical for the time, as Canada was suffering from the Great Depression and the communist movement was probably at it’s strongest here. In 1936, he joined a committee for Spanish Aid due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and departed with a Canadian Battalion composed of Canadian communists and leftists sympathetic to the communist Republican Spanish.
During this conflict, Bethune realized that a common cause of death on the battlefield was shock brought on by blood loss. To remedy this, he decided to offer blood transfusions in the field- essentially the worlds first mobile medical unit. He carried enough materials for 100 operations and 500 wounds, and this idea would later develop into the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals- MASH.
After a brief return to Canada in which he spoke to raise anti-fascist awareness, Bethune embarked to China in 1938 where he joined
Chinese art depicting Bethune tending to an injured soldier.
Mao Zedong’s communist forces in their fight against the invading Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War. He trained doctors and nurses while simultaneously operating on battlefield casualties for both sides of the conflict. Sadly, due to a blood transfer during an operation, Bethune contracted blood poisoning which would eventually claim his life. He died November 12th, 1939.
His short time in China had been very influential. Mao Zedong would write an essay documenting the final months of Bethune’s life and it was made mandatory reading in Chinese elementary schools, where it is still read today. There are numerous statutes of Bethune throughout China, and the Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences is a department within the University of Jilin, China.
An ardent believer in socialized health care and a critic of war, Bethune certainly is a pretty cool Canuck.
“Medicine, as we are practicing it, is a luxury trade. We are selling bread at the price of jewels. … Let us take the profit, the private economic profit, out of medicine, and purify our profession of rapacious individualism … Let us say to the people not ‘ How much have you got?’ but ‘ How best can we serve you?’ “- Norman Bethune
If you’ve ever met me, you know that I don’t like to say “I told you so.”
I love it.
With a big 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks this weekend, the Colorado Avalanche clinched their first playoff birth since 2010. I’ve been singing the praises of the team all year, sometimes biased, but in all honestly also with some conviction. Oh, how my friends laughed and laughed when I was excited about the hiring of Patrick Roy as head coach, the trade with Calgary to bring Alex Tanguay back to Denver (you guys still loving David Jones, by the way?), my firm belief that Semyon Varlamov could have a big year and my “outrageous claim” that Matt Duchene would make the Canadian Olympic team.
And yet, here we find ourselves staring down at the beginning of a Stanley Cup playoff that involves the Colorado Avalanche… who may have home ice advantage in the first round over the defending champion Blackhawks.
Now, as I said before, I don’t like saying I told you so… so I’ll shout it through cupped hands.
Varlamov has been a revelation and if he isn’t in the Vezina Trophy conversation he should be. At the time of this writing, this is his stat line:
58 games played, 37 wins, 14 losses, 5 overtime losses, 138 goals against, 1,715 saves, .926 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average.
His 37 wins rank FIRST in the NHL, as do his 1,715 saves. His save percentage is 6th in the NHL. These are impressive numbers, considering he has seen the second most shots in the NHL. Varlamov is simply a stud this year and is big part of putting Colorado back in the NHL’s elite. Yeah, elite. As in, one of the league’s top 10 teams.
Fun Fact: after getting the gold medal around his neck, Matt Duchene looked into the camera and winked at me. He knows.
And hey, what about that Matt Duchene. He’s impossible to bump off the puck. He won a gold medal with Canada in Sochi. He’s having a career year. Unfortunately, he went down in the Sharks game and his knee is going to need an MRI. This could prove to be catastrophic in the playoffs, but fortunately the Avalanche are so deep at forward even absences like Duchene can be replaced. The Avs have dealt with injuries to top 6 forwards all year, with Tanguay and P.A. Parenteau both missing significant chunks of the season. But, like a Soviet regiment in World War II, there’s just another able body right behind to pick up the rifle and keep fighting.
Guys like Paul Stastny, Ryan O’Reilly, Gabriel Landeskog and rookie sensation Nathan MacKinnon. I mean, all MacKinnon has done this year is BREAK WAYNE GRETZKY’S RECORD for a points streak by an 18 year old. By the way: outside of Stastny, all of those forwards are under 25 years old.
And how about Patrick Roy? “He can’t coach in the NHL,” they said. “He’s too much of a hot head. The players will hate him.”
All Patrick Roy has done is take a team who finished 29th in the NHL last season to being one of the best teams in the league and he’s done it without alienating his talent. Ryan O’Reilly, who just over a year ago was embroiled in a bitter contract holdout before Colorado matched a misguided/erroneous/unfathomably stupid offer sheet by the Flames, has gone from wanting to get out as soon as possible to talking a contract extension. Paul Stastny, whose bloated contract finally comes up this summer, is in talks to return to Colorado at a DISCOUNT.
Why? They both love playing for Roy. Roy is a new breed of a coach. Who better to understand the needs of admittedly high maintenance players than one of the most demanding and superstitious superstars the NHL has even seen? The guy is a guru. I want his poster on my wall, which is something I’ve never said about a coach outside of Pete Carroll. I want a snap shot of him exploding into the glass on opening night against Bruce Boudreau after they finished whipping the Ducks. Yeah, that’d be sweet.
Well, I just had to get that off my chest.
See you in the playoffs. I told you so.
Also, when you win as much as you do, I can forgive things like this.
I’ve been happier than I’ve ever been ever since this blog started and that is due to starting broadcasting school. I love all these new experiences and challenges. I’ve realized what a rare thing it is to wake up every morning loving what you do, even when it stresses you out.
That is all well and good, but I’ve been thinking about why I couldn’t have been this happy before. I tried to come up with many reasons… being stuck in university for what seemed like forever, always being broke and/or in debt, car troubles, the split of my parents… the list is embarrassingly long.
Then, just the other day, I realized this was pathetically stupid. I’ve had a reason to be happy all along and her name is Dominique.
In one month I will be celebrating six years of being together with an absolutely lovely person. Dominique has been there for me and it pains me to say the majority of our six years haven’t been without their clunks- because of me. Dom always has had her ducks in a row and is level headed whereas I tend to stress the little things or let stuff out of my control bog me down. I like pretending otherwise, though.
She’s always been there, through everything. Absolutely everything. And there is no imaginable way I could ever repay the debt that I owe her.
We began living together this Christmas and I was lucky enough to fall in love all over again. They say that you really get to know someone when you start living with them, and I thought this wouldn’t apply to me since we have been together for so long. I was wrong.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned about my soul mate since she moved in:
She’s funnier than me.
She’s more considerate than me.
She’s always happy. Always.
She’s a WAY better cook than me. Ask her to make you Eggs Benedict. Or a Stuffed Red Pepper. It will change you.
She’s more reliable than me.
She’s cleaner than me. But that was kind of going to be a runaway contest.
She’s more caring than me.
She’s the most supportive person I’ve ever, ever met.
For me, being in love with Dominique is kind of like being in debt. I know can’t ever pay her fully back… at least not right now… but she makes living an absolute adventure.
Her love is bottomless and I promise that I will one day pay it back. With interest.
It’s time for another film favourite and today the DeLorean takes a trip to 1995, nearly 20 years ago. The times were different. My biggest concern was whether or not I would get to eat hot dogs for lunch and Bill Clinton was well on his way to disappointing left-minded people the world over.
This was also the year that a dashing Irishman would assume one of the most iconic film roles ever: British super spy James Bond. Pierce Brosnan was going to succeed Timothy Dalton as the MI6 agent in the first Bond film since Dalton’s abysmal License to Kill (1989). The spy film was highly anticipated and not just because it was a James Bond Film. Significant world events had occurred that would have to be incorporated into the James Bond universe. Between Dalton’s final turn as Bond and Brosnan’s first, the Cold War ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. The James Bond films had heavily relied upon cold war tensions as a plot device as early as the 1962 cinematic debut of the franchise and it would be interesting to see how this new world would be adapted to the Bond fiction.
The film ended up being a fantastic success, earning more than $352 million world wide, and cemented Brosnan as an international superstar.
Fast Facts
Release Date: 1995
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Famke Janssen, Izabella Scorupco, Alan Cumming
James Bond Film: #17
Trivia: Joe Don Baker, who plays Bond ally CIA Agent Jack Wade, appeared as the antagonist Brad Whitaker in Dalton’s 1987 Bond film The Living Daylights.
The films’ plot revolves around a renegade Russian (ex-Soviet) General working with a terrorist known only as Janus (Yan-us, as in the two faced Roman god) to steal control of a weaponized Soviet satellite (GoldenEye) that emits an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Pretty outlandish, but hey, it’s James Bond. It does an excellent job of embracing a post-Cold War western world and much of the underlying dialogue discusses the lack of an enemy to the western powers.
Brosnan and Bean as 007 and 006.
One of the best examples of this is when Bond crosses suspected Janus operative Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) in a European casino. Their sexually-charged conversation turns to her Georgian accent and how Russia is now a “land of opportunity.” Janssen actually does an excellent job of playing a femme fatale that uses sex as one of her greatest weapons, as her trademark move is squeezing her victims to death with her thighs… like a hot boa constrictor. This may seem ridiculous, but it beats a diminutive Korean wrestler that can decapitate you with his bowler hat.
Brosnan’s Bond doesn’t just engage in sexual innuendo with Onatopp, he sort of engages it with everyone. He plays Bond to be a deeply loyal patriot with a good sense of right and wrong but to also be deeply ingrained in his vices. Gone is the smoking Bond but Brosnan drinks, gambles and drives with reckless abandon. He is a mix of a brawny Bond and a gadgety Bond, as he makes effective use of a wrist-mounted watch laser and an explosive pen in situations with exothermic results.
This Bond seems more vulnerable and more willing to trust others, which ultimately ends up doing him a disservice when the antagonist is revealed. Janus turns out to be his former ally and friend, Agent 006 Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), who is “killed” in the opening’s pre-credit sequence that takes place 6 years before the events of the film. Sean Bean’s villainous aim is essentially robbery with the stolen GoldenEye satellite, but is motivated to do so as his parents were Cossacks. Cossacks were a group of Russians who collaborated with the Nazis in the Second World War, and apparently Trevelyan’s parents were killed by the British government he had once served. While this motivation is pretty thin, it works well when considering the difficulty move makers were having developing spy films at this time.
Sean Bean eats up every scene he is in, playing Trevelyan as calm and collected. Despite this, the character is very cold and has absolutely no regard for human life. There are instances when he willingly lets his partners and henchmen die for his own personal interests.
This movie definitely has a cheese factor and I feel it is important to do that. Consider this:
It’s a pre-Daniel Craig Bond movie, so expect classic Bond cheese
The CGI is really… really…really terrible
The dialogue is loaded with quips and action movie one-liners
It’s almost twenty years old, so technology in this film is hilariously obsolete
That being said, this is probably Brosnan’s best Bond performance before they really went full-cheese with Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. It’s cheesy in a classic way. It’s good for cheap laughs and classic Bond action and persona.
An old friend of mine and I used to watch this at x1.5 speed, which I recommend for hilarious results.
Many people submerge themselves in their passions. There are many terms for these people, both derogatory and celebratory. Geeks, nerds, fanboys, devotees, junkies, addicts, fanatics and enthusiasts fill comic book conventions, sports arenas, our theatres, our restaurants, our book stores and our hobby shops millions of times over every year.
While all of these individuals merit their obsessions, there is a level of interest that supersedes all levels of geekdom- the connoisseur. Arrogant, snobbish, knowledgeable, stubborn and passionate, the connoisseur looks upon anyone sharing their passion at an inferior level with contempt that’s punctuated with a high brow.
I’m not proud of it, but I have to admit it- I’m a hockey jersey connoisseur.
My personal collection fills just over half of my walk in closet (this being acceptable is just one of the many reasons why my girlfriend is amazing), while various other jerseys are hung throughout my home. Overall, my collection has recently surpassed the century mark. It currently sits at 108.
But being a self-anointed hockey jersey snob isn’t just about the size of the collection… it’s about the taste within it.
For example, while I may have over 100 hockey jerseys, not a single one is a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater. Wearing a Leafs sweater, you see, is the hockey jersey equivalent of shaving only the side of your head and dying the remaining strands pink. Sure, lots of people will look at you, but everyone now knows how empty and dissatisfied you are on the inside.
Friends don’t let friends wear Leaf jerseys.
Aptly enough, a Canucks fan serves as our model for the “stupid hockey douche” archetype. Note the name bar and # choice.
Another hockey jersey faux pas? Putting your own last name on a jersey. This is a practice reserved for children or the unfortunately all-too-common misinformed douche hockey fan. These desperate souls are also prone to putting derogatory messages and stupid wordplay on their backs. These cretins can be easily identified by any or all elements of the following: collared shirt, frosted tips, snap back cap (may double as sunglasses perch), designer jeans with dress shoes, or a cigarette tucked into their ear.
While it’s perfectly acceptable to share your mutual love of hockey with them, always keep in mind that their story about their uncle’s best friends’ nephew being a trainer on the Flames is probably bull. Also, don’t cringe too much when they constantly yell “SHOOT!!!!” on the power play.
A hockey jersey no-no that has gained notoriety in the digital age is the abundance of fake jerseys. Whether it be a gift from a relative who didn’t know any better or your own personal belief that your awesome Patrick Kane sweater from Singapore is a steal at just $40 bucks, chalk this up as a loss and don’t ever wear it somewhere that people who do know better notice. This is a sure fire way to earn pariah status in the dark world of jersey connoisseur-ism and trust me, people have laughed at it.
Hockey jersey collection is, like other geeky obsessions, overly tolerant of things so ugly or critically repulsive. If anything, they are
Zigmund Palffy models the Islanders classic faux pas.
beautiful commodities. For example, take these three jerseys from the mid-90s into consideration: the Anaheim Ducks “Wild Wing” jersey, the Los Angeles Kings “Burger King” jersey and the infamous New York Islanders “Captain Highliner” jerseys. I am lucky enough to own that absolute abomination the Islanders put out modeled by super Slovak Zigmund Palffy, but not the other two. Why? Because these jerseys are so historically awful and rare that getting both of these will easily cost hundreds, if not thousands, on eBay. Don’t believe me? Look: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vintage-Anaheim-Mighty-Ducks-WILD-WING-hockey-jersey-LARGE-/390781255826
But I’ll be damned if Wayne Gretzky and Paul Kariya don’t look chic in those get ups.
If it’s good enough for The Great One, it’s good enough for me.
Paul looks wild in the Wild Wing.
What’s the hot trend in hockey jerseys today? Retro, of course. The Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins are just a few teams that, in recent years, have either reverted to older colour schemes or paid homage to their heritage in one off games. Vintage is pretty hot right now, which I attribute to the plethora of outdoor games that the NHL has decided to shove down our greedy consumer throats. But, hey, I’m buying the jereys.
Well, I suppose that’s enough diatribe for today. If you too would like to join the exciting, fast paced and incredibly judgmental world of hockey jersey connoisseur-ism, check out these great websites:
13 years ago this June was the last time my beloved Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup.
I remember it more vividly than most of my memories. I was 11 years old, in sixth grade and my 12th birthday was just around the corner. I had been hooked on hockey for over 5 years at this point and after waffling between being a Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche fan (I loved Joe Nieuwendyk), I settled on the burgundy “A.”
This was for two reasons. The first was because on NHL ’94 on the Super Nintendo I was always the Nordiques. I liked their logo as well as their blue jerseys. The second was because of my hero: Joe Sakic.
I love Joe Sakic to this day. The first thing I ever bought with my own money? A Joe Sakic rookie card from some now-extinct memorabilia store in Deerfoot Mall called Collector’s Corner in 1999. It cost me $10. I still have it, proudly displayed in my basement alongside my other Sakic mementos. Two signed jerseys, two additional rookie cards, a patch of a jersey, a chunk of a stick he used in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2001, autographed photos, MacFarlane figures still in the packaging and a limited edition hat from his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Joe Sakic get his 600th goal and 1600th point in my hometown of Calgary and form one of the best lines Canada’s Olympic team has ever seen when he centered Simon Gagne and Jarome Iginla at Salt Lake in 2002. However, my favourite moment is and always will be that warm June night in 2001.
I watched it in my grandparent’s basement with them, my mother, my sister and my uncle Jim. I sat in a brown swivel chair that they still have. I mostly remember how nervous I was. This was the game that would decide the championship. Having played Game 6 in New Jersey while down 3-2 in the series, Patrick Roy delivered a masterful shutout victory on the road to extend the series to a deciding Game 7 in Denver. I didn’t talk much during the game, except for cheering when Colorado scored.
While Alex Tanguay was clutch in securing the win, scoring two goals, Joe Sakic blistered the puck passed Martin Brodeur in a way only Sakic could. Watch the patience he has at 1:45:
What a shot. As the clock ran down and the closer it got to hitting zero, the more I realized that the Avalanche were going to win. I got a feeling then that I will never forget- only because I had never felt it before or felt it since. It was pure, unexpected, unsustainable euphoric joy. Or, at least, I think it was. All I remember is that I was so happy I was on the verge of tears. My family thought I was mad, I remember them asking me if I was okay since I was oddly silent. Honestly, I was just trying not to cry because I thought that would have been unacceptable and I would have been scolded. I was pretty happy when Canada won the gold medal a few months later, but that was more of a proud happiness. This gripped me, held me and it really is the only time I have felt that way EVER.
When Joe Sakic handed Ray Bourque that Cup… jeeze. I get misty just talking about it now.
Joe Sakic was, and I suppose still is, my hero. A calm, composed and quiet leader, Sakic excelled and led with actions. One of the greatest tragedies of hockey history was how he was forced to retire, injury riddled and causing significant damage to his hand in a snow blower mishap. Hell, that even seems kind of comical. Joe never really got the send off that he truly deserved, the goodbye tour that lesser players than him have gotten to enjoy.
I’ve never met Joe Sakic, but I hope one day in this crazy life my work will afford me this opportunity. I’ve gone over what I’d say to him in my head thousands of times and in all likelihood it would probably be something incoherent and nervously stammered.
Ultimately, I just want to thank him. I don’t even know what really for, but in my heart it feels like I owe him that.
Sports, Pop Culture and a Kitchen Sink 