Slightly Saucy

Party rock is in the house tonight?

2011-11-27T20:24:00.001-05:00

I haven't been to a live hockey game since Soph was here last March. Withdrawal had set in, so I pulled the trigger Wednesday morning and secured seats to the Black Friday game! (Second row upstairs baby! Behind the net where the Flyers shoot twice. Those seats are pretty banging; you can really see the plays develop. The only downside is that all of the goals in this particular game were scored in the OTHER net. Gahhh.)

Moving on: It's well-documented that I love warm-ups, and I was curious how the influx of new guys would affect the music selection. (...Pretty sure I'm the only person who would wonder about such a thing.) Instead of the rap/rock mix of the Carter-Richards era, we now have... FlyersTechnoDancePartaaaayyy (insert strobe lights here)! I can't lie, though, I actually did enjoy it quite a bit. (But I'm ALSO the girl who listens to "Party Rock Anthem" and "Like a G 6" when I have to stay late at work and copy. What can I say, every day I'm shuffling.) If you want a taste of the new warm-up jamz, this is the only song I was able to SoundHound. Pretty catchy, right?

Another astute observation I had during warm-ups is that Jake Voracek is HUGE. Srsly. As Kristin put it, Voracek is "Pronger-sized" in person. But apparently, homeboy's only 6'2"... four inches shorter than The Pronger. Hmmm. Maybe it's just because he towers over his doppelganger Giroux?

Giroux

Voracek

SAME?!?!

Mysterious height aside, I'm enjoying Voracek a lot. Offensively flashy and underrated with that wild mane and bizzaro John Oates 'stache... he's like Hipsteroux, a less popular Giroux alternative!

Speaking of Giroux, I'm glad to see that, even though he's the BMOC now, he still plays catch with Brayds during warm-ups. While Bryzy was meditating (when he's not the starter, apparently he doesn't really do too much), and Danny was flipping pucks to the kids in front of me (under the netting, no less! It was pretty damn impressive), Brayds and G passed the puck back and forth in front of the bench. I can't believe that I actually got to see Brayds (well, along with G and Voracek) post a multiple-point game. I feel like he's has been off to a strong start, occasional turn-overs and bruised kidneys (!!) aside. He's racked up a whopping eight points. EIGHT points, in twenty-two games! What in the name of Art Ross is this stay at home defenseman up to?! He's also been pissy (most notably fighting for freedom against douchebags like Downie), and he tends to cheerfully blab about his baby daughter in interviews. (He's definitely going to be that dad who's showing pictures of his baby to the check-out girl at the supermarket.) I think the hilarious Ask the Flyers tumblr page accurately summed up why he's doing so well:

Also, I have to admit that I'm starting to warm up to Max Talbot. Of course I would; he's gritty and not super famous. Soph, who watched some of last season's 24/7, warned me that this would happen, but I, repulsed by his Pens past, didn't believe her. (Curse you, Soph!) In this charming clip, Talbot wears a hideous Christmas sweater and warns a teammate's unsuspecting baby about dating hockey players. And here, he's called a douche by Fleury. If those aren't precursors to true love, I don't know WHAT is!

Hi Max! You're blurry. Of course.
(For once, user error is NOT [entirely] to blame for my shitty pictures! I need a new camera. The zoom button gets stuck and the arrow buttons no longer work. #buzzkill)

So while this fine Black Friday tilt broke our Black Friday winless streak (hooray!) and included a buoyant round of "Ole Ole Ole Ole" when the game was in the bag (which was pretty hilarious to hear in person), I had to rush to get home for a surprise birthday party. When the Style Network talks about taking a look from day to evening, I'm pretty sure trading a Giroux tee and Chucks for an animal-print cardi and riding boots is NOT what they had in mind! Welcome to my life.

Team USA's going DOWN, that's where it's going!

2011-11-13T17:39:00.000-05:00

(It seemed fitting to borrow a line from epic trash-talker Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson for the title of this post)

This week, Slighty Sucky and Foxy Lady Byng squared off in fantasy hockey... which led to the following EPIC chain of trash texting because Soph has our mutual beloved David Backes! (Sidenote: thank god I got an iPhone back in March... my dinky little Tracfone, with its inability to turn on and off, receive picture texts, or even tell me who was texting me, would not have allowed for such trash texting!)

Me: "Oshie Koshie is my leading scorer! Mwahahaha :D"

Soph: "Et tu, Timothy?! I feel so betrayed!"

Me: "Well, I realized that I'm going to have to do the impossible this week and not love David Backes... as much!"

Soph: "Impossible!"

(barrage of enchanting David Backes pictures, including but not limited to...)

Soph: "What was that, Jess? A picture of David Backes from high school? BAM!"

Me: "You tartlette!!!!! That is dirty! Why don't you just steal the puck after each game too?! Well, Timothy Oshie will have another mugshot when he is arrested on Sunday... for kicking your ass!!!!"

Soph: "At least I'll have this attractive gentleman to console me like a lost puppy!"

Soph: "And you'll be too busy cleaning up after your un-housebroken team! David's Dogs are better trained than TJ Oshie! :)"

Me: "LMAO, I have no rebuttal for that."

(Five minutes later)

Me: "GOLDILOCKS IS GOING TO BLIND YO WHOLE TEAM."

(Sidenote: TJ Oshie looks like Ponyboy after arriving in Windrixville!

"Hey blondie! Rise and shine!" -Dallas Winston

"Pony... what happened to your tough hair?" -Sodapop Curtis)

Soph: "Your team is going to CHOKE on David Backes' draft day 'fro!"

Me: "ZOMG, how did I not realize that the 'fro was around during draft day?! Kelly, how could you let him show up like that?!"

Soph: "I also did not realize that the fro was from 2003 until I was looking for pics!"

Me: "Are we sure that he too has not been arrested? Like Timothy Oshie, that's a dramatic hair transformation!" (Sidenote: Soph and I are convinced that TJ Oshie is a criminal mastermind because he often changes his hair dramatically, just like Johnny and Pony must do to avoid being linked to Bob's murder in The Outsiders!!! "It was self-defense, you just said! Pony and Cherry could testify to that!" Okay, I'm sorry, but I LOVE The Outsiders book and movie.)

Me: "Also, this is not the face of a man who takes Slightly Sucky seriously!"

(Sidenote: This picture is ah-mazing, and if you make it the lock screen on your phone, it is truly the gift that keeps on giving.)

Soph: "DAVID BACKES IS VERY SERIOUS ABOUT SLIGHTLY SUCKY!"

Soph: "HE BLEEDS FOR THIS TEAM!"

Me: "Suuuure..."

Soph: "HE WILL SMASH YOU!!!!"

Me: "THIS GUY??? Yeah, ok. He's gonna get me a blankie and tuck me in. And then we'll snuggle!"

David and Kelly Backes. Homegirl's a dime.

Soph: "WHAT ABOUT KELLY?!?! SHE'S A NICE GIRL!!!"

Me: "WE ARE ALL GETTING TEA TOGETHER, me and the Backes fam. I want to say hi in person 'cause she is a nice girl! Oh and while we're having tea and A CASE OF TASTYKAKES, my team will be kicking your ass!" (Sidenote: Soph loooves Tastykakes. I think she would move back to Philly to be closer to Tastykakes, not me!)

Soph: "Tea in bed??? Plus, they have 5 dogs, there's no room for you! And David Backes doesn't even know what Tastykakes are!"

Me: "Snuggling and the tea party are two separate bonding experiences that we shall embark on while Timothy Oshie and the rest of my team dismantle Slightly Sucky! HE WILL LEARN WHAT TASTYKAKES ARE. And I will bring pup cakes for the dogs! NOTHING GOES BETTER WITH PERFECTION THAN A TASTYKAKE!!"

Soph: "The Backeses are my boos and you will do no such bonding with them! Bond with Candy Corn Head!"

So freakishly accurate. Thanks, Battle of California!

Me: "Well, it IS his big season!"

The trash-texting did continue, but I think you get the idea!

Am I a hipster hockey fan?!

2011-11-06T20:00:00.001-05:00

Let's start with the definition of a hipster, shall we? I often turn to Urban Dictionary at times like this. (It also came in handy when I was composing a rap mix for some friends and needed to define "clip toss" and "stacks on deck." Those are totes getting worked into my Master's thesis btw. "And then Quentin Compson and Dalton Ames get into a clip toss, and Quentin passes out...") ANYWAYS! From Urban Dictionary:

"Aged indie kids, Hipsters still maintain the air of snobbery, still shop atsalvation army, and still have a completely astonishing array of knowledge when it comes to obscure music, pop-culture non-sequiturs, and political sneers. Absolutely a blast to be friends with, hell to be enemies of, hipsters are the most bi-polar of all the stereotypes when it comes to how they treat you. Can be recognized by books like "The Clockwork Orange", "Everything is Illuminated", or obscure philosophy books, by authors akin to Dostoevsky."

I wouldn't describe myself as being especially indie... I've never read Everything Is Illuminated or Clockwork Orange, I don't like philosophy, and while I have been described as a "human jukebox," I don't know any songs by Arcade Fire or Neutral Milk Hotel (despite my recent wedding date's best efforts to educate me). But I do, however, love vintage jewelry/consignment store shopping, have a propensity to wear pearls/flannel/skinny jeans, and definitely have that hipster-y "Mainstream? Gross!" flair in my hockey fandom. I've said for years that, if I were a Pens or Caps fan, I would not be a Crosby or Ovechkin girl. (Let's be serious: I would be a Brooks Laich kinda girl, and that was even BEFORE he had his face rearranged in two separate high-sticking incidents versus the Flyers last month and barely missed a shift. *swoon*) Case and point: Because the Pens were in San Jose last week, Soph saw a guy at the train station with a Pens t-shirt and jersey, and we both could appreciate that he was rocking Dupuis/Engelland, not Crosby/Malkin. Hats and hipster glasses off to you, sir!

So how does this impact teams we actually like? Well, if you've read this blog ever before, you know that we've loved Claude Giroux since his second NHL game. We've even met him several times, and Soph got his jersey back when it had to be specially made at a kiosk in the Wachovia Center. The fact that Giroux's off to such a great start this season should have us doing cartwheels, yes? Ehhhh... We're thrilled he's doing so well, but now he's become the go-to guy. ("Maybe you shoulda got a go-to girl, Jack!" A Cutting Edge reference in the last two posts?! WHOA NOW.) Without Carter and Richards merch to take up every rack at Fan Gear, Giroux has become THE guy for jerseys, t-shirts, signs, and other outpourings of love. Problematic for us hipster gals!

When Soph and I used to play NHL '08 in our college dorm room, I would always try to make stay-at-home defensemen, like Pickles and Kyle McLaren, score goals. Other guys need a moment in the spotlight too, ya know? And that's kind of how we feel about Giroux. Soph and I still like him, of course, but we get more excited over other players these days, like Braydon Coburn (he's been so pissy lately, roughing up guys left and right! I love it!) and Blair Betts (...mmmkay, that's probs just me, but Betts is defensively responsible and overshadowed by everyone, including Nodl, even when he's healthy!). It usually takes me awhile to warm up to new players, but all of these rookies have been really enjoyable to watch too. Mr. Two-Goals-Last-Night Sean Couturier looks realer than Real Deal Holyfield, Matt Read came totally out of left field (or Bemidji State), and Jake Voracek is like Giroux's less heralded, equally long-haired doppelganger. (I love that he had a goal against Columbus. "Up yours, team that traded me!")

Popularity, it's such a conundrum. I hope G continues to do well, but I can't help but love a random underdog. Whatever will I do?!

Just a small town girl living in a lonely world... She took the midnight train going anywhere?

2011-10-30T19:49:00.002-04:00

Well, maybe not anywhere... let's not get crazy! But I do want to go on a hockey road trip. I've always kind of wanted to... after all, I've loved hockey for eleven years and have only been to three arenas! My travel fever may also be motivated by those two weeks in August that I spent in seven states. Annnnd the fact that I miss Soph lots! So what would be cooler than going to see other NHL teams that we like... IN THEIR HOME ARENAS?!?! I don't know that this idea will actually get off the ground (buh dum ching), but if it does, here are some potential destinations:

Taken from the fantastic Fuck Yeah David Backes tumblr page!

(I still don't get tumblr, but I do enjoy the amount of awesome pics/photoshops I'm finding!)

-St. Louis: Soph and I are head over heels for David Backes. He has been a stalwart member of Slightly Sucky (even posting a four goal game to catapult Soph to her first championship!) and was a key part of the silver medal-winning US Olympic team that I looooved. He is somehow simultaneously BA and adorbs: he would kick your ass, take your name (the logical next step), and then start an animal shelter in your honor. Seriously, the man rescues puppies, is married to his kindergarten sweetheart (the assuredly lovely Kelly... she IS a nice girl, dammit!!) and did we mention saved a pregnant dog AND HER TWELVE PUPPIES?!?! I think we've found a new perfect man. In addition to Backes, the Blues also boast twelve-year-old-looking T.J. Oshie (Koshie B'Goshie). He's a great post-appendix-removal-video-narrator and apparently majored in bad-assery (or perhaps dumbassery?) in college. And finally there's Chris Stewart, one of my most fortuitous late season FHL pick-ups. (I like boys who make me look like a genius!)

Thanks Rosie!

-Carolina: If you've ever seen Ask the Canes, then you know that the Hurricanes are a hilarious lot. And as a team, they're (generally) underratedly good. They have our Staal of choice (though I sometimes can't tell E and J apart, womp womp). There's also Cam Ward. Our Wardo love can be summed up by his Wham!-esque post-Stanley Cup win spandex-clad dance. (Literally, for the win) And of course, he backstopped Slightly Sucky to two championships. And how can we forget about Chad Larose, with his wacky accent and crazy eyes? (Ryan Braun is his baseball doppelganger, FYI.) Most importantly, though, he gave Soph a puck at warm-up last year, which is pretty much the coolest thing everrrrr.
Editor's Note: As Soph pointed out, I initially neglected to include our favorite former finger painter (FINGER PAINTIN'?!?! Errr, figure skating) Jeff Skinner! We saw him get drafted so obviously we heart him.

I took this beautiful picture; shocking, I know

-Tampa: They were my team on the side back in the day, and while I don't follow them avidly anymore, their success always warms my heart. Marty St-Louis is, overall, one of my fave NHL players. (Undrafted? Oft-injured? Too small? HART TROPHY BITCHES!!!) Vinny Lecavalier is always entertaining... as is the Vinny-Marty bromance. And I have a strange coach-crush on Guy Boucher. (What is up with that totally bad-ass scar he's rocking?! Why is it such a big secret? Will we one day see The Guy Boucher Story on Lifetime?!)

Where in the world will we end up?! Just call us Carmen Sandiego!

Christmas in July: 2011 Carnival Novel

2011-07-24T22:29:00.002-04:00

Editor's Note: This post is EXTREMELY overdue. Like, six months overdue. If I'd checked the forthcoming novel out of the library, I'd have racked up quite a fine by now. Soph and I tag-teamed this post while she was still in PA, and yet it's been sitting in the drafts folder ever since. Sadly, a lot of these guys aren't on the team anymore, so this is quite a walk down memory lane.

Yes, even though I've gone into hiding over the past month, I did in fact go to last week's Flyers' Wives Carnival, and even had a very special accomplice... SOPH!!! We planned terribly and therefore missed our chance to meet Giroux and Carter (who were totally sold out), but we still had a fabulous time!

Kimmo Timonen Photo Booth

Oh Timonen, he's like everyone's adorably accented, doting dad. Also, he is one half of our favorite Flyers couple! (You might recall that we totes bonded with Mrs. Timonen when she sold Soph the greatest mystery bag ever at the '08 Carnival.) ANYWAY, we knew making Timonen our first stop was a good choice. He shook our hands and asked us if we were enjoying the day. Well, OF COURSE! So what if we'd only been there five minutes, minor detail...

Braydon Coburn Dunk Tank

So we didn't actually dunk Braydon Coburn, we just swooned over him from the sidelines. Watching this man at the dunk tank would have melted even Lou Lamoriello's heart. If I were a famous hockey player making millions of dollars, the last place I would want to be on my birthday (yes, it was Brayds' b-day!) would be in the dunk tank amid screaming children. But there Coburn was, sassing kids and totally playing along like he was having the time of his life. Not to mention, showing off his gams and "awesome arms" (thank you Kristin!) for passer-by. Hockey players, truly the most down-to-earth athletes around.

Mystery Bags

So Soph and I each bought mystery bags, and we both got two cups with the Flyers logo. A complete set! No need to put that on the ol' wedding registry one day. Considering that other people got things like jerseys and autographed pictures, a pretty big FAIL. Unless you enjoy this video. (Which did provide the only silver lining: "Drinkin' outta cups...")

Braydon Coburn Photo Booth

I had taken a pic with Brayds last year and didn't even frighten him with my ice hands, so I knew he would be enjoyable to meet. After swooning over him at the dunk tank, Soph was quite on board. Even though his line wasn't terribly long, it seemed to be taking forever to meet this man. And then we figured out why: Brayds is Chatty McBox and had a legit conversation with EVERY SINGLE PERSON who came up to meet him. Be still my heart. He even lifted up a smallish child so he could stand on a chair and be in the same zip code, height-wise. ANYWAY, Soph kept teasing me that she was going to make me go alone, so once it was our turn, I shoved Soph into the little booth and followed nervously behind. As we threw off our bags, Brayds was like, "Hey, no purses allowed!" and then proceeded to shake our hands and ask for our names. And then the photo session commenced...

BC (to Soph): "Hey, who's that on your jersey? Ah, Giroux. He's a nice guy." (we gather together for the picture) "Well, I'm tall. So we're gonna have to get close, or I can put you on the chair..."

(We opt to snuggle up to Brayds, as much as we could considering we're nervous spazzes, and the picture is taken.)

BC: "So what else are you guys going to do today?"

Soph: "We're going to your autograph booth!"

BC: "Oh, nice! I'll see you there!"

Me (in what I hope was a charmingly shy fashion): "You're my favorite player so..."

BC: "Oh, wow! Thank you!"

Me: "And I think today's your birthday...?" (Sidenote: I totes knew it was his b-day, but I felt like a creeper. Brayds' b-day is the day before my half b-day, so it's easy to remember. If you're a summer baby and had to bring in munchkins for the class on a random winter day, you surely understand the half birthday's importance!)

Soph: "Yeah! Happy birthday!"

BC: "Thanks! Twenty-six today. I'm on the wrong side of twenty!"

Me: "And they stuck you in the dunk tank! On your birthday! That's not very nice!"

BC: "Yeah, I'm still trying to get the water out of my ears! All right guys, have a nice day!"

And therin lies the longest conversation we've ever had in the history of the Carnival! What a wonderful man. If we were cartoon characters, little hearts would have been revolving around our heads after every encounter with him!

Jeff Carter Autograph Booth (say what now?!?!)

Ladies is pimps too, go on, brush yo shoulders off

After swooning over Coburn, we needed sustenance, so we fled to the significantly less crowded mezzanine... where we overheard a worker telling people that they could get get two Carter autographs for $15. Quoi?!?! Considering that Jeff isn't exactly Chatty McBox, he must have whipped through the line of advanced ticket buyers, which left time for other people to buy last minute tickets and meet him at the end of his session. Soph, a Carter Grl, jumped at this chance. And so we found ourselves unexpectedly thrown into the Carter line!

... I don't know what else to say about this encounter. I creeperishly took pictures while Soph actually met vanilla bean himself. Apparently, he said nothing and made eyes at the gaggle of girls standing next to me. Who's surprised? NO ONE.

Jody Shelley Autograph Booth

So after wandering around and watching various players make fools of themselves at the Kinect/Wii booths, we wound up in Shelley's line. Since he's a former Shark, we go way back with Percy Bysshe. (Ha! A little English major humor for you there.) Shelley seemed very nice, but he wasn't particularly chatty. I don't know, perhaps the two jagged lines of stitches in his face had something to do with it. Eeek! In the immortal words of Pops, "That's a rough way to make a buck."

Braydon Coburn Autograph Booth

True to our (creeperish?) word, we met Brayds yet again before the day was through. Now, even though I'm quite shy and skittish (basically Bulls-eye from Toy Story personified), I have met quite a few hockey players in my day. And usually, even if you ask a player to sign something "to" you, the standard message is "All the best!" "Best wishes!" etc. But Brayds is a 110% kind of guy. So Soph got, "You're the best!" and I got, "It was so nice meeting you!" We nearly peed our pants. And! He remembered us, as he asked how our picture turned out! Brayds is certainly like the nicest guy ever, but I'm willing to bet that being a bespectacled redhead with a sparkly headband made me stand out just a little. Whatevs! The 2011 Carnival will forever be known as the day we fell in love (or in my case, more in love, since I do love me a gangly, unsung d-man) with Braydon Coburn.

Darroll Powe Photograph Booth

After our final run-in with Brayds, we actually attempted to get a picture with "Billy Leino." (Thank you, Joff Lupul and your hilarious twitter account!) Solely because we thought it'd be hilarious. But we were shocked to hear that he had to leave early due to some sort of emergency! Eeep! As his [fantasy league] GM shouldn't I know about this?! All kidding aside, we hoped he was okay! Then we decided to meet Powe-wow instead. He was nice but not too chatty, likely because he had heat exhaustion from the lamps in his photo-booth! Soph was only there for a minute and nearly suffered a third degree ass burn! And considering all these lamps, our picture with Powe turned out the darkest. Weird.

JVR Photograph Booth

Well, we still had a bit of time to kill, so we opted to meet the boy who I was supposed to love this year. Yeahh, that hasn't exactly happened. JVR, I'll love you next year... for reals! In any case, he looks ridiculously young in person. (Sidenote: He was born in '89?! Oh dear god!) And he seemed rather sheepishly uncomfortable even with having two nerds like Soph and me pose with him. He said hi and giggled a bit. The REAL conversation happened afterward when an older man working the Carnival gave us our picture:

"Did he talk to you? He's kind of shy. Did he put his arm around you?" (examines our picture upon pulling it out of the printer) "OH HE DID! HE DID!"

Ohhh man. Poor JVR. Just wait 'til I like him!... next year. We'll be drinking Yoo-Hoo with twirly straws together in 2012, woot woot.

"I gave her my heart and she gave me [a one-way ticket to LA]..."

2011-06-25T23:07:00.004-04:00

"You have to understand that her family is being ripped apart. Just like you and her were ripped apart. Just like Joe and I were ripped apart." -Corey, Say Anything

Well, I guess this is a mandatory post if ever I've written one. Homer trades Richards and Carter TO DIFFERENT TEAMS within one hour. Meanwhile, that dynamic duo of Salt and Pepa (aka Doughty and Simmonds, per The Hockey News) also meets a tragic demise. (As I told Soph, "They are no longer here, and no longer in effect!" No word on how DJ Spinderella, aka Anze Kopitar, is coping with this.) In the words of Soph, "relationships have been torn asunder" this week. This set of trades certainly warrants a bromance moment of silence.

...........

Levity aside, am I shocked by these trades? Yes. Am I disappointed? No. Carter and Richards are good players, but I'm not in love with them and they weren't the best players on the team. This smacks of a culture change, and now the team is Pronger's. Should make for an interesting season...

My maiden voyage to Tim Hortons!

2011-06-11T23:15:00.005-04:00

The regional advertisements that appear in hockey games always seem to get embedded in my head and provoke an inordinate curiosity/excitement. Hence why I pretty much flipped my lid upon spotting THE intersection of coffee/donuts/hockey/Canadian lore in downtown Manhattan this afternoon: TIM HORTONS. Despite being to Canada once in my life (when I was a wee lass of fifteen), I've never set foot in this fine establishment. WELL! Today was the day that was all going to change.

Scene: Counter at some Manhattan pizza place

Timmi (my friend and accomplice to NYC): "What are you so excited about?"

Me (beaming giddily): "...There's some place around the corner that I want to go to."

Timmi: "...Okay?"

Me: "It's Tim Hortons!"

Timmi: *blank stare*

Me: "Tim Hortons! The preeminent coffee chain in Canada!"

When Timmi stopped laughing, she did indulge me, accompanying me into the photo-booth-sized shop and taking pictures of the entire transaction. (For her troubles, she earned the nickname of "Timbits." Lucky gal.) I was too flustered to actually order Timbits (what quantity do they come in?!), so instead I got my go-to donut: glazed chocolate cake, which was quite delicious after a long day at the Renegade Craft Fair! (All together now: "Oh mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the laaaaw...")

Ninety-five cents well spent.

Wherein hockey nerdiness and video game nerdiness collide!

2011-06-08T20:40:00.007-04:00

Ryan Kesler, fancy meeting you here!

When two teams we don't follow make it to the Finals, Soph and I generally cheer for the team that didn't eliminate the Flyers. So in 2008 and 2009, we found solace aboard the Red Wings' bandwagon. (It doesn't hurt that they also have Foxy Lady Byng cornerstone Pavel Datsyuk, along with perfect human Nick Lidstrom. Sidenote: When is he going to be canonized? Mini Swedish flags can be left in children's shoes on St. Nicklas' Day!)

We'll have a moment of silence for the AWESOMENESS that was the 2010 playoffs.

And this year, our allegiance would logically seem to be with Vancouver. But Soph raised this interesting point last night:

Soph: "So which German are we cheering for?"

Me: "OH! I didn't even think of that!"

Dennis Seidenberg and I go way back.... to 2004 when I found him amiable at the Carnival AND he was sidelined with a broken leg at the time. (Thanks to Marcus Ragnarsson falling on him at practice. #I'llTumbleForYa) That's like an elixir for his magic points, so to speak. But let's not discount Christian Ehrhoff, who was one of Soph's first fave Sharks. We also met him (hilariously) while he was toting an enormous wedding present, so that's basically a phoenix down for him. The candidates were quite evenly matched, until I mistakenly thought that Seidenberg had won the Cup with Carolina, which gave him an un-deserved edge. Whoops!

As you can see, this Finals series has boiled down to cheering for individual players for a bizarre amalgam of reasons. For the Bruins, there's Seidenberg (obvs) but also Tyler Seguin (largely because Soph and I are compelled to yell, "We saw you get drafted!!!!!111!!" whenever he's mentioned).

Besides Christian (duh), the Canucks seem to have quite an advantage. Mason Raymond was a beloved member of Foxy Lady Byng 1.0 (aka "Team Good Egg") and looks like he's twelve years old (an endearing trait, since Soph and I are carded all. the. time.). Pops always calls him Nathan Raymond though. FAIL. There's also Kevin Bieksa, who, at some point (by someone other than us) was dubbed "Kevin Be-sex-a," which will never not be funny. We like Jannik Hansen, Alex Edler, and Alex Burrows (ehhh...sort of) all because of this stellar performance of the "show me the money" scene from Jerry Maguire at Dice and Ice. And finally, there's the magnetic appeal of Ryan Kesler's bedhead. I don't want to like him, but I think I'm still vaguely enamored with him from the Olympics. Keslove is not in full bloom or anything, but Keslurking is helping his cause.

And then there's Canuckcakes, ftw.

So in this match-up, I guess we're going to deem the Canucks Ness and co. (Ness rocked the bed head himself when the meteor hit Onett!), while the Bruins are Pokey and his band of troublemakers. Seidenberg is like Mr. Saturn: he pops ups pleasantly when you least expect it.

(If anyone can name the above video game with having to drop by the Hint Booth, you'll have my undying adoration!)

Bromancing the stone

2011-06-06T21:16:00.004-04:00

I'm starting to get better at this whole signing thing. Sure, I'm still an awkward mess 90% of the time but TODAY! Today marked a real breakthrough. I decided, on a day's notice, to go meet Lappy at my local card store. (Oh yes, and I am now the mayor of this fine establishment. What up, gangstaaa?)

How can you say no to Lappy? I mean, he just seems like such a great guy, such a team player, someone with such heart, and someone who shouldn't be plagued by lingering concussion symptoms. But alas, that's life in NHL. (And also why I couldn't make it in the NHL. That, and the line changes. Damn you, tiny legs!) You might recall that this is my third signing this year (cough Shady and Giroux cough), and this time around, I was completely calm. AND I WILLINGLY TOOK A PICTURE WITH THE MAN. Whaaaaaat?!?!

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Pops (my wingman) and I strolled up to Lappy, and I was completely dumbfounded when the man sitting beside Lappy (his bodyguard?) whipped out an eraser and started ERASING MY CARD! In all my awkward meet-and-greet days, I've never seen such a practice! And this was a pretty snazzy Black Diamond card too! I guess Lappy could read the look of horror on my face...

IL: "Oh yeah, this guy's a pro. That's how you do it." (Johnny Erasers proceeds to toss the proverbial bouquet amid his overzealous erasing.) "Um, that's NOT what you do."

Me: *nervous laughter* (In retrospect, though, this practice makes total sense, since Black Diamond cards are really, really ridiculously glossy.)

IL (handing back the signed card and standing up): "Here you go! Picture?"

Me: "Um, okay!" (Sidenote: Who is this girl?!)

(Pops takes the picture)

Me: "Thank you so much! We miss you! How are you feeling?"

IL (still standing beside me, chatting it up as if we're old chums): "I'm okay. Still having trouble with my eye."

Me: "That's such a shame. Hope you're feeling better soon!"

IL: "Yeah, I'm working on it. One day at a time!"

Me: "Okay, well, good luck! Have a good summer!"

Now, let's review: that was a shocking articulate performance by yours truly, no? Well then, Pops stepped up to the plate... and neither of us are really sure what he was attempting to splutter:

Pops: "You're just... you're so good to the team... even without really being on the team... they really miss you..."

Basically, Pops was rendered as speechless by Lappy as these men were by the Stanley Cup: "It's... um... ahhhh...." *teary headshake and sigh*

Oh Lappy. What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man (yes, he is!)!

History = made

2011-04-27T23:55:00.002-04:00

Because when is the first round ever that freakin' awesome?

It weighs 35 pounds...

2011-04-16T00:44:00.005-04:00

Except when you're lifting it.

Before we go any further, Cup Raise. Of course. It simply needs to be done.

So, hey. Despite my disappearing act over the past few months, we still have a blog! And people still regularly drop in, searching for things like, "Claude Giroux personality shy" (adorbs) and "Jeff Carter Sea Isle" (eek). And it's the most exciting time of the year, so I have to slap together some sort of a post! I LOVE wall-to-wall hockey coverage! Last night consisted of watching the Flyers before quizzo and coming home to Pops eating cookies and watching the Sharks-Kings late game. We're living the glamorous life indeed.

So the Flyers get Buffalo. This is worrisome cons--

OH JESUS! IS THAT VINNY?!?! (Sorry, Pops and I are watching Hockey Central on Versus and they just interviewed a shockingly-shorn Vinny Lecavalier. Also, since we're on the topic of the Bolts, how bad-ass is Marty St-Louis? Double root canal after game one, PPG and an assist in game two. Hold me closer, tiny dancer.)

ANYWAY, back to the Flyers. The match-up with Buffalo is worrisome for several reasons. Firstly, as we all know, my true calling in life is worrying. So there's that. Secondly, you need your best players at this time of the year, and it's quite difficult to turn Danny Syvret into a 6'6", puck-stealing beast on such short notice. Not to mention that Pronger is such a vocal leader and settles down the power play considerably. Finally, Buffalo came in on quite a roll, while the Flyers were flat as a pancake through the end of the season. I think the Flyers can certainly take them, they just have to get their shit together. I saw parts of last night's game on mute at a bar so I'm in no way qualified to comment on it, but Buffalo only needed to get a split on the road, so mission accomplished there. I WILL, however, get to see tomorrow's game, and I'm so psyched! Time to bust out the playoff moo-moo!

PS- There's a Carnival novel that's been in the works since Soph visited, er, over a month ago. I will post it someday, I swear! Though all you really need to know is that the 2011 Carnival = love affair with Braydon Coburn. There's the SparkNotes version for you.

Can I get an all-star, do ya want more?

2011-01-11T22:48:00.006-05:00

I know that people are all up in arms that Claude Giroux is the Flyers' lone all-star. So I'm not going to talk about that. (Other than to quote Soph's stellar assessment: "Mike Richards isn't used to being turned away at the last minute. He's not like Jeff.") Let's instead focus on the fact that our beloved Claude Giroux IS the Flyers' lone all-star! Which apparently qualifies him to be a Real Man of Genius as well:

Narrator: "Real men of genius…"

Singer: "Reeeeeal men of geeeeenius…"

Narrator: "Today, we salute you, Mr. Totally Angelic Bad-Ass…"

Singer: "Mr.TotallyAngelicBadAss!"

Narrator: "By day, you’re at the kids’ table, feasting on grilled cheese and Yoo-Hoo. But by night, your focus shifts from sippy cup to Stanley Cup, and your killer shoot-out moves secure playoff berths."

Singer: "Parlez-vous playoffs?!"

Narrator: "You only look like a cupcake on skates. Because if you’re roughed up by opponents, you don’t fold up like fondant. You give them one heck of a knuckle sandwich."

Singer: "With buttercream frosting!"

Narrator: "You wear that shiny crucifix because you know you’re destined to get your cheeks pinched by grandmas who go to church on Sunday… and Monday… and Tuesday…"

Singer: "Holy Day of Obligation!"

Narrator: "So we salute you, Mr. Totally Angelic Bad-Ass, because you’re a chameleon on and off the ice. You’ll be carded until you’re 78, but that’s okay, because who doesn’t love to see a first grader score on the power play?"

Singer: "Mr.TotallyAngelicBadAss!"

Hockey News-palooza!

2010-12-30T03:37:00.005-05:00

With end of the semester chaos, I've gotten a little behind in my non-academic reading. Thus, I had quite a chuckle when I saw this headline emblazoned on the November 15th issue of The Hockey News:

Clearly, THN reads Slightly Saucy. Clearly.

Incidentally, Soph just got her first ever Hockey News in the mail! I've had a subscription since my fifteenth birthday (thank you, Pops!), and now Soph is part of the club! She actually ordered it over a month ago and was quite disappointed to hear that it would not be arriving until the new year. Luckily, her first issue showed up Monday, and they really rolled out the red carpet for her, as she even got a non-Crosby/Ovechkin cover! (...Though the current cover boy is Byfuglien, which kind of tempers the excitement a bit. Unless you're The Pronger and intend to use it as a dart board, I guess.) We promptly had a field day, tag-teaming the crossword puzzle, which finally put our random hockey trivia knowledge to good use. ("Team in Sarnia?" "THE STING!!!") Also, they had a little feature about the now visorless Bruno Gervais (aka "mon cher" over on Sportsquee), which prompted me to look him up on Wikipedia. This madness ensued:

"Did you know he was drafted in 2003?!?!"
"AAAHHHH!!!"

Wowwer'renerds. The 2003 draft was, of course, one of the deepest drafts in the history of awesomeness. All but one of the first-rounders from that year have played in the NHL. In fact, the Flyers currently have FOUR players from said first round (Coburn, Carter, Richards, and Zherdev... not to mention Carle and Carcillo, who were drafted in the second and third rounds respectively). Our former Sharks beloveds, Milan Michalek and Steve Bernier, were also taken in the first round, along with our Staal of choice: E. The later rounds of this impressive draft boasted (in addition to Bruno Gervais) Joe Pavelski, Jaroslav Halak (Kristin rejoices!), Soph's fantasy league bf (and resident puppy-saver) David Backes, two current members of Foxy Lady Byng (Tobias Enstrom and Brian Elliott, to go along with '03 first-rounders Ryan Suter and Dustin Brown), Twitter star BizNasty, and yes, current THN cover boy Byfuglien. We've come full circle. Seriously, go google the 2003 NHL Draft, you'll be astounded by all the familiar faces. I can only hope that the same can someday be said for the 2010 Draft because, as it is, when Soph and I hear about any prospects taken this past June (coughJeffSkinnercough), we're compelled to squeal, "We saw you get drafted!" (Sidenote: Jeff Skinner was born in 1992?!?! Oh dear god!)

Do they know it's Christmas?

2010-12-24T22:11:00.005-05:00

Or better yet, do I know it's Christmas? Honestly, I've been in a thesis-induced panic and thus kept forgetting about that little holiday looming on the horizon. Thankfully, Christmas Eve Mass (LOVE) and Christmas movies have helped bring me back to reality! (Sidenote: Pops is totes turning into the Old Man from A Christmas Story, complete with disgruntled old man noises and Christmas tree selection pickiness. If he didn't love our neighbor's cat, he would be yelling, "SONSABITCHES! Meowie!" at our front door. Unfortunately, my Christmas movie doppelganger is likely Mary from the "What if George Bailey had never been born?" section of It's a Wonderful Life: "She's... an old maid! She's closing up the library now..." Oh, my glamorous future!)

ANYWAY, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas(time)! If you need some 90s rap for your Christmas celebrations, might I suggest this video? ...Mainly because a hockey jersey makes a cameo in the tree-trimming! (TLC's "Sleigh Ride" video is probably the last place I would have expected to find a hockey jersey! Clearly, the -Ookies were wardrobe consultants for this music video. Also, props to Kelly for inadvertently bringing this to my attention!)

"Hey Jess, what did you do this week?"

2010-12-16T23:22:00.014-05:00

"Oh, not much, just wrote over 40 pages of literary analysis and MET CLAUDE GIROUX!!!!!"

Yes indeed. In fact, I went directly from handing in my rather massive Philosophies of Modernism paper to meeting Giroux. Like, I was literally walking down the steps at school when I realized, "Oh, I have to go meet Giroux soon. Ho-hum." (This actually worked in my favor, as I just did not have enough time/functioning brain cells to become as incapacitated with nervousness as I usually do before a player signing.)

Let's back up a bit. As all two of our readers know, Soph and I have loved Giroux ever since he was a lower-case g:

But now he's a big G, he's got the money, hundred dollar bills y'all. (90s rap, truly appropriate for any occasion.) New contract aside, he's second on the Flyers in scoring this year, he's got the sickest shoot-out moves, he can grow a beard by Tuesday, annnnd we love him.

So when we discovered that Giroux was coming to our fave sports card store, I knew I had to go, regardless of finals week AND my tendency to revert to charming "Word Vomit Spaz" mode around anyone remotely famous. Luckily, Pops and I actually slipped in shortly after most of the crowd had dissipated. The owner spotted me in the line and gave me a nice nod of recognition... because I'm pretty sure I'm the ONLY girl who ever comes into his store at 2 PM on a Tuesday to go through boxes of hockey cards. In any case, as I inched closer to the table, I was not surprised to find that Giroux was pretty quiet. He always seems rather shy and skittish (my people!), as though the goal horn might frighten him a little. So imagine my surprise when I reached the front of the line and this happened:

G: "Hey, how are you?"

Me (jaw drops): "...Oh! Good! I'm good! How are you?"

G: "I'm good." *hands back my stuff*

Me: "Can I take a picture of you?"

G: "Oh, for sure!" *click*

Me (achieving full-blown exclamation point mode): "Thanks!!! Have a good night!!!!!"

G: "Yeah, you too."

Not surprisingly, a bit of a departure from Leights, who pulled off quite a miracle when he persuaded me into taking a picture with him. But still, Giroux was very nice, and I inadvertently got him to talk, so BONUS!

Oh, you'll note in this picture that his crucifix is in hiding. Soph and I love that he wears a very prominent crucifix on the ice, as it seems to fully compliment his image of grilled cheese eating, baby-faced bad ass. In any case, we promptly started debating its absence in this picture. What if he underwent a necklace upgrade, ie perhaps he has a diamond studded "G" to go with that new contract? Or maybe he just lost the ol' cross and needs to make a trip to the St. Jude Shop? Crucifix debate aside, I've now successfully gone to two signings without Soph. What is this world coming to?!?!

Pronger's last stand

2010-11-26T22:15:00.016-05:00

Pops and I did not have tickets to today's Black Friday game until approximately 12:14 PM. But we should have known we'd be in luck when we saw this good omen on the streets of Philadelphia:

Surely off to deliver the famous "case of Tastykakes"!

Actually, when we first arrived at the Wells Fargo Center Box Office to plead for last minute tix, we were told there were no pairs left. But Pops and I barely batted an eye. We know by now that stuff just has a weird way of working itself out. Case(es) and point(s): In Disneyland two years ago, a lovely couple approached us with four freebie tickets to give away because they juuuuust happened to spot our quartet in the crowd. And then, two days later, in the height of a Soph-less depression, I found out that someone (an eventual friend, no less!) had given up their fellowship at the last minute, thereby enabling me to go to grad school. Sure enough, today followed suit. The woman in the box office who intially pooh-poohed us turned around five seconds later and was like, "Wait, I think they're releasing some more tickets..." Moral of the story? I'm totally thankful for the way things just work out so perfectly sometimes. Oh, and you've gotta have faith-faith-faith-ah!

ANYWAY, we made it inside just in time to snag some sweet third row seats for warm-ups, although today was the Day of the Photobomb. No matter who I wanted to take a picture of, Blair Betts, Matt Carle, and Scott Hartnell were all up in their grill, like the guys in A Night at the Roxbury! Oy. (Sidenote: Did anyone else see Betts in the locker room during some pre-game montage last week? Homeboy is ripped! I mean, I guess this shouldn't be surprising since he IS a professional athlete and all, but I see him as H.P. Lovecraft's doppelganger, which is slightly problematic.)

Who knows, maybe Lovecraft was secretly up in the gym just working on his fitness...

(Poe's my witness?)

Warm-ups today featured some important revelations, namely that Jeff Carter's hair is no longer neon platinum uber-blonde (thank god) and that Claude Giroux is now officially a bad-ass and has forsaken his helmet!

Hey G, what up?

After warm-ups, we rushed up to our second row seats in 220! (Pops and I LOVE the second row upstairs, so much so that when the woman at the box office announced our seats, my reaction was, "SWEET! Er, I mean, yeah, those sound good...") Pops apparently was sitting next to McGruff the Crime Dog because this gent was silent until there was a penalty call and then: "AHHHH! INTERFERENCE!" "THAT'S BOARDING! BOARDING!!!" Other than those random outbursts, the game was kind of dull. Good chances, third period swoon, a couple of goals, Bob being awesome. But then. THEN there was... "Pronger's last stand" (copyright Pops). We were actually behind the other net, so we had no clue what had happened, or why it was unsportsmanlike conduct (aside from the f-bombs that were flying after the goal was called off). So how did this call go over, you ask?

This was the RESIDUAL booing that ramped up during every stoppage.

The fans took it well, clearly.

I must say, the dramalicious OT/shootout were worth the price of admission. (As were the post-game comments apparently!) Actually, I haven't seen an OT game since Soph and I went to a slew of them in '08-09, goodness! Soph is actually the one who instituted the Black Friday game as a tradition, and Pops and I are more than happy to uphold it in her absence!

Holy re-signings, Batman!

2010-11-14T01:40:00.007-05:00

Welcome back ~~Kotter~~ Carter

You know that show Best Week Ever? I imagine that must be how Soph is feeling now that two of her faves have been re-signed in the span of five days! (AND David Backes, her fantasy league beloved, just signed an extension Friday, so that he can continue saving the puppies of St. Louis for another five years!) Now we can potentially see Jeff Jeffty Jeff Carter in the orange and black for not one, not two, but ELEVEN more years. Whoa, Homer, you sure love a long-term contract. When Soph texted me about this development, I nearly dropped my phone and then eloquently responded, "SRSLY?!?!"

We've had a rather rocky relationship with Jeff over the years. First, we were all indifferent to him. There didn't seem to be a huge personality lurking within all that blondeness, so he was branded "Vanilla Bean." (DISS. I'm so not a vanilla girl.) We would even scoff at the in-game pleadings to write him in on the 2009 all-star ballot. (Gosh, we were so cold-hearted!) But THEN! Then we witnessed his first ever hat trick, and a vague spark was kindled. So much so that we came home and wrote this ~~abomination~~ gem. Remember those stellar "Real Men of Genius" Bud Light commercials? Mr. Paranoid of the Ocean Guy? Mr. Way Too Much Cologne Wearer? Yeah, well, in April 2009, our warped minds made Jeff Carter into "Mr. Really Boring Forty Goal Scorer." (Keep in mind that this was way before "Jeff Carter Sea Isle" was an autofill option on google.) And we can only hope that he resumes his forty goal scorer-ness during the next eleven (!) years.

Narrator: "Real men of genius…"

Singer: "Reeeal men of geeeeenius..."

Narrator: "Today we salute you, Mr. Really Boring Forty Goal Scorer…"

Singer: "Mr.ReallyBoringFortyGoalScorer!"

Narrator: "The D and the fence were never intended for you. You bring the offensive heat. But after you score a goal, it’s like you’re at the library… working at the reference desk."

Singer: "Unabridged excitement!"

Narrator: "No warming up over a hot stick for you, Mr. Cool. In world of leapers and yellers, you know that a simple fist pump gets the job done."

Singer: "Simmer down, Ovechkin!"

Narrator: "You’ll never be fined for post-goal celebrations because in your world, a nod is worth a thousand words."

Singer: "Yeah, I’m awesome!"

Narrator: "If personalities were ice cream, you’d be vanilla bean. But it’s a perfect fit with your linemates: chocolate syrup and whipped cream."

Singer: "Cake batter’s overrated!"

Narrator: "So we salute you, Mr. Really Boring Forty Goal Scorer, for playing it cool in the most exciting sport. You act like you’ve scored before… because you have. Forty-plus times. And we wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself."

Singer: "Mr.ReallyBoringFortyGoalScorer!"

$11.25mil = grilled cheese for all!

2010-11-09T02:36:00.006-05:00

Baby BAMF, poised to take over the world

Apparently, Homer has the Official Slightly Saucy phone bugged because Soph and I had juuust been talking about how the Flyers need to sign Giroux last night. Ask and ye shall receive! But our psychic awesomeness is beside the point... because our beloved Claude Giroux will be staying in orange and black for another three years. Hooray! It's a good thing JVR's been scratched--he'll have plenty of time to cook up a batch of celebratory grilled cheeses! (Or should that be grilled cheezus?) Hopefully, with another three years of practice, I will remember that one does not cheer when Giroux scores, one "roooooos." (As in, "Gir-oooooooooux!!!!!!")

In any case, Soph and I are going to put on our Giroux jerseys/shirts and cartwheel around town. W00t!

Confessions

2010-10-20T17:08:00.004-04:00

Hi. My name is Soph and I am a closet Caniac.

I have been for a couple years now. I'm addicted to their "Ask the Canes" clips. I love Chad LaRose's Michigan accent and Cam Ward's mad dancing skills. E-Staal is my favorite Staal (it's not even close) and it amuses my to no end that he was arrested for yelling at cars.

Since the Flyers don't know the way to San Jose this year, I wasn't planning on going to any Sharks games but Jess convinced me that I should check out the schedule anyways (THANK YOU, JESS!!!)

As an early birthday present to myself, I treated my brother and myself to some sweet seats at last night's Sharks-Canes game. I wore my Chad LaRose jersey, which paid off big time. When Rosie came out for warmups and saw what I was wearing, he made beeline towards me to toss me a puck. I never thought I would care about getting a puck but when he flipped it over the glass, I squealed.

By the time the game had started, my brother was trash talking the Sharks while wearing his Sharks jersey. Typical! We had fun and I really missed going to games. It really was a great birthday-eve!

The boys are back in town!

2010-10-12T01:36:00.014-04:00

Today was a momentous occasion in my life as a hockey fan: I got to see my first home opener! And there were no disasters, no power outages, no old men and the Kiss Cam, even! When Pops and I stumbled onto fourth row seats for warm-ups, and "Public Service Announcement" started playing, all was right with the world!

Being back at the ~~Wachovia~~ Wells Fargo Center was like being back at school after summer vacation. The gang's all together again! And The Pronger was certainly a sight for sore eyes! (Sidenote that I'm always struck by how scary he is in person! He's simultaneously cool and terrifying!) Also, I could watch Braydon Coburn skate backwards all day. (What a nerd!) When I wasn't drooling over stellar skating, I managed to take some not terrible pictures! (How shocked are you right now?!) Or, well, at least three "not terrible" pictures:

Baby got back?

Giroux strikes a tortured artist pose

Danny parked himself in front of our section for awhile.

I think he knows that Ville Leino is wooing Pops away!

After warm-ups, Pops and I hustled up to our sweet first row seats in 211! (Which Kristin immediately identified after seeing just one of my pictures! Kristin, I will have to consult you before I buy tickets in the future!) Our seats were awesome, but even if they hadn't been, we were strategically placed near second intermission ice cream, and that was enough for Pops! (We were totes like Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven... all we did was eat! Watching banner raisings is hard work, I guess!)

ANYWAY, after a bazillion videos, they introduced the team. Each player came onto the ice through these doors that had pictures of the player projected on it and were lit up like a ring of fire. Coolest. Thing. Ever. Then, they unveiled the Eastern Conference Champions banner, which made my heart cartwheel. I know there's a way more exciting banner to have, but winning the conference is pretty damn awesome too. Of course, the concluding montage was a recap of last year's playoffs. What an unexpectedly wonderful spring! Oh, all those nights I put off writing my term papers to watch hockey... it all worked out so well in the end (thank god!). I still remember sitting on our ottoman, saying, "Ohmygod" repeatedly as Pops did his best Mike Eruzione running up the boards imitation after Gagne scored the GWG in game 7. I guess I'm still not ready to let last season go! (Sidenote: "Bro Hymn" just popped up on my iPod. LOL. Because I didn't get to "whoa-ohhh-ohhh-ohhh" quite enough tonight!)

But alas, the new season is underway, and the Flyers got another W tonight. Giroux's short-handed goal was beeeautiful, and then, deja vu, Jeff scored a nearly identical goal minutes later. In fact, all the Flyers' goals were scored directly in front of us, which was delightful. Annnd then we got caught in a monsoon on the way home, but after our fabulous evening, we were willing to overlook the fact that we could have used an ark!

Is this the year... that I will finally see a live home opener?

2010-10-04T23:39:00.004-04:00

Soph and I really enjoy The Buried Life (as evidenced by this text tonight from Soph: "the buried life!!!!!!"). Not only is it named after my favorite Victorian poem, but it also features lovely Canadian boys encouraging people to go for what they want, as they do crazy things themselves along the way. I must admit, streaking and spending a night in jail would NOT be on my list of things to do before I die... but you know what would be? Going to a hockey home opener!

This interest was probably sparked when I saw the Flyers' home opener on TV when I was fourteen. They announce the whole team?! And show lots of heart-pounding montages?! And potentially raise banners?! Obviously, this is the coolest thing ever! (Apparently, I love me some pomp and circumstance.) Soph and I thought we'd be able to cross this one off the proverbial list when we scored tickets to the Sharks home opener in 2007. But then disaster struck:

Yup. While we were down at the glass for the pre-game skate, the arena suddenly plunged into darkness. AWESOME. Basically, it was like a deleted scene from Sudden Death, minus Jean-Claude Van Damme beating up Sharkie. (I've never actually seen that movie, but just thinking about it makes me giggle.) For the record, the players kept warming up under the emergency lights, while a perplexed buzz went through the crowd. And after a lengthy delay, they got the lights back on and started the game... but sans Star Spangled Banner and any intros. Guys literally just came down the tunnel and stretched/took a few laps because it had been so long since warm-ups. Weirdest. game. ever.

As you can see, my dreams of seeing a hockey home opener were dashed, thereby making it necessary for me to try again. So Pops and I are going to the Flyers home opener next Monday! Eeeep! I'm almost scared to talk about it because I bought the tickets online but still need to pick them up at Will Call. As my friend put it, "It's like the adoption paperwork went through but you don't have the baby yet." Precisely. So it won't seem real until I have the tickets in my possession... or perhaps until the game is over and the power hasn't gone out! (fingers crossed)

Congrats Phils!

2010-09-28T01:06:00.002-04:00

The Phillies "cinched" the division (as my aunt would say)! So take it away, Harry and friends:

Fantasyland

2010-09-26T23:45:00.006-04:00

It's that time of year again, kiddos: fantasy hockey time! And it commenced tonight with our draft, which Soph and I did not attend (as usual), opting instead to use the auto-draft feature. This led to some... interesting selections. Soph's team is fine, largely comprised of guys she's already had over the past two years. I, meanwhile, am going to let Mike Babcock set my roster each week, since I drafted 90% of the Red Wings' active roster... and Ville Leino. So with no further adieu, I give you our 2010-11 fantasy teams! (Considering we immediately started plotting who we want to add/drop, our teams won't stay this way for long!)

Slightly Sucky

(Soph's repeat team members denoted with *)

Keepers: Joe Thornton*, Cam Ward*

Centers: Anze Kopitar*, T.J. Oshie, Tim Connolly*

Left Wingers: David Booth*, Brenden Morrow (Soph's sworn enemy!), Ray Whitney* (wizard!)

Right Wingers: David Backes* (Soph's fantasy team beloved), Devin Setoguchi, Teemu Selanne, Michael Grabner (the fact that he was Steve Bernier's roomie in Vancouver might not save him from being dropped)

D-men: Christian Ehrhoff* (!!), Zdeno Chara, Paul Martin (Soph's first-ever Penguin), Nick Lidstrom* (Mr. Perfect), James Wisniewski

Goalie: Tukka Rask* (Soph actually drafted Rask accidentally two years ago, when he barely played in the NHL... being a starter now should help!)

Foxy Lady Byng

Keepers: Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Backstrom (I got him on waivers the first year and will never let him gooo!)

Centers: Stephen Weiss (geez, again?), Tomas Plekanec

Left Wingers: Henrik Zetterberg, Ryan Smyth, Ville Leino

Right Wingers: Marty St-Louis (thank god!), Ales Hemsky, Brian Gionta, Erik Cole

D-men: Tobias Enstrom, Brian Campbell (ewww), Niklas Kronwall, Brian Rafalski, Ryan Suter

Goalies: Chris Mason, Michael Leighton (I'm not thrilled about this, because it usually doesn't end well when I draft players I like. I don't want to hate you, Shady!)

With all those Red Wings, Foxy Lady Byng is totes using the ever-popular 1920s bathing suit look for our team picture:

All you need is (training camp) love

2010-09-19T23:31:00.012-04:00

I am not a morning person. This is not news. But for training camp, I can make an exception and drag myself out of bed before 11 AM on a Sunday!

I liked this team last year. That is also not news. But once they pulled off that totally bad-ass comeback against the Bruins, I became REALLY attached to this group. (I think it helped being at game six of that series. I practically lived in my "Together We Fight" shirt after that!) Thus, it was a total love fest today, seeing the old gang again. Giroux! Jeff! Brayds! Timonen! Lappy! Shady! (aka My new bffl, as of last week) Ville Leino! (for some reason, Pops loves Ville Leino. Danny B. better watch his back!) JVR! Wait, say what now? Yeah, so everyone (ie Soph and Pops) has predicted that I will love JVR this year, and I guess that's starting already, because I was pretty psyched to see his dorky self. Let me just throw out the disclaimer that I even asked Pops where Richards was at one point, so clearly, I was in love with everyone today!

JVR, I'll love you ~~next year~~ THIS YEAR! Eeeep!

Also, Matt Carle, how do you always wind up sneaking into our not-so-sucky pictures?

After practice ended, we then went to the taping of Meet the Flyers! It was kind of a bummer because the camera man filmed our section like 80 times, so I might actually be on TV this year! (Ewwww...) But there were still some funny moments, such as when Shady was being interviewed and some girl yelled out, "I LOVE YOU, LEIGHTON!!!" (Kristin, you said you weren't coming! Gosh, what a liar!)

Kristin's dream TV

Also, when Jeff Carter made his grand entrance, he did what can only be described as a swagger strut. Hilarious! Jeff, when did you get a personality?! Vanilla bean, no more! (Or at least vanilla bean with sprinkles!) And, just as an FYI, if you're going to the Jersey Shore (...bitch), you might run into Bill Guerin! Apparently, his wife is a local gal, so they frequent the shore. So be on the lookout for Butthead the next time you're surreying to Uncle Bill's Pancake House! (Oh yeah, because the -Ookies are geniuses who dole out the best player nicknames, we've totes stolen "Butthead" from them. We're oddly amused by him, what can we say? And speaking of -Ookie nicknames, Pops has started calling Richards "Beaks"! As in, "What the heck was that hat Beaks had on?" LOL)

Carter and Richards must have gone plaid hat shopping together

ANYWAY, at one point during the taping, all of our faves wound up being in the room at the same time. If you've never seen Meet the Flyers, two or more players sit on stage and then, there's a few other players standing out with the audience, being interviewed by people like Coatsey. And at this particular moment, Soph's two faves (Jeff and Butthead, obvi) were on-stage, while Coburn, Timonen, and Giroux were in the audience. (Sidenote that Giroux looked absolutely scared to death when they first started interviewing him. Maybe the HUGE cheer he got frightened him. It's okay G, maybe breathe into a paper bag and then have a grilled cheese. He seems to be the latest bromance, although that may be inaccurate since he's loved by guys and gals alike!) In any case, it was like fave overload! I didn't have enough cameras to keep up with it all!

As you can tell from the above assortment, my pics are pretty lame, but you can see more here, if you'd like...

Shady Day!

2010-09-12T13:57:00.006-04:00

Since I'm pretty much the biggest spaz ever, I try to avoid situations that make my spaz-ness especially apparent... like meeting hockey players. (Especially without my soph-curity blanket!) But yesterday, I had an offer that Pops wouldn't let me refuse. You see, Michael Leighton was making a return appearance at my favorite card store, which is like five seconds from my house. Much like Kristin, we love Shady now too, and I'd already wussed out of meeting him back in March... hence why we had to go yesterday.

Things were obviously off to a good start when we arrived at the store and I tried to hide behind a rack of jerseys as soon as I glimpsed Shady in the next room. The Carnival is overwhelming, but a one on one situation?! Thankfully, Shady did most of the talking:

Me (inching up to the table): "Hi..."

ML (shaking my hand) : "Hey, how are you? Nice to meet you! So, what color would you like?"

Me: "Oh, um...?"

ML: "I think blue would show up best..." (signing the Winter Classic puck that I'd brought) "Here you go! I signed on the Flyers' side, in case you were wondering why it's sideways."

Me: "Oh! Heh, thanks! Um, can I take a picture of you?"

ML: "Sure! You can come behind the table..."

Me: "Oh no, no, I don't want to be in it!"

ML: "What?! Come on! Get over here!"

Pops (stealing my camera): "Yeah, get over there!"

(Pops takes the picture)

Me: "You should really be a lawyer, you're very persuasive!"

ML: "Ahahahaha!"

Annnnnnd then I ran away! (Well, after thanking him, of course.) Having heart attacks about hockey? Clearly, the season is almost upon us! (Less than a week 'til training camp! Huzzah!)

Music to throw a jelly jar to

2010-08-12T22:01:00.004-04:00

This may be the creepiest thing ever written... I mean, it does involve Gary Bettman, after all.

Scene: Ilya Kovalchuk is seated in a darkened room. A single lightbulb hangs down in front of his face and casts eerie shadows.

(To the tune of "Renegade" by Styx)

Ilya Kovalchuk: "Oh Lou, I'm in fear for my contract from the long arm of the law.
Arbitrator's put an end to my millions, and I'm so far from my home.
Oh Lou, I can hear you've been crying, 'KHL, leave him alone!'
Maybe I'll go back to Russia, make some rubles, and totally pwn... YEAH!"

Lou Lamoriello (who springs up out of nowhere): "The jig is up, the news is out, they're finally perceiving
The renegade who had it made miiiiight be deceiving."

Kovy: "Went around the CBA
Now I'm a UFA
I'm a wanted man..." (juggles three cell phones, with calls from NJ, LA, and the KHL)

(Enter Gary Bettman, who somehow deflects a flurry of flying jelly jars, courtesy of Lou)

Gary Bettman: "Oh GMs, you've been working this scam, and you've got me seeing red.
Lawman's gonna stop you now, front-loaded contracts will be dead.
Dear GMs, oh, we knew you were lying, hiding cap hits on your own.
Big money coming down like that, fellows? Come on, now that's just wrong.

The jig is up, the news is out, we've done our scouting!" (Throws Marian Hossa up against the wall)
"Had your Cup parade, thought you'd get paid, but the tension is mounting.
Circumvention's not okay,
Put an end to it today!
You're all wanted men!"

(In bursts the band "Arbitraitor," comprised of Chris Pronger, Roberto Luongo, and Marc Savard. They join Marian Hossa and launch into a jam session that includes what Wikilyrics terms "a face-melting guitar solo.")

All players in the band: "Oh Bettman, we're not afraid of your threats and all these so-called laws.
Chris Pronger's gonna kick your ass... You know, you don't seem very strong...

The jig is up? The news is out? You finally found us?
This hater-ade, 'cause you got 'played,' leaves us astounded.
Even if we don't stay
Until we're old and gray,
You approved it, man!"

What more can be said?

Summer is boring

2010-08-05T21:53:00.000-04:00

Yeahhh, it is. If you'd like to beat the summer blues by oohing and ahhing over stunning culinary creations, check out my friend Kelly's fab food blog! If you're looking for old hockey news, keep reading here...

-Jason Demers signed a two-year extension with the Sharks last week. Hooray! This should help Soph and me to rekindle our Sharks love! And of course, I am thrilled at the prospect of using this picture for another two years... in fact, I am obligated to post it now (I'm sorry):

Farmer Ted + Jake Ryan + eighth grade school picture backdrop = AWESOME

-Darroll Powe got re-signed by the Flyers, though that happened like a million years ago. Powe-wow is one of those guys we always forget that we like, 'cause he gets overshadowed by the Girouxs and Carters of the world. But apparently, we even loved him before we really knew who he was! (One upside of moving a bazillion files off our computer? Stumbling upon pics like this!)

-The Pronger apparently had minor knee surgery last week. Annnnd the greater Philadelphia-area had a collective heart attack.

-The Devils played Russian roulette (it's not the same without a gun) and the Hawks have totally re-vamped, blah blah blah...

A 'stache like that does, in fact, make you a golden god

-And you know what else else? I dig music. (But unlike Russell Hammond, I am not on drugs.) My iPod is pretty much attached to my head at all times (especially when I'm on the bus and need to drown out the people yelling "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! PUT YOUR TEETH IN!" on their cell phones). But I have an on-again, off-again relationship with many songs. There are a few that I looooooove (Jose Gonzalez's version of "Heartbeats," for instance. Soph, stop laughing.) and listen to every time they pop up. But other songs are not so lucky, and I have to be in the mood to jam out to them. Sometimes I'm in an ass-kicking mood ("Welcome to the Jungle"), or a giddy dancing mood ("Take on Me"), or a meditative mood ("The Rain Song"). But I am never in the mood to stab myself in the eye, and that is often how I feel when this song comes up: "Chelsea Dagger." So I'm conflicted. I used to really enjoy this tune, and I think we all know why my feelings have changed. But it's so damn catchy!!! And annoying!!! I can't totally resist it, but I can no longer seek it out either; it has to come to me via shuffle. And even then, it still stings. Ugh. Well, on the plus side, at least I can bop along to its happy, stripper-y lyrics while feeling compelled to stab myself in the eye!

Only about a month 'til training camp! THANK GOD.

Ten Years After

2010-07-20T22:44:00.004-04:00

Pop quiz: Who was my first favorite Flyer?

That's right, this angelic rookie, pre-excessive hair gel and perennial scruff. Back then, he was just the new kid on the block, Eric Desjardins' roomie who barely spoke English but scored some big goals in the 2000 ECF against the Devils. What a difference ten years makes.

Considering all the he said-she said "Did he waive his NTC, no for reals this time, say whaaaat," I should have foreseen this trade. Not to mention that the Flyers have been over the cap for awhile now, so duh, someone had to get moved. But Soph and I had convinced ourselves that Jeff Carter (Mr. No NTC, as well as the acting mayor of Sea Isle apparently) was going to go. So we were rather stunned when it wound up being Simon after all. I was immediately having A League of Their Own flashbacks:

*baseball crashes through window*
"I'VE BEEN TRADED TO RACINE!"
"YOU? I... I told them to trade me."
(Also, has anyone seen my new red hat?)

ANYWAY, Simon Gagne is now a Bolt, because that's apparently where my first loves must go when traded from the Flyers. I've become rather indifferent to him over the years, but I'm surprisingly sad to see him go. Ten years is a long time! I'm glad he got to leave as a key part of the Flyers' Cup run, rather than watching from the sidelines... again. We might lose the longest-tenured Flyer, but I'm sure these guys are pretty psyched to have him:

Who WOULDN'T waive his NTC to join this dynamic duo???

Draftland: Day Two

2010-07-14T22:17:00.007-04:00

The first day of the draft was politely scheduled at 4 PM (7 PM EST). But since Day Two lacks the same pomp and circumstance, it started at 10 AM. Srsly? Plus, we weren't staying in LA, so we had to factor in driving time, showers, interminable LA traffic, and the fact that I am in no way a morning person. Miraculously, we made it to the Staples Center early... and promptly had our hearts broken by the security guard at the door.

Guard: "Ma'am, you can't bring those in here..."
(Soph and Jess look, horrified, at their bag of snacks, which contains... Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes!)

Yes, those heartless bastards made us throw out our Tastykakes! Don't they know that nothing goes better with ~~Phillies baseball~~ LIFE than a Tastykake? That the Flyers are motivated to shoot on net SOLELY because they score for a case of Tastykakes?! Thankfully, this nightmarish beginning was not indicative of Day Two as a whole. We just forged ahead, kakeless.

Compared to Day One, Day Two was deserted. We could sit pretty much anywhere in the lower bowl, so we snagged seats about fifth row that afforded a lovely view of the Flyers and Sharks' tables. (Finishing 28th and 29th overall really worked out well for us!) Day Two began with the customary roll call, and then Doug Wilson made a beeline for the Flyers' table. He and Homer are quite touchy-feely; perhaps this is when they reached a ~~handshake~~ shoulder rub agreement for the rights to Nabby? They were actually chatty all day so maybe something else is in the works too...?

There are some key differences between draft days one and two, namely that teams don't come up to the podium anymore; they announce their picks from their tables. A team rep then meets the newly drafted player (if the young lad is in attendance), gives him his jersey, and escorts him to the team table. Then, there's lots of handshaking, and the next team makes their selection. So Day Two trucked along at a pretty impressive clip. Even when things slowed down, the moderator was there to keep everyone moving. Teams only have a few minutes to make each pick, and the moderator would alert the team when they were approaching the time limit. Usually, with some helpful hint like, "Please go ahead [insert team name here]," which pretty much translates to "Hey fools, TODAY!!!" Only once did we hear a team (Pittsburgh) get legit reprimanded because they'd surpassed their time limit: "Can I have your attention, Pittsburgh? Please make your selection!" I'm like the slowest person ever, so this is just one more reason why I'd never make it in the NHL!

By the end of the third round, the Flyers finally had a pick! And actually kept it! With the 89th pick, they took Michael Chaput, who we will obviously love forever and ever. (Or until he starts partying it up in Sea Isle. Nahhh, apparently, that's not even a dealbreaker.) He was actually there, so we made sure to document his introduction to the NHL:

When teams aren't being prodded to make their picks, their reps start wandering the floor. We spotted a lot of familiar faces, such as Brian Burke, Craig Ramsay, Steve Yzerman, and Scotty Bowman. Never has getting coffee, apples, and cookies been so entertaining! After awhile, our magnetic personalities (surely, that's it) began wooing people towards us, and our section became THE hang-out spot. Mike Babcock wandered up into our section with an apple. Darryl Sutter jumped over the boards to chill in the first row of our section. Homer and Joel Quenneville held court right in front of us.

Probably not chatting about the Finals, as there was no bloodshed

Um, and then some dude named Doug Wilson came and sat directly behind us for a spell. You know, the usual.

Eventually, we took time out from our busy schedule of being creepers to go on a hockey card shopping spree! That's right, they had booths set up out on the concourse, which spelled bad news for us (um, and our bank accounts!). One booth was selling packs we'd never seen before: ones that promise a real Sharpie'd autograph in each pack! Soph was intrigued and kicked things off with a Mason Raymond auto! Encouraged by that find, I tried my luck and got... Patrick Kane'd. Thanks, salt in the wound. We soon pieced together that, if you bought three packs of cards and opened them at the Upper Deck booth, you could get some free, Draft-themed card sets. Obviously, we grabbed our remaining packs and made a beeline for that booth! (Free cards?!) Mine were pretty lame, but Little Miss Lucky got a limited edition double autograph rookie card featuring Evander Kane and JVR! All the guys at the booth were super impressed, though one clearly missed our Flyers' attire as he pointed at JVR and gushed, "He's really good! He was just in the Finals!" Oy. But then he redeemed himself by telling us that apparently, when JVR came to do the photo shoot for this card, they had mispelled his last name on the jersey he had to wear. The Upper Deck booth was just a wealth of knowledge! And we got two Draft packs for our troubles! For the most part, those cards were boring (Crosby, Ovechkin, the usual suspects), but we later made good use of one card by playing the Flyers' fan equivalent of Old Maid: Secret Cindy! (We basically started hiding the Crosby draft card in each other's luggage, to cause quite a scare. Without even being a willing participant, Pops ultimately lost, as he found the card lurking in his duffel bag after Soph had left. Curses!) BFFs + hockey + awesomeness = a perfect Draft weekend!

Annnnyway, don't be deterred by the fact that it took me like a month to finish posting about the Draft... it really is an amazing good time. Hockey, cards, celeb sightings... what's not to love?!

Draftland: Day 1

2010-07-03T14:50:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not, we're not dead! Which means that we not only survived Draftland but also had lots of fun! Because the NHL Draft is secretly a blast! (Four out of five doctors agree! Or at least Soph's would, because the draft weekend bolstered her health, no joke!) Don't be fooled by the way the Draft looks on TV, slogging along for hours... It's really fabulous, and every diehard hockey fan should see it in person. Now, if you're thinking, "But I could give two pucks about prospects and picks and all that jazz," fear not! Soph and I were the exact same way. All you need to do is to read the draft preview issue of The Hockey News, and you'll find yourself telling the guy behind you, "The highest projected d-man? Cam Fowler, of course. He's supposed to go third." Once you make up your mind to go to the draft, you magically care about it. It's awesome.

However, Day One was quite overwhelming at first. Or at least it was for a skittish little gal like myself. When we rolled into the Staples Center, it was PACKED. Sharp-dressed young gents, important-looking people, and fans of every team (including orange-suited Oilers fans, resembling Lloyd Christmas) greeted us at every turn. When we actually attempted to find seats, the Roll Call began. Gary Bettman called out each team's name from the podium, and each team then announced who would be making their selections. Roll Call goes alphabetically by team, so it started with Anaheim... which drew a deafening chorus of boos from the Kings faithful. I practically jumped out of my skin, and the draft hadn't even started yet!

Seating was general admission, so we had to scratch and claw to find four decent seats in close proximity, but we finally did, with some help from a wonderful Kings usher! We settled in with a couple from Edmonton and a guy from LA there with his kids. Pops promptly befriended all of our neighbors, of course. We were near the Versus broadcast booth as well, so when I mused, "I wonder where Pierre and Mike Milbury are," Soph was like, "Um, right next to us!" Crazy.

Once the Draft got underway, there were few surprises. Taylor Hall to the Oilers (much to the Edmonton couple's glee), Tyler Seguin to the Bruins, blah blah blah. Soph and I had actually brought the draft preview issue of The Hockey News with us (like many of our neighbors!), so we pored over that and monitored things like the scandalous plummeting of Cam Fowler (who finally went 12th to Anaheim). While the first-round does crawl along at a snail's pace (four and a half hours to make thirty picks?! Am I running this thing?!), there's lots to distract you in person. There were a few trades to spike everybody's heart rates (Soph and I gasped over every one!), and they would play music and show Q and A's with the prospects in between picks. So everyone remained abuzz with draft day euphoria, despite the slow pace. We also had a fine time eavesdropping on our neighbors, which is where we heard this gem:

Guy #1: "What's a deke?"

Guy #2: "Dude, haven't you ever seen The Mighty Ducks?!?! The triple deke?"

Once we stopped laughing over that, we got a special dose of excitement when a beaming Soph returned from getting pretzels midway through the first round. (Clearly, we needed a Slightly Saucy runner to do such menial tasks!) When pressed for deets, she promptly exclaimed, "I just saw Sbisa! Out in the concourse!" Yes, former Flyer (and former love of mine) Luca Sbisa was at the Draft, cheering on fellow Swiss mister Nino Niederreiter, who went to the Islanders with the 5th pick. (They both played for the Portland Winterhawks, which, incidentally, was Coburn's junior team too! And approximately a million players were plucked from Portland in the 2010 draft, in case you were wondering.) Soph had spotted Sbisa on the big screen, hugging Niederreiter when he got picked, hence why she was so sure she had run into him. No word if he was headed to Wetzel's Pretzels too.

The Flyers, of course, didn't have a pick in the first round, so we made sure to applaud twice as loud for Charlie Coyle, the Sharks' first-rounder. Like everyone else in attendance, we also cheered for local boy Emerson Etem, who went to Anaheim with the 29th pick. (Hmm, I wonder where they got that pick from...) We really fancied Jack Campbell as well (even before we saw him strolling around outside with his team-issued duffel bag and hat), who was the top-ranked goalie and thus would have been a wise choice for the Flyers... had they kept any high picks! Also, Soph and Pops both independently came to the conclusion that he resembles Jeff Carter, so there's that.

After the first round ended, we perused the Kings' store (which is about 80 times the size of the Flyers' store... I guess housing the Lakers helps!) and stayed so long that we got booted out the back door... which conveniently spilled out onto a hidden area of restaurants and moonbounces and life-size pics of NHL players! Needless to say, we skipped around joyously in our hockey heaven. We want to stay in Draftland forever!

Of course, we returned bright and early the next morning for Draft Day Two... which held its own share of surprises! Stay tuned!

Byng.com

2010-06-22T20:11:00.003-04:00

While Soph and I are totally psyched for the Draft, there is one other major event in the NHL universe this week: the NHL Awards. It should come as no surprise that I'm particularly excited about the (foxy) Lady Byng! I like gentlemanly players and burly hellraisers alike, but I especially love the Lady Byng because not only is it A MAJOR AWARD (to quote Ralphie's dad in A Christmas Story), but it's one masterminded by a girl. How bad-ass is that? I'm also really excited this year because I love two of the three nominees. In addition to being diminutive, high-scoring BAMFs, Pavel Datsyuk and Marty St-Louis are my beloved fantasy team lifers. Plus, Marty and I both enjoy Journey (so I guess "we have a song" too... LOL). As for Brad Richards, sorry, I'm just not that into you. (Though Moo did nickname him "the Bend and Snap" years ago, so there's that.)

But enough about this year's nominees... what about the lovely Lady Byng herself? Well, first of all, did you know that there is a LORD Byng?! (Pops: "Well, duh!") Check out these sexy beasts, ready to party like it's 1899:

Tell my wife I love her very much... SHE KNOWS!

Here's some other key deets that I gleaned from my extensive Wikipedia/NHL.com research:

*Lady Byng actually has a name: Marie Evelyn. (I think I'd stick with "Lady" too. At least she did it without having to marry the Janitor on Scrubs!)

*Speaking of marriage, Lord and Lady Byng got hitched in 1902, a mere 108 years ago.

*They never had kids, so no baby Byngs were bestowed upon the world, just the trophy. :(

*Both Byngs were avid hockey fans, attending lots of live games in Ottawa. No word if they ever appeared on the Kiss Cam. (Or the Kiss Daguerrotype, perhaps?)

*In addition to donating totally awesome awards to the league, Lady Byng even dabbled in writing! She allegedly penned an autobiography called Up the Stream of Time, but I can't find much more about it...

*As for the award itself, she was apparently so thrilled with NYR's Frank Boucher (who won the award a staggering seven times in eight years), she gave him the original Lady Byng Trophy. Then she donated a second award to the league. And THEN, after her death, the NHL presented a new trophy, retitled "the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy." Who knew? (As for the original, it was destroyed in a fire at Boucher's house. Major sadface.)

So there's your history lesson for the day, kiddies. Lady Byng is awesome, don't mess.

Oh happy day?

2010-06-20T00:10:00.004-04:00

This text conversation occurred as Pops and I were riding in our car this afternoon:

Soph (forwarding a message from Flyers text alerts): "Flyers acquire defenseman Dan Hamhuis from Nashville in exchange for Ryan Parent"

Me: "Oh happy day! Homer, I'm going to kiss you on Friday!"

Yeahhh, Soph and I aren't exactly Parent fans... In fact, once I got Soph's above text, I told Pops to let me out of the car so I could cartwheel home. We trade a guy who is a minus-one in less than a minute of playing time for a guy who could make our Core Four a Fab Five? Sounds good to me! HOWEVER, we still have to sign Hamhuis... and Coburn... and a goalie... and now I'm nervous that Homer's going to give me a heart attack at the Draft. Homer, I will rescind that kiss and replace it with a slap in the face if you give me a heart attack on the draft floor! Just FYI.

To Flyers, with love

2010-06-12T01:04:00.005-04:00

While most people were initially puzzled by the Stanley Cup winning goal, I didn't see it at all... because I was hiding in our dining room!

Today, though, I'm much calmer and can attempt a post longer than two sentences.

Let's get the Debbie Downer stuff out of the way first. The Flyers managed to do something incredibly difficult (getting to the Finals) and lost. My one thought during the eternity before the handshake line was, "What about Lappy and Timonen?" How many more chances are these guys going to get? Even the young guys might never be back here again. A scary thought, but it's certainly happened before. Because it's freakin' hard to get to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Who knows, maybe they'll be back in the Finals next year. But 2010 was a fabulous, and ultimately missed, opportunity. That hurts.

But disappointment shouldn't overshadow the last two months of unexpected glee and excitement! Because despite losing, the Flyers gave us an unforgettable run. Boosh's belated playoff heroics against the Devils. Forcing game five... and six... and seven against the Bruins. Four unanswered goals in game seven. Lappy getting hit in the face... but he came back. Leights' three shut-outs against Montreal. Richards' SHG in game five. Giroux's OT winner against Chicago. The Leino-Briere-Hartnell line. The Pronger (and his extra-curriculars). This team came together and tackled adversity in a way few teams do. They didn't win it all, but they still made history. And they got some much needed experience, which can only help them in the future. It may be a missed opportunity, but the 2010 run is one I'll fondly tell my cats about someday...

And thank god it's already June because I miss these guys! What are Pops and I going to watch on pizza night now--HGTV?! (Pops does love him some House Hunters.) We've seen so much of this Flyers team that they feel like family! And that got me thinking (you know this is never good)... what would Thanksgiving dinner be like with them???

(Scene: Our house. Pops and Danny B. are chatting while cooking)

Pops: "Have you seen the latest issue of AARP magazine? It's a good one!"

Danny: "Yeah, I always steal it from Lappy and Timonen! Did you see that fish oil can work wonders?

Pops: "Oh, of course!"

Jess (putting a plate on the table and noticing a suddenly depleted supply of rolls): "Whoa, where'd all the rolls go?"

The Pronger (hiding a roll-filled plastic bag behind his back): "Is it against the rules to take some rolls before dinner? Am I getting into your head now?!"

Jess: "Eeeeeep!" (runs away in fear)

JVR (from his spot at the kids' table with Powe and Giroux): "Heeeey, do we really have to sit all the way over here?"

Giroux: "And can we have grilled cheese instead of turkey? That's how we do in Hearst, Ontario!"

Carle (overheard banging on the bathroom door): "What the hell is taking so long?"

Simon (yelling through the door): "I don't know, I'm just gelling my hair! Five more minutes!"

(Meanwhile, in the living room, Boosh is leading Timonen, Carcillo, and Betts in song.)

Boosh: "Put some feeling into it! That should be easy for you, Car-bomb... Let's get some death metal into 'Deck the Halls'!"

Timonen: "Well, I am Finnish, so I can handle that! Metal is like our second language!"

Hartnell (sitting down at the table): "Come on, no one wants to sit near me?"

Soph (who is at the other end of the table with Jeff, Leights, and Leino): "Um... no..."

Leights (whispering to Soph): "Is it because he's gross? It's 'cause he's gross, right?"

Soph (whispering): "Um, yeah, maybe... Hey Leino, who are you talking to? No cell phones at the dinner table!"

Leino: "Aww, but it's Hank Zetterberg! I have him on speed dial!" (He glumly hangs up after a withering glare from Soph)

(A resounding crash is suddenly heard from the living room.)

Coburn (standing amid his path of destruction): "Oopsie! I was just trying to help Lappy find his dentures!"

Lappy: "Wait, I found them!"

Soph: "Oh good, 'cause dinner's ready! Considering your toothless struggles, I'd hate to see you eat without them!"

Pops (as the group assembles around the table): "Wait, where's Parent?"

Asham: "...Oh, he's a healthy scratch for this dinner."

(Soph and Jess secretly high-five.)

Jess: "So who's going to say grace?"

The Pronger: "Not me! I don't want to step on Richie's toes."

Richards: "Come on guys, don't make me get fiesty on a holiday." (sighs)

Who wouldn't want to spend Thanksgiving with this bunch?! Can't wait 'til it all starts up again in September.

Heartbreak

2010-06-09T23:26:00.002-04:00

At some point, as the Flyers went deeper and deeper into the playoffs, I told Pops that if they lost, it was going to hurt. A lot.

Yup, that wasn't a lie. :(

Damn you, Windy City!

2010-06-06T23:10:00.003-04:00

That insight came via text from my friend Kate, who doesn't watch hockey but apparently tuned in tonight. (Yikes, I'm sorry!) The Flyers seem to go however The Pronger goes. So when he's a minus-5, that's probs going to be a loss, just a thought. Laviolette's weird decisions usually make him look like a genius, but I don't get why he keeps pulling Shady. He unraveled a bit as the first period went on, but it wasn't all his fault. And Boosh can't seem to come in cold and be super effective anyway. Is Shady's ankle acting up or something? Lavi, I don't like to question you!

I'm just curious, how on earth was that gash-opening high stick on Danny Briere not a penalty? (I feel like high-sticks have become the missed penalty call du jour... both sides seemed to get away with a few in this game alone.) But Danny just further endeared himself to Pops when he came back minutes later, all stitched up. Pops has been pondering getting a Danny shirt, and I think this performance sealed the deal. (Pops and I have actually liked Danny since he was on Phoenix... yeahhh, not exactly the high point of his career. Oh, but look at him now!)

This series has been crazily close. Even tonight, the Flyers had a pretty bad game and yet were never entirely out of it. After going down 0-3, they still scored four goals. Too bad Chicago also scored four goals to make it 7-4. In the last two games, one team has held a lead through most of the game and staved off repeated come-back attempts by the opposition. As much as I want to jump off a building now, the Flyers always seem to play their best after they've had off nights. (Remember the Conference Finals when a dismally bad game three was followed by a dominating game four?) Tonight's minus-five performance should just be more motivation for Pronger to put Byfuglien through the glass in the next game and then light the first two game pucks on fire and twirl them around on a baton. (If that legit happened, would anyone be surprised? I think people would just be like, "Meh, that's Pronger.") That crowd on Wednesday night is going to try to will the Flyers to victory; let's hope they're up to the task. Judging by how these playoffs have gone so far, there should be a game seven on Friday night. But we've got to get through game six first.

In other news, I can't jump off a building because we now have plane tickets to LA, along with our tickets to the draft!!! HOORAY!

We're going to the draft! We're going to the draft!

2010-06-06T02:13:00.003-04:00

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Finals posts to inform you that WE'RE GOING TO THE DRAFT!!!11!! Eeeeee! In case you don't know, the 2010 NHL Entry Draft is going to be in LA at the end of June. And while we do not yet have tickets to LA, we have eight tickets to the draft. So at least we're prepared for the most important aspect of this trip! We're not super informed about the top picks (aside from Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, neither of whom I could pick out of a line-up), but I do have the draft preview issue of The Hockey News, so I better get studying! Sadly, the Flyers don't have a first round pick this year, but I guess we can love Anaheim's first rounder, since it changed hands in the deal that might land us a Stanley Cup.

Speaking of the Stanley Cup, I kind of saw game four, hence the lack of a timely post. Yesterday was my cousin's b-day, so I was at his house, surrounded by family and little kids running around screaming. Fun times. Focusing on the game was kind of difficult. But they won! And apparently I'm psychic! All day at work, I had a good feeling that the Flyers were going to win game four, which is a bit unusual for someone cautious like me. Secondly, I made Flyers cupcakes for the b-day party, and I somehow just knew to make a JVR and not a Carcillo. So, go me!

"Tonight's the night... but not in a Rod Stewart-y kind of way..."

2010-06-02T23:31:00.003-04:00

Claude Giroux, I think the entire city of Philadelphia wants to marry you right now... just FYI.

Two words: Bad ass

I'm not gonna lie, I was scared going into OT. I loved that Leino equalized things just seconds after Kane scored, but going into OT, I was seriously on the verge of vomiting. I'm a skittish little thing, I can't handle too much excitement at once! If this game had gone 5 OT, I would have been curled up in the fetal position in a stupor. Thankfully, our petit chou Giroux came through (sadly not in game two! heh) with the OT winner. This is a special group of guys; you can never seem to count them out. Buuuuuut to come back from being down 0-3 in a series TWICE in the same year seems to be tempting fate a little too much. I'm much happier that they finally got a W and made this into a series.

This game wasn't spectacular, but it's a win, and a hard-fought one at that. Finally being able to shove a goal back down Chicago's throats right after they scored was a nice change. I said (while peeking out from behind my hands in OT) that if they won tonight, Leino's goal could be the series changer. That remains to be seen, but what is already apparent is that Leino has been a total beast. Detroit's cap troubles have become our treasure!

Clearly, though, the real reason the Flyers won tonight is because Pops and I had pizza for dinner. The Flyers' record on our pizza nights is apparently quite good, since Pops made sure to solemnly tell me, "You know, I'm not superstitious or anything... but I think the Flyers have done well when we have pizza." Sure Pops, your total addiction to pizza has NOTHING to do with this. Pops = cold busted. But hey, I guess it did work!

I wish I could wear my fancy new Giroux tee to work tomorrow... curses! Game four Friday. Let's send this back to Chi-town knotted up at two.

(PS- This post title came courtesy of Moo... who, when I incorrectly told her that Pronger scored, said "That's me!" In addition to being B.A. like Pronger, Moo is pretty quick with the comeback herself and would make short work of the Philly media too. When some guy passing by on the street once told her, "Smoking will kill you," Moo's response was "Not soon enough." Oooooh burn. She's totes Pronger.)

Sheer heart attack

2010-05-31T23:48:00.005-04:00

I heard the word "thriller" thrown around to describe game one, but I think it's much more applicable for this low-scoring game two. Game one was weird as hell. Game two took awhile to really get going, but during the second period, it entered dramalicious territory and stayed there right through the Flyers' third period surge.

Thriller or not, it's still an L, which is a huge bummer. I felt physically exhausted after this game. The Flyers still didn't play a full sixty minutes, but they were much improved from Saturday and cranked it up to another gear in the third. Carter would kill for a goal right now (and may kill Carcillo for mowing him down in the first). Leino seemed to create scoring chances every other shift in the third. Richards was a presence. Team defense was much better. Speaking of defense, as Coburn's one remaining fan, I was quite pleased to see him play a good game. HOWEVER, everyone from Doc Emerick to the Post Game Live crew was singing his praises, so it's not just me being blinded by my bizarre love! He made a bunch of subtlely smart decisions, namely when he blocked a shot and then knocked the puck out of harm's way when Chicago could have taken a 3-0 stranglehold late in the second. Some guys just seemed to have extra jump in this game, and Brayds thankfully was one of them. (Unfortunately, the D can't seem to all play well at the same time. What was up with Carle letting Eager just waltz on into the defensive zone? He should have gotten an assist on that goal, since all he did was screen Shady! Oy.)

Soph and I were thrilled to hear that Parent was scratched, since we can't really understand why they've been playing him over Bartulis for so long. Bartulis played ten minutes tonight, which is a huge upgrade over Parent's whopping 41 seconds in game one. (And he was a minus one in those forty-one seconds. That's... impressive?) Although Bartulis finished the night as a minus-one, I thought he looked pretty good for a young guy who hasn't played in weeks. Having a third D pair that can play a regular shift and thus take some heat off the core four seemed to be helpful. JVR was also scratched, much to Soph's amusement because she's convinced that I'm in love with him. (And she made sure to text, "I was worried you'd be heartbroken that your boyf is scratched! LOL") This all started because Pops recently said that I should obviously love JVR because he's a nerdy, twelve-year-old-looking brunette (key traits of my "type", apparently). It takes me forever to warm up to new players, so my battlecry has been, "JVR, I'll love you next year!" But Soph remains unconvinced. Whether I love JVR or not, I can't say that I disagree with scratching him. He hasn't been producing lately (unless he's responsible for getting Giroux his pre-game grilled cheese), he doesn't play on special teams, and he was a defensive liability in game one. (Oh wait... wasn't everyone?) Carcillo was a bit more of a loose cannon than I would have liked, and he nearly decapitated Jeff Carter (dude, you're on the same team!), but I guess he brought more energy/craziness than JVR would have. So that counts for something?

JVR is not pleased that he's scratched... and that I don't love him (yet?)

The Flyers are down 0-2... stop me if you've heard this one before. I'm trying not to jump off a building based on the fact that this team has overcome every bit of adversity thrown at them already. Wednesday... let's get a win for reals this time!

I'm going to need to take up drinking...

2010-05-30T00:02:00.008-04:00

...if every game is going to be a 6-5. I didn't think the happiest part of my day would be buying a dress for $5 and finally committing to a Flyers player tee (more on that later), but alas. What the heck was this game? Did either team play well enough to deserve a win? Well, I guess Chicago scored one more goal, and that's going to get you a W, but this was certainly not the game one I expected. I don't watch enough Chicago games to really judge them, but I wasn't impressed with them until maybe the third period. On the plus side for them, some of their more underrated guys played well, namely Brouwer and Bolland, thereby making Pops look like a genius! (He now thinks he could be an NHL scout because he's been saying all week that Bolland and Brouwer are guys to watch out for.) Meanwhile, the Flyers looked disorganized and played sloppy defensively. The Leino-Briere-Hartnell line was an offensive bright spot, each of them netting a goal. But there was a lot more chaos in each team's defensive zone than I would have expected. I'd like to blame this on Game-One-of-the-Stanley-Cup-Finals jitters, and I guess we'll see on Monday if that's the case. I'm trying not to jump off a building here, but we all know that's hard for me. I need Rick Tocchet's calming influence 24/7 after a loss! It's just one game. One. Game.

Anyway, onto something happier, like my snazzy new player tee! As you may recall, I'm Little Miss Indecisive and have been struggling all season to commit to a player tee. But with the Flyers in the Finals, I felt like I needed to get over my commitment fears and put the proverbial ring on it. So, who did I choose?

Without any further adieu............. Claude Giroux!

Yeah, orange is a questionable choice for my gingerlicious self, but I took one for the team literally. I really like this style of shirt, with the number on the front. (Like the hoodies they had on at media day!) And Soph is gracious enough to let me love Giroux too, even though she claimed him five seconds into his first home game, and they have chatted in French. (I made sure to get her the same Giroux tee! Hee!) His general pwnage in these playoffs helped to tip the scales in his favor as well.

Last night, I was also responsible for keeping Moo and the aunts updated on the Flyers game, since they went out shopping. In a 6-5 game, that's a lot of texts! (And I had to throw in "Doc pitched a perfect game!!!" once that happened.) I thought I was being helpful by texting things like, "4-3 Blair Betts!" but when that text got the response, "Are we winning?" I knew I wasn't a very good reporter. (My aunt doesn't watch hockey that often, which I should have taken into account.) Anyway, when the game was over, Moo texted, "Thanks Jess! The Gene Hart of ur generation!" Well, I tried!

And lastly, because I'm not a calm person, I tend to freak out a lot during games. Last night, Pops determined that when I scream, I hit a tone like I've just encountered "a purse-snatcher... or a mouse... or any kind of bug." I'm sure our neighbors are thrilled.

Apparently, we love old men...

2010-05-27T22:57:00.006-04:00

But since those loveable "old men" are Timonen and Lappy, we're not the only ones...

How heartbreaking is this? (I actually saw a video of it, but now I can't find it, boo!) Poor Kimmo Timonen just wants to win the Cup, dammit! It's not news that Soph and I love Timonen (and the lovely Mrs. Timonen, who sold Soph the best mystery bag ever at the '08 Carnival!). Timonen just seems like a calming father figure on the blueline (hence why Timonen = Pops). His veteran defensive presence is quite soothing, much like his Finnish accent. Also, when he's just standing around on the ice, he always looks like he's got a cape on or something, standing around with such composed swagger. He's been a good soldier since coming over from Nashville three years ago, and he has roomed with Hartnell, so that right there should earn him a medal! (Can you imagine seeing that hair/beard first thing in the morning?! Yeesh!) When Pops and I were rattling off Flyers we want to see with the Cup, Timonen was at the top of the list.

Also up there? Lappy. I can't even remember the first time I heard about Ian Laperriere because he's been a "Pops Player" for years. (Other Pops Players include Foppa, Joe Sakic, Sergei Fedorov, Alexei Kovalev... hence why, when Kovalove fever broke out, I was like, "Isn't he about 50 years old by now? I've only been hearing about him forever!") But hey, this is supposed to be all about Lappy... like everything else. Let's see, he blocks shots (despite losing a bazillion teeth), kills penalties, gets in fights, blocks shots (despite breaking his face/head), seems like a super nice guy, and is a stand-up comedian. How could anybody steal this man's dentures?! As the oldest Flyer (beating Pronger by a few months), Lappy's days in the NHL are numbered. This may be his only chance for a Cup, and there would be no better reward for all the hard work and heart he's given this team.

"Why yes, I AM awesome, thank you Al!"

Saturday is inching ever closer... eeeeee!!!!

"My goal in life wasn't to win this award, it was to win the next one..."

2010-05-24T23:53:00.003-04:00

That quote came courtesy of Michael Leighton on the post-game podium. Six months ago, that quote, and that setting, would have been unfathomable. Now, anything seems possible.

I'm still in a state of stunned euphoria that the Flyers are really in the Finals, namely because they haven't been to the Finals since I was TEN YEARS OLD. Yes, in '97, I was in fourth grade and couldn't pronounce "Dainius Zubrus" (who was just a rookie). I didn't care about hockey then; it just interfered with my busy reading schedule of The Babysitters' Club and The Outsiders. Since 2000, I've avidly watched hockey and have seen the Flyers stumble three times in the ECF. But that's all a distant memory today. Today, the Flyers are in the FINALS, four wins away from having their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. MADNESS!

Tonight's game wasn't their best, but it was enough to land them the Prince of Wales Trophy. (Did we not all collectively have heart attacks when Richards grabbed it off the table? I'm glad they're not superstituous, but I can't say the same about myself!) They've clinched a spot in the Finals and guaranteed June hockey in Philly. There's also lots of intrigue: Which unproven goalie will outshine the other? Which young captain will dominate? Which trend will last: a Winter Classic team making it to the Finals and losing (Pittsburgh '08, Detroit '09) or Marian Hossa losing in the Finals for the third time and with a third team?

AAAAAHHH It's so exciting to have a team we really like in the Finals! I guess it would have been nice to have our two fave teams, had the Sharks advanced instead of Chicago, but I think I'd rather just have one. Being in Philly and having followed the Flyers more closely for the past year, the Flyers would have taken priority. And I don't want to hate the Sharks!

So history has already been made... can they cap it off with the ultimate prize???

(On a sidenote, I had a bunch of pictures all planned to use in this post and now my computer's driving me bonkers. So I guess I'll have to save them for another day!)

Like sands through the hourglass...

2010-05-22T23:29:00.009-04:00

...so are the days of our Flyers. (I'm really more of a General Hospital gal, but in light of today's alleged Sand-gate, the title seemed appropriate.)

So I didn't jump off a building Thursday night, and the Flyers rewarded me with a game four win! Even though everyone and their maman had skate issues, they still managed to put together a rather dominant effort, perhaps the most complete game they've played in this series so far. The Pronger and Carle were back to their usual selves, thank god. Everyone's favorite petit chou Giroux chipped in two goals. Even Coburn was a plus-three! And he almost had a goal himself when he nearly gave Hal Gill a colonoscopy while jabbing away at the puck trapped under Gill in the Habs' crease. Apparently, he was a chaise for Brian Gionta at some point as well...

Le chat est sur la chaise et le singe... le singe est disparu!

Carter and Lappy also made their triumphant returns to the playoffs today! I can't even believe I'm typing that. When they went down, I was sure I wouldn't see them again until training camp. I somehow missed all the buzz before the game, so I was stunned to spot Jeff during footage of warm-ups. (Since I'm like one step away from a seeing-eye dog, I literally couldn't believe my eyes: "Is that a seventeen?!") Even though he was out for a month, Jeff had quite a bit of jump, especially on that on PP chance early in the game when he undressed Moen with some slick moves. Soph is more of a Carter GRL than I am, but I felt really bad for Jeff after round two. So he gets cut from the gold medal-winning Canadian Olympic team at the last minute, breaks both feet in the span of a month after playing 286 consecutive games, and THEN he misses out on the Flyers historic comeback against the Bruins. Ouch. So I'm glad to see him get some good news for a change and get cleared for more playoff action!

Jeff: "Well, my eyebrow is very happy to be back..."

Giroux: "NOM NOM NOM!"

(He's chewing on his water bottle in the above photo, which becomes more obvious if you enlarge it...)

Will the Habs' perfect record in elimination games be destroyed on Monday? Will we see the Prince of Wales? Stay tuned... Let's go Fly-ers!

Prozac nation

2010-05-20T22:51:00.004-04:00

You know that old adage "don't get too high after a win and too low after a loss"? Yeahhh... I have trouble doing that. Not so much the first part (I think I only get moderately high after a win), but the second part, wherein I become clinically depressed after a loss. I know this is no surprise, since we've already established that I'm not a calm person, but still. I need to trust in Dr. Rick Tocchet, who calmly tried to keep everyone from jumping off the Walt Whitman Bridge on Flyers Post Game Live. It's just one game. One. Game.

With that said, it was one clunker of a game by the Flyers. I didn't think Shady was that bad, but the D in front of him certainly didn't help him any. The Pronger and Carle as a combined -6? That's not going to bode well for the rest of your team. Though my dear Coburn was fiesty, which I always appreciate, he also made some questionable decisions, including skee-balling the puck up the ice after his stick broke in the last minute. Oy. And poor Giroux held "an impromptu equipment sale" (oh, Joe Beninati!), losing his stick and gloves on the ice after getting wacked in the face by former Shark Josh Gorges (who we always wind up calling "Gosh George" because his real name is quite the tongue-twister!). All in all, a bad night.

However, I guess there are several things to take into consideration here. First, the Habs were obviously going to throw the kitchen sink at the Flyers in this home game. If they didn't, the series would become a pretty steep mountain to climb. (And the Bell Centre might have been destroyed in the ensuing riot.) Second, the Flyers had to come down from the euphoria/adrenaline of game 7 sometime. And their so-so play in the first two games finally caught up with them. Third, I wonder if The Pronger is nursing some kind of illness, as the death cough from Tuesday's presser seems to have stolen his voice tonight. Or maybe he just screamed at everyone after the game. (Either way, he sounded like Kristin from The Hills after a hard night of clubbing!) I did like Mike Richards' post-game intensity, saying that they got their asses kicked and might have taken this game too lightly. I'm not a Richards girl (GRL?), but I could appreciate his honest commentary. Especially since The Pronger's voice limited his usually blunt remarks.

These are all logical explanations for the game three debacle. It's just one game, after all. I'm going to try to embrace these wise words of Dr. Tocchet and remain (relatively) calm until Saturday. It may take me that long to bandage up all the paper cuts I've gotten in my first few days of filing anyway!

OH YEAH!!! I'm going to the Phils-Sawx game tomorrow! I lucked into a ticket at the last minute. So J. Werth will distract me!

Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

2010-05-18T23:09:00.005-04:00

(When Timonen went off on Plekanec, the above phrase popped into my head... because playoff hockey OBVIOUSLY makes us all look to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for wisdom.)

So the Habs were much improved tonight, but the Flyers hit them where it hurts the most: the scoreboard. Their timely goals have made up for some occasional lapses. I'd like to see the Flyers play a complete game in this round, maybe? Yet they haven't played their best and are still up 2-0. So that's pretty enjoyable!

Also enjoyable? Claude Giroux. This certainly isn't news (as Soph has loved him since his first home game as a Flyer!), but during the first period, he made a really nice defensive play that, of course, I can't specifically remember now. But it reminded me of how he chewed up time by fending off three Bruins in the waning minutes of game 7. Put that together with his offensive upside, and basically, Claude Giroux is just awesome at everything! The playoffs have made this fact even more apparent.

Giroux says, "Ain't no shame in my game!"

In other news, one of the random things I love about the Conference Finals is that they introduce... the PODIUM. Interviews on the box in the locker room are cool, but the podium brings a whole new dimension of unintentional hilarity into the post-game mix. First up on the podium tonight, we had Danny, Richards... and then they panned to the Flyers-loving burglar they accidentally let on panel:

Oh, Ville Leino, you are way too intense (and bundled up?) for the podium! They only asked him like one question, which I can't quite remember. (It was either about how happy he was to score or how happy he was for Leighton.) His response was pretty much, "Happy. Really happy. Really really happy. Well, you know what I mean." The camera man kept creepily panning back and forth between the three of them, to add some nice ambiance to the situation. Not to be outdone, Danny said that he would take on the booing at the Bell Centre "to give Chris a break." Put the guys on a podium and suddenly, it's comedy hour! The next duo on panel was clearly ladies' choice (well, if that lady is Kristin!), as it featured Leighton and The Pronger. Oh, speaking of Leighton, tomorrow is his b-day! (Thank you, Versus announcers, for cluing me in!)

Happy birthday Shady! Glad to see you celebrating early with some shut-outs!

I don't know how long I'll be able to stay up for the Sharks game, but it's currently 4-1 :(

Lastly, I just got this text from Moo: "Actually, it was 'Only God Saves More than Bernie Parent'... Announcer said The Lord. I know cuz I had the bumper sticker! PUT THAT ON YOUR BLOG, SISTA!"

Done and done! (I actually just googled it and am getting results for both "God" and "the Lord"... so maybe both are acceptable?)

Apparently, my love can move mountains...

2010-05-16T22:40:00.005-04:00

(I start work tomorrow, which means I won't be able to do my usual 2 AM posts anymore... This is unfortunate because everything I type seems better in a sleep-addled daze at 2 AM!)

Today, not one but TWO of my fave random d-men notched PP goals to open the scoring in their resepective series! First up, we have unlikely hero Jason Demers, whose goal gave the Sharks an early lead in their first game with Chicago. Unfortunately, Demers' goal wasn't enough as the Sharks lost that game 2-1. (Hey, what was up with Versteeg serving Bolland's penalty in the last minutes of the game? Weiiiiiird...)

Party like an algebra teacher, kick a little ass.
(I love this picture... what a dorkalicious dreamboat!)

After Demers' goal, I texted Soph, "If Brayds scores tonight, I'm playing the lottery!" Well, I guess I better pick up my lottery ticket on the way to work tomorrow, since Braydon Coburn did in fact score his first ever playoff goal in the Flyers 6-o shellacking of the Habs. I know Coburn has been the defensive whipping boy this season, but somehow, that has further endeared him to me. I'm a weirdo, I can't like the popular guys. (Not that I dislike them, they just can't be my faves.) Coburn just seems like a down-to-earth hot mess, and I can appreciate that... especially now that he's playing with total confidence and intensity.

What's not to love about this picture?

On the non-defenseman front, I apparently waved a magic wand over JVR on Friday when I predicted that he would have a good game seven, as he now has two goals in two games. I'm just sayin'...

Lastly, when the Flyers went to the ECF in '08, our commercial song of choice was "The Sun Is Out" by The Apples in Stereo. This year, I'm totally feeling "Good Time" by Brazilian Girls, aka the super-catchy song in the Amstel Light commercial. (Thanks to Soph for investigating this for me! Amstel Light always seems to have catchy tunes in their commercials, ie "Chelsea Dagger" as well, though I reckon that song will get quite annoying once the Sharks series shifts to Chicago!) Keep an ear out for it, you'll hear it about 25 times a broadcast anyway!

Seventh Heaven

2010-05-15T03:03:00.005-04:00

...I'm not even really sure what to say. Last night, we all saw history. Forget "history will be made," history HAS been made. When the Bruins went up 3-0 early in the first period, I started to panic a bit, but I should have known. OF COURSE the Flyers would have to erase a 3-0 deficit in this game, just as they had to do in the series. How else could this magical comeback end?

I love all of these guys right now. They weren't just built for the playoffs... they were built for something epic.

There goes my heroes... watch them as they go.

Relentless pursuit of my heart

2010-05-13T02:24:00.005-04:00

Oh, and the Cup too. This Flyers team has played do-or-die hockey for the past three games and has not only worked its way back into this series but now have the Bruins on the brink of blowing a 3-0 lead, one that felt insurmountable only a week ago. My mind is blown, but my heart is happy.

Which means that I did not, in fact, give myself a heart attack before or during game six. When Pops and I left the house, I said, "I hope we come home after having seen the greatest hockey game of our lives." Well, forcing a game seven makes it pretty close to being "the greatest hockey game of our lives." Oh, and Pops and I are now a (combined) sparkling 4-o in live playoff games. Sweet!

The crowd was absolutely bonkers, as expected. I think it surpassed even my past playoff games, as the cheering was so loud, you couldn't hear the music in the pre-game videos! And everyone sang along with Kate Smith during "God Bless America." (LOVE Kate Smith! Though I was saddened when the little boy next to me was like, "Who's that old lady?" Come on, sonny, you need a Flyers history lesson! Now, get off my lawn!) From the minute we took our seats, there was this sense that, if the Flyers were going to force game seven, we were going to help them do it. It was unlike any game experience I'd ever had. I guess this is what happens when you go to a potential elimination game! In the end, it was worth all the heart palpitations.

Flyers take the ice (sadly, it's quite blurry, but you get the point)

Anyway, here's some other notes from the game:

-After Shady stopped that shorthanded breakaway in the first period, the guy behind me changed "Let's Go Fly-ers" to "Michael Leighton," which works quite beautifully. I guess Shady does need some equivalent of "Boooooosh," and this "Michael Leighton" cheer fits the bill! (And I don't think "Shady" will be catching on anytime soon!) Speaking of Boosh, he got a standing ovation during the second period, and he tearfully blew kisses to the crowd. It was quite a heartwarming moment.

-Also heartwarming? The Pens getting knocked out by the Habs! I was sure the Pens were going to win that game, even after going down 4-0 because, well, they're the Pens, perennial thorn in my side. That final score rolled in during the second period and got a standing ovation of its own:

So now, if the Flyers advance, at least they won't lose to the Pens for a third consecutive year! My battlecry this whole playoffs has been, "I can't take another loss to the Pens..." (Kind of like when Stacy laments, "I can't do another summer at Perry's..." in Fast Times at Ridgemont High) And now that can't happen, thank god!

-When the "Ass-hole" chant got going after some penalty call, the little boy next to me tried to jump aboard. His dad just shook his head and was like, "Thank god your mother's not here..."

-Let's add a little more craziness to this game with a penalty shot, shall we? Had Ville Leino (whom Pops has dubbed "Little Hank" as in "Little Hank Zetterberg") made that shot, the roof would have come off the Wachovia Center, following in the illustrious tradition of the Spectrum. As it was, after Danny scored, I was jumping up and down and high-fiving strangers!

I'm not ready for this series to end with an unhappy handshake line. The Flyers' resilience over the past three games has been fantastic, but I want to see history. Game seven. Anything can happen. Let's go Flyers.

Random Gagne jersey dude knows that Friday's game is brought to you by the number 7

I'm not ready for a LIVE handshake line...

2010-05-12T01:55:00.007-04:00

"I worry, I wonder all the time, 'Why worry?' It's killing me, forget about it..." -All-American Rejects

You know how in A Christmas Story, Ralphie's dad "works in profanity the way other artists might work in oils and clay... it's his true medium"? Well, for me, my true medium is worry. (Which doesn't work as nicely, but just go with it) I worry about everything. In a moment of sheer brilliance, Soph once told me, "I'd tell you not to worry but that's like telling water not to be wet." Truer words were never spoken.

So while I am shy and quiet, I'm not exactly a calm person. And it only gets worse when hockey's involved because then it's a nice mix of nerves + excitement. Pops takes quite a beating sitting next to me on the couch during games. And when Moo made the mistake of calling during game five, my half of the conversation went like this:

Me (indistinct yelling, SHRIEK): "Oh, they actually scored that time! In case you were wondering."

With all that said, I'm probably the person who should least be in possession of these right now:

YUP. Pops and I are going to game six. We're going to be sitting IN THE WACHOVIA CENTER tonight at 8:00, among the orange-clad army trying to will the Flyers to victory. I'm practically breathing into a paper bag just thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I love love LOVE going to playoff games. The atmosphere is unreal. There is absolutely nothing like a live playoff game. But with all that intensity comes more intense worrying. I mean, if the Flyers blow a game in November, it's not the end of the world, there's like sixty games to go. But if they screw up tonight, they're teeing off next week. I've never been to a potential elimination game, so I think that's why I'm especially amped up. I've been to two awesome playoff games in my life, but they were both game threes; it's different when it's do-or-die. Meanwhile, we determined that Pops hasn't been to a playoff game since 1994, so he's pretty psyched to make his triumphant return, sixteen years later.

8:00. Crank up "Hell's Bells," get out your rally towels, and pray that the Flyers are onto something epic. (And that I don't give myself a heart attack.) Let's go Fly-ers!!!

Guess who's back, back again? Shady's back...

2010-05-11T00:12:00.006-04:00

Shady, you're my knight in shining armor, and I love you...
(No, I don't like him that much... don't worry, Kristin!)

During Michael Leighton's earlier run as Flyers' starter, I took a shine to him. I'm not a goalie girl, but I can appreciate a generally calm and attractive goalie, especially one that can come into a game cold and just take over. Soph, however, was not wooed by Leighton. Her objection was that he seemed "untrustworthy." So of course Pops and I promptly nicknamed Leighton "Shady." (Why is it that we always wind up giving Kristin's faves the weirdest nicknames? Hellooooo, Zebulon Pike!) And as of last night, Shady is, in fact, back again, tag-teaming his way to the first tandem shut-out in the playoffs since 1955. Damn. Just when you thought the Flyers' season/play-offs couldn't get any crazier, let's throw in another goalie injury, why not! Poor Boosh. He's kept them in games, it's a shame he had to get injured now. But, if I think back to the regular season, I didn't want to rip my hair out too much when Shady was in net, so I hope that trend continues as he takes over the starting job for an injured Boosh... again. (Stop me if you've heard this one before!)

As inconsistent as they can be, this Flyers team is certainly used to one thing: adversity. So I wouldn't count them out just yet. All I know for sure is that I'm not ready for a handshake line... so they better win game six!

Well, regardless of how the Flyers do, we're already guaranteed one enjoyable team in the Conference Finals, since the Sharks advanced over the weekend. This Sharks' post-season is already more successful than any we've seen... it's so nice to not be disappointed in them at this time of year! Speaking of the Sharks, apparently, Soph and I are inadvertent trend setters! My cousin recently got into hockey and, with zero input from me, decided to like the Sharks along with the Flyers! I was so dumbfounded when my aunt told me that my eloquent response was, "Shut your face!" My cousin and I don't have much in common... being together on planet Earth is one of our few similarities. But now, we're practically twins! Maybe the apocalypse is coming...?

Prophetic Pops, part deux

2010-05-08T01:27:00.013-04:00

High five or interpretive dance?
Whatevs, the Flyers are back with a vengeance! Er, relentless?

So you may recall that Pops has a knack for picking out OT game-winning goal scorers. First, it was Danny Briere, and now Simon. Parlez-vous game five?! (Also, Pops should probably play the lottery or something...)

You may be wondering where I've been for, oh, the other three games of this series. Well, I've actually only seen games one and four. On Monday, I missed the Flyers game altogether... because I was at the Phillies game for Ellen's b-day celebration! (Complete with a Phillies pinata and Phillies cupcakes!) Then, I missed 97% of Wednesday's game because Wednesday was our end of semester bacchanal, wherein we arrived at the bar just in time to see the Flyers lose. (But our team did win at Quizzo, so all was not lost!) In between that chaos, I was frantically pulling together my last two papers while listening to the All-American Rejects on repeat. (Because I want to relive sophomore year of high school?) But now school's over, so I can go back to devoting my life to hockey, instead of postmodern theory! And thanks to the Flyers, I've got Monday to look forward to, at least! I didn't have a ton of faith when this game went into OT, but hey, they won, so let's see what happens Monday.

As for the Sharks, Soph got to go to game two last Sunday! I think that makes up for being the young and the spleenless! (Obviously, she's making a speedy recovery.) As we've watched the Sharks this year in the playoffs, we've found ourselves feeling very attached to guys who were rookies or sophs, mere BABIES, when we first got into the Sharks: ie Conn Smythe Pavelski, Clowe, Seto... They've grown up so much and done so well in the playoffs thus far... it just brings a tear to the old eye! (well, something like that)

In addition to seeing a fabulous game, Soph took a bazillion fabulous pictures, like the three above! You can see more here, if you'd like...

Get well Soph! Love, Jess and the Flyers

2010-04-23T02:17:00.005-04:00

I don't think I can ship this flower arrangement to CA, unfortunately...

Poor Soph had surgery yesterday. :( I wish I could be there with her, watching hockey and Disney movies, but instead, I'm stuck on the East Coast, writing term papers and being lame. So I'm sending lots of love and get well wishes her way!!!

And so are the Flyers, apparently! I had many happy things to text Soph about last night, as the Flyers advanced to round two, and her beloved Claude Giroux got two goals! Woo-hoo! Who would have thought that the last team to clinch a playoff spot would be the first team to make it into the second round? During the regular season, it was like the Flyers were reading 23 different books. Now, they're all on the same page (see what I did there?), and, ta-da, they're getting good results. Watching them is FUN again! And it's fun EVERY night, not just every other night, or just once a week. Even though they lost game two, they were still in it. They're not getting totally outplayed by their opponents anymore, and they haven't been giving up lots of back-breaking goals. Their commitment to defense and shot blocking is insane right now, and Lappy should have a monument built for him outside the Wachovia Center. Who else would take a puck to the face in the third period and then do a (very cordial) post-game interview, still bloodied and sporting like 60 stitches? He's the man. I'm also glad to see Boosh play so well and beat the Devils in the playoffs after that debacle ten years ago. Sweet revenge! Maybe they are, in fact, built for the playoffs. They certainly seem like a different team than the one that limped across the finish line two weeks ago! (On a sidenote, I'd like to be able to tell my professors, "Yeah, I didn't do this week's reading... but it's okay, because I'm built for term papers! I'm just built for the end of the semester, it's fine." LOL)

When the playoffs started, Soph and I agreed that we were just going to enjoy the ride with the Flyers, however long it lasts, so we're pretty happy. I'm not going to worry about their next opponent just yet... I want to bask in the glow of a happy handshake line for now.

Off the schneid

2010-04-21T02:36:00.010-04:00

(I actually had to google that phrase, to make sure I was spelling it right. Also, did you know that "off the schneid" originated from gin rummy? Oh, the educational links Google brings us!)

It's hard in here for a pimp...
(Although Moo is still not impressed!)

Last year, Soph and I nicknamed Jeff Carter "Vanilla Bean" because, well, he's like vanilla bean ice cream: good and reliable, but kind of boring. But when he reacted to his first goal tonight, he was totally Peanut Butter Cup Perfection (which I deem to be the most exciting flavor at Coldstone). He was visibly thrilled to finally get a goal after approximately 95 shots, and it was nice to see such enthusiasm. And then Danny Briere joined the "off the schneid" party, as he scored a goal that apparently also included a one-way ticket to Hugtown, courtesy of Braydon Coburn. Add to those celebrations Carcillo's totally stunned reaction to his goal, and it was an entertaining night all around! Oh yeah, and going up 3-1 doesn't hurt either. Meanwhile, the Sharks got another OT win courtesy of their vanilla bean equivalent, Joe Pavelski. Woot! I guess it doesn't matter that Versus only picks up the Sharks games in the third period... each game so far has been decided in the last minute or OT anyway!

In other news, tonight I got a THREE Text Tirade from my mom, and it surprisingly had nothing to do with the Phillies! (Ouch.) Here's some backstory: After Sunday's game, the guys on Flyers Post Game Live pointed out that apparently each player being interviewed in the locker rooom stands on a box, to avoid being swallowed up in the media swarm. Who knew? Anyway, Pronger was on the box briefly tonight (he climbed down, mid-interview), and I texted this to my mom (who is kind of scared of The Pronger). This is the response I got:

"Pronger needs a box? He's like 9 feet tall! Didn't know if they had won listening to Carter. Like, was he asleep during the interview? Sorry Soph. Anti-Carter strictly forbodden! Boosh had Nic Cage's Raising Arizona hair. Love it! Text tirade has no Phils tonight."

Leave it to Moo to throw '80s movie references into her sports wrap-up! Also, she's obviously still struggling to warm up to Jeff, but if he keeps having two goal nights in the playoffs, she should come around real quick!

UPDATE: Um, it's going to be hard to have two goal nights in the playoffs... when you're done for the playoffs. Wow. I figured Simon was pretty banged up, but I didn't see this double whammy coming. Poor Jeff. Who breaks both feet in the same year?! Oh man... And things were going so well! Ugh, I'm so sad right now... :(

What happens in Colorado... does not stay in Colorado

2010-04-19T14:07:00.003-04:00

Remember when I was lamenting all the papers I have to write in the coming weeks? Well, things could be worse...

Just ask Dan Boyle. :(

Pops, Soph, and I all saw last night's OT together (since Soph was on the phone with me), and we were all pretty much like, "Whaaaa? Did that just happen?" Yes, yes it did. Clearly, we should have picked Boyle to score for either team.

Bad things just seem to happen to poor Dan Boyle in the playoffs. In the '04 Finals, part of his house burned down, which I imagine must be AWESOME news to get, post-game.

Who knows what bizarre things will happen in game four! Ugh.

Playoff odds and ends

2010-04-17T20:49:00.009-04:00

In the next three weeks, I have to write three term papers. Which means that, at some point, I will surely be found, curled up in the fetal position on my living room floor, surrounded by journal articles, library books, and empty water bottles, with my iPod playing "Heartbeats" and "Hey Ya" over and over again (of course).

Clearly, I'm going to implode when I have to write my thesis next year.

The only thing saving my sanity right now is the playoffs, and the fact that I can see every game! (Or at least every game that's on CSN, NBC, or VS.) When we were at school last year, Soph and I didn't have cable, so we had to rely on the commuter lounge (perfect for the Sharks' late starts) or the lone TV lounge in our dorm. Now, though, I'm guaranteed wall-to-wall hockey. Woot! In no particular order, here's some playoff randomness:

(During a phone call with Moo, talking about last Sunday's Flyers-Rangers game)

Me: "For the shoot-out, I picked Giroux, and Pops picked Danny Briere, because he has to leave the dance with the girl he came with..."

***

Moo has taken to sending me a Two-Text Tirade after each Flyers playoff game, though she's usually focused on her favorite thing in the world, aka the Phillies. Anyway, the texts below rolled in after I accused her of jinxing the Flyers in game one (because as soon as she told me she was watching, the Devils scored):

"I DID NO SUCH THING! I am trying to take my sparkling Phils record to new heights! J Werth in high def. OH YEAH. He only had 1 at bat. BUT I WILL DOUBLE DIP NO MORE!"

Oh Moo! We can't blame her for game two, I'm pretty sure she didn't watch that one at all. But I did have to put my phone on silent afterward because she kept texting me into the wee hours of the morning. All the cool kids' phones are blowing up with texts from their MOTHERS, obvi. Carter and Richards' alleged party boy ways are probably just to cover up the oodles of texts they get from their moms each day. Yup, I've got this one figured out.

***

After game one, I made the astute observation that Johan Backlund is the missing Michalek brother, and you can see the comparison below. What a big, happy, Czech-Swedish family!

***

Speaking of doppelgangers, Blair Betts and H.P. Lovecraft? Kind of similar looking. (Though I'm sure Blair Betts isn't as much of a creeper as Lovecraft apparently was!) Sadly, I couldn't openly share this in my American Gothic class because I doubt anyone would have appreciated it. (Or known what I was talking about!)

***

Lappy may be Pops' fave Flyer (well, along with Danny Briere, I guess), but I think the entire city of Philadelphia loved him after Game 1. In addition to his totally bad-ass assist on Richards' goal, he blocked approximately 86 shots AND gave this fantastic post-game quote:

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day!"

I can't remember what Coatsey asked to provoke that answer, but hey, it beats the usual, "Well, we played hard out there tonight..."

***

Former members of Foxy Lady Byng have kicked off the playoffs in high gear: Giroux netted a PP goal and assist (much to Soph and my glee!) while perhaps being the best Flyer in game two, Backstrom got a hat trick tonight (including the OT winner), Chris Stewart put the Sharks away in game one with like 50 seconds left and added two goals in game two, Datsyuk scored in game two, Rob Blake scored in game two (and perhaps in game one, since Stewart's GWG deflected in off him), Pronger continues to be all-around awesomeness... What this means is that I can assemble an excellent team... for the playoffs, when it doesn't get me any points! Curses!

Yeah, I guess that about sums up the word vomit portion of this post. Flyers and Sharks both have their game threes tomorrow. Soph and I went to game three last year, a win against Pittsburgh, so hopefully that trend continues! And maybe I'll actually get to see more than the last five minutes of the Sharks game, though if game three is like the previous two, the last five minutes are the most exciting!

Summer school starts on Wednesday

2010-04-13T00:45:00.003-04:00

(Me: "Clearly I've been in school too long... I just told Pops that Vanek was injured early in the semester!"

Soph: "So does that make the playoffs summer school then?")

It's everyone's favorite time of year... PLAYOFFS, BABY!!!! WOOOO! The playoffs are actually what wooed me, and later Soph, to hockey. In fact, I first got into hockey during the 2000 playoffs... and we all know who the Flyers' goalie was then. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I wish I could make some sort of prediction for the Flyers' playoff hopes, but hell, who knows anymore? This year, they've shown flashes of brilliance (comeback victory over Chicago, beating super hot Detroit, beating Montreal in back-to-back games going into the Olympic break) and had total breakdowns (blowing a lead against Minnesota and losing in OT, getting blown out by the Islanders, pretty much the entire month of December). Sunday's game was a huge moral victory for them, especially in the shoot-out, their nemesis all season. ("Not the shoot-out! Not the shoot-out!" was our mantra during the third period and OT.) But they also got lucky. The Rangers' offense vanished (except for Jody "Maurice Richard" Shelley, of course! Oh Shelley, we liked you better on the Sharks!), which meant that all they had to do was get to Lundqvist, and they finally did. The fact that this team just barely squeaked into the playoffs should still call for serious changes in the off-season...

But for now, there's the playoffs (woo-hoo!), and it's a whole new season. They get the Devils, which may bode well for them, as the Devils are a team they've played well against. And as a talent-laden team with key veterans (coughProngercough), they could be spoilers, ala Pronger's eighth seeded Anaheim team last season. Boosh had a big game when they needed it most on Sunday... can he keep it up? Defense and goaltending are key to championships. Do they really have what it takes? Ehhh.... probably not. But the '08 team snuck into the playoffs and made a run for the Cup, so who knows what this year's bipolar team will do. If they beat the Devils, that's great! And if they lose, well... at least it's not to Pittsburgh again?

I'm similarly stumped to make a prediction for the Sharks. Supposedly, their mid-March skid got their playoff jitters out of their system early, but it all means nothing until they're in the Conference Finals or better. I don't know much about Colorado (besides the fact that they have Chris Stewart, who was a stellar mid-season addition to Foxy Lady Byng!), but they seem quite young, which should work to the Sharks' advantage. An up-and-coming eighth seed, as opposed last year's experienced Ducks team. We shall see...

So break out your jerseys and welcome back "Cup Raise"... it's playoff time!

(Also also! If you're here, you're already procrastinating, so take a minute and vote for my friend Ellen! She's in the running to win a grant to open her own theater company and needs every vote she can get. It seriously takes a minute to vote, and Ellen and I have been friends since we were like seven, so she's clearly awesome. If you're interested, you can check out her page here... Thanks, guys! :D)

Good Friday!

2010-04-03T23:54:00.004-04:00

My mom does not have a history of awesome b-days... namely because, for some reason, bad things tend to happen on April 2nd. (Case in point: Senior year of high school, in a total monsoon, we went out to dinner for Moo's b-day... and promptly found out that the Pope had died. Yikes.) But this year, we were determined to make Moo's b-day not sucky, and the Phillies helped us out by playing a home game last night! So the whole fam trekked down to Citizen's Bank Park for the occasion. I must say that Moo was a much better birthday girl than I was. You see, last year, we all happened to get tickets to the Phillies game on my b-day, and my aunt made it her mission to get the Phillies staff to sing "Happy Birthday" to me. When the girl appeared in our section and asked if it was my birthday, I flat-out told her no! But Moo had no problem getting serenaded by all of Section 241 and didn't even mind shaking off confetti for the next three hours!

Unfortunately, because it's still pre-season, the regular starters got pulled after a few innings, and the game itself became rather dull. But before departing, Chase Utley caused a stadium-wide swoon, thanks to a B.A. defensive play and a home run. (Of course, a college-age boy in our section yelled, "You go, Chase Utley!" and nearly tumbled over the railing in glee. I imagine he spent the rest of the game composing his own love letter to Chase.) Moo actually got a Chase jersey as a gift from my cousin, and we both agreed it is a "sound investment." (Certainly more than J. Werth apparel. Insert sad face here. At least he finally shaved his crazy beard!)

Even though this game didn't count, Moo still got to see a win and is now a sparkling 4-0 when attending live Phillies games. Damn. I wish I had that kind of luck!

Be true to your school

2010-03-30T01:32:00.005-04:00

Early in the season, Soph and I started assigning Flyers players to people in our lives. You may recall that, if my parents were represented by Flyers, Pops would be Timonen and Moo would be Pronger. And obviously, Soph would be Claude Giroux, since they're both cute and fluent in French. But all season, we've been unable to find my Flyers alter-ego.

Well today, Soph found my match! Once she read up on him, she couldn't help exclaiming, "That would totally be you, if you were in the NHL!"

The latest poor soul in the Flyers carousel of goalies is the snazzy-named Carter Hutton, a Phantoms call-up. However, he's finishing up his senior year at UMass, so he can only play for the Phantoms on weekends due to a Wednesday seminar class. (I guess it's a good thing the Flyers' next game is on Thursday?) When Soph revealed this to me, my reaction was pretty much, "MY PEOPLE!" I'm a total spaz about missing class, so I would clearly have ten heart attacks if I had to skip school to play hockey (or do basically anything). I wonder how long Hutton will actually stick around...

Shawty got class... oh behave!

I'm looking for a dare-to-be-great situation...

2010-03-22T01:39:00.006-04:00

Remember when I said I hoped Sunday's Flyers-Thrashers game wouldn't suck? Well, that didn't exactly happen. Cumulatively, I think there were about ten exciting minutes in the whole game, mainly in the third period when it looked like the Flyers might come back. They just could not get their act together. I've never seen so many chances where pucks bounced over guys' sticks! And why on earth were Parent and Bartulis playing together? It wasn't the worst game I've been to this year (that dubious honor goes to the Flyers-Sharks game), but it was pretty lackluster. To quote the little boy sitting next to me, "Wake up and smell the pucks!" (Our section for this game was full of saucy tykes. Another one yelled something like, "You've got the game on the line and you blew it!" at some point during the third period. BURN.) The Islanders game gave me hope that my mom would actually see an exciting one, but it was not meant to be. :(

Jeff says, "That's me in the corner..."

So Moo's first Flyers game since the '80s was rather a bust. But we still managed to have a good time! (Once Moo recovered from the horror of seeing Hartnell's hair up close, that is.) Our seats, first row in 215, were pretty bangin'. (I picked them out all by myself!) Aside from the spunky kids, our section wasn't as rowdy as some of them... though there was one guy who, approximately two minutes into the game, bellowed, "Put someone on their ass!" Well, okay then, thank you sir! And at least the Flyers didn't get blown out, so Moo got to see someone score for a case of Tastykakes!

Warning: People on screen are as indecisive as they appear

This game had some added intrigue because I'd been toying with the idea of buying a player shirt. However, I'm Little Miss Indecisive, so this task proved challenging. (In case you were wondering, I own exactly zero jerseys and player tees. Not surprising!) I guess if I did get a shirt, I would join the masses and get a Giroux tee, but I was struggling because the shirt I liked the most was only available in optic orange... not a redhead-friendly shade. While I debated, Moo made this astute point: "If you'd gotten a Simon Gagne jersey back in the day, it would have been a wise investment." (Yes, my original Flyers fave, for a hot minute, was Simon. I KNOW. Hard to believe now, since I'm pretty indifferent to him.) Moo and I have been struggling with player shirts that are "wise investments" all weekend because she bought me a Jayson Werth t-shirt on Saturday, with full knowledge that it will, most likely, not be a wise investment. Oh well. In any case, I just didn't see the Giroux tee of my dreams, so, much like Whitney Houston, I have nothing. But it's okay, someday I'll make up my mind!

Happy St. Catrick's Day!

2010-03-17T01:40:00.000-04:00

That witty pun was the inside message in my mom's St. Patty's Day card to me:

My mom is convinced that I will, one day, be a spinster with 80 apparently drunken cats.

(Also, these fellas could use some Kitten ~~Mittens~~ Mittons!)

My parents get along really well, but they're quite different. (They've been divorced forever, which may explain why they get along so well?) To put it in Flyers terms, Pops is like Kimmo Timonen: the always calm father figure.

And then there's my mom. She's like Chris Pronger: totally B.A.

My mom, aka Moo, doesn't get a lot of play on the blog, but that's all about to change because we're going to our first ever Flyers game together! That's right, we'll be taking in this Sunday's Flyers-Thrashers game. (I'm already praying that Leighton's injury won't be that serious, but a high ankle sprain? REALLY, hockey gods? Ughhh...) This may be Moo's first live game since the '80s...? I hope it doesn't suck!

My mom and I may look alike, but we're also quite different. For starters, Moo loves baseball like I love hockey; thus, she's head-over-heels for the Phillies. (We're even going to the game on April 2nd to celebrate her b-day!) She's still recovering from losing her beloved Cliff Lee and, as she also adores Jayson Werth, she likes to scold me for mis-treating my J. Werth blanket. ("Why is he all balled up?! If I've only got one more year with him, please fold him!") Personality-wise, Moo is way saucier than I am. She pulls no punches and is an expert at thinking up killer comebacks.

ANYWAY, since the Phillies consume her life, Moo needs Flyers 101. She knows Gagne ("How old is he?! Does he have a walker yet?"), Giroux (from hearing us gush about him constantly), Coburn and Carter (thanks to the Carnival), and Richards (since he's the captain and all), but that may be it. I'm thinking of making her a handy-dandy guide so she'll be fully prepared for her game experience... Fingers crossed that it's a good game!

(On a completely unrelated note, the playoffs started this week in our fantasy league. Soph won our division... woooo! And I achieved my goal and actually made the playoffs! I'm really way too excited about it. Last year, I was a horrible GM, and my team sucked, so I'm glad to no longer be on the outside looking in. Obviously, Soph is the grizzled playoff veteran, while I'm the overly excited rookie. Such. A. Nerd.)

Hope springs eternal!

2010-03-13T15:39:00.003-05:00

I must say, I don't usually jump off my couch, cheering with glee, during regular season Flyers games. In fact, Pops was even dozing off as the third period wound down today. But then! Hartnell woke us up with his goal, and, by the time Pronger scored, we were practically doing a jig. (Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!) What an fantastic end to an exciting game! (And not just because three members of Foxy Lady Byng got points on those last two goals. Heh.) Giroux's pass was quite beautiful (perhaps helping him live up to his super-gangsta nickname of "G"), and the Flyers showed a lot of resolve coming back against a top-tier team like Chicago. I'm kind of worried about them heading down the stretch, but if they can win big games like this, there's hope!

Hockey is everywhere!

2010-03-13T01:38:00.001-05:00

You're probably all familiar with the game Quizzo. But if not, it's basically bar trivia that allows you to feel really cool for knowing random things, like that Alphaville sings "Forever Young" and that Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre. And for the visual thinkers, there's a round of pictures featuring various actors, singers, athletes, etc. I usually correctly identify a grand total of ZERO pictures, but last Wednesday, all that changed! Because a hockey player finally made it into the picture round!

Me (on the phone with Soph afterward): "OMG! Crunchy was one of the pictures in Quizzo!"
Soph: "Seriously?! I hope you put 'Crunchy' down as your answer."

First MTV and now Quizzo... We are living in a ~~material~~ hockey world!

(PS- During the Olympics, Pops asked me where the nickname "Crunchy" originated. I figured it had to be traced back to the -Ookies, and lo and behold! The explanation they give is quite amusing.)

I've been waiting for a game like you... (aka a WIN!)

2010-03-10T01:27:00.007-05:00

At first, this game seemed like it was going to be all kinds of FAIL. For starters, there was no card giveaway (whaaaaat?), although I guess we may have missed it because we were almost late. (And by "almost late," I mean "almost late for warm-ups," which is just unacceptable!) Then, the Flyers were lackadaiscal for a period and a half. John "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel" Tavares broke a 17-game goalless drought, and, to make things infinitely better, the drunkards behind us really enjoyed yelling. About everything. (Okay dudes, the players can't hear you from the Mezzanine, so why are you screaming in MY ear?)

Jeff says, "No one on the corner got swagger like me!"

But THEN! Laviolette must have waved a magic wand before the second period (or at least before it ended) because Carter scored a lovely goal right in front of us, and Giroux and Simon added goals in a third period rally. Woot! I must have said, "Soph should be here" about fifty times because, not only did her two faves score, but it was practically Jeff Carter Night! They showed his Pop Up Video, and he was the PGW Hot Player! (LOLZ) So it turned out to be a good night all around, as Pops and I finally got to see a win this year! However, Pops was also a winner because he got to indulge in second intermisson ice cream, which I had to decline. (Because I stupidly gave up ice cream for Lent! Curses!) ANYWAY, here are some other random notes from this game:

-When Krajiecek got hit in the face, it was like deja vu for us (since we were there on Black Friday and witnessed Lappy's epically B.A. performance wherein he stopped a shot with his face only to come back later in the game). By the time Carcillo and JVR got injured, we were starting to think we were cursed! Flyers, we love you, really! We don't want you to get injured in our presence!

-Soph and I love watching the pre-game skate, so even though the music tonight was lame (no "Swagger Like Us" or "1901"?!), I was totally on board. I think I love it a little too much, though, because I've learned some guys' tendencies. Like that Pronger doesn't stay out that long, while Carter, Coburn, and Giroux stay out the whole time. Speaking of those three, Coburn and Giroux were kind of playing catch with the puck at one point and then Jeff came along and stood in their way, all oblivious. Oh, Jeff!

-On a musical note, if you're wondering what song plays right before the game starts when they announce "FLYERS. [insert opposing team name here]. NOW.", it's "Rebirthing" by Skillet. We discovered this quite accidentally last year because a girl in our French Club had that song as her ring tone, oddly enough!

-Lastly, I got to meet up with K-Mart after the game because apparently, we can't be at the same game unless the Islanders are involved. (He actually got to skate on the Wachovia Center ice earlier in the day, so his game experience was much cooler than mine!) Meeting up with blogger BFFs is always fun, so it was a nice end to a great game!

Dork-a-licious, part 2

2010-03-08T01:18:00.004-05:00

Last year, while basking in the joy of senioritis, Soph, Paulina, and I went through a spell where we pretty much locked ourselves in our dorm room and watched every Steve Dangle episode on YouTube. Because he's freakin' hilarious. This year, due to our super sloooooow home computer, I've been slacking. But I stumbled upon this video the other day, wherein Steve Dangle combines my two favorite things: hockey and the Olympics. Woot! My initial Olympics bf (before the U.S. hockey team collectively stole that title) Alex Bilodeau even makes a cameo! If you're going through Olympics withdrawal too, check it out, it's pretty funny:

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/niketraining-en_CA/2010/03/02/rolling-in-gold-dangles-olympics

(Hopefully, you can actually listen to the video... Yesterday, I watched it with no problems, and today, there's suddenly no sound. AWESOME. Our computer loves me.)

Speaking of Steve Dangle, I'm going to be seeing his doppelganger John Tavares on Tuesday because Pops and I are going to the Flyers-NYI game! When I told Soph, she immediately started giggling because the Islanders are definitely the opposing team we've seen the most without even trying. In any case, I'm so excited to see a game live! Hooray! It's been so long since we've been to the Wachovia Center, I practically cheered when Pops and I passed the Broad and Pattison exit on the highway today. (Also, I'm a huge nerd.) This game should be all kinds of awesome because they're allegedly giving away the 2010 team set of cards as well! (Also, I'm a huge nerd.) I've seen two losses so far this year, so here's hoping third time's the charm!

Bad romance?

2010-03-06T00:27:00.006-05:00

On Thursday night, the Sharks played the Canadiens, and, in anticipation of that game, Four Habs Fans pimped us out as a Sharks blog. (They did acknowledge our mind-boggling Flyers-Sharks hybrid, which I feel like I should explain for people who don't know us: Soph from San Jose + Jess from Philly = Slightly Saucy!) ANYWAY, FHF got me thinking... when was the last time we wrote exclusively about the Sharks?
.....

.....

Yeahhh...

November, I think, when Soph went to the Flyers-Sharks game at the HP Pavilion. Yikes.

All year, we've been lamenting how we just don't know this Sharks team. The team we first started to like in 2007 has been largely dismantled. (Okay, I guess we have Matt Carle to bridge the Flyers-Sharks gap, but he's never been one of our faves.) You can catch Sharks games fairly often on the east coast, so I don't know why I'm still struggling to keep these newish guys straight. (Though apparently, Jamie McGinn has made an impression somehow. Last night, Pops was like, "Who's number 64?" To which I immediately said, "Jamie McGinn, duh." Go figure.) We still know what's going on with the Sharks, like that they're at the top of the western conference and also had crickets chirping at the trade deadline, but we don't blog about them as much as we probably should. Soph's fave (Milan) is off in Ottawa, and I guess my fave is supposed to Pickles, but I'm just not that into him this year. We've always liked Joe Pavelski, but he's kind of like vanilla bean ice cream: good and reliable but not that exciting. Soph and I do enjoy some of the young call-ups like Frazer "Razor" McLaren (the total beanpole poised to be a future enforcer) and this guy:

This is Jason Demers, who is actually a defenseman and not a young and slightly disheveled high school algebra teacher.

(I think our school portraits had that same background!)

But they keep getting pinballed between Worcester and SJ, so that's problematic. And there's our year with the Sharks, in a nutshell: we're caught in a bad romance. (Ro-ma-ooh-la-la) With the playoffs on the horizon, we'll be paying closer attention to the Sharks' latest epic ~~fail~~ run for the Cup, along with the Flyers' attempt to hang on to a spot in the east. Ugh, this last month of the season is going to be the death of me and my nerves!

Flyers trade deadline recap

2010-03-04T02:19:00.000-05:00

*crickets chirping*

Hockey... kind of a big deal?

2010-03-03T01:21:00.002-05:00

So tonight I was innocently watching the Sharks-Devils game on Versus, when I decided to flip to MTV during a commercial. (Okay, okay, the siren song of 16 and Pregnant was calling me. Come on, you want to know what dramaliciousness ensues for the girl who's yelling, "It's your baby! Get it through your head!" in every commercial for that show.) ANYWAY, all of a sudden, I start seeing all these pictures from the gold medal hockey game. So I'm thinking, "Oh, I must have gone back to Versus." BUT NO! The last shot in this commercial was Kesler hugging a teammate and then the MTV logo came into view. Sh-whaaaa? Hockey on MTV?! My mind has been blown. I know everyone has been saying what a big deal that game was, even for non-hockey fans, and I kind of had an inking when my almost-70 year old aunt texted me that she was watching it. But still! A commercial on MTV? Damn. Hockey is officially everywhere!

(Also, the trade deadline is rapidly approaching. Gulp.)

"The next call is going to be from the police!"

2010-03-01T01:52:00.001-05:00

That remark occurred when our phone rang as Pops and I were celebrating Zach Parise's tying goal. (Ie-jumping up and down and screaming. Or, in my case, saying, "Oh my god!!!" repeatedly) Needless to say, we were a wee bit excited by the gold medal game. That game gave me about ten heart attacks. In fact, during the OT, I first covered my eyes and peeked out from behind my fingers. But then this became too cumbersome, so I took off my glasses and "watched" the rest of the game that way, hoping a blue blob would score. But we all know what happened next... I'm going to miss this underdog U.S. team. I wish we could cheer for them all the time! Even Pops was like, "I miss Crunchy!" during the closing ceremonies. Katebits recently had a post lamenting how we have to "give up" these U.S. players once the season resumes and everyone goes back to their NHL teams. That's how I feel too. We're all lovey-dovey with these players, but now they have to go back to their other teams. Too bad. At least it was fun while it lasted!

On a random note, during the first period, Pops and I noticed the name that American moms love the most:

I threw Bobby Ryan in there too, just for kicks.
(And in case you forgot, I've got the market cornered on hideous stationery.)

You guys, I'm so sad the Olympics are over. THANK GOD the NHL comes back now to fill the Olympic-sized void in my heart. The trade deadline is Wednesday, so I'll be back to having ten heart attacks a day in no time! Also, the return of the NHL marks the return of fantasy hockey. I can't believe that our season is winding down already. Where did the time go?!

This is YOUR time!

2010-02-27T12:56:00.002-05:00

In honor of Sunday's gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada, I give you the cutest pump-up speech in all the land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CdJTfGiRCI

(It's the little boy reciting Herb Brooks' speech from Miracle. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out... it's precious. Soph actually sent me this link back in October because she's psychic.)

U-S-A! U-S-A!

It's 3 AM, do you know where your sanity is?

2010-02-22T02:52:00.003-05:00

Probably somewhere in the paper that I am currently word vomiting for class tomorrow. But that's beside the point...

I'm glad that the first Olympic hockey game I got to see in its entirety was USA vs. Canada. Because it was phenomenal. I love me some saucy upstarts. Timely goals, aggressive play, Miller's fantastic saves... all-around awesomeness. Also, Prophetic Pops strikes once again, as he predicted as U.S. victory.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

And now I really want to watch Miracle, though I've clearly seen it too much, judging by this mid-game conversation:

Pops: "1960. That's when the U.S. hockey team won their first gold medal."
Me: "Herb Brooks was the last guy cut. He was Ralph Cox of that team."
Pops: "Who's Ralph Cox?"
Me: "The last guy Herb Brooks had to cut from the 1980 team! Gosh, Pops!"

Clearly, I have a really good memory for really odd trivia. I guess Pops needs to watch Miracle by himself about 50 times, to catch up to my standards!

Olympic snapshots

2010-02-20T00:13:00.004-05:00

During the pairs figure skating medal drama of the '02 Games (TWO gold medals?!), Michael Barkann exclaimed on Daily News Live that "the figure skating is CRAZY!!!11!!" Which Moo and I immediately incorporated into our vernacular. To this day, when things are weird, we'll be like, "It's crazy..." "Crazy like the figure skating!?!?" Yes, we're nerds. ANYWAY, the figure skating is legit crazy once again. Lysacek won gold but Plushenko (and others) are crying foul? Ohhh snap!

***

I tried to watch ice-dancing tonight and couldn't really get into it. Not surprisingly, all I retained was this insightful commentator remark:

"Their weakness is unfortunate mishaps."

...Soooo their "weakness" is bad luck? How is bad luck a weakness and not just an excuse to play depressing music and eat cake icing right out of the container? I guess this means I don't have a future as an ice dancing commentator. Curses!

***

As much as I've been watching the Olympics, I don't think I've seen one hockey game all the way through yet. At least I caught most of the Canada-Swiss game Thursday, and that was fantastic. I'm kind of in love with the Swiss, those saucy upstarts. (And not just because they have my former not-so-secret love Luca Sbisa!) They're all like, "I don't care that Team Canada is practically an NHL All-Star Team. We're gonna check you guys constantly and makes you sweat it out in front of your home fans. HA-HA!" Pretty awesome. I also managed to see Kimmo Timonen get two PP goals against Germany tonight. Hooray!

***

And one last enjoyable quote, courtesy of Shaun White:

"It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird."

Apparently, redheads everywhere love the word "saucy." Woot.

They tried to make me go to (Olympics) rehab...

2010-02-16T01:43:00.007-05:00

(And I said, "No, no, no!")

When I found out that my class tonight was canceled, my reaction (after squealing with glee and then feeling guilty because my prof is sick) was, "Woooo! Now I can watch the Olympics!!!" Yeah, and hockey hasn't even taken center stage yet. I'll admit it, I have a problem: total Olympics addiction.

The face that launched a thousand headlines...

I can't help it. The Olympics just happen to incorporate some of my favorite things, like super intense sports and dramatic montages! What's not to love? Poor Paulina made the mistake of calling during tonight's Olympic coverage (she probably thought she was in Vancouver because we had the TV so loud), and I discovered my true calling in life: Olympics matchmaker. I just want everyone to love the Olympics as much as I do! I know Soph will be on board once hockey starts, so I decided to help Paulina and promptly sent her to google Alexandre Bilodeau. He's a total cutie with an endearing family story, a history of playing hockey, and did you know he won the first gold medal on home soil for Canada!?!? (The only downside is that he celebrated his victory by getting all makey-outy with his girlfriend on camera. I can't decide if that ending to his NBC interview was shocking or adorable. Soph had a good laugh pointing out that, if I were his gf, I would have been like, "Uh, I'm not going anywhere near those cameras! See ya back in the Olympic Village, dude!") So far, I think Bilodeau is my fave Olympian, though obviously, I'm willing to share him with Paulina (and all of Canada). I also enjoy that Hannah Kearney said that her goal for the Olympics was to end up in a montage. I'm with ya, sister!

Had Alex Bilodeau played moguls in this game, he might have re-thought his career path...

So clearly, I'm down with moguls. (That was one sport I valiantly tried not to suck at in my '94 Winter Olympics SNES game, but despite my best efforts, I always sent my poor Olympian tumbling down the mountain. Oh well.) I also enjoy how they'll blast songs like "No One Like You" and "Eye of the Tiger" during the moguls runs. I love me some stellar '80s rock.

While I do adore the Olympics, there is one thing that Soph and I are not enjoying: Jeff Carter being denied by Team Canada. Ankle sprains are tricky; I don't know that I would have kept Getzlaf, even with his two goals Sunday. But I'm not Steve Yzerman, and I imagine he knows a wee bit more than I do. Too bad for Jeff. :(

I believe in a thing called love

2010-02-14T01:36:00.001-05:00

There's been so much going on lately, I don't even know where to begin!

So today is Valentine's Day, aka my fave holiday! (Well, along with Thanksgiving and Christmas... I'm not totally nuts.) Valentine's Day is just so cute with its love and hearts and all that fun stuff. My mom, though, usually takes advantage of this fine holiday to poke fun at my impending cat-lady spinsterhood. This year, I got a "from the cat" V-Day card. BURN. Hope springs eternal that I will, one day, find a hockey-loving boy who can handle my excessive cupcake baking, overuse of the comma, and penchant for listening to the same five songs on repeat. But until then... my cats are waiting. Gee, thanks Moo! ;)

Besides being a national holiday, Valentine's Day is also Pops' birthday! So happy b-day Pops! Thanks (?) for all the teachable moments and enlightening advice (ranging from "I think 'apeshit' is two words" to "Looks aren't everything, but they do account for something.") Pops' real b-day gift came early while we were watching the Opening Ceremonies Friday night, and he was reunited with his hockey husband:

Me: "Do you think Foppa will be Sweden's flag bearer?"
Pops: "Of course! He's already on a postage stamp!"

And lo and behold! (Pops also predicted Simon's OT winner against the Devils, so he's on quite a roll this year.)

And that leads me to another momentous occasion... the OLYMPICS! WOOOOO! As you might recall from my drunk-on-the-Olympics posts in '08, I'm quite smitten with the Games. The Winter Olympics especially warm my heart because, when I was little, I played my Winter Olympics '94 SNES game ALL the time, even though the game itself was freakin' impossible. ANYWAY, considering my long-standing Olympics love, it's not surprising that Pops and I were glued to all four and a half hours of the Opening Ceremonies... as well as moguls and speed skating tonight. I'll miss the NHL for the next two weeks, but I'm quite pysched to let the Games begin!

And finally... since I've been a slacker blogger, I didn't acknowledge that Slightly Saucy turned two back in January! So in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I'd like to show some love to some very important people, as far as the blog is concerned... namely Soph because, without her initiator enthusiasm, we never would have started this thing. Back in '08, she somehow convinced my shy self to write a blog with her, and thus, this hockey-loving haven was born. Two years, 20+ live NHL games, hundreds of pictures, and one fantasy league championship later, Slightly Saucy is still around. Soph basically makes awesomeness her full-time job, and for that, I'm very grateful! Loyal readers (all two of you!) also keep this blog from fizzling out. So thanks Kristin and K-Mart, for always reading our game/Carnival misadventures, As the Ice Melts, and laments about drunk old men and the kiss cam. (Ew... still traumatized!) And lastly, I have to give a shout-out to my friend Ellen because she's way better at pimpin' out our blog than I am!

And to any one else who actually enjoys reading Slightly Saucy... thanks. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Poor Soph :(

2010-02-10T22:56:00.001-05:00

Pops drew the snowflakes... that's beyond my artistic ability.

So if you're on the east coast, you know we're in the midst of the craziest snow fall since the Blizzard of '96. I was nine then, when walking out the back door into a snow drift was fun times. Not so much today, as Pops and I struggled to shovel our driveway in blizzard conditions. (At least our four-year-old neighbor gallantly offered to help us!) The weather in CA must be a smidge better than it is here...

Anyway, while I'm reveling in my snow days, Soph isn't doing as well on the west coast. You may recall that she had her spleen out in the summer of '08, and now she's sick again. :( Poor Soph. I'm a wreck, of course, and so are some of her faves:

Giroux was quite upset to learn about Soph's latest illness in a post-game interview, exclaiming, "You insensitive jerks! Now I know why Richards hates the Philly media!" before storming off.

Jeff was a bit more composed, but inside, he was surely freaking out. He just looks like this all the time, I think...

(Richards [while wrestling the remote away from Jeff]: "Dude, why are you giving me the blue steel look?"

Carter: "That's just how my face is! Gawd!")

Clearly, we're all very distressed here on the east coast. But it's probably for the best that I'm here because if I were on the west coast, we'd be watching Disney movies and generally being ridiculous while the doctor's trying to examine you, Soph! Get well soon, lovey!!! :D

Carnival Diary: Without Soph, we're awkwardness magnets!

2010-01-16T16:26:00.002-05:00

So last Sunday was yet another Flyers Wives Carnival... but there was just one problem: Soph is still in CA. (Insert sad face here) Thankfully, Giggles aka Paulina graciously agreed to accompany me when Pops refused to go. (My, how the tables have turned!) I can't say that this Carnival was especially exciting, as we only met three people, but here's the requisite novella:

Braydon Coburn Photo Booth

I'm like the shyest person ever, so meeting one of my faves right off the bat was rather daunting. Somehow, though, I whisked Paulina and myself into Coburn's line... which was like two people long. Poor Coburn. I guess it's hard to woo fans when you're not a total hottiecakes and you're the current defensive whipping boy. Even so, he seemed quite unfazed. We were greeted by a beaming Braydon, who shook my hand and excitedly ushered us into the little photo area. He was pretty much our new BFF!

Coburn: "Wow, did you guys just come in from outside?"
Me: "Yeah... it's freezing out there!" (Apparently, I was too overwhelmed to say anything remotely interesting!)
Coburn: "You can always tell who's been outside... they feel like ice cubes!"

(We had indeed just come in from outside, but I should explain that I am often a victim of total ice hands. After being exposed to the cold, my hands could inflict instant frostbite. And poor, unassuming Coburn got an ice hands sneak attack! Oops! But because he's tough and would make it in the NHL, he didn't recoil in surprise. He came back.)

So the three of us gather for the picture, new BFFs that we are, and then, as we're leaving, Paulina and Brayds seemed to be having an intimate discussion about the photography lamps in the picture area. (She's just so artsy!) When we returned to the concourse, though, Paulina revealed that she could have gotten a hug from him, but she unintentionally shot him down by pointing out the lamp so excitedly.

Me: "Whaaaaat?! You were almost HUGGED by Coburn?!"
Paulina: "Maybe... I guess he didn't want to hug YOU after feeling your ice hands!"
Me: "Waahhh..."

Even though he didn't want to hug me (understandably... why get frostbite?), I have only glowing things to say about Coburn. He was really down to earth and friendly, which put my shy self at ease. And he was super patient, waiting to hear if our picture turned out okay before sending us on our way. When reporting the day's events back to Soph, the first thing I gushed was, "Braydon Coburn is sooooo nice..." so clearly he made quite an impact! Nice guys always finish first here at Slightly Saucy!

~~Claude Giroux, Autograph/Photograph Booth~~

Now I would like to talk about meeting Claude Giroux. I would like to rave about how he's all sunshine and rainbows and then detail how we sang "Don't Stop Believing" choir-style with choreographed dance moves. (Oh wait, that was Glee.) But I can't, because none of that happened. Claude Giroux was SOLD OUT! Autographs, photographs, everything! Oy. I should have known this would happen when Paulina and I saw approximately fifty Giroux jerseys in the Will Call alone. And I was all prepared to get a program insert signed for Soph too! Oh well, to make up for not meeting Giroux, Paulina won this very appropriate prize for Soph:

At least she can now drown her sorrows!

(In case you can't tell, that's a martini shaker, a shot measurer, a bottle opener... and a bubble wand?)

Kimmo Timonen Autograph Booth

After being thwarted in our attempts to meet Mr. Pop-u-lar Claude Giroux, we set our sights on Timonen. Soph and I do love our Finnish, father figure d-man! So Paulina agreed to get an autograph for Soph, which should have been easy... except that we're awkwardness magnets! As Paulina and I made our way through the line, I noticed that the guy in front of us was a chatterer... never a good sign. I also noticed that Timonen was accompanied by his son, who eventually got bored and left. I thought little of it until we reached Timonen and this exchange took place:

Chatterer: "Hey, was that your daughter who was with you?"
Me (thinking): "OMG!"
Timonen: "That was my son."
Chatterer: "Oh."
Me (thinking): "Just kill me now."

HOW AWKWARD!!! Though Timonen just laughed it off, I'd like to think he was rather thrown by it because then this happened:

Paulina: "Hi, can you sign it to Sophie?"
Timonen (smiling): "...That might be too hard for me."

He seemed like he was joking, so we laughed and spelled it for him.

Timonen (to his attendent): "Do we have a pen and paper?"

So the attendent with him spelled it again while he wrote it on the side of the ticket box. Poor Timonen! We didn't mean to cause such confusion! Not surprisingly, when he finally signed Soph's book, he added a very triumphant exclamation point after her name!

Jeff Carter Photograph Booth

This one might come as a surprise, considering we've been indifferent to Jeff Carter for his whole Flyers tenure! But last year, Soph and I witnessed his first career hat trick, and I think that was a bonding experience. This year, since he's not doing as well, he's working that angsty, vulnerable angle ("Oh, woe is me, I didn't make the Olympic team. I wear black on the outside, 'cause that's how I feel on the inside."), further reeling us in. So Soph decided that I had to get a picture with him. When I sheepishly announced this to Paulina, she was more open to it than I was! ("That's fine... Jeff Carter's cute!" *insert skeptical look from me* "It's just because you don't like blonde boys ever!" Well, guilty as charged!)

Not surprisingly, Carter was a much bigger draw than Coburn, though his line was an odd mix of tweeny girls and little boys. (The little boys were so cute. They were so awe-struck to see Jeff Carter in person!) When we reached the front of the line, there was no hand shake or friendly chatter. And while Coburn had put an arm around each of us, we were instructed by the photographer to stand behind Jeff's shoulders. Um... okay. I haven't taken a lot of pictures with players, but I don't think I've ever been told to do that before! It was the cherry on the cake of our awkwardness, as was this super lengthy conversation:

Me: "Wow, you're a pro at this."
Jeff: "Heh. Yeah."

Oy. I guess it's hard work being so popular. As Soph pointed out when I recounted this lame interaction, "I guess the only thing that can stop us from liking Jeff Carter is Jeff Carter himself!" True 'dat. In his defense, though, we met him like ten minutes before the Carnival ended, so the fact that he didn't fall off his stool, asleep, was major!

~~Phantoms~~

When the ~~Philadelphia~~ Adirondack Phantoms weren't at this year's Carnival, I was going to die from not surprise. They're not in Philly anymore, so why would they be there? There's just a slight problem, though... I've become quite smitten with Jon Kalinski! (Apparently, I love guys who do commercials about their near-death injuries. Bonus that Kalinski also looks like he's twelve years old!) Soph even gave me some sound advice about what to say to him, if he were at the Carnival: "Meeting you... an indescribable feeling. It's like flying." Um, clearly it's for the best that he wasn't there!

The majority of my Carnival pictures look like they were taken from Jupiter, but here's the few that turned out okay!

Winter Classic Open Thread!

2010-01-01T12:47:00.004-05:00

Winter Classic Day is finally here!!11!!! It's like Christmas morning! Soph and I are super excited (no, really?!), and we're going to be watching the game together bicoastally! Blogger BFFs, feel free to join in if you need a home for the game!

Happy (almost) Winter Classic Day!

2009-12-31T16:36:00.006-05:00

An assortment of Winter Classic cupcakes!

(Like I needed an excuse to bake...)

Soph and I are really not fans of New Year's Eve/Day. So THANK GOD there's the Winter Classic to get us excited! (Though we are kinda scared that the Flyers will get blown out tomorrow. They're not going to suck, right? Right???) I'll just be watching the game at home, but this is thrilling for several reasons:

Pops and I recently got a new TV, so we'll see the game in glorious high-def! (Though apparently, even with high def, I'm still really unobservant, as I didn't notice Leighton's white tape goalie mask. Ooops.)

I can't handle cold weather. I can pretty much guarantee that I'll be wrapped up in my Jayson Werth blanket and wearing ten layers of clothes while sitting on my couch. Yup. I'm a prime candidate for a Snuggie.

Plus, Pops and I love Fenway. We went up to Boston in the summer of '05, and a Red Sox-Yankees game injected some much needed sports excitement into an otherwise dull year. (Ohhh, the lockout. I don't miss you.) From the moment we were swallowed into the crowd on Yawkey Way, the feeling was contagious. Good times never seemed so good. (So good! So good! So good!) And we can't wait to see our fave sport played in that awesome setting. Hooray!

Happy New Year, guys!

ETA: Comcast is showing the Flyers' skate at Fenway, and the players all look so happy! Giddy even. Aaahh, I'm getting so psyched! Tomorrow feels like Christmas or something!

All I want for Christmas is Giroux...

2009-12-23T23:34:00.006-05:00

...and the Flyers to win a few games!

So, I'm sorry I'm lame and haven't really been posting. Term papers, a cold, and the Flyers' overall suckitude have conspired to make me into a crankypants. But thank god there's something good on the horizon: Christmas! Hooray! Somehow, I don't foresee my Christmas being as exciting as, say, Carrie Underwood's (though Pops' friend did ask me today if I'm getting married soon. Quoi?!), but it IS the most wonderful time of the year! And there's lots coming up in the new year too, namely the Winter Classic (and themed cupcakes!) and the Flyers Wives' Carnival. And maybe the Flyers will even build on tonight's win... for reals this time! Lots to look forward to!

ANYWAY, stick figure Jess and Soph would like to say a few words:

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! :D

No business like snow business...

2009-12-21T01:07:00.004-05:00

Pops and I OBVIOUSLY used our time wisely today...

Look, he's a hockey player! Complete with hockey stick and black eye!

He's even got a ~~ridiculous~~ nice hat for the Winter Classic...

If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it

2009-12-05T12:44:00.003-05:00

A Stanley Cup ring, perhaps? 'Cause Peter Laviolette brings that to the table...

Black (and orange) Friday

2009-11-28T02:06:00.006-05:00

So you may recall that I wanted to go to the Flyers' Black Friday game. Well, Pops and I did wind up going... after buying tickets at 12:30 this afternoon! We are so spontaneous these days. And our seats were surprisingly awesome! On game days, I guess you can get lower level seats for cheaper prices just because they want to move tickets, so we snagged seats downstairs, center ice, with a lovely view of the bench. And we were in and out of the box office so fast, we didn't even miss warm-ups. Sweet!

Oh, hey there, Jeff... Fancy meeting you here.

Speaking of warm-ups, I now know one more of the Flyers warm-up songs: "1901" by Phoenix. (It's in some car commercial, and I literally just googled "car commercial song" and found it immediately.) Anyway, I saw lots of Carter as he was camped out in front of our section, and Giroux was nearby, doing some stick-handling like Dwayne in D2. I was hoping to see if Giroux had some B.A. black eye or other remnants of his fight, but we weren't close enough to the glass. Oh, and speaking of B.A.! Ian Laperriere took a puck to the face and came back for the third period with a full shield. Daaamn. I wish there weren't quite so many injuries in this game, though. Kind of a buzzkill.

But Coburn's goal was quite exciting, especially because I could see it all the way from his stick to the back of the net! I don't know that I've ever been to a game where a d-man fave of mine has scored a goal. My mom couldn't even believe it and texted, "u must be good luck 4 him!" I don't know about that, since he only started doing well once I cut him from Foxy Lady Byng, but whatevs, I'm just glad he's no longer a -1000! And though Pops and I missed Carcillo-Rivet round one, we came back in time to witness Carcillo going apeshit and like lunging across the ice to start round two. Madness! When they escorted him to the locker room, I envisioned him pulling a Dean Portman and like attacking a table while yelling, "I should be OUT THERE!!!" (Two D2 references in one post?! No one can live at that speed!)

ANYWAY, Pops was Chatter McBox and made friends with our seatmates, as always. That is, until Lauren Hart came along and sat down in front of us. The "Hart" jersey gave her away... along with that blinding rock she's got on her finger! Pops actually has a bit of a crush on her, so his reaction was, "Merry Christmas to me!" However, he was too overwhelmed by her presence to talk to her. Oh well, there's always the Carnival!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving, complete with lots of yummy food and crazy relatives! If you had a dance party to "Last Christmas" in the kitchen after dinner (and overheard someone exclaim, "Well, I can't dig up your father and ask him!"), then we had pretty similar Thanksgivings, yeah...

Quoted for truth

2009-11-21T01:26:00.005-05:00

Giroux: Ha ha! Jess and Soph are totes breaking up with you and yo' team...

Carle: Oh snap!

Friday I'm in Love

2009-11-19T01:13:00.003-05:00

Cuz I'm going to see the Flyers! And it will be awesome. I haven't really been to too many hockey games this year, so I'm super excited. And I've got some kickass seats on the glass for my brother and me. It will be awesome.

I'm also going to be openly rooting for the Flyers. I know there's not like a rivalry between the two teams, but I've never gone to a game wearing the opposing team's colors. Pray for me?

God bless 'em anyway

2009-11-06T01:02:00.004-05:00

I first got into hockey during the 2000 playoffs. The year the Flyers won the 5 OT game and came thisclose to winning the eastern conference. After the Flyers were eliminated, the headline was "God Bless 'Em Anyway," and that's pretty much what I'm feeling for the Phillies. In the words of my friend Ellen, who LOVES the Phillies, "They had a GREAT season." And they did. Too bad it didn't end as fabulously as last year, but god bless 'em anyway. (Hopefully, my mom and aunts will be okay... they're going through total baseball withdrawal!)

Despite the stressfulness of this week for Philly sports fans, it was comedy hour at our house on Monday!

Me (pre-game): Aaahhh! Grab your Phillies shirt and your rosary!

Pops (post-game): If there's a game seven...
Me: Oh no, I'll be in class!
Pops: No way! I'll write you a note! And it'll say, "P-H-U-C-K class."
Me: Hmm, somehow I don't think my professor will appreciate that...

Pops (watching snippits from the '93 World Series): Freakin' Joe Carter! There went my music career!

Little known fact! Pops and his friends wrote a song for the '93 Phillies that was actually played on the radio! They even had a P.O. box for cassette tape requests (and fan mail?). However, when the Phils lost that year, record sales crashed. They were on the verge of going ~~platinum~~ zinc, until Joe Carter hit that home run. Curses!

ANYWAY, with the end of the World Series, there is nothing to distract us from total hockey love! The Flyers continue their jacked-up schedule with a game tomorrow against the Sabres, and hopefully, they'll perform well on three days rest! (Though Soph and I do enjoy our beloved Craig Rivet, and we've welcomed Staffy and Pommers onto our fantasy teams with open arms!) Speaking of the Sabres, they'll be here on Black Friday, and I really want to go to that game. (Soph, Pops, and I had a fabulous time at the Black Friday game last year... even though I think the Flyers lost in OT?) I guess I better start twisting Pops' arm now!

I'm trying not to be Debbie Downer...

2009-11-01T15:43:00.004-05:00

Well, yesterday was a super Saturday for two of our faves! First, Braydon Coburn got two goals in the Flyers' 6-1 win over the Canes! Huzzah! I'm mostly glad to see that I have not, in fact, totally hexed the poor guy. Kind of like with Debbie Downer, my love is the number one killer of NHL defensemen (and not domestic cats, as far as I know). Coburn's goals break that streak (for now), in addition to making my heart happy.

Jayson, I think our relationship would be a real home run...

(Sorry Chase.)

Then, J. Werth added two home runs in the Phils game! I love that man... he's just so cool. And the cast of Glee sang the National Anthem. (Too bad they couldn't throw, like, "Bust a Move" or "Don't Stop Believing" in there too! They're always looking for new mash-ups, no?) Otherwise, that game was rather a downer. The only silver lining is that last night was take two of the Smooch Chooch Party, so I got to see most of the game with my crazy family, who were literally waving rally towels while standing in the living room. (There was also a pretty intense round of Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit going on during the rain delay... I know you're all jealous.) I've baked cupcakes, I've done my part... now the Phils just have to win three games! Come on, guys!

Also also: Today is November 1st, which means it's Day 1 of National Novel Writing Month! So break out your quill pens and typewriters and get writing! I highly doubt that I can bust out a whole novel in a month... but I'm going to try to finish a novella that I've been working on. (Which means I'll have to push through my usual problems of "Everything I write suuuuucks!" and "No! No! Too much schoolwork! Can't. write. ever.") We'll see what happens with that...

Randy Jones is coming back...

2009-10-30T00:06:00.005-04:00

Sike! (or is it "Psych"? I've never actually written it out before) The Kings stole him on re-entry waivers.

Now not only is he's not playing but the Flyers still get half of the caphit. It's perfect since the Flyers have so much cap space to work with it. Beeeeeautiful. I love paying for nothing. Love him or hate him, this is no good.

As You Dislike It

2009-10-26T01:55:00.008-04:00

How did they know Pops was coming?!

So last night, Pops and I went to the Flyers-Sharks game, and I had some mixed emotions going into it. I've been rather disenchanted with the Sharks this season, since they've blown up the team that originally captivated us in '07. I just don't know these guys anymore. As for the Flyers, something is wrong with them. I don't know if it's the bizarre schedule they've had so far this season or what, but they just don't all seem to be on the same page... Richards' really unnecessary hit on David Booth certainly didn't help matters. (That was so sad/scary to watch. Here's hoping poor David Booth has a speedy recovery! He was a former member of Slightly Sucky, so we obviously love him.) We're shocked Richards wasn't suspended because that hit was definitely questionable.

But don't worry! Once we got to the game, my mixed emotions got thrown out the window:

Me: Aaaahhh! PICKLES!
Pops: I thought you didn't like the Sharks anymore...
Me: Whatever, man!

Woo, woo, woo, Claude Giroux!
And Coburn, sneaking in past the camera

I would totally baby-sit Shelley's kid... getting paid to go on Facebook would not be a problem!
I also like Dan Boyle a lot, though I always forget he's on the Sharks now.

I enjoy Timonen's dramatic glance here.
I wonder if he can smile with his eyes like on ANTM...

Pronger always looks like he's in pain in my pictures.
Perhaps because Carter is about to mow him down?

Pops also decided to bring a sign for Soph:

Pops: I want the bald guy to find us on the Sharks' feed!
Consequently, during the game, Pops would ask when Drew was going to find us as he waved his little sign!

Here are some things that made me happy:

Powe-wow scored! I always forget that I like him, but I do. He brought a lot of energy tonight. And he scored for the famous CASE OF TASTYKAKES!!!111!!! Lucky him!
No propositions for the Kiss Cam. Woo!
They still play "Swagger Like Us" during warm-ups!
Coburn was a starter and didn't get booed! I was really worried for him...
When Syvret got his delay of game penalty for knocking the puck over the glass, Pickles immediately dimed him out, pointing frantically at the glass. Oh Pickles, what a tattle-tale!

Things that made me sad:

It was just a weird game overall. It went by really fast but had like no flow to it.
Coburn and Timonen were each a -3.
Timonen lost his stick for an extended period of time and no other Flyer gave him one. And then the Sharks scored. Aren't forwards supposed to give up their sticks to a defenseman in need?
I still have my death cough and thus spent most of the game coughing (and probably making the cute couple next to me fear for their lives).
Soph wasn't there with us. Major sad face :(

I guess Pickles got the last laugh:

Even with my mixed emotions, I can't wait to go to another game. I'm gonna have to face it, I'm addicted to hockey!

*Fun Fact! This post's title came from this conversation during the game:
Pops: The power-play looks like a high school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream...
Me: Um, what?! (seconds later) God, I hate that play! And As You Like It. More like, As You DISLIKE It!
(Ooh, BURN, Shakespeare! My B.A. in English will be promptly revoked, don't worry...)

Birthday wishes and baseball smooches?

2009-10-20T01:37:00.007-04:00

Whoa-oh here she comes... watch out, she's the birthday girl!

First of all, today is Soph's birthday! So, happy birthday to my other half, the Sam to my iCarly (since I'm the prissiest), the Vinny to my Marty (we'll be playing together now!)... well, you get the idea... Hope you have a fabulous b-day on the best coast! :D

Since the Flyers are off for another 8,000 days, let's talk about the Phillies! Sunday night, my mom's Phillies-crazed family gathered to watch the game at my cousin's Smooch Chooch Party. (Nobody actually kissed his framed picture of Ruiz, though, which is probably for the best!) In honor of this momentous occasion, I embarked on my most ambitious baking project yet:

Phillies cupcakes! (Or, good luck cakes, perhaps???)
I'm not a vanilla girl, but I took one for the team... literally!

J. Werth got another homer (way to hit it, playa!) in the Phillies 11-0 rout. During the course of the night, one aunt decided that Raul was "a cutie" (um... whaaaat?), the uber-religious aunt announced that she's been praying for the Phillies, and my cousin came clean about his various Phillies bromances. (Along with Ruiz, he also looooooves Chaaaaaase. Shocker! Chase is the ultimate man-crush, it seems.) As for Monday night's game, I really thought it was over when the Phils couldn't capalize in the bottom of the eighth. So imagine my surprise when Pops started freaking out about Jimmy Rollins knocking in the winning runs. Daaaaamn. You go, boys!

Red October

2009-10-14T01:09:00.004-04:00

Things I've done over Fall Break:

- ~~homework~~ (puh-lease!)
-bake Flyers cupcakes
-watch the Phillies advance to the second round of the playoffs!!!

I've got a fever (or, more accurately, a "phever")... and the only cure is more Phillies! Yes, it's true. Much like my mom and co., I've fallen victim to Phillies Phever and spent last night screaming at the TV and hiding under my Jayson Werth blanket in fear during the game. But they won! In dramatic, come-from-behind fashion! With our beloved J. Werth knocking home the game-winning run! (Let's hear it for the boy!) And even I couldn't keep myself from wailing, "I loooooove you Chaaaaase!" by the end of this game. My mom's Red October is not, in fact, in jeopardy, which is fabulous news.

Meanwhile, Pops has decided that our house needs a Phillies mascot. But we don't have a Phanatic handy, so this is Goonk:

He's from Ikea, and we found him last summer while cleaning out my old toy chest. I guess he could be the Phanatic's Swedish cousin?

In other news, Soph and I were doing some bicoastal J. Werth research tonight, and we discovered that our fave Phillie used to to look like a total dork! Which only makes us love him more! (Seriously, I think I had those glasses in like third grade.) He looks like the type of guy you could have played Legend of Zelda or Earthbound with for hours... which is awesome. From uber geek to B.A. chic... a pretty impressive transformation. Just one more endearing side of Jayson Werth.

Cards, cards, cards, yeah!

2009-10-10T01:58:00.006-04:00

Apparently, the Flyers-Pens game was bananas? Soph and I saw exactly zero minutes of it (thank you, time differences and school), so we missed out. Moving on, the Flyers play the Ducks tonight, which means that this guy is coming to town:

Yes, that's my TV.
I actually took the picture in my euphoria over having Center Ice this week...
Sibsa just happened to be on-screen at that moment!

Remember when I was secretly in love with Sbisa? Yeahhh, well, I haven't really been following him, but I imagine he'll be playing tonight, along with Joff Lupul. Pops has a gig tonight, so there's a good chance I'll miss all of this game too. Curses!

In other news, I stopped by my favorite sports memorbilia store today, to celebrate the first day of Fall Break! The owner and I are like BFFs these days. When I came in over the summer, he found me some Claude Giroux cards and told me that "my friend" (aka Soph) would be jealous. I guess he doesn't get a lot of hockey-crazed girls dropping by the store, so we must be pretty memorable! Today's visit wasn't the most exciting, but I did get some packs. One pack contained both a Malkin card AND a Mike Richards card, so I think we know who that was meant for... Aside from that, the highlights were Marty and Vinny cards ("We have a song!"), along with Joe Sakic and Sergei Fedorov for Pops.

High hopes

2009-10-08T00:51:00.009-04:00

So today was my first ever baseball playoff game! Cliff Lee pitched a complete game, our beloved Jayson Werth had some big hits, and it was pretty much pandemonium! My previous games this season included copious rain delays and a Yiddish version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and today's game was not without its craziness... For starters, it was so ridiculously windy that I half expected to see a cow fly by like in Twister! And I'm still losing my voice, so my cheering abilities were limited. (Though I did manage a few rounds of "Rauuuuuul!!!") But the most amusing thing about this game was our section. Pretty much everyone around us was drunk, which made for some AWESOME observations, such as:

Man behind us: Oh, the bongo cam! If I make it on there, I can die happy! LORD, TAKE ME NOW!!!

Also, I've noticed that, when drunk at the ball game, twenty-something guys really like to profess their undying love of certain players. A few years ago, these guys in my section kept wailing, "I love you, Chase! I... loooooove... Chaaaaaase..." Today, the love connection was with Cliff Lee:

Guy behind us: I love Cliff Lee! I love Cliff Lee! You get 'em, Clifford, you big red dog, you!

Hilarious! However, I did have an, um, interesting offer from the rather wasted old man sitting beside me:

Old Man: Is that your boyfriend?
Me: Huh???
Old Man: Is that your boyfriend or your dad?
Me: Oh, it's my dad. *weirded out*
Old Man: Oh. Then he won't mind if we're on the Kiss Cam.
Me: AAAHHHH!!! *ULTRA weirded out*

I've never been propositioned for the Kiss Cam before. My fear in life is being on the Jumbotron anyway, so this was like a double whammy of terror! At the time, I was traumatized, but now I can laugh about it... I think...

ANYWAY, onto pictures!

Our fave Phillie skips out to join his teammates

J. Werth! From our sweet seats in right field
Moo: "I'm keeping an eye on him for Sophie..."

I love you, Chase! I... loooooove... Chaaaaaase...

High-fives all around! Game one is in the books!

Rally towels and assorted chaos

Good times! Now I'm even more eager for my first hockey game of the season, which hopefully will be the Flyers-Sharks game... fingers crossed!

Prophetic Pops

2009-10-06T21:58:00.002-04:00

Scene: Living Room, third period

Pops: "Danny Briere's gonna get the game winner on his birthday..."

Scene: Living Room, OT

Pops: "Who's gonna score?"
Me: "I don't know... Coburn!" (I like to think outside the box...)
Pops: "I'm sticking with Danny Briere."

Needless to say, Pops is very proud of himself...

In other news, the Flyers are 3-0! Wooooo! And the home opener was craziness! Quite a see-saw affair. If I were there, I'd probably have no voice left! (And I'm already kind of sick, so I sound ridiculous as it is!) I pretty much want to go to every other game this season... yeahhhh...

Speaking of games, I'm going to the Phillies playoff game tomorrow because my mom's family has caught Phillies phever this season. (Seriously, I now get texts from my mom that say things like,"My Red October in jeopardy. Find some pitchers. ") Weird things have happened at every other game I've gone to, so tomorrow should be interesting...