Hockey Love Hurts

While everyone is enjoying the NFL's biggest game of the season today as fans flock to Dallas for the Super Bowl, HBIC is offering up a fun contest being offered by Visa and the NHL. The Hockey Love Hurts campaign is running right now, and Visa is offering up some incredible deals along with the chance to win some cool NHL prizes. After playing around on the Hockey Love Hurts site, I discovered that you don't even need to be a Canadian citizen or have a Visa card in your possession to register for these awesome prizes. If they verify information when you win, though, I claim no knowledge or responsibility for what may happen during that course of events. Good? Good.

So what is Visa offering up?

Well, for starters, there's a trip for two to a Stanley Cup Final game! That's right, sports fans, you and a lucky companion could be headed to a Stanley Cup Final game this year to watch the Eastern and Western Conference champions battle it out for NHL supremacy! Imagine sitting front and center with these two dudes as the Blackhawks take a run at a second consecutive Stanley Cup!

While one lucky winner and a friend/significant other/person of some reference will be taking in a free hockey game this spring, it leaves the rest of us in some state of wanting. Cue Visa again as they are awarding 40 lucky fans the chance to win a $500 Prepaid Visa card! That's 500 smackeroos to allow you to do anything you like: buy NHL gear, buy NHL tickets, but your significant other something non-hockey for Valentine's Day... literally whatever you like!

A word of warning: don't read this legal mumbo-jumbo unless you really need help falling asleep. It's a lot of legal words and phrases that will make your head spin (unless you're a lawyer). I've taken the liberty of having some pre-law college students decipher this document, so here are the highlights:

• Approximate retail value of the Stanley Cup trip is $8,000 CAD based on a Vancouver to Pittsburgh example, although the actual retail value may vary depending on the point of departure and destination.
• Visa Prepaid cards must be accepted as awarded and are not transferable or convertible to cash. All Visa Prepaid cards offered as prizes in this contest are subject to the standard terms and conditions applicable to all Visa Prepaid cards.
• Rivalry games will occur randomly throughout the season (check half-way down that page). Not all teams are included in rivalry games. The teams selected for the rivalry games, with the number of games chosen in parentheses, include: Boston Bruins (2), Calgary Flames (5), Chicago Blackhawks (2), Detroit Red Wings (1), Edmonton Oilers (5), Los Angeles Kings (1), Montreal Canadiens (6), New York Rangers (3), Ottawa Senators (4), Philadelphia Flyers (1), Pittsburgh Penguins (2), Toronto Maple Leafs (6), Vancouver Canucks (5), and Washington Capitals (1).
• Random games will also allow hockey fans to win. There will be four Visa Prepaid cards awarded on Hockey Day in Canada (February 12, 2011); three Flames and/or Canadiens fans can win during the Heritage Classic (February 20, 2011); four fans can win on Trade Deadline Day (March 3, 2011); and eight more fans can win at the end of the regular season (April 12, 2011).
• Throughout the rest of the season, there will be random offers from your team sent to your email for various deals. There's no guarantee you'll receive an offer, but there should be something for you in your inbox eventually. There are some standing offers on the Visa Hockey Love Hurts website, so check those out as well!
• And just to show you that HBIC and Visa aren't always about an "anglais" Canada, vous pouvez accéder au site français de Visa ici.
  

Basically, it's probably in your best interest to sign up for this offer. I see nothing that would commit you to Visa aside from an occasional email, and make sure you follow a Canadian team to earn the most chances at winning a prize!

Here are Martin St. Louis, Alexandre Burrows, Ryan Kelser, and Scott Hartnell talking about some of their "Hockey Love Hurts" stories.

We'll add a few more stories as St. Louis, Kris Versteeg, Hartnell, Kesler, and Luke Schenn talk a little family.

Get entered in the contest ASAP for a better chance to win! Because, after all, losing is no fun. Hockey love really does hurt sometimes.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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Mad Skills

I'm not sure if you've heard the chatter this year, but this Sidney Crosby guy is pretty good. He leads the NHL in scoring right now, and he's won himself an impressive array of trophies and awards since he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was thought that he would be the ultimate setup man, much in the same fashion as Wayne Gretzky was, when he was drafted, but each passing year is proving that Crosby has some mad skills when it comes to shooting the puck. Thanks to the good people at Reebok, and to Ryan J. for bringing these videos to my attention, you can watch Sidney Crosby put on a little magic show with his stick and a few pucks.

The premise for these videos is that Crosby is testing out the new Reebok 11K Sickick III stick, the newest weapon in the arsenal of sticks that Reebok has brought to the market. Without ruining each of the videos with a long-winded explanation, here is Sidney Crosby breaking down a pyramid of pucks with an interesting twist at the end.

Now some have said that the video has been edited or spliced in some way because there's no way that Crosby could have done that in one take. I, however, disagree with that idea simply because there's no way that something like picking off the rolling puck happens on multiple takes. While the doubters remain, I'll present what I'll call "Exhibit B" in this examination of Crosby's skills. Check this video out.

How many of you moved out of the way when Crosby accurately fired the puck at the camera? I'm guessing a lot of you did. While it's fairly easy to move a non-pegged net as it sits on the ice, to pop it back onto where its moorings sit is quite impressive. Not only does he get the net back into place, but he gets it to sit properly along the goal line. And then rips a shot off the glass at the camera just for good measure. Convinced yet that he's pretty good?

Just for good measure, let's take a look at one more Reebok commercial featuring Sidney Crosby where he shows off some pretty good hand-eye coordination.

There's little doubt that Crosby is one of the best talents on the planet right now in the game of hockey. These commercials alone prove that the kid has mad skills, and his repertoire of amazing talents is still growing.

Reebok, in the spirit of giving and in the spirit of "unleash your release", is giving away a 11K Sickick III stick or two and you can enter to win! All you have to do is navigate over to the registration page and fill out the form. If you're one of the lucky winners, you'll get a chance to play with the same stick you saw Crosby using in the first two videos! Nothing like a little giveaway before the holidays!

Get in on the contest, and unleash your release! If you happen to win one of these sticks, film yourself doing some Crosby-like feats on the ice, and I'll post your video here for the world to see! So get over to the site, and get yourself a new stick!

Until next time, keep your Reebok 11K Sickick III sticks on the ice!

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How Swede It Is

I always love getting reader email, and the next couple of days will feature some stuff that people have been emailing me. Today's piece is compliments of reader Mikael Hjelm. Mikael reports that he was searching through YouTube, and came across a commercial starring Sweden's most famous hockey players. The commercial is for an Italian restaurant called "Mammamia" in Örnsköldsvik, the hometown of Swedish hockey power, Modo. Of course, the four men in the commercial - Markus Naslund, Peter Forsberg, Daniel and Henrik Sedin - all got their starts suiting up for Modo.

Here's the commercial. My comments will follow.

According to Mr. Hjelm's comments in the email, the four Swedish superstars did this commercial for free, and a friend of the owner directed and produced the commercial. It is reported that the four players still dine there regularly when they return home.

Just to prove that this wasn't a one-off thing, the same men went about doing a second commercial as well!

I've never been to Mammamia, but it sure looks like a great place to dine if those four men consistently choose it as their favorite restaurant. And who knows... maybe you'll come across some more Swedish superstars while you're there!

Thanks for bringing these commercials to my attention, Mikael!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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Pure Canadiana

If there is one thing that Canada is known for, it surely has to be hockey. There are a few other things, though, that have put Canada on the map: snow, cold, the addition of "eh?" to questions, and comedians. That last one is quite notable since there have been a number of excellent Canadian comedians that have crossed the border and found great success on the south side of the Canada-US line. Among the comedic greats that we have exported from this country, two characters by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas seem to be the epitome of Canadian stereotypes, and one of the best ways at summing up all things Canadiana.

Bob and Doug McKenzie are the brain-children of Moranis and Thomas, and they regularly appeared on Canada's version of Saturday Night Live. SCTV, which stood for Second City Television, was a successful comedy skit show where a variety of highly-successful actors got their starts. For Moranis and Thomas, it was the starting point of a very "beauty" way to begin their movie careers.

Strange Brew was released in 1983, but the story itself was sold to MGM in 1981. Max Von Sydow is the biggest star in the film, and he plays the antagonist to Bob and Doug McKenzie. Where this movie ties into hockey, though, is through Von Sydow's characters mind-control beer.

Jean "Rosie" LeRose, a former hockey player who quit the game because of a nervous breakdown, is staying in the institution next door to Elsinore Brewery where the McKenzie boys work. Bob, played by Moranis, recognizes Rosie as one of hockey's greats, and gets him to sign a hockey card amongst many things that Rosie does in the movie.

Brewmeister Smith, played by Von Sydow, begins to add a chemical concoction to the beer that allows him to control people's minds through auditory cues. To demonstrate this, Brewmeister Smith has the patients from the institution play hockey against one another.

The result? See the following.

Of course, out of their love of all things Canadian, Bob and Doug got to do some pretty awesome commercials too, eh?

That's beauty, eh?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice, eh?

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HBIC Comics - Volume 4

I'm going to be away this weekend doing a variety of non-hockey things, so I've prepared a few posts to go up in my absence. I'm hoping I did everything properly in my haste to get away for some rest and relaxation - R&R, to the layman - so that you, the reader, can get your HBIC fix over the long weekend. I'll be back on Monday to check to see if things went according to plan in my absence, so if things seem askew, just roll with it until Monday. Once I'm back, I can look into any and all problems, but I'm off the grid for this weekend. That means no connection to the HBIC world, so let's hope this place holds together! With that in mind, here are your HBIC Comics!

Benchies is a comic strip produced by Rick Pearson. Mick and Mike find themselves in all sorts of humorous situations, and hockey is just one of those situations where crazy things happen to the guys! You can find more of Mr. Pearson's Benchies every weekend on Uni Watch Blog where Mick and Mike get up to all sorts of hijinks!

Here is your Benchies for July 31, and it seems the boys think of an old TV show when talking about an Eastern Conference city!
Small Market Sports is a comic strip produced by Bill Charbonneau where his cast of characters are always up to something. There's Carter (the baseball), Doug (the football), Dave (the sports radio), Nash (the basketball), and Wayne (the hockey puck). Named after the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, Wayne the puck is "a hot-tempered and slightly egotistical 'super-star' (in his own mind, anyway). As the ambassador to his sport, he is quick to defend the unrelenting jabs about the excessive violence that permeates his hockey. Even if he has to drop his gloves and knock some teeth in to do it." Mr. Charbonneau produces a new comic every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about these characters, and you can find them on Small Market Sports!

Here is a Small Market Sports comic strip for July 31. Doug is impressed with Sidney Crosby's clothes-dryer routine on The Tonight Show which prompts him and Wayne into a discussion of NHL rules.

Just to reference what Doug is talking about, here are Crosby and Max Talbot shooting pucks at a dryer while selling merchandise for Reebok:

A big thank you goes out to Rick Pearson and Bill Charbonneau for allowing me to put together a hockey-related comics page each and every Saturday. If you know someone who would like their work published, please have him or her contact me here. Whether you're an amateur or a professional artist, I'd be happy to feature your work on my site!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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HBIC Comics - Volume 2

Another day on the ball diamonds means another day with rain. Thankfully, I was only coaching today, so I didn't have to be out in the rain as an umpire. They were forced to evaluate the fields with the cycle of drizzle following by torrential downpours, but the good news is that the lightning finished the day off. I no longer have to be in the rain, but the result is an early morning tomorrow as we need to squeeze the games in for the Provincial Tournament. A berth in the Nationals is on the line, and that means we have to be on our game tomorrow morning! In order to get my head in a good place, here is another edition of HBIC Comics. As always, click on the strip to see it in larger form. Enjoy!

Benchies is a comic strip produced by Rick Pearson. Mick and Mike find themselves in all sorts of humorous situations, and hockey is just one of those situations where crazy things happen to the guys! You can find more of Mr. Pearson's Benchies every weekend on Uni Watch Blog where Mick and Mike get up to all sorts of hijinks!

Here is your Benchies for July 17, and check out the awesome jerseys worn by Mick and Mike:

Small Market Sports is a comic strip produced by Bill Charbonneau where his cast of characters are always up to something. There's Carter (the baseball), Doug (the football), Dave (the sports radio), Nash (the basketball, and Wayne (the hockey puck). Named after the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, Wayne the puck is "a hot-tempered and slightly egotistical 'super-star' (in his own mind, anyway). As the ambassador to his sport, he is quick to defend the unrelenting jabs about the excessive violence that permeates his hockey. Even if he has to drop his gloves and knock some teeth in to do it." Mr. Charbonneau produces a new comic every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about these characters, and you can find them on Small Market Sports!

Here is a Small Market Sports comic strip for July 17 where the hockey season always takes precedence:


Bizarro is a fun comic strip produced by Dan Piraro. Dan takes the mundane, everyday occurrences and puts a new twist on them by looking at them from a different angle. Honestly, his work makes me laugh all the time because of its twisted humor, but that's why it's a such a great comic strip. Dan's Bizarro can be found on his blog, BizarroBlog, where he posts daily.

Today's Bizarro isn't a comic, but a great blog post by Mr. Piraro. Click here to read, and check out his thoughts on the "Pope of Canada". Great article!

While it's not a comic strip, I'd like to point out the work being done by Old Spice, ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, and ex-NFL player Isaiah Mustafa in their recent viral campaign where "the Old Spice Man" answers Twitter questions. He took a question from @NHLBlackhawks who asked, "What would you do on a day with the Stanley Cup". His manly answer is pretty funny.

A big thank you goes out to Rick Pearson, Bill Charbonneau, and Dan Piraro for allowing me to put together a hockey-related comics page each and every Saturday. If you know someone who would like their work published, please have him or her contact me here. Whether you're an amateur or a professional artist, I'd be happy to feature your work on my site!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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More Than Birdcage Liner

I was cruising through my local book retailer today as I was out and about after the major light show this morning. My neighbourhood has been hit with some major electrical storms over the last twenty-four hours, and the heat and humidity turned in some incredible lightning storms early this morning. With the power out until mid-afternoon today, I escaped the heat and humidity for the air conditioning of the bookstore, and, lo and behold, I found something rather amazing. The best part of this find is that it is not limited to just hockey. There is literally something for everyone at this vendor.

I've been pushing various publishing companies since I started Teebz's Book Club, but this publishing company is a little different. Rather than publishing books, they reprint old newspaper stories from The New York Times. The website where you can check out these incredible old newspaper compilations is called Retro Graphics Publishing. Today, I was fortunate enough to grab the last remaining copy in the store of the The New York Times' The Greatest Moments in Toronto Maple Leafs History.

The very first page reprint comes from Sunday, April 3, 1932. The entire page of the sports section is reprinted in its entirety, so you get to read all the stories from that day on that page as well as seeing the images on that page. There are stories on the April 3 page about New York Athletic Club's swimming team breaking two records, a tennis story of a Miss Marjorie Morrill who won three indoor tennis titles, a golf story about Miss Maureen Orcutt who won her second consecutive golf title, a story about collegiate polo, a squash story, and three baseball stories. Included on the page are three black-and-white photos of the baseball game between Columbia and City College at Lewisohn Stadium. A very interesting read, and we're only one page in!

The Maple Leafs news from April 3 reads "Toronto Six Wins Play-Off by 4 to 3". The Game Seven affair between the Leafs and Montreal Maroons was decided on an overtime goal by winger Bob Gracie, and the 3-2 OT win propelled the Leafs to the 1932 Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers. According to the article, "[t]he game was bitterly contested from the opening face-off".

The names in the article are a who's-who of past NHL stars. Earl Siebert, Lionel Conacher, Charlie Conacher, and Francis "King" Clancy are probably the most famous of the names, but there were a ton of stars on the ice. Baldy Northcutt was a scoring sensation for the Maroons, and linemates Hooley Smith and Jimmy Ward made up one of the most lethal scoring lines at that time. On the Leafs' bench, players such as Joe Primeau, Harvey "Busher" Jackson, and Irvine "Ace" Bailey carried the blue-and-white to a victory.

The article is cut off at the lower margin on the first page of the Sports Section, but the very next page reproduced is the fourth page where the story concludes. What I found most interesting about the article are the historic pieces. The Stanley Cup Final, which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 5 in New York City, would be a best-of-five series, unlike the previous best-of-seven series that Toronto had just won.

Game Two, despite being hosted by New York, would be played in Boston, Massachusetts. No reason was given for the move in the article, but there's a good chance that the original Madison Square Garden was booked. Can you imagine a Stanley Cup Final game being played in a neutral site? That would be weird, and I can't imagine it was any better eighty-eight years ago.

On that fourth page, there is also a small summary of the national AAU championship. The Amateur Athletic Union was a loosely-formed league of teams that played various sports, including hockey. The summary states that the Crescent Athletic-Hamilton Club defeated the Atlantic City Sea Gulls by a 3-2 score in the first game of a two-game series.

There is some history to this. It was in 1930 that the Atlantic City Sea Gulls were formed after manager Lincoln Dickey lured a number of Montreal-born players to the team. Because of the Montreal player's hockey prowess and toughness, the Sea Gulls quickly rose in prominence as one of the best amateur teams in the United States.

Chuck Miller writes an incredible piece on the Sea Gulls in this excerpt from Hockey Ink!:

"At the time, the resort owners and hotel managers of Atlantic City created a brass trophy decorated with eagles and winged angels, to be awarded to the 1932 AAU hockey tournament winner. In the final two-game, total-goal series, the Sea Gulls beat the Lake Placid Athletic Club, 11 goals to 5, and claimed the 'Atlantic City Boardwalk Trophy' as their own. The Gulls would repeat as AAU champions in 1933, winning eight games against four teams on their way to the championship."

In 1932, the Sea Gulls challenged all teams, including the NHL's New York Rangers. A game between the AAU's Sea Gulls and the NHL's Rangers was scheduled to take place at the historic Atlantic City Municipal Auditorium, but the AAU intervened and the game was canceled.

Just this kind of historic information, to me, is absolutely astounding! Digging through these old newspaper pages is like traveling back in time. There are so many great stories that aren't even Maple Leafs-related!

However, getting back on task, there are a ton of excellent stories about the Maple Leafs in this publication. Some examples are:

• April 10, 1932 - "Toronto Six Wins Stanley Cup".
• April 19, 1942 - "Leafs Trip Wings; Take Stanley Cup".
• April 20, 1947 - "Leafs Take Series, Top Canadiens 2-1".
• April 15, 1948 - "Leafs Keep Stanley Cup With 4-Game Hockey Sweep Against Wings".
• April 17, 1949 - "Toronto's Sextet Keeps Stanley Cup". This is Toronto's third consecutive Stanley Cup win as they close out the 1940s.
• April 22, 1951 - "Leafs Victors, 3-2, Gain Hockey Title". This recap article features talk about the famous Bill Barilko goal that gave the Leafs the Stanley Cup Championship.
• April 23, 1962 - "Leafs Beat Hawks With Rally and Take Stanley Cup First Time Since 1951". There is talk about how much money each player earned in the 4-2 series victory.
• April 19, 1963 - "Leafs Beat Wings, 3-1, and Take Stanley Cup, 4 Games to 1, on Late Goals". The lineup features player numbers beside each player's name.
• April 26, 1964 - "Leafs Win By 4-0 For 3d Cup In Row". The Leafs win their third consecutive Stanley Cup by beating the Red Wings in seven games.
• May 4, 1967 - "Stanley Cup Play Likely To Run To Mid-May in Expansion Plan". While a picture was shown of Dave Keon drinking from the Stanley Cup in 1967, the plans for expansion were the bigger story. Little did they know then that Toronto wouldn't be back.
• February 8, 1976 - "Leaf Gets 6 Goals, 10 Points". The story of Darryl Sittler's historic night as he figures in on ten of Toronto's eleven goals against Boston. More below on this.
  
• April 17, 1977 - "Salming of Leafs Forges a Reputation As Mr. Clean Amid Hockey Onslaughts". Borje Salming admits he doesn't know how to throw a punch!
• April 22, 1978 - "The Maple Leafs' Capt. Video". A great article by Dave Anderson on Roger Neilson's use of video to teach his players. And his dog. And it's effective!
• April 28, 1978 - "Islanders Angered By Butler's 'Hit' on Bossy". The Islanders and Leafs begin a fierce and nasty rivalry as the Islanders are a year away from a dynasty.
• April 30, 1978 - "Fans' Fervor Plays a Major Role In Islanders-Leafs Playoff Series". A very insightful look at how the fans escalated the craziness in the playoff series with their antics in an already-heated battle which saw the Leafs prevail in seven games.
• December 28, 1998 - "Syl Apps, 83, Hall of Famer Who Led Maple Leafs in 40's". An obituary about one of the Maple Leafs' most-loved players.
• March 31, 2001 - "Domi Douses Spectator, But Not Fire". The story of the Tie Domi water-squirting episode in Philadelphia.

The information on Sittler's 10-point night is extremely well-written and well-researched by writer Dave Anderson. He writes, "In the 13,528-game history of the National Hockey League, the most points (goals and assists) accumulated in one game had been 8". Did you know that? I had no clue. It's this kind of history that really makes me smile.

Anderson goes on to add, "That sixth goal made him the third NHL player since the installation of the red line more than three decades ago to produce that many in one game. The others were Syd Howe of the Detroit Red Wings in 1944 and Red Berenson of the St. Louis Blues in 1968, the only other NHL player to score seven goals in one game was Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs back in 1920". Again, this kind of information should make historians salivate. And I got all of this info for $10 today!

Honestly, there are a ton of amazing stories in the reproduced newspaper pages that should also be talked about, but it would take me weeks. Even the advertisements are an incredible look back into our history as a society. From amateur sports to the many baseball stories to the minor-league hockey stories, there is something to tickle every reader's fancy in these pages. While I never bothered to count the number of pages, there has to be 50 reprinted newspaper pages made into sections similar to current newspapers.

Again, check out Retro Graphics Publishing for all of their reprints. There are a ton of newspaper reprints that I want to check out despite them having no hockey pages available! And if you happen to order one, please send me your thoughts on the publication!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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Another Contest!

As you may have seen, there was a pretty great prize from the good people at Pepsi/Frito-Lay/Gatorade available to one of the winners of the HBIC Playoff Pool. Mari N. claimed the $75 CDN gift certificate for the NHL's online store, and will most likely be putting it to good use. Congratulations again, Mari, on your great run in the HBIC Playoff Pool. But this brings me to another opportunity for the readers of this blog compliments of the good people at Gatorade. They want to send one lucky entrant to the sidelines for three incredible games: an NFL game, an NBA game, and the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh!

Let's check the video they sent me first.

Now, if you're a Canadian reading this, you've already made it past the fine print. I apologize to the international readers visiting here, but Gatorade Canada is running this contest. I have no control over this. I'm just the messenger.

If you are Canadian, though, click here to visit the Gatorade website. Click on the "Enter Now" link, and get yourself signed up. You only have until July 10 to be eligible for the three trips!

If you are the lucky winner, here's what you'll be taking part in:

1. Get On The Ice: Live large at the 2011 NHL Winter Classic®!
   
   • Tickets for two to the game.
   • Watch the practice from the glass.
   • Flight and hotel for two.
   • $500 CDN for the winner.
2. Get On The Field: Experience the action at a 2010 NFL game!
   
   • Tickets for two to a 2010 regular season game.
   • Watch the pre-game warm-up from the sidelines.
   • Flight and hotel for two.
   • $500 CDN for the winner.
3. Get On The Floor: Rule courtside at an NBA game!
   
   • Front row courtside tickets for two to a 2011 regular season NBA game.
   • Flight and hotel for two.
   • $500 CDN for the winner.

Not bad, right? So get entering!

I don't use Gatorade when playing sports myself, but I cannot thank them enough for offering up some amazing prizes and contests on this site. They have been extremely generous, and they certainly deserve a "thank you" from this writer for all they have provided in some of the contests I have run. Thank you, Gatorade, for bringing forth another great contest for sports fans and the readers of HBIC!

Now if I were to win, I'd obviously be pumped about going to the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic. Under no circumstances would I miss that game simply because a Washington-Pittsburgh clash is always excellent hockey!

For the NFL and NBA games, I'm not sure where I'd go. Maybe Denver for a Broncos game? Perhaps some place warm like Miami or Los Angeles for a Heat or Lakers game? It would all depend, I suppose, on where ever I felt like going.

Here's the key: it could be you deciding on where you'd like to go! All you have to do is enter the contest. No purchase is required, and you're not required to subscribe to any newsletters. Get in the contest, kids! It's a chance of a lifetime!

Before leaving, I just want to say thank you to Gatorade one more time for allowing me to talk a little about this great contest!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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Rounding Up Sunday

You might be wondering what cowboys and cats have to do with today's round-up. There is a link between the image to the left and hockey, but I'll explain that below. Round Two of the NHL Playoffs are underway, and we had a champion crowned in the KHL. More on the Russian champions tomorrow as we wrap up that season, but we have lots to cover here today. Let's not waste any time. Here we go.

• The Bruins welcomed back Marc Savard yesterday only to see another major piece of their forward unit go down. Marco Sturm's season is over tearing both his ACL and MCL in a freak play yesterday. It didn't appear that Sturm did anything unusual in finishing his check on Philly's Matt Carle, but he crumpled to the ice on his first shift of the game. Knee injuries are always scary because they could spell the end of a player's career, and it would be tough to see the 31 year-old not return. Best of luck, Marco, and a speedy recovery!
• The game in Pittsburgh today looked a little different with neither Andrei Markov or Jordan Staal on the ice for the teams. The Penguins could have used Staal's face-off prowess and defensive abilities, while Montreal always looks a little off on the powerplay without Markov. There times in today's game where Pittsburgh dominated down low, but a credit goes out to the Canadiens' lineup that bent but didn't break. Much like the Washington-Montreal series, it looks like this one might be a long one.
• News out of Minnesota today stating that the Wild will wear a tenth anniversary patch for the entire season with the exception of two games. The only games that won't feature the patch on the Wild's jerseys will be their opening games in Europe for the NHL Premiere games. If you found it in that article, the Wild will don the Roman number "X" on the patch.
• Also in that article above, the Wild are apparently getting good feedback from the NHL about hosting the 2012 Winter Classic, and it appears the venue will either be brand-new Target Field or TCF Bank Stadium if Minnesota is selected. The first holds just under 40,000 people while the latter holds 50,000. I'll tell you this right now: I'm there if they get the 2012 game.
• How much time off is bad for hockey players? That's a question that the Hershey Bears must ask as they will have at least a week off after eliminating the Albany River Rats in four straight games. The Atlantic Division Final is tied at two games apiece, so the earliest that that series will be decided on is May 7. Will the week off hurt Hershey? Only time will tell, I suppose. As cryptic as that last line may be.
• Thanks to Washington's early exit, the Hershey Bears will become extremely scary now. The Capitals re-assigned defencemen Karl Alzner and John Carlson to the Bears, and both men are NHL-seasoned. I'm not crowning the Bears as Calder Cup Champions just yet, but gaining these two men as they enter the Eastern Conference Final makes them that much more dangerous. Yowza.
• The OHL Championship has nearly been decided, and the defending Memorial Cup Champion Windsor Spitfires lead the Barrie Colts by a 3-0 lead in their series. Taylor Hall and his Spitfires can book a ticket to Brandon, Manitoba if they are able to win on home ice on Tuesday night. Windsor has been surgical in dismantling teams along the way to the Championship, including rallying from a 3-1 deficit against the Plymouth Whalers. Could Windsor repeat? The odds look good right now.
• Great article penned by Jeff B. over on his site, Third String Goalie, about the demise of the Winnipeg Jets. He has linked up just about every video available online about the death of Winnipeg's NHL team, and the article he wrote is extremely well-written. While the videos could occupy you for the next 48 hours or so, the article itself should be read. Well done, Jeff!

The image above? It comes from an EDS commercial that was played at a number of the Manitoba Moose games this season. Honestly, I think it's one of the greatest commercials I've seen at a hockey game, and it's certainly better than some of the lame ones to which we're normally subjected.

While I wasn't rounding up cats, there's your quick Sunday round-up for this week. KHL news tomorrow, so join us to see who took home the Gagarin Cup!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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Hockey Day In Canada

Today is "Hockey Day In Canada" as coined by CBC for their all-Canadian broadcast today. Each year, CBC's Hockey Night In Canada travels to some small town where the spirit of the game is strong, and the dreams of playing under the lights is a twinkle in everyone's eyes. From outdoor rinks to NHL arenas, Canadians are always associated with hockey where ever you may be on this planet. While I'm not here to advertise for any companies, there is one other thing that Canadians are fiercely proud of: coffee.

Canadians are not like people from Seattle who have seen the likes of Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee and a pile of other upstart coffee peddlers try to carve out a niche in the hot beverage world. No, when you speak to Canadians about coffee, there is one name that stands above the rest: Tim Hortons. Isn't it fitting that Canada, hockey, and coffee are all woven together under this name?

Tim Horton was a proud Canadian and former NHL player. Tim Horton bought a couple of coffeehouses and renamed them after himself. Tim Hortons is a proud sponsor of Timbits Hockey, a minor hockey program that encourages as many youngsters as possible to play hockey. And Tim Hortons is a proud Canadian company.

Because of how all this is related, I've been extremely impressed with the commercials that Tim Hortons has produced about everything Canadian. Who knew a Canadian coffee company would produce such excellent hockey commercials?

Sidney Crosby was a Timbits hockey player when he was younger.

This is an exceptional commercial for the message contained within it. And, as strange as it sounds, Tim Horton's cups are present in garbage cans at every arena in Canada.

There are certainly more great commercials out there, but these two are my absolute favorites simply due to the messages that they carry. It's not about the coffee that Tim Hortons sells or any of their other products. These two commercials bring together proudly-Canadian three institutions: Tim Hortons, hockey, and family.

Sometimes, there's nothing better than a warm Timmy's at a remote arena watching kids play a game they love. That, to me, is Canada.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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