NHL Playoffs! My New Fascination With Hockey

I have been really getting into hockey this year.

"But Dave," you may wonder to yourself in your inner voice (which I always imagine has a Scottish accent, even if you're not Scottish), "You are Canadian.  Aren't you culturally obligated to watch hockey?"

"No!" I would retort. "Don't be silly." (also that's racist).

While I watched hockey as a kid, and attended a few hockey games over the past few years, I haven't really followed hockey since high school.   This is mainly due to a lack of cable TV, and a general dislike for sports bars.

However this year due to fortuitous events (namely vast improvements in Internet bandwidth allowing for streaming video content, my wifey strongly suggesting my father in-law would appreciate it if I got a  subscription to NHL.tv, and my deciding paying for the year made more financial sense than paying for the month).  So back in November I started watching hockey again.

During the year I split my time watching several teams, The Edmonton Oilers (my team when I was a kid), the Ottawa Senators (my team in high school), and the Toronto Maple Leafs (you have to grow up in Ontario to understand the complex love/hate relationship one develops with the beloved Leafs).

The Oilers and Senators neglected to make the playoffs. So, I've begun following other teams: the Tampa Bay Lightening (cause they are amazing puck handlers) Pittsburgh Penguins (defending champions), and the Toronto Maple Leafs (see previous paragraph).

The second round just started and I have two teams left in contention (The Leafs went to game 7, but then folded in the third period in classic Leaf fashion).

My one issue is that playoff games are under a blackout until the game is over.  This isn't really a problem in practice, except I am constantly trying to avoid spoilers on news sites and social media - the struggle is real.

So that is my current status as a hockey fan.  The Penguins just one game one of the second round, so things are looking up!

Go Sports Puck Team!

Bring On The Playoffs!

Abstract Hockey Night In Canada

This post is all about making the best of mistakes.  For the last post I showed some photography from a hockey game I attended over the holidays in Canada.

I was sitting right along the boards, snapping pics.  Most of the time my camera focused on the action, but sometimes it focused on the safety glass.

When it did, I was left with blurry photos.  However looking at them afterwards I kind of dug the shames they represented. 

So I figured I'd share it with you, my plucky crazy readers.  What do you think of these abstracted images?

Hockey Night In Canada

This is a bit delayed, but life has been throwing me curveballs this past few months.  However back over Christmas break I was back in Canada visiting family. While there I attended a hockey game with my in-laws. 

The game was OHL level between the Mississauga Stealheads and the Hamilton Bulldogs.

We had seats right along the glass, which gave me excellent angles, but at times annoying reflections - such is life, eh?

In order to practice getting better at sports photography, I spent a lot of time tracking the flow of the game and trying to capture peak action.  I was just getting into my groove when, during the 2nd period intermission, I was told by a staff member that I wasn't allowed to "have that size of lens in the arena without a press pass." So I stopped taking photos.

Despite that interruption I think I did a decent job.  What do you think?

Backyard Bounty Brought Me The Great One

This is a story of Netflix, nostalgia, and hockey. Hold on to your butts, it's gonna be a ride.

Not a wild one... not even an interesting one... but a ride.  Keep your arms inside the bus at all times.

So 6 months or so ago my wife stumbled across a show on Netflix called Backyard Bounty.  Which is an American Pickers style show where a couple dudes wander the countryside in search of found treasures in old barns, garages, and various hobo infested places of the world.  The boys from Backyard Bounty do their hunting in Ontario (which, being Canadian expats, is the first wave of nostalgia).

One of the guys from the show has a store in Ingersol Ontario.  When I was recently back up in the Great White North I found myself with a few hours to kill, so I went on a road trip (90 minutes from where I was based) to check out the store:  Modern Hipster Antiques.

I'm not much of an antique guy, so I didn't expect to find a lot.  The store does have quite a bit in it, and its worth the stop by if you're in the area, but it wasn't really fueling my lust for objects. Then I looked in the last display case in the store.

I stopped suddenly. A twinkle in my eye... nay, a gleam.  Heck, a beam of freakin' light shone forth, for what presented itself upon my vision  was no less than The Great One?

Jesus? Mohammed?  Martin Luther King Jr.? Patrick Stewart? William Shatner?

No.  The actual Great One:  Wayne Gretzky.  Well, his hockey card at least.

The 1984-85 season no less - the team that was recently voted the best team in the history of the NHL.

Wayne frickin' Gretzky.

So backing the bus up a bit... when I was but a wee lad - grade one/two-ish,  I watched a lot of hockey, and my team of choice was the Edmonton Oilers.   Many evenings my dad and I would walk, - nay, this was Canada in winter... we trudged - thru the snow to the local convenience store to pick up a pack of hockey cards.  Over the season I collected every single Oiler there was... except Wayne Gretzky.

Time after time I lovingly looked thru my ever expanding deck of collected cards, reading every stat of every Oiler, except the stats of the Great One.

Until...the very last pack of the season. With the Oilers in the finals I eagerly cracked open that last pack of cards to fine... 3 Wayne Gretzkys!

Joyous bliss!

Now.  I was in grade one/two-ish, so naturally I lost all those cards... but now, in the case in front of me, I could obtain the holy grail from  my youth. The card of the best hockey player in the history of the world, and my childhood hero: Wayne frickin' Gretzky.

But now I had the chance to grab hold of some serious childhood memories and hold it as my very own... this is the heavy nostalgia stuff.

It may not surprise you to learn that I immediately bought the card. Here it is:

And thus ends the story.

Hockey Night In Carolina: Maple Leafs Edition (part 3)

Final post of pics from Friday's Maple Leafs game (see here and here for the rest.)

Hockey Night In Carolina: Maple Leafs Edition (part 2)

I had so many pictures from the Maple Leafs game this weekend that I decided to post some more of them. (click here for the first post).

Hockey Night In Carolina: Maple Leafs Edition

Last week, a North Carolina geocacher by the name of ncbiscuit invited my wife and I to join her and her husband in Raleigh to see the Carolina Hurricanes play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sport of kings:  hockey.

I jumped at the chance, as the Maple Leafs are hockey royalty in my homeland, and I've never seen them live.

The following are some shots I took from the stands (I only took 850 photos in total, so my options were limited, but these are some of the best - not bad for having middle tier seats, if I do say so myself).  We'll start with the 'Canes mascot, Stormy.

 

In what has become the tradition of sports teams from Toronto, the leafs proudly and boldy reached for the stars and took second place in the competition.  The final score: Leafs 1, Hurricanes 2.

Very Junior Hockey

It is hard to imagine Canada without hockey - and there is a reason for it.  It is everywhere. Even kids play it, including one of my wife's youngest cousin.

When I was back in Canada a few weeks ago we attended a hockey game in which the young fellow played.  These kids are 9(ish) years old.

It was played in the brand new Dunnville rink (there are two things that are true about Canada: everything smells of maple, and every town has at least one local ice rink).

The following are a few pics of the kids in action.  Enjoy 'em, eh?