... things can get a little crazy. Or creepy. Whichever. Today at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Stanley Cup winner and former New York Ranger and Toronto Maple Leaf -- and everyone's favorite angry hockey commentator -- Nick Kypreos unveiled an exact replica, chocolate Stanley Cup. Then he licked it. Apologies to anyone about to eat a meal or wanting to eat chocolate again ever.
The Cup, created by Hershey Canada to announce a new partnership with the NHL, is three-feet tall and weighs 150 lbs. After some not-so quick math, we figure it clocks in at about 375,000 calories. (Insert Kyle Wellwood weight joke here.)
I'm fully aware the NHL's Winter Classic (presented by... Bridgestone!) is just over a year away, but I saw this news today and thought, "Hey, here's something that doesn't in any way have to do with the current Who's on First?-style debate about head shots among NHL GMs and the interweb commenterati..." So here we are.
USA Today reports that Yankee Stadium has been booked for December 30th for a "Pinstripe Bowl," which is not, contrary to common sense, a zoot suit-themed formal dance. No, it's a college football extravaganza featuring the No. 3 team in the Big East and the No. 6 school in the Big 12, excluding Bowl Championship Series teams. This immediately takes my original pick for the 2011 NHL outdoor party, throws it on the ground and stomps on it for good measure. (Single tear)
Will the NHL still go with a winning Classic Baseball Stadium + At Least One Original Six Team = Ratings Gold formula? Are there any left? Some have predicted a trip to Washington, others see a game north of the border more likely. The latter is a long shot because the game is already so popular in Canada, they cold play it on roller skates in Guam with a beachball and we'd probably still watch. But to really get that New Year's Day ratings score south of the border, it needs to be in the continental U.S. Preferably somewhere snowy. But where? Already, three of the four American Original Six teams have played (Detroit, Boston, Chicago), the only one left was the Rangers. Looks like there will have to be a new formula. Maybe back to the gridiron?
Above is a graph of water use in Edmonton during the gold medal hockey game, which -- SPOILER ALERT -- Canada won. As you can see there were mad rushes to the john between the periods. Of course, we're only speculating that this water use indicates the flushing of toilets and the (hopefully) washing of hands, but there's no way of telling how much of it was people running the faucet to drown out the sounds of Nick Kypreos or their own shameless weeping during that Tim Hortons commercial.
A select group of NHL GMs get set to meet up tomorrow in the sunny confines of Boca Raton, Florida to discuss an acceptable definition of a "head shot" in pro hockey. You can be damn sure they'll take a break from white pants and straw hats long enough to be watch this hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke on Boston's Marc Savard from yesterday a few times.
Is this a head shot or simply a blindside legal check? A case can be made for either, though I'm pretty sure I know where Savard stands on this one. No penalty was called, and some will say Cooke should've been handed a two-minute sit-down while others are calling for a full-on suspension. Until the NHL outlines what is what and makes the rule for hits to the head less ambiguous, this type of debate will continue, ad nauseam.
Chances are you're not a professional athlete. But hey, you like to get out there, mix it up a bit, shoot some hoops, play some pick-up soccer in the park with strangers from foreign lands, maybe get in a fist fight at the local rink with an accountant who clearly doesn't remember we all have jobs to go to the next day. The usual.
Anyway, sometimes even the smallest of physical exercise can make you feel drowsy and weak. And you think to yourself, "Self, we have to start doing push-ups, and maybe up our pull-up count out of the single digits." But in order to do that you need nutrients and proteins and all kinds of other nature science. Unfortunately, there's no longer a semi-regular Public Service Announcement about such things as diet, stretching on an airplane and other life essentials. So, as a gesture of good health to you, dear reader, we give you Hal Johnston and Joanne McCleod's "Body Break." Though, let's be honest, it should always appear in print like this: BODY BREAK!!!
This short film is based on our brain waves while pondering the 768 sports analysts who devoted 67 hours to talking TRADES!!!! today, the sports talk radio banter, the Twitter updates, the LIVE! TRADETRACKER!, the Lubomir Visnovsky for Ray Whitney, all those 6th Round picks that might turn into something but probably won't, Oilers fans pulling their hair out, Calgary fans hoping this might finally be the end of the Sutter era, Leafs fans comparing Luca Caputi to a young Bill Derlago... and on and on and...
Minnesota Wild forward Eric Belanger is headed to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick. Washington sure is busy today.
Even though Kaberle's agent insists he wants to be a Leaf, TSN's Darren Dreger is saying that Kaberle will let Burke show him the deals that come though... Didn't something like this happen / not happen last year?
Tampa Bay has sent Jeff Halpern to LA, in return LA is giving Tampa Ted Purcell and a 3rd rounder.
Former Leaf Vesa Toskala has been shipped off to Calgary - I guess they wanted to own the market on Finnish goalies? Headed to Anaheim is another net-minder, perennial back-up (in Calgary anyways) Curtis McElhinney. I guess this means Vesa doesn't really need his American visa anymore...
Buffalo Sabres have acquired former Oiler Raffi Torres from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Heading back to Columbus is d-man Nathan Paetsch and a second round pick.
Atlanta Thrashers have grabbed winger Clarke MacArthur from the Sabres for 3rd and 4th round picks.
So obviously today is the last day of trades in the 2009-2010 NHL season. Or at least today at 3pm et.
Should we expect lots of action? Maybe. Depends on how crazy the GMs are feeling this year. It seems that ever since the lock-out, trade deadlines have be lackluster at best. Plus it seemed more action happened pre-Olympic trade-freeze, with Leafs GM Brian Burke pulling the trigger on that huge multi-player deal - something we hadn't seen in a few years.
So who is on the block? Who could be looking online for new a new house? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
For now here are a few highlights of the moves so far, because, and let's be honest, so far it has been pretty quiet. We'll update this page with the day's moves as they happen.
