PB’s Second Line Takes The Ice

Practice makes perfect and we took to the ice again at Kettler yesterday for the Good Friday skate.  Sacrilege aside, here’s hoping Good Friday will make for an even better Saturday, then a very restful week.

A great crowd was on hand today, owing to school breaks and the holiday weekend. We got to chat with Loud Goat and the not so loud King of Leonsis himself, Adam Vignan.

Another moment: today we bid adieu to that old war-horse that’s been with us through thick and thin, war and peace, ham-n-cheese – the craptacular Shaky-Cam – and say Allo! to a marginally better camera.   Stationed again at the one pane of glass (thanks Bridget!) that’s not totally smeared with puck schmutz, we squeezeed off a few half-decent shots.  Or not – you be the judge.  We finally got a Flickr page up and running to memorialize these shots for eternity, or the end of the world, whichever comes first.

We learn something new with each practice we attend and today was perhaps the most important lesson of all – Coach Dean Evason will give you an aggressive face wash if you ask him to validate your parking stub.  Something else we learned: Sasha falls down a lot at practice, too (there was a small collision that preceded it, however).

Now, onto the important news: a line-change here at PuckBuddys.  We’ve been helming the first line for a while, but – d’uh! – the difference between winning and #winning is a hot second or third line, and smooth change.

Which brings us to the PuckBuddy’s hotter-than-hot Second Line: PuckBuddyBunny and DaveE.  This site suddenly gets a whole lot smarter with their participation.

Hailing from the great northern Plains – and we do mean northern – is PuckBuddyBunny.  She’s a whip-smart hockey fanatic who somehow balances a successful professional life in DC, a giant bundle of fuzz named Casey, and we guess about a hundred suitors…including, if they’re lucky, a Cap or two.  PBB has written for us before, and beyond her skills at sizing up the strengths and weaknesses of a team, she has a genuinely dazzling knowledge of collegiate hockey.  She’s a perfect winger, and frankly if we weren’t otherwise inclined, we’d have her on long-term contract.

Joining her on line at center is another veteran and star DaveE.  We’ve known DaveE a bit longer than the Bunny, and – like Papa Knuble – he’s only gotten better with each year.  It’s a safe wager that he’s probably the funniest person we know (way to raise expectations, Doug…) and at least among the smartest observers of both politics and professional sports – which makes him perfect for this city.  Another northerner (although slightly to the East and Suomi side of the equation), DaveE is the Arnott of our group – knowing when to encourage and when to nudge.

Each is strong in their own right: together they form the PuckBuddy’s Second Line.  We haven’t named them yet…perhaps you can. They’ll introduce themselves in their own way.

We’re swapping out with them for a little bit.  Gotta go rest the legs and heal.  Root them on as you have us, and we’ll see you on the other side – the next round of the playoffs.

Oh, and our gift for now – one last shot of one of our favs.

Darren Everson and Hannah Karp’s Wall Street Journal article in the February 11 edition, Why College Hockey Arenas Are the Cathedrals of Sports: From Yale’s ‘Whale’ to North Dakota’s Palace, Quirkiness Reigns, got our resident PuckBunny thinking. 

Our Bunny is a comely, mild-mannered legislative strategist by day, and a loud and proud college and NHL hockey fan by night.  And judging by her note to us, she has good insight into the industry.  And by the industry, of course we mean the business.  Show business.

Ever since the runaway success of 24/7, hockey fans have wondered how HBO may follow up on that love letter to the sport.  A four episode ‘Up Close and Personal’ with the Rangers and Habs certainly won’t cut it; we want moar and our Bunny Girl has our one-way ticket out of Palookaville, and the keys the network’s next hit hockey series. 

We’re at the concept stage, on the cusp of an idea, but if HBO greenlights the project, all we’ll ask is for all-access passes, Associate Producer credits, and that we can join the principals on stage on Emmy night. OK Bunny, give them the pitch:

“My alma mater, University of North Dakota, received the WSJ’s “Most Opulent” distinction. So proud. Yes, it is the only show in town, so you better give it the respect it deserves.
 
But what also caught my eye was the mention of the series “Friday Night Lights” under the University of Maine description.  As you may or may not know, “Friday Night Lights” had its series finale recently. The television show was based on the phenomenon (or religion) of high school football in Texas.
 
So here’s my pitch to HBO: “Friday Night Lights” meets “Slapshot” meets “Miracle.”

A television series based on the phenomenon (or religion) of high school hockey. And the school as the inspiration: Shattuck-St. Mary’s in southern Minnesota.  A private, co-ed boarding Episcopalian school located in a small town. Established in 1858, approximately 400 students.
 
Shattuck-St. Mary’s produced the following in the past decade: Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby, Zach Parise, Drew Stafford, Patrick Eaves, Ryan Malone. Can you imagine what they were like in high school?

Heck, you could even add in a co-ed, Title 9 twist and cast blonde twins to portray Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux, 2010 USA Olympians and Shattuck students in 2007.
 
There you go, HBO. Your next big hit.”

Oh, and we want our own trailer. And an intern. Make that three interns.

So we can’t be the only ones missing the Caps and Joe B. lately.  Sure the all-star break is good and all, in part because instead of watching hockey we have a wee bit of our lives back.  Temporarily.  Well, except for blogging about watching hockey.

And it’s not like we’re filling the void with RuPaul’s “Drag Race Season 2″ reruns (wait, was it season two or three?  Oh how the time do fly…) or obsessing about the spreading civil unrest throughout the Middle East (actually we are.)  But we do miss evenings with CSN on the Sonysaurus.

So, too, was our PuckBuddy Bunny, which got her mind thinking about just what makes hockey on TV so good.

“Many in the DC area have been struggling with power outages, so I don’t want to complain too much.  But it should be noted that my DirecTV signal was out and I didn’t watch the Caps vs. Thrashers game. (It should also be noted I couldn’t watch on-line either as I am having some “issues” with my lap top right now… ugh; I was tempted to walk down to Lola’s but restrained myself as it was a “school night.”)

“Some might wonder why a person would enjoy watching hockey on television. Don’t get me wrong, nothing compares to watching the game in person: the smell of the ice, seeing how the line changes are so important to the game, hearing the puck in the stick during great passes, etc.  But watching a Caps game on television is pretty great, too. The Caps arguably have one of the best broadcasting teams for any sport, anywhere. Who doesn’t want to grab a drink with “Smokin’” Al Koken?

“When I was a little girl, our local television station would occasionally broadcast the college hockey games in my hometown. It was like the “Miss America” pageant to me. I would put on my footed-pajamas, spread a blanket on the floor in front of the television, make a bowl of popcorn, and close the pocket door between the kitchen and living room so no one would “disturb” me. And if someone did dare to open the door and try to talk to me, I would spin around, and either glare or yell, “Shush!” And, if all went well, at the end of the night, I would dance out to the kitchen, singing “We beat the Badgers!” or “We beat the Gophers!” It was certainly more entertaining than “The Love Boat” or “Fantasy Island.”

“Anyway, thank goodness for the DVR last night! After catching up on episodes of “TMZ,” my guilty pleasure, I noticed my saved episodes of “24/7.” While I certainly don’t want to obsess about the series, I wanted to make one more observation: Brooks Laich. Oh my. The scene in question: Brooks Laich leaving his house and driving a car through his neighborhood. He arrives at Verizon and walks into the dressing room. He is wearing a suit that makes him look like a male model.  As the blogger “The Pioneer Woman” would say, he “makes my skirt fly up.” Or, as my friend D.E. would say, “You like-y Laich.”

“Isn’t television coverage of hockey grand? That is, when your DirecTV signal comes through?”

PLUS: New Feature!  PuckBuddyBunny’s Take on Hendricks!

Sitting here at the computer, fingers frozen, we’re struck how writing about Atlanta is like traveling there.  One is left with a brittle mix of dread and nausea as you contemplate your fate.  Sort of like thinking about what casket you’ll look best in.

If we could avoid ever going to Atlanta, life would be a bit sunnier.  And if we could never, ever, write again about the Trashers…well, perhaps that would be our little gift of sunshine to you.

Fortunately, this may well be the LAST time this season we have to be here, joined in the hope that this whole thing will soon just be over.  This is our last scheduled meeting, and the Trash Thrash have lost seven of their last eight (haw haw!), although three of these came after regulation play.  Tampa still leads the Southeast, and while we’re running to catch them, Atlanta is running away from the ‘Canes, who have pulled to within one point.

So everyone is motivated: Trash to put distance with Carolina, Caps to redeem themselves after our previous ring-a-dings, and us…well, we think we’ve made ourselves clear.

Fortunately, things seem to be clicking with the Caps.  Although Varly may get the start tonight, “Hot B” Holtby is clocking in with a .967 percentage, letting just three of the last 80 shots squeeze by.  As WaPo’s Gene Wang points out, our PK is second in the NHL with 16 kills in a row.  And as everyone is chattering about, Ovie and Nicky 19 seem to be “back”…although we’re still not sure where they “went.”  (Perhaps they could pick up Sasha and make it a trifecta?)

Confirming our suspicion, the Thrash seem to come more from Not- than Hot-lanta.  We’ve found exactly two.

Photo courtesy Getty Images/Jim McIsaac

Assistant Captain Dustin Byfuglien is by no means fugly, although ‘handsome’ might be a stretch.  Stick with ‘rugged’ and move on, buddy (although the way he’s playing, the Trasher’s head office isn’t going to want him moving anywhere.)

(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Which brings us to Alex Burmistrov.  At 19 but already 6’1″ and 180 (shoots left), Trashers #8 is pretty great in his own right…on and off the ice.

Who's the lucky guy, hmmm?

She’ll Date Sasha Before Us, Probably: We’re happy to welcome “PuckBuddyBunny” to the family here.  Since starting this hot mess, we knew she was exactly the sort of contributor we needed: a hot straight gal who knows her hockey and appreciates her players. 

She’s chock-a-block with ideas and observations, and sends along this sidebar:

“I, for one, couldn’t be happier to see Matt Hendricks do so well for the Caps. 

Why you may ask? Simple. He played college hockey in the WCHA. Yes, that’s right. The WCHA. The same college hockey conference that gave us Jonathan Toews (Blackhawks) and Zach Parise (Devils).

“Hendricks played for St. Cloud State and Toews and Parise played for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Hendricks had a great night during last Saturday’s “Hockey Night in Canada” [Don Cherry not withstanding - Ed.] and a great goal last night against the Rangers.  The announcers also noted that Hendricks has become a “game changer,” by stepping up to take on the fights.

“College hockey stars turned NHL stars are great for the Caps organization.  For fans like me, it gives me an opportunity to track a player’s progress through the years. 

For kids, it provides a good role model that a college education and a great NHL career are not mutually exclusive goals.  For parents, it lets them know that hockey can provide a road to a college scholarship at a Division I school.  Everybody wins. 

So here’s to you Matt Hendricks. You rock. (Also, I thought you were pretty dreamy on HBO… just saying.)”