Jerseys and Hockey Love

Yes, the tradition of turning nouns into verbs continues. Do you have an NHL jersey that just isn’t flashy enough for you? Do you need that little extra thing to set it off from the crowd? I am a patch hound. I love getting appropriate patches for my jerseys, such as all-star, Stanley Cup, and anniversary patches.

River City Sports (who are not a sponsor, as this is an ad-free zone) are having a sale on all sorts of patches right now, including the Stanley Cup patches. And they even have a patch for Canucks fans. Get something fun, and look back at some old photos, to make sure where the patch goes. Nothing as sad as a Stanley Cup patch going on the wrong side (I’m not telling).

Get ye to the sale!

Technorati Tags: Hockey, Jerseys

It’s more crazy marketing from the NHL, but it could have some interesting speculation. At the Winter Classic, the outdoor game in Buffalo you couldn’t get tickets to, the Penguins and Sabres are going to be facing off in brand new, “Vintage” jerseys, made by Reebok.

The Buffalo Sabres doesn’t look that far off the mark. I don’t think anyone is going to bat an eye at this. I wonder how many will be sold, if nostalgia will prevail, or if everyone who wants an older style Sabres jersey has one.

The Penguins on the other hand:

Now that’s a “Vintage” jersey. Or at least, a recreation of a vintage jersey. According to www.pittsburghhockey.net, the jersey this was based on was used from 1968 until 1972. This jersey was out in circulation, and being sold as recent as 2004, but I haven’t seen it lately. I really like the jersey, but it’s a new jersey from Reebok, right? We all know what happens to new jerseys from Reebok, they get EDGE-ified, right?

Well, yes, but look at that cut. That isn’t the new slicker, tighter, faster, never-gonna-go-back cut of the new EDGE jerseys. And how about this, from the NHL online store in the product description:

Patented mid-weight air knit 100% polyester

Air knit. If you don’t know what air knit is, go back about a year. Air knit is what NHL jerseys were made of before the EDGE system took over the world. So, let the wild speculation begin. Is RBK giving up on the new materials? Are they willing to let go of “years” of research that wound up being useless in the face of game situations? Are we going to get out beloved hockey jersey back?

I’m not holding my breath on that one.

Your shopping options are many, but I have always been a fan of River City Sports. They have great customer service, still have a bunch of the old (good) style jerseys, and decent prices. You can find the Sabres jersey here, the Penguins jersey here, and the Crosby version here. But there is no way I’m shelling out $133.99 for these jerseys. That’s a $44 markup. Good luck with that, RBK. I’m sure you will make a fortune.

Technorati Tags: Hockey, Jerseys, Winter Classic

At least the Avs came through for me, in my time of woe.

Lots of shots, staying out of the box, and Peter Budaj. What more do you need? Makes me forget all about the other game tonight. That, and beating the Wings up on the PS2. That helped a lot.

Technorati Tags: Avalanche, Hockey, NHL

When you get one night a week off, you take whatever hockey you can get, and seeing as how I must have lost some sort of cosmic bet, I am in Detroit, staying in a building that is physically connected to Joe Louis Arena, I went to tonight’s Red Wings game. To answer the question before you ask, yes, I felt dirty.

First off, Let me just say, seven dollars is way too much for a program. Way too much. But if you are going to buy the thing, I think you should be able to do whatever you want with it. It’s ,y seven dollars. This is the outcome:

Worst seven bucks spent ever, or worst? Such a conundrum.

Hey, hundreds of great seats still available.

At least there was one Capitals fan in the building.

Right at the bat, one of the linesmen went down, and had to leave the ice. He came back after a few minutes, because refs are tougher than you think.

Uhh. Whatever.

Anyways. The Wings won in the shootout, and scored on every shot. The only real standout thing was the play of Alexander Ovechkin, but for the wrong reasons. A.O. has about zero defensive game. And by zero, I mean none. It’s one thing to cherry pick, but it was getting ridiculous. I hope he was just having a bad night, because other than one goal off a faceoff, he didn’t have much of a game. Sure, you say a goal is good, but he was slow, sloppy, and the Red Wings defense owned him.

While an NHL game is an NHL game, and I wouldn’t consider this a waste of money, I think they should do me the honor of losing the next time I go, which would be New Year’s Eve. I only think it’s fair.

Technorati Tags: Hockey, NHL

So, let’s just say you are stuck in Detroit. You have a little time, a car, and a friend or two. What are you going to do? I suggest you go to the Cadieux Cafe for a little feather bowling.

The Cadieux Cafe doesn’t look like much from the outside, nor much from the inside, when you first step in. It is your typical bar, with a Belgian flair to it.

But step into the back room, and you have something else entirely. Welcome to feather bowling.

OK, it probably still doesn’t look like much, but let me explain. The game is like Bocce or Curling. You stand at one end of the dirt pit (hey, that’s what it is) with your ball, which looks like a smaller curling stone without a handle and made of wood. The object is to get your ball to stop closest to the target at the other end, in the case here, a feather sticking straight up.

The person with the closest ball gets the points. You get one point for every ball closest to the feather before the other persons. For instance, this would be worth one point for the red team.

Since the yellow one is next closest, red only gets one point. Speed can kill in this game, so a steady hand is helpful. We have two basic strategies, either the finesse play, where we roll it up the side of the pit and get a swooping motion, or my preferred defense, shock and awe. Yes, it is exactly what it sound like.

Action Photos!!!

So, yeah, you can wear a hockey jersey while playing.

The house rules:

We play a kind of modified version, where we each take turns. It makes for more smack talk, and a little bit more excitement.

So, what kind of men feather bowl? Belgian men. These men:

The last guy in the bottom photo is the 2007, 2003, and 1999 Champ. Do not mess with him.

The scoreboard:

Don’t knock it til you try it. When we found out we would be in Detroit, this was the thing we looked forward to the most. And I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t disappoint. Get to the Cadieux Cafe, it’s worth it.

Map to Cadieux Cafe

Technorati Tags: feather bowling, Other Sports

News flash, scoring in the NHL is up.

So, where was this in the games previous? Where was the scoring in the losses? Crazy.

A relatively clean game, considering the score.

And who got hung out to dry? If this had happened in Montreal, the Avs would have a new goaltender. 8 goals in 25 shots?

Nuff said.

Technorati Tags: Avalanche, Hockey, NHL

Edit:  There was supposed to be a picture and a little note sent with this post, but the internet lost it.  Still, a great game tonight, where I got only a few photos, but did get the first goal of the game and the ensuing Teddy Bear Toss on my camera in video.  Now I have to figure out what to do with it.  4-1 the final with the Whalers coming out on top.

More later.