In Which I Help the VGK Win the Stanley Cup

One of my favourite hockey teams, the Vegas Golden Knights, are the 2023 Stanley Cup Champions! The VGK eliminated the Winnipeg Jets (*sob*), Edmonton Oilers (*sob*) and Dallas Stars to get to the final round, where they thoroughly dominated and defeated the Florida Panthers to win!

Here's my reigning Hockey Hair God, Captain Mark Stone, hoisting the Cup as his team wins it for the first time in VGK's brief franchise history.

If a Canadian hockey team can't win the Cup, then the next best thing is seeing a Good Winnipeg Boy like Mark Stone do it. And, as my post title reveals, I went above and beyond to ensure this Stanley Cup victory. In honour of Stone and the other three Manitoba players on the VGK's extensive Canadian roster, I wore my Lucky Winnipeg T-shirt each game of the final round. 

Behold the T-shirt of Destiny --

You're welcome, boys!

Thursday Art Date With Rain -- "Cups"

Rain's visual suggestions for today's art prompt

include, not surprisingly, many beautiful 

teacups and coffee cups.

But in my city of Edmonton, Alberta,

"cups" mean ONLY ONE THING, baby -- 

THE OILERS' FIVE STANLEY CUPS!

Now, of course, all these Cup victories were won

back in the Oilers' GLORY DAYS of the 1980s.

It's been one long 30+ year DROUGHT since then.

But that does not deter Edmonton's PRIDE 

from being displayed all over the city in the form of

huge, oversized Stanley Cup replica statues.

So here are my photos of them 

in fulfilment of today's art prompt --

These next replicas are found outside

the Oilers dressing room in Rogers Place arena.

Opposing teams have to walk by the display

to reach their dressing room --

just for the INTIMIDATION FACTOR.

There is NOTHING that

Edmonton wants MORE

than to add a SIXTH Cup

to this lineup some day.

Maybe in the 2022-23 Season?

LET'S HOPE!

[Photos #1-2 and #7 courtesy of the Internet;

Photos #3-5 © Debra She Who Seeks 2022;

Photo #6 © Debra She Who Seeks 2012]

Two More Hockey Hair Gods

So to update my (shall we say) continuing fascination with long-haired hockey players, I spotted two more prime specimens while watching this year's Stanley Cup playoffs. Yes, these guys were the highlights of the entire playoffs for me.

(1) IGOR SHESTERKIN, Russian goalie for the New York Rangers. And he's a real tease about his long hair, too. He knows it's sexy!

(2) MIKA ZIBANEJAD, centre and alternate captain of the New York Rangers. He's from Sweden, but his heritage is Iranian and Finnish. What magnificent long hair, especially before it gets all sweaty!

That's all for now! I'll report back to you again next hockey season!

Gritty Pride!

I make no secret of my love

for Gritty, the mascot of the

Philadelphia Flyers hockey team.

Gritty is a big supporter of Pride

and the queer community too!

And that sexy bastard gets 

ALL the puck bunnies!

Hurry Hard!

"I fecking love curling," says longtime blogging buddy Jackiesue of West, by Goddess, Texas so this post is for her! Enjoy all the curling going on right now at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Jackiesue! 

And incidentally, everyone, Jackiesue (formerly known as YellowDog Granny) is now called YellerDawg Granny (what a great pun, LOL!) and she has a brand new blog called Rabid Yellow Dog Democrat that is found here! Spread the news!

And now, back to the Roaring Game.

Curling is, of course, HUGE in Canada and always has been. Curling and hockey are how Canadians have traditionally endured our long cold winters. From our largest cities right down to our smallest villages, they all have curling rinks. When I was a kid, there was even a place in Saskatchewan called Broomhill which consisted of nothing but a curling rink.

Jasper Place Curling Club in Edmonton recently had a beautiful mural painted on the side of its building by Jill Stanton, a local artist who does bright, cheerful murals all over Canada and the USA (see more of her work here). The mural celebrates the history of curling brooms. I know that modern push brooms are so much more efficient, but I miss hearing that unique "slap, slap, slap" sweeping sound of old-style corn brooms on the ice.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, February 2022]

You know, I almost got frostbite taking these photos of the mural in -30 windchill with my gloves off to work the camera. Sheesh, the things I do for this blog! Here's a photo of the entire mural taken by some other smarter photographer in the summer --

Her Royal Highness the Cat wants it to be known that she enjoys curling too!

Release the Mullet!

Recently I watched the first official home game 

of the National Hockey League's newest franchise, 

the SEATTLE KRAKEN.

ONE player in particular

 caught my attention 

IMMEDIATELY --

BRANDON TANEV (#13),

obtained just this summer

in the Expansion Draft

from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Can you see WHY he is

such an attention grabber?

BE STILL, MY HEART!

Yes, it's that magnificent

HOCKEY HAIR aka MULLET!

Judging by his official player photos

from 2015 to 2021, Tanev 

started off as a clean-cut guy, but 

SOMETHING OBVIOUSLY SNAPPED 

a couple of years ago in Pittsburgh --

Young Brandon seems to be a

GOOD, SCRAPPY player.

And he's NOT AFRAID

to wear NUMBER 13,

which is a point in his favour.

In this next gif, his CONFUSED LOOK 

of STUNNED INNOCENCE 

can ONLY mean he was about to get a 

WELL-DESERVED PENALTY.

And he's such a SWEET KID too -- 

here he is sharing words of 

PRAISE and ENCOURAGEMENT 

with the opposing team.

BUT . . .  can he hold his own

in a knock-down, drag-out

  HOCKEY FIGHT? 

He must PROVE himself to me in that regard

in order to oust the current reigning 

HOCKEY HAIR GOD from my heart, 

Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights --

WHAT? 

I'm a simple Canadian girl 

with simple Canadian tastes. 

A sweaty mullet and

a good hockey fight --

that's ALL I ask from Life.

DON'T JUDGE ME.

New Edmonton Football Team Name AT LAST!

I've bitched on this blog for years about the inappropriate "indigenous mascot" team name of my city's Canadian Football League club, the Edmonton Eskimoes. The team used every stupid, illogical argument in the book to resist changing it, but last summer it finally bowed to public pressure and dropped the old name. Now, after a full year of rumination and public surveys, here (at last!) is our new team name --

I like this new name because:

(1) elk are very common wildlife in this area so there's a real connection to our location; 

(2) apparently back in the mists of time (1922) when the Edmonton team was part of a rugby-football league, the team actually was briefly named the Elks before changing it, so there is some historical precedent and tradition attached to the new name;

(3) it is compatible with keeping the team's traditional colours of green and gold; and

(3) it allows retention of the traditional "Double EE" logo that fans love and are familiar with.

What I really love, though, is the NEW team logo! It is simple, clear and stylized. And the elk's mean little eye makes it look intimidating and badass! 

I've already bought a t-shirt with the new logo to show support for the team and its name change! Also, the team needs all the money it can get right now because the cancellation of last year's season due to the pandemic almost bankrupted it. Not to be too cynical, but I suspect the prospect of selling a full line of all-new branded merchandise to its fans may have been another factor which encouraged the team to finally change its name. But I'm okay with that as a reward to the team and I hope sales skyrocket!

Lightning Strikes Twice!

[Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy hoists the Stanley Cup.

He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy for Most Valuable Player.]

Last year's Champs did it again! Congrats to the Tampa Bay Lightning on winning back-to-back Stanley Cups!

All of Canada was desperately hoping that this would be the year that a Canadian team would bring the Cup home . . . alas, it was not to be. The Montreal Canadiens had a real Cinderella Run but just lost steam in the last round of the playoffs.

Now put away those crying towels, Canada, because it's time once again to hand out the only Hockey Awards that really matter --

DEBRA SHE WHO SEEKS' 

PLAYOFF HOCKEY AWARDS

[Warning: There WILL Be Blood]

Award for Best Player Name That's Fun To Say:

Edmonton Oilers' Slater Koekkoek (SLAY-tuhr KOO-KOO). I could sing-song his name all day long! [Editorial note from My Rare One -- Please make her stop! Please!]

"Best Rockin' Hockey Hair" Award:

Last year's pick wins again -- yes, it's my good Manitoba boy, Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights! His awesome mullet just keeps getting better and better.

Honourable Mention:

Edmonton Oilers goalie Mike Smith --

Most Spectacular Comeback Award:

The Winnipeg Jets in game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers. The Jets were down 4-1 in the third period and then they scored 3 goals in 3 minutes to tie the game! So awesome. And then they won it in overtime -- yowza!

Goriest Hockey Fight Award:

Goes to Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens in game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Head wounds always bleed like a sonovabitch.

Best Mascot:

Okay, okay, I know the Philadelphia Flyers didn't even make the playoffs, but I just lurves me some Gritty so much that he deserves an award too, that sexy orange beast!

Thanks, Covid!

The only good thing to come out of Covid-19 is the redesigned format of this year's Stanley Cup playoffs. Because of the pandemic which restricted cross-border team travel between the USA and Canada, the National Hockey League had to jettison its traditional Western Conference/Eastern Conference format and realign teams into four temporary Divisions instead (North, West, East and Central). 

All seven Canadian teams were put in the North Division to play each other during the regular season . . . 

. . . which means that in the first and second round of playoffs, the qualifying Canadian teams will also be playing each other. Canadians love it because these particular all-Canadian match-ups have not occurred in decades.

The last time the Montreal Canadiens played off against the Toronto Maple Leafs was 42 years ago in 1979! My gawd, I was still in university then!

And the Edmonton Oilers have not played the Winnipeg Jets in a playoff series since 1990 -- 31 years ago! I was still living in Winnipeg then! As of that date, I hadn't even visited Edmonton yet.

The Oilers/Jets match-up starts tonight and it has put me in a bit of a dilemma. 

Who should I cheer for -- my former city or my current city? I'm torn! 

But My Rare One and I have resolved the issue by deciding that she will cheer for Edmonton and I will cheer for Winnipeg. Spread the luuuuuv around, I say!

Can I Change My Slug Lifestyle?

I have never been even vaguely athletic. 

Physical exercise bores me stiff.

But I have never been so inactive 

as I have during this last year of 

stay-at-home pandemic life.

Now that the snow and ice are gone and 

warmer weather has started to arrive, 

I realize that I must get off my ass 

and get outside for some safe, 

socially-distanced exercise.

NO, I won't be going to a gym! 

They're still closed and quite rightly so.

And NO, I will not be jogging or running! 

Jesus, that would kill me stone dead.

And THIS nonsense ain't 

gonna happen either, pal.

I have to be realistic and start 

by doing something very basic. 

Very basic indeed.

I'm going to try to take a walk 

around the block every day.

Wish me luck and perseverance!