Getcha Popcorn Ready

by Anne

Watching Kovygate from a distance is awesome. As long as the Kings don't get back into it, I'm enjoying this thoroughly from the comfort of my own home.

Watching people do a happy dance and then suddenly being punched in the face by news of the contract's rejection has been hilaaaaarious. I loved re-reading Dmitri Chesnokov's tweets about Kovalchuk's party and how happy he is AFTER reading about his contract being rejected.

Why Lou Lamoriello would accept such ridiculous terms is beyond me. Why the NHL chose THIS particular ridiculous contract to reject is beyond me as well. However, I'm glad it was rejected because of it's completely blatant circumvention of the rules.

I read a tweet yesterday in which someone said the NBA's collective bargaining agreement has a clause that allows for the rejection of contracts that circumvent the spirit of the cap rules, why doesn't the NHL have this? If it did, Pronger and Hossa's contracts would've been rejected immediately as it takes them both to 42 with a SERIOUS drop off in salary in the last few years of the contract. Lame.

Darcy Regier might be maddeningly cautious but at least he never gets the team into situations like this one. It's not Kovalchuk's fault the team agreed to this ridiculous contract, it's LL's fault for signing off on it.

Brief Note to discuss Drew Stafford

by Anne

My relationship with Little Foot has been rocky at times, blissful at others and hellishly terrible on occasion.

However, when Little Foot joined Twitter, all became better. He broke the news of Pie's trade before the national media did, even though he didn't name the name of the player traded.

When he scored on that penalty shot against Pittsburgh, it was even better.

Now, he's drawn national attention to the latest excitement to hit the Buffalo Sabres:

The furry convention at their hotel in San Jose.

I love him.

Enjoy. My favorite part has to be that that fox thing in the picture with Ryan Miller might be wearing his brother Drew's jersey.

Oh yeah, Sabres at Canucks tonight. I have class at 8:00am so I more than likely will not be watching past the first period.

In-fighting

by Anne

There are many things about hockey that make me smile, such as: Watching your favorite team run up a huge score on your least favorite team, chasing a goalie after scoring four goals on five shots, game-changing saves, heckling Ray Emery, seeing a player that fled your team flounder in another city, James Duthie, the trade deadline, free agent day, and when teams that you hate have fights in practice.

Hahaha. Oh the Maple Leafs.

We play them tonight. Hopefully they'll be too mad to do anything.

Ewww, Mr. Yick is healthy and playing. I hate him and I'm pretty sure Ryan Miller does too.

Let's beat them, boys.

I Know You've Missed Him

by Anne

The Kings have posted a goofy video of Greener doing his best Ron Burgundy impression, announcing things related to Hockey Fest '09. Its super short and, of course, amazing because Greener is in it. I haven't written anything about Greener in months (roughly), so I'm sure you've missed him, as I have:

Enjoy.

Stanley's Surprise Night On the Town

by Anne

There's a photo gallery up of the Pens surprising fans and taking the Cup around Pittsburgh this weekend. I, of course, decided to steal pics of my favorite Penguin acting goofy with the Cup:

As Mirtle said: "Don't drop the Cup, Jordan."


Friends! Pittsburghers! Non-countrymen!
Lend me your ears!
I come to drink from Stanley, not to drop him!
The evil that the Red Wings do lives after them
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Crosby. The noble Lidstrom
Hath told you Crobsy was ambitious
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Crosby answer'd it.
....

Ok, maybe that's just what I think he was saying because I'm currently working on a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and I'm a huge nerd. Also that speech would imply that Nick Lidstrom killed Sidney Crosby. Maybe that doesn't so much apply here.

However, if the Pittsburgh Penguins were the play Julius Casear, Jordan Staal would definitely be Marc Antony. Which makes Sidney Crosby Julius Caesar and I think that makes Nick Lidstrom Brutus and Chris Osgood, Cassius.

Most importantly: What the hell am I talking about?

While I feel I am safe in assuming Mr. Staal is under the influence of something a little more potent than adrenaline, in the entire gallery, he is not seen consuming alcohol. Also, Jordan appears to be holding the Cup in just about every group photo. Whatevs, I'm ok with it.

Yay! Enjoy it boys, you earned it.

I Love Jhonas Enroth

by Anne

Jhonas Enroth and I are friends on Facebook, as I'm sure many of you are also his friend on Facebook.

Those of you on Facebook are more than likely aware of the "Suggestions" box in the top right corner of the Facebook homepage. In this "Suggestion" box we are often prompted to become fans of things such as "Hugs," "Lost" and "Not Being On Fire." When a friend or friends of yours are also fans of something, it lists it as such. When only one friend is a fan of something, that persons name appears instead of "1 friend is a fan."

Here is what I saw when I was flipping through these fan page suggestions:

Brilliant.
I like a goalie with a little self-assurance

Only 108 days until next season

Also, if you're not friends with Jhonas yet, I recommend it, he's quite entertaining. Especially a few days ago when he was drafted(?!) by the KHL team that Ray Emery just left.

Cooking With the Pirates

by Anne

I checked this morning, surprised to find the link for the cooking segment with Derek Whitmore and Jimmy Bonneau already up on the Pirates website. Basically the cooking segment only could've been more ridiculous if Salty Pete and Crackers were the ones cooking up the grub, so here it is for all to enjoy:

Ok, I tried to embed it but the code is screwed up, so here's the link!

Inspired by many liveblogs over at IPB, I've decided to give it a go and break down the segment as it happens.

5:32 The video starts off with Jimmy Bonneau looking all tall and French and kind of dreamy and Derek Whitmore looking all embarrassed and uncomfortable with his haphazardly placed apron. Jimmy, uncertain of how this cooking segment stuff works, is inching his way towards dumping some ingredients in a bowl before we've even declared what we're making here.

5:17 Recipe time! The reason for Derek's embarrassment is made known as it is revealed the "Official Lasagna of the Portland Pirates" is actually the "Official Lasagna of Derek's Mom." Mama Whitmore must be so proud.

4:57 Derek, for some reason, decides that bare-handedly reaching into a pot of what he later declares is still hot water is an excellent idea for the viewers at home. I'm sure Mama Whitmore doesn't do that. Also, please count the number of times Derek says "noodles" in his video. In fact, after this recap is concluded, I will refer to Derek Whitmore exclusively as "Noodles".

4:50 Apparently transferring the noodles immediately into a bowl and then immediately into the baking dish is a required step in the Official Lasagna of the Portland Pirates. I suppose this could be a metaphor for pro hockey. The noodles are the players, the bowl? Portland. The pan? Buffalo and the NHL. Hey, the pan is kind of shaped like a hockey rink...

4:40 Jimmy Bonneau starts speaking and my heart stops because he basically sounds exactly like Steve Bernier. For those keeping track, that means I'm in love. He finally gets to crack the egg he's been holding almost since the segment began. Jimmy uses the unorthodox method of smacking the egg with a fork in order to crack it. Is this a Mama Whitmore sanctioned technique? Also, I could listen to him say the word "parsley" all day.

4:14 Our host (whose name I never firgured out) discusses that Jimmy and Derek are roommates and asks about their cooking styles. Jimmy says Derek is oriental but declares that he personally is "all about meat". Derek begins a half an hour process to lay four noodles onto the bottom of the baking dish and explains his methodology of partial layering. If it always takes them this long to cook, they'd better get a serious headstart on dinner preparations every night.

3:12 MAKE IT STOP! Jimmy starts stirring his ceramic bowl of whatevs with a fork, and for those who might not cook often, the sound of metal fork tines scraping on ceramic sounds not unlike nails on a chalkboard. I really don't hear the next few seconds over the scraping.

2:55 Jimmy "Meat Lover" Bonneau starts discussing using beef or bison meat in the sauce for this recipe. I'm not sure if I wish he had said "Buffalo" or not.

2:46 Blah blah blah, diet of a pro athlete, chicken, carbs, etc. etc.

2:10 Derek tells a story of someone calling Matt MacDonald fat during a game. I'm sure Matt is an emotional eater and that story being told on air and now recapped in this blog has driven him back to the Ho-Hos and Bagel Bites. Well played, Mr. Whitmore.

1:46 Derek begins hurling globs of ricotta at the noodles in the pan as Jimmy moves the bowl of mozzarella so that the camera may properly film the cheese throwing. Look! the moving of the mozzarella bowl reveals the tongs that were undoubtedly left on the counter for Derek to use to remove the pasta from the hot pot of water as opposed to his method of dunking his hands in, full throttle.

1:00 Derek needs to bust out a dictionary and look-up the definition of "horizontal" and "vertical" as he discusses Mama Whitmore's crosshatch style of noodle layering.

0:46 Jimmy takes the partially finished pan of lasagna and puts it into the oven, revealing the conveniently placed already finished lasagna. Jimmy decides to kill the TV magic as he takes out the finished lasagna out of what is supposed to be a 350 degree oven- with his bare hands.

0:20 Once again our host needs to remind us all that Derek's Mom is the author of this rare and exotic recipe and Derek is forced to sheepishly admit, as he has multiple times throughout this segment, that his Mom helped him prep for this segment. Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

0:00 Considering Derek is a Rochester boy, I think Mrs. W. should invite us over for some of that lasagna, especially because this blog is one of the first few hits when you search "Derek Whitmore" in Google.