My general hockey ramblings/picspams will usually be availible to all comers, but most of my fic is friends-locked. It can be found unlocked at alooseballoon, if you don't feel like adding me. 

Feel free to add me for memes and ramblings of a more personal nature, as well as ficlets and actual, legit fic. 

Things I talk about sometimes: attractive men, hockey, my pseudo domesticity, hockey, and how much I fail at life. It's great!

Just leave me a comment here if you add me?

:D

So as some of you guys might be aware, I read my fair share of hockey blogs. But not many of them can make me do a spittake nearly as well as Down Goes Brown. I got a little behind in my reading, so here are some of the greatest bits from his last couple of articles.

From Who will win the Masterton Trophy?

Johnny Boychuk, Boston Briuns - Has often been described as "not completely insufferable" and "somebody you can watch play one entire game without hating, I guess", making him pretty much a unanimous nomination for the Bruins.

Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators - Came back from any injury or had a good year or maybe retired or no one really has any idea to be honest, since nobody in Ottawa has said a word about any player other than Erik Karlsson since mid-November.

Jaromir Jagr, Philadelphia Flyers - Needed to be recognized for finding the will to succeed despite being like a hundred times better than everybody else at hockey, we guess
.


From Nine Lives: A look at the playoff bubble teams

Washington Capitals:
Reason for optimism: As the current eighth seed will have to find a way to make sure that an opponent doesn't sneak up and get them from behind, meaning they've finally found a subject where they can learn something from Dale Hunter.

Dallas Stars:
Possible bad sign: The fact that they don't have a single top-tier player who is currently injured has been somewhat countered by the fact that they also don't have a single top-tier player who is currently healthy.

Colorado Avalanche:
Possible bad sign: Have one of the most difficult remaining schedules of any team, in the sense that they are not scheduled to play any games against the Colorado Avalanche.

Los Angeles Kings:
Reason for optimism: After being encouraged by the coaching staff to at least give it a try to see if they liked it, the team admitted that their recent experience of scoring a goal was actually kind of fun and they may even be willing to do it again before the end of the season.

Winnipeg Jets:
Reason for optimism: Their return to the NHL has been the feel-good story of the season, so they can expect to have millions of hockey fans all across Canada passionately cheering them on in their quest for a playoff spot.
Possible bad sign: If the Maple Leafs are any indication, that means they're screwed.


Do any of you have a favourite hockey blog that you read religiously?

Part 1

Okay, okay, enough with the history already! Who are these guys?

Well, I'm glad you asked! The 2011-12 Canucks are a pretty damn awesome group of guys. I'm super excited to introduce you all to them!



( Honestly, this is more of a picspam than anything )



So there you have it. 
Comments are love!

This is a primer about the Vancouver Canucks. 

Why, you might ask? Well, because I think that they're awesome, but also because I don't think enough people think that they're awesome. Also, because I want Chris to have a thorough understanding of who all these guys are before playoffs start. Also, withcrayons has been asking me about a couple of players on the Canucks, and would like to be able to know the names of the players that she's supposed to be hating. Since I'm all about embracing the hate, I acquiesced, and this is the result.

Special thanks to Charlie and Chris for being my sounding boards, and especially to Chris for coming up with some of the weirder parts of the player profiles.


( Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Vancouver Canucks! )

On to Part 2!

So I've been thinking a lot about the whole concept of Beerability. (For those of you who haven't heard of this wonderful way of thinking about hockey, you should all go and read this intro to it on The Backhand Shelf.)

A lot of what I've realized is that most of my favourite players don't have very much beerability. Like, can you imagine sitting down at a pub with Jonathan Toews for hours and just drinking and shooting the shit?

Or with Ryan Kesler?

Or Claude Giroux?

No. Not really.

What, then, I got to thinking, was my metric of choice for determining my favourite hockey players?


( Wherein I invent a new metric and try to explain it with words )

Also! The Canucks won a crazy game agaisnt the Jets tonight, which is cause for some celebration!



Also, it was interesting to see Andrew Ladd and Ryan Kesler back on the same sheet of ice. There wasn't much visible interaction between the two of them tonight, but Kesler was in full-fledged BEASTMODE tonight, so there was probably some words exchanged at some point.

Also, I may or may not be writing fic about them now. Ugh. What is my life?

I yoinked this from masonraymond21 but i've seen it other places too.

I've decided to, as much as possible, answer the question with pictures.

Because pictures are worth 1000 words?

Or something like that?



( This way to way too many pictures )


:)


 

So a little while ago I was catching up on my twitter feed, and I came across someone's invention of the hashtag #NHLnovels



Of course, being a huge fan on puns, I took to this like a house on fire. 

What follows are my contributions to the #NHLnovels hashtag over the ensuing few days. Please revel in my astounding wit.

( Gonchar With the Wind, etc. )


Also! I have lots of feelings about hockey related things! You should come talk to me about them!

Hokay, so it's on to Part 2 of my hot hockey players by sweater number picspam! (I know you all were waiting with baited breath for this)

Today we're going to go from numbers 21-40. It's gonna be awesome.

This one features lots of goalies! And more Bruins than I am entirely comfortable with. Also lots of gingers. And *eyes.* And suits. 

Yeah, so.

It's pretty great.

So without further ado...

( This way to the attractive hockey players! )