Very OT: Hockey history was made last night

I know there are lots of hockey fans on this blog. Hockey sticks and knitting needles seem to create an affinity somehow. You know that hockey history was made last night AND I WAS THERE. If you'd like to see some pix and commentary, head over to my blog http://fromthegarret.wordpress.com/ to check them out. Here's a preview:




Now back to our regular programming...

Who knew?

You all are aware that I'm a rabid hockey fan, and am especially interested in goalies (because of the Devils' fabulous goaltender Martin Brodeur who's on the verge of setting a couple of major records, but more about that another time). I just found an interesting piece of trivia about another famous goaltender, Jacques Plante.



"Jake the Snake" Plante was part of six Stanley Cup championship teams (the Montreal Canadiens), won a record seven Vezina Trophies (given to the best goalie in the NHL), was the first goalie to regularly wear a protective mask, and developed the modern style of stand-up goal-tending. He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Canadiens have retired his number. Pretty impressive stuff!


Guess what? He was a knitter! Yup, his mom made money doing knitting piecework. She taught him to knit so he could make his own tuques (warm wool hats) to keep him cozy when he was out playing pond hockey in the frigid Quebec winters. Here he is in one of his handknit tuques:






You can see him in his goalie pads with his tuque in the photo of his junior team below.






Once he moved up to the NHL, his coaches wouldn't allow him to wear his lucky hat. However, he continued to knit as a way of relaxing from the pressures of being a professional goalie.



So real men knit too.

Full disclosure: This has nothing to do with knitting

In spring, a middle-aged woman's thoughts turn to...THE HOCKEY PLAYOFFS!!!!

Yes, that's me with my "cheer towel" (you wave it around to encourage your team and it sheds white fuzzies everywhere) at Game 1 of the playoffs. Alas, my beloved but offensively challenged Devils were defeated by the New York Rangers 4-1. But it's only the first game of a "best of seven" series so there's plenty more action to come.


Here the Devils take the ice.


The world's greatest goalie Martin Brodeur watching the action at the other end of the rink.


Your basic hockey scrum.


The best the scoreboard looked all night: tied 1-1 at the end of the second period.

I know there are other hockey fans on this blog. So who are you rooting for this spring?

OT: Ginny and I are depressed

There was no joy in Jersey last night: the Devils lost 3-2 and were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Their last game in their own Meadowlands "barn" (the players' term for a hockey rink) was pretty dismal. Ginny and I won't be driving to the swamps anymore because next fall the Devils move to the brand-new Prudential Center in Newark.

The Star-Ledger printed an eloquent photo of Zach Parise slumped on the locker room bench without his jersey but with his skates still laced on. Discarded equipment litters the floor and seat around him. The air of defeat is almost palpable.

Myself, I went home and cleaned all this year's ticket stubs out of the pockets of my (not-so-lucky) Devils jacket, then solemnly hung it at the back of the coat closet until October rolls around.

The great thing about sports is this: there's always next season. My husband and I spent a delightful fifteen minutes this morning discussing which free agents we think the Devils should sign for the fall. I'm already looking forward to the new line-up.

Where there's a team, there's always hope.

No knitting during this game!

I was planning to blog about knitting but I never got around to it because I was too tense during the Devils game. I was afraid I'd completely mess up anything I attempted.

The Devils won 4-3 in "sudden death" overtime! Wooowhee, what a game!

Even though I was sitting on my family room couch, I wore my favorite Devils hat and my leather Devils jacket because my guys needed all the help they could get. By the time the game was over, I was sweating, but it was worth it. They played like madmen and they triumphed.

My flooded basement has faded into insignificance.

Does anyone else on this blog have certain rituals or wear certain clothes to help their team win or am I the only crazy person?

Devils update

I'm too depressed to talk about it: the Devils lost 3-2 last night in Tampa Bay. Add that to the shootings at Virginia Tech and our flooded basement and it was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad day. Last night after the game, after the news, after the mopping, all I wanted to do was sit quietly and knit a few rows on my MIL's sweater. So I did and I felt better. Knitting is definitely good therapy.

Completely and Totally Off-Topic: My Guys are in the Playoffs

That's how I think of the New Jersey Devils ice hockey team: as "my guys". It's very weird because I've never felt that way about any other professional team of any kind. Frighteningly enough, I kind of understand my husband's obssession with the Yankees now. I don't share it but I understand it.

At any rate, I decided that I'm going to share my own obssession with my friends here at RTY because frankly, knitting an all-black sweater doesn't make for fascinating blogging. The Devils do...at least in my opinion.

Also because last night the Devils won the first game in the long road to the Holy Grail of hockey, the Stanley Cup. Wahoo! Below is a fabulously eloquent photo of the Devils celebrating while a lone Tampa Bay Lightning player skates by with shoulders slumped in the agony of defeat.



Now I want to introduce you some of "my guys".

The guy on the left is Zach Parise. He scored TWO goals last night! He's only 22, a rookie last year, and I love him because he always skates his heart out, mostly because he's too young to know any better.

The fellow in the middle is Scott Gomez. He's incredibly fast and agile; watching him blow past the opposition's entire defense while totally controlling the puck gives me a thrill every time I see it. He's from Alaska, a state I fell in love with a couple of years ago on one of the great family vacations of our lives. ( You can see my Alaska photos at http://www.nancyherkness.com/fromthegarret/garret_archives13.shtml)

Last night Scott racked up three assists (helping the guy who scores the goal).

On the right is Brian Gionta who scored the fifth Devils' goal last night. He's quite small for a hockey player but absolutely fearless. (I identify with him because I'm a bit vertically-challenged myself.) He'll get slammed into the boards by a defenseman twice his size and bounce back like a rubber ball before he goes on to steal the puck and score.

I'll introduce you to some more of "my guys" as the playoff series goes on but I want to explain something I love about the Devils: they are truly a team. No one superstar carries the team (although they do have Martin Brodeur, arguably the best goalie playing hockey in the world right now, but he's homegrown and always downplays his status). It's truly an ensemble effort and I've always been a sucker for those, in books, in movies, and evidently in hockey teams.

So are there any other sports fans out there? Which team do you adore and why do they grab you?