Monday, August 15, 2011

Vancouver Canucks former player Rick Rypien deceased

If you haven't heard it by now, read Mirtle at the G&M.  Rick Rypien is dead at 27.  The cause of death is, as of this writing, unknown, but given that he battled severe depression, it could be suicide, alcohol or drugs (purely speculative).

Rypien joins fellow tough-guy Derek Boogaard this year in dying way, way too young.

Why am I posting this story on the BoO?   Consider this:

Rick Rypien:  last NHL fight with Chris Neil.
Derek Boogaard:  last NHL fight with Matt Carkner.

I know Carkner was pretty shaken up after Boogaard's death given that D.B. didn't play another game after Carkner's right hook.  There was a substantial amount of time between that bout and Boogaard's death, but it was his last game.  Neil and Rypien had some good exchanges, but Rypien continued to play several months before taking time off for personal reasons. 

Where am I going with this?  This is where I'm going: Peter Raaymaker's post at SilverSevenSens on the human impact of fighting.

*read that article*

Rypien's death isn't the first time depression, alcohol and drugs have been linked to hockey 'tough guys'.  It probably won't be the last.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Stone hands!

Cool August mornings and upcoming minor hockey camps - soon time to start thinking about hockey again.

Here's a brief article about a Sens prospect impressing.

Monday, August 08, 2011

Kovalev's parting shots.

Ten million bucks doesn't buy you much in the NHL these days. Especially if you spent that money on Alexei Kovalev.
The Russian contributed next to nothing for Ottawa over two seasons on the ice. Fine. He was old and should have never been signed. That's on Ottawa. But now, months after being traded from Ottawa and on the verge of playing in the KHL, he still takes the time out of his day to bad-mouth the franchise.

"In two seasons I still couldn't understand the ideas of our coach Cory Clouston," Kovalev told Sovetsky Sport in an article translated by Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo! Sports.


That's the nice part. Wait to you see what he says about the media out there in Kanata.

Read the full story here on TSN.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Happy Hockey Solstice

According to several sources on the Interwebz, including one of our faves PPP, today is Hockey Solstice Day.  What's that?  Well, it's the day in the summer that is equidistant from both the last playoff game and the first pre-season game.  It has been 48 days since the Cup was won by Boston and it will be 48 days the Battle of Ontario kicks off the pre-season. 

But it's an interesting phrase the PPP authour uses to calculate the midpoint:  "[it has been] 48 days since we last saw any playoff action".

We here at BoO would prefer to use a different calculation for the folks at PPP.


Special update for Muppet:


Free Countup Timers at WishAFriend.com

You may now scroll down do thMuppets Twitter posting.  Speaking of Twitter:  follow Don at Don@BoO & THM at StraightFromTHM (lame at the moment, but will pick up in the Fall)

Muppet versus Twitter

@Bozie42 Tyler Bozak - Never an easy morning workout after Vegas. #naptime

I agree Tyler, that's tough. Having to workout after a weekend in Vegas blowing thousands of dollars and not even denting your bank account is one of life's greater difficulties. Enjoy your nap, you deserve it bro. When you wake up do indeed tweet us all, we'll just be here, at our desks, at our jobs, waiting.

@mirtle James Mirtle - Winnipeg woman gets new Jets logo tattooed on her leg: winnipegsun.com/2011/08/01/shi…

This is unfair. This lady gets a mirtle tweet while THM got a tattoo of Daniel Alfredsson's face on his ass cheek and all he got was a crummy 10 likes on facebook.

@MattBarnabyESPN Matthew Barnaby - I've used the phrase " walk like a penguin many times in my life but omg after that leg workout it will be me !! Ugh long 3 days ahead!

#I'mInDenialThatI'mRetiredAndNoLongerRelavant

@NHL NHL - Tell us! What do you miss most about #NHL hockey during the long summer months?

I can tell you what I don't have to miss: lame corporate attempts to create dialogue with your audience based on absolutely nothing of substance. At least tell us you blew out your pecks at the gym or something cool like that. Sheesh.

@FAN590 THE FAN 590 - If they re-locate, where do YOU think the @NYIslanders should move? 416-870-0590, 1-888-666-0590, *590!

Winnipeg. Then we can follow the story of the Winnipeg lady as she weighs whether to get an Islanders logo on her other calf. Now that's content baby.