1. AHL: No Evegeni Malkin or Henrik Lundqvist; no
Patrice Bergeron or Brian Campbell. But Ryan Nugent-Hopkins should be fun to
watch in Oklahoma
City. And in Hershey, PA, Braden Holtby will get plenty of playing time.
Closer to home, in Providence, RI, Jordan Caron should shine at the Dunkin’
Donuts Center, where the most expensive tickets are less than forty bucks.
2. College Hockey: Will Ferris State advance to
Frozen Four again? Will the hockey gods allow Northeastern University or
Harvard University win a Beanpot
Tournament for the first time since 1993? Please? Regardless of the
outcomes, I may spend some of my income not on the Ducks vs. Bruins at the
Garden but on a Hockey East game
TBD.
3. AMHL: If the college or AHL games are too
expensive for you, consider the free admission to (early morning) games. With NHL
team names, a few former D-III college players and a brand new interactive Web site, the AMHL is action-packed and
embraces new fans with this mantra: “Come for the hockey, stay for the donuts.”
4. Hockey Books: For a though-provoking read,
consider Adam Proteau’s Fighting the Good Fight. And let’s
say your kid plays. Whose Puck is It, Anyway? should
also make you think about the best way to conduct youth hockey organizations.
5. Hockey Name Games: Who are your favorite hockey
players? No need to tell me. Contact “the Rick”
at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow,
MA. He mans the information booth off Sudbury Road, and besides directing
visitors to the Courtland and Spartan apples, he’ll also spellbind you with his
rapid reverse engineering of any player’s name.
6. Cider Donuts: While you’re at Honey Pot Hill,
you must smell the donut batter. Follow your nose and stop smack dab in the
middle of the donut haze generated from the farm store/donut factory. Then go eat
one of these golden and delicious gems…or half a dozen.
7. Don Cherry: Whether you love “Grapes” or loathe
him—or both—I believe you’ll find the first part of Cherry’s two-part hockey
story, Keep Your Head Up, Kid, funny,
charming, irritating, and insightful. (But disappointing if you’re a Colorado
Rockies fan). Jared Keeso nailed the role as Cherry. I expect the second part, The Wrath of Grapes, to be equally
compelling.
8. Road Trip: I mentioned Hershey, PA already, so
by all means attend a Bears game and eat the chocolate. Rollercoasters: go for
it. The best ride, however, is the History
and Chocolate Tour: chock full of humor and Hershey Kisses.
9. No Check NHL: Note the double entendre. Sans paychecks, some NHLers are playing to
no-check hockey and raising money for charity. La Tournee des Joueurs,
also becoming known as the Quebec Caravan League, was created by Max Talbot and
Bruno Gervais. This two-team tour features several French-Canadian players in
games played in La Belle Province.
10. Books, Part II: For a more worldly view of
hockey, Dave Bidini’s Tropic of Hockey is your best bet.
For forget-your-underwear funny, Paul Grant’s Baptism by Ice is the way to go.
11. Books, Part III. Ok, so I’m running out of ideas
faster than you can say “Jonathan Quick got a ten-year contract extension but
isn’t being paid .” Or “Taylor Swift.” But here are two novel ideas: Jack
Falla’s Saved and
Paul Quarrington’s King
Leary. Ok, three. In case you’re not in the mood to take on a full
book; you’re welcome to read my
budding novel, one hockey sentence at a time.
12. Go On: Matthew Perry’s new show,
especially the episode featuring Jeremy Roenick, is a hit in my household,
where we’re going on with life without the NHL.
2 comments:
This post is chock-full of great info. Thanks, Jim. I've gotta check out Arnold's book. I'm hoping the Quebec Caravan swings by our region of the province. Luckily we have some excellent junior hockey (LHJMQ), with TV broadcasts of some of the games. And come Canadian Thanksgiving, I'll probably mention how grateful I am that we have the NHL Network to watch those old and not-so-old NHL games.
Merci, J.-P.,
After the Quebec Caravan visits your town, I expect to read about your one-game tryout.
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