Monday, August 9, 2010

monday randoms: puckdaddy, mostly....

- i'm once again flattered to have been asked by greg wyshynski, over at puckdaddy, to contribute a female perspective on NHL issues. i'll link to it tomorrow (or whenever it's up).

- another thing happening, currently, over at puckdaddy: the mount puckmore exercise. in a nutshell, they've got team representatives from all 30 NHL squads picking which four people best describe the history of their teams (aka: which faces would be carved into your team's mount rushmore). i've been thinking about this alot, actually, and i decided to share my decisions with you in advance of the actual unveiling of our monument [ps: which of you is writing it, hunh ???]

1. the obvious two
there's no way anyone can try to convince me that the first two faces on the flames' mountain would not be lanny mcdonald and jarome iginla. without a doubt, these two franchise players define the class and leadership displayed in their respective eras and any conversation about the history of my club would be incomplete without their names.

2. the third
after lanny and iggy, it's a little more difficult. i have been hugely vocal about wanting theoren fleury's #14 retired to the rafters at the dome, and i think he should be the third face on puckmore for all of the same reasons. he's a former flame recordholder in scoring titles (until iggy came along), and he's overcome so much adversity in his non-hockey life. also ? the fans effin' love the little dude. personally, i'd be hard pressed to imagine this shrine as complete without theo's scarred mug up there...

3. and finally....
the last guy's tough. REAAALLLY tough. if you think about incredible team players, you've got a few left to choose from (kippy, and gilmour come immediately to mind) but most of the other big names would appear on other teams' foursomes (mcinnis & niewendyk are good examples here). håkan loob is somewhat entitled, being the only swede to have ever scored 50 goals in one NHL season (a record that still stands), but the majority of his hockey contributions have come overseas as GM of eliteserien oft-champions, färjestads BK. oh, and just because mikey V lucked out and has a banner in the rafters doesn't mean it deserves to be there....

no, the fourth guy should be a non-player. some good options, here, are doc seaman, bob johnson, and cliff fletcher.... but to ME the last face on mt.puckmore should be this one:

not only does he boast one of the best nicknames in pro sports, but he was an active part of two cup runs, had a thirty-some-odd year career, and was the first professional hockey athletic trainer to be inducted into the hall of fame. additionally (as if we need more reasons), he remains a community ambassador to the Flames, and his on-bench celebratory dance is one of the most memorable in the 89 cup win. i heart bearcat murray.

**UPDATE: hayley wrote up the puck daddy mt.puckmore yesterday, and you can find it here. i have no idea why sarahM (who alerted me to the aforementioned article in the comments) deleted her note. meh.

i guess that's it for today.
:)

12 comments:

walkinvisible said...

um. wow...

<3 hayley, but that post is a fucking disaster.

how do you not pick lanny mcdonald ??!

plus, bearcat is a WAY better pick than cliff fletcher, due to the worst trade in franchise history (until the series of jokinen deals, of course).

RobWoolley said...

Wow, no consideration to Jim Peplinski? Doug Risebrough? ;-)

shep said...

Swedish mt rushmore:
Loob
Nilsson
Roger Johansson?
Jonas Bergqvist?
Mathias Johansson?
Tomas forslund?
Huselius?
Höglund?
Niklas Sundblad?

Macinnis would be on my list, 13 seasons, 803gp, 212-609-822, +241 from the blue.

Unknown said...

I have to go to bat for Haley a little bit (though I don't think her post shows) ...Re "there's no way anyone can try to convince me that the first two faces on the flames' mountain would be lanny mcdonald and jarome iginla." I know what you MEAN, but what you say is that you are NOT convinced that these faces should be the first two! You mean quite the opposite.

And I would have MacInnes on my list, too.

walkinvisible said...

GSN (for ol' times sake):
pepper's cool but not better than the alternatives. and risebrough was awesome as #8 (why i remember these trivialities, i have no idea) but was in no small part the cause of the dark ages in the '90s.

shep:
did you not put forsberg on that list just to hurt me ? and how in GOD'S NAME does jonas höglund make the potential cut before börje salming and bengt-åke gustafsson (for his work as a coach) ??!?

ma:
duly noted and edited. macinnis will be on the st.louis blues' shrine (the way there's a statue of him outside scottrade and a banner in the rafters), so he needn't compete with the rest of the '89 team here.

mikeH said...

I really like Hayley's stuff, but I'm thinking Lanny is would be my first choice for Mt. Puckmore. He has been such a great supporter of hockey in Calgary for 30 years (and counting), its tough to think of anyone else.

Iggy has definitely put himself in line. With Fleury, I think you could make the Ken King argument about retiring #14 ("some time needs to pass"), but otherwise, he was the best of the '90s.

The 4th spot is pretty open, but I like the Bearcat suggestion. He's such a great guy. Fletcher took us to a cup before losing his mind I guess.

I have some better questions: When they put Gretzky on the Oiler mountain, will Semenko be behind him? If Fuhr goes up, will they powder his nose? Will the Vancouver Mt. Puckmore just have Linden and Naslund, twice? Will the L.A. Kings have Peter Pocklington on theirs? Will New Jersey carve in Kovalchuk at his current age (27) or wait and carve him as a weathered 44-year old?

shep said...

hehe, i meant for swedish flames players :)

walkinvisible said...

mikeH:
my roommate suggested harvey the hound instead of bearcat (along with lanny, iggy, and theo).

i fully support this.

shep:
that makes WAAAAAY more sense.... and hilarious that i didn't even consider that, i just looked at your list and was instantly shocked by the omissions... ;)

SarahM said...

I deleted my note? I have no idea why I did that either, as it was completely unintentional and, in fact, I have no recollection of doing it. Hmmm, Internet ghoulies at work?

mikeH said...

Looks like Al Mcinnis didn't make the St. Louis Mount Puckmore, so I guess he just ends up snubbed. Funny that they built him a statue in real life, but when it comes to fake statues, he doesn't even make the list.

Mount Puckmore: The four faces of the St. Louis Blues

A Z R said...

I dont want to hate, but im going to. Haley, what the fuck? Honestly, why the fuck was I not tagged to write that thing? I usually read her stuff, but I couldnt even make it through the fletch shit. That asshole swung a trade that ruined the 90's. You put him on your mountain?

Here are the 4, just so you know. Lanny, obviously. OBVIOUSLY HALEY.
#14, Iggy, and for fucks sake ED WHALEN!!! God...why wasn't I tagged to write the post.

walkinvisible said...

i think that after lanny (OBVIOUSLY), iggy, and theo, you can make good arguments for the following:
-bearcat murray
-ed whalen
-harvey the hound
-håkan loob

but everyone and anyone else (including mikey V and cliff fletcher) are the WRONG choices.

end of story.