Stormin’ through the party like my name is El Nino…
Hi there….Matty B Here. New writer for The Hockey Focus and a Hockey House Cat. A Nathan MacKitten if you will.
This is a new weekly(-ish) column that will break down all things hockey, your favorite team (probably), and life, the universe, and everything else. It is named Over/Under because:
- Gambling is cool (not really kids…stay in school) and
- Everyone needs a gimmick and I’m not really that clever
Here are the rules. Things are either good (Under/Underrated) or bad (Over/Overrated) or just meh (Push). These thoughts are my own and do not represent The Hockey Focus, WordPress, or even me five minutes after I write it.
Got it? Ok…here we go.
This week: Women’s World Champions of the World, $$$$$$$$$$$tutzle, no skip vinyls, and I NEVER WANT TO LOSE AGAIN.
Hockey
Under
Canada is the Intercontinental Champions of The World!– Guys, Canada-USA women’s hockey is the best. Like the absolute best. Like, stay up and watch the game instead of DVR good. The best there is…the best there was…the best there ever will be.
Last week. Canada and the United States Women’s Hockey teams played for the 157th time in history, with Canada taking it 5-2. Canada is 88-68-1 against the United States all time, but this series has become more interesting with the two teams swapping gold medal wins in the Olympics. The games are so great. The teams are so evenly matched, and the have genuine hate for each other.
But I want to talk about the scuttlebutt around the game. In various publications and podcasts, the talk has been not been centered around the classic hockey being played between these two teams, but the competitive gulf between Canada/United States and everyone else. Here are the scores from the group one knockout round:
USA 10- Japan 0
Canada 4- Finland 1
USA 6- Finland 1
Canada 4- Switzerland 1
Canada 9- Japan 0
USA 9- Switzerland 0
USA/Canada 42- Everyone else 3
It is the right decision to put them in the same group so we get an extra game. But there has been some discussion in the media around maybe just including Canada-USA in just a playoff series. Seven games? Sounds amazing. But isn’t the point of these international tournaments to grow the game worldwide??? College football teams play Sister Mary’s School for the Blind and Deaf all the time. But as time goes on, eventually the underdogs gets one, and that’s a really great moment for the sport. So keep these teams together, let them grow and get better, and this will make the entire product better.
Now…if you are into like a Summit Series between these two. Seven Games. Two Countries.
I’m in
Under
$$$$$$$$$$tutzle– Still can’t find the umlaut. Also, shouldn’t umlaut have an umlaut in it?
Last week as well, The Ottawa Senators may have won the offseason. Free agents that actually chose to come there. Robbing the Blackhawks with a bag and a gun for Alex Debrincat. And especially signing their young players to long term deals. Good for them.
Josh Norris rocks. Brady Tkachuk may be the better Tkachuk, and can now afford some new letters for his last name. Tim Stutzle is also a really good player, and is set to have an amazing season with his new line mates: the aforementioned Debrincat and Claude “Grabbin’ a Cop’s Butt” Giroux. Ottawa signed Stutzle to a 8 year/ 66.8 million dollar extension.
Signing young players is always a good idea, and I would never advocate for a player to take less money (get that bag youngsters). But has the era of the bridge contract died? Here are the most interesting contracts on Ottawa according to Cap Friendly:
Brady Tkachuk 6 yr, 8.25m per
Josh Norris 8 yr, 7.95m per
Tim Stutzle 8 yr (after next year), 8.35m per
Thomas Chabot 6 yr, 8m per
Dion Phaneuf 1 yr, 354,000 (just kidding)
Those kids have good agents. But the question remains. Does the bridge contract help out a team become more successful? Im looking square at Nathan MacKinnon. In 2016, MacKinnon signed an extension 7 year, 44.1 million dollar extension with the 2022 World Champion of the World Colorado Avalanche. This was waaaaaaaay under value for a player of his caliber. And because of this bridge deal, Colorado was able to keep players like Mikko Rantanen and keep Landeskog from being the first captain of the Seattle Kraken. Then they won a Cup, and MacKinnon is slated to become the highest paid player in the NHL (deservedly so). This is one model of team building that has worked (also note the Tampa Bay Lightning…who had guys all over the place take less to keep them good).
Maybe the era of the bridge deal is dead. Maybe Ottawa is the wave of the future. A new model of giving your young starts a buttload of money up front and nibbling around the edges. Like Toronto has done (and that has worked out so far hasn’t it). Then maybe we can say it with me
THE 2025 STANLEY CUP CHAMPION OTTAWA SENATORS!!!!
But I will be dubious until then.
Life, the Universe, and Everything Else
Under
Shoresy– By way of introduction, I, the Hockey Focus housecat, am a 40+ white cis male who loved non-traditional sports (hockey and soccer) in a non-traditional market (The Deep and Dirty South). So what I am about to say will shock no one.
I
Love
Letterkenny
It’s true. If you haven’t watched it, we have got less than a month until hockey season. Stop reading this…get comfy…pull up Hulu…and watch Canada’s greatest pop culture export since Kids in the Hall and Alanis Morissette. I’ll wait.
Welcome back. See, I told you so. Wow…that was nine seasons….way to push through.
Now, to be fair…
just realize that this show has completely ruined your vocabulary to the point that your friends and love ones will not to understand you. Pitter patter. How are ya now? Ferda. Time for a scrap. That’s a Texas sized 10-4 good buddy. On and On.
So now, sort yourself out and check out the hockey themed spinoff, Shoresy. I love the Shoresy character. Foul mouthed, confident, wheeling your mom, and aggressive pooper that he is. I’d find a clip and show you, but this is a family blog. And before the show came out that’s what I thought the show was gonna be.
And it is.
But there is another element to it. A Ted Lassoian quality to it if you will. It is a tribute to those in any NOSHO league that doesn’t matter, yet matters to a group of guys that just want to hang on a little bit longer. And who never want to lose again.
So grab a stick, gather up the sl*ts, and give six episodes of Shorsey a shot.
OVER
No Skip Vinyl- So I got a memory on social meeting from around this time last year. It was a picture of a brand spanking new Victrola and a 50th anniversary copy of George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, my favorite album of all time.
And it began.
Records are amazing and a wonderful sonic experience. I enjoy them so much. Like, as I am writing this I am watching Liverpool over my shoulder with the sound off and Purple Rain is blasting in the background. But they are addictive. I can only assume they are the legal and musical form of heroin. Like if The Wire were to make a season six, it would be at your local record shop, getting hipsters in skinny jeans to wear a wire into a a former bookstore.
SO in order for me to chase the dragon, I needed to create some rules open what I could and couldn’t buy, because you can’t be homeless and own that many vinyls.
- The album has to mean something to me personally. It has to represent some time in my life, something that has comforted me in a rough patch or just got me through stats class at 8 in the morning in college (Thank you Green Day and The Offspring).
- There can be no skips. None. Even track must be solid fried gold.
And that got me thinking about the greatest no skip albums ever. But that list is vast. Sooooo…lets take up a step in my dojo.
TOP 5 NO SKIP ALBUMS OF THE 90’S
5. REM- Monster- not the most popular album, and the anniversary version of this one is absolutely worthless. But this one slaps. So different and heavy and enjoyable.
4. Oasis- What’s the Story, Morning Glory?-Fight me bros.
3. Stone Temple Pilots- Tiny Music- Green pants. If you know you know.
2) Radiohead- The Bends- I was late to this party, because I really liked Paranoid Android. But this one speaks my adolescence like not other. Well…except for…
1) The Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness- No comment on modern day Smashing Pumpkins or even Billy Corgan…but I love this album. Highs and lows. Deep and wide. So very long and ambitious. Kinda like this blog. I don’t own a copy of this, so if anyone has a copy for less than 600 bucks, feel free to send me a message.
Until next time…
