Five For Friday: Don’t Let The Door Hit Your Arse Edition

Why am I so happy when my NHL team is in 12th place? That picture should give you a hint. Five for Friday after the jump, y’all…

It’s Friday. Have some Mike Cammalleri.

It’s been three minutes since we last mentioned Calgary Flames’ forward Mike Cammalleri, so we thought we’d treat you to his new spot for Adidas. I guess there’s some sort of shoe that suited for barefoot training that they’re pushing? I wouldn’t know. Too busy pretending I’m chasing Hot and Sweaty Mike.

Five for Friday: My favourite move is SUNSET ARMS!

My brother lives in Calgary and attends a bunch of Flames games. I'm a little jealous right now.

Yeah, I think I just started another new feature. Here’s five favourite things that got me through the week, and a thing or two that I’m looking forward to this weekend:

NHL Heritage Classic Results: Hogwarts 4, Habs 0

(Photo: Andre Ringuette/Getty Images)

Happy Monday, readers! Just a quick hit until I can write something more substantive tonight, as I couldn’t let this one slide. The talk of last night’s NHL Heritage Classic outdoors at McMahon Stadium was not about the crummy ice, Metric’s chilly halftime second intermission performance or Kipper’s shutout – at least not at my house. No, the talk was about Calgary’s unis, which may or may not have been channeling some sort of wizardry. Seriously, isn’t the cut on those jerseys bad enough without dipping it into the ugly bath?

Your 2010-11 NHL Hotness Preview: Northwest Division

 

Happy Columbus Day and Canadian Thanksgiving! The NHL season is finally underway, and yes, we realize we are a little late filing our previews. But it’s still early enough in the season – heck, TORONTO is tied for first in the East as I type this. I’m not joking! See?

 

(Screen shot courtesy tsn.ca)

 

Sorry. I know we’re two games in but it’s been far too long since I’ve seen these guys at the top of the standings. Just let me enjoy this Very Special Moment.

OK! On to the Northwest!

The NHL Playoffs of Hotness: Round 1

Imagine: if we were writing this 30 years ago, we likely would have included him.

Now that we’ve given away the hardware for this year’s NHL Playoff Beards Awards (props to Raven for her excellent research once again), we bring you the NHL Playoffs of Hotness.

This works just like the NBA edition. Vote for the hockey hottie you love. We’ll narrow down the choices bracket-style over the next couple of weeks. Thanks to our readers for their suggestions on such short notice! Don’t worry: we’ve included a few guys from the Stanley Cup finalists Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers.

You have until Monday at 8pm Eastern to cast your vote. Yes, we’re making our readers work hard these days!

Hump Day Hottie: Dion Phaneuf

Destiny wishes it looked like this.

If I’m going to fill in for Raven, then it’s only appropriate that I bring you a HDH from the NHL.

Life has been a bit more bearable in Bee Land these days. Never mind that pitchers and catchers report in two weeks, Brian Burke made a few moves on the weekend that gave this Leafs fan something to smile about. For one, Vesa Toskala was sent packing to Anaheim in exchange for Jean-Sébastien “What was I thinking showing up on Leno way back when?” Giguère. If that wasn’t enough, defenseman Dion Phaneuf was the pièce de résistance in a seven-player trade between Calgary and Toronto. The addition of Phaneuf brings a much-needed intensity to the Buds not seen since Gary Roberts played in Hogtown (sigh…I miss Gary)

One can only assume the change of scenery will do Phaneuf a world of good. The one-time Norris Trophy finalist has 10 goals and 12 assists in 55 games this season. His projected point total is 32, which is well short of last year’s rather meh 47 point season. Disappointingly as well, he did not make Team Canada’s Olympic roster (which makes it a little hard to watch this ad, but it still gets the blood pumping. And yes, I realize I’ve linked to that before.)

On the upside, he seems happy to be a Leaf. And I’m sure (because he reads this site, yeah…) he’ll be happy to be today’s Hump Day Hottie, too.

Hockey Night with the Ladies…: Flames and Pens at the Saddledome

Welcome to the hockey version of our ever-popular “Take Us Out To The Ball Game” series.

As I recently mentioned, I made my first ever visit to the western part of my vast homeland. This visit included my first ever live NHL experience. More on that after the jump.

But first, a special shout-out to my new favourite city, Vancouver! Calgary was alright – I can’t fault any city with a Bath and Body Works. But oh, how I love Vancouver and its lush mountains, coastal scenery, Granville Island Market and sushi! I would live there tomorrow, if it weren’t for that whole outrageous real estate situation. Oh, and the uprooting of my family. They’d be pissed.

Oh yeah, so I went to this hockey game…

Hit & Run: The Late Edition

Happy Friday everyone! I already broke my New Year’s resolution to not curse under my breath every time I read about the Boston Red Sox. This was prompted by the news that Adrian Beltre was officially introduced to the Fenway fold today. He’ll replace Mike Lowell at third base (which is sad, truly. I like Mike Lowell.) I happened to be reading a tweet of Pete Abraham’s over lunch, in which Scott Boras was quoted as saying “I think we’ve built a great stage here and there’s a chance for this rocket to take off.”

Hmm, “rocket”? Is it safe to use that word in Red Sox Country once again without, you know, getting yelled at?

Anyway, good move for the Red Sox and hopefully we’ll see a rebound in Beltre’s numbers (just not during Yankees/Sox games)

More Hit & Run fun after the jump…

Your 2009-10 NHL Hotness Preview: Northwest Division

Jarome is SO ready for this!

YAY! The 2009-10 season is here! As I type this, I am watching the Leafs and Habs on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada and wondering how long it will take before The Monster is starting games. The West Coast teams don’t play for a couple of hours minutes, so technically I am right on time with this. Here’s your final divisional preview, Northwest-style.