Retirement

I'm a little bit off the ball on this one, but I would be remiss if I did not mark the passing of my favorite NHL player.

Martin Straka has not died, although it is going to feel a little bit like that to me when I take his autographed jersey to be cleaned and framed. For three years I have worn his size 52 to games. The cuffs are grimy and the numbers on the back are slightly black from incidental contact with a dirty car.

For years friends have teased me over my love of who J and I refer to as “my other husband”. Straka will never be listed among the greats – Gretzky, Lemieux or Crosby.

He was not a big guy. He was a small and swift skater, strong enough to take a hit, smart enough to know when one was coming.

He was not much of a fighter, although he could throw a punch. Hockeyfights.com has no record of any fights and the only time I recall seeing him tangle with an opposing player was during the 2006 Winter Olympics.

He was accident prone, breaking his leg (the same one, twice), multiple bones in his face and damaging his back within a 14 month span.

He was underrated. The first to be traded away when a team's payroll became too heavy, he bounced to six different teams in the span of his 18 year career in the NHL, half that time spent with the Penguins. He skated under the radar, with 257 goals, 460 assists and 717 points.

Straka was a player's player, I think. He showed up, he practiced, he played, he supported his teammates. I'll never be sure, since I never met him in real life. The closest I ever came was standing near the boards to watch him warm up, earlier this year.

I always said that once he retired, I would retire his jersey. Now that he has signed with HC Lasselsberger Plzen and effectively left the NHL, the time has come.

A Good Easter to be A Penguins Fan

As St. Francis Central Hospital finally comes down:



As Evgeni Malkin tops 100 points in the season.

And the Penguins move into first place in the Atlantic Division by beating the New Jersey Devils 7-1.
Happy Easter.

The NHL Winter Classic

I had a well organized, interesting post planned on our recent adventures in Toronto and Buffalo. Then I came down with the flu, courtesy of our one of our fellow travelers.

A Summary

• The Hockey Hall of Fame – in which fans are permitted to kiss the Stanley Cup if they so desire and Bob Johnson's ring resides in the vault with the pieces of the old cup. Coolest statue was a giant bronze of this classic Ken Dryden pose.

• Dinner at Fran's Bistro – Funky, comforting home cooking. Excellent 5 cheese macaroni and cheese, adult shakes spiked with your liquor of choice and chili made with carrots.

• World's Biggest Bookstore – Huge. Located inside a fire engine red building on Edward Street. I walked out much poorer from the visit with every intention of returning again, with several hundred Canadian dollars in my pockets. Has everything plus some things I did not know I wanted and carries British publishers.
  
• The Steam Whistle Brewery & The Distillery – The brewery reminded me of Rolling Rock. The distillery was defunct, but the old buildings were amazing.

• The Border Crossing – In which our party demonstrates that the easiest way to distract a U.S. Custom's Agent is to mention that you are attending a major sporting event in the area, thus provoking the guard to ask “Really? How did you get tickets?” instead of the routine litany of questions.
• Wings at the Anchor Bar – A Buffalo institution and the home of the hot wing. The mild wing sauce was excellent.
• The Game – Seventy-one thousand plus screaming fans. Thirty degrees and snowing. It seemed as if sixty thousand of them were cheering for the Sabres. My first experience in hostile territory. The Capitals do not count as the Verizon Center is Mellon Arena southeast.

• The Win – In which Sidney, “...is a girl's name” Crosby manages to close the mouths and empty the stadium of sixty thousand Sabres fans by scoring the winning goal in a shootout.
• Lake Effect Snow – Seven hours from Buffalo to Pittsburgh. Six hours spent on unplowed, unsalted roads.
• The Flu – Inevitable.