Photo Blog

After yesterday's audio-video blog, I thought I should clean out some of the photos I have been hording in my Photobucket account. I routinely look for hockey pictures that pique my interest, and I know I've piled up a few that really don't fit under any topic about which I've written. It's time to unload these pictures, and give everyone something to click through. I don't know where I picked up half of these pictures, but let's get started with this walk through Teebz's photo album.

• We'll start with a man who needs no introduction: Don Cherry. I don't understand why people hate Cherry so much. He's hilarious, and he's controversial. That's what he's paid to do. The thing that stands out about him, though, are his sport coats. And he has many. Here are a pile of them: in gray, in white with pinstripes, in Winkler for Hockey Day In Canada, at the Winter Classic in Buffalo, in blue roses, in red roses, in multi-coloured flowers, in daisies, in circles, in dots, in pink, in a jersey helping hockey moms (no, not you, Sarah... real hockey moms), and in Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
• In what looks like an early form of hockey, here is Storr's Agricultural School playing ice polo at the end of the 1800s. Phenomenal photo, and you can see the pads they wore on their legs may have been adopted by traditional ice hockey players in the 1900s. I love the old uniforms too. For being over 100 years old, those sweaters are still sharp.
  
• In another old-time hockey photo, check out the players sitting around the old word-burning stove to keep warm. I have no idea what team this is or who the players are, but, if anyone wants to make a logical guess, I'm all ears. Again, solid sweaters, and the Bruins should take notice of that design.
  
• The Minnesota Wild have a new addition to their team, and he's wearing #18,001. Nordy the bear is the Wild's new mascot! Perhaps the Wild read my article on the mascots of the NHL, and decided to get onboard with their own lovable creature. Either way, this is an excellent marketing move by the Wild to capture their younger fans.
  
• Speaking of mascots, I have never seen nor heard of a mascot for the California Golden Seals, but I have been holding on to this photo for some time. Apparently, the Seals commissioned Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates to come up with Sparky the Seal for the franchise. Yes, the same Charles Schulz who was responsible for these guys. I think this is one of the coolest ideas I have ever seen in terms of having someone design a mascot for an NHL team.
• As you know, I am a fan of funny signs that fans bring to games. I have spoken about how great and original some of these signs are, and I've now seen another. The NAHL officials got to witness some hilarious originality. Absolutely priceless! Full marks to the fan that came up with this one.
• The band known as The Zambonis, who have penned such classics as "I Wanna Drive The Zamboni", feature some incredible pictures on their site of their hockey-related outfits. Drummer Mat Zamboni keeps time on a Hartford Whalers drum kit! Totally sweet look for this band! Huge thumbs-up from HBIC!
• I used to play street hockey with my friends when I was younger. It was a Sunday afternoon ritual where the children played the fathers from around the neighbourhood. The games were normally pretty fun, and occasionally it would come down to a "next goal wins" situation. If I am ever in that situation again, I will not call upon Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion to sub in. He looks like he's never played the game before in his life. Note to self: reconsider your federal electoral vote, Teebz.
• However, I certainly have to give the Canadiens some love for recruiting John Lennon to the rouge, blanc, et bleu. I never got a chance to see him play, but I heard he only supported the "Make Peace, Not War" line off the ice. Just joking, people. His famous line of "war is over if you want it" from Happy Xmas still rings true today.
• How good did the game of hockey look in the 1970s? Well, if this photo from the 1976 All-Star Game in Philadelphia is any indication, I'd like to go back in time. Bill Barber is the player in the white jersey. Anyone know who the other guy is? His face doesn't ring a bell here. Kudos go out to Stephen McGregor who correctly identified the other player as Dave Burrows!
• I wasn't aware of it at the time, but Steve Shields' time in Boston featured him in a mask that was an homage to Gerry Cheevers' famous mask. I honestly love the look of the old masks, and the paint jobs that current goaltenders wear in making their masks look like old-time masks are extremely cool.
• No words are necessary for this photo. It just brings chills to me. Old-time hockey is awesome, and it still rings magical when I hear, "Henderson... has scored for Canada!"
• Patrick Lalime has updated his mask to reflect his new team in the Buffalo Sabres. He keeps the eyes of Marvin the Martian on his mask, but has him wearing something that looks like a Grand Poobah hat for the horns of the bison. All in all, a very decent paint job, and a good transition for Lalime.
• If you're in the jersey customization business, there's got to be a stop to things like this. Or this. Or, unbelievably, this. Come on, people. There's no excuse for misspelling a star's name. It's not like you can't hit up the internet or a game program or a newspaper and figure out how to spell the name properly.

Ok, so there are a pile of photos you can look over. Honestly, some of them really bring a smile to my face because they are so good. As much as I'm critical of the media sometimes, it's photos like these that keep me coming back to the game of hockey, and I have to thank mainstream media for that. Keep up the good work, and I'll keep checking out the photos!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!