Photo Purchases

I have a weakness for 8″x10″ photos.

No, they aren’t collectible, nor are they “worth” anything.

But there is something so immersive about their relatively large size (compared to hockey cards), their ease of storage (just throw ’em in a binder) and their endless varieties. Whenever I see a dealer who sells photos, I try and find offbeat images that I don’t see everyday.

Here are some 8″x10″ goodies I got…a while ago. I meant to put these up sooner, but they’ve been in a pile of stuff on my floor the past 3 months. Either way, enjoy these pics! Continue reading “Photo Purchases”

Jonathan Toews on "NHL ’11" cover

A few days ago, this image started circulating around the internet:

Yep, from the looks of it, Stanley Cup MVP Jonathan Toews will grace the cover of “NHL ’11”. This is the second year in a row that a Chicago Blackhawks player will be on the cover of the popular hockey video game. For those who don’t follow the Blackhawks or video games, Patrick Kane was on the cover of “NHL ’10”. (Picture here)

Continue reading “Jonathan Toews on "NHL ’11" cover”

2002 Olympic Hockey Photos

(Steve Yzerman, Chris Chelios, Brett Hull and Brendan Shannahan at the 2002 Olympics)

Ever since the NHL decided to let it’s best players fully participate in the Winter Olympics, there seemed to be a sort of even / odd “Star Trek” paradigm going on here.

You see, the 1998 Olympics was very much like the first “Star Trek” film–highly-anticipated, but failing to live up to the hype. Of course, I say this from a North American perspective, because I’m sure hockey fans in the Czech Republic thought the ’98 games were just fine.

And like “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” the 2002 Olympics was all it was supposed to be and more, culminating in a final showdown between the United States and Canada. Expectations were met, and then some.

The 2006 Olympics? Totally “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.” Yawn.

That makes 2010 the “Star Trek IV” of Olympic Ice Hockey. In other words, good. Or so we can hope. I’m crossing my fingers, ‘cuz I’ll be dammed if I have to sit through “Search for Spock” twice.

With the Men’s Ice Hockey tournament starting today, I thought it would be fun to look back at some pictures from the 2002 games.

Here we have Mario Lemieux and Joe Sakic celebrating their gold medal win.
 
Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Paul Kariya and Joe Sakic. How’s that for a power play unit?
The U.S. bench: Chris Drury, Adam Deadmarsh, Doug Weight, Mike York and Jeremy Roenick.

Photo of Team Canada after winning the gold. Click on the photo to enlarge, and see the enviable and unmatched level of talent.

Let’s hope that the 2010 games are as good as they were in 2002.

I’m totally going to see this

You may have seen commercials for a movie called The Tooth Fairy during the Winter Classic on Friday. Here is the official trailer for that film.

Oh man, where is the downside? This could be one of those so-bad-it’s-awesome kind of films. It’s about the meanest, roughest pro hockey player who has to become a tooth fairy. As if the irony of that isn’t delicious enough, it stars Duane “The Rock” Johnson as the main character. “The Tooth Fairy” comes out on January 22. It will probably suck, but probably end up being unintentionally funny in the process too.

Trailer: Forgotten Miracle

A new documentary about the 1960 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team will be released this week. That’s right, the 1960 team. Every four years, all the buzz among U.S. hockey fans is usually about the “Miracle on Ice” from 1980. But many of us overlook the fact that 20 years prior, the miracle first occurred when the U.S. team beat Russia, Canada and Czechoslovakia en route to U.S.A.’s first gold medal in hockey.

Here is the trailer to the documentary about the 1960 Olympic team, aptly entitled “Forgotten Miracle.”

Visit the Forgotten Miracle official website here.

Video Olympics for the Atari 2600

Early hockey video game is really Pong with great box art

Atari 2600 Video Olympics - box frontSometimes we forget how far video games have come. Those old enough to remember when Wayne Gretzky played for the Oilers probably got their start playing video games on the Atari 2600 – with games like Space Invaders, Combat, Surround and Video Olympics. Continue reading “Video Olympics for the Atari 2600”

Movie Review: The Love Guru

It’s not a hockey movie. It’s not a funny movie, either.

The Love Guru movie posterMike Meyers ought to be ashamed of himself for writing, producing and starring in The Love Guru. It is a bland, stupid comedy — and I use that word very loosely — that panders to the lowest common denominator with an overabundance of toilet humor and bad puns. Even worse, the film revolves around a hockey player on the Toronto Maple Leafs, making the sport of hockey guilty by association for being in this lame film. Continue reading “Movie Review: The Love Guru”