Hockey Themed "Return It" Recycling Ad Spot

This ad spot makes me laugh, every time! 

But seriously, folks...remember to recycle...

To see more of their videos, visit Return it's website

The $20,000 Hockey Puck

By Lisa Ovens

As a hockey culture enthusiast, I’m always fascinated by the artistic things people do with hockey. I’ve draped my body over hockey stick furniture crafted by individuals who’ve dubbed their work functional art. I’ve gazed at more than my share of hockey paintings, too. I’ve even created my own showing of hockey art photos. But when I came across the $20,000 hockey puck I was instantly excited. How many artists out there work in vulcanized rubber??

Vancouver artist Robert Chaplin did, and I fell in love with Rondelle (French for hockey puck), a carved puck inlaid with polished gold. Before I get into a “Starry Night in Canada”, We should talk about Robert’s all time hockey stats. “I had the shortest hockey career ever,” says Robert “The skates hurt my feet. I was cold. My mom said if I was going to be a baby about it I should quit. So I did.”

And that’s when Robert devoted his brain completely to art. That’s not to say he doesn’t have hockey in his life. Rob is one of the founding fathers of the Blood Alley Road Hockey Association in Gastown (an historical Vancouver neighbourhood). Although the association is currently dormant, Robert has fond memories of playing road hockey. “When I figured out I was actually a left-handed shot, I finally felt some joy when playing hockey.” Beyond road hockey, Robert has one NHL ritual. “I watch one hockey game per year, the Stanley Cup Final.”

I did meet his brother Malcolm at one of Robert’s shows. Malcolm lives in Northern BC, and plays on a recreation hockey team. Malcolm told me his team plays a variation of  the dump and chase. It’s called dump and wait. I asked Robert if he’s ever seen dump and wait in action. “What?” was his reply. Never mind. Now for Robert’s art stats.

Robert Chaplin is an elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts, has a BA in Fine Art, is an award winning published author, an expert sculptor, has had work sold at Christie’s in New York, and has created one of the most beautiful object du hockey I’ve ever seen. The fact that it is also an official NHL puck makes it even sweeter for this hockey fan to hold in her hand.

I slowly run my finger tip around the swirls, until I stop at each gold inlay star. Six stars, just like a team on the ice: five skaters and one goalie. The largest inlay is the moon, and its face makes me giggle. Yes, this puck is something to hold. The future owner of Rondelle may have trouble putting it down.

Robert may not know the finer points of dump and chase and the lesser known dump and wait, but he has created the perfect setting for hockey on the face of this puck – a starry night, a game to play… and the moon is your biggest fan.

Robert Chaplin's official website click here
also, visit royalcanadiansnowflake.com to see Robert's latest carvings

 The $20,000 Hockey Puck article was previously published on farparker.com

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings and their Fans!!

BC player, Willie Mitchell hoists the Stanley Cup!

                                                  

The best part of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs? 

Watching the champions win it at home in front of their dedicated Fans.

Woot!

Feeling Purple?

by Lisa Ovens

A funny thing happened to me Wednesday night during the third period of Game Four. It was still 0-0 on the scoreboard and I was hankering for a goal. So I tweeted, "Think I'll leave the room for a bit, in hopes it will encourage a goal to be scored." I went outside for a short walk. I walked back inside, and sure enough, not one, but two goals were scored! First the Devils broke the deadlock, and then a minute or so later, the Kings tied it up, creating a new deadlock. The Devils went on to score two more, winning the game 3-1. Then Phil Pritchard, the guy that has one of the coolest jobs ever, packed up Stanley and headed to the airport.Yes, I guess they brought the Cup out too soon (it was still o-o when they showed Cup curator, Pritchard putting it on a table somewhere in the bowels of Staples Center).

And speaking of Pritchard, who is also VP of the Hockey Hall of Fame, wouldn't this be the best contest ever...

Win the opportunity to be Phil Pritchard...

 and accompany the Stanley Cup on one of it's many journeys!!

Just another way the Hockey Hall of Fame could engage us. Anyway, Game Five takes place in New Jersey on Saturday June 9th...which seems so far away. I can imagine Kings fans will take this time to relax a bit. I can imagine everyone was on pins and needles right up until Wednesday night's game was out of reach. Hang in there, regal ones!

Random Hockey Bits

by Lisa Ovens

Can the New Jersey Devils Stop the Regal Ones...Even Just Once?

As much as this is about a possible Kings sweep to win Lord Stanley's Cup, it is also about the New Jersey Devils winning their first game of the series. Devils fans, welcome to the nightmare Canucks and Blues fans went through in rounds one and two. It's "one game at a time", time. Although the Canucks managed to win their Game Four, the comeback came to a close early into OT of Game Five. Martin Brodeur is going to have to steal this game for the Devils after the 4-0 loss in Game Three. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs managed to climb their way out of a 0-3 hole in Stanley Cup Final history.

Rest in Peace, Vladimir Krutov

Vladimir Krutov, who played just one season for the Vancouver Canucks, has passed away in Russia at the age of 52. Krutov was one third of the world famous KLM Line (Central Red Army). His story is an interesting one, as it shows just how challenging it can be for a foreign player to adjust to playing overseas in the NHL. Vancouver Sun story link

Did You Know...

If a final round series has the potential to end before a seventh game, The Stanley Cup and the Con Smythe trophies will remain in a nearby hotel room, and will not be brought into the arena, until it's looking pretty obvious the series leading team is going to win it.

Look at Me...Look at Me!!!

Every year, during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we hear how the NHL prefers various non playoff NHL related news stories to be kept on a temporary "down low" so as not to take the spotlight off one of sports most grueling quests for a championship. In the last half of the playoffs, two high profile players have made a splash...

Now, I am going to give Detroit Red Wing, Niklas Lidstrom a pass here for announcing his retirement after 20 amazing years playing for the Wings because,well, he was such a fixture during the post season. He's a four time Stanley Cup Champion and the first European born player to win the Con Smythe Award as MVP of the 2002 S.C. Playoffs. The Wings have made the playoffs for the last 21 years in a row, making their playoff appearance streak the longest in professional team sports, and you know Lidstrom has something to do with that. So yes, it is just fine he announces his retirement at this point in time because everyone should know when a superstar like Lidstrom decides to hang up the skates.

What don't we need to know about right now? Whatever the heck is going on with Tim Thomas's career!
Thomas is no Nik Lidstrom, and shouldn't have chose this point in time to announce his "sabbatical from the game". It just shows us, once again, that Thomas has little respect for his peers, especially the ones currently playing in the Stanley Cup Final, a place where he was, this time last year. Roberto Luongo, what were you thinking "pumping this guy's tires" a year ago?

It's Not What You Know...

      

by Lisa Ovens

Well, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Game One of the Stanley Cup Final round is in the books, with a sweet overtime victory for the LA Kings. I’m sure the women and crew from Whilethemenwatch are also feeling some relief after getting their first Hockey Night in Canada show under their belts.

Like many, I was surprised that a show that openly discussed topics often banned on hockey message boards was getting this kind of exposure. However, I wasn’t one of the people to boycott the show last night. As concerned as I was about how this show wound up on HNIC, I still planned on giving it some time before I got into the game.

Over the last ten years I have studied women related sports ventures and the careers of various hockey media women. In my second book, For the Love of Empty Net Goals, I created a special section listing milestone achievements, firsts, failures, female hockey jersey debacles, and issue riddled marketing campaigns to name a few. Whilethemenwatch is another entry to throw onto the research pile.

Now, onto my experience watching the first period of Jules and Lena’s Whilethemenwatch…

 

For readers in the United States, here is a photo of the set up as it looked on my computer screen. Ladies on the left, game on the right. I also had the game on my TV as well, which was running ahead of the online stream.

A B&W skit opened the show, with Lena and Jules channeling Lucy and Ethel having a telephone chat, gossiping about "these two women who were going to be hosting a new show on HNIC". Eventually they hang up because the game was going to start so they had to go take care of the men.Obviously this opening  was their way of responding to several days of backlash. Then the real show began.

Show hosts, Lena Sutherland and Jules Mancuso had some help from producer/camera operator Sonny, as well as Jamie Ordolis, Senior Producer of CBC Live, who sitting off to the side. As you can see the set was pink with white, but instead of the girls sipping from martini glasses, they were holding big, manly coffee mugs. There was plenty of chatting, with Sonny either fielding hockey questions from the hosts, or he was reining them in towards something that was going on during the game. They all seemed to have a nice rapport going, and the host themselves seem to be very friendly women.

At times I was distracted by the twitter feed scrolling down the right side of my screen, but it did serve a purpose. Everyone loves prizes, so the show became interactive, getting viewers involved by tweeting photos of them watching the game and who they were watching the game with to be used as an entry to win some swag. I did see some tweets from people getting involved amongst all tweets, good and bad for #whilethemenwatch.

The one bit I liked was when they spoke about a cheer that had something to do with the movie, Scarface. I thought the cheer sounded kind of cool, and I even tweeted asking for the spelling of the word they cheered, but never got a response. Wish I could share that with you.

Once the Boyfriend of The Game portion of their shtick began I really wanted to stop watching, but it seemed to go on and on. For me, it was bizarre and somewhat unpleasant to see two grown women get into such an elaborate procedure in order to choose the best looking players on the ice. I realize the premise of the show has been set up as if we are eavesdropping on them “while the men watch” and they obviously had to add some props into the Boyfriend mix because this is taking place on camera. But this kind of content, along with the "Hall Pass" game really belongs on a Cougar Dating website.I did find myself getting more into the game itself at this point. Couldn't help it: I love hockey, and it was hard to stay with their talking .

The finer points of Boyfriend of the Game

 

After the game, I spent some time reading the twitter comments directed at Jules and Lena’s show. I didn’t spend any time with the horrible insulting tweets, because no one deserves that kind of treatment, but instead focused on the more constructive ones written by women.

It is clear to me that a female run hockey show, with the right content, could be accepted by both female and male hockey fans. It was clear to me ten years ago when I started my Hockey and High Heels project. I wouldn’t have started writing my first hockey book if I didn’t discover there was a community for it.

Watching the WTMW debut last night did inspire me. I'm inspired to share the knowledge I've gathered from ten years of “Watching Women Watch Sports”, and go beyond consulting with hockey teams. It inspired me to develop my own ideas for shows that I’ve written down over the years, and I encourage other female hockey content writers to do the same. If we are not pleased with a show like Whilethemenwatch, and know we can do better, we should make it happen. 

When I looked at what Jules and Lena have accomplished in a year, I was both impressed and baffled at the same time. Myself, along with other women hockey content creators know how hard it is to get a foot in the door. In my column yesterday I asked out loud in the CBC's direction, just how did this Whilethemenwatch concept make it onto Hockey Night in Canada’s platform? Finally I found the answer in an article posted on avclub.com earlier today. It was in an interview conducted by John Semley (link is here). Here's the telling excerpt...

AV Club: How did this deal with the CBC come about?

Lena S: It was through a friend of my husband. There were some emails back and forth, and the CBC asked us how we could work together for the Stanley Cup Finals.

There you go, people...It’s a classic case of  “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” 

               

Hockey and High Heels on WhileTheMenWatch and CBC

by Lisa Ovens

I have to admit, I just didn’t know where to begin with this latest hockey fan crisis involving Whilethemenwatch and CBC’s Hockey Night inCanada. This whole thing just seems like an April Fool’s joke. The CBC is offering up a choice platform for two women to provide "gossip show" style commentary during the Stanley Cup Final? Two women reaching out to non hockey fans that view the game more as an inconvenience that requires coping skills? Two women who went on TV, and when asked for a sample of their work after being shown a photo of the Sedin Twins, said “Do the Sedins’ curtains match the carpet?"  Yep, this does feel like a prank and I so wish I was being fooled for real.

Whether online or face to face, there are always guys and gals in the crowd that are going to seriously question a woman's knowledge and commitment to the game. Where's the card we can flash that instantly proves our hockey cred*? "Logic clearly dictates that the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few." Yes, I'm playing the Spock quote card. However, I have low expectations from Lena Sutherland and Jules Mancuso to use their new found power with WTMW on CBC to help us out with the credibility issue after they inadvertently catapulted us back to the Fifties. What are you gonna do?

Like WTMW, I came out of left field with my first book Hockey &High Heels, so I truly knows what it is like to stick your neck out into the world of hockey entertainment, as Lena and Jules are doing with their partnership with CBC Sports. So It’s hard for me not to mention a few of my own experiences as they relate to this story. In my case, along with a lot of good, I also saw some hand wringing, eye rolling and insults because of the title (mostly from women online) and I even had a cyber stalker for a little while. But none of that compares to what I have read about Lena, Jules and the CBC over the last few days. Here's what I am thinking about the CBC.

Come on publicly Funded CBC...

There are plenty of women available who have the talent to deliver quality hockey content suitable for the masses. Hockey minded women deserve to be working in hockey and they deserve to be a part of North American hockey’s biggest event, the Stanley Cup Final. How Jules and Lena wound up being the chosen ones riding the coat tails of the longest running show in the history of sports is beyond me.

I am well aware that the CBC/NHL contract expires in 2015. We saw the CBC lose the HNIC theme song, what else could be on the block in the near future? Obviously strengthening the HNIC brand is vital between now and then. Although I think it is great to see HNIC tinker with their presentation and content, they clearly are out of touch with, well, everything!

The other day I was speaking with Pens hockey writer, Jan Snyder, and she reminded me of the sparkle/studded NHL jersey crisis of 2010. When pressed, the NHL’s merchandise department admitted they didn’t really know what women hockey fans wanted. How do two big companies like the NHL and the CBC completely miss the mark in this day and age?

Often, women are referred to as the elusive female market or the lucrative female market. That’s what we are. Women have this massive purchasing power that is known and lusted after in corporate boardrooms, the world over. Yet, for some reason, as the CBC has demonstrated, the other power we possess is completely ignored. And by other kind of power I mean being in a position to show them what the key looks like and how to use that key to unlock the door to this highly desirable market.

So, I have to ask CBC... are we in this situation because of an old boys' club judgement?  Or, and I highly doubt this, are the Whilethemenwatch women working for free? Don't you think it might be more beneficial to target the casual male and female hockey fans first and then tackle the ones that are forced to cope with hockey in their house?

Coming later today...Part Two  The Aubrey O'Days of Hockey, Lena and Jules!

* My Hockey Cred...

Ten years ago this summer, I began work on a hockey book titled Hockey and High Heels- A Different Kind of Hockey Book. To make a long story short, H&HH website launched 2004,  H&HH book launched 2005, added hockey blog to website in Fall 2006, did my first hockey event for women 2006 (Everett Silvertips) Went on to do events with the Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, plus consulted with other teams, 2010 Winter Olympic Blogger, launched a second book, For the Love of Empty Net Goals- My Adventures Living Hockey, and most recently spoke at the Buffalo Sabres Hockey n Heels event March, 2012. Currently I'm learning how to walk again after seriously breaking my ankle thanks to an outdoor skating accident in Florida.