Fun Facts

For the past few years, i’ve been writing a french blog on RDS. My most popular posts have been a series called "Faits Cocasses", which translates to "Fun Facts". It’s facts, anecdotes, fun little stories about professional athletes.

I’ve decided to do a little research, and post one in English. Most facts have been taken out of my previous posts on RDS, and a few are published for the first time. Enjoy !

Ducks Bobby Ryan got pranked good when he was a rookie. Guys changed his contacts in his phone, switching his girlfriend’s information for his coach’s. Bobby found out when he sent sex texts to his girlfriend.. uh, his coach, and gave him a call at 12h30 AM. Bobby said he could maybe get away with sending sex texts to his coach today (what?!), but back then, coach really gave it to him the next day.

Bruins Tim Thomas is superstitious. If possible, he always pees in the same urinal before every game.

Habs Mike Cammalleri is superstitious too. He always ties his left skate first.

Blues Jaroslav Halak drinks a half litre of chocolate milk every morning.

Flyers Scott Hartnell’s dad is bald, bald, bald. To quote him :"Scott got his luxurious hair from his mother".

Habs Hal Gill owns a sword. He says it’s the most useless thing he’s got. I sure hope so Hal.

Kings Drew Doughty first met his idol, Wayne Gretzky, in the bathroom during his draft. He wasn’t quite sure if he should shake his hand or what.

Speaking of Doughty, he got into an elevator one morning during the Vancouver Olympics. It was filled with athletes from Quebec who were all speaking French. Drew, who didn’t understand anything they were saying and was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, decided to get off on the 4^th floor and go down the stairs the rest of the way.

Habs PK Subban has a man crush on Will Smith.

The 2010 men’s US Olympic hockey team had 6 guys named Ryan.

A few years ago, they announced a crowd of over 13 000 in St.Pete’s Times Forum in Tampa. Pat Burns claimed they were all at the bar when the announcement was made because there wasn’t anyone there ! Vintage Pat Burns. Miss ya Coach.

After Maurice Richard got hurt in 1959, Marcel Bonin borrowed his gloves and scored 10 goals in 11 games. He then joked that if he had any idea he would get such great results, he would have borrowed his jockstrap too !

Denis Brodeur, Martin’s father, has sold over 114 000 pictures to the NHL.

Habs  Captain Brian Gionta hates Randy Jackson.

Serge Savard was always barefoot in his skates. Yuk.

Thanks to Roman Hamrlik, Dion Phaneuf knows the best Czech curse words.

And finally, the funniest thing Habs Carey Price ever saw in an NHL rink was a few years ago.. A gigantic picture of himself with a pacifier in his mouth. Ha! Ha! Was quite fitting at the time Carey...

Fears and Pet Peeves

I fear lots of things. Thunderstorms. Georges W. Bush. My dentist. Most of all, i fear those vacuum-scealed items in hard plastic packages. I always cut myself opening them.
Lately, i've developped a new fear. What if the Habs don't score a goal in their next game ? Or the game after that ? Or ever ?
I exagerate.
As bad as the past week has been for Habs, i find the whole situation kinda funny now. In sports, most of us have really short-term memories and the panic-o-meter goes apeshit from time to time. Every team goes through a bad streak once in a while during the regular season. Might as well be now and have the guys enter the playoffs ( i hope ) with good sensations after gaining back their confidence. And if they don't, well, there's always next year, right ? To quote Carey Price : " Chill out. "

I'll admit, during the games, i get into it. I blame Gomez. I point Jacques Martin. I curse the refs. After it's all said and done, i move on to the next game, or the next team. Yes, there are 29 other teams in the league and i love the sport too much to limit myself into watching just one team. I get to be pissed off at other players, other coaches, other refs; makes me feel good.
Which brings me to my pet peeves.
Irritants include :
.Matt " Out To End Your Career, But I'll Change " Cooke.
.The " U.S.A " chant in some U.S arenas, most of which are home to teams composed of a majority of canadian players.
.Chris Lee
.The Detroit Red Wings and The Philadelphia Flyers. The fact that they're both having great seasons doesn't help much.
.The New York Islanders' entire management team. It's like the Groundhog Day of the Milbury Era over, and over, and over.. And while we're at it, their goal song sucks too.
.R.J. Umberger. I'm still bitter about his incredible playoff run against Habs a few years ago. I did get rid of the voodoo doll when he got traded out west though.
.Don Cherry. No further comment.
.Tim Thomas, for being so damn likeable. Also, he's a pretty good goalie if you watch him play other teams than Montreal.
.The entire Sutter family, who got me believing that Jacques Martin has endless facial expressions.
." Inside Hockey " on HNIC presented by Viagra, and overtime presented by Cialis. Too obvious.
.The entire NESN broadcasting team. All teams have somewhat biased men calling their games, but these guys take the cake.
.Last but not least, the Puppet Master, Gary Bettman, for slowly killing the sport, one player at a time.

So you see, even though Habs haven't scored in over a week, i'm fine.