Winter Classic Montage

The 2009 Winter Classic was a memorable day at Wrigley, and YouTube sensation DayWalk3r has passed along this very well done montage all about the big day.

It's a great video but the editor really didn't follow a lot of the rules of what a montage should include. Like always fade out at the end of a montage. If you fade out it seem like more time has passed in a montage. Montage...

"Celebrities" Take In The Winter Classic

Sorry to beat some more coverage of the 2009 Winter Classic over your heads, but it's one of the only times that hockey gets any mainstream play so I figured I should cover it as best as possible. Or until I'm tired of writing about it.

Well it looks like old man winter wasn't the only big name in attendance at Sunday's Winter Classic. Get it? It was cold! Let's take a look at what other big stars (note the sarcasm) were in attendance.

John Hughes - Talking pictures director

Pat Sajak - Wheel of Fortune host/Heartthrob to old ladies everywhere


















Actor Thorsten Kaye. What he's acted in I don't know. From the looks of the picture, something about lumberjacks.
















Actress Joan Cusack and her family. What, John Cusack busy?
















CSI star William Peterson























Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. The excitement in this photo is too much for me to handle. I think my computer screen might explode.
















I don't really care about these celebrities but it's nice to see Vince Vaughn was able to take a break from making crappy Christmas movies to attend. Hey remember when Vaughn used to be good? I miss that, probably so does his career.

Notable Quotable of the Day

“I count myself very lucky. There’s not a guy in this league who wouldn’t like to play in these games. I’ve had the opportunity to play in three of them.”

- Detroit Red Wings goalie Ty Conklin, after getting the win over the Blackhawks in the 2009 Winter Classic. He now sports a 2-1 record in outdoor games.

Building The Rink At Wrigley

Ever wanted to know what goes into building a hockey rink at a baseball stadium? Probably not, unless what you want to do in life requires you building hockey rinks at baseball stadiums. And if there are jobs like that, sign me up.

Well apparently there's more to setting up a rink than spraying some water and laying a piece of wood over it overnight while you go to sleep and let nature do it's work. There's actually a lot more to it.

Check out this video of all the hard work that's gone into setting up the rink for the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. It kind of depresses me to know that it requires so much and because of that I will never have an awesome hockey rink in my backyard. Just one with patchy ice that breaks when you skate over it, and mounds of snow that are used for boards. It's so hard to hit somebody from behind and give them a concussion when it's snow instead of boards that their head is crashing into. Maybe the NHL should look into that...

Who's On Santa's Nice List?

Ho ho ho! The big red guy here. You also might know me as Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, or Papa C. I'm just about to head out for my annual trip around the world. Pretty sweet gig eh? Get to travel the world and only work one day a year.

Before I load up the sleigh and feed the reindeers their traditional pre-flight meal of carrots and red bull, I thought I would give you some inside information on who in the hockey world are on my nice and naughty lists.

Should I actually be preparing for Christmas instead of writing 0n this here blog. Perhaps yes. But nobody ever told Santa what to do. Except for Mrs. Claus of course. She's a real ball buster.

So without further adieu, here is a look at my nice list. The naughty list will be revealed in a later post. Once I'm done shovelling all the coal out of the North Pole's furnace to give to those guys.

Snow
Ho ho ho! You've got to love the white stuff. I'm of course referring to snow, not cocaine. It's especially nice when hockey is played in the snow and that's what the NHL will do when it holds it's now annual Winter Classic next week in Chicago. This has become one of my favourite events of the year as it falls during my after Christmas vacation. Nothing thrills me more than sitting in my nice warm room, snuggled up under the covers, being fed cookies and hot chocolate by elves, while watching millionaires play hockey in the bitter freezing cold.

Jeff Carter, Philadelphia Flyers
The youngster is leading the NHL with goals and is having a season to remember yet will still not be voted on to the All-Star team. What an injustice! And he has to wear those hideous orange Flyers third jerseys. Having to put up with that embarassment alone puts him on the nice list.

Scott Clemmensen, New Jersey Devils
First of all, he plays for a team named the Devils which is very naughty. I mean why not go with the name Angels? Oh, it's already taken by a baseball team? Fair enough. So remember when Martin Brodeur went down with an injury and everybody predicted the end of the world in New Jersey? Well Clemmensen has been brilliant in net and kept the Devils right in the thick of things. And on top of that, he has 11 wins this season. More wins than he had the past four seasons combined!

Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks
These two teams have been playing such good, dominating hockey! What a lovely surprise! Especially for the long suffering sports fans of Boston who have had to deal with terribly awful sports teams over the past few years. It must be nice for them to finally have a winner on their hands. What's that you say? The Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox have all won championships in the last 5 years? And now they have a dominant Bruins team? If Boston area sports fans get to full of themselves, they might secure a spot on my naughty list.

Mats Sundin
Most people might think that for leaving the hockey world on edge for six months would put Sundin on my naughty list. And I'll be honest, me and the my advisors (elfs) had a long debare about the Big Swede. But ultimately Santa is as big a hockey fan as you are and is just glad this whole Sundin thing is over with. Thank you Mats! Just please don't put us through this again next off-season.

Sidney Crosby
He is the NHL's golden boy and deserves to be treated as such. Nothing further.

There's more who are on the nice list, but I drink a lot of milk to wash down all those cookies, so I have to make a quick trip to the bathroom. Make sure you check in later to see who in the hockey world goes on my naughty list!

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas! There are other holidays, but it's in my Santa contract that I'm not allowed to acknowledge them. Sorry Jewish people!

Working Away At Wrigley

The 2009 Winter Classic is just a little over a week away, and crews are furiously working away at Wrigley to get things ready for the big day. And when I say furiously working away, I mean working very hard. Not that they're angry. Or maybe they are, I didn't even think to ask. How insensitive of me. My life coach says I really need to work on that.

We now have time lapsed video of the rink and everything else on the field being set up at Wrigley. And if you thought your job was bad, it looks like the NHL are real hard asses. Putting up cameras and then broadcasting it to make sure the employees aren't slacking off.

At first I didn't realize the video was time lapsed and thought the NHL had developed some sort of technology for the workers to work at warped speed. Hey why not? Anything is possible in the hockey world if Claude Lemieux is able to play again. Seriously, how old is that guy? Is he a robot? I bet he is.

Notable Quotable of the Day

"This year is a lot easier than last year. This year we had lots of time built in. Last year [in Buffalo] when we started setting up, we had a major windstorm, and it was cold and it was nasty compared to this year."

- NHL Ice Guru Dan Craig on the conditions in Chicago for setting up the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.

Winter Classic Design Unveiled

The NHL has just released a rendering of what Wrigley Field will look like on New Year's Day for the 2009 Winter Classic. Rendering is really just a fancy word for drawing, isn't it? Look at the NHL, trying to show off with their Ivy league words.

Some of the highlights are that center ice will approximately be at second base. There will also be a carpet from home plate for skaters to walk to and from the rink. There's also a smaller rink just behind it for kids to play on during intermissions. Seriously? That's the exciting plan they've got for intermissions. Kids playing on a smaller rink. I at least hope they got the Timbit kids. Or do they not have Tim Horton's in Chicago and therefore don't know what Timbits are? For shame!

Here's video of some suit from the NHL explaining this "rendering." It's pretty dry but hey at least there's Carrie Milbank to oogle. Hell, if that's the only reason why you're watching, you might as well just check out this photo gallery of hers. It's like the age old saying goes, "Less clothing equals better pictures." I don't think that's actually a saying, but it should be because it's true.

Take Me Out To The... Outdoor Hockey Game

The NHL has just released this commercial to promote the upcoming Winter Classic. In fact, you might have already seen it as it started airing during Sunday night football on NBC. Hey, isn't that the same network that will carry the Winter Classic? Those sneaky devils!

The spot is pretty entertaining as it features some of the stars of the Blackhawks and Red Wings getting set to go out on the ice just before the Winter Classic begins. Which leads me to believe that the NHL marketing department has developed some sort of time machine and travelled to the future to record this.

While the players are getting ready, we hear the golden pipes of Chicago Cubs broadcasting legend Harry Caray serenade us with Take Me Out To the Ball Game, which is of course a Cubs tradition. I say that if they really wanted some Harry Caray for this ad, then they should have called up Will Ferrell's people...

Presidential Puck Drop?

The Winter Classic at Wrigley Field is exactly one month away from today. And as preparations are being made for the outdoor game at the home of the Chicago Cubs, it is the possible attendance of the next leader of the free world that is causing the most buzz.

According to a report in The Hockey News, Blackhawks team president Jack McDonough is in talks with the Obama camp about having the President-elect attend. Obama is a proud Chicago native and has become something of a hero to the natives of the Windy City. So an appearance at Wrigley in front of his home town fans would be quite the occasion.

The day of the Winter Classic comes only 19 days before Obama's Inauguration Day, so the hope is that they'll be able to have the President-elect stop by before things really get busy.

This wouldn't be the first appearance by a political figure at a professional sporting event. As many presidents have thrown out the first pitch at baseball games dating all the way back to 1910. And just recently, Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin took part in two separate puck drops.

Will Barack Obama say 'Yes he can' (pun intended) drop the puck before the Winter Classic? That remains to be seen as neither Obama nor his reps have commented. They apparently have other things to worry about like putting together a cabinet to save the economy from going into a depression. Putting the economy before a hockey game? For shame!

Tickets! Get Your Tickets!

Ticket info for the upcoming Winter Classic on January 1st in Chi-town have finally been released, and for those select few who aren't a Blackhawks season ticket holder, you'll have to wait for a few days to fight for the leftovers.

According to the electronic mail, which commoners refer to as an e-mail, sent to season ticket holders, the ticket purchasing priority is based on "status" and "seat location," with emphasis that "renewing season ticketholders will have the first opportunity to make a purchase."

The ticket prices start out at $75, then skyrocket to $225, and then top out at $325.

Details of when specifically the tickets go on sale are hard to find, but TSN is reporting that season ticket holders will have a crack at tickets starting on Thursday, but they will become available to the general public on Monday, November 3rd.

So hold on, you mean I can pay $325 to sit out in the freezing cold and nurse my inevitable new year's eve hangover? Where do I sign up?

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