Cocky Awards; Stanley Cup games 3-4

Man, with so much cockiness flying around, it's hard to pick just one person from each game! Last year's finals saw some words exchanged, but this series is hard to match from the sheer egos sitting on the ice.

Game 3: What a game! Of course, I missed quite a bit due to a birthday party, but alls well that ends well (are you listening, Ottawa?). The winner for this game? Undoubtedly Chris Pronger, not for his blatant elbow to the head, but for the lack of penalty following it.

Game 4: Oh, where to start on this game. Could it be Ryan Getzlaf, for his sneering grin and cheesy game play, Chris Pronger, for being...Chris Pronger? Perhaps Corey Perry and Dustin Penner for throwing their weight around? McDonald for scoring those clutch goals? A one Mr. Heatley for finally being in the right place at the right time?

No. No ego on the ice could compare to the two that were above it. In his scheduled scarring of the American public, Don Cherry came on NBC (in a tasteful suit, imagine that) to sit beside Brett Hull in possibly the loudest, and most ego-ridden broadcast to hit the hockey airwaves since they announced that desert climates were about to receive the gift of men on skates. I think what put the icing on the cake was Cherry calling out Hull with a well-placed jab about his foot in the crease. Please check it out here. Classic.

Onto game 5 tomorrow! While I'd like to see the Sens win (courtesy of Vermette's hair), I won't argue that the Sens suddenly finding themselves in the place of certain other teams that they beat out to get to where they are, oh, like the Penguins, doesn't give me a bit of warm fuzzies. Seriously though, get with it, Ottawa. Where was all that divine inspired play that we saw in the first rounds? Don't fall prey to the evil forces afoot!

Go Vermette's hair!

I am the master of my fate

You knew it was coming.

Sidney Crosby has been named the Penguins' youngest club captain, and the youngest man to wear the C in NHL history. He didn't need another 'C' on his uniform to prove he was the captain, but it does look nice anyhow.

Way to go, Sid! Congratulations!

----

Wow, we've been awful with the Cocky Awards....so why change now!

Steph and I have decided to make a Cocky for each Stanley Cup game. Considering that I missed most of the first one due to not being able to waitress and watch the game at the same time (I tried, damn it), and that Steph missed yesterday's horrid batch of giveaways that the Senators called a game, she will be awarding the first game's winner, and I will be announcing game 2's lucky man.

From the depth's of Steph's mind and her utter hatred for things small and quacky, Game 1's winner is: Jean-Sebastian Giguere for his silly use of a straw with which to drink his magic cocktail while in net. Splash your face like a man, Gigi!

Brought up from the bowels of Elly's bleak despair in ending up cheering for Ottawa by default, Ray Emery is Game 2's Cocky little bastard and talented goalie desperado. Not fitting the 'cocky jerk' description? How about Corey Perry being the on-ice equivalent of a plague of mosquitos?

More to come!

----

While I do not have any spiffy photos or fun things to say that haven't already been said, I will take a quick minute to mention what a spiffy time that was had exactly a week ago in Toronto. Coffee, AHL hockey, and fun was had by all! How cool is it that they sell Tim Horton's in the arena in Hamilton? To quote Steph, 'Who needs beer!'

Go Bulldogs!


(kudos to those who got the reference in the title)


EDIT: I'm an idiot. Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday, when I was in Toronto a week ago. I love working two jobs, I really do.

Is it October yet?

Hello all! Yes, I still live, just very tired. I fell asleep during Thursday's game, if that gives anyone indication on my exhaustion. Steph has been marvelous in keeping this blog up to date with her super game coverage. Thank you, Steph!

In trying to keep up with the times, we were discussing our nominees for this weeks Cocky Awards and watching the game...and then one of the most spectacular goals of this season happened and we decided that Daniel Briere's goal to bring the game into overtime deserved this week's nomination. 5 seconds left! I think this is one of the few times the tv has heard me when I've been yelling at it. Way to go, Buffalo! Too bad they lost to some other team that I hardly remember the name of. Does anyone have any other people they think have been particularly ballsy or cocky this week?

Some small side notes:

-Apparently some goalie from some team that is hardly worth mentioning was dissing Buffalo, but he says the wings are OK.

-Russian air agrees with Malkin as he's gotten back into the swing of things back in the Homeland. Check him out giving the figurative finger to the Czech bench. Love the little kick, Geno.

-The WBS Pens died in the playoffs against the Hersey Bears. Well, I guess that one team has to win every once in a while.

-Mike Lange might be deserting Pittsburgh. (Get it, deserting, going to Arizona? Ha ha?) In all seriousness, all the arenas in the world and 15 year contracts for Sidney Crosby wouldn't be worth half as much if Lange were to kick over to Coyote-ville. Well, maybe the 15 year Sid contract, which Dave Molinari says probably isn't, and shouldn't, happen. I can understand the financial reasons, for both Sidney and other players, but the value that Crosby holds for the Pens, and Pittsburgh, is larger than money...but people have to be practical (even though he's rolling in money as it is, and will be, for the rest of his life even if he stays in Penguintown). It's going to be a hard decision, he's a huge commodity, and the thought that he could leave to some place like...say...the Rangers (Jagr, I'm looking at you here) is not just a kick in the gut, but more like repeated stabbings with a rusted ice pick coated in salt in the gut that eventually gives you tetanus so that you'll die a horrible, twisted death while watching him come out in blue next to Jagr and Straka and ask god, why, whhhhhhy.

-In other news, Sean Avery is an asswipe. Shocking.


Detroit and the Ducks are on tonight, everyone look for Steph in the seats! Go...Buffalo?

Who's Cocky now?

Not us, that's for sure.

Yes, we skipped a week. I blame exams and the general excitement of the playoffs, the loss of my dear Penguins to that horrible team in Ottawa, and, of course, Sean Avery.

So who are we nominating for this week? Well, it could be the back and forth (or more acurately the smackdown on the ice) that happened between the Preds and the Sharks, Sidney's ballsy play with a broken foot, and a host of other things, but one series can sum up the week nicely: the play between Wings and the Flames. If you don't know at least a little bit of what happened in this series, then you must have been living in a hockey blackout.

The combined winners for the second and third week: The Calgary Flames and the Detroit Red Wings.

Awards!

While I am still not feeling chipper, that horrible game and all the crushing 'Pens suck, you suck Crosby sucks' gets old, not to mention the rather tasteless display of the smattering of idiots wearing Pens jerseys last night booing O Canada. Idiots. How do you think the players feel, you know, the ones from CANADA. It's like breaking up a dog fight and getting bit on both ends.

Sigh.

Anyhow, enough of that, there is the first round of the Cocky Awards to hand out and the show must go on! Besides, I have to study, so here is the winner:

In a landslide vote (thanks to our ONE VOTE. Sheesh people, get out there, nominate someone! Hell, nominate Sidney if you think he's being a cocky little bastard...and I know there are a ton of you who think so. I'm equal opportunity) this past week goes to Don Cherry, the loudest and most color-clashing man alive in sports today. Sure he's loud and irritating, and bless Ron McLean and his magical patience, but he does have some good points and is usually right...if you can filter it out.

Congrats, Mr. Cherry! Can't wait to see what you break out for the cup finals this year.

NPI Announcement! (not an April Fools joke this time)

Have you ever been watching the game and thought, 'Man...what a cocky bastard Player X is', or 'Wow, that was a ballsy move', or even, 'What a complete retard, I can't believe they said/did that'?

We have, multiple times. And so, in honor of the playoffs and all things good and fun, we present the first ever series of the Cocky Awards (it's a rooster, you pervs). Running from Saturday to Saturday, with the weekly winner announced on Monday, this will start this Saturday and run through the Cup. We will pick one player from either division for the week's contestants, post them Sunday and close the voting Sunday night, putting the winner up the next day. We'll be trying voting by reader, so make sure to look for it on Sundays! If this doesn't work out, we'll just put up our contestants, argue about them for hours, and then put up whatever we feel like.

Sometimes serious, mostly just for fun, and never to be taken seriously, the Cocky Awards! What does the winner get, you ask? A whole fat load of nothing...and the award, of course, the Golden Rooster (I'll actually make a better graphic instead of just filching one off of a site later).

Who can be nominated for this prestigious hunk of bad photoshop glory? Anyone within the National Hockey League organization. That includes GMs, coaches, ice girls, and of course, the players.* If you catch someone being an idiot, making a stupid statement, being a jerk on/off the ice, making an incredible play, taking a chance for the Best Goal Ever, or if someone makes a play around all five players and still puts it in around a stunned goalie (ala Jagr in 92), let us know.

So that's the scoop! Look for the up coming nominees next Saturday, I'm sure this HNIC will give us some good ones. Now I'm off to Pittsburgh for the last game. Third row from the glass, can't wait!

GO PENS!


*Sean Avery is henceforth exempt from this as he would take the award every week.