World's Hottest Hockey

Contrary to popular belief, hockey is not just for drunk toothless Canadians. There are many women who enjoy hockey for it's . . . purely athletic nature. I men, the cute guys have NOTHING to do with it. Right? Right.

In that light, we present the best, the brightest, and the hottest hockey players in the NHL and beyond.

I have two pages devoted to Ynette's favorite, and one for my faveorite!

My First Hockey Game!

I was very lucky to attend the March 25 game between the Detroit Redwings and the Nashville Predators. I had a great time, as we had tickets that were second row from the ice. I could see the Wings bench just one section over, and I was so close to the goalie, I could nearly touch him.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see Dom play, as it was the first game after he went after Pat Roy. But I did get to meet him afterwards. He's an awesome guy, as are most of the Redwings. I have never seen so many guys be so nice about signing autographs and taking pictures.

Dom getting swarmed by fans before the game. One of our friends stayed back to avoid the massive crush of people lined up to see the Wings. We got some pics of us with the Dominator from his misuse of my poor digicam. I don't think he knew how to zoom!

This is what the behinds the scenes of a hockey game look like. Dom spent up to about 35 minutes walking around signing jerseys, kids in jerseys, and pictures for everyone.

This another picture of our group (Maria and Sarah) speaking with Dom. I was off to the side trying to talk to Datsyuk in my basic Russian. I didn't want to offend him, so I stuck with the blandest of phrases. (And Veronica thought I'd never have a place to use my "Polyni pizdetz" phrase! Of course I couldn't very well say that to any of the Russians without blushing, alas.

More pics of the group

Brendan Shanahan pauses for a few moments and says hello. He is a very sweet man and very easy to talk to. And isn't this a horrible pic of him? It doesn't do him justice.

McCarty signs pics for fans trapped behind the barriers. The kids loved him. He made a special effort to talk to every rugrat that found themselves downstairs.

Long story. See, I didn't think to bring my Hasek Jersey. And since I was technically on a business trip, I didn't think to bring any of my Dom merchandise, which I have a lot of. So, when I got to the arena and saw that they wanted 200.00 dollars for a generic, cheap jersey with NO name on it, I refused to buy one, thinking I would NOT get to meet Dom anyway for him to sign it. So of course, after he signed my program, he signed this guys jersey. I tried to buy it from the kid. I offered him tons of beer, and 225.00 cash. He refused to part with it, even though he was underage and really wanted the beer. I tried to remind him of the stuff he could buy for his car with 225.00 but he still held off. But he wanted me to take a picture so I could always remember the jersey that got away from me.

I do have to say that trying to bribe a minor with booze and cash was the highlight of my business companions week. They made sure to tell everyone what I offered the kid the next day during our meeting. It was nearly humiliating.

The home of the Nashville Predators (as seen from my 14 floor room in the Renaissance Hotel) You can see the bus the Wings took to the airport to the right.

From our seats during the preshow. The team photographers were in front of us for most of the game.

Luc Robitaille, Brendan Shanahan, and Sergei Fedorov take the ice

Brett Hull (who really does smirk while playing) takes a spin around the ice as Manny Legacy, Pavel Datsyuk, and Steve Duchesne hang out in front of the goal.

Datsyuk, Shanahan, Tomas Holmstrom mill about the ice

Me at Center Ice!

More to come!!!!!