there are no handshake lines in the regular season please stop writing them to shake hands after a regular season game 🫠🫠🫠

Hockey: Handshakes, Hat Tricks, and Trophies

Handshake lines are significant. Your average everyday game does not end in a handshake line. The handshake line is a meaningful hockey tradition with over a century of history and it's something that every player and fan is proud of. Practically every single player takes it seriously.

The only hockey games that end with a handshake line are playoffs series, international tournaments like the olympics or the iihf world championship, and other special occasion games like a friendly exhibition match for charity, etc. Within the context of meaningful games such as playoffs and tournaments, the handshake line only happens after one of the opposing teams has been eliminated completely from play.

Regular season NHL games *NEVER* end in a handshake line between the teams!

Hat tricks are rare. Most players will go their entire careers without ever getting one. The very best most elite players will get - on average - about one hat trick per season. Yes, ONE. Singular. Alexander Ovechkin (the most prolific goal-scorer in NHL history) has 33 over a 21 year-long career. That averages out to about 1.5 hat tricks per season.

Even Wayne Gretzky, who played hockey during an era where it was much easier to score goals, and who has the record for most hat tricks, averages out to 2.5 hat tricks per season (50 hattys over a 20-year career). The most hat tricks Gretzky ever scored in a single season was 10. An elite scoring leader at the peak of his career might get 2 or 3 hattricks during a season, but this pace will almost certainly fall off as the player gets older, slower, etc.

A "natural hat trick" (aka a "natty hatty") is when a player scores three goals in a row without any goals from any other player from either team being scored in between the three goals. A natural hat trick is even rarer than a regular hat trick.

Hattys are a big deal, and no player is scoring three goals per game on a regular basis, let alone in one game after another after another!

The NHL gives trophies at a televised award ceremony once per year after the end of the playoffs (for accomplishments during the regular season) in June, in Las Vegas. The most important player awards are (in no particular order):

Hart Memorial Trophy (called "the Hart") for the most valuable player to his team, and is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Art Ross Trophy (called "the Art Ross") for most points (goals plus assists).

Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy (called "the Rocket Richard") for most goals.

Calder Memorial Trophy (called "the Calder") for the "most proficient" rookie of the year, and is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

James Norris Memorial Trophy (called "the Norris") for the best defensemen, and is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Vezina Trophy (called "the Vezina") for the best goalie, and is voted on by the general managers of all NHL teams in the league (currently 32).

NOTE: Only rookies can win the Calder. After their rookie year, the "best" player might win the Hart (MVP) or the Art Ross (most points) or the Rocket Richard (most goals) or any combination of the three, etc.

I think Episode 3 of HR is going to show us Shane and Ilya’s possible (depressing, tortured) closeted futures by giving us Scott Hunter’s story up to this point in the timeline.

I predict the episode will focus on the casual homophobia in the league and how Scott’s surrounded by it constantly. I think we’ll see how that amount of (unknowingly) targeted, sustained abuse will affect him, as well as the stress and pain of keeping your sexuality and your same-sex partner hidden from the entire world. We’ll see how that kind of double life will always eat away at your soul and your relationship until eventually one or both break.

The episode’s title is six asterisks (“******”). Most people seem to think the asterisks are there to hide the real title, which many guess will be “Hunter.” But why hide that information? Maybe it’s an artistic analogy for Scott’s life. The title is hidden and secret, just like Scott himself. Okay, I can buy that.

But I don’t think the asterisks are hiding a word - I think the asterisks are censoring one. A word that Scott has been hearing from friends and foes alike on a damn near daily basis for years and years and years. I think the title really, actually is “******” because it’s a censorship of the f-slur.

I fear the Heated Rivalry show will do to me what the Heated Rivalry book could not - turn me into a feral Hollanov stan.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book alright. It’s not my favorite type of romance trope but it had enough tenderness and earnestness to satisfy my soft, romantic heart. I enjoyed it, and even read The Long Game sequel, and enjoyed that too. But it didn’t transform my brain the way other fictional couples have.

The show, however? That sneak peak legit shocked and delighted me. Actually hearing Ilya flirt in that sexy Russian accent, actually seeing the confused horniness on Shane’s face, actually feeling their sexual tension like a tangible thing; it was revelatory. And it doesn’t hurt one bit that the actors are so damn handsome in very different ways, and so good at conveying emotion without a single word of dialogue. I’ve always been a sucker for that kind of acting, especially in a romance. The power of seeing an actor put their entire heart into a look will always move me.

All this to say that I got my HBO subscription yesterday ($3 per month Black Friday deal until Dec 1, get it now!) and I’m ready to be subsumed.

Penguins, you’re killing me! 😩

Jesus Christ that Heated Rivalry “sneak peak” is hawt as FUUUUUUUUCK like wow like ye gods. The lascivious gaze of the camera - insane. Insane sexual tension. Utter lunacy.

You can see the thoughts running through each of their minds. You can see Ilya knowing that Shane is intrigued (to say the least) and how much Ilya enjoys having that upper hand. You can see Shane telling himself to play it cool, to stop staring. When he takes that second drink of water immediately after Ilya mouths “more” you can see Shane’s turmoil like “why am I doing this?” The wink?? Ilya knows he’s got Shane on the hook. The “hmm” and half smile?? Shane knows he’s been caught.

I’m really truly impressed. If they’re able to portray Shane and Ilya’s attraction to each other this tangibly with just lingering looks, sustained eye contact, and a brush of their fingers… just WOW.

So the Heated Rivalry show *won’t* have Shane buying a fuck property due to the show’s budget not allowing for another filming location. But Shane and Ilya’s relationship reaching its climax (heh) only after Shane invites Ilya into his home after years of maintaining that separation is a big deal to the plot and character development.

I’m sure the show will just stick with hotels for the Montreal hook-ups. That seems like the easiest solution and would ultimately serve the same purpose, story-wise. However, Shane buying that property just to hook up with Ilya and Ilya *realizing* that’s why Shane bought it is big step in uncasualizing their relationship even if Shane and Ilya refuse to acknowledge it (even to themselves).

I hope there’s a scene where Shane tells Ilya he *almost* bought a fuck property but then ultimately decided against it because it would have raised too many questions with his agent/parents/etc. They can still have that flirty conversation with all its implications without actually having the fuck property in the show.

Saw someone say online that the first Game Changer book couple is a stucky AU so of course I had to read it. Just started the book today and I can definitely see the stucky foundation in it. The Bucky character even goes by a silly nickname. Like. Lmao.

If Geno stays in Pittsburgh post-retirement while Sid continues to play, or if Sid retires at the same time as Geno…