Here’s my latest from nhl.com.
Looking at them also gave me an idea for an amazing car game for hockey nerds. You know, a game you play on the road. Not an away game. A car game you play while getting to your road game, a game you can play in the car, on your way to see Aunt Greta, with the kids.
Read it here, or continue reading below.
I’m game
Hockey circles sure are small. They’re small in countries like Finland and Sweden, or the Czech Republic, and they’re small in the wide world of the NHL. All you have to do is take a look at the front offices in the NHL organizations to see how the pieces go together.
That’s just the way the world seems to be working regardless of the industry.
I was thinking about this today, after an event organized by the Swedish Elite League, when I saw Bengt-Ake Gustafsson joke around and laugh with Thomas Rundqvist, his old teammate from both Swedish Farjestad in the 1970s, Farjestad in the 1980s, Austrian Feldkirch in the 1990s, and Team Sweden in-between.
Rundqvist was there as the GM of Farjestad. Gustafsson as the head coach of Team Sweden.
Their old buddy Tommy Samuelsson was also there. He and Rundqvist have known each other since their teens. He’s now head coach of Farjestad. Hakan Loob, the CEO of Farjestad, hadn’t made it.
Now Gustafsson’s son was drafted by the Capitals, and the network gets woven some more, to include second generation contacts.
Looking at them also gave me an idea for an amazing car game for hockey nerds. You know, a game you play on the road. Not an away game. A car game you play while getting to your road game, a game you can play in the car, on your way to see Aunt Greta, with the kids.
Of course, your kids would have to be hockey nuts. I’m not sure if it can be played without the help of the magnificent hockeydb.com.
This is the way it goes.
Start with a random player. It can be whoever from whichever country and actually, these days, in any league in the world. The next person will then have to come up with a player who has played on the same team with the said player. And the third person adds yet another player who’s played with the second one, but not necessarily the first one. Actually, it’s probably better if they haven’t, so you don’t just rattle off the roster of the 1977 Detroit Red Wings.
For example:
Hardy Astrom, Sweden – Phil Esposito, Canada – Bobby Orr, Canada – Johnny Bucyk, Canada – Gordie Howe, Canada – Dave Keon, Canada – Carl Brewer, Canada – Lalli Partinen, Finland – Matti Hagman, Finland – Frank Neal, Canada – Hakan Loob, Sweden – Theo Fleury, Canada – Janne Ojanen, Finland – Mark Johnson, USA – Bob Manno, Canada – Borje Salming, Sweden …
… Who got a five-minute standing ovation at the opening game of the 1976 Canada Cup where the goalie of Team Sweden was Hardy Astrom.
You can make different versions of the game:
– Every player has to be of a different nationality than the player before him.
– Every player has to older/younger than the player before him.
– Six degrees to Player X.
– Just the current front offices.
– Just the GMs
– Just the coaching staffs.
(And yes, I totally used hockeydb.com with my example above).
It may not throw NHL09 out of town, but I’m sure someone can easily turn this into a Facebook application.
Waiting for the first one to challenge me there. Anything can happen in a hockey game.