NHL Playoff Drinking Game

On Twitter, Greg Townsend of Goon Report and I started tweeting about a playoffs drinking game.

"Hey Kaner I just got your pregame meal ready."

  There's been plenty of these for specific teams in the past.  I, sort of fondly remember not quite making it through the second period of a Maple Leafs game doing one that had too many rules.

As a general thing, if your drinking game has multiple pages, you're probably going to need a day or two to recover.  That obvious gem of knowledge came my brother and I watching the Star Wars trilogy following a drinking game similar to this. 

Fun things to do to/as a Beer Geek

Your spouse may not like you chasing them around with the paddle.  Trust me.

Brewers and beer geeks can be a fun bunch. This makes sense as this passion is based around a fun beverage. And what better way to have fun with booze than to pull pranks on the unsuspecting. Here's some ideas I had because I don't get out enough.

1. Go to a bar and cap the bottles the bartender serves you. You can do this either to mess with him when he's not looking and sadly point to your capped bottle when he comes back to check on you or if he's looking at you when you're capping it say, "just one for the road."

Puck: How to Make EA Sports NHL 14 Cover Vote Even More Awkward

NHL 14, the next installment in the long running EA Hockey Series is, once again having a fan voting contest to determine who will have an underwhelming season, get injured, grace the cover.  Each team has been given two representatives to duke it out from locker room bragging rights, and the right to go on to the next round of 32.  (They apparently don't know that the league hasn't expanded yet).

Many notable players aren't on the initial list, which disappoints fans' visions of a "Vote for Rory" ballot for snubbed individuals like Sidney Crosby,Alexander Ovechkin, and Teemu Selanne.

Puck: What if Visors gave an Advantage?

The loudest cry against mandatory visors is that it affects your vision and no one wants to give that up.  Fair enough, although it's probably complete bovine deification considering how many of the league's elite scorers wear them, but let's go with it for right now.  But what if you were trading that disadvantage for an active advantage?  Would more people go for visors?  (Also, since a majority of the league already wears them, this post is about four years late).

NHL Playoff Streaks Ending? Both In and Out

There's two NHL streaks that might end at the end of the month.  Detroit Red Wings' 21 consecutive appearances in the playoffs and the Toronto Maple Leafs' seven year break from even attempting to break their consecutive years without winning a Stanley Cup. One of these two teams, as you could guess, is probably in a little better shape for the long haul.  Hint: They don't wear blue.

When Good Beer Ideas Go Wrong

As brewers push the boundaries there's going to be a few offside calls from time to time.  Sometimes this is from pushing the envelope too far.  Other times it's a direct result of either a bet gone wrong or finalizing your next brew when a few too many into the day or night.


This post will focus on, what I perceive to be, odd combinations for beer.  Some of these work.  And some don't.  And as I've previously said; just because I or anyone else doesn't like it, doesn't mean it's a bad beer.  But most of these were probably met with, "well, it seemed like a good idea at the time" from the brewers after recovering from a two day bender.

Looking Back on the NHL Trade Deadline

This is like Luke kissing Leia weird: Crosby still has all his teeth.

They say you can't accurately judge a trade immediately after it happens.  That's why I waited a week before writing this.  That should be plenty of time to avoid any awkward statistical anomalies like Jaromir Jagr contributing to 100% of his team's offense in his first game.  All one goal of it.

This post is only looking at trades involving NHL players swapping teams so the big moves that sent Martin Erat, Jarome Iginla, and the aforementioned Jagr to a new equipment rooms won't be examined as it's almost impossible to gauge how even these trades will be viewed for several years, or in the case of Erat for Filipe Forsberg, probably next week.  

Hockey Players and the Drinks They Would Be

Hockey and Booze: Perfect Together

Since this blog is dedicated to hockey and beer, it's not much of stretch to push that to other forms of liquor.  Think of beer as a step stone drug to mixed drinks with umbrellas.  Those, naturally, lead you down the dark path of just waking up and drinking cheap whiskey out of a bottle.

Other places Big Beer is Hiding in Plain Sight

Amanda Rykov took and tweeted a picture that the Beer Street Journal as well as most beer and a lot of non-beer sites (including Deadspin) picked up on like the only pretty girl at a party.  Here is the New York Yankee's "Craft Beer Destination":

Hockey Trade I Wish Would Happen on April Fools Day

I attempted to try and explain what I think would be an awesome trade in 140 characters on Twitter.  Didn't work.  I needed at least a good 150.

So, here's the hypothetical trade I'd love to see on April Fools one year.  Which, really can only be during a lockout shortened city when the trade deadline is pushed back this late, but work with me.  It'll happen in 9 years.  Calling it now, if anyone wants to favorite this page.