Stats of Current and Past Players (pro/minor/amateur)
Enter last name and click on "Search" to access hockeydb.com's
database
Friday, March 18, 2011
Sopes Opera – Obama and Nice Pillows
Brent Sopel’s day job is to play defense for the Montreal Canadiens. In their spare time, he and his wife enjoy broadcasting pedestrian details of their life via Twitter and a blog. Reality TV meets hockey in this web-based Sopes Opera!
So many things are going on in the Sopel family and, lucky as we are, they give us the inside scoop. So, what’s new since the trade? First, Brent’s 12-year-old son told Mom that he wants to kiss his girlfriend. He also probably hopes that her parents don’t read blogs. No words on any development on that front but we’re sure that TMZ is on it.
Second, the secret behind the “Simple Privileges by Kelly Sopel” Chicago boutique is out. We now have the business plan behind Brent’s post-hockey career. The 30-second elevator pitch? Pillows! Fluffy pillows that you can’t afford! Opening slated for April.
Brent also went to DC to visit President Obama and the White House along with the Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup. Forgetting that he’s now playing for a Canadian team – or, knowing that Montreal doesn’t have a chance this year and that he won’t be back next, he tweeted “Can't wait to do it again,” after the visit!
As a little nugget of reality:
90 = Quick non-scientific tally of comments or questions tweeted to Sopel in the last 5 days
Atlanta Thrashers’ Ron Hainsey, also known under the nickname “Hollywood,” provides a useful tip to fellow NHLers contemplating making a few extra bucks:
Bobby Hull, Wayne Gretzky, Colby Armstrong, Alex Ovechkin, Phil Esposito, and Ron Duguay are only the tip of the iceberg. What is potentially worse than hockey stars poorly pitching products is devoted fans filming themselves walking the isles of a supermarket, dressed with shirts sporting their heroes’ name, to find cereals and mustard peddled by their superstars! Dupuis Dijon Mustard and Fleury Flakes? Can’t live without that! Do they have Cooke Extra Strength Acetaminophen?
Brent Sopel’s day job is to play defense for the Montreal Canadiens. In their spare time, he and his wife enjoy broadcasting pedestrian details of their life via Twitter and a blog. Reality TV meets hockey in this web-based Sopes Opera!
Brent quickly flew to Chicago to spend the night home before flying to Montreal the next day to join his new team. Joining the Habs means putting the Canadiens jersey and finally getting some Canadian candies, according to him. What more can you ask for?
He tweets the words “Bonjour” and “poutine” within 2 days of the trade, thereby using more French than Saku Koivu did in 13 years in Montreal.
On Saturday, he tweets: “I'm in need of a notary public TODAY - let me know if anyone is available here in Montreal.” Google doesn’t work on his iPhone, apparently. More troubling, Sopel’s agent won’t do such research for the 5% cut he gets. Must be extra. Nevertheless, tons of people reply immediately. They all have a neighbor, brother, uncle, or girlfriend that is a notary public. One guy even states that if it was not for the fact that he isn’t based in Quebec, he’d do it for free. That’s the kind of people you want to deal with: free for clients making over $1M/year; repo man on everybody else late on payments! Another guy asks if he needs a notary public because he’s buying a house in Montreal! Yep. Get traded Thursday and buy a house Saturday – the typical plan of a rental player likely to stay with the team for only two months. But then, his agent doesn’t seem to be on the top of his game so who knows?
Finally, Sopel goes the safe route and connects with a notary public suggested by a “freelance sportswriter:” two free tickets for the game as a reward!
That’s it for this installment of Sopes Opera. Stay tuned for more!
As a bonus, some bullet point tips and tidbits for Sopel:
- Guy in Centre Bell’s Section 312, row D, knows more about hockey than Buck & Kincade together.
- Post game show in Montréal doesn’t mean taking 3 calls and giving out-of-town NHL summaries before signing off.
- You’ll see lots of news about some Labeaume guy. He’s never been seen in the same room as Badaboom.
- What’s the difference between 21,000 and 4,000 people signing Olé Olé Olé?
- Réjean Tremblay is the most powerful Montreal sports columnist. Easy to spot: shows up in the locker room once per month and doesn't recognize 70% of players.
- If asked which celebrity you’d like to meet, don’t say Sarah Palin like Eric Boulton did. Canada is not Georgia.
- Never question the hockey wisdom of Dany Dubé. Always question the wisdom of Michel Villeneuve.
- Michel Villeneuve has never been seen in the same room as Youppi.
- Call your old Canucks buddy Mike Keane before venturing into the French thing.
- Thought that corruption was a Chicago thing? Welcome to Montreal!
- Meet Donald Beauchamp, the guy who will approve, sanitize and translate your tweets starting now.
- If journalists bug you about commuting to Chicago, open a can of worms and tell them that GM Gauthier said it was OK.
- CKAC Sports is like Atlanta’s 680 The Fan except for additional 23 hours of daily hockey coverage.
- Don’t feed Youppi. Don’t feed Spacek.
- Don’t bother looking; GM Gauthier is not on Twitter.
Thanks to social media, hockey fans get an unprecedented, unfiltered, access to some NHL players. While they are still few and far between, more and more players have Twitter accounts and are broadcasting thoughts and even pictures on a regular basis.
Ovechkin is having dinner and tweets photo proof. Paul Bissonnette describes, live and with pictures, a Christmas party at a teammate’s house, his Vegas escapade during the All Star Break, and Keith Yandle doing the doogie after a win. Dan Ellis tweets pictures of his new car and revamped backyard blueprint. Brent Sopel asks his admirers to help find a notary in Montreal. People love that, in this great age of Reality TV. But where do you draw the line? What’s over the top and too much?
On December 26, John Carlson of the Washington Capitals tweeted a picture he took of teammate Yanic Perreault in the airplane after a game where he broke his nose.
On February 4, Darryl Boyce of the Toronto Maple Leafs tweeted a gruesome picture of himself, with bloody face and lacerated nose as he was tended to by a trainer.
Original picture slightly edited for obvious reasons.
Graphic "artist" passed out twice during the Photoshop procedure.
Then, on February 17, the Facebook fan page of Montreal Canadiens James Wisniewski posted a picture that his wife emailed them shortly after a game where he sustained a deep laceration after receiving a puck in the face.
Original picture slightly edited for obvious reasons.
See you real soon!
What’s next, really? How much unfiltered access is too much? You have to wonder if and when the NHL will step in with some serious guidelines. On one hand, access is great. On the other hand, you can’t always count on people’s judgment.
One thing is for sure: good thing that Twitter wasn’t around when Clint Malarchuk was playing. Scanning Polaroids and firing up AOL mail on a 300-baud modem was just not the same.
Really? Bum US Hockey Fans; Thrashers’ Staffer Looking Down at Quebec City
Just when you thought you’ve heard it all, someone comes up with something that makes you shake your head in disbelief and roll your eyes. The latest:
A Thrashers employee on Twitter:
On Thursday, the Québec government and Québec City announced the funding of the construction of a new $400M arena in Québec City, hoping to eventually get an NHL franchise. The arena is to be ready in 2015. Shortly after the announcement, an Atlanta Thrashers’ employee posted the following on Twitter:
Not a free agent would sign there? Coming from a Thrashers employee and, we assume, fan? Sure, he has a point that the 62-year old Colisée is not of NHL caliber anymore. And one could argue that he even has a point about free agents not wanting to play in Québec City. But, coming from Atlanta? Surprising and a tad arrogant given not only that quality free agents are not exactly flocking towards Atlanta but also given how many quality players left the organization running as soon as they got the opportunity.
Jean-Charles Lajoie on CKAC Sports Radio in Montreal:
The ever subtle Jean-Charles Lajoie, during his L'esprit sportif radio show today on CKAC Sports in Montreal, burst into a weird rant on how American hockey fans are, in his words, just “bums” looking for blood, violence, ambulance hovering around arenas, and a rollerderby show when they go to games.
Progress never ceases. A beer tap that pours beer from the bottom of the glass, filling at a rate of up to nine times faster than traditional beer taps according to the manufacturer. The Flyers recently started using the device at their games; the Washington Caps will start this weekend. Is it the beginning of cheaper beer at NHL arenas triggered by highly efficient beer serving operations? Yeah. Right.
This week, there were talks about NY Rangers’ Sean Avery posing nearly naked on a t-shirt for a "Protect The Skin You're In" ad.He is certainly not the first, or last, Rangers to pose for ads. In his case, it was for a good cause. In the case of Don Maloney, Anders Hedberg, Phil Esposito, Ron Greshner, and Ron Duguay’s TV and print ads for Sasson Jeans, it was for profit and… our enjoyment 30 years later! Oo La La!
Original ad with Esposito, Maloney, Hedberg, and Duguay.
Second ad where Greshner replaces Duguay.
Esposito now lives in the Tampa area and is radio analyst for the Lightning’s home games. Duguay lives in New Jersey and is a MSG hockey analyst for the New York Rangers. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Hedberg is the NY Rangers head pro scout for Europe. Greshner lives in Florida and is involved with his Foundation for autism awareness. When not fighting lawsuits from his ex-wife Carol Alt, he is also involved in various ventures including a sports memorabilia shop and construction brokerage. And Maloney is the General Manager of the soon-to-be Winnipeg Coyotes.
Hunch: Teammates Not Lining Up to be Hal Gill’s Roommate
Interesting and somewhat funny feature here with Canadiens players telling us what they’d bring to a team potluck dinner. Beer! Cheeken! Ask my wife! But what stands out is Hal Gill’s response at the end. If he’s always that picky picky even over trivial stuff, it’s safe to say that teammates are not lining up to be his roommate!
As per the report, among the major sporting events televised in 2010, the Stanley Cup Finals had the highest percentage of viewers from households earning more than $100,000 per year. The report also ranks the Top Ten US-based NHL teams based on the local market ratings:
1 - Pittsburgh
2 - Buffalo
3 - Detroit
4 - Chicago
5 - Boston
6 - St. Louis
7 - Philadelphia
8- Minnesota
9 - Washington
10 - Colorado
Brent also went to DC to visit President Obama and the White House along with the Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup. Forgetting that he’s now playing for a Canadian team – or, knowing that Montreal doesn’t have a chance this year and that he won’t be back next, he tweeted “Can't wait to do it again,” after the visit!
