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
• 0 = Number of replies from Sopel in last 20 days

That’s a two way road, folks!

Photo credit: flickr/ehpien

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!

Last week, Sopel was traded from Atlanta to Montreal a few days after his 3 kids texted him asking for help with the laundry that was piling up back home in Chicago. Right away, his wife told the world about how they hadn’t slept the night before, knowing he would be traded. She added that the kids’ reaction to the news was to ask if they could go play outside.

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!

Sopel plays his first game as a Hab Saturday, tweets a picture of him with his wife before breakfast Sunday, takes a tour of Montreal, and sends of the wife back home in Chicago.

On March 1, they celebrated their 10^th wedding anniversary with a tweet and a blog post from the wife about the vow renewal last summer, pictures and all.

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.

Photo credit: flickr/chicagogeek

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.