Everyone loves a good throwback, right? While I haven’t been to catholic school past pre-k, my inspiration stemmed from the uniforms that everyone loves to pay fashion respects to.
Sometimes it’s the most simplistic outfit that puts the biggest smile on my face. In the dark dreary never ending days of winter, it seems like jeans, sweaters and boots are on replay. Once in awhile, if the temperatures rocket above 20 degrees, I’ll mix in something beyond the norm. Tights are a staple in the cold months, and I particularly love these tights that look like thigh highs, again paying homage to the catholic school girl socks. A simple google search of “tights that look like thigh highs” will bring you to some awesome pairs, but I really enjoy these tights in particular. They’re a little bit thicker than your average nylon, giving an extra layer in the cold.
In past posts, I’ve mentioned my insane love for thrift store shopping. The idea that you can find something with an original feel or that isn’t mainstream on the market, for cheap money is thrilling. That’s exactly the case with the plaid skirt featured in this post, $5 at Goodwill is a win.
So, you’ve got tights, and a skirt — for a cozy winter feel, pair the outfit with an oversized sweater and some ankle boots. For added comfort, an oversized scarf completes the look and combats the cold.
Now all you need is some pigtail braids and you can throw it way way back! Who doesn’t love a little Britney for a pick me up?
Being the smart cookie that I am, I know better than to complain about commuting to the Sharks game in the rain. After all, many of my Pink Puck sisters are braving blizzards and frigid conditions that far out-due the rainy weather that Northern California has seen this past week.
Nonetheless, train-ing from the greater San Francisco area down to San Jose whilst wielding an umbrella can be rather cumbersome, and by the time I reached the game on Thursday night–although I do believe I achieved braving the weather and still looking adorbs–I was almost a little too tired to do anything but actual hockey-related work.
But but fear not fashion nuts! The wet weather didn’t put such a damper on my Saturday excursion to the Tank for the Sharks-Coyotes tilt. So here goes:
Remember the Cake song “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” That’s kind of a good way to describe this one. Black H&M shift dress with opaque black tights, and a super long cardigan over it. Confession: I stole this Victoria’s Secret mauve-taupe-leopard wrap from my mom. (What can I say, she has good taste.) Knowing your proportions is the key to making such an outfit work. Your skirt/dress should hit about mid-thigh and the cardigan–whether it drapes or is long all the way around–shouldn’t fall past your calf, because then you risk looking like you’re standing in a hole. And really, you don’t want to be dragging your cardi on the dressing room floor, that’s just a hot mess all around.
I broke up all that black with a super spiffy pair of Isola ballet flats. They have this purple-and-green hologram effect on top of a black leopard print. So what if nobody else notices that they sparkle–you should always have happy feet!
Top it off with some bitchin’ jewelry and a blowout, and this gameday look is good to go, rain or shine.
Until the next puck drops,
The Girl In The Black Tights
This evening was the third matchup of the 2013-14 season between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens. And unfortunately for the Bruins it ended as the other two did—with the Bruins on the losing end of the score. While the team rarely makes excuses when they lose, tonight head coach Claude Julien pointed out that given the “replacements” on the team, that they would have had to play a perfect game, and still need “a bounce here or there” for the Bruins to win. And while it is certainly easy to dwell on the negatives after a loss against their biggest—and longest—rival, perhaps the better way to spend the time is to look at the positives that came out of the game.
Given the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday evening, in which it appeared that the Bruins did not bring their jump until the third period, Saturday night they spent quality minutes in the offensive zone. At the end of the first they had 13 shots on goal in comparison to the six managed by the Canadiens. Unfortunately the Bruins were also down by a goal, as Andrei Markov scored his 100th NHL career goal during the power play resulting from Torey Krug’s interference penalty on Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau. A career milestone for Markov, to be certain, and one he will remember. However a frustrating period to the end of an otherwise impressive Bruins’ sentence.
Going into the game Markov was aware he was hovering at that milestone and it was clear after the game that it meant a lot to him.
“Yeah, I knew. Like I said, I was waiting for that so now hopefully I’m going to be more relaxed when I score another goal,” he told reporters. “[It was] something special, not just for a defenseman, like for any player. I’m just happy to have those and score those 10 goals. Thanks to all my teammates who’ve supported me and helped me for that.”
The second period saw some mistakes from the younger players, and a few missed passes from a couple of veterans. Outshot by the Canadiens, it was less about the number of shots and more about the quality of the shots for Montreal. Tomas Plekanec scored having gotten a rebound from Tuukka Rask that was in a blind spot for the defensemen and found Rask unable to get from the left post, where he had blocked the first attempt, to the right–offering a wide open net to the exploitative Plekanec.
Postgame, Plekanec and Max Pacioretty compared their team’s play of the evening to that of the Bruins’ style. And while the Canadiens’ players may not see it as such, it could be considered a compliment to the the Bruins play and the accomplishments their style of play has brought to the team over the years.
Kevin Miller
Kevin Miller,who himself is only in his second game after being injured, was asked by The Pink Puck after the game about what these two players had said, and if he had noticed that some other teams seemed to be emulating some of the Bruins style.
“We have been successful in the past by the way we play,” he responded. “I don’t know if other teams are looking at that and trying to duplicate it but we just need to focus on our game. I think if we just get a couple more opportunities and bury a couple goals it’s a different game.”
And what Miller said was certainly born out in their game on Friday night in Columbus when they did just that. Unfortunately on Saturday night they struggled to get those chances, despite the number of shots they had on goal. And in most cases that was the result of the stellar performance of Carey Price between the pipes for the opposition.
“If there’s something we’re going to critique here, it’s probably the fact that we didn’t put enough pucks on net and get some net-front presence,” Julien told the media postgame. “We tried in the third to rectify that and did a little bit better, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough and the goaltender was standing tall for them.”
And given how the Bruins have been playing in the second of a three games in four nights spread, their pace on Saturday night was certainly much better. Patrice Bergeron—who broke a stick toward the end of the second period, which in essence gave the Canadiens a lengthy period where Bergeron was stuck on the ice without a stick—was pleased with their efforts.
“We were on the puck,” he said. “We were strong on it, but we need more.”
So, as the list of injuries continues to get longer than a child’s wish list to Santa, and some bad bounces and a broken stick helped confound the Bruins efforts, the positives are there. Now the team just needs to hold onto those positives and take them into their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins who will be in town on Monday hoping to take advantage of the depleted Boston club.
The Ontario Reign have done it again. After beating the Idaho Steelheads on Thursday, Saturday’s game proved to be in their favor with a 2-1 win. They were dominant during the second period and kept it going through the rest of the game to defeat Idaho in the last of their three game meet.
During their last meet, Reign’s Judd Blackwater knocked it out of the park with two goals and one assist. He now has a 100th career goal record to add to his name. Tyler Spurgeon‘s assist to Blackwater also marked his 100th career pro assist. Forward Rocco Carzo‘s two goals from Thursday also make it five in total for him so far this season. Even with great stats, the third game between both teams was not going to be an easy one. During Thursday’s game, the Reign did not manage to get even one power power play opportunity against the Steelheads. Anytime that Idaho was called for a penalty, they were neutralized with penalties from Ontario.
The first period started out just to see who would even be able to make that first score. The Steelheads were out on the offensive and the game started off with a great save by Jussi Olkinuora. The Reign had a chance to score by Carzo at 12:36 but was instead called on for goalie interference on Olivier Roy. Throughout the first, the Steelheads repeatedly made it into the Reign’s zone and had chances to score but it was no match for Olkinuora. The first ended scoreless for both teams and 13 shots on goal for Idaho while the Reign ended with five.
The remainder of Maxim Kitsyn‘s penalty rolled over into the second and the Reign proved to not let that bother them at all. After Reign left winger Everett Sheen got elbowed by Steelheads defenseman Eamonn McDermott, Ontario had a chance to score the first goal of the night on a power play and that is just what they did. Reign right winger Geoff Walker buried the puck into Idaho’s goal at 3:58 to finally make the game 1-0. That power play goal definitely woke Ontario up because now their engines were revving as defenseman Norm Ezekiel laid a big hit on the Idaho’s big boy defenseman Troy Vance. The Reign had a few other scoring chances when Kitsyn, Walker, and Nolan Julseth-White all shot almost right after one another but Roy managed to keep them all from passing by him. After another power play, Ontario defenseman Ralfs Freibergswas able to get the puck past Roy to score again at 17:42. Just minutes after the second power play goal, the Steelheads pulled forward to score one goal during the period. The second ended with Idaho trailing behind Ontario 2-1.
With a score so close, it was not the time for the Reign to sit back and take it easy in the third period. Reign defenseman Matt Register slashed Colton Beck in the first few minutes and that set the tone for the rest of the night. Carzo came in with a shot to get a chance to get make his goal total six but was quickly denied by Roy. The Reign got their third power play chance of the night after Idaho’s James Livingston was off for hooking. Even after staying 2-for-3 on power plays, the Reign still managed to stay ahead of the game. With just a little over a minute left to go, the Steelheads called for a timeout. They knew they needed to do something different if they wanted to win or at least tie it up quick so they pulled Roy for an extra attacker. The extra person made no difference because Ontario conquered the Steelheads 2-1 as the game ended. Olkinuora deserved the victory of the night with 35 saves overall.
The Ontario Reign have a three day break but they hope to keep their new streak going against the Colorado Eagles in Loveland, Colorado on Wednesday as they continue their road trip.
The Boston Bruins announced on Saturday, November 22, that they had recalled forwards Jordan Caron and Matt Lindblad on an emergency basis while assigning Zach Trotman back to the Providence Bruins. With this most recent of announcements, it would appear that there are perhaps some additional issues that the Boston club is dealing with, though perhaps no one will know until the puck drops at the start of the game against the Montreal Canadiens if anyone is out besides David Krejci and Brad Marchand—both of whom missed yesterday’s game.
Daniel Paille
“Game time decisions” are a part of the hockey world, and fortunately for the Boston Bruins, because their AHL affiliated Providence Bruins play the same style of game, it is perhaps a little easier for the P-Bruins call-ups to slot in. With that said, Daniel Paille, before the game against the Montreal Canadiens pointed out that it is up to those playing to stay on top of their game and stick to the system.
“Regardless of who’s in or out, we have to maintain that system that’s been working so far for us since we’ve lost guys,” Paille said. “It’s our job for [the call-ups] to get comfortable right away. I don’t have a doubt they will be ready [if called upon].”
Being called up does not guarantee that they will play. However as Lindblad put it, regardless of whether they play or if they watch, they obviously want to be in Boston with the big club.
Even if the players are routinely on the ice wearing the Spoked-P, once they don that Boston jersey, they know that they must hit the ice and play their best hockey, adjusting as quickly as possible to the Boston system. Injuries and substitutions are no excuse, nor does head coach Claude Julien ever use them to explain a loss. His players know this and always look to their own play should questions be asked about what happened during a game.
Perhaps defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said it best when asked about the injuries and their impact on the lineup.
“[It] doesn’t help, obviously, but it doesn’t help us thinking about who’s in the lineup and who’s not,” Seidenberg told reporters before Saturday’s game. “We have to focus, each and every one of us, on our game, and that’s the only way we can play and we can win hockey games.”
Everyone that knows hockey knows that helmets were not always worn on the ice. In fact, one of the first times a helmet had been recorded in hockey history was in 1933 when Boston Bruins‘ Eddie Shore checked Toronto‘s Ace Bailey so hard that his skull was fractured and he nearly died. Shore became so shaken up that he wore a helmet permanently through the rest of his career. Of course since then, helmets have become a must and now are always worn in the NHL so what is the deal with the concussion lawsuit that states the league did not provide proper head protection and information to their players about head injuries?
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2013 and claimed that the NHL downplayed the risk of traumatic head injuries, promoted the sport’s brutality and concealed information that could have protected the players from long-term damage. The NHL is fighting back the claims. They filed a motion to dismiss the suit with one brief for “dismissal arguing labor preemption grounds” and the other for “dismissal on statute of limitations and pleading failure grounds.”
The plantiffs are a plethora of former players including Dan LaCouture, Reed Larson, David Christian, Michael Peluso, Gary Leeman, and Bernie Nicholls. According to the case, these players are currently suffering from many things including depression, anxiety, nausea, memory loss, headaches and are at a bigger risk of developing some kind of head disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, ALS and many other ailments.
In one of the briefs for dismissal, the NHL talks about how there are agreements between the league and NHLPA on things regarding player safety and health, which includes the helmet requirement, rules about removals and returns to games when injured, neuropsychological tests on players, rules on body checking, fighting and disciplinary actions.
In the second brief, the league cites certain statutes of limitations that prevent the plantiffs from getting compensation and says the claim is “untimely.” The easiest way to put it is overall, the players should have known what they were getting themselves into from the get go.
The time between the start of the case to now already shows that it is not going to be an easy process to figure out who is truly right. In the end though, anyone and everyone knows that player safety is more important than the game itself and should be the biggest priority to everyone involved.
The holidays used to mean something; giving a gift was a personal thing, not about the monetary price tag. Nowadays, the holidays seem to be about breaking the bank to please everyone, when they should be about spending time with those you love and giving gifts with meaning, from the heart and that took you a little bit of time to put together. Call me old fashioned, but I’d prefer a small, thoughtful gift over an extravagant one any day of the year.
For some of us, families are small, for others, large and extended. For me, it’s like living Brady Bunch and trying to come up with gifts for Mom 1, Mother-in-law, Grandma 1, Grandma 2, sisters 1, 2 and 3, brothers, fathers, grandfathers, dogs and probably the mailman too. The holidays can be pricey and, while gifts aren’t always expected, it’s nice knowing that you don’t have to show up empty handed or with an empty wallet.
These ornaments can hold reign for the entire winter season, are inexpensive to make (I made them in bulk – 12 ornaments in a sitting) and so adorable, they’ll probably be a crowd pleaser for even the tiniest Grinch heart.
Lightbulb Snowmen Ornaments
Supplies
Lightbulbs – I bought 4 packages of bulbs, 3 per package at Dollar Tree, $4 score!
1 bottle of Glue – I bought a 2 pack at Dollar Tree
1 medium sized (think Parmesan cheese shaker) bottle of white glitter, ACMoore – I suggest scoping out their website or your local Sunday newspaper for coupons. I found one for 40% off 1 item which brought the glitter in at a whopping $2.67
1 small bottle black fabric paint
1 small bottle orange fabric paint
1 roll of twine
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Twigs – you’ll need 2 small twigs per ornament for arms, I found mine in the backyard.
Wax or parchment paper
Ziplock Bag
Directions
1. Place the parchment paper on a flat surface – I put mine on a cookie sheet so I could easily move the project around (especially since I commandeered the kitchen table).
2. Fill a ziplock bag with a generous amount of glitter. Depending on how many ornaments you intend to make, you can always add more.
3. Holding the metal base of the lightbulb, glob glue on the ball of the bulb and use your finger to smooth it all over the surface, avoiding the metal.
4. Once you’ve coated the bulb in glue, drop it in the ziplock bag of glitter, seal, and shake and bake that bulb!
5. Carefully pull the bulb out and place on parchment paper, allow to fully dry, I can’t stress this enough — just ask my Frankensnowman prototype how important this step is. If you’ve got the time, I would allow them to dry overnight.
6. Using your black fabric paint, draw two dots for eyes, six dots for a smile and three dots for the buttons. The fabric paint came out fairly quickly, so I was very cautious in applying.
7. Next, using your orange fabric paint, draw a small line for the “carrot” nose.
8. Allow drying time for your faces, keeping in mind that the fabric paint tends to dry fairly quickly.
9. Heat up your hot glue gun and have plenty of extra glue sticks ready and waiting. Taking a pair of stick arms, first break them down to a length that you’re happy with. Then apply a generous glob of glue to the side of your snowman and press an arm in, holding and pressing it until it’s completely dry or immobile. I can’t stress this part enough, otherwise your snowman might have arms that look like he’s directing traffic and I promise you that it’s not cute (Frankensnowman, I’m looking at you!). Repeat on the other side.
10. Cut a piece of twine (if your twine is thick, pull apart so it’s only 1 thinner strand, the brand of twine I used could be pulled into four separate pieces), wrap around the metal part of your snowman twice and secure with a knot. Then make a loop and knot your excess twine to make your snowman hangable.
Gift wrap creatively, and give this bright idea to friends and family this holiday season!
The San Jose Sharks returned home after weathering a seven-game road trip out East that started in Dallas with a win and ended in Buffalo with a loss and a lopsided 3-4 record. After only playing five games at home, the club was ready to return home and face the Florida Panthers, whom they saw on that road trip. To start off this game with a bit of perspective, the Sharks have had 16 road games so far this season out of a total of 21 games, while the Panthers have had 16 total games.
Antti Niemi got the call after Troy Grosenick played two consecutive games. This was Jason Demers’ 300th NHL career game and Patrick Marleau’s 400th consecutive game, the longest in franchise history. The big story, though, was Coach Todd McLellan’s decision to mix up the lines a bit. On defense, he put Demers and Mirco Mueller together. Mueller usually plays with Brent Burns, who was lined up with Scott Hannan. For his forwards, he moved Joe Pavelski to the second line with Matt Nieto and Logan Couture, and moved Patrick Marleau to the first line with Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl, essentially switching Pavelski and Marleau. Thornton and Pavelski have been on hot streaks, and Marleau and Couture have not.
Marleau usually averages around 30 goals a season, and while it’s still very premature in the season to make any sort of judgment on his performance, he had only one goal and two assists on the road trip (the last 7 games) and five total goals so far this season coming into this Panthers game. Couture only registered 4 assists on that road trip. More scoring is expected of these two.
For the Panthers, Rocco Grimaldi flew up from his San Antonio Rampage game to meet the Panthers at the Kings on November 18. He played two professional games in one day, registering two shots in the Kings game and notching three shots and some great passes to linemate Tomas Fleischmann in this game. He is definitely making his push and making it known that he wants to be at the NHL level.
Game On
Right as the puck dropped, the Panthers scored 24 seconds in, a redirect by Nick Bjugstad. Were the Sharks still getting their legs and was Niemi caught off-guard? Bjugstad called it “puck luck.”
“We got that first goal right away. ‘Kuli’ made a great shot and I just kind of got my stick on it, so it was a little luck – a little ‘puck luck.’ It was a good start for us.”
A good start, indeed. The Panthers started off their California road trip with stops in Anaheim and Los Angeles, and an even keel record of 1-1. Perhaps already being in the road mode helped them coming into this one.
A lot of back and forth pursued during the first period with the Sharks looking a bit confused and unorganized in the neutral zone and on the forecheck. Couture even noted that “we’re still struggling to find a way to come through the neutral zone with possession and with speed with the puck.” Also, it was clearly evident right away that the Sharks’ D would somehow have to get past the Panthers, who were blocking a lot of shots.
“I don’t think we were doing the best job of getting in [Luongo’s] eyes and creating second opportunities. In a game where there’s very little offense and grade-A opportunities, we’ve got to create them ourselves by being around the net and being in [Luongo’s] eyes.”
Power Plays and Penalty Shots, Oh My!
Couture did get through to Luongo off a rebound from Pavelski. Those extra efforts to push the puck past Luongo evened the score on a power play. The Panthers got their shot at a power play goal on an amazing shot from Bjugstad that went straight to the back of the net. 2-1, Bjugstad’s second on the night.
Great efforts continued in the third on both sides. The Panthers had three power plays, all unsuccessful, due in large part to Niemi’s performance. He made an incredible glove save on the Panthers’ second PP of the period that really helped keep the Sharks in this game.
It’s not too often you see a penalty shot rewarded, but that happened. Marleau got his chance on Luongo, but Luongo had other plans in mind: “I know him a little bit. I was waiting him out. Either five-hole or blocker, and once he kept it I was able to get a blocker on it and make the save.” Still, it was exciting hockey. It’s tough to get past Lu.
Niemi was pulled with less than two minutes left in the game and the Sharks were desperate for a miracle. Marleau got his second chance at Lu on a pass from Hertl and Thornton, that landed in the back of the net with 33 seconds remaining. The Sharks had tied it up. It seems that McLellan’s decision to put those three together was a good call.
Antti Niemi vs. Roberto Luongo
After one of the final dry scrapes between the third period and the overtime period, which was newly instated this season and that Toronto decided to pull the plug on this week, OT began with power play time left over from the third for the Panthers. In fact, most of the five minutes felt like a super long penalty kill for the Sharks and their defense. The star of OT was Niemi.
Then the (dreaded) shootout.
For the Sharks: Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, and Brent Burns
Couture shot quickly and hard through the five-hole and Jokinen was next up to make it 1-1. Burns clanked the post on the next round and then Bjugstad got the puck through Niemi to finally end the game. And the Panthers have swept the season series.
The fight for the Pacific Division lead came down to the last straw Thursday night. After the loss against Calgary and former teammate Jonas Hiller, the Anaheim Ducks were bound and determined to beat the Vancouver Canucks. This game was especially important to former Canucks turned Ducks star, Ryan Kesler. In a shootout, the Ducks broke their losing streak against Vancouver 4-3.
The Ducks’ hunger for redemption showed in the first period. At Just 00:37, Anaheim’s Andrew Cogliano came in with a wrist shot past Canucks goalie Eddie Lack with right winger Jakob Silfverberg and center Nate Thompson on the assists. Anaheim’s starting goalie Frederik Andersen who has been having a tough time over the last couple of games stepped it up tonight. He manged to keep out 10 shots on goal by the Canucks. Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf scored a backhanded shot at 13:10 with his usual backups, left and right wingers, Patrick Maroon and Corey Perry. The first ended with the Canucks trailing behind the Ducks 2-0.
With a two to nothing lead going into the second, the Ducks were planning to keep it that way. Canucks started the period by charging into the Ducks zone but were quickly blocked out by Getzlaf and Andersen. Center Bo Horvat slipped one past Andersen at just 3:08 which now had Vancouver only trailing by one and at very early into the second. At 11:18, Vancouver right winger Jannik Hansen scored on Andersen with a slapshot. Just a few seconds later at 11:48 fellow right winger Radim Vrbata backhanded the puck and scored. The opening five minutes proved to be in the Canucks favor and the Ducks had to get the momentum back that they had in the first to keep their lead. The Canucks were finally the ones leading the Ducks along at 3-2.
The third period rolled around and it was all about the Canucks maintaining a lead over the Ducks or the Ducks coming in with some fast goals to either tie or start leading the game again. By the time that there was only 9:29 left in the game, both teams were managing to keep one another away from scoring. Things were starting to look brighter for the Ducks when the up and coming Matt Beleskey scored at 11:52 to tie the game with only 7:16 left in regulation. Both teams fought to the end with a final score of the third period at 3-3.
Overtime has been the norm for the Anaheim Ducks. Both Andersen and Lack held on during the entire OT period and were not ready to give up yet. Shootout time it is. Anaheim’s Perry went up first and scored. Former Ducks teammate Nick Bonino had his goal saved against Andersen. It was Kesler’s turn who had his shot saved and Canucks’ Vrbata missed. It was all down to Silfverberg who scored the winning goal for the Ducks.
Anaheim ended their away game trip with a fresh record and all mishaps put behind them. They will be playing at home against the Arizona Coyotes this Sunday.
Apparently nobody told the SPHL how North American professional sports operate. There are the men’s leagues, which receive funding and national attention, and then there are the women’s leagues, which (with the arguable exceptions of tennis and basketball) are largely ignored except during Olympic Years.
The SPHL is taking a different route, first contracting Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados to the Columbus Cottonmouths and now debuting Erin Blair and Katie Guay, the first female referees to officiate a professional game in North America since 1995, when Heather McDaniel broke into the Central Hockey League and the West Coast Hockey League.
McDaniel, who worked for several years in the minor leagues, acknowledged to ESPNW in a 2011 article that there were certain aspects of officiating a men’s game that could make it difficult for a woman—but those were the same issues that men struggled with, too. From ESPNW:
McDaniel agreed that the physical demands of working the men’s game can’t be overlooked.
She was a referee in the minors, and therefore in charge of calling penalties, communicating with coaches and players, and acting as the on-ice leader of the officiating team. She says that working as a linesman would have been far more difficult, as linesmen are in charge of breaking up fights, restraining players and monitoring all the physical action on the ice. McDaniel said she had met some very strong male officials who struggled to keep up as linesmen because they were on the shorter side.
Blair and Guay will officiate the matchup between the Columbus Cottonmouths and the Fayetteville FireAntz as part of the Cottonmouths’ Girl Scout Night. Both referees come with impressive international resumes; Blair has been an official for 14 years and worked for more than a decade officiating games for the IIHF. The game will be a reunion of sorts for Blair and Szabados, as Blair was one of six referees on the ice for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Guay won MVP at Brown University, where she played four seasons, and was a member of the women’s U22 National Hockey Team. Her current position sees her officiating both men’s and women’s hockey in Hockey East and the ECAC.
“We are extremely excited to be allowed the opportunity to showcase two of the top female referees in the world,” said SPHL Director of Officiating Mark Faucette in the SPHL press release. “Shannon Szabados broke the barrier for female players in the SPHL last season, and we are confident that Erin and Katie can do the same for female officials.”
Blair, who was also featured in ESPNW’s feature, has had her eye on the men’s leagues for a while now. As she told Sarah Spain in 2011, “I think there are definitely plenty of women officials that are capable of working men’s hockey at the highest level,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting the right attitudes and the right people to help you break through the obstacles that are there. It would probably take a lot.”
Sometimes it’s the most simplistic outfit that puts the biggest smile on my face. In the dark dreary never ending days of winter, it seems like jeans, sweaters and boots are on replay. Once in awhile, if the temperatures rocket above 20 degrees, I’ll mix in something beyond the norm. Tights are a staple in the cold months, and I particularly love these tights that look like thigh highs, again paying homage to the catholic school girl socks. A simple google search of “tights that look like thigh highs” will bring you to some awesome pairs, but I really enjoy these tights in particular. They’re a little bit thicker than your average nylon, giving an extra layer in the cold.
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