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For a hockey player, a broken stick equals a broken heart. From the sin bin to the trash bin, once broken it’s a lost cause. Or is it? Cue Requip’d a unique company that has cornered the market on turning everyone’s worst nightmare into the coolest household accessories. Grill sets, bottle openers, snow scrapers and plungers are some of the key products the company offers.

The company isn’t hanging around their local ice rink begging for broken sticks, they’ve partnered with some major teams and manufacturers throughout North America. To date, they’ve helped to recycle 42,477 sticks and counting …  With the holiday season skating into full effect and many of us scrambling for last minute gift ideas, may we suggest Requip’d as an option.

The Pink Puck caught up with Jack Hyman, Assistant Director of Development for Requip’d, to learn more about the company, their amazing products and why hockey fans around the globe will love everything they have to offer.

requiped-1The Pink Puck (TPP): How did you guys come up with the idea for the company? 
Jack Hyman, Requip’d (JHR): John and Eric, the two founders of the company, were playing hockey and they kept breaking their hockey sticks, which are very, very expensive, upwards of $200 or more. They started wondering what they could do with these broken sticks, because the graphics on almost all of them are very cool and we developed them into handles. Out of a lot of trial and error, the BBQ set was born, then bottle openers, plungers, ice scrapers, putters, the list goes on and on, essentially anything with a handle. It’s just a matter of if people are going to like it. We made an ice cream scoop as well.

TPP: You mentioned that you guys are a green company, what makes you a green company? 
JHR:  We keep stuff out of landfills, that’s really what makes our company green. The majority of the equipment managers that we work with they generally just throw them [sticks] out. So we come in and pay for the shipping to get them over to us and all they have to do is put it in a box and send it to us. Instead of throwing it out, we’re re-purposing them turning them into products. Over 40,000 sticks that would otherwise be in landfills. Not only do the products look cool, but they’re unique, usable items.

Sticks come in all different lengths based on how tall the player was, but we can really use any part of the stick to make a product; aside from the blades. Our putters are obviously longer, but our bottle openers are about 6 inches. We’re able to use 95-98% of the stick!

TPP: Do you have a favorite product? 
JHR: I personally really like the ice scraper, I grew up in New England with all the cold weather and I always thought the ice scraper was a good idea.

TPP: Are you guys always looking for additional things to make out of them? 
JHR: Yes, we’ve toyed around with other things. Perhaps a pizza cutter down on the road. We’re active on social media asking what people would like to see. Occasionally we make things and auction them off for foundations. All the NHL teams have ping pong tables, so we’re making ping pong paddles. We will make anything that comes to mind, post about it and if we think it’ll be a hit we will follow through. The plunger started as a gag for the office, all the rinks wanted them and it just went on from there, makes a great man cave item, or a joke gift for a friend.

imgresRequip’d was nice enough to send product samples for trial and a GIVEAWAY! After testing all of the products, which are each very cool in their own right, The Pink Puck chose the ice scraper as it’s favorite item, of course if there wasn’t a foot of snow and a sheet of ice outside, we would have gone with the BBQ set. We’ve been flooded with snow and ice in New England and the ice scraper is the perfect tool and conversation piece for snow removal at home and at the rink!

Looking to purchase products for yourself, or as a gift for the holiday season? Be sure to use code: PINKPUCK to save 10% on your order!

If you’re interested in learning more about Requip’d, you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to like them and The Pink Puck on both Twitter and Facebook and share this article for your chance to win an amazing piece of swag from the company!

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The Boston Bruins were back at TD Garden on Thursday night, in their third game in four nights, for the eighth time this season—with the first two having been on the road. The road games garnered the team three of a possible four points as they beat the Montreal Canadiens on Monday and then fell in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Despite having had Thursday morning off, it was perhaps not enough to rest some banged up bodies from the two physical road games.

Going into the game against the Anaheim Ducks unfortunately the Bruins carried a five-game losing streak where this western conference team is considered, having gone 0-4-1. This home and home series will conclude in February when the Bruins will play in Anaheim.

Matt Grzelcyk

Matt Grzelcyk

For a local Bruin, it was to be his home opener. Matt Grzelcyk had been recalled from the Providence Bruins on Tuesday and played in his first NHL regular season game on Wednesday against the Penguins. As happens whenever a hometown player is on the ice in Boston, there was much family in attendance. In Grzelcyk’s case, his father John was in the stands, though he is often working at TD Garden, as he is a member of the bull gang—the hardworking group who transition the arena for ice hockey, basketball or concerts. And while Grzelcyk has played on TD Garden ice during his tenure at Boston University, there is definitely something special about donning the home team jersey at the NHL level.

“Yeah. It was really cool,” Grzelcyk said after the game. “Obviously, got a chance to do it in college, but now with the Bruins sweater, it means a little bit more. I just tried to keep it in the back of my mind. Not tonight. Maybe I’ll think about it when I get home.”

Of course, he would certainly have a much sweeter memory if the Bruins had managed to win the game. They have now lost their last three home games and are sub .500 on home ice. The Bruins continue to struggle with feeling a need to make it pretty at home rather than simply getting it done.

“We’ve got a few guys that can fly and score on the rush, but our goals have mostly been ugly, banging around the net, screens, you know,” David Backes explained. “But, they’re all in tight or somebody is standing on the top of the crease taking the goalie’s eyes away. We’ve got to play our game where we like the percentages and how we’re going to win games—pucks deep, taking care of it, and eliminating the opponent’s chances.”

Unfortunately, despite getting a quick two-goal lead with goals scored just 13 seconds apart, the first by Zdeno Chara and the second from Austin Czarnik, the Bruins would find themselves heading to the locker room at the first intermission in a tie game.

Immediately after the second goal, the Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle chose to use his timeout to settle his team down. It worked all too well, as just 24 seconds later, Andrew Cogliano would cut the Bruins’ lead in half. Kevin Bieksa, having just exited the box at the end of his penalty, would have a breakaway to tie the game with 2:10 remaining in that first period.

Josh Manson

Josh Manson

The Bruins had experienced this before, but when they came back for the middle frame, it wasn’t even a minute into the period before Northeastern University alumnus Josh Manson had the Ducks up by a goal; scoring his first of the season despite having played in the previous 30 games. David Krejci, the only center to finish above 50 percent in the faceoff for the Bruins, would tie things up on the power play a little more than a minute later.

Some sloppy play and miscues—which contributed to the Bieksa goal, would help to give time and space that Rickard Rakell took full advantage of, as a rebound hopped on his stick and he found a wide open back door. This put the Ducks up 4-3 and would end the scoring for both teams for the remainder of the game.

Rakell has been a scoring machine for the Ducks, having scored 11 goals in just 19 games.

“He came in with a bang,” Coach Carlyle said before the game. “I think, his first couple of games, he had the freedom out there. Now that teams are starting to tighten up, we’re going to try and give him a little bit more offensive opportunities. He’s a talented individual.”

The puck continues to find the forward, who this season has been put on the wing, as opposed to spending more time at center last season. The new position clearly agrees with him.

“Yeah, obviously, like, I can be close to the net, and try to find pucks, and if you’re a centerman, you’re more in the slot and trying to read off situations,” Rakell shared. “But I’m trying to put myself in the best positions to always score. So, it’s a little bit different, but it’s working right now, so I’m just going to stick with it,”

The Bruins have Friday and Saturday to regroup before they host the Los Angeles Kings for a Sunday matinee. They will close out the pre-Christmas homestand on Tuesday evening with a tilt against the New York Islanders. Thursday and Friday nights will see them again on the road to play the Florida Panthers and then the Carolina Hurricanes. The Islanders, Panthers and Hurricanes games will be another three games in four nights.

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(Photo: Alan Sullivan)

Thursday night’s game, the Boston Bruins were playing their third game in four nights—the sixth of such scheduled tilts this season. As they came out, it was clear that they did not have their legs, and unfortunately, their arms didn’t seem to be working much better when it came to making passes or shooting at the net.

In a rather unusual situation, giveaways resulted in the Colorado Avalanche scoring three unassisted goals—two in the first period and one in the second. This included a shorthanded goal by Nathan MacKinnon as the Avs’ second goal, and the first point of the season for John Mitchell, who coming into the game had played 19 games, with their third.

It wasn’t just the giveaways for the Bruins—as there were only eight, though some of them were costly. It was another game of missed opportunities, and an abundance of missed shots—17 to be precise. They were also suffering on the draw, winning 46%. If it weren’t for David Krejci’s astounding 77% (winning 10 of 13), the overall percentage would have been a lot worse. Patrice Bergeron uncharacteristically won just six of sixteen on the night.

Some of the goals by the Avalanche were characterized by Bruins head coach, Claude Julien, as soft, though perhaps it was the lack of hunger that he is seeing from his scorers that should be more concerning. With the two goals that David Pastrnak scored Thursday, he is now tied for first with Sidney Crosby in number of goals scored—18 at present. If not for his tenacity against Colorado, the tally could have been a lot worse.

David Pastrnak scoring

David Pastrnak scoring

“We just have to look at [Pastrnak’s] first goal, he takes it to the net and I know he didn’t score on the initial try, he stopped, he stayed there and he jumped on his rebound,” Julien said. “If more guys start doing that, we’re going to get more guys scoring some goals as well. You got to be hungry, you got to want to score and I think right now he’s one of those guys that really wants to score and every night he’s giving us some goals.”

Pastrnak added some weight during the offseason and he has been much harder to knock off the puck. He has scored five goals in his last three games, but he did not want to focus on any of that Thursday night.

“You know it was a great play by [Bergeron] winning the draw and then to have [Brad Marchand] found me there and it went in,” Pastrnak described his second goal. “But today we lost and I wouldn’t like to talk about my goals.”

Philosophically, one could say it was a story that was already written. The Bruins have not been able to beat the Avalanche on home ice since March 30, 1998. And in an odd twist, Colorado’s Matt Duchene has not been able to get a goal on home ice in Colorado, having scored all ten of his in road games—including the first goal in Thursday’s game against the Bruins.

“Tonight, once we got out to that big start, 3-0 lead, we were feeling pretty good and obviously [Calvin Pickard] made some big saves we needed, but they scored some nice goals too to sort of come back and we were able to get that fourth one which was big,” Duchene said after the game. “I think when you’re on your toes and you’re playing the way we are capable of playing, you’re proactive and you’re in areas that you need to be and I think we did a good job of that tonight.”

Proactive, a word the Bruins should embrace, having dug a three-goal hole in two straight games. While Pastrnak has certainly been exceptional, the team should be as hungry as he is and that starts with the very first puck drop.

“It was more the mental mistakes and not being prepared right off the hop of the start of the game,” Marchand summed up. “Again, that’s kind of where we lost it.”

The Bruins will need to put this one behind them and turn their attention to Saturday’s game, when they will host the Toronto Maple Leafs. They would be wise to play hungry and get refocused, as Monday will find them on the road, taking on the Atlantic Division’s first place team—and their biggest rival—the Montreal Canadiens.

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(Photo: St. Louis Blues)

On January 2, the St. Louis Blues will host the Chicago Blackhawks at Busch Stadium in St. Louis–marking the Blues’ first outdoor event and the Hawks’ fifth.

Its behind-the-scenes perspective will be covered starting Dec. 16 with the EPIX “Road to…” series, which this year as “Road to the NHL Outdoor Classics,”will document both the Jan. 1 Detroit Red Wings versus Toronto Maple Leafs at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium for the Centennial Classic as well as the Blackhawks-Blues events in St. Louis.

“Just as the NHL Winter Classic has become a New Year’s tradition and annual high point of our season, the Road To series has become appointment viewing for sports fans each December,” Steve Mayer, NHL Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer said in a media release. “This year, the series takes it to another level, chronicling four teams instead of two as they prepare for and compete in both the NHL Winter Classic and the NHL Centennial Classic. We are looking forward to another exciting edition of the series with producer Ross Greenburg and his team, our partner, EPIX, and most important, our clubs and the best athletes in all of pro sports, who provide amazing access.”

EPIX PRESENTS ROAD TO THE NHL OUTDOOR CLASSICS schedule:

  • Premiere, 10 p.m. ET/PT, 9 p.m. CT on Wed., Dec. 16
  • Episode 2, 10 p.m. ET/PT, 9 p.m. CT on Wed., Dec. 23 (repeat at the same time Dec. 24)
  • Episode 3, 10 p.m. ET/PT, 9 p.m. CT on Wed., Dec 30
  • Finale, 10 p.m. ET/PT, 9 p.m. CT on Wed., Jan. 6

This year’s EPIX premiere is one day before the Blues host the Hawks for their final indoor meeting of 2016, with Episode 3 hitting the night before the Blues-Hawks alumni game.

“We are honored to host the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Busch Stadium,” Blues Chairman Tom Stillman said in a media release. “Along with the St. Louis Cardinals, our organization, and our great fans are excited to showcase the city of St. Louis and our storied rivalry with the Blackhawks at such an iconic venue.”

As the annual outing approaches, the Hawks (17-8-3) and Blues (14-7-4) are leading the Central division in first and second place, respectively.

So far this season, the Hawks lost to the Blues 5-2 on Oct. 12 and won 2-1 in overtime Nov. 9.

This is the Blues’ 50th season in the NHL. Their Winter Classic uniforms are an homage to the early gear.

“In celebration of our 50th Anniversary, we are proud to pay tribute to our original uniforms and the franchise pioneers who first wore them in 1967,” Stillman said in a media release.

blues-throwback-classic

(Photo: Sports Logo)

The gear features historically-accurate fonts and team striping, a ribbed crewneck collar, the vintage blue color and the original Blue Note crest from the first season, the press release said. Sadly, it’s lacking in the shiny pants.

But, regardless of game outcomes, the Blues have Chicago beat in new sweaters for the event.

The Blackhawks also turned back time to the ’60s for their ensemble.

 

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(Photo: Sports Logo)

Notes: Visit EPIX for information on viewing the Road To series.

 

 

Speaking of going back in time, an alumni game is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT Dec. 31.

Legends and alumni from both teams will face off for an outdoor exhibition game consisting of three 20-minute periods with 12-minute intermissions.

The Blackhawks’ alumni roster includes:

Former captain Adrian Aucoin, Murray Bannerman, Adam Burish, Kyle Calder, Daniel Carcillo, Jim Cummins, Eric Daze, Ben Eager, Reggie Kerr, Steve Konroyd, Dave Mackey, Jamal Mayers, Grant Mulvey, Troy Murray, Brian Noonan, Jack O’Callahan, Darren Pang, Steve Poapst, Reid Simpson, Brent Sopel, Gary Suter, and Jimmy Waite.

Coaching staff is made up of Tony Esposito and Cliff Koroll.

They’ll play against esteemed Blues Alumni including The Great One Wayne Gretzky.

Also rostered are Bruce Affleck, Martin Brodeur, Jeff Brown, Garth Butcher, Gino Cavallini, Paul Cavallini, Kelly Chase, Dallas Drake, Bernie Federko, Brett Hull, Barret Jackman, Mike Liut, Al MacInnis, Chris Mason, Scott Mellanby, Adam Oates, Larry Patey, Chris Pronger, Jamie Rivers, Bryce Salvador, Ed Staniowski, Peter Stastny, Keith Tkachuk, Pierre Turgeon, Terry Yake, and Scott Young.

Blues Coaching Staff is made up of Red Berenson, Bob Plager, Brian Sutter, and Gary Unger.

The alumni game will be followed by a day off in St. Louis as teams face off in Toronto.

The Winter Classic

And then, the puck will drop at noon CT Jan. 2 for the Blues’ inaugural outdoor game. They’ll be the 23rd team in the league to participate in an outdoor game.

Busch Field, a 46,000 seat stadium and home of St. Louis Cardinals baseball was built in 2006 and has hosted the MLB All-Star Game as well as three World Series Runs.

“The Blues and Blackhawks have enjoyed a strong rivalry over the years, highlighted by some incredible players,” Joe Reekie, NHLPA Divisional Player Representative, said in a media release. “With the talent on both curren rosters, having these two teams face off in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic will make for a special event for both players and Blues fans who have been waiting for this signature event to come to St. Louis.”

Chicago’s first outdoor game appearance was the 2009 Winter Classic against the Detroit Red Wings at Wrigley Field. The Blackhawks lost 6-4. In 2014, Chicago won a Stadium Series matchup 5-1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Chicago’s Soldier Field. In 2015, the Washington Capitals beat the Hawks 3-2 at Nationals Park for the Winter Classic. In another Stadium Series in 2016, the Hawks fell to the Minnesota Wild 6-1 at TCF Field.

“The Chicago Blackhawks organization and our loyal fans are very excited to be participating in another marquee event hosted by the National Hockey League,” Blackhawks President and CEO John McDonough said in a media release. “With a strong and healthy rivalry already in place between the Blues and Blackhawks, sports fans across the country will be treated to an exciting game featuring some of the brightest stars in the league. We would also like to thank the St. Louis Cardinals and the City of St. Louis for their hospitality in hosting what has become a great tradition for our sport.”

The Winter Classic will be televised live at Noon CT on NBC, Sportsnet, and TVA Sports.

The Pink Puck will be there live with news and updates.

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