And what kind of a shell has a nut like this? I’ve been reading Sherry’s 100 Things About Me posts and, despite my fears that I might not be able to come up with 100 things to say about myself, I’m going to give it a shot. I apologize in advance for my boringness.

100 Things About Me - Episode I: Origins

1. I was born in Ottawa, many years ago, very close to Christmas. The plus of having a near-Christmas birthday is that everyone who can remember when Christmas is can remember the date of your birthday. The big minus is that when you’re a kid and you want to have a birthday party, all your friends have gone away on their Christmas holidays, and you end up being alone and pathetic every year.

2. My mother loves Anne of Green Gables. She gave me the middle name Blythe, after Gilbert Blythe. I also enjoy Anne of Green Gables, so I think that’s a pretty cool person to be named after, really.

3. I am left-handed. The only scissors I own are a few pairs I … liberated from my elementary school.

4. My parents separated when I was about 6 and eventually divorced. My sister and I lived with my mom.

5. I have one full sibling — we’ll call her Mrs. Coco (because my brother-in-law is Coco, obviously) — as well as two half-sisters and a half-brother from my dad’s previous marriage. I’ve never lived in the same house with my half-siblings though, and they’re much older than I am.

6. My maternal grandparents have been very important in my life. They always lived in the same general area as we did when I was growing up and we saw them quite often. We called my grandmother Tutu because that’s Hawaiian for grandmother, and she was in Hawaii when my mom found out she was going to have me. I used to have a t-shirt that said “If mom says no, ask Tutu.”

7. When I was a kid, my family went to Prince Edward Island on vacation (see #2). While walking on a wooden bridge at Cavendish Beach, I got a splinter in the bottom of my right heel. My parents had to take me to the doctor to get it removed, and the doctor we went to basically just dug it out without any kind of anaesthetic or anything. My dad says he could hear me screaming from the waiting room and my mom eventually just carried me out of the place. I had a scar on my heel for many years afterwards, not to mention the mental scars — I wasn’t very old at the time, but I still remember screaming and crying. Trauma!

8. Until I moved to Vancouver last year, I had lived my entire life in the part of Ottawa that is bordered by the Canal on the north, Bank St. on the west, the Rideau River on the south, and Carleton University on the east. I lived in three houses during my youth, but they were all within that very small area. As a child, I spent a lot of time playing in Brewer Park, skating at Brewer Arena and on the speed skating oval in the park, and swimming in Brewer Pool.

9. I love to swim, but when I swim I’m not generally doing laps or any kind of organized fitness training or whatever. I really love being under water, and I pretty much just swim randomly around the pool. I developed this habit when I was a kid and my sister and my best friend and I would go swimming at Brewer on January weeknights. Most nights, we’d be the only people in the pool, so we could do whatever we wanted. Now when I go to adult swimming time I pretty much have to stay in the slow lane so my non-structured swimming won’t interfere with the serious swimmers. I end up chatting with senior citizens a lot.

10. I had a lot of toys when I was little. One of these was a stuffed Smurfette. Apparently, I was so attached to Smurfette that my kindergarten teacher told my mom she was worried about the possibility of me trying to go back inside to retrieve her if ever there was a fire at the school. I also had a large stuffed rabbit named Big Ears. Ironically, Big Ears’ ears eventually fell off. I never played with Barbie dolls; no, my sister and I had a huge Jem doll collection instead. Jem was way cooler than Barbie.

11. My parents put me in French immersion so I had all my classes (except an hour of English per day) in French starting when I was 5. I switched to English when I started high school and it was the first time I’d ever had Math class not in French. I remember I didn’t know the English word for a protractor. These days I can understand French extremely well and speak it at an acceptable level. I can also read okay (though very slowly), but don’t ask me to write anything.

12. I basically sucked at math in high school, until I got to grade 13 (yes, I’m old enough that I had to do grade 13). At that point I ended up doing two math courses at the same time, Finite and Calculus, and I was so afraid that I’d fail and not be able to graduate that I worked my butt off, especially in Calculus. I ended up getting 90 in Calculus and 95 in Finite. On the last day of school, my Finite teacher asked me in front of the teacher I’d had in grades 11 and 12 whether I was considering doing math in university, and my grade 11 and 12 teacher laughed. Despite my math suckiness, I enjoy trying to reduce numbers to their smallest factors in my head. I also really like multiples of 9.

13. When I was in grade 7 and 8, I was in the school band. I played the clarinet. I loved music class, and I tried out a bunch of the other instruments my school had, like the trumpet, flute, baritone, and trombone. I’d sign one of them out for the night and play them at home. I wasn’t good at any, but I figured out the basics of all of them. When I graduated from elementary school, I won the music award because of my enthusiasm. Then when I went to high school I kept on playing the clarinet and also picked up the cello. I tried out all the other stringed instruments too but I was never very good at anything beyond the simplest stuff.

14. I went through a phase as a tween where I was obsessed with Broadway musicals like Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera, but especially Les Mis. I saw it three times and I’m pretty sure I still remember the lyrics to most of the songs. When I was in grade 9, I conducted a small orchestra of my classmates playing some of the music from the play for a school project.

15. The first concert I ever remember going to was New Kids on the Block at Lansdowne Park in like 1989. (Shut up.) It rained really hard and we were completely soaked by the end, but it was awesome. (Shut up!) My favourite New Kid was Jordan and you know, I still think he’s pretty hot. (Seriously, shut up.)

16. I had several pets growing up. My parents had a cat named Marilla (see #2) before I was born and she lived until I was maybe 10 or so. After she died we got a new cat named Tibby. My sister and I had a series of hamsters, my favourite of which was named Fudge. We had a Japanese fighting fish named Sir Percy Blakeney, and later I got goldfish who were called Simon and Hecubus. When I was in high school, we got a dog: Daphne, a schnoodle. She was a wonderful dog and I was very attached to her. She died pretty suddenly when she was nine years old and I was absolutely devastated.

17. Like many people (I think), I wanted to be a marine biologist for a while. I loved killer whales and dolphins. My family went to Marineland in Niagara Falls on vacation once, and though I have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever, killer whales are the one thing I’ve ever been able to draw well.

18. I’m not sure if this is connected to my desire to be a marine biologist, but the only time I’d visited Vancouver before moving there was when I was little, and the only thing I really remember is going to the aquarium in Stanley Park. I have a vivid memory of seeing an octopus in a tank and being completely grossed out by its tentacles.

19. Twice during my childhood I managed to knock out a loose baby tooth and swallow it. Twice.

20. I was the section head for the Arts and Entertainment section of the school newspaper when I was in high school. I then went to Journalism school when I started university, but dropped out after a year.

21. I had never seen the Star Wars trilogy until I was a teenager. People used to give me the weirdest looks when I’d tell them I hadn’t seen it. I had one friend in elementary school who was so shocked by my failure to see the movies that he made me a VHS copy of all three. I’ve now seen all six movies several times, and I still have that copy along with my DVDs.

22. My grandparents used to live in Almonte, near the Mississippi River. A few times, my grandfather took me canoeing out there, and my cousins and my sister and I would wade in the water and climb the rocks by the small waterfall near their building. It was really nice. I also learned to drive on the quiet highway between Almonte and Pakenham. (These are small towns outside Ottawa.)

23. I was not at all athletic when I was a kid or teenager. I was usually picked last or maybe second to last in gym class. Last year, I started playing hockey, and guess what? I’m still not athletic. However, it’s a lot of fun.

24. The first time I ever went to a hockey game, I was in high school (I developed my interest in the game kind of late, I’m afraid). My dad took me to a 67’s game. Before I left I told my mom I would catch a puck and bring it back to her. She said “Yeah, right.” During the warmup, a Belleville Bulls player shot a puck that hit the top of the glass, bounced up high, hit the railing in front of our seats, then deflected off my dad’s wrist and bounced off my head. We looked for the puck but couldn’t find it until I realized it was in my hood. My mom was amazed. My dog tried to eat the puck.

25. When I first discovered hockey, I was all about the 67’s. My feelings about the Sens were mostly resentment that they got so much attention and the 67’s got so little. I knew a lot about the CHL, not much about the NHL. It was really only after Wade Redden was traded to Ottawa that I started paying close attention to the Sens. I do remember the whole Dave Allison saga though. I also remember the Patrick Roy trade very well, because I became *dramatic music* a Montreal fan for a while afterwards, and the first jersey I ever bought was a Jocelyn Thibault Habs jersey. I am deeply shamed.

26. My first favourite Sens player was Radek Bonk. I loved him! For my 18th birthday, I received an autographed Bonk jersey. My dad once took me to a Sens game, possibly sometime near my 18th birthday but I’m not sure, against the Bruins. It happened to be Bonk’s first game back from an injury. We sat in the 100 level and I remember Bonk scored a goal right in front of me. It was great!

27. The first Sens game I ever went to, also with my dad, was an exhibition game against Montreal. I was one of those obnoxious people cheering for the Habs at a Sens homegame because of my Thibault love. Sorry. During the game, Darcy Tucker made a questionable hit on Bonk and I think gave him a bloody nose or at least took him out of the game somehow. I have hated Darcy Tucker ever since that day. I know everyone hates Darcy Tucker, but that is my specific reason. No one can say I don’t hold a grudge. Chris Pronger and Steve Downie, take note: I will likely violently hate both of you forever, too.

28. I actually met Radek Bonk once when I went to the Sens’ Charity Carnival one year. I got my picture taken with him! I’ve also got a great picture of me and my friend with Janne Laukkanen, and I met Alexei Yashin too. I didn’t think he was very nice (surprise, surprise). At the same event, they had Wade Redden in a dunk tank, dressed in a wetsuit. Nice. I met Wade three times during his career in Ottawa. The first time was at the Ex: he was there signing autographs just before he started his first season with the Sens. Now that he’s gone, there’s no one I’ve met on the team except Nick Foligno.

29. I took Latin in high school and one of our assignments was to write our own will in Latin and make three bequests. In my will, I appointed my gladiator, Radecus Boncus, to be my executor, and willed my 67’s season ticket (section 25, row A, seat 4) to one of my friends.

30. Brian Campbell was my favourite 67’s player. I still think he’s one of the most exciting players I’ve ever seen. I once ran into him in the hallway at the Civic Centre and I told him “I love watching you play!” He said, “Thank you.”

(100 Things About Me - Episode II: Things I Love (Besides Hockey) coming soon to this space!)

With Antoine Vermette’s arbitration hearing scheduled for tomorrow, things should become a bit clearer regarding the Sens’ future in the next few days. The arbitrator must announce his decision within 48 hours of the hearing, so Bryan Murray should have a better idea of his cap situation by Sunday, which will enable him to decide what to do with Andrej Meszaros. That is my fondest wish, at any rate.

I think many of us were hoping the team could come to an agreement with Vermette before the arbitrator had to get involved, but that is looking more and more unlikely as the hours pass by and still there’s no news of a deal. I’m no expert on the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, but as I understand it, the arbitrator can only award a one- or two-year deal. There are rules governing this, and they have to do with whether or not Vermette is eligible to be a UFA next year, and that is another thing I’m not sure about. But whatever the case, we can be sure that Vermette will not come out of arbitration with a contract longer than two years. If he gets a one-year deal, then no discussions regarding an extension of that contract can take place until after January 1.

And so a one-year deal probably means another stressful trade deadline for Vermette — something I can only imagine he’d like to avoid if at all possible.

If the Sens don’t like what the arbitrator awards Vermette, they can walk away. By doing so, however, they allow Vermette to become a UFA and end up losing him for nothing — something I am very sure Murray would like to avoid.

The team’s other option, of course, is to sign Vermette and trade him. (I have heard that it’s not possible to trade a player before January 1 after he’s gone to arbitration, but I wasn’t able to confirm that during my whirlwind tour of the CBA, which by the way is online here if you ever feel the sudden need to bring on that head-spinning, eyes rolling up in your head type of confusion that can only be induced by reading the most twisted form of legalese.) There is no shortage of rumours, as usual, about Vermette leaving town, and Allen Panzeri listed a few of the potential destinations being named for our Hot French Guy in an article in the Citizen this morning. The Vancouver Province had already done a piece on the Vermette to Vancouver rumours last Thursday, which suggested that Vermette could be the Canucks’ “Plan B” should Mats Sundin decide not to sign with them. With the ever increasing timeframe for Sundin’s decision getting more and more vague — he’s now gone from “around August 1″ to “sometime in August,” according to his agent, J.P. Barry — you have to wonder what this means to Vermette’s future, or at least to the Sens’ list of options for what to do with Vermette. Can a team like the Canucks afford to sit around and wait for Mats? Will his delay make them more or less eager to talk to the Sens about a trade? Is Sundin’s wishy washy behaviour in some way a passive aggressive attempt to screw the Sens over? You can just never trust a Leaf.

In the future, though, I think there could be one exception to that rule, and that exception takes the form of one Luke Schenn, or High King Luke the Magnificent, as I’ve decided to call him from now on, due to his really startling resemblance to Peter from the Narnia movies, which I have now seen up close and in person, having attended two of the Red vs. White games at the Canadian National Junior Team Development Camp at Ottawa U this week. Schenn was one of the players I thought stood out the most in the games I saw, along with Drew Doughty, John Tavares, and Nazem Kadri. I admit there’s a distinct possibility that he stood out to me mostly because of the Narnia thing and because of his mesmerizing good looks (and yes, I know it’s inappropriate for me to be checking out 18-year-old boys — whatever); however, I’m sure I was also impressed by his play. He’s big, he’s got a steady presence on the blue line, and, though he’s billed as a defensive defenceman, he seems to have a pretty good shot. I don’t know why the Leafs had to draft him. It just doesn’t seem right.

Tavares really caught my eye during the World Junior tournament last year, and he is extremely impressive in person as well. Doughty showed some fantastic skill with the puck, and if I were a Kings fan I’d be very happy indeed to have him in the system. Kadri, meanwhile, is someone I had never heard of before, but he’s very exciting to watch. After one rush he made, the people behind me were yelling “Sick!!” and the entire crowd was pretty much oohing and aahing. I also kept my eyes open for Sens prospect Louie Caporusso, who was a last minute addition to the roster. He was playing on Team White’s top line with Tavares and Kyle Turris in the first game I saw and seemed to do well. In the other game I went to, I thought he looked feisty: I noticed him in a few scrums.

Also spotted at the development camp: me, missing a stair and totally taking out my right ankle/foot/lower leg as I tried to get down to my seat on Sunday evening. With the leg in pretty severe pain all day on Monday, I emailed my friend the radiologist for advice and she told me an x-ray is probably a good idea, so I will be paying my doctor a visit tomorrow. Man, these hockey-bystander injuries are the worst.

I know how to drive. Actually, I’ve known how to drive for a long time, having learned this important life skill when I was but a teenager. I have never owned my own car, however, because I’ve always had access to a family car: my mother’s or my grandfather’s. While I’m home in Ottawa for the summer, I am living with my father. Here too, I have access to a car. Unfortunately, the car in question is a standard shift and because I only ever learned to drive an automatic, having full access to said car and full permission to drive it does me exactly no good. And so, I am dependent on the good people at OC Transpo and Société de transport de l’Outaouais to carry me around the region.

Because of the fact that I work somewhere deep in the middle of Gatineau — I have no idea where it is; the bus takes me there and that’s all I know — and live near the Civic Centre, I ended up spending just about as much time in transit going to and from the Draft this weekend as I did watching people get drafted. This made for a long and tiring weekend: I left for work at 6:40am on Friday, went straight to Scotiabank Place from work, and didn’t get home until about 1:00am on Saturday; then I was out the door by 8:00am to get back to the Bank, and arrived home pretty much exhausted at about 4:45pm that afternoon.

Luckily for me, the Draft was a lot of fun, and it was totally worth getting tired! Luckily for you, I have composed an account of my two days spent in Kanata watching 18-year-old hockey players become Hockey Players. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

June 20, 2008: Draft Day I - The First Round

2:00pm: I leave my place of work in Gatineau to catch the bus back over to Ottawa, where I will catch another bus, which will take me to the place I can catch a third bus, which will drop me off somewhere vaguely near Scotiabank Place.

3:37pm (approximate): After what seems like an extremely long and complex bus ride, I get off the bus along with about five other hockey fans who are also headed to Scotiabank Place, though I don’t actually speak to any of these people. Together, but separately, we head off on the 15-20 minute walk down Palladium Drive to the arena. Scenery along this road includes … fields. And also, lampposts decorated with banners featuring Sens players. Really, there should be more places which feature Sens paraphernalia as their decorating motif.

Around 3:45pm: My iPod begins to play “Fireworks” by The Tragically Hip just as Scotiabank Place comes into view. Oh, iPod! You have such a sense of the occasion! I feel very happy when I see the building. It’s weird to say, especially considering the fact that I spent barely any time there in the last few years before I left Ottawa, but I was homesick for the place.

Around 3:50pm: I arrive in front of Scotiabank Place. There’s a carnival type thing going on out front, with games for kids (including a big inflatable slide with Spartacat on it) and a long line of people waiting to meet some of the top prospects. I stop to take a few pictures of the gigantic images of Dany Heatley, Chris Phillips, Daniel Alfredsson, Wade Redden, and Mike Fisher, all doing their best to look intimidating, which adorn the front of the building. These were put up after I moved, so this is the first time I’ve seen them up close. I have to say that they fascinate me. Can you imagine if the building you worked in had a massive image of you mounted above the front door? Freaky.

3:55pm: I go into Sensations to have a look around, but don’t buy anything. I do note that they have a red Spezza jersey in size small (my Heatley jersey, which I am wearing, is white, due to a Christmas shopping error by my father), and file this information away for possible later use.

4:00pm: The festivities upstairs are now open, so I go in. I’m handed a red Draft pom-pom to match the red playoff pom-pom I was given last May. I see Stanley sitting on a table, waiting to pose for photos with his admirers. I walk around a bit looking at the various NHL trophies, all of which are present in glass cases. The Prince of Wales Trophy, which is given to the NHL Eastern Conference Champion each year, attracts my interest due to one notable team which won it recently. At some point, I get in line to have my picture taken with Stanley. When it’s my turn, I go up and give him a big hug. It is awesome. The security guy says “You gave the Cup a big hug!” as I leave. Yes, I did.

4:44pm: My phone rings. It’s the guy to whom I’ve promised my extra draft pass. I go outside to meet him. I then check in with the three friends I’ll be watching the Draft with, who are in line to meet the top prospects. They are: Heata, a fellow Sens fan; Stajanna, a Leafs fan; and Carbonita, another Sens fan with a perhaps unhealthy Guy Carbonneau obsession. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent.) I quickly say hi to Heata and Stajanna, then head off for more wandering.

5:04pm: I decide to call my mom. You see, about six years ago, there was an incident involving Stanley showing up in our front yard and me not being able to get dressed in time to get out and have my picture taken with him. My mom, however, did get her picture taken with him, and never hesitates to rub it in. When I tell her I’ve now also had my picture taken with him, she sounds disappointed.

5:16pm: I go back outside and talk to Heata and Stajanna again. They tell me Carbonita is further back in the line so I decide to go say hello. Foolishly, I ask what she’s wearing: they tell me she’s in a Carbo shirt. Duh! When I get to the back of the line I have no trouble finding her and we chat for a while. The prospects are late for their autograph session (stuck in traffic).

5:30 or so: To avoid looking as though I’m trying to cut in the autograph line, I go find Stajanna and Heata, who’ve got their autographs and are now waiting for Carbonita. They also get autographs from a few other prospects who are randomly walking around, including Josh Bailey of the Windsor Spitfires — TSN’s mock draft had the Sens picking him with their 18th overall pick. Some guy comes up and offers us a pass to get priority seating. Heata takes it, and I go in to grab seats for the four of us. The 200 level is just about full, and I get us seats in section 306, row B. The draft floor reminds me of a stock market.

About 6:10pm: Possible legendary hockey person sighting! Is that Scotty Bowman I see on the floor? I think it is, but I’m not sure. I definitely see Gord Miller, Pierre McGuire, and Bob McKenzie from the TSN hockey panel in TSN’s broadcast area.

6:15pm or so: The man who has sat down next to me taps me on the shoulder and asks “So who do you cheer for, then?” I turn to show him the name Heatley on the back of my jersey. We start chatting, and it turns out this man is a relative of none other than Josh Bailey. Mr. Bailey is extremely nice, and I will continue chatting with him throughout the evening.

6:30pm: Heata, Stajanna, and Carbonita arrive.

6:40pm: Heata uses the super effective zoom lens on her camera to confirm that the man I spotted earlier is, in fact, Scotty Bowman. Nice!

6:45pm: Some dude tells everyone on the floor to sit down at their tables because it’s almost time to get with the drafting.

6:50pm: The same person — obviously an official with the NHL, but he never introduces himself so we have no idea who the heck he is — asks the teams to state the names of the peoeple who will be making their selections for them. He goes through the teams one by one in alphabetical order. The first team, Anaheim, gets a huge boo from the Scotiabank Place crowd, including me, because I hate them with the fire of thousand suns. Montreal, typically, gets about equal parts boo and cheer, while the Leafs get a very long boo. Ottawa, of course, gets the biggest cheer.

6:55pm: Sens owner Eugene Melnyk takes the stage to welcome us all to the Draft.

7:02pm: A TSN profile of certain #1 pick Steven Stamkos is shown on the big screen. This gets a huge cheer from the row behind us. I turn and ask them if they are Stamkoses. They say they are.

7:17pm: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman appears on stage to open the Draft. A rousing boo chorus from the crowd. Bettman, you suck, and you are really, really short. I long for a sniper rifle. (Disclaimer: I would never actually attempt to harm Mr. Bettman. I only fantasize about it.) In the midst of all the boos, Bettman thanks everyone in Ottawa for making the league feel so welcome. I grudgingly admit that this is pretty funny.

7:21pm: The Tampa Bay Lightning use the first pick in the Draft to take … suspense … wait for it … wait … you never know, they might do something unpredictable … nope, they take Steven Stamkos.

7:25pm: Stamkos is interviewed by James Duthie after being picked. Duthie says the player Stamkos is most often compared to is Steve Yzerman. After Duthie says this, I spot Yzerman himself sitting at the Red Wings’ table (so, so awesome) beside Mike Babcock. I have a knack for spotting famous Detroit Red Wings people on the floor. I can’t figure out who anyone else is, though.

7:28pm: Bettman announces that Los Angeles has one minute left to make their pick. I had no idea there was a time limit! What happens if they don’t make it? Do they forfeit the pick? Within a few seconds, LA has used its pick to take Drew Doughty, so we don’t find out the answer to that question.

7:33pm: The first trade of the evening is announced! Florida has traded Olli Jokinen to Phoenix for former Ottawa 67 Nick Boynton, Keith Ballard, and a pick. Excitement!

7:37pm: For the second time, Bettman utters what will become his mantra this evening — “I have a trade to announce” — and we find out that Los Angeles has sent Mike Cammalleri to Calgary for two picks. It had been rumoured that the Sens would send Spezza to LA for Cammalleri and a pick. That was a ridiculous rumour; still, I’m extremely relieved that it seems it definitely won’t happen. Anaheim and LA then trade a few more picks.

7:43pm: After Atlanta makes its selection, Bettman announces another trade. This time, the Flames have sent Alex Tanguay and a pick to Montreal for two picks! This must be why the Flames wanted Cammalleri. Tanguay is a pretty big salary for Montreal to take on, especially considering that we’ve heard the Leafs have given the Habs permission to negotiate with Mats Sundin.

7:55pm: Bettman tells the New York Islanders they have one minute to make their pick.

7:57pm: Clearly, Bettman is doing jack to enforce this one minute thing. Imagine — the NHL being lax with discipline.

7:58pm: Leafs’ GM Cliff Fletcher is shown on the big screen in the arena. This elicits a massive boo from the crowd. Fletcher looks up to see what’s making everyone boo, sees that it is actually himself, and smiles a little. I’m very amused. On an unrelated note, Fletcher appears to be about 100 years old.

8:00pm: Another trade, something involving the Islanders’ pick going to Toronto, and there are options and other picks, and it’s all very complicated. I have no idea what just happened, but the end result is that Toronto will pick 5th instead of the Islanders.

8:01pm: The Leafs’ crew comes up to make their pick. Mass booing ensues.

8:03pm: The Leafs take Luke Schenn. DAMMIT! I wanted the Sens to trade up and get Luke Schenn because of his resemblance to Peter from Narnia! Screw you, Leafs. The booing continues as Schenn comes up to put on his new Leafs jersey. Poor guy, being booed on his draft day. It doesn’t seem to faze him though. I will be charitable and assume the booing fans gave him this greeting to make him feel truly a part of the Leafs’ organization.

8:05pm: A Leafs fan shown on the big screen is booed. We really hate the Leafs.

8:06pm: We hear via text message from a friend of Stajanna’s that Philadelphia has sent R.J. Umberger and a pick to Columbus for two picks. I guess this means we won’t be hearing those Meszaros for Umberger rumours anymore. Lucky Umberger — he gets to go to Columbus and play with The Amazing Rick Nash! Interestingly, I’ve seen lots of people wandering around wearing Columbus jerseys today.

8:08pm: Bettman confirms the Philly-Columbus trade. At some point, we decide that Columbus is a team of the future, and we should start watching their games. My love of Rick Nash compels me to do so.

8:19pm: The Islanders trade the 7th overall pick, which they had just got about 20 minutes ago from Toronto for the 5th overall pick, to Nashville for the 9th overall pick.

8:26pm: It’s time for Phoenix to make its pick, and it’s Wayne Gretzky himself who will be doing the talking. Gretzky gets the kind of reaction Bettman doesn’t even get in his wildest dreams: a huge, long ovation, and a chant of “Gret-zky! Gret-zky!” It is always very cool to see Wayne, even if it is from a vast distance. I like his glasses.

8:28pm: Phoenix’s pick, a guy named Boedker, has a hilarious 80’s style mullet. Fantastic!

8:29pm: Now it’s the New York Islanders’ turn to pick, but as they’ve already traded their pick twice the crowd is highly dubious about the chances of them actually picking this time. I hear chants of “Trade! Trade!” As the perpetually mediocre Islanders mortgage their future, we all laugh and cheer.

8:33pm: But wait, they are actually picking this time, and they’ve picked Josh Bailey! The members of the Bailey family sitting near us give a huge cheer, as do we, since we’ve now befriended them. The man next to me looks extremely proud, and it’s a really nice moment to be part of. Josh was expected to be selected in the 15-20 range, so to see him go in the top ten is a pretty big deal. I take a picture of Josh putting on the Isles’ jersey to remember the occasion.

8:43pm: A couple of minutes after the Canucks use the tenth overall pick to select Cody Hodgson, we see a Canucks fan with Roberto Luongo’s exact haircut on the big screen. It’s uncanny.

8:53pm: Los Angeles trades the 12th overall pick to Buffalo for the 13th overall pick. Monumental.

9:05pm: We get to see another hockey legend, as Ron Francis shows up to make Carolina’s pick.

9:12pm: Bettman has another trade to announce and, he says, “you’re going to like this one.” Turns out the Sens have traded their pick, 18th overall, along with their third round pick in 2009 to Nashville for the 15th overall pick. Bettman is right: we do like that one. “Beautiful Day” begins to play and they show an Alfie montage on the big screen.

9:14pm: Time for the Sens to pick, and it’s Alfie who will be announcing the name of their selection. Alfie comes to the microphone to the biggest ovation of the night, and we get the “Al-fie! Al-fie! Al-fie!” chant going. He names Erik Karlsson, a fellow Swede, as our pick. Who? Turns out Karlsson is a defenceman — much needed in the Ottawa organization — but is a bit on the small side. I’m somewhat perplexed as to why we would draft a small player. Still, welcome to the Sens, tiny Swedish guy.

9:20pm: Bryan Murray is being interviewed by James Duthie on TSN, and they play the interview on the big screen for us. Duthie says something we don’t quite hear that draws a big cheer from the crowd. Heata is pretty sure he’s said the Sens have re-signed Chris Kelly. Duthie asks about whether Spezza will be traded. Murray says that Spezza’s no trade clause kicks in in July 09, and he will indeed still be a member of the team at that point. Another cheer from the crowd, with some jeers (no doubt from those crazy Spezza haters!) mixed in. I think I speak for Murray when I say — now, can the Spezza trade rumours please GO AWAY? Kthx.

9:23pm: Stajanna’s friend who is watching on TV has confirmed it for us: the Sens re-signed Chris Kelly to a four-year deal. Hooray!

9:28pm: Brian Burke takes the stage to make Anaheim’s pick. He is greeted with another large boo. “It’s great to be back in Ottawa,” he says. I laugh. I actually find Burke to be a pretty entertaining guy, but he works for the forces of pure evil so I can’t like him. The Ducks select Jake Gardiner. I hear later that Burke apparently wanted to take Karlsson, the Sens’ pick, and was frustrated when it didn’t happen. Nyah nyaaaaaah!

9:48pm: We get to see another hockey luminary: Glen Sather makes the New York Rangers’ pick.

9:52pm: New Jersey trades the 21st overall pick to Washington for the 23rd overall pick. Another blockbuster deal!

9:54pm: As the Caps go up to make their pick, some crazy Caps fans sitting two sections over from us start chanting “C.A.P.S. Caps! Caps! Caps!” These people are enthusiastic fans. I mean, really enthusiastic.

10:01pm: We see Bryan Murray come over to the media area in front of us to do a radio interview. What a busy day for him: waiving Emery, signing Kelly, trading picks, drafting a guy, doing interviews … he’s done a good job with it all. I’m feeling the love for BM the GM right now.

10:02pm: The Edmonton Oilers are on stage to make their pick, with Sam Gagner and His Mullet in tow.

10:06pm: The Devils are up next. This is, as Stajanna so beautifully put it, a team that has made boring an art form. Will their pick be boring, we wonder? Yes, actually: they trade pick 23 to Minnesota for pick 24 and a third rounder in 09. Woo hoo.

10:12pm: Minnesota thanks Ottawa for its hospitality, and then thanks Ottawa for helping it out with its pick, who is Tyler Cuma of the Ottawa 67’s! Yay!

10:17pm: The Devils finally actually make their pick. Huzzah!

10:25pm: The crazy Caps fans two sections over have been mysteriously replaced by crazy Buffalo Sabres fans, who go wild as the Sabres prepare to pick.

10:44pm: Phoenix has another pick so Gretzky is back. He uses the pick to take Viktor Tikhonov: not the famous Russian coach, but the famous Russian coach’s grandson. I imagine the famous Russian coach Viktor Tikhonov is a little old to play in the NHL at this point.

10:53pm: It’s time for the last pick of round 1, which belongs to the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings. Steve Yzerman will make Detroit’s pick. Yzerman gets a great ovation from the crowd, and seems really flattered by it. Yzerman is also, it must be said, quite the hottie. I love you, Stevie Y! Detroit takes a goalie named Thomas McCollum, and with that — four hours, 30 picks, and a billion trades later — the first round is over.

11:00pm-11:23pm: The four of us are all taking the same bus back into the city so we walk to the stop together. Unfortunately, the bus we’re taking only comes every half hour, and we end up having to wait 20 minutes.

11:41pm-12:25am: The bus arrives. We sit together at the back. Heata and Stajanna get off first, then Carbonita a few minutes later. Finally, the bus gets to my stop. Sadly, the bus I need to take to get home from the bus stop is no longer running and I have to walk.

12:46am: I get home, make myself a Neo Citran to try to knock myself out as soon as possible, upload my pictures to my computer, and go to bed.

June 21, 2008: Draft Day II — Draft at Super-Speed (Rounds 2-7)

(I didn’t take detailed notes today as I did on Friday because I was too tired/lazy — take your pick — so this will be a bit less organized.)

- While I’m eating breakfast, I watch some of the highlights from round 1 on TSN. The guy says that there were 13 trades total, which is as many as had been made on the last three draft days combined! We thought it seemed like more than usual.

- I leave home at 7:55am to get my first bus. I only have to take two buses to get out there today. When I get off the bus near the Bank, I start talking to a Habs fan who was also on the bus. We make the walk to the arena together, and it turns out Habs Guy used to work in the same building where I now work. Spooky!

- I get a text from Stajanna telling me she and Heata and Carbonita are in section 225, row B today, so I go join them. Sitting next to us today is a French Canadian Habs fan in a Bob Gainey t-shirt. Bob Gainey seems to be this guy’s idol, so we name him Serge-Bob Gainey.

- Our seats are nearest to the Red Wings table, so I will spend much of the day keeping an eye on Steve Yzerman and Scotty Bowman. (Mike Babcock doesn’t appear to be there today.) Bowman is constantly up mingling with various people, including having a long chat with Bob McKenzie at one point (is this where McKenzie gets his inside info, we wonder). I imagine a lot of people want to talk to him and he seems like a pretty friendly guy. Yzerman spends more time seated at the table, presumably talking to the scouts, but he also gets up and chats sometimes. At one point he comes over near the boards and a big group of kids flocks over to get his autograph. He signs for them. Did I mention that I love Steve Yzerman?

- “Uncle Ben” Hartsburg is seated at the Sens’ table today. Apparently he was there on Friday too, but we didn’t spot him. I also find out after I get home that Chris Kelly showed up to sign his contract at the Draft table, but again, we didn’t see him.

- Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock is sitting in a box on the 100 level below us. We can see him in there most of the day. Having decided that Columbus is a Team of the Future, we now decide we’ll all buy Blue Jackets t-shirts to wear. We don’t know where we could get some in Ottawa, though. At one point, Serge-Bob Gainey spots Actual Bob Gainey in the box talking to Hitchcock and borrows Heata’s Sharpie to go and try to get Gainey to sign his shirt. We all keep our eye on the box where Hitchcock and Gainey are to see what happens. Serge-Bob appears and manages to get Gainey’s attention. A few minutes later we see Gainey disappear — hopefully he’s with Serge-Bob! Gainey then re-appears in the box and proceeds to actually climb out of it, standing on the arm of a seat before reaching the ground again. He makes his way back to the Montreal table by acrobatically going over, rather than around, the Scotiabank Place seats and various other obstacles in his way. This is pretty impressive, and we christen him Indiana Jones Gainey for it. From now on, climbing over seats to get around people will now be known as going Gainey-style. Serge-Bob returns victorious: he has Gainey’s signature on the back of his shirt. We’re happy for him! He is very apologetic because he’s accidentally lost Heata’s Sharpie, and tries to give her a toonie to buy a new one.

- Every time it’s Phoenix’s turn to make a pick, there’s some kind of delay. We feel that the Coyotes are like that guy in line ahead of you who has to count out all his change before he can pay.

- Phoenix uses the second round pick it got from the Sens in the Oleg Saprykin trade to select Jared Staal, the fourth (and final) Staal brother. Sadly, the Staals are not in attendance. The Coyotes draft another player with NHL pedigree when they take Brett Hextall, son of Ron, in the sixth round. I wonder if the fact that Wayne’s brother Keith Gretzky is on the Coyotes’ staff has anything to do with this habit of selecting the relatives of famous hockey people. Meanwhile, David Toews, brother of Jonathan, is taken in the third round by the Islanders. The Toews family is also not in attendance.

- In the third round, Phoenix takes M. Brodeur. Okay, it’s Mathieu Brodeur and he’s a defenceman, but still — M. Brodeur! Carolina drafts Michal Jordan in the sixth round. This, of course, is an 18-year-old Czech defenceman, not a 45-year-old legendary American basketball player. That doesn’t stop us from joking that all he needs to do now is play football and he’ll have the complete set.

- Towards the end of the day, we see Julien Demers of the Ottawa 67’s, who’d been drafted by the Sharks in round 5 (yes, the Sharks drafted a 67’s player!! Imagine that!), wander in to the section of seats below us. He’s soon joined by Brian Kilrea and 67’s owner Jeff Hunt. Brian Kilrea is the man!

- After the Draft ends, we’re walking out to the exit when we stumble upon (not literally) Sens player Nick Foligno in the hallway. We say hello, and Stajanna, Leafs jersey and all, asks Foligno for a picture with him, telling him she and her mother are fans of his father. Nick points out that his father is in fact right over there, so Stajanna gets a picture with him too. Foligno was bigger than I thought he’d be, in terms of muscle. He looks absolutely nothing like his father.

- Other random interesting people we saw: Brett Hull, sitting at the Dallas table announcing the Stars’ picks with great enthusiasm and signing the back of a kid wearing a Red Wings jersey; Ted Nolan; Alain Vigneault, chatting with Pierre LeBrun — I figure Vigneault must get a bit lonely having not many people to speak French to in Vancouver; Nick Kypreos, who lent Serge-Bob his Sharpie after the loss of Heata’s; Ron Wilson, whose interview with one media person quickly turns into a large-ish media scrum — yes, Ron, this is what it’s going to be like for you from now on; and a guy from Hockey Night in Canada’s Hot Stove whose name we can’t remember.

- Interesting fact: Round 1 took four hours to complete. Rounds 2-7 also took four hours to complete.

Summary: The Overall Draft Experience

What I learned is that attending the Draft is not really about watching people get drafted. Oh no. It’s partly about that, sure, but what it’s really about is a more general kind of people watching. Some of the people there are getting drafted, and you are definitely watching them, but you are also watching the people who are doing the drafting, and the people watching the Draft, and probably those people are watching you, too. Know what I mean?

Basically, what I am trying to say is that going to the Draft turned out to be a great opportunity to meet and mingle with other hockey fans, to observe the people who run the NHL actually making the NHL run, and to be a part of what is probably the best day in some 18-year-old boys’ lives. I’m really glad I was able to go, because it’s not an opportunity that comes around that often.

Coming up in this space: a post which actually talks about the Sens’ various draft picks!

I just thought I would take a moment here to acknowledge the excellence of Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson. I’m not speaking of his hockey excellence — that is something I totally take for granted: he’s Alfie, and he’ll always be there, and one terrible day when he retires I’m going to get a nasty shock — but rather of his excellence as a human being.

What brought this on? Well, I read today that he is lending his support to a Royal Ottawa Foundation campaign which is “aimed at raising awareness and reducing the stigmatization of mental illness.” The campaign’s website (You Know Who I Am) points out that one in five people will suffer from some form of mental illness in their lifetime, but many people never seek treatment because of the stigma attached to it. Here is why I give big love to Alfie for doing this:

When I was a kid, I went through a horrible phase where I would be so scared to go to school in the mornings that I would cry and throw up and refuse to go. For a long time, I would get sick every year on the first day of school, without fail. I was too scared to go on field trips. I hated going to parties because I’d get so stressed out beforehand and often made up excuses so I wouldn’t have to go. I couldn’t eat in restaurants because I’d feel too anxious. I still don’t like eating at other people’s houses. I never wanted to tell anyone about any of this because I was too embarrassed. I only ever referred to my problem as being “nervous.”

Then a couple of years ago I had a panic attack. I thought I was dying, but it was panic. Then I had another one, and eventually I went to my doctor and told her about my symptoms as about my previous issue with “nervousness,” and the doctor said I likely had a mild anxiety disorder. It made a huge difference to me to put a name on it, because I was finally able to tell people my problem instead of just avoiding it. When I looked up a list of anxiety symptoms on the internet I found things that I’d had but never knew what they were. It was a great comfort. Once I started telling people about my problem, I soon discovered that many other people had similar problems, which was also very comforting. It occurs to me often that a whole lot of people suffer from this kind of thing, and no one really talks about it. I think that needs to change, and I think having Alfie’s image associated with the problem will actually help, given the way he is perceived around these parts: if Alfie, who was strong/brave/tough enough to play in the playoffs with a torn MCL this year, is telling us a condition is serious, then it surely must be serious.

That is why I think Alfie is excellent. Well, one reason.

In other Sens news, it seems New Coach Uncle Ben spent a lot of time on the phone this weekend, introducing himself to various Sens players. (Though I guess it wouldn’t take that long to phone all the players, given that we only have about half a roster right now. Oh how I’d laugh if it didn’t seem so dire!) Here is what Alfie, in all his awesomeness, had to say about his telephonic tete-a-tete with Hartsburg:

“We had a talk and it was a chance for him to introduce himself,” Alfredsson said yesterday. “I know everybody talks about us having to have this guy who has this no-nonsense approach. Whether he has that approach or not, we all want the same thing here: We want to win.

“If we’re not doing the things that it takes to win, then he’s going to help us to get better. He’s an ex-player, who was an elite player. He knows what it takes for us to be successful. I think we’re really going to welcome that approach. It’s going to be a positive situation.”

I don’t know whether the mental health campaign has me extra full of confidence in Alfie today or what, but that seems like a really super good point and it made me feel even more positive about the new coach. I revisited his Wikipedia page (it is my #1 source of info) to see what I could find out about the man’s playing career — specifically his playoff experience — which I had not really looked at before. I found that he made it to the Stanley Cup Final with the Minnesota North Stars in his second season in the NHL (1980-1981), but Minnesota lost to the New York Islanders. He also made it to the Conference Final as a rookie in 1979-1980, but aside from that there wasn’t a lot of playoff action happening in his career and so in the end, I did all that work clicking around Wikipedia and I still come up wishing he had more post-season experience.

Despite that one shortcoming, I do like the way the coaching staff is shaping up. The Sun is now reporting that it is Calgary Flames assistant coach Wayne Fleming who is the top candidate for the second assistant position in Ottawa, and not Regina’s Curtis Hunt as they had previously said. Fleming and Hartsburg were assistants to Ken Hitchcock together in Philadelphia for two seasons. In 2003-2004 they took the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Final.

By far the most important news of the day, though, is that this blog got its first ever link back, from Senators Lost Cojones at Five for Smiting! To celebrate, I’m buying myself a new pimp hat.

The Sens — I think it’s probably okay to use the name again — won 5-4 over Pittsburgh yesterday, and played much better. Not perfect, but better. Several players, I thought, had good games, though I still want both goalies dead (really, I yelled DIE GERBER! at the TV at one point during the game). The team has probably gone to California now, which I think will probably do them good: they get away from the media in Ottawa for a while, and go to a place where almost no one cares about hockey. Ahhh, relaxation and sun. They have Anaheim tomorrow, San Jose on Wednesday, LA on Thursday, and then Phoenix on Saturday. None of these games, with the possible exception of Phoenix, is on TV here, even though I’m on the west coast. It makes me want to cry.

I look forward to seeing how they respond to the Ducks in terms of emotion. It is also an interesting game statistically: Ottawa is the highest-scoring team in the league (213 goals for, avg 3.23 per game); Anaheim is 27th (out of 30) in the league in goals scored (165 goals, 2.46 per game). The Ducks have allowed the 4th fewest goals this season (158 total, 2.36 per game); meanwhile, the Sens are a truly pathetic 23rd in terms of defense (195 allowed, 2.96 per game). It’s great offense vs. great defense, and horrible offense vs. horrible defense. Which will prevail?! I just don’t know!

Tonight is my first hockey class. I’m interested to see what kind of people will be in the class, and how bad my skill level is going to be compared to them. Maybe no one else will be able to skate at all, and I’ll end up looking like Gretzky by comparison. Hey, it could happen. It looks like there are only 7 in the class so at least it shouldn’t be overwhelming. The class goes from 8:30 to 9:45 which isn’t really ideal, especially considering that I have an 8am class tomorrow. But it’s okay.

Other than that … I have watched about 10 or 12 episodes of The X-Files since yesterday. I made a conscious decision not to do any schoolwork this weekend. It seems less like slacking if I’ve actually decided not to do it, don’t you think?