Hockey Lounge 4:20 24/7, immortalized at Olympic Plaza in SLC, Utah, 2002Preamble: for years, mostly living in Olympia, Washington and later Vancouver, BC I wrangled a website called HockeyNW tracking historic and contemporary hockey culture around Cascadia including teams: Tacoma SaberCats, Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs, flashing back to Seattle Metropolitans, bits of Portland and of course Vancouver, as well the in-line hockey teams i coached through a YMCA league in Olympia.
During this time my brother Dan and i (something) hosted the “Hockey Lounge” in Olympia, Washington – a speak / toke easy” to spread hockey culture (and provide occasional crash space for rock n roll bands – another story).
Some of the artifacts are shared in this archive, others might be eventually.
Anyhow… what I’m saying is: all of this was anticipating the arrival of another NHL franchise in the Northwest which eventually became the Seattle Kraken. Took a while and now I live far away but, recently shared a bit of an “hockey primer” with a friend who lives in Washington State who is a soccer/football supporter to share a little bit of culture and basics about the sport.
I don’t really write about hockey anymore and my “consumption experience” is generally solo, with coffee in the cottage in Japan, regardless, sharing here for posterity:
June 11, 2021 Hello [redacted],
Been meaning to tell you a few things about hockey and now it’s a really good time for you to start paying attention because it’s almost into the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I’m currently listening to Seattle’s “expansion cousins” Vegas Golden Knights game six against the Colorado Avalanche (who used to be the Quebec Nordiques) yes it’s a little bit confusing especially when you consider the winner of the series will play the Montréal Canadiens, who are from Quebec – Canada sorta / of course but the French-centric part and who shocked the hockey world by running over their long time rival Toronto (a.k.a. the centre of the universe) Maple Leafs and then swept aside the Winnipeg Jets (who used to be the Atlanta Thrashers) it’s things like this that require a good primer.
The good thing about Seattle Kraken is now Vancouver has a natural geographical rival. In the past, the other teams would all match-up with natural dance-partners and Van was sort of stranded in their own little glorious West Coast anomaly. As we’ve seen with MLS, having teams in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver makes for good times for supporters/fans/whatever.
Various hockey ephemera (cards, calendars, tickets, clippings), made into a shadowbox once upon a time, broken, harvested and laid in situ.
Primarily Vancouver Canucks related including: Captain Marcus Naslund, goaltenders variety of Gary Bromley, Kirk McLean, Dan Cloutier plus tickets stubs from Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Thunderbirds, schedule from Vancouver Giants, plus Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky to rub off some greatness, and a list of Stanley Cup champions torn from a newspaper. Plus, Vancouver Canucks puck #inventory
Of such items, many many more exist in boxes, this just appeared behind broken glass.
As an enthusiast of creative commons “alt copyright”, I publish/shared many photos under an “non-commercial/attribution/sharealike license” which resulted in my images popping up in many places, often not with the proper attribution and dubious commercialization, but hey, life’s complicated like that sometimes. Nevertheless, I do try to document these things for the permanent record. In this case, my photo of the Stanley Cup (snapped at an NHL trophy exhibit at SLC Olympics in 2002) used and shared in many places, including / here in “Real Clear Sports” (whatever that is) in a bit of “meta” documentation using a screenshot of an archived version of the page.
3 era of Canucks sweaters freshened up for me, wife & lil Ichiro Stanley / flying “V”, downward skate, and orca (Burrows) respectively.
Any other Canucks & NHL hockey fans here in Japan? Just curious about who’s excited for breakfast time hockey firing up for the “play-in to playoffs”? Who’s yer team?
Best All-Time Hockey Mo – #1 – Lanny McDonald, #2 Wendal Clark, #3- George Parros, #4 – Larry Robinson, #5 – Eddie Shack, #6 Glenn Anderson , #7-Rogie Vachon, #8 – Bryan Trottier
Best Current Hockey “Wish He would Grow a Mo” – #1 – Sidney Crosby, #2 – Jarome Iginla, #3 – Dion Phaneuf, #4 – Alex Ovechkin, #5 – Joe Thornton, #6 – Taylor Hall, #7 – Zdeno Chara, #8 – Mike Camalleri
Which Logo Could Best Use the Addition of a Mo – #1 – Ottawa Senators, #2 – Chicago Blackhawks and #3 – Pittsburgh Penguins, #4 – Phoenix Coyotes
Best Hockey Movember Promotion idea for 2011 – #1 – Replace the C & A with a Mo icon for captains, #2 – Don Cherry Mo suit, #3 – Top Goalies Moustache-inspired masks
— Promote Hockey culture and sport in the Pacific Northwest area by producing and marketing a destination site for hockey fans in the northwest
— Provide advanced web design & hosting services for major teams in the area
— Market “deluxe” products & services to minor hockey teams to increase excitement
— Earn increased revenues for Major teams by cross-marketing tickets, jerseys & packages to a wider, regional audience
— Build a duplicable model of creating and promoting a virtual community
What it will be:
The Hockey NW web site will be a state-of the art, “no-holds-barred” database driven, graphically involved and designed to provide a total user experience including:
— information and statistics for every player on participating teams,
— ticket purchasing, as well as tour packages including transportation, tickets and accommodations
— instructional videos about hockey, penalties, fundamentals, highlights
— “home pages” for each participating teams including schedules, pictures, “custom” hockey cards
— fantasy leagues, modifying the popular on-line models to create a game using all players from participating teams, regardless of league or level
— web-based e.mail checker so participating teams members can check e.mail from any browser
— refreshing”almost real-time” scoresheet with scores from various games
— highlight clips from games as possible
— custom hockey card creation and other fun
— live game radio broadcasts
— editorial articles and breakdowns
— guestbook, message board
— fan home pages, including preparing graphics and instructions for fans to make a page
— seating charts and maps to various arenas
Who is the audience:
Hockey fans cross-pollinated from various regional fan bases, especially grassroots support as in minor hockey, recreational leagues as well as international players’ families & fans. This will be a valuable piece of marketing data for teams looking to expand market and reach new audiences.
Revenue Streams:
— Affiliate programs (partner with on-line hockey gear and accessory sellers, collect commission from sales)
— Banner ads (sell advertising to various companies who stand to benefit from this audience) (ideas include: hotels,
— Teams jerseys and accessories sales (fulfilled by team, proceeds split with HNW & teams)
— Web design/hosting/promotion packages to teams (web site hosting, custom design)
— Complete promo packages for minor teams including team photos, individual photos, web sites, score and statistics tracking, logo design, jersey design etc.
— In-kind contributions from major teams (board advertising, tickets for promotion)
Required from Major participants ( Sabercats, T’birds, Canucks, Winterhawks, Americans, Cougars, etc.)
— board & program advertising
— access to press/photo time with team
— cooperation and interaction with art/marketing departments
— consulation of needs (broadcast streaming, ticket selling schemes)
My mom @manorbooks made a blog post about my #Canucks pics on BC Transit http://ow.ly/ugqo Thanks Ma!
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This picture gives a whole new meaning to: “MOVE TO THE BACK OF THE BUS!”
Downtown Vancouver on the back of a BC Transit bus. That’s my 2nd son, Dave, on the right side of the picture! ~ Canucks Fan par Excellence. ~ “Canucks Outsider” Worldwide Podcaster. ~ Bon Vivant Man About Town.
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