HBO's 24/7: Road to the Winter Classic.

"fuck you Geno"

Unfortunately I missed the second episode last night because I was out till like 2am...but let's just talk about general reactions to this series.



First of all I think its a little unfair that the Pens get ANOTHER winter classic, there's only been two and they've already participated in one before. Why not Colorado? or Minnesota? or New Jersey? This is clearly a strong marketing push from the league to pit two rivals against one another, and its a little tacky...I mean I'm still going to watch it but the NHL is more than Crosby v Ovechkin! Also its no accident that both teams are introduced by playing the Toronto Maple Leafs; MLSE, they know exactly what they're doing ;)

In any case, from what I've seen this is an awesome introduction to hockey if you're not a fan, and its icing on the cake if you are one. I've never seen hockey so polished, so graceful, with such good lighting and soundtrack (Interpol, XX, Band of Horses, etc.). Any hockey fan watching this will not be surprised by what 24/7 reveals. Yes there is a level of respect between two players dropping the gloves (except when Sean Avery is involved), yes every other word coming out of a player's/coach's mouth is a swear word, yes good teams can have a several game losing streak, yes its like the law to prank the rookies, we all know this but speaking as one hockey fan, its FINALLY nice to see our sport getting some Hollywood treatment, ya know?



I think this documentary is well done, actually. It mentions in a kind of indirect way the Crosby v Ovechkin saga but it doesn't focus on it, rather, it focuses on the trails of and elation of the team as a whole, because no matter how good your star player is, if he doesn't have a good enough supporting roster,you really can't compete, right Columbus? They also show how unpredictable the game can be, Washington for example, has some of the best players in the league and yet they cannot come up with a win, even against some of the worst teams, on paper no one would have guessed that would be the outcome but every hockey fan knows, what's true on paper, isn't always true on the ice.

Like I said it doesn't reveal anything we didn't know before but its well done, and I like where they're going with this, there's one more episode left before the game on New Year's day and it will be interesting to see if Pittsburgh will continue on with its well oiled machine, and if Washington can pull up their socks, and shut it down.

And HBO more Brooks Laich, please...in a suit preferably...or shirtless...


PS after watching this I've never been so conscious of my Canadian accent. I do saw out and about funny, how embarrassing...