She/her. Likes and follows from sea-monster-sanctuary.
Welcome to my hockey* blog: 60% live-blogging, 30% thirst, and 10% projects. With the exception of hockey primers and other research projects, this is a fictional playground. *it also covers an ever-increasing number of other sports esp men's and women's baseball, F1, and figure skating
Teams: My PWHL ride or die is the Vancouver Goldeneyes 🦆 and I also like the NY Sirens🚨🍕🐀, Montreal Victoire, and players on all the teams. My NHL ride or die is the Seattle Kraken 🦑 You will also frequently see Pens 🐧 and a little of everyone else. AHL is Firebirds only.
Please do not ever repost my content to platforms outside of Tumblr. I am a big believer in the 4th wall. Also, I am a 30-something running a thirst blog. Please help keep yours and my online experience safe and do not interact if you’re a minor 🔞
Projects:
Indigenous NHL players 2025-26 primer
Kraken 2024-25 Narratives
Indigenous NHL players 2022-23 primer
Kraken 2022-23 Wingers
other projects will be updated as I can update the links, I had to change my url and it broke everything.
If the Tumblr ship goes down, find me at @2min4holding.bsky.social
Below the fold: rules of affection, general principles, who I am, who you are, and tagging expectations
Rules of affection:
Thirsting for players and imagining little scenarios does not mean I think I know them (or would even necessarily want to 😅) or have any actual wish for them other than that they live good lives (that I will never truly know anything about)
Liking a team does not mean I like every player on it
Liking a player does not mean I like their team
Liking a player does not mean I have some special knowledge that they are likable and in reality they might not be
This blog is…
…multi-team. Teams or players you don’t like may show up here, but I try to tag well.
…positive for my teams. You will not find me cursing them out or booing them; that’s not how I approach being a fan.
…mostly positive for your teams. That said, I become more of a hater all the time, and that will especially be true if your team is playing the Kraken and I’m live-blogging. Exception for the VGK there is something deeply evilly rotten there.
…positive for players’ IRL partners. None of us have enough information to have any idea what people’s relationships are truly like (blanket statement for life, not just fandom) and my baseline assumption is I’m rooting for the partnerships players have chosen.
…not a space where I’m seeking to engage in discourse, though some immediate reactions might show up in my lb. There are many important things to talk about in this troubled sport, but this is not my preferred forum. I do believe that hockey should be for everyone, and that player safety should receive consistent prioritization and enforcement, and try to do what things I can IRL to make these so.
…an RPF and shipping-friendly space and you may occasionally see things with ship tags or hrpf content, tagged #hrpf. Shipping outside of people’s IRL partnerships is viewed entirely as fictional and my expectation is that it remains contained to private fandom spaces and never be shared with the people it is about, or shared on platforms where the original poster hasn’t shared it themselves.
I am…
…in my late 30s, and approach things accordingly.
…long married to a sweet man who supports my thirst blog habits and competes against me relentlessly in fantasy hockey.
...gray ace. Actually being interested in any of these players is genuinely inconceivable to me.
…newish to hockey. 2022-23 was my first full season as a fan. I have lots to learn, but that’s fun!
You should be…
…over 18. Please help keep yours and my online experience safe and do not interact if you’re a minor.
My tagging is…
…pretty reliable. I tag with the full team name (eg carolina hurricanes, pittsburgh penguins) and player’s full name (eg adam larsson, mathew barzal) so that if they are a “no” for you, your filters will catch it. Or same if they’re a “yes” 😏 Live blogs will be “(team shortened) lb” (eg kraken lb, pens lb, panthers lb). I'm also starting to tag with the league name like pwhl, wpbl, nhl, mlb now that I am covering so many leagues
🥺 that mike lange story. But also those tags #sid loooves christmas #he loves giving presents #looks good in red #piles on the pounds fast #post hockey career as santa 😂😂👌🏽👌🏽
he loves his mementos and presents and is COMMITTED to them. scrapbooking. matching jackets. little pills with hidden motivational messages~*~ his love language is gifts and neck smooches and stalking geno. relevant right now are some anecdotes i sent a friend earlier this year for dorky sid gifts fic fodder:
1. Crosby's constant thoughtfulness would be impressive from anyone, much less someone of his stature.
"Sid always texts me happy birthday, he's always asking me like, how's Russia?" Evgeni Malkin said. "We talk and message all summer. He asks me how my skates are. He knows, like, everything. He follows my Instagram, I think (laughs)."
In addition to having a handle on those little details, Crosby is constantly providing those around him with memories and mementos. If the team is on the road and goes, say, sightseeing or to a sporting event and takes a group photo, Crosby will later send a framed copy to everyone.
When Ron Hextall and Brian Burke watched their first Penguins game in person, Crosby is the one who approached head equipment manager Dana Heinze and asked for two used game pucks to give to the new GM and president of hockey ops.
After the Penguins won in 2009, Crosby had jackets made for the three players on the team who had scored a Cup-clinching goal in Game 7: Talbot (Pittsburgh), Ruslan Fedotenko (Tampa Bay) and Mike Rupp (New Jersey).
"They were blue jackets with gold buttons, and each one had a patch on it that said 'GWG Game 7,'" Talbot said. "At one of our first team meals the next season, he presented us with the jackets and did a big ceremony with the music and stuff. We had a private room in the restaurant. I still have the jacket."
-The Consummate Teammate, Captain and Ambassador, Feb 2021
2. Merz: My first interaction with Sid was when we were on the bench, guys were talking about a teammate, and the first thing this 15-year-old says is, “Hey, guys. Let’s keep everything positive. Don’t talk about your teammates that way.”
Salcido: When we were getting ready for nationals, he found these little pills that you could put a hidden message inside. They unscrewed, and inside was a tiny scroll. He gave one to every teammate. … He had everyone fill one out. He didn’t tell anyone what to write, but he made it known that we all knew what the goal was: winning nationals. So we wrote on our scrolls, rolled them up and put them in the pill thing. We kept them with us everywhere we went.
-‘Is this real?’: Stories of Sidney Crosby’s year at a Minnesota prep school, May 2020
3. On “Butterfly Boy” Jonathan Pitre:
Though the Senators are his team, Sidney Crosby has always been Jonny’s favourite player. After the TSN documentary airs, Tina gets a call from the Penguins. Sid needs Jonny’s measurements. He wants to have a suit made for him by his personal tailor, Domenico Vacca.
“It’s the kindest, sweetest gesture,” Tina says. “Sid heard that Jonny went to a lot of games, so he wants him to look like he’s one of the guys.”
“I want him to feel like a pro,” Crosby says. “Here’s a guy who is going through something so painful, and his first thought is always, ‘How can I help others?’ When I was young, I’d watch on TV the players coming to the rink in their suits. That was a cool part of being an NHL player. I want him to feel that, to make it as real as possible for him.”
Tina tries to discreetly measure Jonny while she’s changing his dressings. But he’s way too smart for that.
“Um, Mom, why are you measuring me? Am I going for surgery again?” he asks.
“No, no!” Tina replies, trying to reassure him and come up with a good lie, all in the same breath. “The doctor needs them just to make sure they have proper dressings next time you are in.”
A few weeks later, the sharp navy blue suit shows up at their front door, along with a couple of ties, an autographed stick and a handwritten letter from Sid.
“His eyes just light up,” Tina says. “Jonny always liked to be well-dressed, and he just loves having his own suit. It fits perfectly. He looks so good in it.”
-Beauties by James Duthie (2020)
4. Pascal Dupuis inspired his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates on their run to the Stanley Cup, and Sidney Crosby found a special way of driving that message home.
Dupuis retired in December with lingering health concerns because of blood clots. Despite his NHL playing days coming to an end, the veteran forward remained an integral part of the Penguins and was in uniform to hoist the Cup after Pittsburgh's six-game win against the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup Final.
On Sunday, Dupuis brought the Cup home one last time as a player to share a special day with his family, friends and hometown fans.
"Yes, it does feel bittersweet a little bit," Dupuis said. "You get the Cup, you want to celebrate. But at the same time I got a gift by the mail [Saturday]. Basically, it's a book of all the pictures of all the good stuff we went through. It came from Nova Scotia, so you guys can figure out who it came from (Crosby), but he couldn't give it to me during the season, he saw me skating a little bit.
"And he sent it [Saturday], before my day with the Cup, so he knew what he was doing to get me right here," Dupuis said, putting his fist over his heart.
-Pascal Dupuis shares Stanley Cup with family, friends, Aug 2016
5. In 2011, Crosby was out of the lineup with a concussion, and the Penguins made their annual visit to Children’s Hospital.
Crosby got along so well with one boy there and was so touched that he later asked Bullano to go back... just the two of them, no cameras, no attention.
When Bullano and Crosby met for the follow-up visit, Crosby appeared clutching a pair of Toys “R” Us bags, filled with a Transformer toy the two had discussed.
“He literally bought every type of this toy they make,” Bullano said. “[Crosby] had never seen it before and thought it was so cool.
“There are no pictures of this. There’s no video. He was laying in the bed with the kid. They were just playing. We were there for over two hours. I got to know the mom really well because we were just sitting there.
“The kid had no idea. Didn’t expect it. They had no idea he was coming. We got there and he said, ‘Hey buddy. hope you don’t mind that I came back.’ The kid couldn’t believe it.
“[Crosby’s] crazy cool about stuff like that.”
What’s crazy is trying to recount the many times stuff like this has happened with Crosby:
• The Little Penguins Learn to Play program has been around for nine seasons, outfitting now 1,200 kids with free head-to-toe hockey equipment. Not only does Crosby serve as the face of the program — which the NHL has now adopted — but he helps fund it, too.
“There’s an awareness of what a person in his position can bring,” Penguins vice president of communications Tom McMillan said. “I think he activates that as much as anybody I’ve seen during his playing career.”
• After a recent practice, Crosby noticed a local family in the Penguins dressing room, approached them, introduced himself, learned their story and wound up giving them a signed stick.
Nobody asked Crosby to do that, and he wanted zero credit when discussing it a couple days later.
“For people who have the opportunity to come in here, people dealing with certain things, if you can brighten their day a bit or spend some time with them, it’s something that’s special for all of us,” Crosby said.
• A few years ago, through a team charity event, Crosby befriended a 4-year-old Amish boy with cancer. Crosby remarked to Bullano how much he loved talking to the boy because of how engaging the boy was and how he wasn’t consumed with technology. Crosby even tried to visit the boy but learned he had passed away.
• He learns the first and last names of the kids who attend his hockey school in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.
“Two kids came from Japan its first year,” Bullano recalled. “He was so blown away by that. He couldn’t wait to meet them.”
• Earlier this season, the Penguins welcomed Grant Chupinka, 24-year-old cancer patient, into the dressing room. Crosby chatted up Grant and his parents, Steve and Kim.
He spent his usual time — about two or three times the requirement. Gave the tour. Then found out the Chupinkas didn’t have tickets for that night’s game and decided he would pay for them to go.
“I’m sure he could just give them an autographed puck or something, but he takes his time to go out and see them and talk to them and get to know them,” Brian Dumoulin said. “It speaks volumes for him and who he is as a person.”
Spend any length of time with Crosby during his visits with those less fortunate, and a few things become obvious.
One, Crosby is really good at these. Smooth but not in a slimy way. Sweet. You know how when you’re around someone talking and they go out of their way to make eye contact with everyone around? That’s Crosby.
He’s also humble, always introducing himself like those he’s meeting don’t already know. Holding a hand is no issue. And Crosby is the rare 20-something pro athlete without kids who acts every bit like he does.
“It is not an easy situation to talk to someone with terminal cancer,” McMillan said. “A lot of people couldn’t do that. He has an amazing ability to do that and make that person feel good.”
Crosby has welcomed several Make-a-Wish kids and tries, if at all possible, to schedule such events for practice days — to maximize the time he’s able to spend.
He’s developed a special friendship with Patrick McIlvain, a soldier who nearly died when he took a bullet to the head in Afghanistan. McIlvain actually does physical therapy with one of Crosby’s sticks.
A former club hockey player at Cal U, McIlvain comes by every year, and the Penguins don’t even bother to tell Crosby. Either he already knows or immediately stops what he’s doing to come say hello.
“He’s not doing it to leave a legacy,” said Terry Kalna, Penguins vice president of sales and broadcasting. “His numbers leave the legacy. He’s just a down-to-Earth, good guy.”
Before a visit, Crosby has Bullano email him what is essentially a scouting report on who he’s going to meet. He likes to learn about them, their situation and what they’ve been through. As much information as he can ingest. Crosby never just swoops in, shake a hand and leave.
“As much as anyone has ever seen, he accepts the responsibilities of being not just a professional athlete but a star professional athlete,” McMillan said. “He views it as part of the job. Like coming to the morning skate. That’s just what you do.”
Put another way, “he owns those moments,” says Kalna.
Said Bullano, “He’s just a good human being.”
-When it comes to giving, Sidney Crosby does as much as he can, Feb 2017
6. When Crosby received a generous signing bonus on his Reebok deal, he wanted to share it with everyone.
“He gave everyone on the bus gifts,” says Oceanic radio commentator Michel Germain. “Him sharing his bonus with all the people he’d been travelling with for two years, that impresses me greatly. I think the most important thing about Sidney Crosby is his personality and the kind of human being he is. What he exuded. The inner richness he’d already developed.”
-Superstitious and generous, Dec 2006
7. also this simply because it makes me ;w;
Even in defeat — no, especially in defeat — Sidney Crosby proved why he wears the "C" for the Penguins.
After the game, with his heart sinking and his season over, the Penguins’ captain bent over, sank to the ice to pick up the puck, took it to linesman Tony Sericolo and then skated to his team’s handshake line.
I immediately thought of a View from Ice Level I’d written on Crosby making sure a retiring official was sent away from PPG Paints Arena properly. I knew picking up the puck wasn’t for the same reason that was, but I also knew, in some way, it was connected to Crosby’s awareness and respect of the game.
“It was for the Islanders,” Crosby told me after the game, his eyes swollen from a first round exit – by way of a sweep to make it worse. He told me how the winning team always wanted the puck, and it was his way of providing it for the Islanders.
Crosby looked me right in the eye as he told me this, just as he did with every other member of the media to come to him after the loss.
I could tell from those swollen eyes and the way he sat at his stall, by himself with his hands folded as he stared blankly, that Sidney Crosby is much more used to being on the receiving end of a puck when a series ends than he is at retrieving it for the winning team.
That scene. His swollen eyes. Staying in the locker room until most had left – talking to anyone who needed him. Most of all, though, picking up the puck that prompted my question in the first place and making sure the right people got their piece of their own history.
It all adds up to one thing: In victory and in defeat, Crosby respects the game above all else – just as he’s always done.
Hi all, I am getting really excited for the Women's Professional Baseball League to start on August 1st and the #1 thing I want to make sure I can do is watch games while they're on!!
Good news - this is really easy, because if it is any Wednesday-Sunday between August 1 and September 3, then there is a game on at 4:30 Pacific / 6:30 Central / 7:30 Eastern (North America). This is going to do WONDERS for my routine-loving self. Most Saturdays, there is also an earlier game (11a Pacific / 1p Central / 2p Eastern).
Better news - want to know who's playing and not miss a beat in your daily life integration? I made a public Google calendar that you can just add directly to your own, and you don't have to worry about the source being weird or something because the source is just me. Well, I am weird, but you know what I mean.
ical address for adding: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/f628ef15ec7d0f66dbe9964befdb479ea28356148f5f1ccdd22f05a847619441%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
You can watch all games for free on the WPBL YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@wpbl_official
And don't worry if you can see an email address associated with the calendar, I know that is public-facing and it's a random throwaway from my pile of misc addresses that I'm using only for this.
I like that in the lb we can all have different opinions on what Shaner's designation is but that we all agree it's not whatever is going on in that article
ok. census time! because i feel like i have no idea what nhl/pwhl teams actually have a community with a presence on here. teams will be alphabetical by proper name across 4 polls. pleaseeeee don't vote in multiple polls!! i'm specifically trying to measure what people consider their "main" community on here (not necessarily the team you root for irl). you can pick one; i believe in you!! (click "show results" if you're curious about other polls)
no nuance. what side of hockey tumblr are you (mostly) on? (1/4)
