them idiot men

v • they/them ☆ wild • devils • senators • etc. ☆ this is a sideblog

[sidneywokeby]

nhl goalie problems: like 3 teams have a legit great goalie. league sv% below .900 for the first time in a william years. every goalie streaky and prone to suddenly throwing a series.

pwhl goalie problems: every team has three goalies who should be starters. worst GAA in the league would be middle of the pack in the nhl. nobody can score a fucking goal bc they're all brick walls.

[shutoutshutup]

yeah.

[tendietandem]

Matt, you mentioned the other night something about a narrative about the team and how you wanna nip it in the bud right away. What did you mean by that and maybe did this game prove your point, with how you guys came through?

[hocceius]

[collegefootballplayoffs]

[cenestpasaudrey]

The audacity of this guy to show up like a happy and well-rested huggy bear and then break some more records 💅🏻

[algaedroid]

Denisa Křížová talks about her Walter Cup airport woes:

KŘÍŽOVÁ: So, like on the way from Minnesota to Czech, I think you can have 70 pounds, like the heaviest you can have. Walter has like 75. So, I went to this one guy and he was just like, "I cannot do it. Like, it's 75 and you can only have 70 pounds." And I was just like, "Well," so I explained to him what it is. I was like, "it's the Walter Cup. There's literally just a cup and the case. There's nothing I can take out or, you know, there's nothing I can do to make it 70." Everyone's waiting for me in Czech. Like I have all these plans set up, what I'm going to do. Even Klára [Hymlárová], the other Czech girl on Minnesota team, she has her plans at home and I just need this cup to be in Czech. Walter is traveling with me no matter what. So, he's coming. You know with Delta they have like at least five of the places you can go check in, like priority, day, and whatever, oversize? So this was this guy that was like all the way on the left side. I was just like, "I can't, I can't." So I took the case and went all the way to the sky priority line and there were two [women] checking people in. So I was like, okay, I'm going to give it another try with those two [women]. And they were like "Yeah, like I don't think we can do that." I'm just like, "well, it's the Walter Cup." So I just explain everything, the whole story again. Like, it's the Walter Cup, I play for Minnesota. These two women couldn't believe it. They're like, "No way, it's the Walter Cup! Can we see it?" And I was like, "Yeah, of course." I opened the case, I grabbed the cup, gave it to them. So they were holding it, like taking pictures, the people in the line start taking pictures at the airport, too. And I was just like, "Yeah, so I'm actually trying to bring it home to try to show like my parents, my mom, but yeah, it is a little too heavy. But as you can see, it's only the case and it's only the Walter Cup. There's nothing for me that I can actually take out." So they put it back, closed the case and everything and they looked at the screen and they were like, "I see 70." And I was like, "I see 70 too." They were like, "Okay, cool, you're good to go, like just bring it to oversize and you're good to go." And I was like, "Oh my god, thank you thank you thank you," I was like, "next time, if I ever see you here again I'll buy you coffee. I'll do anything, but thank you so much." So yeah, the five pounds made that one guy made it really, really hard for me. And these two ladies, they were just like, "No, you got to bring it home. You got to bring it home."

BONHOMME: I thought you were going to say they were going to tell you to ditch the case and they were going to assign a seat for Walter, and Walter like actually had a seat next to you. That's what I was expecting out of this.

KŘÍŽOVÁ: Well, that's the second part of the story. When I was flying from Prague to Minnesota, that's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened. So, not only I had to pay like $400 for like oversized luggage, but they were like, "No, we're not doing this," like, "we can't." So I was like, "So, you want me to take the cup and like, have it as a carry-on?" They were like, "Yeah." So I legit had brought the cup as a carry-on on the plane and you cannot even put it like, under your feet or next to someone sitting next to you. So I legit had to like put it in the overhead bins and have the Walter Cup there. So yeah, I guess I got to hoist the cup on the plan every time I had to like, go get it and you know, so people were just like looking at me like who am I, having a cup on the plane.

Source: Jocks in Jills

[ngoziu]

Actually, we need to talk about fandom and the NHL's conservative politics

From Peter Lutz on Vote Hub

You just finished reading every queer hockey story available to man—and holy Wayne Gretzky—you're a newly minted hockey fan. You love the gays; you want to watch the sexy men zoom around in the boy aquarium, and it's Friday night. So you tune into an NHL game.

You're a brand new hockey fan and you can see that there's twelve men on the ice, a bunch of others on the bench, there's coaches, assistant coaches, goalie coaches, retired NHL players who are doing analysis and color commentary. You scan the faces and all are consumed by the reason for tonight's gathering: working together to get a vulcanized piece of rubber in a goddamn net. We've left the outside world behind; color, creed, orientation, immigration status, and gender matter not. All that matters is the effort these athletes put out on the ice.

Yet, as a new, leftist hockey fan, pick any one of these people, and flip a coin—and there's a decent chance that this player has conservative politics. If they're American and registered to vote, there's a 43.9% chance they are registered as a Republican and if they voted, they voted for Donald J. Trump.

And I'm sure if you asked the other 38.5% of NHL players, they'd say something alone the lines of "I don't really do politics." You know, the type of "uh...I think everyone should stop fighting" response that people offer when you bring up genocides.

Oh man. Oh gosh. That's so weird. You got into hockey because of the myriad of stories that celebrate queerness and marginalized identities and intersectional feminism—so what is up with this league? Why is so different from the stories that use it as an athletic backdrop? Has it always been like this? And how did you end up here? Why are so many other fannish/bookish left-leaning people like yourself finding solace in a league where there are millionaires who will gladly win it all and shake hands with a self-proclaimed fascist.

If you're at all like me, a leftist Black woman, it's a simple cycle.

You discover the world of hockey and the NHL which is strange and fascinating. The blood, sweat, and tears compel you. Yes, it's filled with white people—like it's mostly white people whatthefuckisupwiththat—but they're a different sort of people because this niche underground culture is...strange and fascinating! They have slang and enormous asses!

It is very gay. The homosociality of hockey breeds a male repression unmatched by any other form of physical exertion. You feel safe here now; you feel justified. Nevermind the fact that toxic masculinity is the thing you're actually observing. You were born with slash goggles on. If these men can't untie the bow on their unconscious desires and unrealized tenderness, you can do it for them.

Reality strikes. A good rule of writing is that characters are what they do. And whenever you peek into the real world of the NHL...you see what the league and its players do—or don't do. Time after time again you're presented with political inaction from the league, racism, misogyny, transphobia, and apathy towards the things you really care about. You learn slowly, that the NHL is a league that moves at glacial speeds, pun intended. It is, simply, not progressive.

Well, at least you have a hockey romance that is progressive! You don't need professional men's hockey! You can make a difference! Yay!

...But oh good God, now you've spread the tainted gospel of hockey to hundreds—maybe thousands of people with your hockey book. They may never make it to step three! (Picture me running from laptop to laptop, closing the Word documents of various hockey romance writers. I kind of sound like Jimmy Stewart: "Stop! St-stop it now! We're spreading it! Dontcha know we're spreading it, huh? You're sending 'em down to the boy aquarium; that's no boy aquarium! These people think Bernie Sanders is crazy!")

Am I saying that watching an NHL game is like buying a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child—no. (But someone do the math on that.) Any time we engage with any of the major sports we put money in the coffers of billionaires. (The PWHL is owned by billionaire Mark Walters, who is the owner the Lakers, Dodgers, Sparks. He donated to Obama and the DNC and is always happy to visit the White House—even if it's to hang out with Trump when his sports team does well. Do NOT get me started on the MLB)

All I am saying is that, you, new hockey fan, can save yourself a lot of time and frustration by enjoying the league, but by also knowing the league that is being marketed to you. You will be disappointed with player politics. You will be lulled by rainbow capitalism. 43% of American NHL players are registered Republicans. You will find yourself accepting the bare-minimum. (I was way too proud of Sidney Crosby for like, knowing a gay person?)

I'm deeply regretting making Jack Zimmermann's "uncle" Wayne Gretzky. I didn't know the guy would go to Trump's inauguration... He's not even American.

[pwhl-mybeloved]

[hyenabeanz]

Stumbled across this public post about this from the person who made the dress.

[puckpocketed]

10/01/2026 - MSU @ MIN ABBEY MURPHY WHAT WAS THAT

[castle-gwyn]

They showed a much better angle of Kap's flying hug so I was able to record a video of it to convert it to a gif!

[gordiemeow]

Simon says fuck off! | OTT vs DET | March 27, 2025

[talahui]

i think we need to accept that the majority of players in the pwhl don’t care about transphobia in sports and don’t want to play with trans women :(

I'd say it's valuable to acknowledge that transphobia in the pwhl (and more broadly in women's sport) is embedded, that many players are transphobic and/or do not think about trans women in hockey at all, and that it is a systemic issue

but I don't think we need to accept it.

Jessica Platt is not as widely known by people who didn't follow the CWHL back in the day, but she was the first trans woman in the CWHL, where she played defense for the Toronto Furies alongside teammates Renata Fast, Elaine Chuli, Sarah Nurse, and Natalie Spooner (+ others).

I can't speak for the kinds of teammates she had overall or the support she received in the locker room from her teammates as well as institutionally from the league, but this is what she said in one interview:

which is to say, professional women's hockey players in the pwhl right now have played with trans women before, and I certainly hope that there are many of them who would continue to fight for the ability of trans women to play in the pwhl in the same ways they fought and fight for their ability to play in a professional league that fairly compensates them.

I'm not trying to rainbows and butterflies this. It is a systemic issue that is reinforced and perpetuated by individual players, coaches, etc. digit murphy blocked me on twitter for a reason.

but i also think when we don't expect more from players, we give them an out. they can be better. they have been better.

[woho-polls]

do you sing the anthem before games?

yes if I'm at the game, not at home

yes at home, not at the game

yes both

no both

it depends

Voting ended onDec 24, 2025

[top-cheese]

“Minnesota Shines Despite Zuccy’s Absence” yes thank you Norwegian newspaper that’s the Big Story here

[aesterini]

it’s literally a random friday in december. what is going on

[dungeoncrawlerpuckish]

I need a gif of Joel absolutely fucking rocking Bedard so I can watch it on repeat.

[dungeoncrawlerpuckish]

Never mind, I made it myself.

[strawberryblondebutch]

My most controversial hockey opinion — and I mean the one that gets people blindingly fucking mad at me — is that the NHL should unretire 99.

Individual teams can keep it retired if they choose, but Gretzky’s impact on the sport and on society is nowhere near what Jackie Robinson or Bill Russell did. Even if 99’s politics were closer to mine, I’d still say that a leaguewide number retirement should be preserved for someone whose impact extended far beyond the numbers they put up.