Hockey Rants

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Hockey Talk 101

Have you ever wondered what NHL players are really saying during those bland intermission and post-game interviews? With the exception of Jeremy Roenick, Brett Hull, SEAN Avery, and Vaclav Prospal, NHL players tend to give the same clichéd responses and many of them are somewhat nonsensical.

Graeme McRanor, of our local free rag "24 hours" gives a basic primer in translating "Hockey Speak"

There's truth in every cliche. Anyone who's ever watched a hockey game will tell you that. Whether a team's mucking it up in the corner, scrambling for the equalizer, buzzing around the net, or getting beat to the puck, one thing is clear. No one in hockey abides by the number one cliche in the book: Avoid cliches like the plague.

...

"We've got to give 110 per cent"

While it comes from the heart, most of us know this kind of effort is best left to Superman. Even then, it probably only seems like 110 per cent to us, give the fact he's superhuman. It does beg the question, though: Why not 120 or 130 per cent? Lazy?

How is it physically possible to give more than 100%? How many players have actually exerted 100% of themselves? We don't usually see players falling down on the ice in complete exhaustion, so the answer is pretty much a big fat ZERO. (Not that it would be very smart to give 100% in most situations).