Thursday, April 05, 2007
Henrik Lundqvist Hates Ice Girls
Those who read this blog during the lockout will remember a little feature of the Czech Extraliga that was eventually imported to the NHL: ICE GIRLS!!
Yes, HC Pardubice was hiring hot Czech models to clear the ice during breaks.
Why? Well, it used to be little kids doing the deed, but the drunken fans would boo the poor kids and hurl abusive insults at them. To placate the crowd, the team hired scantily clad women to distract the men in the crowd. Why the hell not, eh?
So, like any good idea, the NHL (more spefically, the New York Islanders), stole the idea and brought it overseas.
Unfortunately, as Eric McErlain discovered, not everyone is thrilled with the idea, especially NY Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
From Newsday:
During commercial breaks, teams of three Ice Girls clean loose ice known as "snow" in the goal and the blue-painted goaltender's crease in front of the goal line. But Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist declined to move and used his stick to whack the squeegee Kelli Higgins, 23, was using to push the snow into a pile during the first TV timeout, knocking the butt end of the squeegee stick into her stomach.
"I said 'Excuse me' maybe two or three times," Higgins said Wednesday. "He didn't move and didn't say anything, so I gave up and went around him. "The tip of my squeegee kind of hit the tip of his stick. I don't know if he thought I did that on purpose or whatever, but he took a big windup and slashed the squeegee pretty good. It startled me a little bit. It didn't feel great, but I wouldn't say I was injured or in a ton of pain. I was shocked."
Reading some of the comments on Eric's post, I am shocked at how negative the reaction has been to this innovation.
Look, what else is there to do during the TV timeouts? Watch some stupid crowd giveaway? Listen to some idiot get the wrong answer in an in-house contest? Get hit in the head by a t-shirt fired from a cannon? Listen to sub-standard music?
The girls quietly do their job and give a little eye candy to the masses in the process. The ones in Vancouver are not at all scantily clad like the ones over in Czechia, nor are they cheerleaders of any sort. In fact, you could go an entire game and pretty much not notice them at all.
Henrik and all of you other folks ought to just chill out a little. If you don't like the Ice Girls, turn your attention to the fat guy sitting in the row behind you with the painted chest.
Labels: Czech Extraleague, Henrik Lundqvist, Ice Girls, Islanders, Rangers
