#hockeyblogging

[altschmerzes]

I do follow hockey, but definitely not enough for this thing with Thierry because all I’m coming up with is Fleury and I don’t think he’s from Montreal and I don’t think he played there either so can you explain? Google informed me that Carey Price exists which like yes thank you google I am aware

LOREAUX. YES. WHEEZE. THANK YOU.

just- okay. bear with me for a moment here where i wax on a bit about the huge potential for A Big Interesting Internal Landscape in thierry zoreaux, a canadian goalie from montréal. (if i get anything wrong in the process forgive me, this is all off the dome based on My Personal Experience And Perspective as a longtime sports fan. also it got.... long lmaooo sorry for that. i simply think goalies are fascinating and thierry specifically has such an interesting context for Being A Goalie. also no season 3 spoilers in here!.)

you're correct that fleury isn't from mtl, no! he's from another city in the province, and he never played for the habs. and you're also right, carey price does exist sldkfjs and he's CONSTANTLY on my mind when i think about thierry and about the role of goalies in sports that have them - whenever there's a team sport that has One person who is uniquely different and has a radically different role (goalie, pitcher) compared to the rest of the team (whose roles are pretty similar even if they're first baseman, outfielder, midfielder, fullback) there's gonna be a Lot going on there. goalies have a reputation for being Really Fucking Weird. like. those guys are Odd and everyone knows it. (pitchers are the same way. known for superstitions, habits, Generally Being An Absolute Oddball.) they have a different kind of attention, a different kind of pressure. at the end of the day it always is going to come down to them on their own, in one way or another. goalie characters in sports fiction obsess me because of all the Baggage and all of the Stuff that goes into Being A Goalie and man. that was enough to make thierry really compelling to me, as the goalie we see the most of. and then specifically being a goalie From Montréal? ohohohohoho.

i watch football/soccer a lot these days and have for a couple years but i've been a hockey fan for much longer and i can't help see things through that pov sometimes, and as soon as they intro'd a character from mtl, my background as a habs fan perked right up. a goalie from mtl. that was the first hockey team i ever followed and boy does it have mountains of history that make it a fascinating team to follow/learn about/think about especially as a narrative background/parallel/foil/whatever.

obviously thierry's a soccer player, he's a soccer goalie, but in the words of someone i spoke to yesterday, "hockey suffocates every other sport in this country." it's always around, always present. your average torontonian can probably name the last year the leafs won the cup even if they hate sports. the canadian viewership numbers during playoffs is nuts. i've seen a few percentages come up - in the 70s-80s. i also have had some fun daydream thoughts about thierry being a multi-sport player growing up. there's a hockey player i can think of who pretty much got all the way to the point of draft eligibility before deciding whether he was gonna play hockey or baseball. that's a headcanon i have about thierry too, that he spent a while playing hockey when he was younger and was pretty damn good at it, probably could've gone pro, but decided to stick with soccer in the long term because he liked it more.

anyways, so. the sport is huge, it's unavoidable, and one of the biggest teams is the canadiens. especially if you live in mtl. it's hard to overstate the extent to which they are an institution, practically a religion. and one of the things that's important to understand about the context of thierry specifically rather than if like- if any other player had grown up in québéc, is that the habs have an...... intense history with goalies. like a VERY specifically intense history with goalies. they've had some of the biggest names in hockey goaltending history in their nets and the combination of the team's history, the goalies who've been there, and the media market of montréal means that being the habs goalie is one of the most heavily scrutinized, highly public roles in the sport.

the whole...... sports fabric of montréal is steeped in goalies. jaques plante, patrick roy, carey price. so many more enormous names, names everyone who's into hockey knows immediately, names that left permanent marks on not only the habs and mtl but on the sport as a whole. every year the league awards the best goalie of the regular season the vezina trophy, named for georges vézina, who played his entire career for the canadiens. (these days, the likes of sam montembeault. québéc born and raised goalie who now plays in the habs organization, heir apparent to carey price's net. monty, with goalie masks depicting jaques plante and the torch that is literally passed every year at the beginning of the habs season at their first home game, that is mentioned in the motto in their dressing room, inside the collars of their jerseys. it's a quote from a poem about the first world war - to you from falling hands we throw the torch be yours to hold it high.)

for thierry this would've been just.... all around him. when i think of him i think of him growing up in a habs watching household, because most families are in one way or another in that region, and having this idea of like. the role of a goalie. the pressure of being a goalie, watching particularly the way that carey price, one of the best goalies who's ever played, was completely wasted by the catastrophic mismanagement of the habs during his prime. i think all the time of this screencap from either the behind the scenes videos the habs produced for PR stuff or some feature on tv or documentary thing, a shot of carey price with his iconic thousand yard stare, the subtitles from the voiceover saying if he could score, he would play alone. i have to think that'd do something to a person, you know. seeing how important the goalie is, how revered and respected they can be, and that it can still not make a difference in the end. not enough of one. there will still be people who hate you because you're not the guy who came before you, because you can't just do it all yourself. and then choosing to be one anyway.

so you know. you're thierry zoreaux. you grow up in montréal. you can't avoid the habs if you tried, it's baked into the city. it's in the air. and you're a goalie. it doesn't matter whether you play hockey or soccer, the role of a goalie is a different thing, a unique experience. you are involved in everything, and you are alone. you are so, so visible, and so, so overlooked. you never appear on the goal sheets, but some media outlet will blame you for every loss. you're a little weird, a little wired. a little in your head, a little in another world. your teammates adore you but everyone knows there's something about you that's different, that sets you apart. every one of them sees it as their job to protect you, but at the end of the day, none of them can help you do what you do.

also, as an aside, i checked his wiki page real quick, and have learned the actor is jewish and sees his character that way too to which i say: ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. also i am about to write fic about this IMMEDIATELY. thierry zoreaux, quebecois goalie and jewish king. i've always been a little extra attached to him - minor character enjoyer that i am and enthralled by the potential in him, and also just finding him. very funny, and his actor a delight in his scenes. i love him and i need to write way more about him Right Now. it just occurred to me earlier, when i made that first post about him, and realized the line i'd jotted down wasn't half as good if you didn't have the story that exists around him in my mind, around his role and his experiences and cultural context about his role. and well! here we are now.

[sevenoffine]

i dont like that the bruins are playing hollywood baby actually

[rosyfingereddawnn]

THIS close to sending MY nhlhockey team a song they can use to make a video montage showing how good we are

[starscelly]

17/24/5 for the hockey ask thing!!

i answered 5 here!

17. Favorite hockey blog(s): ohh so many. ALL my beloved friends in my phone .. esp my fellow stars gif makers <3 <3 ofc . in alphabetical order. (39oa, kitnita, teex, thighlerseguin) BUT i also wanna give a few hockey artists too bc theyre sooo good u should all follow them idc if u like their teams u have to!!! (gensjunia, adelphenium, stillfertile, hockeyassforposterity, saviorified, broresteia, bearrrman, zombiepux, AND MANY MANY MORE I DIDNT GET TO BUT ID BE HAPPY TO RECOMMEND... but this answer is already so long omg..)

24. What Olympic team do you root for: usa! usa! usa! the order usually goes usa >>> finland (depending on the team. the stars influence.) > ABC (anyone but canada)

[sportsthoughts]

i have been wildly busy over the last three weeks packing up my house, going on holiday, getting covid, moving house, getting ill again and I have missed hockeyblogging. what have i missed. someone please tell me how many days we have left

[muppetjohntavares]

Sorry to be a AMC The Terror fan on my hockeyblog but every time I see David Quinn, our new Pens assistant coach, I keep thinking he's older Thomas Jopson (played by Liam Garrigan)

[bsaka7]

this is my hockeyblog my charlieblog mypersonalblog but most importantly it is my ARSENALBLOG

[pwhl-mybeloved]

'i guess i hockeyblog now' yeah i guess i hockeypost now lol

it happens to the best of us!!!

[jeannedarcgerard]

happy new year entering my new era (hockeyblogging) @lowrylesbian

[altschmerzes]

planning to go back to the same place i watched the leafs play game 1 of the second round of playoffs at for game 3 and i’m just. fucking thrilled a buddy of mine told me about this place. it’s an explicitly, deliberately queer-welcoming sports bar and i had an absolute blast even though i went alone. i love sports, i’m an avid sports fan, but it can be hard to find places that feel....... welcoming or even safe to me as a queer fan. i’m really looking forward to going back.

[sevenoffine]

shout out to canadian macho man randy savage every time you’re on screen i’m glad i stayed up to watch this game love your hair hope you win x

[rosyfingereddawnn]

hi syd :)))) i just wanted to let you know that i may be entering my mentally deranged about f1 era because they truly are fruity lil guys. that is all <33

SVEN SVEN SVEN I LOVE YOU !!!!

they are the fruitiest little guys and unfortunately the love i have for them is insane !!!! they’re my silly lil vroom vrooms!!!!

DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITE TEAMS OR DRIVERS PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME I NEED TO KNOWWWWWWW IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!

also! i post some f1 sometimes on my cute lil sports blog @hockeyfightsdotcom which doubles as a hockeyblog during The Season <3 BUT you might find some f1 there too especially cause my brain is feeling f1 heavy again….

[valpwca]

@qualitystart tagged me on hockeyblog but my own card is so absurd i need to put it here

truly what is this

if you ... have any ... at all ... in common let me know & please feel free to use the blank for purposes

[lowrylesbian]

happy new year im entering a new era (hockeyblogging)

[thrakaboom]

You are all free of hockeyblogging... For now.....

[vitaliskravtsov]

Tumblr: the leafs are leading!

Me: ,,, I don't think a tie is-

NHL App, late as always: TOR GOAL