Terms of Endearment

09.04.2014 Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment #16

Turtle (v.) – to curl up and cover your head in an attempt to avoid being pummeled by another player.

Generally, this is looked upon as wimpy. Hockey’s a tough sport and the players take pride in their ability to take punishment. However, some of the more skilled superstars are accustomed to being protected by their teammates and may be a little less tough.

It’s hard for me to blame a guy for trying to protect his face and head from some other big, strong hockey player, especially if the person doing the pummeling is quite a bit bigger. I would do the same thing. However, I have felt embarrassment when I caught a guy on our team turtling. I was like, really, dude? Really?

03.05.2014 Hockey, Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment #15

fan – (v.) to miss the puck when trying to hit it.

It’s bound to happen, especially if you’re not looking at the puck when you’re swinging your stick. It must be embarrassing in front of eighteen thousand people and TV cameras broadcasting your mistake to millions of viewers. I can sympathize. Once I took golf lessons.

It was very frustrating. At the driving range, I can’t tell you how many times I missed the ball completely, or caught a bit of it and made it go a full foot. Any distance that ball went at all was a success for me.

Go ahead and laugh.

Photo credit: Gabriele Delhey via Wikimedia Commons

10.27.2013 Hockey, LA Kings, Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment #14

The room – (n.) The locker/dressing room.

Players often talk about the room.

“It’s good to have veteran guys like that in the room.”

“He’s a big presence in the room.”

“We don’t really talk about that stuff in the room.”

The room is referenced a lot in interviews. The room is obviously an important place. It’s the inner sanctum for the players. A lot of stuff gets said in there, the real stuff, the gritty stuff, the stuff that’s not camera-ready or politically correct.

I really hope I can bring my readers into the room with my players, the San Diego Barracudas. One my goals with the IN THE ZONE series is to zero in on a side of hockey that the fans don’t normally see. Sure, it’s fiction and I’m taking liberties and probably getting a lot of stuff wrong, but one day I may actually get a look at the Kings’ locker room, and at least soak in the non-human details.

Personally, I love when the TV cameras go in “the room.” I often ignore the players completely and focus on what’s behind him. I’m studying the pads, where the hooks are, all the details.

One time, I saw Anze Kopitar nonchalantly hang his cup up on a hook behind him while a reporter was asking a question. Being a woman, I was like, “Wow, that’s what a cup looks like.” Being an LA Kings fan, I was like, “OMG. THAT’S ANZE KOPITAR’S CUP!” Being a smutty romance writer, I was like, “Since they’re only filming him from the chest up, does that mean he hasn’t got pants on?”

10.08.2013 Hockey, Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment #12

Stick tap – (n.) the hockey equivalent to applause.

The most recent stick-tap I can remember was in Saturday’s game where someone got into a fight and the players on the bench tapped their sticks when the refs broke it up. They tapped, not because the fight was over, but because their teammate had stood up for himself and for his teammate, who had suffered what the fighter perceived as a not cool body check.

In a way, fighting could be considered hockey chivalry. You defend the honor of your comrade. It’s the code. It’s part of why I love hockey. The video is not of a stick tap, but more of the retaliatory fight. Sorry. I couldn’t find a video of a stick tap.