In no particular order…
1. Sudden death overtime
2. The way Erik Karlsson skates, passes, does his hair
3. Watching warmups and taking note of which player goes off last for each team (also looking for who doesn’t wear a helmet because they want to be seen and/or enjoy the breeze through their hair)
4. Connor McDavid gathering steam around his own net with the puck on his tape
5. A couple days after a club’s elimination when you hear the long list of the injuries players’ were pushing through
6. No one wanting to block Shea Weber’s shot
7. Sticking up for one another
8. Drew Doughty interviews
9. Goalies who try to score on the opposition’s empty net
10. Tyler Seguin and Mark Scheifele’s paper-rock-scissors battles
11. That the winning captain, not the team owner, is the first person to touch the Stanley Cup
12. Tumbling down a CapFriendly.com rabbit hole
[relatedlinks]
13. Going for the Gordie Howe hat trick
14. Goalie fights
15. Goalie controversies
16. Goals from centre ice
17. Goal songs, good team ones and individual ones
18. That guys with names like Dit Clapper still hold scoring records
19. Steve Yzerman winning at playing and winning at GM’ing
20. Endless bickering about who should be your team’s seventh defenceman or 12th forward
21. The Halley’s Comet that is the blockbuster one-for-one trade
22. David Poile (see above)
23. Boring Sean Monahan
24. Gary Bettman always getting booed whenever he appears publicly
25. Gary Bettman not caring one iota that he gets booed whenever he appears publicly
26. Zoomed-out photos of games with poor attendance
27. Zoomed-in photos of sweaty, intense faces about to take a face-off
28. Claude Giroux creating from the wall
29. Patrik Laine’s release
30. Under-rated Evgeni Malkin considering leaving Sid and the Penguins but deciding to stick around anyway
31. Mic’d-up refs
32. Two full minutes of 5-on-3
33. The uncut visual cocaine that is 3-on-3 overtime
34. That night Auston Matthews hit ’em with the four
35. John Tortorella press conferences (bonus if he says “Brooksie”)
37. That every member of a championship team, even trainers and assistant coaches, gets a summer day alone with the Cup
38. When they go to the Olympics
39. The off-the-board draft pick that sends us all scrambling to Google
40. The undrafted star everyone missed
41. James van Riemsdyk not understanding what mouth guards are for
42. Joe Thornton generally not giving an eff
I believe this is Brent Burns and Joe Thornton. They are walking around Pittsburgh's North Shore and don't give ONE HELL. pic.twitter.com/T7t8LiLlBy
— Colin Dunlap (@colin_dunlap) October 19, 2016
43. Team Twitter battles
44. That you have to buy a guy something if you’re new to the team and want his sweater number
45. Trade rumours outnumbering actual trades by a ratio of about 45 to 1
46. Beards, playoff and lifestyle
47. Three stars of the night
48. When the singer holds the mic away from his or her mouth, lets the crowd sing “O Canada” and still gets paid
49. Completely unimaginative but so-fun-to-say nicknames
50. Hordes of grown men buying those Budweiser goal lights that sync up with their TVs
51. Head coaches that take time explain
52. Head coaches with no time to explain
53. Bob Cole trying to describe everything that’s happening
54. Doc Emrick’s vocabulary
55. Harnarayan Singh’s passion and perseverance
56. Alex Ovechkin waiting for the one-timer
57. Cheeky shootout moves
58. Hockey hugs
59. The unmistakable sound of a puck hitting a post
60. Unfair bounces
61. Mark Stone stealing your puck when you least expect it
62. Ceremonial puck drops
63. Commentators planted between the benches
64. The Tampa Bay Lightning‘s game presentation
65. Retired numbers watching bird’s-eye from the rafters
66. Press box snacks, and the hockey writers who passionately rate them
67. That moment between when a penalty shot is called and when a penalty shot takes place
68. Jaromir Jagr’s immortality (and the costumed grown-ups who follow him)
69. Doug Glatt
70. Braden Holtby’s pre-game routine
71. Quiet Joe Sakic shutting everyone up
72. When tanking backfires
73. Offer sheets (extinct)
74. The Pittsburgh model
75. Five minutes of Timbits shinny during intermission
76. The moment Don Cherry realizes he’s running out of time
77. Ron MacLean’s dedication to the pun as a form of comedy
78. Gene Principe’s dedication to the pun as a form of comedy
79. Jokes about the Columbus Blue Jackets’ cannon and the Chicago Blackhawks‘ hording of outdoor games
80. Evgeny Kuznetsov celebrating goals like a bird
81. That time Phil Kessel filled the Stanley Cup with hot dogs and them (all?)
82. New arenas putting the home team’s logo on the dressing room ceiling instead of the floor
83. “Last minute to play in the third period”
84. Throwback jerseys
85. Scrambling-for-a-last-minute-emergency-goalie stories
86. Chirps
87. Sidney Crosby’s insatiable desire to win despite already winning everything
88. Finished checks
89. Insiders
90. When fake insiders get accidentally retweeted by real reporters
91. Steven Stamkos coming back stronger
92. Must-win games (but only the literal ones)
93. Patrick Sharp still using thin shoulder pads that are about 23 years old and falling apart and gross
94. Brainstorming a nickname for your freshly drafted fantasy team
95. Pucks in shallow (which result in an odd-man rush the other way)
96. Owning own-goals
97. Game-time decisions
98. Handshake lines
99. Wayne Gretzky mentoring McDavid
100. Game 7
