November 28, 2009

Vancouver got a huge win over Edmonton tonight, throttling the Oilers 7-3. Mathieu had no points, but was a +1 after logging 18:53 total ice time (a season high, I believe; but I'd have to go back and look that up and, frankly, I've had an epicly awesome evening and my wits are not exactly with me right now).

Ok, it was mentioned above as an aside, but why was this evening so epic? Sidney Crosby had 5 points and a hat trick (yes, I'm a semi-closeted Sidney Crosby fan; don't hold it against me. The kid is freakin' amazing... and totally adorable), and B-Rad continued his tear to the top of the scoring charts knocking in 2 more points tonight against his old team and BFF Vincent Lecavalier. (My guys B-Rad and VINNY!! in the same game again was enough to knock me over today).

Also... Mathieu was the guest on the 30 minute long interview show After Hours, following Hockey Night in Canada. Thanks to my fabulous subscription to Center Ice (which has already paid for itself by making me happier than a duck in the rain), I was able to watch the whole thing and it was AMAZING!

a screen shot, courtesy of the ever fabulous Amanda
(who is seriously my Canadian sister from another mother)

My face hurts from smiling so much. The interview was great enough to warrant it's own post, which will come tomorrow. But I'm pooped and can barely string a sentence together. There is an Unofficial Mathieu Schneider Homepage connection to the After Hours interview, so stay tuned to find out what it is...


P.S. Happy birthday Shannon Schneider! =) Among the many golden nuggets in the After Hours interview, Mathieu mentioned today is his lovely wife's birthday. She threw him an epic 40th birthday party, and he gets to play on hers. At least she got a shout out on national television (international, really, since I was watching it in the States)

Some perspective of age

Unless you were living under a rock, you know by now that the Pittsburgh Penguins have won the 2009 Stanley Cup. What a resilient team they proved to be. Not only do they come back from years of fruitlessness, they overcome bankruptcy. And this season alone, they were out of the playoff picture for most of the season. And they came back from losing the first 2 games of the series...

Anyway, congrats to them.

Here is a funny thing that occurred to me after hearing lots of news about both the upcoming draft and the Penguins young captain Sidney Crosby (the youngest captain to win a championship).

Mathieu Schneider was drafted in 1987.
Sidney Crosby was born in 1987.

The draft that year was in June (the 13th I believe; but certainly some day in June)
Sidney was born August 7. (8-7-87... #87... huh huh)

Mathieu Schneider was drafted before Sidney Crosby was even born.

Whoa....

Off-topic: awkward teenage-ness

Being an awkward teenager is no fun. But being an awkward teenager that grows up to be somewhat famous, or at least more publicly known then the average person, must suck even worse. Especially if you were an awkward teenager any time after, say, the mid- to late- 1990s. Why? Because there are pictures! And everyone can see them.

During a hockey-less day last week, I was making due by following the Memorial Cup. Nothing like a little Canadian junior hockey action to fill a gap in NHL coverage. Anyway, the tournament this year was in Rimouski, Quebec. The Rimouski Oceanic team has produced three (potentially 4) NHLers in the last 10 years; the three that are currently in the NHL are, well, kind of big names that you may have heard of before.

Anyway, I was looking around their site seeing who might be the next one to make it big, and some how found the old rosters. And those old rosters had old head shots. I don't know why they cracked me up so much, but they really did. And thus I share with you, 16-17 year old Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier, and Sidney Crosby:

Brad does not look that different at all (though I think this was the pic from his last season, so he would have been 18 or 19). Vinny... whew, I would have had to check a birth certificate to make sure he was old enough to even be eligible for juniors. (there is also a weird-- yet striking-- resemblance to my youngest nephew; I don't know what it is, but I showed my mom and she agrees. Either my 10 year old nephew has some unknown French ancestory, or Vinny has some African roots he may never have known about) And Sidney... love the hair.

And in total fairness to the guys, here I am from my high school yearbook (it was junior year, so I would have been an equivalent age):

(I didn't have polka dots; the scan just came out weird)

Looking back, that was not a terrible picture of me at that age. It must have been just after I had gotten my braces off and just before I got glasses. Lucky, my eyes went bad after my teeth were fixed, so I avoided the dreaded brace-face / four-eyes double threat.

I would have loved to include a picture of Mathieu at 16, but, um, the Internet wasn't really invented yet. I'm sure his headshots from Mt. St. Charles Academy and the Cornwall Royals are out there somewhere in a print program or something. I do have one picture of him from about that time that someone sent me, but I swore I'd never post it publicly. And my word is good. =P