HNIC Wrap-Up ~ October 31, 2009. . .

Again, belated, so apologies for that. Lots of hockey this Saturday night.

Hockey Tonight's Inside Hockey talked about goal masks, something very important this weekend for more than a few reasons, but something I've always had a unique interest in. (Childhood favorite - Stephane Fiset's "ice blocks.") They're just fun to look at.

The end of Inside Hockey showcases this guy who does over 80 masks a year, some commissioned by NHL players. During the show, he shared one for Carey Price. For Rememberance Day, it showcases poppies, pinning a wreath, the Canadian flag, and the poem Flander's field. Looks amazing. Even better, Carey Price, when he's done, will auction it off for money to help wounded soldiers. Find out more at www.woundedwarriors.ca

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On After Hours, the guest to speak of (no disrespect to Steve Yzerman, Red Wings great, that is) was Rene Bourque.

Before Saturday night, the only thing I knew about Rene Bourque was that he was the player whose neck was sliced open by Nik Zherdev's skate blade, when Rene was with Chicago, and Nik was a Blue Jacket.

Thanks to segments like After Hours, I now know a lot more about Bourque, and can think of some good things instead of remembering what was probably the most horrible time in his life and one he'd rather forget.

It didn't take long for Rene to have hosts Scott Oake and Kevin Weekes laughing. Literally, at one point they had a hard time continuing. Some of his more clever moments:

After being shown an image of his report card from youth hockey camp, with average marks in some categories, and signed by Ron Sutter, he said, "maybe the Sutter family had a late night the night before."

That had them laughing. For a while.

The next was when Kevin Weekes called him "Mr.-Everything" and said the only thing he hadn't seen Rene do was wear the Harvy the Hound costume. Rene's response:

"Maybe tomorrow night."

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Some other tidbits:

He grew up with sisters, one of them a twin, so he said he never had to fight for clothes or bathroom time.

He heard about Goals and Dreams through the NHLPA and wanted to participate. Gave out 50 sets of hockey equipment to kids in his hometown of Lac Li Biche, Alberta.

"It was like Christmas for them; it was very rewarding."

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Lastly, while he said he doesn't like to think about it, he watched the clip of the Zherdev incident with the guys. And he was gracious enough to speak about it. He lost over a liter of blood, and didn't realize at first how dangerous the injury was. He was in hostpial for 5 days, and the doctors, he said, looked like they almost didn't know what to do because it's such a rare injury. He was very close to losing his life, but thankfully, thanks to the medical staff and doctors, he survived. Still has a visible scar on his neck, a reminder for the rest of his life of how close it came to ending.


Overall, a very funny, humble interview with the guy who is leading the Calgary Flames in scoring so far this season. A guy to root for, that's for sure. I'm now going to.
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Oh and lest you feel cheated, in another installment of "Tips from the WEEKES' Beauty Bag" - Weeke's urged guys to bring cologne, and girls to bring perfume for after the game. You don't want to smell "like hockey," he says.

Kinda wonderfing how far this segment will go. I didn't get to write up on last week (not too much doing although there was a short Nigel Dawes interview) but Weekes' tip for 10/24 was to use shower gel.

Guess we'll see. Gotta love Weeksie, though.