Rick Rypien

Hockey player Rick Rypien, born in 1984, was found dead in his home on Aug. 15. The death was deemed sudden, but there is no suspicion of foul play. It is widely believed to be a suicide. Rick has been battling depression for years.

In the hockey world, Rick is known for getting into fights against opposing team players. (Fighting is allowed in hockey, unlike in soccer. Hockey fighters would take off their gloves and then start punching their opponents. The hockey game would pause until the end of the fight.)

There was an editorial cartoon in one of the local newspapers. It showed Rick Rypien on an ice rink, in his hockey gear. The stadium had no roof; you could see the sky. Among the clouds, this is written: “Keep your gloves on kid… You don’t have to fight anymore.”

I cried.

Snowshoe Grind

Undisturbed snow is absolutely gorgeous. I went snowshoe hiking with friends from work on Saturday the 5th. The trail is officially called the Snowshoe Grind on Grouse Mountain. It starts 3,700 feet above sea level, and the peak is at 4,100 feet (or 4,500 feet, I’m not sure). The trail is about 2.67 miles long. It took us about three hours to hike up and back down. That includes pauses for photos, pauses for breath, pauses for water, pauses for chocolate and pauses to decide which way to go (there were alternatives/loops). Apparently, it should take only two hours for a normal, healthy person. Anyway, it was fun. I managed the downhill hiking better than the uphill part because I would run out of breath easily. We determined I had better balance than cardio endurance. I think I want to do it again!

Six-week running training

Mondays: five stretching exercises, six strength-building exercises

Thursdays: rest

Fridays: two miles of running, six strength-building exercises

Cross-training: swimming, walking, elliptical training, cycling

Alex Burrows

Alex Burrows had an autograph signing gig from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Best Buy next to Metrotown on Sunday the 10th. My brother and I wanted to go, but we didn’t really make any definite plans. I was thinking we could go there to line up when the store opens, whatever time that was, say 9 or 10 a.m. A few minutes after midnight, my brother sent me a message: Only the first 250 people to line up would be accommodated, and there are already that many in line. I don’t know why I didn’t think that people would line up out in the cold for over 12 hours for an autograph from a Canuck. Burrows is, after all, one of the biggest stars of the Canucks. Five short-handed goals out of nine that the team scored last season? Awesome.

Neighbours

Apparently, Ryan Kesler lives somewhere here in Kits. Hehe. So near yet so far.

The Habs beat the Caps. Dare I say miraculously. Ovechkin must be crying in a corner right now, after Russia’s loss in the Olympics, his loss of the Art Ross trophy to Henrik, and the Capitals’ loss to the Habs. Oh well.

I want the Sharks to beat the Red Wings, just because I became a fan of the San Jose line in Team Canada during the Olympics. And then I want a Sharks-Canucks Western Conference final. And finally, I want the Canucks to take the Stanley Cup. What, the Habs beat the Caps; anything can happen!

Girly

This is from the Canucks road trip photo gallery on their website. The caption: “Haha you went scissors too! We are SO bffs!” LOL

The Canucks beat the Bruins 3-2 today. Real Madrid beat Espanyol 3-0. And Liverpool beat Everton 1-0. Last Saturday, they all had the same winning results: Canucks 5-3 Leafs, Real Madrid 3-1 Deportivo, Liverpool 2-0 Bolton.

I could date a hockey player. Or a soccer player. Haha.

Championships

After Liverpool got knocked out of the Champions League, I rooted for the only non-English team left: FC Barcelona. I especially wanted them to win the finals because I don’t like Manchester United. I mean, if it came down to Barcelona v Arsenal, I may have been a little more indifferent. (If it were Barcelona v Chelsea, I’d so be rooting for Barca too.) Anyway, the game was quite boring. The only thing worth seeing was Messi’s header. I watched it live on ESPN with my cousin and he was like, “Do the fans always sing?” Hahaha. (The answer is yes.) I’d like to watch an awesome soccer game right in the stadium, in the future. Maybe a Champions League match at Anfield. Or a Spain game in the Euro or the World Cup. Oh by the way, Torres scored a hat trick for Spain against New Zealand (Confederations Cup)! Awesome. So excited for the World Cup next year!

The Vancouver Whitecaps actually seem pretty good; I saw a few of their matches on TV. I hope they do well when they join the Major League Soccer in 2011. There’s not much buzz around North American soccer, though.

So the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup. I wanted them to win over the Detroit Red Wings. It was a good game, too. The Wings kept Fleury busy but he held his ground, letting only one goal through. It came down to the last six seconds, Pens 2-1 Wings. In those six seconds, the Wings took four shots or so. But they didn’t get the equalizer, thus no overtime.

I’m excited for the Canucks next season. I wonder what the roster will look like. I hope they re-sign the Sedin twins. I want to watch a Canucks game at GM Place, too. This shall go on my to-do list for when I come back from Guatemala. Oh no, it just occurred to me: How am I going to watch hockey while I’m in Guatemala? I’m gonna miss the first ten weeks of the season.

And the LA Lakers beat the Orlando Magic. I think they had a 14-point lead with 3:35 left on the clock. Magic could totally have caught up at that point, but they seemed to have lost their motivation for some reason. I don’t know why; they were playing at home. Anyway, it looked like they weren’t even trying anymore. And then the last ten or so seconds of the game were, well, funny. The Lakers were all just standing and smiling at each other, lazily dribbling the ball. The shot clock buzzed for a 24-second violation, with three seconds left in the game. The Lakers just laughed and started jumping and celebrating. The clock didn’t even count down from three to zero anymore. Haha.