Comments on: Unwanted Puck Bunnies

By: Angela

Angela — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:44:29 +0000

I have watched hockey on TV all my life with my dad. At first when I was really little and I didn’t totally understand the game I watched because it was bonding time with my dad. Once I started understanding the game I watched because I loved the game and it was bonding time with my dad. Every year I fall more in love with the game and want to know and learn more about it. I have been watching Hockey Night In Canada pretty much every Saturday since I was born. When I was a kid it was the only night of the week I could get away with not eating supper and stuffing my face with junk food and staying up late. I have always been inquisitive and curious. When I hit puberty yes I started to find certain players attractive, but I don’t watch the game because of that. Now I watch the game because I love it, it’s bonding time with my dad, and because it’s tradition. I tape all the games of my favourite NHL team off the TV so during the summer when there is no NHL hockey I can go back and watch previous games just so I don’t go into hockey withdrawal. I watch probably a game a night pretty much, but at least 4 games a week. I have certain favourite players that I follow and I like them because of how they play the game and if I find them attractive I consider that just a natural byproduct. Some people have called me a puck bunny or player stalker and I take offense at that. If I were to go to a well known hockey player hangout it wouldn’t be because I was stalking anyone. I’d go once or twice just because I was curious and then would leave them alone. I want to know everything there is about hockey, every aspect of the game and its culture. I want to know as much as I can about my favourite player just because I want to know as much as I can about the sport and its culture and its players just in general. I want as much information as I can get just because I’m curious and would like to know not because I want to use that info for evil. I live in Winnipeg by the way and I never get to see any NHL games but on TV and the occasional exhibition/preseason games they happen to throw our way. I’m only 18 by the way. I’d like to meet the players and talk to them and know where they hang out just to better understand the game and its culture and the players. I’m a Christian by the way and I don’t drink or smoke or swear or have sex before I’m married. I know curiousity killed the cat but I’m not a cat and I try my best to keep my curiousity in check. I’m respectful and don’t want to make anybody feel uncomfortable or breach privacy or anything. I don’t consider myself a puck bunny but some people do. If you ask anyone that I know though they know the reason I love the game is first and foremost for the game itself. I come to church Sunday morning after Saturday night’s Hockey Night In Canada asking people if they saw that amazing goal or amazing save and I usually have most of the games scores memorized and have watched the majority of all the highlights and if they missed the game for whatever reason they automatically come to me because they know I have all the latest hockey info. I visit NHL.com twice a day, once when I wake up and once before bed. I want to be the first one to know if there has been a trade or an injury . I want to be the first one to know all the latest info on all of hockey and if somebody knows something about hockey before I do I’m upset because I pride myself in my hockey knowledge and I want to know everything and anything and everything I can about hockey especially especially at the NHL level (ok mostly at the NHL level). The thing I find most attractive about hockey players is their sense of humour. I find hockey players hiliarious and sometimes I watch just to get a good laugh and have a smile put on my face. Beauty is only skin deep and it’s what is on the inside that counts. A hockey player might have lost teeth and had his face rearranged but if he can make me laugh I consider him gold. Hockey players are more a”dork”able than adorable, but I love them anyway lol. I hope you don’t think I’m a puck bunny and if you do that’s your opinion but it’s a flawed opinion.

By: jiminak

jiminak — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:09:18 +0000

Hey JB….. I don’t care what you call them, just don’t chase them away. I’m in my 60’s and go to Seawolf games with a great long-term girlfriend but even when there are only 1800 people in the Sullivan Arena there are enough long legs and breasts hanging out to make the sometimes bad hockey worth going to.

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:01:25 +0000

So….does Underwood calling Lowsie from a bar 12 times tonight (according to Jolly’s and my count) and leaving drunken messages count as an unwanted puck bunny? At the last message, Daryl declared victory because Lowsie’s mailbox was full…..let me state that Jolly and I were just spectators to another spectacular night of Undy.

Justin, Jolly did get one of the best punches on Undy I’ve ever seen as we were leaving….it was hilarious…..curled up in a ball in an icy parking lot at midnight…..

By: jtbourne

jtbourne — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:08:22 +0000

I think the wires are crossed because of some selective reading – I titled this “unwanted” puck bunnies, because there is a difference. I was addressing not puck bunnies, but those stalky, creepy ones that show up uninvited to get the same thing signed at my car that I’ve already signed before.
The column I’m (delicately) writing now is on puck bunnies. A hockey team is made up of athletic young men. The guys are no worse than the next group of 20 fit males you round up, but sure… they can be opportunistic.

By: Far North

Far North — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:50:05 +0000

There’s only one part of your article that surprises me: “Nobody wants anything to do with them . . . I assure you, that behavior is not encouraged.”

Truly?

I hate to be cynical, but certain hockey players have a reputation for, well, enjoying their opportunities. My impression is that college hockey teams typically include a) A few super-wholesome guys, who would never do anything you couldn’t discuss with your grandma; b) A bunch of decent, ordinary 20-somethings whose judgement is usually (but not always) pretty good ; c) A few guys who think only of their own interests/desires.

Please address Kerstin’s comments — I had exactly the same perception, but I’d love to be wrong.

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:36:54 +0000

I have to echo the comment about folks assuming you’re a puck just because you’re a girl. Not much I can do about that so I just enjoy the game and mock the boys who don’t know the difference between an outlet pass and an offside call.

There are definitely folks who go to the games *just* to show off. Some of them hope to snag a player, but honestly some seem to just be hoping to snag anybody at the game. If the person can afford lower bowl seats they’re probably worth a date. It’s those that annoy me. I personally can’t even walk up to a player for an autograph unless it’s at an event. I figure if they’re watching the game/eating dinner/walking to their car/whatever they’re on their own time. The concept of sleazing my way into their post-game party just boggles the mind.

Of course with all that in mind, I think it’s the grace on the ice, and the knowledge that there is no way they’re hiding a spare tire under that jersey that combines to make hockey players hot. Modano’s cover shot for Men’s Fitness, enough said.

By: hb

hb — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:42:55 +0000

I love how every sport has their own names for groupies.

For the average groupie, it’s a status thing. They get the same thrill, I guess you’d call it, from having sex with someone as most people would get from sharing a beer backstage or playing one on one with someone at the gym. It’s this little private individual segment that attaches them to this person that ordinarily they can only watch from afar. It’s the same reason people collect personal items from famous people, I think.

Then you have the really persistent ones and I think these are pretty much limited to sports and music. Now, what you have to remember are these aren’t the sharpest crayons in the coloring box, and they don’t really understand the reality of the sports or music worlds. To them, it’s hunting season and it doesn’t matter if they’re ‘watching’ 16 year olds, college athletes, minor pro; in their mind, all athletes in all sports are going to make it big. And if they can convince an athlete to marry them, well, they’ve just won the lottery through their vagina. Of course, life doesn’t work that way so she’ll eventually divorce the poor smuck and be right back at the rink/field/club.

You think you had it bad; a lot of the big football schools have university sanctioned groupies. I’m sure other sports schools probably have the same program for their money sports but I’ve never worked for them, so I don’t know. They’re called Boosters – perky, beautiful college girls chosen to cater to the football team and do whatever it takes to make the star players feel welcome. Now, the universities aren’t telling the girls to have sex with the players and I think some of the programs might even require signing an agreement not to, but if you’re in a position to talk to either the boosters or the players candidly, you know that sex is an understood part of the arrangement. (And then the team staff wonders why their players have ‘conquest lists’ in the triple digits.)

The big question for me is: why do athletes keep sleeping with the groupies? They’re dirty and they’re not even high enough class to want you for your body; they just want you because you’re an athlete, even the ugliest one will do. And I could see why the facially challenged guys might jump for that if it wasn’t for the fact that you know she’s already been with half of his teammates. To borrow the words of Avery, who wants sloppy seconds?

By: dwgs

dwgs — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:07:10 +0000

You might find this interesting material for your ‘puck’ research…

http://www.psycholadyhockey.com/

By: Will77

Will77 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:56:21 +0000

I think, from experience, that college hockey players have the most experience/exposure to the punk bunnies. A few people are focusing on the fact about these women at games, but the biggest point JT is making about them is how they are EVERYWHERE… not just watching your games, but at post game hang outs/etc. There was a house by my campus thats been the “Hockey House” for about 15 years, a few juniors move in once theres openings from seniors graduating, and there were always certain girls or groups of girls that never ever missed a party there. Granted, it seems another general rule of most colleges is that the hockey players usually have really great parties for whatever reason… but puck bunnies, while bad at the rink, are the ones that are swooning over the players when they’re not on the ice

By: Goody

Goody — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:32:30 +0000

Intro music: I gave up trying to be “cool” a long time ago. You can rack your brain if you like trying to come up with some “cool” intro music, but face it, it’s intro music. No matter what you choose, some people are going to like it, some people are going to hate it and some people are going to say “I wish they’d drop the stupid intro music!” So have fun with it. Make it something either instantly recognizable by anyone of any age (theme to a classic movie or tv show maybe) or something incredibly obscure that virtually no one will recognize.