Going For The Gold

For any hockey player, the Stanley Cup is the most revered trophy you can ever win. Although if you're a Canadian hockey player, an Olympic Gold Medal comes awfully close. That recognition of being the best in the WORLD is enormous, especially when your nation is the birthplace of hockey and hockey is also the national religion.

LA Kings defenceman Drew Doughty starts his quest for Olympic Gold today as Team Canada takes on Norway. Drew is used to the pressure of being the youngest guy on an NHL team, but being the youngest member of a squad carrying the expectations of a nation is an entirely different thing altogether. So I figured giving Drew a little blog love might be just the thing to get his Olympic adventure off to a good start.

I am proud of my growing collection of Doughty hockey gear, which now includes both Kings and Team Canada hockey jerseys, plenty of signed photos, pucks, and even a signed stick. But when you love a player as much as I love Drew, you can never have too much stuff.

Thanks to my buddy Ed Liberato, I now have a Drew Doughty hockey card collection started. He turned me onto Pat's Cards, which featured Drew as their player of the day during the first week of February. So of course I just had to go check out what kinds of cards were available. And as with all things Drew, I went a little nutty and bought one of every card they had. How nice they arrived just before the Olympics!



One thing almost every card has in common - a photo of Drew with his mouth open. This Black Diamond Rookie card is probably my favorite example. I like to think he concentrates better with that expression.



This card is the only one where his mouth is closed, which is cool all on its own. But it's a doubly cool piece of the collection because it also has him wearing the number 80 - his rookie number during pre-season before he became an "official" member of the Kings roster.



Although my absolute favorite card in the collection is this Guelph Storm number from the season before Drew's draft eligibility year.



I just LOVE the picture on the back. That expression pretty much says, "I've got major skills people, and I'm not afraid to use them. Don't even think you're taking that puck away from me." Such a bad ass!



So I'm looking forward to Drew bringing all that skill and attitude to the ice in Vancouver and bringing the Olympic Gold back to Canada where it belongs. And I believe in Drew and Team Canada so much, I even made a bet with Nadine, who is rooting for Alex Ovechkin and "Mother Russia." We're both planning on a Canada-Russia final, and the loser gets to buy the winner a massage at our favorite spa, Burke-Williams.

I sure am looking forward to relaxing on her dime. GO TEAM CANADA! GO DREW!