Whoa, he’s alive?

Yup. Yup I am.

I’ve just been busy shaving. I’m no Malik or Hollis, but I had a nice little shrubbery thing going on — but, as is customary in the Petrella household (for me… my fiancee is naturally facially hairless, worry not), I shaved through that chin mane the night before the post-season begins. As a result, I look no less that 12 years younger. I got carded in the elevator on the way to the office today when security realized it wasn’t Take Your Son to Work Day.

Speaking of which, I’ve joined the Beard-A-Thon again. Long story short, you can pledge my beard-to-be, 50 cents a day or something…I haven’t uploaded a picture yet, but I’ll try my best to keep the photos current so you can track it. Last year I went all 58 days from the start of the playoffs to Game 7. The result… not so pretty:

While we’re on the subject of gearing up for the playoffs, I received an email from Nicole Yelland at the Wings, asking us to spread the word for the official viewing party for Game 2:

In addition to gettin’ your watch/cheer on, there will be free Red Wings promotional items (I’m told replica Todd Bertuzzi teeth) for all fans in attendance, a Wing alumnus will be on hand to sign autographs, and there are Hockeytown-themed games and trivia. Should be an awesome time and I wish I could be there.

One more quick note: I missed the latest release of the Obstructed View podcast. Episode 15 features host/studmuffin Chris Hollis, Winging it’s Casey, RWG’s Joe Burkel, and Snipe Dangle’s Kris. Also, head over to TOV’s home to check out all of our playoff picks, where you’ll learn that Rob and I both picked Nashville to beat Chicago. SUCK IT HAWKS.