The Top Shelf: Hockey As An Art Form

Vladinating the Canvas:: It seems like once or twice a year we get an update about our old friend Vladimir Konstantinov and his long journey to recover from the Day That Shall Not Be Mentioned. For me, it’s still tough to see a guy like Vladdy in the shape that he is in, and I always wonder how difficult it must be to walk in his shoes and live a life when so much was taken away. There’s no denying the guy has guts, though, and he’s off on a new endeavor now: painting. And the works of #16 are going to be on display on November 17th:

The show, called Animals and Inspirations, will be at Gallery U & Boutique in Royal Oak on November 17, 2011 from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm.  (To find out more about Gallery U & Boutique and the incredible work they do, please read Gallery U: Art and Inspiration).  Vlady and his family will be in attendance.  Vlady has personally signed and hand framed his pieces and anyone who makes a purchase will be able to have their picture taken with Vlady and the art.  “We are very excited for Vlady the artist” said Barb Hill, Vocational Director for Therapeutic Rehab Centers, “We are hoping that this show will go very well and that he will continue to do shows in the future.”

There’s a couple examples of his works at the link before the quote, and – as a person who can’t draw a stick figure well – they are pretty darn good. Personally, I like the penguin, although I think Vladdy should have painted himself in there crushing it into the glass. I would have dropped fat stacks for that one.

The Art of Negotiating:: Apparently Columbus doesn’t have it, since the people’s choice to replace Scott Arniel behind the bench – Ken Hitchcock – up and left to take the reigns in St. Louis. As much as it’s fun to ridicule Hitch, he’s a guy who has always had the respect of Uncle Mike and therefore is someone you don’t necessarily want to see six times a year in divisional play. For the Blues, it’s a bit of a radical change in that they’ve gone from a disciplinarian like Andy Murray to the “player’s coach” in Davis Payne to a guy that demands respect and order in Hitchcock. It will be interesting to see how the Blues players respond to the new bench boss, but if they do take well to Hitch, there’s a good chance they will put up some points and make some noise in the division. As for the Blue Jackets, well, PD hits it on the head:

As for the Blue Jackets … well, the assumption was that Hitchcock would slide in behind the bench with one more year on his contract with the team. Scott Arniel remains the coach, and doesn’t have any meetings with Jackets brass scheduled. As he told Puck-Rakers: “I’ll keep showing up until somebody tells me I’m not supposed to.”

Other than his contract, there never seemed to be a compelling reason for Hitchcock to take over the disaster that are the 2011-12 Columbus Blue Jackets. So he didn’t.

If Arniel makes it out of November, he’s got the brass by the balls with some incriminating photos or something.

Starving Artists:: As in “starving” here at TPL. We are still on the hunt for some ideas for new shirts for the TPL store, but the inbox isn’t exactly filling up with ideas. Maybe it’s because you have as much artistic talent as I do and can’t even color in the lines, but we’re sure there are ideas out there and we want to hear from you. So much so, that we’ve actually enlisted the help of our very own Stevie (who’s just now finding out about this…) to help you sketch out ideas to put on a shirt. Seriously. If you have something funny or catchy that you think would make a good shirt, just send us a mail and we’ll put Stevie on a plane out to draw for you. Wait, no. We’ll have Stevie e-mail you and work to make your Picasso come to life. If your shirt makes it on to the site store, we’ll even give you one for free. Make it happen peeps.

And Finally… :: Bert and Huds are sick (no more making out) and won’t play tonight against Colorado. Meanwhile, Commie dreams of (and apparently practices) playing right wing with Twitter buddy Cory Emmerton. How are they going to Twitpic each other? Despite the six games of suck from his teammates, Jimmah remains hot. Babcock has opted for reverse psychology. Jiri Hudler is still confused. Water is wet.