NHL.com correspondent Chuck Gormley wrote his Atlantic division update for this week. At the end of his post, which was all about Brodeur, he mentioned Brian Berard and Bill Guerin returned to Islanders’ lineup last week. He also included this quote:

Guerin said the blurred vision that kept him out of one game reminded him of his teenage years. "It's kind of like you're sitting in your car and all your windows are fogged up, like if you're making out with a girl."

Haha, nice.

*****

NHL.com staff writer Dan Rosen did an article on Washington Capital’s Nicklas Backstrom (19). This Swedish player has been working on his transition to American life off the ice and has been fortunate enough to have Michael Nylander (35) as a mentor. It’s true that mentors are supposed to help others in whatever situation they find themselves. In this instance, Backstrom is still learning English words here and there, and this little bit here is pretty funny.

Aiding Backstrom’s transition has been his smooth adaptation of the English language. He was forced to take English classes in Sweden as part of the regular curriculum, which means he’s ahead of most of the NHL’s Europeans in that department.

"You still have to apply it, though," Backstrom said. "If I hear Americans or Canadians speaking I still have to pick up some words. It’s only good for me because I want to learn, but I still have a problem with some words."

Added Nylander: "Carrot. He didn’t know what it meant. Some guys came to me and said; ‘How do you say carrot in Swedish?’ I said, ‘Just tell him a rabbit eats it.’ "

*****

I came upon this article written by Adam Proteau that moved me over to this page from The Buffalo News. The article is about GM Darcy Regier speaking on the low scoring from his Buffalo Sabres and throughout the NHL. But the reason I bring this up is because of the second to last paragraph in the article. I mean, how many times can a person say the same word in a sentence before it starts to sound stupid? But not only does Regier use a word five times in the same sentence, he uses different versions of the word "play" a couple of times in the SAME SENTENCE. Please just read this out loud and you'll see what I mean.

"It still comes down really to two things," Regier said. "The players playing the game and the future players playing the game have to choose to play this game because it’s the most fun game of any game available to play. That ensures the top athletes in this sport.

Total count: Game - 5; Play - 4. Wait a second, I'm going to go ahead and count "player" in the "play" count.

New count: Game - 5; Play - 6

*****

After reading the story written by Matt Moulson that was more uplifting than anything I’ve read lately (excluding Martin Brodeur’s 500th win. Well done.), I knew there’d be something I’d come across that would bring an eye roll or two. Case in point, when I read "Canucks call up Brown with Wild rematch looming" from ESPN.com, the article was doing fine with talking about Mattias Ohlund’s hit against Mikko Koivu’s leg. The facts were facts and there wasn't too much commentary from this Associated Press writer. That was, until I got to the end where they decided to interview 6’7", 260-pound Derek "I Will Enforce You" Boogaard about the situation. What made my eyes roll was his reference to Canucks Markus Naslund, Daniel Sedin, and Henrik Sedin.

"Maybe I can go after, or check Naslund and those Pinky and the Brain twins."

*sigh*

*****

But let’s end on a high note. Last Saturday morning I was sitting in an unnamed restaurant near my home. When the waiter came up and asked what I wanted to drink, I answered "water" while wondering where in the world I had seen this guy before. The whole time while he was taking our order, I STILL couldn’t pin point it. But once he walked away, the light bulb turned on. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jonathan Cheechoo works at this unnamed restaurant as his day job. Don’t let his name tag fool you; he might want to go by Miguel while working here (and on his tan), but I know the truth.

I’m sorry Cheechoo, but you’ve been exposed! …and you're a little shorter than I thought you were going to be…