A Hairy Hockey Tradition

Why do NHL players all look inexplicably scruffy during the Playoffs?

One might think they're so pressed for time that they can't shave. Plausible, but untrue.

Believe it or not, this is a tradition that started in the 1980s by the New York Islanders. During the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it's customary for the players to not shave until they're either eliminated or they win the Cup. (Some believe it's all right to trim it after a loss in an attempt to change the luck.)

Here's one of my favorite players, Dustin Penner, #25, of the LA Kings, with his beard. Bushy, ain't he! (Photo by Lucy Nicholson Reuters)

Dustin is well known for his luxurious Playoff beards. There's even someone who tweets as @PennersBeard. 

Penner has earned two Stanley Cup rings, once with the Anaheim Ducks, the other with the Kings last year.

Here's what he looks like (somewhat) clean-shaven. What a hunk. 

Title Troubles

Carina Press wants me to change the title of my hockey book(s). I had titled it HARD TO RESIST. The rest of the series would follow the HARD TO ___ pattern. They didn't like that. They want me to inject more of a sports feel into the titles.

Hm. 

I spent hours Thursday and Friday brainstorming. I went to Amazon and Carina Press to look at the hockey romance/sports romance titles that had already been used. 

Here's what I found:  Offside, Offsides, Collide, Hat Trick, Taking Shots, Trying to Score, Blue Lines, Empty Net, Off Her Game, Play the Man, Fresh Ice, Face Off of the Heart, Jilted.

Face Off of the Heart amused me.

My goal was to end up with a title idea that could be used for the entire series so that readers could tell the book was part of the Barracuda series, just by looking at the title.

I brainstormed a bunch of words I thought I might be able to use:  Play, Ice, Shot, Stick, Score, Win, Skate, Game. Some of them were hockey specific, some were just sports-y.

Then I started really brainstorming. Here's the list I ended up with on my Evernotes app. I wrote everything down, even the stupid ones. 

Playing to Win

At All Costs

Hard Won Victory

Stick Work

Crossing the Line

Game Winner

Power Play

Playing the System

On the Breakaway

Dropping the Gloves

82 Games

Head Up, Stick Down

Home Ice

On the Stick

Tape to Tape

Odd Man Rush

Roughing

__ On Ice

Fear on Ice 

Pride on Ice

Love on Ice 

Against ____

Against the Odds

Against the Boards

Against the Wall

Against the Glass 

Too late to make a long story short, but I ended up liking the idea of using prepositional phrases, with each title adapted to fit that particular story. When I'm introduced to my editor, Melissa Johnson, I will propose that HARD TO RESIST be changed to IN THE ZONE. I'll also suggest that the next two books be called OUT OF THE GAME and AGAINST THE BOARDS. 

I'd love to hear what people think. 

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I have loved hockey romance since reading Rachel Gibson's See Jane Score in 2003. I have loved almost all her Chinook series books. I loved feeling like I was seeing behind-the-scenes of the sport, a sport about which at the time I knew absolutely nothing. It didn't matter. I still loved and enjoyed those books.

And now I'm about to be on the author side of hockey romance because Carina Press wants to publish HARD TO RESIST! No. Scratch that. They want my hockey book PLUS the second hockey book I haven't even written yet!

Fist pump.

They want to develop a marketing plan for my hockey romance series. Yeah, baby. That's what I'm talking about. I have begun to daydream about Julia Quinn Bridgerton Series type success.

Photo by ME. This was taken when I went to a Kings practice at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. I had an absolute blast. At the time I had a hard time identifying the players because I didn't know them by number. If I went today, it would be a completely different story. I know my boys.

And by the way, they're still in the running for the Stanley Cup. Sunday is Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks. I can't wait.

Living in Limbo

On April 7, I participated in #CarinaPitch. This was a one-day Twitter event that allowed authors to pitch their books to Carina Press editors using a maximum of 2 tweets. It was a blast. I pitched my hockey romance, HARD TO RESIST, the first in a series about the fictional NHL team, the San Diego Barracudas.

My 2 tweet pitch read:

#CarinaPitch NHL News: Nurse accosted by irate fan while in line for an autograph. San Diego Barracuda Tim Stockdale defends her. 

Stockdale after the fight, "You don't treat women that way. Ever." #CarinaPitch #HockeyRomance 

To my delight, three editors requested to see the manuscript, Mallory Braus, Melissa Johnson, and Angela James. After a crazy weekend spent polishing the book, I submitted it.

Now, only ten more days remain until the purported deadline to hear from Carina about my hockey book, HARD TO RESIST. I really have no idea if this is a valid deadline. It's more like I heard a rumor about a rumor that the editors will get back to us by the end of May.

I have been hard at work on a second hockey book, tentatively titled HARD BODY. It was going to be a short novella, but now it looks as if it may actually be Book 2 in the Barracuda series. The characters had more to say than I had anticipated.

Photo by Prilfish (cc)

Terms of Endearment #10

Leaner - (n.) Filling a trash can or similar container with water, leaning it up against the door of a teammate's hotel room, knocking, and running for the hills.

Hockey players can be nothing more than little boys with facial hair. This is something I really adore, if you want to know the truth. In this hockey series I'm writing, you will see many examples of this. Some might look at this type of behavior as immature. Sure it is. No argument there. But I also think it's funny as hell. I love practical jokes.

So do Los Angeles Kings players, Dustin Penner and Mike Richards. Dustin is a very funny man. He has no problem laughing at himself, as is evident from the following Twitter conversation he had with Richards.

Penner posted this picture and tweeted: Do not try and steam clean your dress shirt w/out making sure the shower/tub combo drain is open. #housekeeping.

Richards: @DustinPenner25 ever hear of an iron?

Penner: @MRichie_10 Stay out of this Rick! This is between me and the tub. Also don't open your door #leaner

Richards: @DustinPenner25 I actually just walked out of my room and the water has made its way in front of my door. Leaner not needed.

I. Love. This.

I hope readers like it too because this is exactly the kind of manly stuff I'm trying to show in my books. I hope it shows the friendship and camaraderie between the teammates, their senses of humor, their humility, their sense of fun.