When Dom Hasek and the Czechs played for the shootout in the 1998 Winter Olympics, something clicked in this country. Canadians of all stripes called for heads on platters and executives on ice. The consensus? This is our game, damn it, so fix it and bring home the gold medal. Enter GMs Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman. Enter heroes Joe Sakic and Sidney ‘Golden Goal’ Crosby. Enter come-from-behind goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo.
A few months ago we found out that the Guinness Book of World Records recognized a group of eight Czechs for the longest continuous table hockey game, a 26-hour, 16-minute affair by Martin Ženíšek and seven friends in 2008. We at Pucked in the Head believe that this is our game, damn it. So we fixed it. We brought home the record.
Earlier this week, we were lucky enough to hang out with Jim Hughson, the voice of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. We talked about table hockey, his start in broadcasting, and his love of storytelling. Then he schooled me on the correct way to hold a microphone, and I called him by someone else’s name.
I tell ya, I’m a pro.
Hey, click on that fancy graphic to the right –>
The Vancouver Table Hockey Extravaganza is just two days away, and you could win a boatload of prizes. (At the time of writing, we have more prizes than registrants, so it’s a dang fine idea to get your name in the hat, y’all.) It’s only $25 and it benefits hungry people (Five Hole for Food) and sick children and their families (Canuck Place). Make a deposit in the karma bank, people, and you’ll reap rewards forever!
President of the Abbotsford Heat, ex-Vancouver Canuck and winner of the 1986 Stanley Cup as a member of the Montreal Canadiens, Ryan Walter gave us some time to chat about table hockey and play a few minutes in the Heat locker room.
What happened next may or may not have been totally scripted.
d) No, I don’t want your advice about how to lose that gut.
Thanks to Ryan Walter and his wife Jennifer, Hawkey and the person inside him, the Abbotsford Heat and of course the image man himself, Clint Trahan. Let’s not forget the voice of CBC Jim Hughson, who makes a cameo near the end! It was a ton of fun making the video; kudos all round!
The title says it all. Global Morning News anchors Steve Darling & Sophie Lui jumped on the table hockey game with Jason this morning, giving some TV love to our September 20-21 event.
Weatherman for the ages Mark Madryga and traffic reporter extraordinaire Kaitlyn Herbst jumped in on the action, too.
Darling proved to be the top performer of the bunch, scoring thrice and looking pretty comfortable at the controls despite not having played in decades. Lui performed admirably for her first time, and full points to Herbst for transferring her love of soccer defensive play into some solid table hockey puck stoppage.
Madryga? He couldn’t translate his hockey smarts into a goal until he lifted the game right up off the table, a clear violation of both table hockey rules and weatherman etiquette.
But we’ll let it go this time, as long as he comes out to the media challenge on September 20. As for you, you can register for the tourney for just $25 here. Proceeds from the event will benefit Canuck Place and Five Hole for Food.
A few months ago, when we said, “let’s set the world record for the longest table hockey game”, we seriously thought how hard could that possibly be?!?!?!?
*ahem* Yeah. Well. Lemme tell ya ’bout that.
To qualify for Guinness Book of World Records status, participants in a marathon table hockey game must play mano a mano with no substitutions. They must stand for the entirety of the competition, with just five minutes for bathroom breaks, gymnastic demonstrations and/or gladhanding allowed for every full hour completed.
It doesn’t sound like much at first. Thirty hours? Dude, I pulled that in college, like, every week. Then you think about it. That’s 30 straight hours — 1800 minutes — on your feet. No sitting, no lying down, no leaning with your back against the wall. Dude. Maybe I didn’t do that in college.
If you’ve been to a Whitecaps FC match, you know Marie Hui as the vocalist who shows off solid pipes prior to kick-off. She proves that you don’t need to add unnecessary trills or do vocal gymnastics to bring life to national anthems. Instead, she soaks O Canada and the Star Spangled Banner in soulful glee — you can feel the heart, and hear the smile in her every phrase.
Marie has agreed to sing O Canada on September 20 at the beginning of our World Record attempt for the longest table hockey game in history, so we invited her to False Creek to play a little puck with her home pitch BC Place as a backdrop. Turns out it was her first time. Like, ever.
“I can’t believe I’ve never played this before. It’s so much fun!” said Marie after trouncing a buddy of mine 2–0. “Seriously, can I play in the tournament?”
Sure, Marie, but you’ll have to register for $25 like everybody else. There are two main parts to the event at Robson Square. A group of World Record hopefuls will play for 30 hours straight, from Friday 1pm to Saturday at 7pm, to raise money for Canuck Place and food for Five Hole for Food. The tournament begins at 1pm on Saturday afternoon, with six players per table. The round robin guarantees five games per registrant — each game is five minutes long — with the top 64 players in the tournament moving on to the playoff round.
Marie is excited to be a part of the Extravaganza, singing the anthem before a World Record. But for the moment, she was more jacked about winning her first-ever game. “There’s no shame in losing to a girl, because, you know, I’m super-competitive,” said Marie. “But let’s be honest: he should be embarrassed losing to someone who’s never played before.”