True Life: I Am A NHL Mascot

Right now, Kevin is on vacation in Atlantic City wasting countless sums of money at blackjack and poker tables. In the meantime, some of the best and brightest from the hockey blogosphere will keep things under control. Today, BMR is proud to introduce [Adam and Derek] from [The Pensblog] as your linguistic overlord for the day.

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Huge thanks to Kevin for letting us do this today.
We'll wrap things up tonight with a recap of some NHL stuff.

In the meantime, we have no lives.

...............................................

BLADES THE BRUIN

He's too busy posing for borderline homoerotic pictures to care if you're starting a forest fire somewhere.




SABERTOOTH

The only pictures we could find of Sabertooth depicted him in the old uniforms.




YOUPPI
( means "Hooray!" in French )

Youppi is a beast.
He's the only mascot in North American sports history to be the mascot for two different teams.
The Canadiens adopted him when the Expos left Montreal.






SPARTACAT

"That's gay"




CARLTON THE BEAR

The old Maple Leafs Garden was on Carlton Street.
It looks like he's contemplating suicide.




THRASH

One of the top 5 pictures on the internet.




STORMY THE ICE HOG

A pig? What?
Some big wig for the Hurricanes made his fortune in the farming business.




STANLEY C. PANTHER

snore




SLAPSHOT

Former mascot: Owen Hart




THUNDERBUG

There are more recent pictures of Thunderbug, but we couldn't pass up this Mexican.




SPARKY THE DRAGON

He's on loan from an arena football team.




NJ DEVIL

Look out. It's a devil.




ICEBURGH

Iceburgh played a pivotal role in the 1995 thriller Sudden Death.

..............................................................................




TOMMY HAWK

For the love of God, don't Google Image search "tommyhawk" with safesearch off.




STINGER

What'd you expect?
Then again, what's the deal with an insect?
"Blue Jackets" is in reference to Civil War soldiers.




AL THE OCTOPUS

This is not so much a mascot as it is a prop.

Having an actual mascot wouldn't be feasible since no one goes to Red Wings games anymore.




It was either this or a picture of dustballs. But that is tacky.
Yeah, they're probably staying in Nashville, but it doesn't matter.




LOUIE THE BEAR

Solid. Name another mascot in sports that wears a suit.




WILD WING

The logical choice would have been Darkwing duck. Huge mistake.




BAILEY

Solid mascot. It is a shame the team it supports is so bad.





HOWLER

Janet Gretzky was turned down, so not bad for a second choice.





S.J. SHARKIE

All business.




HARVEY THE HOUND

If your name is Harvey. You are a joke. Simple as that.
Harvey found himself in a controversy when Oilers coach MacTavish pulled his signature tongue out in frustration during a game.
Kevin Lowe offered the tongue a 2-year, $6-mill deal.





HOWLER THE YETI

It kind of looks like that thing from the "Neverending Story."
You could really freak people out with that.




FIN THE WHALE

We are only using this picture because we want the courts to decide what happen here.

====================

The following teams do not have mascots.
So we decided to give them one.



They can't afford one because Kevin Lowe is running the show.
A good choice would be the Exxon Valdez.

But why not try something different.
The Oilers mascot:


What an actor


Next up are the Dallas Stars.



No idea what this could be.
Maybe an EXIT sign, since they make early first-round exits each year.



Easy one here:


Gordon Bombay.

You have to ask yourself, would Emilio really turn this down?



Somewhere along the line, you'd think someone would have made a mascot for the Rangers.
There are so many places you could go with this.

But in the end...

Teddy Ruxpin beats out the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.


Do it




And last, and always least, the Flyers.
We assume no one in Philly thought of getting a mascot, because people don't think out there.

Since the Flyer organization is a joke...


Doink the Clown

Tale of two locals: Rangers get it righted, Devs take it on chin

So far, it's been a tale of two very different nights for the locals in action tonight.

For Brent Sutter's first place Devils, it's been about as ugly as it was for Tom Renney's Rangers the other night in an brutal home defeat to the Coyotes.

It's been all Canucks out in what was billed as a classic goaltender battle between Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo.

The opening stanza wasn't bad aside from a surprise slapper from savvy veteran D Aaron Miller which deflected off Sergei Brylin past Brodeur for his first of the season off a faceoff win courtesy of Henrik Sedin.

There was also an entertaining scrap between Arron Asham and Mike Brown in which the former Islander came away with a bloody ear leaving the ice momentarily before returning like tough hockey players do.

However, as I got out of the shower, the Devils forgot to show for the middle stanza where they were outscored by three despite a 15-10 edge in shots. They were ahead 26-16 in that category thru 40 minutes of play but sometimes such stats can be very misleading.

Such was the case here as Ryan Kesler notched his ninth 69 seconds in off a turnover. It didn't take long for British Columbia favorite Trevor Linden to get into the act as 1:34 later his rocket of a slapper from inside the right blueline beat Brodeur high to the glove side for a three-goal Vancity lead.

Vancouver captain Markus Naslund broke a nine-game goal drought thanks to a tic-tac-toe goal execute by the Swedish veteran Canucks mainstay along with the magical Sedins who we still maintain are two of the most fun playmaking forwards to catch. So if you get a chance, don't pass it up unless you're with a hot chick. That takes priority. Duh.

Naslund was just setup again by the dynamic duo for his second of the night giving him #'s 12 and 13 in 2007-08.

So far, Luongo has stopped all 30 Devil shots. But the question in this space was how many did he really have to stand on his head for? Not enough.

It's Vancouver that's had the better of the play and generated better opportunities cashing them in despite 11 less shots with nearly 10 minutes remaining.

It isn't often the Devs are this outclassed. They were coming off a very nice 4-2 win over their Turnpike rivals the Flyers Sunday night at The Rock improving to 3-1 against a quality divisional foe.

But you have to figure the travel across the continent and not much time off contributed. Great scheduling there!

Now let's get to the better part of the night as the Rangers got back to the proactive approach Renney prefers. Solid in every zone paying attention to detail, they totally shutdown Sidney Crosby and the Pens in a 4-0 blanking- permitting only 18 shots as Henrik Lundqvist returned in goal to record probably the easiest shutout you'll ever see. He faced just five total shots in the first two stanzas.

So what went so right as opposed to Sunday's 5-1 beatdown at the hands of the Coyotes. Well, for starters, they competed. You noticed a real big difference in the defensive end. Lately, they had been allowing an un-Blueshirt like four-or-more to opponents and getting severely outworked along the boards.

Everytime a Pen had a step though Tuesday night, a Ranger was there to backcheck or break up a shot or play and move the puck the other way. This hadn't been the case for a while and explains why they bottomed out Sunday.

The newly formed lines by Renney clicked. Almost immediately, it paid dividends as an aggressive Scott Gomez was the beneficiary of a Martin Straka rebound getting to it for the game's first goal just 72 seconds in.

The crafty pivot was flying all night with Straka and a more aggressive Jaromir Jagr (assist, plus-two).

They outshot the Pens 10-3 in the first giving up zilch but led by only one due to an anemic power play which came to life later on. But first, Gomez was once again stationed in front when rookie blueliner Marc Staal's left point wrister was deflected home by Straka for his fifth giving them an all important two-goal lead halfway through.

Like the first goal, it was off hard work with guys more determined getting to the net. When's the last time you could say that realistically about this team?

Gomez had been reluctant to shoot all night despite a team best seven SOG. He had been backing up the Pens D and overpassing in the first period. Finally, he wisely threw the puck towards the net from the left hash trying for Brendan Shanahan and caught a break as it caromed past Dany Sabourin for Gomer's second of the night at 13:21. An actual power play goal! Imagine that.

They had outshot the Pens by seven in the first. Well, the second was even better as they held an 11-2 edge with one gigantic stop by Lundqvist off a Pens' two-on-one in which Crosby was too close to one-time it in but the puck went off his skate as King Henrik dove on top of it.

You just knew after the first 40, even with the Pens' fire power, this one was over. That's how well the Rangers played. Sure. The Pens predictably got more shots (13) than they had in the first couple of periods. But for all intensive purposes, Lundqvist wasn't forced to stand on his head much the way Luongo wasn't in getting his fifth shutout in a 5-0 win over New Jersey which just concluded.

When Chris Drury snuck a backhand past Sabourin off a broken play for a PPG with 7:40 left, it put a cap to a very successful night for New York as they pulled within two of first place Jersey and most importantly, rediscovered their game.

Now we'll see if they can carry it forward as they head out to the midwest for a brief two-game trip starting Thursday in Minnesota and ending Friday at Colorado before returning Sunday night to host conference leader Ottawa.

None of these opponents will be easy. But maybe that's what the Rangers need as they seem to pick up their play against stiffer competition.

Other pluses:

-Michal Rozsival notched a career high three helpers.
-Ryan Hollweg was reinserted into the lineup on the fourth line and played a spunky game with several hits and agitated the Pens. Overall, that line was effective drawing a couple of penalties.
-Nigel Dawes looked good with Drury and Shanahan on the second line hitting Evgeni Malkin while drawing the ire of Sid the Kid.
-The PK killed off all five Pittsburgh power plays without breaking a sweat.
-Staal was re-teamed with Rozy while Jason Strudwick and Paul Mara reunited and played solid as did Fedor Tyutin and Dan Girardi.
-Marek Malik was a healthy scratch. It's time to get rid of Big Bird. He's got to have some value as despite what critics say, he does log 19-20 minutes and can play PK. There has to be a taker with him in his last year. D are always are in need.

Negatives:

-Ryan Callahan only saw 5:09 of ice-time despite being very active in his shifts on a third line with Brandon Dubinsky and Petr Prucha. Why??? Don't tell me Marcel Hossa takes Cally's spot.
-Prucha again only had one SOG. Good god. Is it that hard to get shots? He played over 12 minutes. I get that he works hard but two goals and 44 shots in 33 games doesn't cut it. Especially for a guy who tallied 52 (30 in '05-06) in his first two seasons. I'm losing patience here.



Congrats to former New Jersey and current Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire on career win No.1,000. His team did it by rallying from two down after two periods to comeback and defeat the Predators 3-2 in regulation with team captain Brian Rolston tallying the winner with 68 ticks left to complete the comeback.

Congratulations to one of the best coaches this game has!
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He must be a South Pole Elf

Glove tap to Boondock for this link (and idea). I laughed my jingle bells off. I've now gone and made my own. Unfortunately I couldn't add a voice, as the line was down for maintenance, but it would have said this:

"Scorcoff, San Fernando in the...shootout! Scorcoff, San Fernando in the...shootout! Scorcoff, San Fernando in the...shootout! Scorcoff, San Fernando in the...shootout! Scorcoff, San Fernando in the...shootout! Scorcoff, San Fernando in the...shootout!"

Say it really fast! Scorcoffsanfernando in the...shootout! Scorcoffsanfernando in the...shootout! Nice. You get the drill.

Guess what? What? I'm going to the game Tuesday night! Yeah! So I won't be around to comment during the game. Boo. As for my prediction, well, you just yelled it. You sound so smart. Here's a little game we can play, though. A game?

Yes, I thought of it while crying tears of joy on the floor after the game Saturday night (more to come on that, btw, if Loxy ever gets off her sass). She smells like cheese. List your top-five favourite Oilers, right now. All-time? Current players only. But you said someone twice? He moves me so. Who are those guys? I only use nicknames, because I'm awesome. Oh. Awesome!

1) San Fernando
2) Scorcoff
3) Gilbert Gilbert
4) uPitquitous
5) San Fernando

Now let's fight about who is right all day long. It will certainly be you, Andy Grabia!

GOILERS!! GOILERS!!! GOILERS!!!









Hey, you still here? Lucky you. You get to watch this video of Mr. Glass talking about his return to action. Note Jim Matheson grinning his face off at the beginning of the video. Cool, eh? So cool!







Still here? Alright...one more. Now watch the video of Schrödinger's Torres talking about his injury. Note the Gene Principe grimace at the start, Dave Mitchell from CFRN still hogging all the question time, and The Talented Mr. Samwise undressing in the background. Sexy, eh? Ew, why's he always wearing the same red ginch?
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Bettman's Not Going Anywhere, So Let's All Move On

Right now, Kevin is on vacation in Atlantic City wasting countless sums of money at blackjack and poker tables. In the meantime, some of the best and brightest from the hockey blogosphere will keep things under control. Today, BMR is proud to introduce Sean Leahy from Going Five Hole as your linguistic overlord for the day.

Hi folks. Your fearless leader Kevin is currently "making it rain" in Atlantic City right now, so I'll be blog-sitting today (Wipe your feet!). While Kevin is probably sitting at a Blackjack table right now with his good buddy Jeremy Roenick, I'd like to share my thoughts on everyone's favorite Commissioner, Gary Bettman.

Yes, yes I know, you don't like Gary Bettman. Heard it all before.

"He's an NBA guy." Sure, yes okay.

"Bettman isn't in it for the fans." Blah, blah, blah.

Let's put this to rest right now people: Gary Bettman is not going anywhere.

Ok, are we done? Can we stop whining about him? I'm not a Bettman-apologist, I'm just a realist. I don't agree with many of the things that's happened during his tenure as commissioner, but I've come to terms that ultimately, Bettman's status as commissioner is up the owner's, with whom he works for and not the fans.

If you are one of Gary Bettman's 30 bosses, you've got to be pretty happy with the little guy. He's seen revenues go into the billions and expanded into non-traditional markets which (so far) have worked for a number of years. Bettman also "won" the lockout for the owner's, implementing salary cap restrictions for each team, thereby allowing the teams to generate more profits.

The bottom line: Gary Bettman is making the owner's, his bosses, money and they have to like that.

Sure, during his tenure there's been two work stoppages, including one that wiped out an entire season, but there's no use bitching, because he will be commissioner next year and the year after and the year after and so on. As long as the owner's pockets are fattening, Bettman will still be charge of the and there really isn't anything we as fans can do about it.

What we can do as fans is continuing supporting the game we love and continue throwing out ideas to improve the league and the game in general. Fans hated ties, so the shoot-out was born. Fans wanted open-ice hockey, so the red-line was eliminated. Our voices are being heard and the is probably the most fan-friendly league out there. It's really up to us to help improve the game. If we want to see'ers in the 2014 Olympics in Moscow, I think we could make it happen if fans were loud enough.

You may hate Gary Bettman to no end, but it's time to move past that. Time to concentrate on something feasible. Time to start picketing against those ugly new Canucks uniforms.
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Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window

...the pay-per-view stylings of Roger Millions and Charlie Simmer? Nah. The Flames are in St. Louis at 4PM MT, but I think I'll just catch parts on the radio and cross my fingers.

Calgary's four straight road wins (and points in 7 straight) have gotten them back into the thick of it. Next step is to work their way into the glob of teams currently 2nd-to-7th, starting tonight (I assume we can all agree that while finishing 8th would be better than 9th, it's a sub-sub-optimal seeding in the Western Conference). The Flames played what was probably their best game of the year against St. Louise at home 12 days ago, outshooting them 37-14 over the final ~50 minutes, and pressuring wave after wave after wave.

Today's primary concern: a Southeast Division hangover. Florida looked pretty good, I thought (enough that I will happily predict they win the SE this year), but Carolina and Tampa look to have serious problems. SE teams are 36-49-7 this season against the other 5 divisions; that's a Win% that gets you into the draft lottery.

Today's secondary concern: was Kipper just tired against the Hurricanes? The Adams goal was the worst he's allowed all season; the Larose goal was no snipe either. Considering the 'Canes had 36 shots, they had surprisingly few good scoring chances. I think the answer to the question is "Yes", but we'll see.

Metrognome covers St. Lou's recent struggles, the debut there of Andy-Mac and the insertion of Primeau back into the lineup (keep your stick off of blue things and you'll be fine, Wayne!). I cover the fearless prediction.

Calgary 2 (Primeau, Iginla)
Mound City 1 (who else?)

Go Flames.
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No Place Without You. Chapter Three.

Written by: lady_lilith and lady_death.

Title: No Place Without You. Chapter Three.
Fandom: NHL: Dallas Stars.
Characters: Mike Modano, Brenden Morrow.
Word Count: 2,612.
Rating: PG.
Summary: A little pillow talk is good for the soul.
Author's Notes: This is set on November 19, 2006, a day off. It was inspired by me finding Mike’s 94 rookie card in a pile of old cards.


"Come on, you've got to laugh about it." Laughs more.

"It's so funny. Being ancient."

"No, you're not ancient, you've...been around the block once, twice, a dozen times." Snickers.

"Shut up."

Gasping, "What? You can't find it funny? Laugh, you'll feel better. Laughter keeps you young."

"You'd know. You're twelve."

"Hey! I at least hit fifteen."

Scoffs, "You're a child. I should be embarrassed."

"I should be embarrassed for dating Father Time. Lighten up."

"Fuck you, lighten up." Starts to snicker. "You're the one that attacked me when you got here."

"The sign didn't say don't feed the wild animals?" Tackles him, fingers digging into his sides to tickle.

Laughs, letting himself be tackled, flipping them over. "You feed 'em once, you keep 'em."

"Oof!" His hands still continue to move, "So it was really your own problem."

"Not my problem at all. You started it. And now I know it was because you had posters!"

Laughs, so that his whole body shakes, "Yeah, if I didn't have those, I would have been so lost when I got here."

"You decided who you wanted to conquer, huh?"

"Oh yeah, I made up a hit list. I wasn't even worried about making the team."

Scoffs, "Well, that wasn't up for question. It was more about if you could get me."

"Maybe you were at the bottom of the list."

Scoffs, pinning him down with a sudden hard kiss.

"Mmm...bottom's not a bad place to be."

"You've never had a complaint."

"Oh I bitch and whine when you're not lookin'."

"I know. I get to hear all the complaints about you."

"What? Who doesn't love me?"

A look, "No one else better love you."

"Everybody should love me. I'm very loveable."

Another look. Growling, "Mine."

"You gonna hurt people for looking?"

"Yes."

"Oh yeah, I fucking like that look. Now, what are these complaints?"

Smirks, "Not allowed to say."

"Of course you can!"

Smirks more, says nothing.

"Your loyalty is to me first above everybody."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, that's what I think. That's what you think too."

"You know what I'm thinking?"

"On this subject, you're knowable."

"So you keep trying to tell me." Laughs.

"Okay, I did some telling. Go on, you do some telling. Like these phantom complaints."

"Maybe they're not even real."

"Didn't I say that? Nobody would complain about me."

"Must not be."

Laughs, "Having fun fucking with me?"

"I always seem to."

"Do you remember how to laugh now?"

"I might."

"Who did you have? Poster-wise, back in the day."

"I'm not that pathetic." Smirks.

"Everybody had posters. You're still included in everybody, Mike."

"I know. I'm just not telling."

"Fuck you, share. I can ask your mother."

"Nope." Smirks.

"I'm serious. Telling embarrassing stories about you is one of her duties in life. Either you spill or she will."

"She'll put it up on the site."

Laughs, "You don't want that."

"No one sees it anyway."

"People see it, that's why they call it the 'world wide internet'."

"I wonder how much I'd have to kiss you to get you to forget all about this."

"Won't work. I wanna know who you put up on your walls and dreamed about at night."

"You dreamed about me?"

"You can't get out of telling me that easy."

"No, go back to that."

"What? That wasn't covered in the fantasy conversation?"

"Well, that's thought. But dreams? That's kinda freaky."

"Hey, I was young, they were pornographic. I told you, I got over it when I met you."

"I feel so cheap."

"Oh, are your feelings hurt?" Snickers, "I'll make you feel better, I got over it, because in person it was pretty clear you were way out of my league."

"Oh? Well, that does help."

Shoves him, "And, like that was what you were supposed to respond with."

"I am out of your league!"

"This looks pretty in my league!"

"Well, now."

"You said am. 'I am out of your league'."

"Oh, well . . . you know what I meant."

"No. I guess I didn't."

"Are your feelings hurt now?"

"Do you care about the little people from way up there?"

Laughs, leaning down to kiss him again, this time slowly.

Pushes him away, "I'm out of your league."

A look. "Don't make me take you."

"Yeah, so you can slum it?"

"Shut up." Pinning him harder, taking the kiss he was trying to get before.

Bites down on his lip, pulling away again, "No. If that's what you think about me."

"Ow! Hey." Licking his lip. "Brat. You just want me to talk about how I feel about you."

"No! I just found out that you don't respect me."

"Oh come on."

"You haven't said different. That was one of those slips!"

"Give me a break, Brenden. I am crazy in love with you. What does that tell you?"

Crosses his arms, "I don't know what it tells me."

"What do you want to hear?"

"The truth."

"I love you."

"Even though I'm in a different league?"

"You're not in a different league."

"Which one am I in?"

"Mine. Wherever I am."

"Show me."

"I tried to, you bit me!"

"I was mad at you! You deserved it!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"Brenden, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Okay?"

"Yeah, I knew that." Grins, "Now kiss me like that."

Kisses him as requested, taking his time to make sure the message comes across.

"Oh, that's why I love you."

"Yeah, that's why."

"Too fuckin' perfect for your own good."

"Well, I have to deserve you." Smirks.

Grins, "Well I'm not going to hand my whole life over to just anybody."

"You had time to decide. What other posters did you have? Who was my competition?"

"Brett Hull and Forsberg."

"Hmm, tough. Good thing you didn't go to Colorado."

"You're really lucky I didn't take up with Brett when I got here. You just came around in Juniors. He was like, my boyhood idol."

"Oh, the truth comes out. I wasn't even your first pick."

"You kicked his ass in real life."

"How do you know?"

Laughs, "Did you? 'Cause I meant list wise. You blew him away."

"List wise?"

"Yeah, like once I met you and I met him, it was obvious who was better."

Raising an eyebrow, "How met?"

"You know, met. Shook hands, welcome aboard, kid."

"Uh huh."

"Hey, I was only one guy's rookie."

"Yeah? Didn't make the rounds of the posters?"

"Oh, yeah. I had him autograph it afterwards."

"You are a freak for even saying that."

"I bet that happens!" Laughs, "That ever happen to you after you fucked somebody?"

Shrugs.

"That's not a no."

"Strange things happen."

Laughs out loud, "That's...."

"When you were a rookie, you would have."

"No I wouldn't have."

"Well, you were plotting to steal my job the whole time anyway."

"Yeah, I started my coup for day one. Plus, you sleep with me I don't need your autograph, I just need you."

"Addict."

"No detox for it."

"Don't even try."

Lifts his head up, to catch his mouth, "I'm in withdrawal."

"Mmm, gotta get your fix." Kisses him again, moving completely on top of him.

"That's what I'm here for, just one of those hopeless cases that can't be helped."

"Keep it that way. I couldn't stop loving you if I tried."

"You're trying? I'll kick his ass, if anyone ever tries to get you to."

"I might lie just to see you do it."

"Anybody ever tries to make a move, I wanna know."

"Yes, sir, Captain." Snickers.

Groans, "I'm gonna pretend that wasn't said to mock me."

"No, really, don't even pretend."

"I have to pretend, so I don't wanna hit you."

"You don't want to hit me. You love me." Laughs.

"That doesn't get you out of everything."

"Actually it does. That, and the fact that I can make you forget what you were talking about."

"You know how unethical that is? Abuse of power."

"Turn me in."

"Citizen's arrest."

"Now what will you do?" Grins down at him.

"I should probably handcuff you to something so you don't get away."

"Hmm, that's an idea." Sits up a little, grabbing his wrists and pinning his arms over his head. "Like this?"

"I think you got it backwards, who was getting arrested."

"Well, maybe. But go with it. What else?"

Laughs, "Could be concealing dangerous weapons. Search is probably in order."

Looks to his right and left, "Nothing to tie these down." Indicates his wrists. "Keep 'em there."

"Just cause you say?" Crosses his wrists, and leaves them where they are.

Nods, sliding his hands slowly down his body, concentrating on feeling him, really touching everything, his complete attention on learning from every touch.

Watches him as he moves over his body, mouth falling open, subconsciously licking his lips, "F-find anything, dangerous?"

Quietly, "Not sure yet. I need to keep searching." Leans down to kiss him. The same as his hands, the kiss is exploring and learning all over again.

Unable to keep his hands motionless, buries them in Mike's hair, while he returns the kiss.

Shivers, speaking very softly, "Dangerous." A breath. "I think I forgot who was supposed to be silenced."

"You have to be ready for a little resisting arrest."

"I don't see any resisting."

Feels along his body, "You don't even have me secured. I could take your weapon."

"You were supposed to keep your hands there."

Grins, "I'm resisting. Can you handle it?"

"Mmm, I think I am."

"You'll never bring me in like that."

Kisses down to his neck and shoulder, murmuring, "I have you. I don't have to take you. You'll turn yourself in."

"Yeah, I'll do that, you know, from the goodness of my own heart. I'm a fuckin' criminal."

"I don't see a lot of resisting, though. You're a pretty calm criminal."

Attempts to roll them over to land on top, "I'm never calm."

"Calm, almost listless." Lets him land on top, but keeps hold, now wrapping his arms around him.

Sits up, straddling him, pinning down his shoulders, "I'm one badass mother fucker, don't fuckin' forget it."

Laughs, but quickly clears his throat.

"I could fuck you up if I wanted."

"Mmm, you could."

"I spill blood all the time. You wanna be next?"

"You're sweet and gentle, I don't believe you could."

Kisses him roughly, "I could bite you again."

"Mmm, I could like that."

"You aren't allowed to enjoy it."

"Oh. Right. How terrible!"

Starts laughing, "Good thing they don't let you act."

"Shut up. We're having a moment."

"Stick with the script then."

"What's my line?"

"You're afraid, very afraid."

"Oh, right. Terrified."

Falls onto his back laughing.

"Well, it's not my fault you're not scary!"

"Ask the people we play, I'm very scary!"

Laughs, turning to his side, "You're not. I don't care who I ask. You're not."

"If you had to fight me, you'd sing a different tune."

"I'd cheat."

"Yeah, how would you do that?"

Kisses him.

"Mmm, yeah, you can't do that on the ice."

"I might, if there was fighting."

"It'd ruin your image."

"And your marriage."

"Well that'd go in the positive column."

"You could always leave her."

A look. "I couldn't get out of marrying her."

"That's because 'Daddy' picked you."

Cringes, "Please don't fuckin' say it like that."

"Y'know what? I picked you too. Means more."

"Yeah, you did. Means a lot more."

"And I know how to treat you, too."

"I want to see some of this treatment."

"You have been." Moves closer to him, just running his hand over him, touching lightly. Quietly, maybe not realising he's saying it out loud, "Mm, I'm so lucky."

Smiles, "Can I get in on that? I'm just as lucky."

"What?"

"Being lucky, I am too."

"Said that out loud, did I?"

"Yeah, didn't mean too, huh?"

"I meant it, just didn't know I said it. I am the luckiest guy in the world."

"No. Sorry, you can't be."

"I can so."

"Nope. Somebody got there before you."

"Okay, fine. Since you took my team, you are luckier than me."

Laughs, "I was luckier without the team."

"Nope. Before that, I had the guy, the kid, the team and no wife."

"Hey, you can't use that last one."

"Can so."

"No. It's' really low."

"But true."

"Yeah, but you cannot bring it up."

"Yes, I can. I have the right. And I can bring up taking you in the bathroom at the reception. Because that just brightens any conversation."

Closes his eyes, his breath picking up, "Yeah, that was really good. That fuckin' day was....but you and me."

"Might have been the best we ever had, that day. You know what? You are the luckiest guy."

"To have you to keep me sane?"

"Yeah. That you have the kind of guy that would not only go to your wedding, but make it a good day."

"You made the rest of it not shit. Or at least kept me from wanting to hang myself in the hotel. That whole thing was --- is so fucked up."

"Go back to thinking about the bathroom."

"Yeah, the one time I really smiled all day was when I came out of there."

"I know. No, you smiled at my hand under the table, too."

"Yeah, so I smiled a lot at you." Clutches him a little tighter, "Was fuckin' scared."

"It wasn't so bad."

"Yeah, it fuckin' was. I thought I was gonna lose you at the time."

Makes a face, "No you didn't."

"You don't fuckin' know. I didn't know how it was going to work."

"Who cared how it was going to work? We knew damn well that it was going to work."

"Maybe you did. But that day was fuckin' terrifying."

"That's why I did what I did. Why I was there even if I didn't want to be, why we made love in the bathroom, why I made sure you knew damn well that it was going to work fine."

"You're going to keep doing that, right? Because some days I'm not the luckiest guy in the world. Sometimes you're all I got."

"That is why you're the luckiest." Smiles.

"Just having you?" Laughs, "I should argue, but I wanna believe that."

"And my team. Me and my team."

"Still your team."

"I still know that."

"You share your team with me, damn I'm lucky."

"I share my everything with you."

"I give a lot back."

"Like what?"

"My kid, me..." Laughs, "My team."

Laughs, kissing him gently, "My team. My kid. My you. Still don't see what you're offering up."

"They're only yours because I gave them to you."

"And if you didn't? Still would be mine."

"I don't see how that works."

"You think you gave you to me?"

"That's usually how it works."

Laughs, "Sure you did."

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"Maybe I seduced you."

"Oh yeah? I don't remember it."

"So you do admit you jumped me? See? I was right."

"No. Just your seduction must not have been memorable."

Shoves him, "Get out of my bed."

Laughs and moves closer to him. "My bed."

"Our bed." Kisses him.

"Yeah, that's right. Can't kick me out."

"Brenden?"

"Yeah, Mike?"

"Forever."

"That all you got?"

"That's it."

"Guess, I'll have to take it then."

"Guess you will."

"I love you."

Smiles. "That all you got?"

"Is it enough?"

"More than enough."

"That's everything then."

"We're pretty lucky."

"Really couldn't ask for much more."

Kisses him slowly, honestly.

"Mike, just like this, okay?"

"Forever."

No Place Without You. Chapter One.

Written by: lady_lilith and lady_death.

Title: No Place Without You. Chapter One.
Fandom:: Dallas Stars.
Characters: Mike Modano, Brenden Morrow.
Word Count: 490.
Rating: PG.
Summary: Mike doesn't react like a grown up.
Author's Notes: This is set on September 29, 2006, the day that it was announced that Brenden would be taking over the Captaincy from Mike.


There's commotion at his door, "Mike?"

No reply.

Pulls out his keys, opening the door, calling out his name again, "Mike?"

No reply.

Wandering through the house, finally comes upon him on the couch. Places a hand on his shoulder, "Mike?"

His eyes closed, "Move your hand."

"You've got a problem with my hand?"

"At the moment, yes."

"Mike. It wasn't done to hurt you."

"That's nice."

Sighs, taking his hand away, "Look at me."

Opens his eyes, turning towards him.

"How was I going to tell them 'no'?"

"How about 'no'?"

"They talked to you first."

"I know."

"It's still your team."

"I know."

"Then the letter doesn't matter, eveyone on the team knows." Kneels down next to the couch, moving in to kiss him.

Moves away just enough to let him know he won't let him.

"Mike. Stop this."

"Excuse me?!"

"Stop, okay. Get pissed off later. It's been a bad week."

"Must be horrible for you."

"Yeah, to have you like this, it is."

"You could have said no."

"They didn't want me to say no. How would I explain no?"

"You're always talking, you could have come up with something."

"How would I explain it with her? It just happened, but it's only on paper."

"I don't care."

Slumps down on the floor, turning with his back up against the couch, "You're mad at me?"

"Yes."

"Because I should have said no."

"Yes."

"You're going to stay that way a while."

"Yes."

"And I can't help make you forgive me faster."

"No."

"You want an apology?"

"You won't mean it."

"I mean it, I am sorry."

"No, you're not."

"Yeah, I fucking am."

"You would have said no, if you were."

"I wouldn't have to apologise if I said no."

"You're playing word games."

"No. That's the truth. You wouldn't be mad if I said no."

"If you really felt sorry, you wouldn't have done it in the first place. And that's the truth."

"I can't be sorry, now?"

"Too little, too late."

"I wasn't looking to steal your show."

"You did."

"It's not like I was plotting this."

Shrugs.

"Not talking to me?"

"Nothing to say."

"I should go."

"Yes."

His shoulders slump more, "Am I allowed to come back?"

"I don't know."

"Mike, I wouldn't have if I'd known it would go like this. With you, and the papers, and everything."

"How could you not know? You think it would be a big secret? Or happen subtly?"

"No, I don't know. I wasn't thinking right about it."

"You're young, you're not stupid."

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

Silence.

Stands, fiddling with his keys, leaving the house key on the couch next to him. "I'm sorry." Starts to walk away.

Not moving, "Keep the key."

"You forgive me, you can give it back."

Closes his hand around the key, but says nothing.

Looks back at him, sighing, and then dragging himself out of the room.
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