Missing History

So, uh, hi.

Welcome to The Bruised Brother. For those of you who don't immediately follow the allusion, it's an homage to the "Bruise Brothers" nickname given to the duo of Bob Probert and Joey Kocur who terrorized the NHL in the mid-late '80s as members of the Detroit Red Wings. Probert would end up having a much better scoring touch at the NHL level than Kocur, and Kocur would get his name on the Stanley Cup, but they both spent plenty of time pummeling people and sitting in the penalty box.

The blog name inspiration stems from these two things: my reading of Probert's autobiography Tough Guy: My Life on the Edge,* and my progression as a hockey player from know-nothing newbie to know-something plug. I really wish I were alive to have seen Probert play for the Red Wings, but at least I got to see Kocur on the Grind Line with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby en route to winning Stanley Cups. But the Bruise Brothers theme puts the stamp on this blog as a Red Wings blog.

Learning to play hockey's been a very rewarding and exciting and frustrating experience. I've yet to play full contact hockey, but even without that, I'm still going to bet there will be a few bumps or bruises, both literally and metaphorically, as I try to establish myself as a relevant player. (SPHL, here I come?)

I had another blog previously, and though it hasn't yet been deleted, it will be once I wipe the entire Google account associated with that particular blogspot. It chronicled my first year of skating and playing hockey, and while I looked back, at the encouragement of a friend, on the archives with fond memories, I really didn't find anything particularly worth keeping. So once that Google account is deleted, that whole record will be wiped from the face of the Internet.†

So consider this a continuation of that blog, if you followed it before. If not, welcome to the journey.

*In the wake of other notable NHL enforcer deaths--Wade Belak, Rick Rypien, and Derek Boogaard--the book is a great read for insight into the enforcer mindset. "I protect my teammates, not score." (Though Probert did plenty of scoring early in his career).

†Yes, I know this is the Internet, where nothing every truly dies.