Hockey for the Ladies

This week's "eye candy" is dedicated to my buddy, Kena from "Girls are Reals Sports Fans Too" blog, who has it as bad for Staalsy as I do for Crosby (so we can pretty much relate to each other as I'm sure all of you can as well). I decided to begin with a preface so that you'll understand why this post will end up being 50+ pages long and has 100 zillion pictures (it was a little friendly bet we had going and I promised her the most awesome Staal "eye candy" post ever as long as she'd go an entire week without looking at anything related to or pictures of Jordan; so you Staal lovers out there are in for real treat and will benefit from her week-long agony as well -- you can all thank her!)!! However, I am hoping that the mere sight of this post doesn't cause her to go deaf, dumb, and blind -- I suppose we'll have to wait and see (but if I know Kena, I'm sure she'll tell us it would all be worth it)!!

Since she's having such severe withdrawal symptoms, I feel it's only right to start off with a HOT picture of Jordan (which is why I posted the pic above, but let's post another one -- the one below is from the year he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006) -- I think it's a pretty good picture!! Kena, please don't stare at it too long because I don't want you to go blind right off the bat before you have the chance to get to the end of this "hottie" - you'll be missing out on alot more good stuff! OK?!!
Jordan was only a few months shy of his 18th birthday when he was drafted by the Penguins during the first round (2nd overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

Before he was drafted, Jordan started his hockey career playing 2 seasons with the Petersborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League from 2004-2006 during which time he was selected to play in the OHL All-Star Game for the 2005-2006 season.

Let's move on to some Staalsy background / bio information. As all of you probably already know, Jordan is one of 4 boys in the Staal family who are all hockey players. His older brother Eric was the first to be drafted in the NHL and led the way for the rest of them. He currently plays for the Carolina Hurricanes. Next, Marc was drafted by the New York Rangers and then Jordan by the Pittsburgh Penguins. His brother Jared is the youngest of the four and played for the Sudbury Wolves in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), but was more recently drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2008 NHL draft.

Jordan grew up on his family's sod farm in Thuder Bay, Ontario which is most likely where he began to develop those bulky muscles of his. Did anyone else notice he has the strength of brick shithouse? This was originally brought to our attention by Sidney Crosby who once mentioned that Jordan has amazing strength and is built like a tree. Have any of you seen opponents try to push him off his skates? It's usually quite amusing but not so pretty for them -- hardly affects Jordan at all and the opposing player usually bounces off him and hits the ice hard. The only players I've ever seen take Jordan off his skates and land him on his ass was his older brothers, Eric and Marc!! I guess after all those years, you learn a trick or two about "laying out" your brother when no one else is successful at it.

Jordan and his brothers were also fortunate enough to have their dad build an outdoor ice rink that they could practice skating and playing hockey (and killing each other) on which may have given them an advantage over the competition and enabled them all to become NHL-caliber hockey players. The rink was 100 feet by 50 feet and included accessories such as boards and lights. Jordan describes it as "huge" and "amazing" and explains that he and his brothers were outside on the ice every waking minute, but none of them ever realized it would lead to careers.

It was pretty intense -- a few elbows thrown, some sticks thrown across the rink and stuff. It was usually me and Marc against Eric and Jared, and we definitely didn't want to lose.

Jordan is quite tall at 6'4" (210 pounds) and has the benefit of a long reach which is why the Pittsburgh Penguin TV color commentator and Penguin alumni, Bob Errey, dubbed him with the name "pterodactyl" (I have no idea where that came from, but whatever). Other nicknames he's known by: Staalsy, the Gronk (here's a whole FSN segment about this one!).

Some other facts you may not know about Jordan:

• the first time he played against his older brother, Eric, they had a bet on one of the draws they had against each other for a Gatorade and Jordan lost so he had to take Eric a Gatorade after the game.
• everyone says that out of the four boys that Jordan is the biggest "mama's boy," but he disagrees and points the finger at his youngest brother Jared.
• his craziest fan experience was when he had a signing in a Pittsburgh store that was scheduled for an hour, but ended up lasting 1-1/2 hours and there were still 100's of people waiting in line that went right outside the mall; as he left people tried to grab him "and stuff" and he was honored to have that kind of a fan base.
• he won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2007 World Championships
• he LOVES to chew on his mouthpiece (well, you may know that; you actually can't miss it - he does it all the time)!!

As I come to the end of this post, now I probably know more about Jordan Staal than I do about my own hockey man, Sidney Crosby, and I have Kena to thank for that! For the "grande finale," I include the new Jordan Staal FSN commercial which Kena has not seen yet, so ENJOY!!

However, Kena (and all the rest of you Staalsy lovers), if this still isn't enough of a post, here are some additional links to read / see more on your own!!

ARTICLES:

Penguins Notebook: Staal Understands Sod Problems (November 28, 2007)

Sports Illustrated: Farm Fresh, NHL Ready (October 30, 2006)

VIDEO:

Inside Penguins Hockey, Episode 10 - Taffe and Staal (February 11, 2008)

YouTube: Jordan Staal vs. Matt Pettinger (October 20, 2007)

YouTube: NHL - The Staal Brothers

YouTube: NHL Road Trip Commercial (Eric and Jordan pillow fight)

YouTube: Staal Pillow Fight (uncut version scene)
Nike Bauer Collection (really GOOD videos!!) --

YouTube: Staal Family Weekend

YouTube: Staal Family Interview

YouTube: Golfing with the Staals

YouTube: Shooting Galley in Staal Family Barn

YouTube: Wall of Fame in Staal Family Basement

And MORE PHOTOS (because I just couldn't fit them all into the post!):