The Penguins Select...

Quebecois defensemen Simon Despres in the first round of the NHL Repêchage (Draft) tonight in Montreal. Although not as adorable as most of the teammates he's going to join (in a couple of years, so maybe he'll cuten up by then), at 6' 3", 210 lbs, this kid is a force to be reckoned with. Although, if I have learned anything from this, my first year of watching the NHL draft, it's that all hockey players, no matter how slim, have huge asses. They almost look fake. They're unreal, like...every overindulged housewife's dream. Except in the back. And down farther.

Ahem. Anyways. A nice surprise was our very own Kristopher LeTang, a native Montreal...ian (?) was there to enjoy the draft atmosphere. The year Kris was drafted was after the lockout, so he didn't have the special joy of sweating it out in front of an arena full of strangers- he had to do it at home in front of the telephone.

"It was great to get drafted. I wish I could have been there. I've been watching the draft since I was really young. It's a great experience and you want to live through those. That's why I came today to live that."

Aw what a cutie. Honestly, he could of said he came because he wanted to pull a Carrie and lock all the doors and burn everyone inside, and I would have sighed with love. He is just too adorable.

I need to snap out of it. At least until hockey season starts in the fall. More updates after tomorrow nights' selection.

-CE

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In an effort to watch a little Sports Soup on Versus, I stumbled upon a little bit of NHL draft. The first thing that came to mind was : "Wow, poor hockey."

As we mentioned earlier, the NBA draft started Thursday night with Blake Griffin being drafted by the LA Clippers (yes, LA has another basketball team.)

The clippers are always last and have never had a following, because everyone is a Laker fan, duh. This got me thinking, is Blake Griffin the Sidney Crosby for the Clippers? Hockey is like that the son who has a chess match during the state championship for football. You want to watch both, and chess has insanely passionate followers, but most people (before watching chess) would go with football.

As someone who was recently turned on to hockey (or chess...), I wish there was a more mainstream outlet for others to get a chance to see. Versus isn't that popular, my mom thought it was Logo, the gay, lesiban and transgender channel for a while.

On that note, maybe hockey and chess deserve more ESPN Sportscenter love.

-TM