It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2015 and welcome in 2016. At this time of year, it’s always fun to look back at all of the posts we’ve ran here on Puck Drunk Love and see which hockey stories caused the biggest buzz and resonated the most with readers.
Enjoy a look back at the 10 most popular posts from PDL in 2015!
10. Kings locked Darryl Sutter out of the dressing room – April 11th, 2015
The rift between the Kings and Sutter was a bizarre one. It was never really clear where the truth was, but the tale of the Kings locking Sutter out of the dressing room was too crazy for words. Did they actually lock him out? Was it really just a prank or something more? We’ll never know.
9. Colby Armstrong says playing with Phil Kessel was frustrating – July 9th, 2015
Kessel was the hot topic in Toronto for years. Everyone had an opinion, including Armstrong who stated it was challenging and frustrating playing with Kessel. Armstrong hasn’t been in the NHL in quite some time, but he offered some insight on how it can be … difficult skating with a good player?
8. Embarrassing Rangers fan boasts about how much he paid for tickets – May 30th, 2015
Every team has annoying and embarrassing fans. This Rangers fan raises the bar, bragging about how much he paid for tickets to Game 7. It’s not fair to judge a team or a group of fans based on just one fan, but holy cringe.
7. T.J. Oshie levels and fights Adam McQuaid – October 3rd, 2015
Oshie was eager to make a big impression with the Capitals and he did so by leveling McQuaid and then dropping the mitts. His hit was awesome, but he probably learned in a hurry to avoid fighting players like McQuaid.
6. Dion Phaneuf destroyed T.J. Oshie – March 7th, 2015
We love to highlight big hits here at PDL, and few were bigger than Phaneuf destroying Oshie in a game back near the end of 2014-15. Oshie later made headlines by being shipped to the Washington Capitals, but he made bigger news on PDL by getting up from this monster check.
5. Benn asks Demers if he likes to “Bunch Mox” on Twitter – July 16th, 2015
Summer brought a new word into the hockey vocabulary – Bunch Mox. This term – which we’ll let you figure out on your own – was used as a slam by Jamie Benn on Jason Demers. The great group which are hockey fans on Twitter propelled this into a hilarious run of images and Tweets, which pushed the post into the fifth spot on our list.
4. Three Calder Trophy candidates not named McDavid or Eichel – August 31st, 2015
All of the buzz heading into 2015-16 was on Connor McDavid. Whatever buzz was left went to Jack Eichel. It was assumed one of these two players would win the Calder with relative ease. While the hockey world focused on these two, a lot of talented young skaters also made their debut. Remarkably, some of the best rookies this season didn’t even make our list which shows how great the depth of young stars is this season.
3. Predators have a plan to stop Blackhawks fans from cheering during National Anthem – April 12th, 2015
We’ve run plenty of stories about how various teams are trying to keep Blackhawks fans out of their arena. This story was a bit different as the Predators tried to prevent Blackhawks fans from cheering during the singing of the National Anthem.
Their plan was to have the fans sing the anthem with the hopes that Blackhawks fans wouldn’t be disrespectful to those singing around them.
2. Five players who should rebound in 2015-16 – July 9th, 2015
Everyone loves a good comeback story and everyone loves to look into their crystal ball and forecast what will happen in the upcoming NHL season. We are no different and though we weren’t right on all of our guesses (boy, that Alexander Semin prediction missed high and wide), we still have a lot of fun doing it.
1. Mike Smith jumps over a puck to avoid making a save – March 3rd, 2015
This is still one of the strangest plays you’ll ever see. The puck was deflected early, which resulted in Smith leaping over a puck he should have easily stopped. Why was Smith jumping in the first place? Who knows, but it was a play which was so bizarre that fans continue to share Smith’s antics months after it took place.
