At the risk of sounding like a girl...

Yes, it's HBOTW day. No, you're not crazy. No, it's not Thursday. Yes, it's Friday. I was planning on waiting another week before bringing this back because I didn't want it to step on the toes of Mascot Mania. At work this morning, I received this:

From: Abby
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 11:03 AM
To: Leslie
Subject:

Umm soo… I didn’t get the link for HBOTW yesterday :( Not going to lie my smile faded slightly as I logged onto my email today and did not see it…

I'm hoping this will satisfy her need for hockey boys for this week and that she will appreciate my multi-tasking abilities. I hadn't really been worrying about who the next HBOTW would be because I figured I had another week to think about it. Because last night's game is still fresh on my brain, I'm going to do something that I try not to do. I typically try not to be too Red Wings-centric, as hard as that is for me, but today? I don't care. Today's HBOTW: Patrick Eaves. Because my favorite thing in the world? Dark-haired, scruffy hockey-playing boys. But I had to check in with Abby because she's in charge today...

From: Leslie
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 1:11 PM
To: Abby
Subject: heyyyyyy

Since I’m writing this FOR YOU… I don’t remember what kind of hockey guys you always say you like: the pretty ones or the scruffy ones? (Please say scruffy… please say scruffy…) I’m trying to remember what you said in the great Zach and Jordan Parise debate.

From: Abby
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 1:12 PM
To: Leslie
Subject: RE: heyyyyyy

Definitely Scruffy! :)

Is he manly enough for ya? He looks very intense and focused and I like that. The beard is a nice touch as well. It's not too sparse and not too full; it is just the right amount.

Even with that ridiculous uniform, he still looks good and surprisingly happy for having to live in Ottawa. Here's an interesting note: Patrick Eaves was born in Calgary but raised in the US. He holds dual citizenship. Oh my god, it's like the best of both worlds! He's Canadian AND he's American!? That makes him like super-human, I think.

I'm really loving to Draper-Helm-Eaves line that's been playing lately and I'm hoping that Eaves really steps up and makes a name for himself. With everyone coming back from injury, it's going to be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks and who is still going to be playing with the Wings in March and beyond.

So I know that a few weeks ago, I think in the great Zach and Jordan Parise debate in my office, Abby commented that she had to hold out judgment on which brother she liked better until she could see them without shirts on. I googled and searched all afternoon with very little to show for it. Needless to say, that debate is apparently still open (so if anyone does have shirtless Parise brother pics, you know where to find me...). Luckily for Abby, I did run across this picture so she will not be so conflicted about things today:

This is a great picture for a multitude of reasons, namely that he's half-dressed. My complaint about this picture though? His hair. Push that back, brother. You look like you're 40 (And he's not, he was born in 1984.) It looks silly like this, which brings me to my next point:

Patrick Eaves appears to have gone through many different hairstyles during his hockey career. I will show you some examples and then we'll discuss which one we like best, yes?

Now I'm generally not someone who likes long hair on guys, with the exception of Brock Wilson, may he rest in peace in effing Utah, but I think my favorite is the current long-haired Red Wing look. The college, spiky hair is a little goofy looking. The pre-Red Wing picture is good and all but the gravity-defying tuft of hair in the front is a little bit 'pretty boy' for me. Again, just my opinion. So, which Patrick Eaves is your favorite?

PS- Brock Wilson isn't dead. He was traded for a bag of cash because the Walleye had like 11 defensemen. It was a sad, sad day and I'm still working on getting over it. Clearly, I'm not there yet.

UPDATE:

This right here? Is why long hair wins. The moment his helmet came off yesterday was the moment I knew I was right. Yeah, I can see how the middle hair choice isn't fundamentally bad but in the fight, this is what you wanna see. Short hair would never look that sexy while fighting. Just sayin.

Seriously though, Eaves had a fight and a timely 3rd period game-tying goal and he looked good while doing it. I'd say he lived up to his HBOTW status and then some. Also, I love that the moment he started fighting, my phone went crazy with people telling me that "HBOTW is fighting!" Love it! Thanks!