Redwings Gameplan

One day after John Tavares defeated Pavel Datsyuk in the quarterfinals of the EA Sports NHL13 Cover Vote, an anonymous source leaked what appears to have been the Detroit Red Wings’ top-secret social media campaign for the vote.

What may have appeared to the twitter-verse as a minute-by-minute, highly reactionary onslaught of tweets, was in fact a carefully conceived plan of attack:

Step 1

Sleep on the New York Islanders for the first two-thirds of the voting period. (Who knows how a small market team made it to the quarterfinals in the first place?)

Step 2

After falling behind in the vote, reach out to various celebrities, who have no ties to your organization, in a “Twitter Fishing” campaign. (Step 2a - Pray for a retweet.)

Step 3

After failing to nail down a celebrity retweet, reach out to the Islanders biggest rival to try and get their fans to vote for Datsyuk.

Step 4

Always be gracious in defeat.

Disclaimer: This campaign was all in good fun. Team Tavares enjoyed going head-to-head with the good people of Detroit all week. We even miraculously avoided using “Dat-Suck” in any propaganda.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW FOR JT91 IN THE SEMI FINALS and don’t forget to #VoteJohnOnTheJohn

KYLE OKPOSO: HIGH-FIVER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Team USA is quickly learning that Kyle Okposo is a “high-five guy.”

It’s a compulsion the Islanders have been aware of for some time now.

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There’s the common “Hammer Five”…

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The cherished “New Guy Five”…

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The “Look-at-the-Camera Five”…

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The powerful “Full-Wind-Up Five”…

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The rare “Frans-Initiated Five”…

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The flawlessly-executed “Aerial-View Five”…

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And, for only the most devout High-Fivers, the awe-inspiring “Face Five”…

All pictures: Getty Images

Pop Quiz:

Instead of his trademark “91,” John Tavares is wearing the number “20” for Team Canada …

A. In honor of Islanders teammate Evgeni Nabokov.

B. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first-ever backhand sauce (age 1).

C. Because at a young age, some grumpy old coach told him “you’ll never be a top-20 overall draft pick,” so he spent his youth trying to prove that naysayer wrong.

D. Because Team Canada (and NY Islanders) equipment manager Scott Boggs went on a power trip and told him “you’ll wear what I give you and you’ll like it.”

E. Because 91 Canadian dollars are worth 20 Euros… at least that’s what the taxi driver in Helsinki told him.

Photo: Jeff Vinnick/HHOF-IIHF Images

Despite a reportedly serious set of puppy-dog eyes on JT, it looks like he still couldn’t convince Streit to hug it out after Canada’s 3-2 win over Switzerland.

Tavares would have to settle for yet another spirited embrace from Nino Niederreiter, who was eagerly awaiting his big moment at the end of the handshake line.

Grabs Is On The Board

Michael Grabner shared a few kind words yesterday on Twitter about Skates on a Plane, so we figured the least we could do to show our appreciation is provide a permanent home on the world wide interweb for Grabner’s latest masterpiece.

I always took JT for a boxer-brief guy.

Kudos to the Gremlin on his sick glue-stick and scissor skills. I hope he let Aidan help.

Don’t forget to VOTE HERE for JT91 in Round 3, running from May 3-10.

SOAP: Aiming for a 2nd International Incident in 2 Weeks

Nielsen the Prince?

Thanks to @HockeyLoverDK for adding to the world’s growing collection of dark, blurry photos that claim to portray Frans Nielsen with Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark.

It’s purported that the two Danish celebs met for this photo opp in an on-ice ceremony to honor Nielsen for being named Denmark’s Player of the Game (4 points) on May 1.

The forensics experts at Skates on a Plane both brightened and enlarged the image, but could not find definitive proof that it had not been tampered with or doctored.

Experts could not rule out the possibility that “the Prince” was simply a stand in and that the on-ice photo opp was just an elaborate hoax.

Despite their best efforts, Danish authorities appear to have once again failed in their attempt to cover up the truth: that “Frans” is actually Fredrik’s alter ego for when the Prince want’s to “slum it” as a wealthy NHL player in America… possibly to find true love (think Princess Jasmine hitting the streets to find Aladdin).

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In other “Player Of The Game News”…

The Swiss continue to hand out fine watches like hot cakes.

John Tavares’ two-point performance earned him this handsome timepiece, coming soon (fingers crossed) to the wrist of Islanders/Team Canada Equipment Manager (and reluctant - yet repeat - Skates on a Plane contributor) Scott Boggs… Hey - someone has to wear it during games.

Streit Hits The Rags… My Bad

Hypothetical situation:

Let’s say you’re the captain of a New-York based NHL team and one of your PR guys writes a facetious story about your candidacy for a prime time T.V. show on a blog that basically nobody reads.

Now, just for fun, let’s say a prominent daily tabloid picks up on the story in your home country, where you’re a huge celebrity, and runs a cover photo with the headline “25 WOMEN FOR (INSERT YOUR NAME).”

Every news outlet in the country then runs with the story, which is timed perfectly with your national hockey team’s media day.

Would you ever talk to said PR guy again?

[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Chivalry is not dead.

Here’s the play that Moulson jokes in this islanders.com story could cost him the Lady Byng.

My favorite part is Moulson explaining himself to the refs and (presumably) apologizing for the inconvenience. (“I’m truly sorry you guys had to see that – it won’t happen again.”) He’s probably also pleading for them to let him clean up his own gloves, helmet and stick.

On the ice, in addition to defending the honor of his teammates, Moulson has been known to hold open the bench door for incoming players and he always waits to drink water until everyone on the bench has been served.

Off the ice, Moulson is careful to always walk on the outside of the sidewalk and at the team meal, he knowingly works his way in from the smallest fork to the largest.

A gentleman, indeed.

VOTE NOW at COVERVOTE.NHL.COM

These images can be found in a gallery on the Islanders official website here.

The field will be cut from 32 players to 16 on Sunday, April 22, so help JT advance to the next round so that we can produce more exciting propaganda.

For some reason the team hasn’t approved my #VoteJohnOnTheJohn twitter campaign (a.k.a “Committed… to ditch my bathroom reading material and instead #VoteJohnOnTheJohn). There’s still time.