Let me tell you one thing: virtually no one outside of the New York area code would know Brandon's name if it wasn't for his smoking hot girlfriend Marie-Pier Morin. I'd like to think I'm a big hockey guy but I had no clue who Brandon was until researching the wives and girlfriends of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Looking at his stats I can see why I had no clue who he was (82 games, 5 goals, 12 assists, and a -1 plus/minus rating for the whole season).
Due to Marie, Brandon is becoming a household name for some people. Many people may recognize Maria as a Deal or No Deal model, who appeared on the Canadian version of the show (but I could be wrong on that). Like most of the girls on the show she is also an aspiring model.
The couple has been together for over two years, though the relationship hasn't always been smooth. According to Page 6 of the NY Post, Brandon was caught red handed with another girl, and a famous girl at that. In early 2011 Brandon was spotted with Michelle Trachtenberg who many of you are familiar with from the TV show "Gossip Girls." Despite this story being all over the papers the couple is still together and was a big part of the last 24/7 on HBO for the Winter Classic.
We'd like to issue an apology to all seven of our longtime readers:
We are sorry for neglecting Hockey WAGS for this long.
It hasn't been for lack of interest, and it certainly hasn't been for lack of information or quality content. There's no reasonable excuse for it outside our general gaps in hockey knowledge, and for that, we apologize.
As our apology, we'd like to introduce you to Devils captain Zach Parise's girlfriend fiancee Alisha Woods. Zach and Alisha have been dating for years, and were engaged in August of 2011, shortly before the Devils kicked off their 2011-2012 training camp. The couple is planning on returning to Parise's Minnesota hometown to get married in July 21, 2012 (and you can guarantee that if the Devils win the Cup this year, Lord Stanley's trophy will be in attendance). Of interesting note, they have by far and away the most reasonable wedding registry of any sports couple I've ever seen. Seem pretty humble and down to earth to us.
Beyond that, there's not much information about Alisha. I mean, she's hot, but you've gathered as much and we probably didn't need to spell that out. If anyone has anything else, please let us know and we'll keep the rest of you posted.
In an odd interview, which you can see on the right, Yandle straight up admitted that he picked his wife so he could be like his brother (and actually sounded proud of this fact). Well, I guess that’s one way to admire someone and pay homage. Apparently he has spent his entire life looking up to his brother, which is certainly normal, but normal may be thrown out of the equation when you go to this extreme
The Yandle’s(actually, in this case, that doesn't actually clarify who we're talking about). Keith and Kristyn Yandle have one daughter, Mila, who was born in 2011. We couldn’t find much info about Kristyn, but it does appear she is charitable, having participated in a toy drive for a local hospital this past December.
It's been a long time since hockey mattered in Los Angeles. You can probably trace the mass fan exodus back to the Gretzky exodus, which is also the last time that the Kings ever really put anything resembling a decent hockey team on the ice. You could seriously argue that the LA Galaxy were more popular than the Kings recently. Slowly that is changing as the LA Kings are becoming "hip" again and a lot of that has to do with their captain Dustin Brown.
Dustin Brown has been a King since he was drafted by the team in 2003. By his side the entire time has been his wife, Nicole Brown (I know I know, strange name for the wife of an athlete in Los Angeles to have). Both Dustin and Nicole are from Ithaca, New York, where they first met at a hockey tournament in their home state. The two were just 15 years old at the time, but have stayed together since, surviving various stints with Dustin playing in the OHL, the AHL and the NHL. The couple currently has three children, Jacob, Mason, and Cooper. The youngest, Cooper, was born right before the Kings 2011 playoff run which lead to Nicole having to take care of a lot of the parenting responsibilities for the first few months. In an interview with the King's website on NHL.com Nicole described the sleeping arrangements during that hectic period.
“I had to move into the guest bedroom with the baby so that Dustin could sleep through the night and not be woken up. It was hard not having help in those first few months.”
The couple continues to demonstrate a commitment to their community and to children. They are very active with the Los Angeles Child Abuse Prevention Center, and also hosted a golf tournament in April of 2012.
It wouldn't be a hockey post unless Sean Avery was mentioned. One of Sean's many stops in the NHL took him to LA where he was on the same line as Dustin. Dustin for those who don't know has a lisp and that was a prime target for Sean to bully Dustin about. Now it's one thing to bust a teammates chops, but in the least surprising development ever, Avery took it too far and took a shot at Nicole. Sean insinuated that Nicole wasn't attractive enough to be a hockey wife which breaks every locker room code of conduct ever observed. Yet another shining example in a list of shining examples proving what a class act Sean Avery is,... though it might also help to explain why Avery is on something like his 12th team now (and probably never seeing NHL ice again).
