Our nation's top law makers have had a busy two weeks. Between Libya, Planned Parenthood, and the near miss on the shutdown, there has been had a lot on their plates. Despite the hectic schedule Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) was still willing to take a few minutes and talk some hockey with me.
For those who do not know of him, McCotter is a 5th term congressman from Michigan's 11th District. His district encompasses much of suburban Detroit, naturally making him a Red Wings fan. As he put it "it's Hockeytown, everyone loves the Wings."
The idea for interviewing McCotter came about when I noticed he tweets about the Red Wings on a semi-regular basis. To be perfectly honest, I was not fully sure what to expect when interviewing him. I was slightly nervous that maybe his tweets were fueled by the need to appease his hockey loving constituents, and his knowledge of the game would be minimal at best. I quickly learned that my fears could not have been further from the truth. Unlike some of his colleagues, McCotter, is very well versed on the subject of his favorite teams.
McCotter's understanding of the game stems from his time spent playing hockey as a kid. Although he was never involved in organized hockey, like a lot of Michigan's youth he learned the finer points of the sport playing pick up on the frozen ponds and creeks during the notoriously cold winter months.
Our conversation covered just about every hockey realm imaginable, we chatted about past and present, real and even hypothetical events. The most entertaining discussion of the imagination came about when I asked him, “who would win a heavy weight battle between his Republican colleague Jon Runyan and former Red Wing pugilist Joe Kocur?“ In perhaps a somewhat surprising decision, we unanimously scored Kocur as the victor, so long as they were on skates.
He made reference's to Caps Legend "Olie the Goalie" and NHL great Bobby Orr. The conversation turned to Orr when I asked, "where Nick Lidstrom stacked up all time on the list of greatest defensemen?" He responded, "number two, obviously Orr is number one."
His affection for Lidstrom is not limited to his play on the ice. Lidstrom is actually a resident of Novi, Michigan a city in McCotter's district. McCotter says "everything you hear about him is true, he gives back to the community, he is just a great cat."
As they always are this time of year, Lidstrom and his teammates are a popular topic of conversation in Detroit. Since Lidstrom has been a member of the Red Wings the team has never missed the playoffs. That trend started in 1992 and continues this year as the Wings are once again among the favorites to win the Western Conference. Detractors of the team, do however, cite one major common concern regarding their playoff fortunes. The Wings are statistically the oldest team in the NHL and many wonder how it will affect their energy if they embark on a long journey through the playoffs.
Don't mark the congressman from Michigan's 11th district on the list of those concerned. McCotter believes the age of the team translates into experience, an essential component that is vital to any deep playoff run. "Look at our older guys, you have Osgood, one of our backup goalies, and we all know he can come in and do the job. Mike Modano is on our 4th line, how many teams would love to have him on their fourth line? Guys like Bertuzzi and Lidstrom, when you mix all that in with some of younger guys like Abdelkader and Helm -one of the fastest players in the league- that's a pretty good team."
It is certainly tough to disagree with McCotter's sentiments regarding the Wings. They have had great success over the course of the past 15 years using that exact recipe of speed, skill, and experience. As McCotter pointed out, that is in many regards similar to the approach George McPhee is taking, and has been taking with his Washington team.
As a fan of hockey and as a temporary resident of DC it becomes almost impossible for him not to have some understanding of the re-birth of hockey in DC. The Caps rabid following has been a welcomed change for the congressman during his tenure in DC. He said, "[I remember] hearing in 98 when Red Wings fans had no problems getting tickets for the Stanley Cup Finals in DC... its great to see what has since happened to hockey in DC."
There is no denying the Congressman's knowledge of the game, appreciation of the history, and overall enthusiasm for it. However, being a member of congress requires that McCotter have certain unavoidable responsibilities that limit how often he is able to watch. He told me "you are lucky if you get to catch part of a game, let alone the whole thing." Although he is not able to watch as much as he would like, advances in social media assist him in following his local sports teams. McCotter cites his twitter account as one of the ways he remains as up to date as he possibly can.
As our conversation turned away from Twitter, I asked him what he thought of Alex Ovechkin. His reviews came back positive, he echoed my sentiments about him being a blue collar type player with world class talent. He compared Ovechkin's dominant physical prowess to that of Red Wing great Vladimir Konstantinov. A compliment of that nature coming from a Wings fan should perceived as the highest form of flattery. McCotter's praise of Ovechkin did not just stop at his similarities between Konstantinov, he also lent his two cents in the always hotly debated NHL topic, who is better Ovechkin or Crosby? He said he would take Ovechkin, but he did caution that his view on the subject maybe slightly skewed due to the Red Wing Penguin rivalry.
With President Obama's consistent dismissal of hockey it is nice to know that there is at least one powerful member of our federal government who likes the sport. Although, I did find out that McCotter is not powerful enough to help me in my quest to get a Caps jersey placed on the Statue of Freedom on the Dome of the Capitol. For that he says "you have to ask Boehner, but he is probably a Blue Jackets fan, or maybe even a Cleveland Barons fan."
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