Daily Cupcakes - February 20th, 2012

Alice Cooper is a hockey fan - so the Phoenix Coyotes paid tribute to him with a bobble head.

Rocker Alice Cooper's shows include guillotines, fake blood, electric chairs, the occasional boa constrictor.

So when it comes to sports, there's no surprise which sport he loves: hockey.

Hard hits, speed, adrenaline, some real blood — it's a perfect fit.

"Hockey just never stops," Cooper said before the Phoenix Coyotes played the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. "It's like rock 'n' roll — it's relentless."

Be prepared to love Shane O`Brien a little bit more.

However, you don’t have to be a lip-reader to realize that the barbs from O’Brien in the box that day had something to do with contracts and who has more money. Ouch.

"I don’t know who was doing the camera work that night because he did a good job," laughed O’Brien. "All over Twitter, people were reading my lips. Burr is a great guy. He gets under my skin and I like to let him know about it."

Said Burrows of the exchange: "It was a good one. We wanted to see who had the best chirps and I won that battle."

Maybe that’s why his new teammates have labelled O’Brien "a ­beauty." From trying to get to the opposition and trying to get the Avalanche back to the postseason, the one-year, $1.1 million US contract investment in O’Brien has paid dividends. And there’s a good chance the Avalanche, who could move the injured (groin strain) and ­unrestricted Jean-Sebastien Giguere and others at the deadline if they falter this week, may re-sign O’Brien for all the right reasons.

Stefan Elliott and Evan Brophey are enjoying some success.

Elliott opened the scoring at 12:18 of the first. His wrister from inside the blue line zipped through traffic and past goalie David Leggio. Two minutes later, Elliott went top-shelf from the top of the right circle for his fifth.

Both of Elliott's shots had an NHL feel. He was with the parent Colorado Avalanche from late November until early February, appearing in 13 games and scoring seven points.

"He has a very bright future," Quinn said.

Evan Brophey used terrific stick work to make it 3-0 at 8:56 of the second. With the Monsters on the power play, Brophey chipped in a backhander from short range off a fluttering shot by Brad Malone, whose stick broke in the process.

If you like hockey history, this article is an interview with a man who played in the NHL in the 1940's.

Hockey history covers the walls. But it lives in the big, blue easy chair below.

There, the man with the twinkling eyes and infectious cackle, puffs his pipe purposefully, the smoke framing an aging face more friendly than grizzled. This is performance theatre, a dramatic pause before the next story begins.

It’s not easy, at first, to make the connection between the frozen moments of a young Maple Leaf posing with the Stanley Cup or beaming, Hollywood-handsome, on the cover of a framed game program to the raconteur with the tussled grey hair, rubbing his chin with a hand gnarled by arthritis.

"I can’t expect the young people to know about me," he says with no hint of regret. "The only people who would really know about me would have to be my age or a little younger. Maybe 80. I understand that. Most people my age are gone."

Almost all of them, actually. At least from the hockey world.