Exactly one year ago today, Stayclassy.net was born. In my first Classy blog I ranted about the Ottawa Senators issues and gushed over the World Junior Championship. A year later, I’m still ranting about the Senators and can’t stop thinking about the epic Canada-USA World Junior game from the other night. Basically, nothing has changed.

I started Stayclassy.net because none of my real friends liked talking about hockey with me. And because one of my closest friend’s bet I wouldn’t take my love of Ron Burgundy to a new level. I’m 73% sure I won that bet.

Slowly a few friends stepped up to help me out and I think we’ve established a good foundation for hockey discussions, opinions, and a small platform for the odd bit of trash-talking (special thanks to PensionPlanPuppets.com and their readers).

If I’ve learned nothing else from running this site, it’s that we’ve enjoyed some amazing support from our great friends and readers. Needless to say, we owe a lot of thank you’s. It’d be impossible to name everyone, but here’s a few that stand out:

• Blogs – 6thSens.com, PensionPlanPuppets.com, ViewFromMySeats.com, Hockeycardshow.com, The Hockey Zen, IllegalCurve.com, HockeyIndependent.com, Puck Daddy, Kingscast.net, and a host of other great blogs.
• People - Ian Mendes, Brian Gallof, Steve Warne, Jeff Marek, Stuntman Stu, Eric Gagnon, Al Cimaglia, John Jaeckel, James Duthie, Keith Korneluk, Matt Reitz, and Steven Hindle.
• Readers - Sens19, GelatinousMutantCoconut, Sarah, MasterOfPuppets/Scotty Wazz, Charly/C, eyebleaf, Matt Reitz, The Fly, DanyHeatleySpeedwagon, Cassie, and others.
• Twitter - jennyquarx, msconduct, mlse, joeburkel, RLDhockey, gotsparkly, EP31, MCARTER82, jaeckel, RyanClassic, Hankers, opiatedsherpa, shaunheiser, alex_ruiz, metricjulie, sens2win, chisslerr, CForrest, hockeyislife_xx, sthedge, kuyaz, nock4six, and so many more.

One of the cooler things we’ve had the opportunity to do with the site is meet and interview great/knowledgeable hockey personalities in our Classy Interview segment. These interviews have brought out hilarious answers to our immature questions. As you have probably noticed, we ask each interviewee what they believe Sex Panther (anchorman cologne – illegal in 9 countries) really smells like. Let’s have a battle royale with some of the better answers to definitively crown “The Classiest answer ever”. Here are your options:

• James Duthie, TSN – A combination of dead raccoon, the mill across the river in Thurso, and Ron Jeremy after a six-hour film shoot.
• Eric Gagnon, Sportsnet – The aroma of Brian Fantana having sex. I mean really, what else would it smell like?
• Steve Warne, Team 1200 – A mix of Ralph Lauren Polo and cat anus.
• Jeff Marek, CBC – The bowels of the worst smelling part of a hockey bag. Not the skates or the jock – something far worse – the insides of hockey gloves. They are without a doubt the ultimate chick repellent.

Vote here:

This is one of 358 blogs we’re honoured you’ve taken the time to read (or thought about reading). Our sincerest thanks for helping us achieve what we think was a pretty good first year. Here’s to another 358 Classy posts.

Stay classy, Stayclassy.net readers. Now go grab a glass of scotch or warm milk when you get the chance.

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