GOOD WOOD: A Hockey Fandom Podcast

Episode 11: Completely Jeffless

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 03:48:52 GMT

The year is 2023. The Pens have only missed the playoffs once, Bob and Mearsy are still living out a 70k slow burn romance in the broadcasting booth, and nobody’s invading Canada. Just kidding! It’s 2025, baby, where nothing is beautiful and everything hurts. Your Good Wood Pod hosts are back in action and ready to yap about our beloved deadbeat loser team. In this episode we mourn the loss of Some Guys, enlist Bec’s dad in the resistance (it’s what the R in RPF stands for), and pool our collective savings to build AO3.Org Arena. We also discuss other hot topics like the Geno break-in, Kris Letang's rotating cast of boytoys, Four Nations vs. The Dunk Tank, and our quest to get back to our fandom roots. Come for the Mikael Granlund retrospective, stay for Ovi coaching the Canadian national team. We missed ya! (This episode was recorded before the Pittsburgh Penguins remembered how to win hockey games.)

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Episode 10: Be Your Own WAG

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 01:00:45 GMT

Recorded after the acquisition of our Lord, our Liege, our Holy One, PresidentEmperorKing Kyle Dubas, but before the blockbusting Karlsson trade, this episode has it all: Kit playing a dating sim about Kyle, Jes peddling Granlund conspiracy theories, Bec bringing up Contractgate again... this is an episode you won't want to miss. Join us as we deem Kyle "normal looking" and exude smugness over bagging the NHL's most eligible GM. Everything is coming up Pens: we've got the most "normal looking" (hottest) GM, the hottest d-core, and the hottest local sports media drama in the league. Interrupt your offseason with GOOD WOOD's Season Two.

Runtime: 40 min || Recorded 7.23.23

0:00-2:00 Bec's Tourism Woes

2:00-10:00 Kyle Watch™

10:00-13:00 It's Granlund All the Way Down

13:00-23:00 Warm Welcomes and Tearful Eulogies

23:00-30:00 EK65

31:00-33:00 Bec Brings Up Contractgate, AGAIN

33:00-40:00 Pittsburgh Sports Media Drama

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Episode 9: Bringing It All Full Circle

Tue, 02 May 2023 19:46:03 GMT

You have walked through the valley of the shadow of death. The evil has come to pass. The Penguins are out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2006. You are free... and so is your schedule, since you have no games to watch! Join your hosts instead as we eulogize this messy-yet-fascinating season. Bec branches out with a new and short-lived segment called Connor McDavid Corner. Kit starts our quest for a new GM with Kyle Watch™. Jes starts campaigning for Team Granlund, who put the final nail in Ron Hextall's coffin. Who on our roster survives into next year? Will we see goalie Mike Crosby’s debut? Will things get better now that we've been freed from our saboteur GM? The Penguins' disastrous 2022-2023 season has finally ended. So too must Season One of GOOD WOOD. Join us to the bitter end.

Runtime: 57 min || Recorded 4.26.23

0:00-4:00 We Have Been Freed from the Agony of Playoffs

4:00-8:00 Connor McDavid Corner

8:00-12:00 Coping with the End of the Season (and the Streak)

12:00-29:00 We Try Clairvoyance (Predicting the 2023 NHL Playoffs)

29:00-52:00 Season Highlights

52:00-57:00 The Growth of the Fandom

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Slapshot 2: And There Was Only One Trench (Mailbag, Baby!)

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 06:18:20 GMT

GOOD WOOD presents: our first ever mailbag!! We say ENOUGH of this "real" hockey nonsense—let's talk about TROPES, baby. In the absence of our beloved Kit, Jes and Bec answer a slew of listener questions about tropes and trends in hockey fic. Join us for a fun romp through topics like D/S AUs, tinhatting and fanservice in hockey vs. boy band fandoms, the significance of ~alternative domestic spaces~ in hockey fic, and whether sports columnists are really just writing (paid) RPF. And if you want access to Bec's secret knowledge about Sidney Crosby, well—you'll have to meet us down at the casino.

0:00-18:40 dom/sub AUs vs. A/B/O

18:40-31:28 fan service & fandom dynamics in boy band vs. hockey RPF

31:30-39:30 public and private spaces in real person fiction (or: what happens in the hotel stays in the hotel)

40:00-48:45 whither all the trope fics?

48:45-58:00 entertainment journalism & hockey RPF

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Episode 8: Surviving Penguins Hockey

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 05:15:03 GMT

So: your team sucks now. Your goalie's heat cycles are all out of whack. Your border collie of a captain's chasing his tail in neurotic little circles instead of scoring goals. And hey, those eggs you ordered? They're kinda... soupy. If you, like the Penguins, are Going Through It lately, take refuge with us, dear listeners. Your hosts return from holiday hiatus to recap a month of Pens news and talk about our big sports feelings. We share coping strategies, discuss how "real" hockey impacts our transformative fandom experience, and try valiantly to cherish our dumbass team even though everything kinda blows. Come for the Teflon poisoning, stay for the chance to send your enemies to the No Star Game. GOOD WOOD is back.

0:00-4:00 Sad Egg Meal (or, the one-morning-only reopening of Evgeni Malkin's Prison Omelettery)

4:00-8:00 Winter Classic recap

8:00-29:00 Big Sports Feelings

29:00-40:00 Happier Times (Kit comes to America & sees Geno's 1000th)

40:00-50:00 Teddy Bleuger, Nicest Eyes

50:00-60:00 The All Star Game & the No Star Game

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Episode 7: Women Only Watch Hockey For Hot Men

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 02:26:09 GMT

Come along with us to Seattle, where the bright lights and new arenas dazzle Bec and the Penguins once again disappoint Jes. In this episode, we rehash everything lovely and horrible that happened at the Penguins vs. Kraken game (including Bec saying PPG Paints Arena SUCKS and is OLD and UGLY and NEEDS TO CLEAN THEIR GLASS) before discussing the recent Twitter discourse over if women are allowed to be real hockey fans when they only watch hockey for Certified Hot Guys Roman Josi and Tyler Seguin. We discuss both the curse of being on Twitter [universal] and the curse of seeing the Pens lose [seemingly unique to Jes]. Bec comes out as a linguistic prude, whatever that means (and we don't believe her). Kit joins us in spirit via a direct quote from a past episode. Jes advocates for the emergence of women's beach volleyball fanfiction. The fourth wall might be dead. Don your mourning clothes and tune in as we figure out how the hell to do fandom without it.

Runtime: 67 min || Recorded 11.27.22

Episode contents:

00:00-10:00 Bec and Jes discuss Bec's trip to Seattle

10:00-23:00 Women only watch hockey for hot guys (according to Man Twitter)

23:00-33:00 The fourth wall across social media

33:00-46:00 Being open about fandom and minding fandom spaces

46:00-58:00 Hockey Media Knows About Us (And That's Why We Love Tumblr)

58:00-end Fandom as a product of the platforms it operates on

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Episode 6: Release the Sully Cut

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 03:24:30 GMT

Dear Pens friends: have you fallen into a Despair over our team’s inability to tell left from right or ‘playing defense’ from ‘not playing defense at all, ever, what is defense’? Well, we bring you the antidote. In this episode, we’re celebrating Sully’s 300th win (and uh, ignoring the six consecutive losses) with a special episode about our favorite silver fox. Bec tells spoooooky stories about Sid ‘Coachkiller’ Crosby’s bloody reign of terror—and the pottery class that changed everything. Jes rhapsodizes about Sully’s deeply sexy understanding of pedagogical research (this man can READ). And Kit muses on whether Mark Donkifying Connor McDavid could somehow fix what’s broken in him. Plus: Sidney Crosby’s banana bread, coaches as side characters, Dan Potash’s hot bitch season, and our fandom’s growing willingness to open our hearts to the elderly (you see Sid’s hair? You see how old him?). Enjoy Episode 6, y’all, and keep the faith. Surely Mike ~~Daddy~~ Sullivan will save us!

Runtime: 75 min || Recorded 10.22.23

Episode contents:

00:00-13:00 Reverse retro jerseys & updates

13:00-45:00 Sully's philosophy of coaching/teaching

45:00-55:00 Sully's failed projects (aka two times it didn't work out... and one time it did)

55:00-60:00 Sully & other side characters in Sid/Geno fic

60:00-end Mike Sullivan's Center for NHL Players Who Can't Read Good (And Can't Do Anything Else Good Either, Lord Won't Someone Please Help Them)

Further reading/viewing:

Player Development & How They Learn: A USA Hockey Talk with Mike Sullivan (YouTube lecture)

How Mike Sullivan and the Penguins Became a Perfect Fit

Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan on Winning -- and Losing

Professor Sullivan Outlines Some of His Coaching Philosophy

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Episode 5: As Far As We Know, Kris Letang Is a Human

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 22:20:31 GMT

Happy opening night, dear listeners! In Episode 5, your hosts break out the metaphorical champagne for a freewheeling season preview featuring new season's resolutions, a fresh crop of Mark Donks, and bold predictions about comedy physics. Jes comes bearing good tidings of great joy (it's almost Movember). Kit confirms that cat boy Tanger is real (meow). Bec opens up her relationship with the Pens to date the Flyers (Sid's cool with it—he loves those guys!). We're as giggly as Sidney Crosby at night practice, because HOCKEY'S BACK, BABY!!!

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Episode 4: The Battle of Pennsylvania

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 03:51:37 GMT

In Episode 4, Bec dons the C and storms the ice in the Battle of Pennsylvania. With the help of interviews with co-host Kit and friend-of-the-podcast Ellie, we go head-to-head with the Philadelphia Flyers to talk about the rise and fall of the Nolan Patrick/Travis Konecny ship. In the first period, we discuss how Ellie went from pro wrestling fan to Travis Konecny stan and how Flyers Twitter piqued Kit's attention (0:00). In the second period, Kit gets burned by the Raffl trade (21:30) and Bec forces a Nolan Patrick/Sidney Crosby parallel (26:00). In a last-minute beating of the buzzer, Bec and Kit lament over the Giroux trade and the glory days of the Pens/Flyers rivalry (36:00). Ellie embraces her role as the heel, Bec desperately tries to connect everything back to the Penguins, and Kit inspires shock and horror with their Sid-jersey, Flyers-beanie outfit. It's fashion. You wouldn't understand it.

Runtime: 48 min || Recorded on 9.6.22 and 9.7.22

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Episode 3: Of Shoelaces and Groupchats

Sat, 03 Sep 2022 16:32:15 GMT

In Episode 3, your hosts Kit, Bec, and Jes muse on the "Discordification" of fandom and how friendships are forged in the modern digital era. How do you find community when the community is out of public view? Is it possible to forge friendships when you're a lurker? Your hosts ponder on the nature of community. Simultaneously Bec invents the word “rootingformultipleteamsification," Jes waves around her punchcard, and Kit becomes a camp counselor and laments over what the Nolan Patrick trade did to NP/TK stock.

Runtime: 45 min || Recorded on 8.28.22

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Episode 2: Graduated Summa Cum Laude in Alpha Beta Omega

Sat, 13 Aug 2022 19:25:39 GMT

In Episode 2, your hosts Kit, Bec, and Jes play a full sixty minutes delving into one of hockey's most popular tropes: A/B/O. In the first period, we discuss the trope's origins and how we've seen it evolve over time (0:00), before journeying deep into The Manosphere to figure out why A/B/O works so damn well in hockey fic (15:00). In the second period, we share what draws us personally to A/B/O as writers (28:00), then consider popular fandom characterizations of known omega Sidney Crosby (38:00). Finally, we close by reflecting on how we engage with the less savory aspects of the trope, as well as dark themes in fic more generally (48:30). Jes builds Saw horror houses and feels conflicted about it, Bec channels the soothing spirit of Janice Radway, and Kit embraces a gleeful “Oh Look, Two Cakes!” philosophy. At no point in this episode do we joke about being 'all knotted up' after three periods. That’s how you know we're intellectuals.

Runtime: 65 min || Recorded on 8.7.22

Works Referenced:

Barone, Tessa. "Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fandom's Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe" (undergraduate honors thesis). 2019.
Gunderson, Marianne. "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction." (master's thesis). 2017.
Popova, Milena. "‘Dogfuck rapeworld’: Omegaverse fanfiction as a critical tool in analyzing the impact of social power structures on intimate relationships and sexual consent." Porn Studies 5:2, 2018.
Radway, Janice. Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature. 1984.

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Slapshot 1: A Hockey Canada Reckoning

Sat, 06 Aug 2022 14:47:19 GMT

SLAPSHOTS are part mailbag, part whatever else happens to be rattling around in our brains that week. In these semi-regular mini-episodes, we'll discuss hockey current events, answer listener correspondence, and tackle short-form fandom topics using a looser, less structured approach than the main episodes.

In this first "minisode," your hosts answer a listener question about how we're engaging with the sexual assault allegations against the 2003 and 2018 Canadian World Juniors teams. We dig into different modes of processing sexual violence (and other flavors of shittiness) in hockey fandom, and discuss how these newest revelations are influencing the way we approach writing hockey RPF.

Content warning for non-graphic references to sexual assault, specifically in relation to the World Juniors teams and the Patrick Kane rape charges. We do not describe any of the allegations in explicit detail.

Runtime: 32 minutes || Recorded 8.5.22

Further reading:

A Statement from the Canadian National Women's Hockey Team
Mann, Kate. 2017. Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny.
Popova, Milena. 2017. "'When the RP gets in the way of the F': Star Image and Intertextuality in Real Person(a) Fiction." Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 25.
Robinson, Laura. 1998. Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada's National Sport. (free ebook)

We won't link directly here, but you can find ongoing coverage of the Hockey Canada investigations in The Athletic, TSN, and The Globe and Mail.

Resources:

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Episode 1: Clear Eyes, Hearts Open, Win Forever

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 03:31:54 GMT

Kit, Bec, and Jes dive into "Contractgate," or: Evgeni Malkin Almost Gets Sent to the Farm Upstate. Your hosts explore the different ways that transformative fans cope with & make sense of major fandom upheavals—and how fandom creates space for us to collectively process big emotions like uncertainty, shock, and grief. It's Sid AND Geno, by the way.

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Episode 0: Well, I'm Definitely Not Going To Become a Hockey Fan

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 03:21:20 GMT

Kit, Bec, and Jes discuss what brought them to hockey fandom, what's kept them here, and what it's like to straddle the line between mainstream sports cultures and transformative fandom spaces. Famous last words are uttered. Sidney Crosby is put in a jar (with or without a little twig—your call). Kit blacks out and wakes up watching hockey. Welcome to GOOD WOOD.

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