Hockey Wives, ep. 4: MP reveals her juicy past, while modeling careers might be put on hold

It’s October, hockey season is underway and this week’s Hockey Wives episode opens at an undisclosed beach location because Maripier Morin (MP) is shooting a music video with Canadian band Simple Plan. Sure, why not?

Then, out of nowhere, we’re gifted with a juicy tidbit from her past.

In her early 20s, MP dated a member of Simple Plan, specifically

drummer Chuck Comeau. Excuse me? How has this not come up before, producers?

OK, maybe this is only thrilling for someone who was an adolescent in the early 2000s and into pop-punk music (aka me). But for the benefit of this TV show, their relationship did not last and it sounds like MP was the one who ended it.

“I was not nice when I was young. I broke a couple hearts.”

Another surprise is that Simple Plan still makes music (sorry guys, I outgrew the band years ago). The shoot is for the song, “I Don't Wanna Go To Bed,” which, naturally, features Nelly, ensuring that the scene continues to remind me of music I listened to when I was 12 years old.

Anyway, in the video, MP plays the romantic interest of lead singer Pierre Bouvier, who performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her after she nearly drowns. There’s some tension because, oh boy, her boyfriend Brandon Prust doesn’t know about this. But considering MP can barely contain her laughter during the “hot” scene, Prust has nothing to worry about.

If you’re curious, below is the finished product:

Next, we travel to Toronto to be reunited with Ashley Booth and we waste no time in getting reacquainted — like very acquainted — as we witness her neck contort and crack while being worked over by a chiropractor. As Ashley talks, we start to realize her tension might be stemming from stress over her husband David’s uncertain career. After being cut by the Florida Panthers, David is leaning toward playing in Russia’s KHL, a place Ashley says she “would not care to go to.”

Here in the present, however, we know the Booths did move to Russia (shameless plug: I wrote about their experience here) but in this moment, you can see the anxiety of “not knowing what’s going on at all” is practically causing Ashley physical pain. The mental anguish must be even worse.

But Ashley isn’t just in Toronto for a neck massage; she’s also in town to perform in a fashion show alongside Martine Forget, fiancée of Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier.

Despite both being working models, Ashley and Martine are each in different places with their careers. Martine, as was documented in the first half of the season, is re-entering the field following the birth of her son, while Ashley, as she revealed this episode, is preparing to put her work on hold when she moves to Russia.

Although David offered her the choice to stay, Ashley says there’s no way she wouldn’t follow him to Russia. Martine concurs saying she would “for sure” go with Jonathan if he played overseas. It’s an interesting outlook from these two women. On the one hand, the modeling industry is tough to break into and it can’t be easy putting your career on hold to allow your husband to live out his dreams.

On the other hand, a person involved in a temperamental industry like fashion might actually better understand the highs and lows of pro sports and be willing to make that sacrifice because they know the window for success can be slim. In any case, it seems Ashley can certainly put herself in David’s shoes, drawing an astute comparison between the commoditization of hockey and fashion.

“I think models are similar to hockey players that we are both a product to make money and as soon as you stop making them money, you’re pretty disposable,” she says.

On the west coast, we meet Noureen DeWulf, married to Vancouver Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller and mom to Bodhi. Noureen, an actress, usually provides the comedic relief in Hockey Wives, often applying a thick coat of sarcasm to much of what she says. That comes across while shopping for Halloween costumes with her family. Browsing the aisles, Noureen condemns the sexy costume trend, mocking the ridiculous getups women must choose from.

“Bodhi, do you want mommy to be a tavern girl?” she says, in a cutesy baby voice while holding a racy outfit. “Why can’t I just be a clown?” she says later, exhausted after rhyming through the list of suggestive choices.

After her critique of the costume industry, however, Noureen is still forced to purchase a “Viking vixen” outfit to complete the Viking family set, aptly proving her point.

And long last we finally get a Tiffany Parros storyline and much like MP, this week we also get a glimpse of Tiffany’s former life when we travel to Wisconsin to meet her family. Tiffany, known for her dark humour, says when people meet her relatives, they tend to understand her better “and where they thought I was cold, realize I’m the warmest one in my family.”

That makes sense after we meet Tiffany’s gun wielding, workaholic, ex-military helicopter pilot father, David.

Basically, if you thought her husband George Parros was tough, meet her dad.

“In a fight against George and my dad, my dad would win — hands down,” she says.

In one scene, Tiffany, George and her dad do some nice family bonding by firing shots from massive machine guns into a field. This, apparently, was a regular occurrence of her childhood, and in kindergarten class, Tiffany says, she would show off pop cans she shot, re-confirming my belief that I am terrified of Tiffany Parros.

But despite the weapons, the trip also reveals her softer side. We learn she comes from a hockey family, perhaps explaining her taste in husbands. Their love story goes like this: George was a teammate of her brother Josh. Tiffany had never dated a hockey player before, but then she met George and, well, sparks.

“I used to say that I would never date a hockey player, but now I’m happy I can bring someone home and he fits right in,” she said.

Back in Vancouver, MP has arrived for a visit with her boyfriend. It’s been two months since they’ve seen each other and when she gets to his empty apartment, she does what every long-distance girlfriend would do: snoop. No lipstick on shirts, though, so crisis averted.

MP confesses she barely remembers how to act with him because “it’s been so long,” but apparently it doesn’t take much to jog her memory. Admittedly, at first, the reunion was sweet: MP running into his arms, smothering him with kisses, unable to keep her hands away. But as the moments tick on, sweet quickly turns to frisky.

“We haven’t seen each other in two and a half months so what do you think we want to do?” MP says.

Point taken. I think I speak for the entire audience when I say: Get out of there, producers. Let these kids, uhhh, reconnect.

Presumably, after they’ve caught up, MP meets up with Noureen for a tour of the city, and because she’s the “worst guide ever,” it goes miserably.

After the “tour,” both sit down to have a serious chat about MP joining the Canucks, so to speak. It’s well documented that players face upheaval after a trade, forced to get to know new teammates, but less covered is that spouses face a similar predicament when they’re thrown into a new wives’ room. Noureen says she doesn’t talk about her acting career to the Canucks wives because it “alienates people.” MP nods along, saying her plan to make friends is just to “ask questions.”

After an episode that spent so much time dissecting the fine balance between career and family life, it feels backwards to end with MP and Noureen saying it’s wise to hide your ambition and only speak about your husband in the wives’ room. It seems to me women like Noureen and MP should be changing the culture in the wives’ room, not conforming to it.

Three Stars of the episode:

Third star: Simple Plan

Second star: Tiffany Parros’ father, David

First star: Bodhi Miller

Best line of the episode: “Living with a professional athlete and a small baby is basically just navigating between their naps,” Noureen DeWulf says, after a long search for matching Viking costumes results in baby Bodhi and Miller feeling fatigued.

Misplay of the episode: Ahead of Martine Forget and Ashley Booth’s fashion show, Taylor Winnik, her husband Daniel and Jonathan Bernier are sitting in the front row waiting for the show to start. Slowly fellow attendees spot Bernier and approach for autographs. Meanwhile, Leafs teammate Daniel Winnik sits there, completely ignored, staring off in the distance as scores of people line up for photos with the goalie. “Poor Winny. Nobody knows who he is,” wife Taylor jokes.