Hot Wives of the NHL

No matter how bloody, banged-up, and toothless NHL players can get, they always seem to land some beautiful girlfriends and wives.

Maybe it's the sense of humour the players pick up in the change room, maybe it's the attraction to a well-formed athlete, or maybe it's just downright luck.

In any case, here are some of the hottest wives the NHL has to offer.

Angelica Bridges (Sheldon Souray)

TV beauty Angelica Bridges is best known for her recurring roles on Days of our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, and of course, Baywatch. She is also the lead singer of a pop group that no one has ever heard of called Strawberry Blonde.

She was married to NHL defenceman Sheldon Souray, now of the Edmonton Oilers, for a number of years.

They have a child together named Valentina, but unfortunately the couple separated in 2006. She is currently single.

Now that's what I call a MILF. Good luck, fellas.

Amy McCarthy (Dan Hinote)

Looks familiar, doesn't she?

Well, that's because she's the younger sister to better-known celeb Jenny McCarthy, and just like her big sis, she's appeared in Playboy too.

Somehow Dan Hinote, a roughed-up right winger for the St. Louis Blues, was able to sweep Amy off her feet and married her in July 2008.

No wonder he missed 24 games that season—he was too busy gettin' his groove back. Bow chika bow wow.

Candace Cameron (Valeri Bure)

Candace played the role of Carrie in the movie Punchline, starring Tom Hanks, but you probably know her from the eight years she played D.J. Tanner on Full House.

This now all grown up hottie was introduced to Valeri Bure (brother of Pavel Bure) by Cameron's former Full House co-star Dave Coulier (Uncle Joey).

She and Bure have three children together, and she is reportedly coming back to television after being cast in Perfect 10, a new teenage drama on ABC Family.

Willa Ford (Mike Modano)

Willa is a singer, songwriter, model, TV personality, and film actress that just also happens to be married to one of the best American hockey players ever, Mike Modano.

Before marrying Modano in 2007, Willa also dated Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys fame and former UFC Heavyweight champion Chuck "the Iceman" Liddell. One of these things is not like the other, if you dig.

She has gone as high as No. 56 on the Billboard charts, appeared on Dancing With the Stars, hosted the first seaaon of The Ultimate Fighter, and had her first major movie role in 2009's remake of Friday the 13th, in which she appears topless.

Awesome.

Carol Alt (Alexei Yashin)

Formerly married to former Ranger Ron Greschner from 1983 to 1996, Carol is now dating former Ottawa Senator and Islander Alexei Yashin. Can I say former one more time? Former.

Carol was featured on the 1982 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover and has appeared on over 500 magazine covers since.

She was the face of ad campaigns for Diet Pepsi, General Motors, Cover Girl Cosmetics, Noxzema, Hanes, and countless others.

After refusing to pose nude for her entire career, Alt finally agreed to appear in Playboy in December 2008.

Carol is 13 years older than Yashin.

That cradle robber.

Gena Lee Nolin (Cale Hulse)

If you are like me right now, you are wondering who the hell this Cale Hulse character is, and how in the world did he score a hottie like Gena Lee?

Well, Hulse was drafted 66th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry draft by the New Jersey Devils. He played for 11 years in the NHL for Calgary, Nashville, Phoenix, and Columbus, but only had a total of 95 points in those 11 years with 16 goals and 79 assists.

If there was any evidence to support the notion that nice guys don't always finish last, this is it. He may not have been a hero in the league, but he's a hero in my heart.

Veronica Varekova (Petr Nedved)

Veronica Varekova is fluent in three languages and has degrees in Psychology and Education. The combination of brains and beauty is basically off the charts with this one.

After moving from the Czech Republic to New York when she was just 19 years old, Veronica signed a modeling deal with Next Model Management and moved to Europe, where success followed.

She has appeared in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated a total of eight times and was featured on the cover in 2004.

She married NHL star Petr Nedved in July 2004, but they separated in the summer of 2006.

Sorry, Petr, but I bet it was good while it lasted.

Elisha Cuthbert (Dion Phaneuf)

Yeah, all right, I know she's not married to Phaneuf, but by the way this on-screen Canadian hottie dates hockey players, she's bound to end up with one sooner or later.

Elisha is probably best known for her role in 2004's The Girl Next Door and for playing Jack Bauer's daughter on 24, but others still remember her from her young role as herself on the kids TV show Popular Mechanics for Kids.

Elisha had previously dated pain in the ass player Sean Avery of the New York Rangers, and many will remember Avery's impromptu press conference where he pondered, "why guys in the NHL always wanted his sloppy seconds," referring to Elisha.

Hell, if she's seconds, we'll gladly take thirds or fourths.

Piritta Hannula (Niklas Hagman)

Pretty Piritta is the wife of Toronto Maple Leaf winger Niklas Hagman and is also the mother of their three-year-old son Lukas.

She was the first runner-up of Miss Finland 2003 and became Miss Scandinavia in 2004. What about Miss NHL 2009?

Hagman has had varied success in all of his eight NHL seasons, playing for three different teams. He also scored one of the best highlight reel goals in the '08-09 season, but scoring with Piritta blows that out of the water.

Hands down.

Janet Jones ( Wayne Gretzky)

Yes, The Great One's wife did appear on the Cover of Playboy!

Before marrying the Hockey Icon, Janet Jones was an actress and dancer, performing in such titles as Staying Alive, The Flamingo Kid, and A Chorus Line.

She also had small roles in Police Academy 5 and A League of Their Own, alongside Geena Davis and Madonna.

She was also the Phys Ed teacher in the Van Halen music video, "Hot For Teacher."

Jones met Wayne when he was a judge on Merv Griffin's show Dance Fever in 1984. Some years later they ran into each other at a Los Angeles Lakers game.

On July 17, 1988, they were married in a ceremony that was broadcast live across Canada. The widespread publicity of their wedding has been compared to that of Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

At the time of the wedding, Jones was four months pregnant with their daughter Paulina.

Not only is the Great One amazing on the ice, but apparently he's pretty great with the ladies as well.