Animals
Animal behavior is always fertile material to utilize for the purpose of simile. In reaction to a panel showing his teammates surrounding the protagonist curled up in a fetal position on the hockey rink ice, a player comments, “Holy hell, Bittle’s like those fainting goats.” The comparison here is to the myotonic goat or Tennessee fainting goat, a previously little-known breed that YouTube made famous with thousands of videos of the animals suddenly becoming paralyzed in movement and falling over. Bittle’s position in the previous panel make him look like he has just suffered the same effect.
Cooking
Bittle is placed in extreme juxtaposition with other members of the hockey team with whom he is sharing a house. Immediately after Bittle makes a negative comment about first encounter with the kitchen, one of his teammates is seen making an observation about the sudden change in the smell of the house. “It’s like my aunt’s house but with more innocence and love.” Another of the housemates then responds that in comparison to how their house smells now, the other guy’s aunt’s place smells like a house filled with feces. The metaphorical language here is intended to subtly convey that the new guy is even more unlike the other guys than an older woman.
Sexual Activity
Ironically, perhaps, a very common metaphor for sexual activity referencing baseball rather than hockey is used. Bitty thinks to himself, “Good. No one’s getting to second base up here.” Although not rigidly defined, it is generally understood that “second base” is a metaphor for sexual contact with a female’s breasts. Bitty has already learned living in the hockey players’ house is a key to expectations of sexual activity. This is complicated because Bitty is gay.
Little Bitty
Bitty’s big minute finally comes and sets the stage for a compliment stated in metaphor. “I was a bit worried when I first saw you come out on the ice, but I guess big surprises really do come in small packages.” The compliment is a slight twist on a familiar phrase often used to describe expensive or extravagant gifts literally enclosed in small packaging as gifts. The sentiment is usually phrased as “big things” but the tweaking of the metaphor is especially appropriate in this case because nobody expected someone of Bitty’s size to be capable of making such a clutch shot on the ice.
Absurd Humor
A comparison made with the use of simile can often be effective for introducing humor. During a scene in which the hockey players are bragging about sexual conquests, one character suddenly asks, “Wasn’t she the chick with the rash shaped like Ellen DeGeneres?” The humor comes from the random weirdness of the comparison of a rash to the comedian/talk show host rather than any rational literal possibility. The reply to this bizarre metaphorical imagery is that the girl in question was actually the one with an eye patch. Context suggests that this assertion is just as likely to be true as the claim about the rash.
