Practice...we talkin' bout practice

For those that didn't get that joke... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUYjD7A75HQ&feature=related

My company is moving to Mid Town this weekend so our office was closed Thursday and Friday. Woo hoo, that's right 2 free days off. Serge has been begging me for like 7 years to let him teach me to ice skate. Against my better judgement I finally agreed. I figured it was perfect as I knew the Thrashers were practicing Friday. The rink wouldn't be as crowded. Sounded like a win-win.

Ugh. It was awful. I went on the ice twice. The first time I made it about a car length from the door and fell. Hurt my left ass cheek. I CRAWLED on my hands and knees off of the ice because I was too scared to stand up. Then Serge showed off for a while skating around. Some lady asked me if this was my first time. Gee, how'd you figure that out? I said yes and then the bitch says "haha, you didn't get very far." I would have punched her but she was holding a baby.

So I go to try it again. I get a little farther this time and some kid slams into Serge and he goes down and so do I. I CRAWLED off the ice for the final time. FAIL!

I really want to learn to skate, next time I'm going back with more padding.

So after my disastrous first attempt at skating, it was time for Thrashers practice.

Nothing like crappy practice pictures. I really hate taking pictures there. Bad lighting, bad glass, yuck.

There were a lot of Thrashers not at practice: Lehtonen, Kovalchuk, Kozlov, Peverly, Reasoner, Exelby, Hainsey, Little...all not there. Practice was still a ton of fun though. They were all goofing and having fun. They did some cool drills and played a game at the end.

Coach Anderson seemed to be in fine spirits. He skated a lot and did the drills, too. He whiffed on a few shots and the team was giving him hell. Once he actually yelled "FUCK."

On to some craptastic pics

Our ice chihuahua, Toby Enstrom. He seems to think he is the size of Valabik

Moose was the only Thrashers goalie there, so he was on the end near the entrance for a change. Yep Moose, it went in.

Bobo

What a lucky shot for me! Look at Moose's cage. Yep, that's a puck. Thank God for masks!

It wasn't all fun and games though, Weeks was drilling them hard. Once he got mad and yelled at them "PAY ATTENTION!"

Weeks demonstrating the drill.

Moose cleaning the crease.

Hmmmm. Dilemma...Do you let the coach score on ya?

Weeks and Moose chilling.

Weeks: I heard your girl was learning to skate this morning

Moose: Yep

Weeks: I heard she didn't do very well

Moose: You have to start somewhere. She's from Alabama, they don't skate there.

Weeks: I heard she had had to crawl off the ice.

Moose: Ah shit

Welcome to every one's favorite game, Goal or Roll! I'm not 100% sure how this was played but it involved some form of if the skaters don't score enough, they have to roll on the ice and if Moose doesn't make so many saves, he has to roll. Good times!

The guys getting ready for Goal or Roll

Moose waiting for shots

Skaters lose, take a roll. Notice Moose over there using his stick to "help" Bogosian roll.

Round 2

Moose wins again! Roll boys.

Round 3

Oh the Moose loses. Roll Moose, roll!

That's about what I looked like when I crawled off the ice. Moose makes it look good.

Most of the guys were leaving the ice and Havelid brought his two sons out. One was a skater, presumably a baby Dman, and a goalie. The little goalie was soooo stinking cute. I usually don't take pictures of the guys' kids, it seems weird. Since you couldn't see his little face for the mask, I figured it was okay.

He's sooo teeny. Look how big the net looks around him.

Let Uncle Moosie show you how.

More instruction.

After practice, there was a lot of horse play. Several guys (Oystrick, Bobo and Bogo if I remember correctly) were triple teaming Slater like a bunch of school yard bullies. They almost got his jersey completely off.

Slater chasing Bobo

What would you do with him if you caught him?

Then some of the guys played a very serious game of putting the puck into the bucket.

Oysters was really good at it.

Colin Stuart coming off the ice. I like him and haven't been able to get many pics of him.




Bobo coming off the ice. I turned the flash on and it makes for a better pic, but the flash reflects on their jersey and it looks like they are in the movie "Tron."

Thrashers practice and even busting my ass on the ice is better than a day at work!

The day I've been waiting for his finally here

The return of Marty Brodeur!

November 3 I was scrapbooking with some buddies and I got 2 frantic text messages, one from my husband and one from my friend Shauna. Both said "Marty's hurt." For the next week I was on a roller coaster with thousands of other Devils fans waiting to hear what was wrong and how long it would take for him to get back. I always had a sneaking suspicion that the "bruised elbow" was bullshit.

The more we learned the worse it was. It was bad. A torn bicep? Are you kidding me? FOUR MONTHS? What in the world will happen?

Well, you know what happened? Weekesie wasn't quite ready to carry the team. I can't imagine why since he NEVER GETS TO PLAY. So they bring up the third stringer, Scotty Clemmensen. Ugh, Devils are doomed! Our hopes are resting on our minor league guy? Maybe they should trade and get another starter. Let's see what happens.

Well, we know what happened, Clemmer kicked ass. He played phenomenally for the team and helped Weekesie get his grove back.

Thank you Scotty for carrying this team through the season, I know the Devils have something special in store for you. Oh do they! Lowell! Huh???

I understand the business explanation. I understand that Scotty didn't have to clear waivers and I know that someone might have claimed Kevin off of waivers. Yeah, I get it. It still feels like a really shitty way to say thanks.

I've seen comments from Devils fans about "good, we don't need him because THE MAN is back." "Kevin makes a better back up because he knows his role and Scott will challenge for the starting job." Sounds like people are viewing the world with Marty colored glasses.

Now let me explain the unbelievable irony in my saying that about someone. I am a Brodeur nut.

This is me when they came to Atlanta. I wore a Marty shirt under my Moose Jersey!! I even made him a sign. That's a big deal for me in my home arena.

This is my Brodeur McFarlane figure.

This is where it's sat since Marty got hurt. I tap him on the head twice (and only twice) every morning before I leave.

So see, for me to call someone out for sucking up to Marty is a big deal. I love Brodeur and I still think Scotty got shit on. Sorry Scotty. :(

The New Jersey Devils would like to dedicate this song (not the cheesy homemade youtube video, it was the best quality bit of the song I could find) to Scott Clemmensen. Step aside Scotty and "let Mar-tahn go through."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZa6pTaAxJQ&feature=related

The Avalanche Roll In: Atlanta vs Colorado

Our boys just returned from a tough road trip out west. If you would have told me our guys would return from the trip and have 5 out of 8 possible points after playing the Ducks, Kings, Coyotes and Western Conference dominators, the Sharks...I would have laughed. Nice job guys!



We were hoping that maybe the Thrashers would think they were still on the road and play well. They have not had the best record of wins at home. It must have worked because the Thrashers won 4-3



On to warm up! Normally after a long road trip I would be missing my guys and be on their end snapping away and probably carrying some sign. BUT...my good buddy Candace is a huge Avs fan and an Ian Laperriere nut so I was on photo assignment in the enemy zone! I didn't mind too much, I wanted some good Budaj shots.




Awww, monkey see monkey do. The Thrashers have a little spring in their step from the road trip.






Peter Budaj, everyones favorite country music listening, Jesus and Tiger Woods loving goalie...wait that would actually probably be Carey Price, but Peter is up there!



Budaj has a really cool mask. I have no idea what's on the other side because every time I saw him, I got this shot, a big red Incredible Hulk. Of course on the back is his infamous Ned Flanders.

Hey cutie! You've got a nice smile, use it while you can. In about 20 minutes you are gonna get LIT UP!

Welcome back Stastny. This was Paul's first game back after missing some time with an injury.

Obligatory Moose shot. Ah, a happy smiling Moose.

Raycroft: Your girl looks pretty snazzy in her new Hedberg Jersey.

Moose: Yes, she does.

Raycroft: Why is she taking pictures of us?

Moose: For a friend.

Raycroft: Uh-huh

Moose: Seriously, her friend is a big Lappy fan.

Raycroft: So why is she so focused on Budaj?

Moose: Shut up.

And now it's time for the Ian Laperriere show. Lappy is a cutie. In fact, I bet when one day they return his nose to it's original shape and spot, he'll be down right hot. More importantly, he's a heck of a player, a hard worker and I have it on first hand knowledge that he's a good guy to boot. He was playing with some of the kids during warm up. Besides, who can shake off an Ilya Kovalchuk shot to the leg and return to the game in just a few minutes?

What an adorable smile!

Also a special request from Candace, Ryan Smyth. I think he's pretty attractive if he got a hair cut, but winged hair???

Raycroft warming up.




Check out this lucky shot I got. You can see the puck just about to go into Razors glove. I blew up the zoom of the glove shot and added it to the pic.

In Puck Bunny news, I have an award for the Avalanche......the most unattractive team in the NHL. Now before Candace has an aneurysm, let me explain. AS A WHOLE, this is a pretty unattractive team. Yes, you do have a few hotties, but not many. Sorry Candace :p





Who cares if they are attractive or not? They have the cutest fans on the face of the earth. Check out this little guy. He was wearing the teeniest little Sakic Jersey I've ever seen. I didn't know they made them that small. This is the baby that Lappy was making faces at. And yes, I asked permission for the pic.

On to the game. I had GREAT seats for the game, not great for pics though. I was six seats from the glass in the corner so I had a lot of poles in my way.

Drink up baby, you are gonna need it.

Some action after the face off.

Face off

Told you that you'd need it. Budaj having a drink after one of our goals

Inspiration time! During one of the intermissions they had athletes from the Special Olympics. This was particularly well timed for me because my husband has been BEGGING to teach me to ice skate, but I've just been too scared. I finally agreed to go but have still been really scared. Seeing these athletes perform Tuesday night really inspired me and made me feel like if they can do it, maybe I can do. Nice job guys!

Pairs performance

Everybody look at me

Cuz I am Garnett Exelby

Ex stretches before the next period starts

Way to go Kari! You've been playing great lately.

Ah, some discussion. I wonder who is in the middle?

It's my Bobo! :)

Blinding pain in 3...2....1

Ilya Kovalchuk is about to ruin Ian Laperriere's night. This picture was taken by eli on the Thrashers web board and he was nice enough to let me use it. He takes phenomenal pics.


Kovy has a wicked shot and Lappy just found out about it. When I saw him go down I thought "Candace is going to have a shit fit, and started snapping pics."

Refs checking on Lappy

This is my favorite picture because it shows what a good guy Kovy is. Kovy was very concerned about Laperriere and you could tell he felt bad.

I love this picture because it looks like Lappy is looking into the stands thinking "Damn, there really ISN'T anyone at this game.

Ilya: Dude, I'm sorry about that shot

Lappy: It's okay

Ilya: Are you sure? Does it still hurt?

Lappy: It's fine.

Ilya: I feel really bad, I...

Lappy: Dude, I'm trying to work

Oh Bobo :)

Bobo was on the ice several times and didn't pull a penalty the whole time. WOO HOO!!!

Oh yay, you scored. Big deal.

Thrashers win!