Practice Makes Perfect

In hockey and photography. Hopefully this practice did the Thrashers a lot more good than it did my photo skills. Practice is awful to take pictures at. The lighting is bad and the glass is all beat to hell. It's also incomprehensibly cold. So shooting fast moving objects in bad lighting through dirty glass while freezing to death doesn't yield the best rewards, especially with my skills, equipment and experience. I don't get to go to practice much, so I don't have a lot of practice practice (snort). So, if you are hoping for some good action shots and deep discussion on the drills and play, sorry. All you are gonna get is some close up shots of the guys when they are still, some buckbunny comments and some dumb jokes. Welcome :)

First of all and most importantly...Happy Birthday Boris Valabik!! Bobo turns 23 today. Being the scrapbooking/card making dork I am, I of course had to make him a card. I gave it to him and said "Happy Birthday Boris" he looked surprised and genuinely thankful. He said "Thank you very much." It was cute to see him carrying his little card while signing autographs. At least he didn't throw it away where I could see ;)

Oh and for the record, Slovakian words are TOO LONG! That card doesn't say "I hope you have the best birthday ever and you never for get it." No, the words that will barely fit on the card are just "Happy Birthday."



I wanted to get some good Bobo pics, FAIL! I took about a million blurry ones. Only a few came out.




Go Bobo, it's your birthday




Watcha looking at guys, I'm over here!




I didn't mean for this to be the Moose show (for once). Goalies just tend to be still more often. And he's so damn photogenic, I couldn't resist.




Awww, a smiling Moose. I think he just found out that I had come to get my jersey signed. Yes, I'm sure that's it.

Boultsie is such a goof ball. Hard to believe he's such a bruiser. He and Perrin were playing a game at the end of practice and they were both so into it. Not sure what it was, but something like H-O-R-S-E with hockey pucks is what I was told.

Hainsey stretching

Colby stretching. He's so stinking nice. Kids always ask for his stick and he always says "Sorry buddy, I need it for the game but I'll see if they have any in the back." And he does. He comes back with sticks for the kids. Such a sweety. I wish the Spirit would do more marketing with him...oh wait.

Oysters is cracking up about something.

Time to work! Coach Anderson is running over some plays.

Hainsey

It's a good thing I like goalies. They are way more still. Kari is cruising around.

Moose getting ready to face some rubber

De är så söta. I wonder what Team Sweden is talking about.

Kovalchuk. I told him congratulations on the new baby. He smiled. I told Marty Reasoner the same and he smiled at me and said "thank you."

Boulton with his mouth hanging open...a common sight.

At the practice rink in Duluth, there are always different teams coming in to get ready to warm up and play. They are usually aged from teeny little pee wee guys to high school. They have to walk all the way down to the end of ice to get to the dressing room. I love seeing the tiny guys with their little pads. Sometimes their bags are bigger than they are.

Shauna and I are sitting there watching practice and a team is coming in. The first few go by, bigger kids. I move my feet so they can go by. I'm thinking, must be high school. Then Shauna reads their gear..."University of Alabama." We looked at each other and said in unison..."COLLEGE!" These aren't babies, they are college hockey guys. I'm glad we realized this early, at least before the two goalies went by. It was like a cougar parade...like lions watching a wildebeest heard. We enjoyed them going by, rating some of them, commenting on others. Some looked really young...others did not :)

One of them was hurt, we referred to him as "injured reserve." He was pretty cute.

When I was waiting for the players to exit the ice so I could give Bobo his card and get my new Hedberg jersey signed, some of the University of Alabama players were behind me. One of them asked who that guy was, I told him Chris Thorburn. He wanted to know because he wore #27 for Alabama.

I noticed there was a little group of them behind me and they had some questions. One was wondering who Zack Bogosian was. So, being the friendly southerner I am, I stepped back to speak to them.

I told them all about Bogo and Boultsie. They asked if the guys were good about autographs and I said they were.

What a great way to spend Valentine's Day!!