Hot damn it's finally time! Thrashers Training Camp: Day 1

The morning started out disastrously for me. I wanted to print out the roster and team assignments for myself in case they didn't have any copies. I am out of ink so we stopped by the nearest Kinko's. Enough said. Slow machines that froze up and took my money. They couldn't refund my $2 because it couldn't read my card blah blah. I was worried I was going to be late for camp because I was trying to print the damn thing out. Fortunately we got there with 5 minutes to spare and there were enough copies of the roster to wall paper a bedroom. WHEW!


It was so good to see all of my hockey buddies that I haven't seen in a few months. I also had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger for the first time. His fantastical blog is http://fanthrashtic.blogspot.com/ and I was excited to meet him.


Team A went first (makes sense, right?)

GROUP A

Forwards

17 Ilya Kovalchuk...............80 Nik Antropov...............10 Bryan Little

36 Eric Boulton................... 23 Jim Slater ....................27 Chris Thorburn
21 Brett Sterling................ 40 Jason Krog................... 22 Anthony Stewart
43 Riley Holzapfel...............57 Angelo Esposito.......... 50 Jordan LaVallee

Defense

6 Ron Hainsey.................... 77 Pavel Kubina
7 Nathan Oystrick............... 3 Mark Popovic
48 Mike Vernace............... 51 Scott Lehman

Goalies

31 Ondrej Pavelec
1 Johan Hedberg

I was up on a bleacher snapping pictures and I noticed down on the glass a few of Team C were watching the action. Woot Woot! It's Chad Denny. I first noticed him last training camp and for some reason was just enamored with him.





I call him my "Mi'kmaq boyfriend." Yeah, my husband really likes that. Chad is full blooded Mi'kmaq/First Nations. Good luck this season Chad! I forgive you for not adding me to your Facebook. I know you have be selective when you are a big star.





Stretching





I seem to have taken a ton of pictures of guys with their eyes closed today. It IS Sunday, maybe they are praying.
Hainsey: Dear God, please don't let us suck this year. Amen.





Hainsey and Oysters looking pretty pleased to be here.





Our new beast, Nik Antropov.





Another one of our large new guys, Pavel Kubina.





As we got there pretty close to game time, the middle was blocked off already so I was on Pavs side. Moose loves his far sided goal. Maybe he knows I'm usually not there.


Hainsey schooling Pavs.





Slater screening Pavs.





Kovy





I like this picture because it looks like Pavelic is crouching our hiding.





Welcome back old friend! Former Thrasher, Mark Popovic, shoots on Pavs.





Anthony Stewart gives Pavs a little snow shower.





Moose being Moosetastical.





Pavs: Dude, is that Sponge Bob Square Pants on your mask?
Moose: Yes.
Pavs: Isn't that kind of... I don't know, just...
Moose: Sponge Bob is very popular.
Pavs: It's not very ferocious. It's not going to strike fear into the hearts of the opponents.
Moose:
Lehman: Wait until you see MacIntyre's mask.





Time for "skate your ass off."





Go boys go!





More praying!
Moose: Dear God, please let people shut up about my mask. My daughters think it's cool. Amen.





So it's time for Team B and I've been jacked up for days about this because one of our special guest stars for the camp is Mr. 2008- All-Star-I-won-a-freaking-Stanley-cup-and-got-shit-on-by-the-Blues, Manny Legace!

GROUP B


Forwards

13 Slava Kozlov............... 12 Todd White............... 47 Rich Peverley
9 Evander Kane...............19 Marty Reasoner........20 Colby Armstrong
15 Joey Crabb..................41 Tim Stapleton............16 Dan Fritsche
24 Josh Gratton..............67 Kevin Doell..................46 Spencer Machacek

Defense

39 Toby Enstrom............ 4 Zach Bogosian
5 Boris Valabik............... 25 Anssi Salmela
44 Arturs Kulda.............26 Noah Welch.................38 Grant Lewis

Goalies

32 Kari Lehtonen
30 Drew MacIntyre
29 Manny Legace

Manny's mask made me sad because it is plain white...a man without a team *sob* On the back plate of his mask he has his large breast cancer awareness ribbon and the names of his children.




Manny chatting with Steve Weeks.





Manny came out like a house on fire, or a man without a job. I thought he did very well. He didn't look rusty and stopped most of what they threw at him. He even did a few of my favorites, poke checks and glove saves. He also seemed to be the nicest guy on the ice EVER. He always had a smile on his face. He and his old buddy from the Wings, Slava Kozlov were yucking it up quite a bit. In fact, one of the few people that could regulary score on him was Slava. Slava is Manny's Kryptonite. He was really friendly with all the other guys, too.





Slava in the middle of the stretch.





Army and friends.





A glorious Manny poke check.





Oh Bobo, how I've missed you. Bobo changed his number. Last season he was number 48, he now wears number 5. I guess it's a good thing I didn't get that Valabik jersey yet.





My latest obsession, the teeny tiny adorable Tim Stapleton. He's absolutely adorable, like he's anime adorable. He's also pretty quick. As well as being blindingly adorable, Tim was the leading scorer on the Marlies last year with 79 points.





Arturs Kulda. Some Latvian love for my friend Mara who isn't much of a hockey fan but IS Latvian.





Peverley.





Spencer Mahachek trying to get one by Legace.





Bobo and Army.





Slava






Colby: Dear God, please let the Thrashers let me do more funny TV spots and promos. Amen.





Hi! I'm Manny Legace and I need a job! (I feel ya Manny)





Manny chilling.





Ready for action!





Since neither goalie on Team B is married to one side or the other (as opposed to Moose), they switched sides half way through and I got a look at Drew MacIntyre.





Army trying to score on Drew.





Drew knows that the way to my heart is a good poke check.





First day of camp is almost over!





Just gotta do the skating around the rink. Goalies get to take a short cut because they are special!





Go Blue, go!





Kulda stretching before time to go.





Anssi Salmela





Drew has an interesting mask. He skated by once and I lost my mind because he had 2 Care Bears (yes really, Care Bears) on the back and a Mr. Potato head on the side.









On the other side he had an elaborate circle of some kind that looked like a Coat of Arms. It said "per ardura." So I did a little research because I love to learn and pass it on! According to an Admirals fan, the story behind Drew's mask is:

The Mr. Potato head is a shoutout to Prince Edward Island, where he is from. Potatoes are apparently their #1 export, and often times they're referred to as Spud Islanders.

The Carebears... Carebear is a nickname for his wife Karen, and she give birth to their first child during the regular season. We've been told there's a 3rd bear on the mask now, but we haven't noticed it yet...

The crest is his family crest. And the line from scripture is just something he likes.

You can see some more phenomenal pictures of Drew's mask on this site. Incidentally, it looks like the photographer is a friend of a friend of this blog. I think Fred Trask is a buddy of Ms. Conduct. Are all fantastic hockey photogs named Fred these days??
http://thethirdintermission.blogspot.com/2009/05/drew-macintyre-mask-photos-old-stuff.html





When Manny left the ice, he was mobbed. I hope he felt the love because everyone cheered and yelled his name.


Fans of Team C, sorry I didn't get to see them much. They were in the other rink. I will make a point to get some pictures of them before teams are narrowed down on Wednesday.





I did however get a treat for my Levko fans! Some Levko love! I promise more this week.


I'll be back for Day 2 and the Prospect Game tomorrow! The game should be a ton of fun as it has been sold out for a while. I'm scared to see 500 people crammed in there.

If there is someone you want some extra pictures of or extra info on, let me know and I'll see what I can do :)