Burning the Mid-day Oil...Thrashers vs Edmonton

Easy like a Sunday afternoon! The Atlanta Thrashers faced off against the Edmonton Oilers in a Sunday Matinee game. It was a much smaller crowd. You can't have a 2:00 game in the south and expect a good turn out. There are too many church going, football loving folks that 2:00 just doesn't work for. It was still a lively crowd that turned out for the chance to see a team from the west that rarely graces Blueland.


Warm ups!


Of course I was VERY happy to see Khabibulin.





I was in a good spot, he put on a show for me. I was directly behind him for all of his warm up stretches.





Shot of the mask of Bulin.





The other thing I was excited for, smoking hot Shelden Souray!





Make me a pizza! (He and Marty Brodeur own a pizza place in Montreal. NHL.com had a video of him making a pizza)





Hillary Duff's boyfriend





Khabibulin seeing some shots.





Shawn Horcoff





Deslauriers stretching. I love his mask and need to do some research on it. I want to know why he has Casper the Friendly Ghost's mean relatives on it.





I'm over here Sheldon!





You can see the ghost really good here.





Ghost on the other side.





squee





Getting ready to swarm the goalie.





Deslauriers taking some shots.





Stretch it, Habby!



First Period!


One cool thing about seeing a Canadian team is we get to hear the Canadian National Anthem. I love their anthem. It's much easier to sing and there isn't mention of blowing anyone to hell and back in it.





The boys discussing some stuff.





Moose doing his pinball flipper warm ups.



Second period! We go in to the second period with a 1-0 lead thanks to the power play goal by Zach Bogosian.


Action coming down the ice.





Get em, Thor!





Khabibulin waxing philosophic.





They had Bulin dancing! He made some amazing saves (damn him)





Glove save!





Habby making a nice pad save.





Habby again with the save.




Habby must have known this guy, the chatted quite a bit.





After a stoppage in play, Habby took his mask off, got a drink and put it back on. For some reason his strap was sticking up. It stayed up the rest of the period. He looked like a Dr. Seuss character.





Habby Hears a Who.





Ilya poised and ready at the face off to do something fantastical.





Sheldon helping the guys clear the zone.





Habby says no more pictures.





Face off to the right of Habby. Notice the strap still sticking up.





Habby making yet another save.

The second period was a little nerve racking. Edmonton scored twice and we trailed by one late in the second period. With only a few seconds left, Max Afinogenov tied it up for us. Way to go, Mad Max!


Third Period!


Thirsty Moose.





Messy Moose.





Moose tracking the puck.





WOO HOO! How Slava got his groove back! Slava pushed us ahead with his first goal of the season. The guys are doing the victory hand-slap.





The Slater/Slayer sign makes an appearance.





So does Sheldon Souray.





Penner all up in Moose's Kool Aid.





Action in front of Moose.





Late in the period Edmon were playing pretty hard and they had Moose dancing.





Habby heads for the bench so the Oil can get the extra attacker.





The final face off of the game, super nerve racking!





The horn blows, Thrashers win!!!





Everyone comes to give Moose some love. Look at Slava's face!





I love Pavelic's face. He's like "DUDE! That was awesome!"





Goalie love!

#3 Star, baby!


Thrashers win 3-2! And of course we get a guest! It is non other than my beloved Moooooose!

Don't look so alarmed, Moose! I'm the proper distance as demanded by the restraining order.





Moose talking about what a fucking bad ass he is. Okay he is NOT. Moose is humble and would never say that.





Darren, Dan and Moose did discuss the possibility of eliminating the trapezoid. Moose is a very athletic goalie with terrific puck handling skills, the trapezoid impedes him. Of course Darren, Mr. Ex Goalie, is for getting rid of it.





Me and some buddies almost got in a fight with this Edmonton jackass. He comes out of the bathroom and says "Johan Hedberg is going to be here?" We said yes. The guy says "that big fat guy in the pads?" His statement was so ridiculous we assumed he didn't know what he was talking about. Johan is the most fit person on the team. Kerry said "he's not fat, you are bigger than him." The guy continues to suck the fun out of the room with "Where is Kovy going to play?" We inform him "Right here." Then he starts on a tirade about "what happened to Hossa? What happened to Heatley?" I didn't hear that part because I would have LOVED to have a Heatley discussion with him. Finally the guy is leaving he yells at Dan and Darren "YOU ARE AN IDIOT," then says "I'm out of here." I managed to get a "Go back to your frozen shithole" in before he left. JERK!




That's okay, nothing could spoil my night!