Old Friends Reunite: Thrashers vs Blackhawks

The Defending Stanley Cup champions came to town. It was a game many fans were looking forward to. This is the first and only time the two teams play each other this season. Because we got four players from their team, fans were excited to see the match up.


Unfortunately for Thrashers fans, a LARGE (almost 1/2) of the 16K people in attendance were Hawks fans. Of course the usual die hard fans were there for the Thrashers. I am always pulling for the Thrashers, but I had business on the other end of ice!



Marty Turco! I've been looking forward to seeing him back in Blueland for a while.



Hi Fernando! I hope your ulcerative colitis is okay!



Marty doing some stretching.



Whoa! Extreme Sharp Up. Patrick, if you want your picture taken, I'll be happy to do it.



Sharpie doing some stretching.



Our Kane is better! Well, we think so.



Turco in the net.



Sharpie waiting to take some shots.



Back up goalie Corey Crawford, I really liked his mask.



Marty practicing one of his talents, playing the puck.



Welcome to the NHL! This is former Thrashers prospect, Jeremy Morin. He was part of the deal that brought Byfuglien, Sopel and Eager to Atlanta.



Chicago's new tough guy, John Scott. He's showing Morin how it's done. At 6'8'', Scott can show anyone anything he wants to.



A sign of things yet to come, Marty behind the net.



It's the Marty Turco show! I love me some Turco.



Marty loves me, too. He's shooting the puck at me. I can totally tell.



Don't worry Sharpie, you haven't been forgotten.



Closer shot of Crawford's mask.



Stanley Cup hero, Duncan Keith.



Marty is a thirsty goalie, he drinks and splashes a lot.



Marty chatting at the bench.



Marty: Isn't that the chick who was talking all of the pictures last time? She didn't even bring me a sign this time.



A nice shot of Marty's white mask.



Love you, Turcs!



Swarming the goalie.



A few last stretches from Turco.



Duncan Keith heading into the locker room.



Patrick Kane bounces a puck up on his stick to give to the fans.



With the stands pretty full, my friends and I decided to head up to a little higher ground than usual. If it weren't for taking pictures, I'd sit up here all the time. You can see so much better. Turco turns a shot aside.



Stalberg gives Marty a little snow.



Slater taking it to the net.



The guys having some discussions. Maybe they are asking their former teammates where to go for dinner while in town.



Marty guarding the crease.



Go Ladd!



More action in front of Marty.



Get up, Marty!

Thrashers fans got the chance to cheer early when a little over 3 minutes in to the first period, Nik Antropov scored. Unfortunately Chicago scored 2 times and we went into the 2nd period down 2-1.


Marty is on this end of the ice now. He's waving to me.



Pavelec's net gets blown off the moorings.

There was tons of scoring in the 2nd period and we went into the 3rd period tied at 4-4.


Guys from both sides working hard to get the go ahead goal.



Scary! Little baby Morin down on the ground! We weren't sure what happened, but he was writhing in pain and was helped off the ice.



Marty keeps an eye on the action behind him.



Marty plays the puck.



Get it, Pavs!



Well no one scored in OT, so we go to a shoot out! This is exactly what I did NOT want to happen. Pavs has never won a shoot out!

This man has! Marty turns sideways and waits on the shooter.



First up for the Thrashers, Nik Antropov!



Save!



Here comes fromer Blackhawk, Andrew Ladd! He SCORES!



Next up is Rich Peverley.



Save!



Go Kaner!



AGH! Kaner misses.



Come on Big Buff, save us!



Damn! He missed.



Black Hawks win!


Even if we lost, we did get a point against the Stanley Cup champs and they take the extra point back to the west.

Check this out. I was looking at the program today and was reading the article in the front of it. how is this for creepy coincidences:

The last meeting between these two teams was on February 13, 2010 at the sold out United Center in Chicago and showcased much different rosters. In that game, the Thrashers took the Blackhawks to overtime and eventually came out with one point in a 5-4 shoot out loss.

Crazy!