Hands down Thrash is the best mascot in the NHL...or he was. Even when we were the laughing stock of the NHL, which was most of the time, Thrash was respected. My husband and I were rocking out on Guitar Hero World Tour, I'm the drummer, and doing Free Bird. I thought "what a great Thrash tribute song!"
So here it is, all NINE minutes. I tried to find a shorter version, but it left the good parts out. So walk the dog, get a snack and go to the bathroom, then watch. It IS Skynard.
This was the final I’d been hoping for all season, the Vancouver Canucks vs. The Boston Bruins. And, this was the winner I’d hoped for all season. All season we watched Boston blow through the competition, winning the North East Division. On the other coast, Vancouver did the same and eventually claimed the president’s trophy having the best overall record of the season. Tim Thomas not only won his job back from TuukkaRask, but received a nod for another Vezina and is the hands down favorite to win. Not to be outdone on the west coast, Luongo put up spectacular numbers and was nominated for the Vezina as well.
In Round 1 Boston met up against their Original 6 and most hated rival, the Montreal Canadiens. Hopes for playoff glory dimmed when the Bruins went down 2-0 on home ice and faced the monumental task of winning 2 games on hostile ice in Montreal. They clawed their way past their rivals in a series where of the 4 wins, 3 came in OT. Round 2 was no easier as the Bruins had to face the adversaries who embarrassed them and put them on the wrong side of the record books last season, the Philadelphia Flyers. Bitter memories were put behind him them when the Bruins swept the team who had caused them to blow a 3 game lead last season. In Round 3 it was battle of the old man goalies! Dwayne Roloson had been on fire since being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning and with St. Louis, Stampkos and Lecavalier playing in front of him, Boston was in for a battle. Again playing in a game 7, the Bruins shut out the Lightning in a game that had NO penalties called, something that hasn’t happened in the playoffs in 20 years.
Vancouver had its work cut out for them too. Round 1 held challenges for the Canucks. For the 3rd season in a row, Vancouver was set to play against the Chicago Blackhawks. Even after giving up a 3 game lead on the Blackhawks, the Vancouver Canucks slayed their dragons by finally beating the Hawks in over time of Game 7. In Round 2 the Canucks faced the Nashville Predators, a team that had just slain they their own dragons by making it to a Round 2 for the first time in franchise history. In the cage for the opposing Preds was another Vezina nominee, PekkaRinne. After 6 tight games, the Canucks advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1994. Each game in this series was decided by just a single goal (with the exception of an empty net goal scored by Vancouver in Game 4). In Round 3 the Canucks had to get past the San Jose Sharks if they wanted to get to the finals. They did this pretty easily winning in 5 games.
The 2011 Stanley Cup Final has some interesting numbers and facts. All games leading to Game 7 had been won on home ice. The games played in Vancouver were tight one goal games. In Boston, the Bruins demolished the Canucks, chasing Luongo from the net twice. In the first 2 games of Boston’s home stretch, they had a plus -12 goal differential, a 2 game NHL record. The Bruins had to face THREE game 7s in their quest for the cup. Tim had 2 shutouts in the final.
So let’s get on to some fun pictures!
Being a goalie lover of course the #1 reason I wanted to see Boston win was Tim Thomas. With his amazing story from his youth to his difficult and hard journey to the NHL, it's hard not to want to see him succeed. It was so good to see Tim win his starting job back after a disappointing season last year.
He also just genuinely seems to love the game. Look at that smile!
I also love the way he plays. I love how aggressive he is, challenging skaters and guarding his crease. I love his acrobatic saves and the way he puck handles. Thomas was actually credited with a hit when he body checked one of the Sedins.
My second favorite reason to be happy that Boston won? Rich Peverley! He has a great story of his own! On the way to the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals, the Thrashers snapped him up off the waiver wire. Now two years later, he's hoisting the freaking cup, unbelievable.
Apparently I didn't take a lot of pictures when Recchi came through, this was about the only one I could find. I'm glad the old man won it and can go out in style. Maybe he can shave that horrible hair and go bald now.
I'm happy for Chara, and it was fun to see him lift the cup up into the rafters.
I love Lucic! Any guy that puts someone THROUGH glass is okay in my book. I was glad to see that his hometown of Vancouver gave him quite the ovation when he circled with the cup.
After seeing Nathan Horton get demolished in that hit by Rome, it was special to see him cheer on the team and then hoist the cup, fully dressed and on the ice. Home Ice advantage thanks to Nathan Horton!
My fiesty little Finn, TuukkaRask. Hopefully this cup win won't hamper his milk cart throwing abilities.
Shawn Thornton is used to fighting his way to the top, nice to see hard work rewarded.
Krejci had a pretty good playoffs.
Although former Thrasher Marc Savard only played 25 games this season, I'm sure they will have no trouble filing an exception to get him on the cup.
So now let's look at some awesome pictures that I did NOT take. Repeat, I stole these pictures and am not profiting from them, but if they are yours and their presence on this blog pisses you off, let me know and I'll take them down.
Don't throw out your back, old man! Glad Recchi can retire on top!
What's the cup good for? Picking up chicks of course!
One of my favorite pictures, he so deserves it.
Even the Green Men are good sports!
Being a bad ass is hard work, Pevs enjoys some pizza with Chara.
Timmy gets doused.
Tim and his Conn Smythe. My favorite part was when you could hear him say "Do I leave this here?"
Lucic and the cup.
Recchi points the way. Pevs watches.
Chara had to get on his knees to have someone help him drink from the cup.
Nathan Horton snuggles the cup on the plane ride home.
Chara brings the cup home to Boston.
Awesome blossom, so happy for the Bruins.
Now let's talk about some losers.
Nobody gives two shits about your gold medal now, Lu.
Even though Luongo played well at home, he got obliterated on Boston ice and couldn't stop 3 shots in Game 7. Many critics are going to see this as the inability to win the big games and come through for the team. This is going to be a hard reputation to shed. With his enormous contract, it's going to be next to impossible to move him.
Mason Raymond lost a lot more than a cup. In 24 playoff games he scored 8 points, but in game 6 he was checked into the boards by Johnny Boychuck. He hit awkwardly and broke one of his vertebrae. He will be out several months and the Canucks hope to have him back in November.
Who the hell are these guys? I haven't seen them in a few weeks. Oh wait, wasn't one of them the guy who got punched in the face 5 times by Marchand? Daniel lost his cup and his pride. Both these guys and Luongo have to shed the reputation of chokers.
Ryan Kesler was actually having a pretty good serious and was one of the front runners for the MVP if Vancouver won. He didn't have a good final series though, probably due to injury. I like Kesler, he's a good American boy. I didn't like seeing him cry.
Now for some real losers.
Mark Stuart - 31 games played as a Bruin in the 2010-11 season.
Blake Wheeler - 58 games played as a Boston Bruin in the 2010-11 season.
Both of these guys played more games as a Bruin that Marc Savard and I'm guessing neither will have their name on the cup.
Well that's it. The 2010-11 season is done. It makes me very sad that I won't be able to go to Phillips Arena several times a week for the 2011-12 season and see these great athletes.
Today was the last appearance BrandsMart appearance scheduled for Eric Boulton and our last chance to say good bye.
Kerry organized a group photo with Boults. Being the great guy that he is, of course he agreed.
Me and Shauna waiting in line to see Boulton.
Me and Eric. He autographed my sign and we had a discussion about how the photos in the yearbook last year were not the greatest. I thanked him for his hard play and told him we would miss him.
Sigh. That's it. The Thrashers are completely over and I will never be able to participate in another Thrasher related hockey event.
In an added insult, one of the tents had up a contest to win season tickets to the Hawks. I wanted to kick it over.
I am sooo late posting this. Before this whole thing went to hell in a handbasket, BrandsMart USA had scheduled some appearances with Chris Thorburn and Eric Boulton. We were worried that when the news of the team leaving came, we wouldn't get a chance to see our guys anymore. Fortunately for the fans, Chris and Eric agreed to honor the appearances. Of course they did, they are THAT kind of guy.
WTF are these clowns doing here, they don't give 2 shits about hockey and never talked Thrashers. Oh wait, that's it, there is a baseball player and basket ball player there, too.
It was 25 degrees hotter than hell out there. The only thing hotter than the temperature was Thor himself. Greek God indeed.
They had a few half assed things set up for the kids.
Get it little guy! Hear that? That's the sound of youth hockey floundering in Atlanta.
Lisa Lewis, the president of the fan club, had a present for Thor. The Atlanta Flames used to give this trophy to a player on the Flames who embodied hard work and didn't get a lot of credit, kind of like the unsung hero award. They gave the award to the fan club and we started giving it out. This year's winner, the final winner, is Chris Thorburn.
See the douche clown on top of the van? That is the guy at the Gladiators games who does all of the contest and stuff with the fans. He's awful. He's a poor man's JBird. Too bad he's so ridiculous, he's actually kind of cute.
My little hockey buddies Sara and Abby get their pictures with Thor.
The day before the event was Thor's birthday! I made him a card. I will miss making the guys birthday cards. He seemed to genuinely appreciate it.
I've been hanging out at the HF Boards, an online hockey forum for about a year now. I enjoy talking to Thrashers fans as well as fans from around the world. When we knew for sure that the Thrashers were leaving Atlanta, someone had the idea of having a draft for the fans. The moderators from each team's board were given a draft number and order in which they would pick. Someone even did a prospect report on us!
I am very pleased to announce that I went 8th overall to the Edmonton Oilers! Am I moving to Edmonton and forsaking all other teams? No, of course not. Being in EST time zone, it will be a challenge for me to watch all of the games, but I am committed to following the team! I've been interacting with their board members and they have been very warm and welcoming. So I WILL be doing the following:
Watching as many games as possible
Pulling for Edmonton over everyone except the Predators (thank goodness they aren't division rivals)
Traveling to Nasvhille to see the guys play as well as possibly Raleigh.
Traveling to Charlotte to see their AHL team, the Barons, play
Blogging here with those pictures
I can't really explain it, but for some reason this has given me the most excitement and joy of hockey since finding out the Thrashers were leaving. I thought planning to go to Preds games would help, but it really didn't. Maybe because I usually go to Preds games anyway. This is something new for me, so maybe that's it.
Do you think it seems weird for a Thrashers fan to change to an Oiler fan? It is a bit of an extreme change, but if kind of makes sense if you think about it:
Both teams have been rebuilding forever
Both teams are usually near the basement
Both teams have a good young core
So welcome my new Oiler friends! I am honored to be selected by a team with such a storied past and promising future.
Just when I didn't think I could love Buff any more check out his comments from an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press:
“I definitely enjoyed Atlanta a lot. There are fans there and there were good crowds. It was fun to play there and I enjoyed it, the city and everything. But just the way the organization was run, it wasn’t up to standards that’s for sure. That’s all that needs to be said on that.”
Dustin gets it. There is a way to stay classy and honor your previous fans while embracing your new ones. Thank you Buff!
This is one thing I won't miss, poorly planned 1/2 ass bullshit events thrown together at the last minute that the fans are blamed for not attending. We take so much shit from other fans, other cities, media, and even our owners. Being a Thrashers fan is not easy. You get no respect, from anyone!
The Zone 790 is a local sports radio station. When the Thrashers arrived in Atlanta, they were their "official station." It was later changed to 680 the Fan. I don't listen to either station as I am lucky enough to have Sirius/XM where I can listen to real hockey talk. From what I've read and heard, the Thrashers, the fans and hockey in general were rarely ever talked about on the station and when they were, they were butt of a joke. Local sports stations don't like to talk about anything but baseball and football, with a bit of basket ball tossed in. If the caller isn't calling to ask "How bout them dawgs" they don't get through. (I'd love to see some charts on how many rabid college football fans ever attended their favorite school...or any college). ANYWAY....
Wednesday, The Fail 790 begin promoting a wake for the Thrashers. Stats, a restaurant downtown, said they'd throw in free lunch for folks in Thrashers gear. Sweet! There would be a coffin, hearse and everything. I'm picture a coffin filled with memorabilia, tickets, programs, etc and free lunch. Problem? It's on a week day in the middle of the day. So let me get this straight, you are having the event on a Friday at 11:00? 90% of us have to work! I know in Winnipeg when they said "hockey" 11ty billion people flooded the streets, but that's Canada. You could probably sue for religious persecution if they didn't let you go.
All this felt like was fans being made the butt of another joke from 790 and this time, we'd be in the media for all to laugh at. When people complained on the event on facebook, they got attitude from 790, and of course trolls, like we need any, had to jump in.
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
I was bummed I couldn't go. I have a new job I need to keep. Yeah, I know how we Atlanta fans don't care about hockey. It's evidenced by the way I managed to scrimp and save and buy 2 years of season tickets while I was laid off. <br> So pictures start coming out of this debacle and holy shit. Oh yes, that is what you think. It's a casket...with a replica player...going in a hearse.
This is what was in the casket.
Apparently they asked Thrash to actually lay in the casket. Classy bird that he is, he said hell no.
So let me get this straight...you throw together a last minute event at an inopportune time, you ridicule those that point out the inconvenience of it, then you have a hockey player in a coffin going into a hearse with the history of this team (Dan Snyder)??? Unbelievable.
I'm a 39 year old rabid hockey fan in Atlanta. I'm originally from Mobile. I've been devastated by the loss of my Thrashers, but I'm trying to keep this blog going. I love to take pictures at hockey games. If you like crappy pictures, puckbunny comments and dumb jokes...you'll love my blog.
