Antero Niittymaki Is Satan

That's the only explanation. Niitty had a little help in this battle from the refs and the Thrashers themselves. Bergfors kept up the good work scoring first in the game. The rest of the period was all Tampa Bay. Armstrong struck back in the second period. Then there was a bullshit penalty shot awarded to Purcell and that pretty much sucked the will to live right out of the team. Horrendous officiating.


Niittymaki is now tied with Chris Osgood for having the longest winning streak over one team. Niitty has now beaten the Thrashers 17 times in a row, congratulations you bastard. As a goalie girl, I'm impressed by this record, as a Thrashers fan, I'm incensed.

The Curse of the Monkey: Thrashers vs Tamp Bay

Antero Niittymaki is not human. He's some kind of Finnish elite crease demon...at least when he's playing Atlanta. Niitty came into this game with an unbelievable 15-0 against Atlanta. This is the 3rd time I've brought this sign. We have to beat this bastard ONE DAY!!





One very exciting thing about the game, my hockey buddy Shauna was able to be there. She is a hockey nut but due to various "obstacles" this season, has been unable to attend many games. Michelle got a picture of us all on the glass before warm ups. It's me, my sign, Shauna, Marissa and Randy. On my left is the best hockey baby EVER! He was giggling the whole time and banging the glass. He wasn't even scared when the pucks banged on the glass.



Warm ups!


It's Pavs and Pevs!! *hehehe*





Slater digging pucks out of the net.





I guess Ronsey thinks he can do a better job.





Niitty checking out my sign. ONE DAY!!!! One day we will beat you! If we don't...can we please sign him?





Moose, Little and Max watching warm ups.





Kaptain Kovy...*sigh* Possibly my last warm up picture of him.





Nik: Any idea what's going on with Kovy?
Boris: I heard a rumor of a deal with the Hawks.
Nik: I heard a rumor of a deal with the Kings.
Boris: I'd like to hear a rumor about him playing a well rounded game where he back checks, is defensively responsible and plays with full-value effort.





Zack, Nik and Boris.





Why so serious, Max?





Nik has beautiful hair. Though it is kind of mullet-esque, it's pretty. He should do a shampoo commercial.





Swarming the Moose.



First period! No picture of face off, I was devouring over-priced, but delicious, chicken strips.


Face off in front of Pavs.





Pavs trying to clear his crease. Out of the way, Tanguay!





A few minutes into the 1st period, we had a dive-bomb attack by Thrash. I think he thought Shauna was Minnie Mouse. Don't tell Mickey!





Pavs makes a sprawling save.

The Thrashers ended the first period in all too familiar territory. Though shots were even, 7 shots for both teams, the Thrashers were down 2-0.


Second Period!


Yes Niitty, bow to Satan. You are obviously evil. See, I have proof!





Sometimes evil is H-O-T! This is one of my favorite goalie stretches in the NHL.





Second Period face off.





Pevs and Colby trying to break Niitty's evil spell.





Niitty isn't even in the damn net and we still can't score!





Hey honey, can't you spike his water or something??





Get it in, Nik!





Pavs makes another sprawling save.





Stampkos trying to get another goal.





Niitty is so evil, the glass shatters sometimes when he's in Blueland. It's happened before!
http://gettingpucksdeep.blogspot.com/2009/02/curse-of-philly-flyers.html





Thor trying to get another short handed goal. Why not? He's already 2nd in the NHL in shorthanded goals!





Niitty hustling over to make another save (great)





Chaos in front of Pavs.





Lock it down, Pavs!

The second period was a little better, we out shot the Lightning 11 to 6 and Whitey got us on the board. It's a one goal game and the Thrashers are still in it!


Third Period!


Hey how'd that kid get on the ice?!?! That's not safe...oh wait...





Niitty peeking over Boultsie.





UGH! DAMN YOU, NIITTY@





Look out, Pavs!





Pavs doing a little hustling of his own.





Better cover that, Pavs!





Boris is looking at Konopta like "are you kidding me?!?"





Boulton and Konopka kept discussing things after the scrum was broken up.





Hit the midget!





Look how low Niitty is.





I love a picture with an airborn puck! I would have loved it more had it gone into Niitty's net.





Tons of chaos and still no score on Niitty.





Woo! The Slayer/Slater fan (Beth who won the contest!) got an upgrade! Her sign is in the club seats!





I had seen Cup Guy and I'd seen his kid, but never realized that his kid's jersey says "Cup Guy, Jr." How adorable!!





After the game was over and we had loss, Ilya was on the far side alone. I had a feeling he was going to snap. He took his stick and smashed it on the goal. Of course I was too slow to get that pic, but in this picture, you can see that his stick is broken. This could very well be the last picture of Ilya Kovalchuk as a Thrasher I ever take :(


Well the Thrashers did NOT tie it and we lose again. Niitty's streak is intact. He is now 16-0 against the Thrashers and sits only 1 win against us behind the current NHL record set by Chris Osgood. Ozzie has beaten (ironically) Tampa Bay 17 straight times. If it were not against my team, I would love this stat by Niitty. It is truly impressive. Congratulations Niitty, you bastard!

Niittymaki = Thrashers Kryptonite

Seriously, unbelievable. It doesn't matter what team he's on, he kills us. He's not human. At least we managed to steal a point from him I guess. Holy crap, a 15 game winning streak against us during his career. If it weren't against us, I'd be impressed. Congrats Niitty...we will beat you one day!

Thrashers vs Lightning...Can We End Then Niitty Curse?

Short answer, no.

Sorry to take so long to get this up, I've been under the weather. Sunday was the second of back to back games at Blueland and capped off an amazing 4 days of hockey for me. The Tampa Bay Lightning came to town to face the Thrashers for the 2nd time in regular season. In goal this time was Thrashers kryptonite, Antero Niittymaki. Niitty came into this game with a career 14-0 record against Atlanta. Unbelievable. I made this sign last season when he was with the Flyers. After a few moderations, it was ready for the game Sunday.





I also made this sign for Moose. He was super glad I was back on his end of the ice for warm ups. He missed me, I could totally tell. Back in reality land, he did like the sign he smiled and nodded.



Warm Ups!

Moose checking out my Niittymonkey sign.





Pavs warming up.





Pevs taking it to the net.





Moose facing some shots.





Niitty: "HA! I am Niittymaki, you cannot defeat me."





Extreme Moose up.





Down on the other end of the ice, Heatmeiser continues his torment of St. Louis. Heat said that Marty actually pointed it out and laughed with his team mates. That takes him up a few notches in my book. I like people that can have fun with a joke at their own expense.





Moose: So I guess you have the night off?
Mike Smith: Yeah, with Niitty in Tampa Bay now, I never have to play the Thrashers again.





Looks like Slava got his job back.





Colby deep in thought. Maybe he's thinking about the fact he's gonna be a pappa! (Congrats to the Armstrongs!)





Anssi and Moose chatting, probably about my bitching signs.





Little checking out my Niitty sign.





Afinogenov putting a laser beam on Pavs.





Pevs chilling and being fantastic.





Moose taking some shots.





Swarming Moose.



First period!


I thought maybe St. Louis fell in a hole on the ice, but apparently the ice just needed some fixing.





Opening face off!





Action in front of Niittymaki.





Pavs making a save.





The ever delicious Ryan Malone.





Yeah great, another save.





Getting our ass kicked is thirsty work.





Save. Note the right hand of the picture. You know you are a small man when Toby Enstrom dwarfs you.





Save





At least Pavs is making some saves on his end as well.

At the end of the first period neither team has scored. The Thrashers were falling into the all too familiar rut of not showing up in the game during first (and sometimes second) period. Tampa Bay out shot Atlanta 15 to 8.


Second Period


As much as I hate him, I actually do like Niitty. He and Khabibulin do one of my favorite stretches in the NHL, what I call "the lean."





Get your big ass in there Antro and cause some problems.





Guess what happened here? Oh yeah..SAVE.





Ryan Malone, Ron Hainsey and Ondrej Paveleic...tasty!





Chaos in front of Pavs.





Yeah yeah, be sure and stretch good, asshole.





Mad Max in the crease.

Even thought the shots were almost even (Tampa Bay having 9 and Thrashers having 8) the score sheet was all Tampa Bay. Both Stephane Veillieux and Ryan Malone recorded goals.


Third period


Moose being the Wal-Mart Greeter and welcoming the team onto the ice.





Colby taking it to the net.





FINALLY!!!! Thrashers score!





The chick sitting under me had a picnic in her purse. She passed out string cheese to her kids and pulled out wings for herself and her husband. I'm not judging, I guess I'm a little jealous. I can't get a bottle of water in the damn place...how'd she do that??





The Thrashers discussing some things with the Lightning.





Pavs: Jesus guys are you going to score??
Hainsey: Man we are trying.
Pavs: I can only do so much.
Hainsey: We will do better.
Pavs: Just give me the damn puck, I'll see if I can score.





When thunder sticks attack. What do you expect to happen when you pass out a few hundred sets of thunder sticks and have a big mascot walking around?





Imagine that, another save.





WOO HOO!!! With a little less than 5 minutes left, Slava scores and makes it a one goal game.





Antro trying to make trouble for Niitty and hopefully get the chance for a nice tip-in.





I like this picture because you can see Kane about to try and put it in.





And then you see Niitty put the damn thing right back at Kane. Fortunately though with only 3 minutes left to go...Kane ties it up!!!! HA! All of you freaking douche bags that left, missed it. People started leaving at like 10 minutes before the game was over. Then again those douche bags probably don't care and wouldn't understand what they had missed anyway. Niitty was so pissed when Kane put that tying goal in. He threw himself a little Finnish fit.





Discussions.





Niitty got that one. Look at Antro and St. Louis together. *giggle*



OT


Over time face off.


Unfortunately, the Thrashers lost in over time. We did get a point out of it. We were THIS close to beating Niittymaki. ONE DAY!!!!! Congratulations Antero Niittymaki. You now have a 15-0 record against the Thrashers. You've proven that it doesn't matter what team you are on, you are a Thrasher killer. The day will come Niitty!!!!! We WILL beat you.