Calgary Flames vs. Atlanta Thrashers

I've had 0% desire to do this blog post. It's hard to blog a game you lost especially when you lost the one before and the one after. At least this was a good game. One funny thing...my friend Randy won seats in club. The last time the Flames were in town I was in club for that, too. What a coincidence.


Kiprusoff leads the crew to the ice.



Good baby goalie! Check both ways before your cross. He's actually not that much of a baby. Karlsson is 27 and 6'5''. That's a lot of Swedish goalie.



Glencross stretches.



Kostopoulos looks like he is grimacing.



Jarome zooms around with the puck.



Kipper sees some shots. You can see his trademark flaming skulls on his mask.



You can see that Karlsson has some skulls o his own.



Jarome taking a breather.



Karlsson does his Ondrej Pavelec on opening night impersonation. (not really funny considering what happened later)



Cory Sarich was doing "the lean" right in front of me. Nice flexibility!



Kipper turns away some shots with his glove.



Big photo disappointment. Karlsson does this frog hop thing where he does a deep squat, them pops up. Every picture I have of him he is down. It just looks like he is squatting.



I was hoping to get a picture of Olli making a funny face, which he does frequently. No such luck. This was about it.



I bet he is amazed at the lack of crowd since he plays in Calgary. Oh wait, never mind, he used to play in Florida!



Karlsson gets some net time.



At least I get to see Johnny zooming around blue line from this angle.



Well Randy and I had club seats...my poor husband did not. I made arrangements for him to sit with friends over in the section of one of the users I know. Oh no, he heads up to the top of the 300s.



Tanguay tries to get one past Pavs.



Back in the zone again, a dangerous trend. You can see Sopel being very vocal.



Calgary scores. Booooo!



Nik putting some pressure on Kiprusoff.



Bryan Little got a goal in the game.



Kipper takes a cruise.



Pavs tries to get some of the garbage out of his crease.



More action in front of Pavs.



One of the reason I love Sopes, he plays Wal-Mart Greeter. For each period he stands by the door and gives fist bumps.



Then it was deja vu. For what appeared to be no reason at all, an Atlanta Thrashers player was unconscious on the ice.



This time it was Freddy Meyer who dropped to the ice.



Fortunately, Freddy was able to leave on his own power.


This was a hell of a game and a lot of fun. I'm tired of losing good games though. We've got to turn this around.

Blueland Guest Goalie: Miikka Kiprusoff

On Sunday, March 8, the Calgary Flames came to town. I get excited any time a western conference team comes to town because we don't see many of them very often. It's always a big deal when the Flames come (BACK) to Atlanta as they were formerly known as the Atlanta Flames. I was also excited to see Miikka Kiprusoff, I hadn't taken pictures of him yet. Finnish names are so fun...so many vowels.




Miikka Sakari Kiprusoff was born on October 26, 1976 in Turku, Finland.





In 1994, Miikka began playing for the TPS in the SM-liiga, the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is regarded as one of the top leagues in Europe. 1994 was a big year for Kipper, he was drafted in the 5th round (116th overall) by the San Jose Sharks. Kipper spent 2 seasons there before going to the AIK of the Swedish Elite League.





After spending 2 seasons with the AIK, Kipper went back for the 1998-99 season with TPS. That season Kipper led the Finnish League in wins (26). He also led the TPS to the playoff championships of the Finnish League, which they won.

The 1999-00 season saw Miikka playing with the Kentucky Thoroughblades, the then AHL affiliate for the San Jose Sharks. Miikka led the team to their first ever AHL Mid-Atlantic Division title. He was ranked 1st in the AHL with a GAA of 2.38 and a save % of .927.

Miikka spent most of the 2000-01 season with the Thoroughblades, but did make his first NHL appearance on April 8 against Anaheim.

In 2001 the Sharks changed their AHL affiliate team to the Cleveland Barons. Miikka spend the 2001-02 season alternating between the Sharks and the Barons.

Miikka started the 2002-03 season with a permanent spot on Sharks' roster backing up Evgeni Nabakov. For his first full season as a back up, Miikka had a .879 SV% and a 3.25 GAA.

On November 16, 2003 Miikka was traded to the Calgary Flames for a second round draft pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. (what a deal!)

Since coming to the Flames, Miikka has been their work horse, playing over 74 regular season games each season. For the past four seasons he has an average SV% of .912 and a GAA of 2.52. It seems that Miikka might have worked a little too hard. Darryl Sutter had this to say after a disappointing post season:

"Hey, Miikka played too many games--simple," Sutter said. "I tell him he's a top-five goalie in the(NHL), and he'll tell me . . . he's top three. But that's what he is. I know. I've coached him. I've seen him when he's sharp. I know when he's tired, I know when he's fresh. I know when he's getting the proper instruction on the ice -- or he's not. All those things. Him and I know each other better than anybody in the organization. "But I'd rather not talk about Kipper because that's the way I feel -- that's how good he is." Expect Kiprusoff to play 60-65 games next season.

Don't be afraid to take some time off, Kipper. You have a back-up for a reason. I promise, you won't let this kid down if you take a night off.

Kipper is a phenomenal goalie and came at a good time for the Flames, leading them to the cup final for the first time since 1996. Kipper has a good glove hand that is made even better by his excellent hand positioning. Kipper has good stick position, but handles the puck in moderation.

Wonder what these little Finnish pumpkins are talking about? Maybe Kipper is telling Kari about all of his accomplishments and awards, such as:

* Winning a gold medal in 1995 AND 1999 with TPS.

* Winning the Urpo Ylönen trophy for best goaltender by the Finnish SM-liiga in 1999

* Playing in the AHL All Star Game in 1999-2000

* Being a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2003-04

* Winning the Vezina in 2005-06.

* Winning the Jennings Memorial Trophy in 2005-06

* Being a finalist for the Hart Trophy in 2005-06

* Playing in the NHL All Star game in 2007

Okay, Miikka, nobody likes a show off!

Take a night off next season!

Flame on! Calgary vs Atlanta

The Flames returned to Atlanta Sunday, March 8. There were several old Atlanta Flames Jerseys in the house. We still have some love for our former NHL team, but not when they come to play our beloved Thrashers.

They were well represented by their own fans. Canadian teams are usually well represented when they come to town to play the Thrashers. Didn't you get the memo??? You were supposed to wear the red jerseys...not the grey Flames shirt or the black Kipper shirt. Way to mess up the Puddle of Red.



Warm ups!

We had the corporate seats, section One-Oh-Douche. Good seats, not so great fans. I went down to the ice to stake out a good spot for pictures. This guy comes up beside me and pulls out the mega camera with the mega zoom. I have a Nikon D40 that I barely take off of auto. It's my first DSLR. I use a 75-200mm lens. He had a Nikon D200 with some giga lens. We struck up a conversation and I felt like a moron. I wanted to throw my camera away. He said mine was a great camera though, so I felt a little better. He was a pro though and shoots pics for the minor league baseball team in Savannah. I'd love to see his pics, but since I can't... on to some crappy pictures!

Hmmmm, wonder why I was first to the glass and waiting?? Hmmm, could it be KIPPER?? I was super excited to see Kipper for the first time and taking pics of him.




Kipper is showing off for me. Nice job, very limber. Sorry, but you can't be my favorite Finn, Kari has that spot. Actually 2nd is taken by Nitty. You can be #3 :) He said he'd rather play 3rd fiddle than not be in the band at all.



Kipper in the crease



I'm looking at Kipper's arrows on his pads and wondering, what are you trying to tell us with those arrows? Maybe "all the action is right here, ladies?"


Hey baby, what up?


This one looks like he's smelling something.





What's better than a Finnish Goalie? TWO Finnish goalies of course.

Kari: Hey man, what's up?
Kipper: I'm gonna beat you like Nitty does.
Kari: shut up



Olli Jokinen



Okay, Dion Phaneuf is driving me nuts. I've got it in my mind that he looks like an old cartoon character and I can't figure out which one. First I thought it was Jack Frost from Frosty's Winter Wonderland. I found a picture of him, nope not him. My (sloppy) second guess was the Charlie in the Box from the Island of Misfit Toys in Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Nope, not him either. Maybe Dion just reminds me of old Christmas specials...maybe I'm just crazy. So if anyone sees it too and can tell me what cartoon character it is, I'd love to hear your guesses.

Ummmm, Iginla. God knows I love a tall, dark, handsome hockey player. I'm disappointed I didn't get many good pics of Iggy. He moved around too fast.

Lots and lots of discussion tonight!



Oysters had a lot to say tonight.

Oystrick connected with a good punch on Nysrom.

Face off. Notice the typical douche bag Atlanta Fans standing up as the puck is about to be in play.

Awwww, what's the matter with your skate, Kari?

What's Moose looking for?

Kari: Hand me my contact lens solution, I must hose my eyes out.

Moose: Hold on, I'm looking for my girl. She was right behind me the other night.

Kari: Come on man, my eyes are dry.

Moose: Okay, okay here. I wonder where she is.

Kari: Dude, Kipper is in town, you know where she was for warm ups.

Moose: Shut up.

Scrambling for the puck after face off

Sunday was a matinee game and Kids Day at Phillips. They had Thrash and The Men In Black come out and dance. Then they stopped and out came a baby Thrash and a baby Men In Black. I of course lost my shit. A baby mascot, are you kidding me???

More discussions. Vandermeer had a LOT to say and was trying to tell it to anyone who would listen. Perrin? Really you are going to get into it with Eric Perrin? Looks like he was yapping at Oystrick, too.

Another scrum in front of Kari.

Poor big Finn :( Kari has played so finntastically the last few weeks. He let in a goal and sat in the net looking so dejected for a few minutes. He shook it off and went on to win the battle of the Finns in net. Now if he could just beat Nitty.

What's everyone looking at so longingly? I thought Moose and Bobo only looked at me that way! It's kiss cam. Moose watches all of the games and videos they have on the jumbo tron. He always watches the Sports Bloopers, but doesn't smile when it's kids that get hurt, isn't that sweet?

Kipper doesn't have much interest in kiss cam. I bet he is more thinking "kiss my ass, Thrashers."

Woo Hoo, Thrashers win 5-2! What a glorious few games it's been. And once again, we win and the team doesn't have to fly out the next day, we get a guest at the post game show. Weeeee!

Welcome to the post game show Atlanta's young stud, Bryan Little. Little has been on fire this year. So we were pleased to have him as a guest.


Darren Elliot and Bryan Little

Little has a lot to smile about!

Deep in thought

He's kind of dreamy!

Go Thrashers!