Behind on the IIF World Championship? No Worries, I'll Catch You Up

So what to do great players do when their crappy teams don’t make the playoffs or are eliminated early? They go to the IIHF World Hockey Championships and represent their country. As the Thrashers are firmly entrenched in the culture of SUCK, we usually have several players that go. This season we had 6 players and 1 prospect head over to Bratislava, Slovakia to battle it out for the #1 spot. The preliminary rounds are ending and regulation starts tomorrow (Thursday, May 5)


First up...AMERICA...FUCK YEAH! (Some Team America World Police humor) We get to go first because 1. I'm American and 2. We just killed Osama Bin Laden. It's been a good week for us.
Team USA

The Thrashers have three players representing the red, white and blue.
Blake Wheeler



Tim Stapleton - I'm so excited for Timmy! He didn't have an NHL contract last year, now he's representing his country!



Marc Stuart - Not only is Stuie representing his country, he is the Captain of Team USA! Way to go, Marc!



Team USA is in Group C along with Sweden, Norway, and Austria. In the first preliminary game against Austria, Team USA won 5-1. Wheeler scored 1 goal, Timmy had some good looks at the net registering 4 shots on goal and Stuart got a delay of game penalty. Our next match is against Team Sweden Wednesday (May 4).





The True North strong and free! Team Canada has 2 Thrashers on it:
Evander Kane



and Thrashers captain, Andrew Ladd (someone give Laddy a brush!)



Ladd has played in all 3 games for Team Canada and is a +1. Evander Kane is off to a great start. He has played in all 3 games, is a +3 and has 2 assists. Way to go, Kaner!







Thrashers' net minder Ondrej Pavelec is well on his way to backstopping the Czech Republic team to tournament success. He has played in both games posting a GAA of 1 and a SV% of .956. He has won both games and shut Denmark out 6-0.








Thrashers prospect Arturs Kulda has done Team Latvia no favors so far. In his first game he delivered a brutal hit on Czech player and Islander Dman, Radek Martinek. Martinek suffered a severe concussion and a severe hematoma (bruise to the brain). He is NOT expected to return to the tournament. For his actions, Kulda was suspended for 3 games.

You can see the carnage here for yourself.

The NHL Network will be carrying some of these games. Be sure and check them out. It is awesome hockey. Good luck and safe play to our Thrashers in the tournament and Go USA!

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.

Ass, Cash or Gas, Nobody Rides For Free

Not even NHL goalies! Friend of the Blog, Sandy (Nuts for Boults) took her adorable daughter to practice last week. She also brought some friends, one of which is pictured below wearing his brand new Ondrej Pavelec jersey that Santa brought him. He must have been a very good boy!


You might notice in the back behind Pavelec some guys messing with Pavs' beautiful white Porsche. Who knew, but apparently even cars that cost $50k and up also run on gasoline. Sandy reported that Pavs came squealing into practice late. When practice was over, the fans went outside by the parking lot to wait for their favorite player to come out. The young man pictured below wanted to get his photo with Pavs, so Sandy and the kids waited. Pavs pulls out of the parking area and maneuvers the car towards the opening and then...nothing. The car went dead. Sandy said it was like a standard car when you let off of the clutch and it goes dead..except this was an automatic. It wouldn't turn over or anything. So some of the Duluth Ice Forum staff had to come over and help. From what I understand the NHL starting goalie got a ride from one of the staff up to the gas station, holding the gas can in his lap. I picture Pavs sitting in like a 2004 Corolla. They got back and were putting the gas in Pavs car. Sandy asked if when he was finished, if Pavs would mind taking a picture with this little guy who doesn't get to go to practice as much. Pavs said "sure." He left the guys with the gas and came over to take this picture. You can see the guys in the background putting gas in the car.



For the next game, Sandy made Pavs this sign.

Nice Job, Pavs!

You can really tell the difference in our team this season. After the Penguins snapped our 6 game winning streak on Thursday, our next opponents were the Washington Capitals, one of the best teams in the league. Instead of collapsing as we would have done in the past and lost another game, the team got back to business and got yet another victory against the Caps, our first win on Washington ice in nine games!


Ondrej Pavelec stood on his head and really put on a clinic. The only one he let in was due to Byfuglien being a bit out of position when he broke his stick and tried to grab Rich Peverley. Alex Ovechkin saw his moment and seized it with a nasty little slap shot.



Ondrej made 45 saves on 46 shots, enough to make him the NHL's #2 star of the night. (my kind of list, all the stars are goalies!)



His performance also impressed Puck Daddy enough for him to be the #1 star of the night.


Outstanding job, Ondrej! I feel a sign coming on :)

Afternoon Delight: Thrashers vs Bruins

I love matinee hockey! There is time to tailgate (if you can find the space in the gulch). The game is over early so you still have time to prepare for the work week. The only thing I don’t like is it’s usually kids day, so there are a ton of kids. It can also suck if the Falcons are playing at the same time. The spot you usually pay $8 for can be jacked up to as much $20, and that’s assuming you can find a space.


Last Sunday Blueland welcomed the Boston Bruins to town. As the Falcons were indeed in town, Phillips Arena opened the door 30 minutes early and offered $1 concessions (hot dogs, pretzels, drinks and popcorn) for an hour. Sweet!


I was hustling down to the Bruins side to see Tim Thomas. I did stop for a dog and a drink though. My sign said “Tim Thomas: On the Road to Another Vezina.” So we get down to the glass and I get settle and put my sign up. I’m turned away from the opposing bench stuffing the $1 hotdog into my mouth talking to Marisa. I hear my husband say “there is Tim Thomas.” I turned around and holy shit, there was Tim Thomas. I almost choked to death on my hot dog.




He was sitting like the distance of 5 seats away from me on the opposing bench just chatting with the cop. I ripped my sign of the glass and yelled "TIM!" He turned and I showed him my sign. He said "Nice. Thank you." *SWOON*





So here is me and my sign. What sucks is that Tim Thomas plopped down DIRECTLY in front of my sign and did stretches. I was nudging my husband telling him to call Randy so he could take a picture but he wouldn't (he's in trouble). Michelle did, but it was too. late.




So yeah, Tim was REALLY close to me. At least I got a good look at his mask.





A lot of the design on it is similar to his previous mask, just in whites and greys.





Timmeh!!!





I also had the pleasure of meeting blog follower Brittany at the game. She had a special request of some Chara pictures, so here you go! Yes, I do take requests :)





She said she thought Chara was "precious." I can honestly say that's not a word I'd ever thought about using for Big Z.





Horton hears a who, and looks pissed off about it.





Tuukka! My favorite milk-crate-throwing goalie.





I see ya' baby, shaking that ass.





Did someone put itching powder in their gear?





Tuukka facing some shots.





More action.





Step aside and let the man come through!





A Chara action shot.





Boychuck stretching out.





Damn, who knew Boychuck was good looking and has Marty Biron eyes?!?





Swarming Timmeh.





Opening face off!





Tuukka turns the puck aside.





Release the Kraken! I don't even think Medusa's head would stop Chara.





More penalties! Stewie is turned loose.





Here it comes, Pavs!



Burmi helping Pavs out.



Okay, not only is this a cool shot of a goal, it's something else. This goal was scored by Evander Kane and assisted by Anthony Stewart and Dustin Byfuglien, very possibly the first goal scored by an all black effort. Does it matter? Not really I guess, but I think it's cool.



Thor hoping to get something past Boychuck and Tuukka.



Jimmeh!!!!!!!



Two of the biggest bodies in the game, Antro and Chara on the ice together.



Johnny shaved this beard and left an epic stache for Movember.



Kane mixes it up with Matt Hunwick.



Peverley doesn't want to be left out of the goal scoring!



Zach looking back to make sure Grandpa Recchi didn't break a hip. Who am I kidding?!?! He's like 4 years older than me.



Ding Ding Ding! Ladies and Gentlemen, your main attraction.



Eric Boulton vs Shawn Thornton



An elbow pad flies off.



Look out Shawn, Boultsie has his arm out of the sleeve.



Boultsie's biggest fan, Sandy, is pleased.



I like this shot because it has some snow and a puck in it.



Get up Pavs!



At 18:06 in the 2nd period, Daniel Paille decided to board Burmistrov. Eager decided to discuss that with Mr. Paille and chaos ensued.



Burmi is stunned.



When not watching the game, Chris Mason takes pics with fans.



Slater taking it to the net.



Tuukka says "no."



Nice stick save there, Tuukka.



OH GOD HE FAINTED AGAIN!



Nope, he's good!



He's real good!



Pavs tracking the action behind him.


Thrashers win! The game totally belonged to Atlanta and we beat Boston 4 to 1. It's early Sunday night, we won and the team isn't traveling, it's the perfect night for a post game show guest! Scheduled to appear is Niklas Bergfors! Yeah, he showed up as the show was over and people were leaving. Thanks Bergie.