Kovalchuk skating at practice this morning!

I almost didn't go to practice this morning. It's pouring rain and I could have really stayed in bed. I decided to drag myself out of bed though because I wanted to give Bryan Little an early birthday card. I'm so glad I did!


Look who was waiting for me!





Ilya was skating full-on during practice and wasn't even wearing the special "do not touch" jersey. He does have a special metal plate covering the top of his foot where the injury occurred. It doesn't seem to slow him down a bit. According to the AJC, Coach Anderson expects Ilya back for the next game. Impressive! Don't rush it Kovy. We don't want you to get hurt by coming back too soon.





There was another fantastic surprise waiting for me.





That's right baby, Boris Valabik was on the ice, too.





Boris was skating full-on too, but DID have the special "do not touch" red jersey on. I've seen other lines wear red before, but Boris is a Dman and he was the only one wearing red, so I'm assuming it was so his teammates remembered not to clobber him. He must be still nursing that ankle.





Moose playing the puck.





Goalie pow-wow.





One of the drills today was trying to push the other guy off of the puck if you didn't have a stick, and conversely, trying to keep the puck with someone manhandling you.





The real fun for me was when they let the goalies do it!
Get that puck, Moose!





Don't let him push you around like that, Pavs!





Pavs trying to get away. We know it's no use, Moose can outskate Pavs any day.





Moose: "Give me the puck, punk!"


Good to see Kovy and Bobo on the ice again!