The Inline Hockey Director at my dad’s gym gave us nine tickets for the Thrashers-Caps Opening Night game last Friday. I took my cousin and her kids along with my family; this was their first time going to a hockey game, so they were pretty excited. They were not disappointed either as the Thrashers won 7-4. The game was very entertaining as the Thrashers opened up a 3-0 lead, only to blow it in the second period by giving up 4 goals to make it a 4-4 tie. However, about 12-13 minutes into the 3rd Period, the Thrashers scored two goals in less than a minute to put the game away. Neither Kovalchuk or Ovetchkin scored, so that matchup didn’t live up to its billing; nevertheless, it was a great start for the team and the fans.

The Opening Night crowd was great; it was a sellout and the fans were really into it. My cousins had a great time and are already looking forward to going to more games. A high-scoring affair like that was a great introduction to the game.

The Spin: I don’t know if it’s gone for good, but the wheel was not set up. They’ve done a major overhaul to that whole area- the hockey simulator was shut off, there’s some sort of Taco Mac house where the stage used to be and they turned the slam dunk area into a full-service bar. Needless to say, Ismail was disappointed about the hockey and basketball areas being shut down and I was not pleased about not getting to spin.

About 3:00 yesterday, I found out that I was going to get two tickets for Ismail and I to go to the All-Star Game. There were two no-shows from the La Amistad program that I mentioned in my previous post, so I got the chance to go as a Chaperone again, but this time take I was able to take Ismail.

The Hives opened up the proceedings with a few songs and then played intro music for the All-Star Players’ entrances.

The first period was simply amazing- Rick Nash scored the fastest goal in A.S. history in the 12th second of the game. From there on, the East dominated, scoring 5 goals in the next 15 minutes.

In the 2nd Period, the West would score two goals to make it a 5-3 game. Kovy had two great chances to score, but San Jose goalie Nobokov was equal to the task. As Kovy skated off, he jokingly threw his stick to the ice, basically indicating that he just can’t do any more than he’s already done to score.

The third period was the craziest period of the game as the West would tie it, go ahead, and then lose the game. Marian Hossa would score for the East, sending the crowd into hysterics. With the game looking like it would head to OT, the East made one more push to score. With 20 seconds left on the clock, former Thrasher Marc Savard received a pass in the center and he slotted it home for the East win. Savard, who had received several boos all night from the fans because he left the Thrashers, was now being cheered once again as a hero. Rick Nash picked up a hat-trick in the losing effort.

The Game’s MVP went to Jordan Staal, who scored two goals and had an Assist for the East. I would’ve given it to Ovechkin as he scored two goals and electrified the crowd all weekend with his exciting play and goofy attitude.

Overall, a great night with a lot of goals and open play.

Ismail and I went down to the NHL Card and Memoriabilia Show at CNN Center in the morning. When we got there, we saw that Blackhawks legend Bobby Hull was signing autographs, so we went and bought a Blackhawks puck and got in line. Well, the line was slow moving and we were nowhere close to getting up there to get the autograph. As Hull was leaving, Ismail and I ran up to the exit and Ismail handed him the puck; Bobby signed for him and then was rushed off to an awaiting car by his handlers.

There were a lot of giveaways by some of the companies; Ismail got a lot of free cards from Upper Deck. He also bought a limited edition Marian Hossa McFarlane figure only available at the show. Overall, it was a pretty good time, but extremely crowded as the Battle of the Bands was going on at the Dome at the same time and the atrium/food court where the show was being held was packed.

I had to go to DC this week for a workshop, so I decided that I would try and catch a few games while I was there. The first night I saw the Washington Capitals take on the New Jersey Devils and the second night I saw the Washington Wizards go up against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

First, the Verizon Center reminds me a lot of the United Center in Chicago. I haven’t checked, but I imagine they were both built by the same Architectural firm. Anyway, the stadium itself is pretty nice; nothing really stood out as being unique about it like the big Dr. Pepper bottle in Dallas’ AA Arena. The seats that I had- upper deck for both nights, had good sightlines except that the speakers block viewing access to the monitors with the stats, which sucked for me as I could see one team’s stats, but not the other. Concessions were absurdly expensive, so I ate at the restaurants outisde the stadium. The Verizon Center is right in the heart of Chinatown, but also has several other types of places to eat and shop as well.

Caps v. Devils: The crowd for this game was really weak. The announced crowd was 10.7K, but I doubt that there were over 7K in actual attendance. On top of that, there were lots of Devils fans, some of whom probably drove down for the game.

The game itself was entertaining- the Devils started strong, but the Caps would end up dominating the middle and latter stages of the game. The final was 3-2, but this score is not really a good indicator of how much the Caps dominated. The funny thing is that Alex Ovetchkin didn’t even score and they still won- I guess he saves all of his goals for Atlanta.

Wizards v. Wolves: As was the case last night, the crowd was weak. An announced crowd of 12K was probably more like 9K. A few Corey Brewer/UF fans were in attendance, but nothing like the Away Support that the Devils received the previous night.

The Wizards controlled this game from start to finish. To me, Caron Butler is one of the most under-appreciated players in the League. He does everything well- shoot, drive, defend, rebound, pass. He’s the basketball equivalent of a Five-Tool Player. He ended up with a 20 or so points, 10 rebs, and 4-5 assists. In fact, he, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Heyward all had Double-Doubles, probably the first time I’ve ever seen three players from one team all get Double-Doubles in the same game.

As far as the Wolves go, Craig Smith was unbelievable; he had 36 points in the game on 74% shooting, including scoring 15 points in the 1^st Quarter. Besides him, no one looked too impressive. There’s been a lot of buzz about Al Jefferson this year and I see that he’s averaging 20 and 10, but he didn’t stand out at all, scoring only 12, mostly in mop-up time.

The funniest moment of the night was when the scoreboard operator wanted everyone to boo during Wolves free throws-they showed a montage of Cowboys photos (Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson, Aikman, Emmitt). People were booing with unmatched gusto; it would’ve made Dave proud.  

Bizarre Moment of both nights: There were guys outside selling bootleg T-Shirts and Skull Caps with #21 Sean Taylor. Always good to capitalize off of untimely deaths!

Anyone catch the Stanley Cup Finals Game #2 last night? Besides the game itself, the highlight of the night was Snoop at the game wearing a fake moustache; apparently, it’s some sort of fundraiser that the Ducks are doing. 

While in Chicago for the Christmas Holidays, Janet, Ismail and I made it to three games.

1. UIC vs. Illinois State at the UIC Pavilion

2. Blackhawks vs. Dallas Stars

3. Bulls vs. Heat

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Game 1 - UIC vs. Illinois State: A friend of mine from college named Luis still works at UIC and has a connection with the ticket guy, so we ended up getting free tickets for the game. The Pavilion is essentially the same as when I attended, except for some exterior changes and some restructuring of the entrance. The game itself sucked; the team looks very unorganized and undisciplined. They were losing by 13 points late in the 2nd half, but were able to actually pull ahead by a point with 4 minutes to go, but they had nothing left down the stretch and ended up losing by 9 points. The strangest thing about this game is that Jimmy Collins, UIC’s coach, was absent from the sidelines. We found out later that he has taken a leave of absence, but no reason has been given as to why except for “personal reasons”.

Game #2- Blackhawks vs. Dallas Stars: Tickets for this game only cost 10 bucks and were easy to get; attendance these days at the United Center (UC) for ‘Hawks games is low. Another friend from college, Edgar, met the three of us at the game. While I had been to the UC to see the ‘Hawks before, this was Janet and Ismail’s first time. Ismail was really excited about the game and was asking every day when we’d be going. He was also happy  to see the Stars as he remembered them from our trip to Dallas last Spring. The game was really close throughout and the Blackhawks ended up winning 2-1 on two goals from Akhripov. The biggest thing I noticed about the game is that the atmosphere sucked. At the old Stadium, it was incredibly loud and the fans were rowdy. However, the 14 K in attendance were not very loud even though the ‘Hawks have been playing really well since Denis Savard took over as coach. I think the UC is partially to blame for not being a good venue atmosphere-wise, but also I think that years of mediocrity and bad ownership have driven a lot of support away.

Game #3- Bulls vs. Heat: My friend Luis has a friend with Bulls Season tickets, so he contacted him about selling the tickets to us for the game. He sold them to us at face value- $50 a pop for upper level seats! Pricey as hell but none of us had ever been to a Bulls game at the UC, so I went ahead and bought them. Plus, I had just received an X-Mas bonus of $100 cash from school, so it covered it. For Ismail, we had to buy a $25 standing room seat as this was all that was left. The tickets go from $10 (very limited amount) to $50 and above. No tickets in the 20-30 dollar range, except for standing room. And I thought that the Hawks’ prices were a ripoff! This guy that I got the tickets from pays over $2000 a seat for a location that’s farther away from the floor than our $200 seats. However, the seats turned out to be pretty good in relationship with the action; first row of the upper deck on the baseline.

The game itself was really good; the Bulls had a huge lead, but blew it and the 4th quarter was action-packed. The Heat played without Shaq and lost Dwayne Wade for the second half to a wrist injury. The Bulls ended up winning 109-103 with Ben Gordon dropping 40 points. Jason Williams led the Heat with 28 points. This guy must be working on his shot in the off-season as this is the second time i’ve seen him light it up this year. I remember when he first started he couldn’t shoot for shit.

One of the scariest moments of the game was when James Posey took out Luol Deng on a breakaway, apparently a Riley-ordered stunt in retaliation for Wade getting injured by Hinrich in the first half. The next day, there were all sorts of allegations from both teams about rough play and cheap shots.

The atmosphere for this game was much better than the ‘Hawks game. The place was completely sold out and the crowd was really into it. The famous introduction featuring the Allan Parsons Project song got everyone pumped up  and pretty much everyone was vocal throughout the duration of the game. I still think that the UC is sort of a noise killer and not as raucous as the old Chicago Stadium, but the place can still get loud when it’s full.

The Score: Caps 3, ATL 2 in OT

In Attendance: Janet, Ismail, my friend Roberto, a friend of Roberto’s, myself

Tickets: 200 Level seats again courtesy of my dad’s job (PPC)

The Spin: A Voucher for two $50 Hawks tickets ( I went ahead and got two tickets for the Hawks-Mavs game on 3/25)

The Game: Very frustrating game for Thrashers fans. Ovetchkin scored in the first period to make it 1-0. The Thrashers scored on the Power Play in the middle of the second period on a great pass from Kovy to a cutting Sim. With less than 6 mnutes to go in the third, JP Vigier picked up a puck in the neutral zone and skated down the right side on a 1-on-1; he ripped a shot across the GK’s shoulder into the net. It was an impossible shot, but somehow he found the space. With less than a minute left, Vigier was trying to clear the puck and put it into the stands. This meant that he had to serve a penalty and since the Caps pulled the goalie, it was a 6 v. 4. Ovetchkin would score his second with 40 seconds left and the game would go to OT. On the face off, the Caps win the puck, pass to Ovetchkin and he skates down the right side and scores the game winner and gets the hat-trick. So, within a minute, the Thrashers went from winning 2-1 to losing 3-2. Yes, they picked up a point, but they could’ve put more distance between themselves and Washington had they held on and not picked up that costly penalty in the last minute of the game.

Those in Attendance: Janet, Ismail and I

The Spin: I won the two Thrasher tickets voucher- a $110 value!

The Game: For the 2nd night in a row, I was at Philips, courtesy of free tickets that my dad received from his work. Tonight promised to be a great game as the Thrashers, first in the SE, faced the Ducks, the team with the best record in the NHL. It was a great game with superb goaltending from both Lehtonen and Giguere. The Ducks opened up the scoring in the later part of the 2nd period with a goal from Teemu Selanne. The Thrashers would get a goal from Niko Kapanen off a sweet feed from Kovalchuk midway through the 3rd Period to tie it up. However, only a minute later, Selanne would score again and the game would finish 2-1. The Thrashers had 35 shots on goal, but Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 34 shots to win his ninth straight start for the Ducks.

The Ducks are for real; they have all the tools to win the Cup. The Thrashers aren’t quite there yet, but they’re definitely on the right track and are playoff-worthy.

I have tickets again for Friday vs. Washington, so I hope to report that the Thrashers tore up the lowly Capitals like they’ve done all season (4-0-0 so far)

Ismail and I went to our first Thrashers game of the season on Saturday night. We’ve been eagerly anticipating the season for about a month now and the game didn’t disappoint. They gave out Magnet Schedules, but this didn’t really attract much of a huge crowd; the actual attendance was much less than the 14,500 announced. I think that the Tech game and the UGA-Tenn game hurt the attendance quite a bit.

The Thrashers scored two goals a period and Kari Lehtonen had 22 saves in the 6-0 Thrashers victory. The game was essentially over by the halfway point of the 2nd period. Ed Belfour got destroyed and was pulled out after the scoreline reached 4-0. I always find joy in seeing him fail; he’s a total bastard-when he left the Blackhawks back in the mid-1990s, he had some really shitty comments about Chicago, the fans and the team. The inside word on him in Chicago is that he’s a total moron and has a loser attitude.

The shutout was Kari’s 4th of his career and the second one i’ve seen live. I really believe that if he stays healthy, we’re going to make the playoffs for the first time. At least this year, we strong backups in Braithwaite and Hedberg.

Ismail and I went to the Thrashers game last night. Great atmosphere with a crucial match on the line for ATL. Right now, the Thrashers are one point out of the playoffs and needed to beat 4th in the Conference Buffalo to stay on pace. The Thrashers scored two goals in the first period to lead 2-0. In the second period, the Thrashers turned up the heat and scored three goals in the first 13 minutes. They scored another goal, but it was reviewed and taken back as the referee had blown his whistle for some unknown reason. By the 3 rd Period, the damage had been done and both teams looked to be just “Skating it Out”. A 5-0 shutout win for Lehtonen, who made 20 saves.

Not much exctiement off the ice-Ismail and I got drenched in the heavy rain after the game and I got chewed out by Janet for not having him wear a rain jacket.