Archive for March, 2009

Last February 21st, a group of us gathered at TJs and watched as the Atlanta Thrashers dropped a 3-1 decision to the San Jose Sharks. Not too many of us were that upset about the loss seeing as it was the last game of a 4-game west coast road trip, the team played well against the mighty Sharks…the score was 0-0 after two…and the Thrashers ended up the roadie 2-1-1.

However, it was still a loss and it dropped Atlanta’s record to 21-33-6 for only 48 points after 60 games played. To place that into some perspective, after 60 games last year Atlanta was 29-27-4 for 62 points, (it was right after that thrilling 10-round shootout win in New Jeresey).

So, as you can see…that’s was a -14 in regards to total points after the same amount of games.

Brett Sterling Scores The Game-Winning Shootout Goal On Patrick Lalime (AP Photo)

Last night, I…along with about 26 or so other rabid Thrashers fans…made our way over to Tim Ecclestone’s place once again and watched as the Thrashers won a …

Continue reading Thrashers Have Come A Long Way, Baby! »

If you are a team that is currently battling for your playoff life…the one team you just don’t want to see next on your schedule is the Atlanta Thrashers. This team is simply hot…and they are out to burn any and everyone they can who is in the thick of the playoff race.

Marty Reasoner returned to Edmonton where he had played the better part of six seasons and scored the game-winning goal to give the Atlanta Thrashers a 4-3 overtime win. Just last week, Reasoner was looked at to be a possible trade deadline mover seeing as he is slated to be a UFA this summer. Don Waddell and the Thrashers decided instead to keep the 6′-1″ 205 lb centerman around…and Thursday night it paid off.

Reasoner Puts Game-Winner Past Roloson (AP Photo)

While the goal was scored by a player who is reportedly wanting to stick around here past this season…it was set up by a player who has been vocal in his desire to leave Atlanta, Eric Perrin. It was his flip pass out of the Thrashers’ zone that landed on …

Continue reading Hot Thrashers Burn Oilers »

Kari Lehtonen Stopped All 35 Shots Tuesday Night. AP Photo

Kari Lehtonen stopped all 35 shots he faced in Denver, Colorado Tuesday night to earn his third shutout of the season…his second in the last three games. The Thrashers score three times on 36 shots on goal to get off to a good start on this three-game road trip.

Hmmmm…and what happened to Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau a few days after the Thrashers blanked the Habs 2-0 last Friday? Be afraid Tony Granato…be very afraid!

In the past three games, the Thrashers have outscored their opposition 10-2 and Kari has stopped 87 of 89 shots that he has face. Boys and girls…that’s a .977 SV%.

Scoring for Atlanta on this winning night was Zach Bogosian, Todd White on the power play with only 0.6 seconds left in the second period and an empty-netter by Rich Peverley. For Bogey, it was his fourth of the season…for White, it was his 18th and 11th on the power play…for The Peever, it was goal number 12 this season, 10th since being …

Continue reading Kari Drops Goose Egg On Avs »

Life is full of coincidences. Take for instance the now-infamous UFO incident in Roswell, New Mexico. You know…the one in which a “UFO” crash-landed in the dessert near Roswell Air Army Field and, according to some, alien beings were captured, taken away and held by government officials.

Uh-huh…yeah…that one.

Anyway….that incident, in which extraterrestrial life forms supposedly visited our planet, occurred in the evening of July 7, 1947. Nine months later…on March 31, 1948…the man who would become the 45th Vice President of the United States, Al Gore… was born.

Coincidence? Eh, maybe…maby not.

More recently…and closer to home… last Friday, the Thrashers shutout the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 in Philips Arena. On Monday, just three days later, the Habs released Guy Carbonneau of his head coaching duties…GM Bob Gainey will take on the “interim coach” label as he stepping behind the bench for now.

So, Montreal gets blanked by Atlanta and three days later…they fire their coach. Is …

Continue reading Coincidence? Eh, Maybe…Maybe Not »

When Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller “Psycho” was released in 1960, theaters were instructed to not seat anyone once the movie had begun. The reason being that the entire movie was based upon pulling the audience in and making them fall in love with Janet Leigh’s character from the very first second. As the movie progresses, the viewers follow her throughout the first half of the story and begin to relate with her…understand her…pity her. Then…just as it appeared that she was going to right the wrong that she had committed…she is brutally murdered in the now-famous shower scene.

To keep the plot of the movie hidden from the public, Hitchcock even went so far as to not allow critics the opportunity to view it in advance…instead making them experience it alongside of those who paid to see it.

Hitchcock believed that the horror of this scene would come not only from the sheer terror of seeing a young woman brutally stabbed to death while in such a vulnerable state…but it would also …

Continue reading Spoiled Rotten…And Lovin’ It! »

There are not too many times this season that the Thrashers have scored a goal in the first period then made that one goal hold up. Heck, for that matter…there haven’t been that many times in their history that they’ve done something like that. But Friday night that is exactly how they disposed of a Montreal Canadiens that is battling for every point they can as they jostle for playoff positioning.

Yes…points are precious to a team like Montreal right now. But on this night the Thrashers told them, “You will get nothing, Habs…and LIKE IT“! No points…no goals…no pity…no cookies…no NOTHING!

Methinks the Thrashers are really taking a liking to this spoiler role right now.

Bryan Little gave Atlanta all the scoring that they would need at the 17:28 mark of the opening period. The Thrashers defense and Kari took it from there. They held Montreal to just 17 shots on goal in the final 42 minutes and 32 seconds after Little’s goal and Rich Peverely’s empty netter nailed the coffin …

Continue reading You’ll Get Nothing And Like It! »

Setting goals, and planning ways to achieve said goals, is a good way to track progress…even if that progress is simply of the incremental variety.  This is true in regards to personal and professional fields. It creates a type of measuring stick to indicate whether or not your are…ahem…moving in the right direction.

Now, one should always take care when setting such goals that they are not placed so high that you set yourself up for failure. Doing so then opens the door to disappointment and discouragement. Setting the bar too low is equally un-good because, if the achieved goals were not difficult at all to obtain, then the “success” is hollow and meaningless.

At the beginning of the season, I asked for predictions as to how you thought the Thrashers would do this season. As for me…I said they would net about 86 points, finishing in third place in the Southeast Division and eleventh place in the Eastern Conference. Needless to say, I was wrrr… ahem…I was wrrrrrrrr….. …

Continue reading Reassessing Season’s Goals »

Well, assuming Perrin isn’t going to be around, (and in my book he most certainly should not be), and the fact that O’Dell is at this time a “Not Ready For Prime Time Player”…here is possibly what we could see on the forward lines as the Thrashers take on the Canadiens:

• 1st line: Kovy – Peever – Little
• 2nd line: Kozzy – White – Stuart
• 3rd line: Army – Reasoner – Crabb
• 4th line: Bolts – Slater – Thorney

What do you think about that, eh?

Some Other Quick Shots Regarding The Passing Of The Trade Deadline

It’ll come a no big surprise that I’m thrilled at the fact that Marty Reasoner is still with us. If you are one who might be thinking, “But if he doesn’t re-sign here and goes elsewhere, then we get nothing in return”. Well that may be so, but look at it like …

Continue reading With Crusher & Perrin Gone, Let’s Look At The Lines »

Good afternoon everyone…welcome to NHL Trade Deadline-A-Palooza ‘09! Over the next day or so, like so many of you, I will be glued to NHL Live on XM’s Channel 204 and/or The NHL Channel on cable awaiting news of Thrashers trades as they occur! As they happen over the next day or so I’ll be updating this blog so keep checkin’ in. As always, if you hear of a noteworthy deal that goes down around the league…post it up!

You are all hearby officially deputized as cyber-reporters for this event, so as news breaks…post it up for us all to see.

We are still just over a day away from Wednesday’s 3:00 pm trade deadline but there has been a few deals that have gone down already. Yesterday, as I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, Nic Havelid was sent packing to the New Jersey Devils in return for Anssi Salmela, a 24- year old Nordic blueliner who played for the Finnish national team. This follows the trade that sent Mathieu Schneider to Montreal for draft picks. Both Havelid and Schneider …

Continue reading NHL Trade Deadline-A-Palooza ‘09! »

Saturday morning brought us heavy rain on the last day of February…I was in short sleaves later that afternoon. Snow showers Sunday afternoon…sunny and windy today. I hear 70 degrees will come our way this weekend. Ahhhh…March in Atlanta. If you don’t like the weather, just wait a day.

And with that…a little information overload for your Monday reading pleasure.

Catfight In Blueland

The Florida Panthers will come prowling around Blueland Tuesday night looking for a couple of very important points. The Cats are in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff hunt, sitting at 32-23-8 for 72 points. That’s good enough for second place in the Southeast Division but, seeing as they are 13 behind first place Washington, their sights are really on positioning themselves to be one of the five non-conference winners that will compete in this spring’s quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Currently, Florida sits in the #6 position, three behind Montreal, four behind Philly and tied with the New …

Continue reading Catfight, Trade Deadline And Other Stuff »