Archive for December, 2010

By leaving Tampa with at least the one consolation point earned by losing in a shootout, the Atlanta Thrashers find themselves currently with 38 points in the standings. That’s tied with the Lightning and just two points behind the slumping Washington Capitals for the division lead.

However, the Thrashers have another chance to rise to the top tonight as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes at Philips Arena. With a win, Atlanta would match the 18-11-4 record of the Caps, who are idle tonight.

First place in mid-December…wouldn’t that be a nice early Christmas present?

Evander Kane reacts to his failed shootout attempt against the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

The Thrashers, as stated above, are coming off a 2-1 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. They were afforded five power play opportunities but were not able to muster anything with them. The lone goal scored came off Rich Peverley’s stick while Atlanta was successfully …

Continue reading Thrashers get another chance to rise to top of Southeast Division »

Last Friday night as I watched the Thrashers take on the Colorado Avalanche, I received a text message from my buddy Thrash. His message read, “Hey Rawhide. Where you at? I have something for you”.

I responded that I was with the Rawhide’s Rowdies in section 204 and that I’d be looking for him. Moments later, Thrash came bounding up the steps with his entourage in tow and he was carrying a covered plate. When he reached the row I was sitting in…he handed the dish over to me.

When I uncovered it, I discovered his gift to me was…a plate of chicken wings.

Although I was thrilled to have the Atlanta Thrashers mascot present me with such a delicious, tasty meal, I did find it odd that a bird was serving up…well, another bird. Yes, very nice of him, but also very…well, creepy.

As I devoured the plate of wings Thrash had delivered to me, I had no idea what was troubling the Thrashers beloved mascot. Poor Thrash…if I had only known how troubled he was (photo by The Divine Mrs. R)

As …

Continue reading Thrash… buddy. Why’d ya do it? »

Opening disclaimer: With the Atlanta Thrashers only having played 31 of the scheduled 82 games, there is still a lot of hockey season yet to go. With that in mind, no team…the Thrashers or any of the other 29 NHL teams…have punched their tickets to the playoffs this coming spring. Nothing said or implied in today’s blog by the blog host or commenters below should be taken as anything but a reflection of the first two and a half months of the season and the possibilities of what may or may not be yet to come. Any and all projections are to be considered with the understanding that past performance does not always guarantee future results.

OK, with that said and out of the way…

For several years now I have opined that the best team ever iced by the Atlanta Thrashers organ-I-zation has been the one that played in the 2005-06 season…the first one coming out of the lockout. Many point to the one that performed well enough to make the playoffs the next year, but I still believe the …

Continue reading Is this the best Thrashers team ever? »

OK, whoever left the door open up there in Canada…would you please mind shutting it? And while you’re at it, how about a new round of weather-stripping around the border, eh?

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr……

Temperatures here in Atlanta area dropped into the single digits last night and early this morning with the wind chill factored in. The thermometer reported the frosty conditions as snow flurries flew about throughout Sunday afternoon and evening.

Last night it was so cold…how cold was it?… it was so cold, I actually considered letting the cats come back inside.

Almost.

But this is nothing compared to what’s going on up in the Upper midwest…I mean, did you see what happened to the Metrodome in Minn-EEE-So-TAH? Yikes.

Anyway, while we were bundled up in front of a cracking fireplaces, struggling for throw-blanket supremacy with our significant-others on the couch while watching TV last night, there was something going on in Manhattan that effects the residence of Thrasherville. …

Continue reading As Atlanta freezes the Thrashers remain hot »

Saturday night, coach Ramsay elected to skate Freddy Modin and Tim Stapleton when his Thrashers took on the Islanders. Taking their place at the press box buffet were Ben Eager and Nic Bergfors. Ramsay said that he made the move because he “wanted to bring some attention to the team that we didn’t play hard enough [Friday night]”.

While I did scratch my head when hearing of this shakeup…personally, I would have rather seen Bergie in there instead of Modin…I love the fact that we finally have a coach in here that insists on his players giving total effort all the time. If you don’t play hard, you don’t play at all.

And he doesn’t wait for several games to go by before enforcing that rule.

While celebrating his goal, Bryan Little points out a couple guys wearing tukes in the stands at Nassau Coliseum and asks, “Hey Evander, is that Bob and Doug McKenzie?” (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Early on, however, it looked as though the message he was sending by making the moves was not …

Continue reading Thrashers, Oduya escape the island with two »

I don’t know about you…but this week has just seemed to drag along slower than, well…slower than Christmas. I guess it’s the combination of the Thrashers playing so well lately, the fact that their last outing was a very exciting 3-2 overtime win against a solid Nashville squad and that they haven’t played since last Monday.

But yes Thrasherville, finally it’s FRIDAY!

With the weekend comes a pair of games for us to enjoy…the first tonight as the Colorado Avalanche pay us a visit. Then tomorrow night they’ll wing their way up to Lonnnnn-Gisland for a matchup against New York. It will be the first of four back-to-back sets for the Thrashers before we say good-bye to old man 2010 in three weeks.

The Avs come to town on a four-game losing streak, although only one has been in regulation. In the past seven games they are 1-3-3, which includes the 3-2 overtime loss to Atlanta last November 30.

“The mindset right now is just [gaining] two points”, Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson …

Continue reading Thrashers return back to action with back-to-back weekend set against Avs and Isles »

One of the nice things about subscribing to the NHL Center Ice package is that fans in the east can follow teams out west…and vise-versa I suppose. Given that we only get a chance see west teams once, maybe twice, a year when the Thrashers play them, Center Ice provides fans of the sport with a great way to follow them throughout the season.

Though Eric Staal was able to get this shot past him, Kari Lehtonen has had success with his new Dallas Stars team so far this season (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

One of the things I wind up doing is picking one or two teams in the Western Conference to watch consistently…or “adopt”, if you will…and follow their progress through the NHL campaign.

Some of you have made your way to Thrashervillefrom cities like Chicago, Detroit or some other Western Conference town. So for you the choice is always an easy one. But being a semi-native Georgian…lived here most of my life…I hold true loyalties to just one team, the Thrashers Anyone else is but a …

Continue reading Time for our annual trip to Thrasherville’s NHL team adoption center »

I missed the first part of the game night game due to an NJROTC booster club meeting. However, I was receiving text updates from our good friend FormerIslesFan…as I sat in the back of the classroom…behind a rather large fellow…out of sight from the person speaking up front.

Some lessons learned in school always stay with ya, eh?

Anyway…as I was sitting there glancing down at my cellular communication device, I saw his messages flashing the un-good news of how the first period had progressed. First came the text that the Thrashers had fallen behind 1-0… then 2-0. However, I have to admit that this news wasn’t met with the normal reaction I’ve had in the past after learning this team had fallen behind early.

You know…that “Oh my good lord these guys have taken the night off and they are just gonna drop a giant steamer on the ice tonight” kinda feeling.

Yeah…that one.

Zach Bogosian acknowledges the crown Monday night after his game-winning goal in overtime. It was his second goal …

Continue reading Thrashers have their fans expecting good things »

In case you’ve been stuck in a cave somewhere, you no doubt have noticed that the holiday season is once again upon us. The Thanksgiving turkey has long since been devoured…including the leftover turkey casseroles, turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazzini, turkey pot pie, etc. We’ve made it through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the weather has turned a tad chilly of late and the traditional animated Christmas shows have made their way to our television sets…now in the crystal clear images that Hi-Def offers.

Local traffic around malls are a nightmare to navigate, shoppers are pushing and shoving one another in line at Macy’s, fruitcakes that will never be consumed are being mailed to distant nephews and nieces and fist fights are breaking out in the toy aisles of Walmart.

Ah, yes folks…it’s the most wonderful time of the year!

While our tax exemptions count down the days until they can rumble down the steps and begin shredding away the pretty wrapping paper to expose their much …

Continue reading Thrasherville already receiving plenty of nice gifts this season »

Three weeks ago I was making my way down for The Blueland Chronicle Perch after the 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. As I made my across the landing area between escalators, I noticed John Kincade preparing for the post-game show. I stopped by to chat with him about the hard-fought, but still disappointing 4-2 loss to the Pens.

“I’ll tell you something”, John told me. “If I wake up on Christmas morning and this Thrashers team is at or anywhere near .500…they’ll be just fine. Probably make the playoffs”.

Despite the 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh, Thrashers fans have been treated to some great hockey this fall. And there's no reason to think that will end along with the 6 game winning streak (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Now at the time, the setback had left Atlanta with a record of 7-7-3 after 13 games played and had gone 1-3-1 in their previous five games played. It was still early November and the new players on the roster were still going through the beginning portions of their …

Continue reading Thrashers win streak comes to an end but optimistic outlook remains »