What if I WANT to go into the water, hmmm?

It’s already the end of July. My birthday has come and gone, which can mean only one thing – IT’S ALMOST TIME FOR HOCKEY!!!!!!

I took a small break from almost all things hockey after HM and I split – after all, it’s how we met. Now that my heart is mended and the season is sneaking up on me, I decided to jump back into my RSS/Google Reader and find out some dish on my fine, finned team. There’s a lot going on for nothing going on… if you know what I mean.

Draft… We got a couple kids. Let’s face it – the past couple years, draft day has been a let-down for Sharks fans. Nothing until round 2? BOOORING. Which is why I sang at a baseball game instead (you can read about the shenanigans Schultzie and I got ourselves into HERE).

Team news. Well, well, well…. What a tangled web we weave, Sharkies. If you know me at all, you know I’m a goalie-lover. Also, you know I’m not a lover of Nabokov. He is a fine goalie – if you like that feeling of your heart dropping into your butt when you can see he’s WAY too far out of position, but he makes the save by the hairs on his chinny-chin-chin. While doing research for this post, I decided to catch up on some Photoshop Expos at Fear the Fin and stumbled across this:
The first thing that popped into my head as I chuckled was the line by ‘Jack O’Callahan’ in Miracle, “They’re Russian. They get shot if they smile.” BUT, I digress…
He has said that if asked to by the Sharks, he would wave his NTC because he doesn’t want to be with a team who doesn’t want him. How sad is that?! As much as I complain about him, no one WANTS to be with someone they know doesn’t want them. I’m not sure how I feel about this news. Now that Boucher is gone (I still don’t want to talk about it), who IS going to be in net? Let us go over a few options:

· Thomas Greiss – Logically, Thomas is the first choice. He’s spent some time up in the Show and is already listed on the roster behind Nabby Barring any large trade deal, we need a back-up.
· Stalock – Played with Griess in Worster. Stats aren’t bad, but as a Gopher, he’s got to prove himself to me since he went to UMD.
· Dakers – Thinking back to when he played for Kootenay, I remember him not sucking? I think? Possibly there were jokes about him? Any of the Mafia remember that? I’m drawing a blank.
· Sexsmith – Don’t EVEN get me started on this one. I feel the same way about him as I do about Dustin-flipping-Tokarski. Both are goalies who won the Memorial Cup not FOR their team, but WITH their team. Actually, I think Sexsmith is quite possibly even more than Tik. GREAT teams in front of them made them look SO much better than they actually are. HM never failed to rub salt in the open wound that he was a Sharks draft pick whenever the Giants would come to town. Mother of pearl, if he’s in a Sharks jersey this year, he’d better damn well step up his game or I’ll have to slap a bitch.

Let’s move away from goalie news… I’m getting my feathers all ruffled.

Apparently there were talks of sending Cheechoo and Erhoff to Ottawa for Heatley… Hmm… I don’t know how I feel about that. I’m not emotionally attached to Cheech, but I do tend to love my big Dman from Deutschland. And I don’t have anything against Heatley ON the ice, it’s his Diva “I’m outta here” attitude that makes me a little gun-shy on the whole situation. Though, I guess I don’t have to sweat it since apparently Brian Murray schaid the Schensch wouldn’t acschept schusch nonschensche (for those of you who don’t read/speak Brian Murray/Sid the Sloth, here’s a translation: said the Sens wouldn’t accept such nonsense.)

Marleau… At the end of the post-season, all the haters were calling for him to be shipped to Abu-Dhabi in a crate like Nermal. I’m not hater. In fact, heart Cap’n Patty! And how could you not – especially since he has said he’s willing to do anything to put a winning team on the ice, even if it means giving up his captaincy. Je t’aime, Marleau! And NO, it’s not because I’m a closet Seattle fan… ok, so not COMPLETELY because I’m a closet Seattle fan.

Another player near and dear to my heart is my Old man, Jeremy Roenick. Rumor has it that he’s going to hang up his skates, at 39, he thinks his body just can’t handle it anymore. I was hoping for one more year (and hopefully a cup) for the big ham, but if he’s retiring, I wish him all the best and am REALLY glad he went out with my team.

Finally… I guess I have to face it… Big Joe is… Married. There. I said it. Happy? Le sigh. *pouts*

No matter who the team ends up being, let’s make it a good season, boys

Hey, Spokane..

Ams lock up U.S. title with win in Kent

We're having a great time in Kent. So far, Kelly has biffed it out of the hotel shuttle, got to meet Calvin's superfan, got a quick tour of the Tbirds locker room (pretty sick, not gonna lie), and narrowly escaped seeing a naked man in the hall of the hotel. Oh yes, and lots of alcohol has been consumed.

Good times are being had by all... well, all Ams fans, that is.

game notes 1-27

So, through the almost 8 inches of snow, McMan and I ventured to the ams game.
The other members of the MLM, for safety reasons, went home early after staying the night at a billet house. All got home safely.
Ma also stayed home. Not feeling too hot. I sat in her seat.

• First of all, the game was BORING. I couldn't pay attention.
• Secondly, Shawn Vey is going to drive me to drink. heavily. Birch could've had the third goal had Shawn not been skating in his sleep.
• Tyler Schmidt needs to calm the eff down. Every time we're about to get a PP, Tyler has to be the tough guy and gets penalized, taking that PP away. There was once tonight where I'm sure Kirk (don't EVEN get me started on this guy......) warned him about it.
• Birchy needs to play more if he's going to reach his potential as a goalie. Right now, he's ascribing to the Hasek School of Goal Keeping - aka, flopping like a fish. There were many times where (forget Chetters) there were some twinkies in MY pants at the close calls in net.
• That said, the D was... well, missing. Toll had some good plays, Mestery was giving his all every shift he was out and Werbs .. umm... well, he was trying. TJ took a bunch of BS penalties (the one for elbowing was phantom, but still... ) and I didn't notice him at all on the ice besides his parade to the box.
• Radek's goal was killer. Great for him against his former team and second in 2 nights.
• Seattle's 2nd goal was PRETTY, not gonna lie. Knocked Birch's water bottle 1.5 feet in the air before returning to the same spot he'd placed it.
• Well, that's about all i have to say about tonight's game. They cancelled the skate - probably would've been 10 of us and the ams out there. Not a bad thing, but I'm glad I started home when I did.

It's been a LONG time since I've said this, but I'm glad this weekend is over.... Hopefully this week will be happy times.

O'CANADA!!!

(x-posted to Maple Leaf Mafia)

This Lactose-free Canada Day is brought to you in honour of Matty Swaby.

July 1st... The day Canada celebrates their Independance! YAY!

Headed to M.F. for a day of celebrating the Homeland. Hammer had maple cookies ready and a maple leaf flag banner up. We started the afternoon with a rousing game of NHLopoly. I would've won if I hadn't have let Hammer cheat and stay in jail in order to avoid the "ticket prices" in Ottawa with the arena built. She won. Lame. Now I know not to be so congenial.

We tagged my car with red car-chalk. Violette (my vehicle) is still proudly rockin' "CANADA DAY '07" on her back windshield.

The roster ended up beign rather full - The whole female contingent of the Maple Leaf Mafia was there (Hammer, VonHammer, Laces and McPhizzle) along with 3 of Hammer's friends and 1 little nugget named Michael - the little 18-mo.-old cutie that totally stole the show.

We all wore "Canadian leis" (aka red mardi-gras beads that left our necks pink - Mike thought I had gotten sunburned when I got home), and most of us were wearing some combination of red, black and white (we let VonHammer slide with the HNIC shirt). We also put temporary tattoos on our faces. When Laces came in she asked, "Can't I put it on my guns?" Your guns?! No, now you HAVE to put it on your face for asking that way.

Before we ate dinner, the Canadian Anthem was sung reverantly at the picnic table.

the Alberta Beef Tenderloin with Gingered Saskatoon Berry Compote was AMAZING!! As was the potato salad (in honour of PEI's 65 varieties of potaoes, of course... Who knew they had that many?! "Is there enough land to grow that many there?" "Maybe a row of each?" "We found a new variety of potato, eh!" "Well, go plant it next to the other 64, eh!").

After dinner, the fun and games began. We took a Canadian History test... We should've studied. lol. Question #15 was "Which part of the US space shuttle was designed by Canadians?" VonHammer was QUITE excited that she knew the answer and when Hammer was reading the correct answers aloud, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "ROBOTIC ARM!!!!!" which we affectionately re-named the CanadArm.

Somehow the topic of Lester B Pearson (14th Prime Minister of Canada) and how he got the nickname "Mike." Apparently "Lester" didn't sound tough enough, so they picked a new name for him. Odd little tidbit there. Apparently Mike is a tough name.

After the quiz, we started playing the "Great Canadian Adventure" board game that Hammer uses as a Friday treat in the Canadian History course she teaches.

• One of the questions Hammer gave to Laces was, "Who is the Canadian Hockey player who they call The Great One...." we all groaned and rolled our eyes at the easiness, especially since questions to the rest of us were freakin hard...
• When someone landed on a "Heroes" space, VonHammer shouted, "TERRY FOX!!!!" before her sister could even begin to read the question aloud. Hammer's response? "Great, now I have to choose a new one."
• To make up for the ease of Laces' queston, the next question posed to me was "WHo was the first Aboriginal head coach in the NHL... I matched VonHammer's intesity yelling, "TED NOLAN!!!!" (and as always, I added, "he's on LonGisland!")
• Our little nugget got to roll the large, neon pink dice for his mom and dad. He beaned Laces with it once. (a Picture Essay will follow once they are transfered onto my computer from VonHammer's camera)
• Hammer and I started fighting about how the only reason she won the NHLopoly game was b/c I let her cheat... when our voices had raised to their limit and I ran out of little sister things to say, to end the argument I said, "IT'S A GLITCH!" the laughter and thought of Brad and Vinny stopped the arguing at once.
• As the questions got harder, Hammer gave us hints... She's a master of disguising names in hints.... here are a couple examples, "It rhymes with Schmick Schmanson" (Rick Hanson), "It rhymes with Meline Sleon" (Celine Dion) and my personal favourite, "It rhymes with Muffalo." (Buffalo)

When we'd been sufficently munched on by the mosquitos, we went inside for a little chatting and so Laces and The Nugget could play a little pick-up game of carpet hockey with the pink hockey sticks I picked up at Target in the Holiest of places, the Dollar Spot. Laces' comment about her opponent, "We're about the same height, so it's ok."

While the game was going on, the father of the Nugget gave us his opinion of hockey, "They serve beer and get in fights. Its a good game."

When he finished telling us about a game he'd been to in Seattle where there were something like 8 fights and 6 were the same guy on Seattle, my comment was, "I bet his name started with a 'Z' and ended with 'ack FitGerald'."

During the conversation about that particular T-Bird, the puck went under the little breakfast nook and behind a scrapbook organizer and it turned into a scrum along the boards at my feet, so i blew the fake whistle, bent down and dropped the puck back on the playing surface. VonHammer's comment, "The Ice Girls got that one."

When it was time for the Nugget to head home, he was QUITE sad to leave the Canadian and hockey goodness. We gave him his first taste of hockey and he's hungry for more!! :) Corrupting young minds. That's what the Maple Leaf Mafia is all about.