Blueland Debacle

Salutations brothers and sisters. Grace here and I command you, chins up.

Yep, disappointment. Sure, intense, short-lived melancholy. Of course, second guessing, persecution of the innocent and finally - forgiveness. That's the cycle of defeat. If you're a fan this outlines your mental process during and immediately following a loss. There is no middle ground. We're limited to elation or despair. That's the burden we carry. But there is always the next game on the horizon. The freak-show featuring an 85 foot magic goal against at Blueland on Thursday night will soon be forgotten.

D.A has his own take, here is my theory:

You see, Thrasher Goalie Ondrej Pavelec was drugged. That's right, someone slipped the young Czech a powerful substance between periods one and two. He turned his head briefly in the locker room and in came Ty Domi and Mathew Barnaby, disguised as Philips arena maintenance men. The slippery Barnaby deposited a few drops of a heavy duty hallucinogen into Ondrej's water bottle while Domi created a diversion by folding balloon animals. Giraffes are his specialty.

Five minutes into the period, it took hold. Pavelec saw 1000 pucks approaching. Each bearing a set of tiny vicious teeth. They called his name in unison. They had Vincent Price-esque voices. "Ondrej", they whispered, "leave the crease." One puck, two pucks, three pucks entered. Mercifully, Coach Anderson rescued Pavelec from the nightmare. The traumatized Netminder spent the remainder of the evening a warm dark room, surrounded by friends, sipping tea and sweating away the demons. Or maybe he had a bad night at work. Either way, let's not blow it out of proportion like Philadelphia fans. The season is a marathon. We've barely gotten out of the starting blocks

What I'll take with me and store in memory from this strange game is the ferocious rally that the Thrashers put forth in period three. Given another 30 seconds of play, the Thrashers would have erased the three goal deficit and the game would have gone to overtime. This time last year, this game would have ended 7-2. The Thrashers, version 10 has heart and confidence. They know they can score on anyone.

Downtown has an opinion as well. It's a little more sane than mine. He's temporarily borrowed my writing style in paragraph one. I have very few tricks so I must reclaim it tomorrow.

Your Loyal Servant,
Sean Grace

In walks D.A, dressed all in black....


The Game
There was no frenzy. The return to Thrasherville was a little flat. There was no early arriving crowd. There was no noise. There was no unstoppable rush. There was no magic in goal. All that stuff will have to wait for Saturday night. There was no frenzy.

10:20 into the second period the game was over. 6 foot 6 inch freak of nature Jeff Schultz routinely cleared a puck from his team’s zone. It tapped a stick (maybe), bounced once or twice, and skipped over the glove on Ondrej Pavelec’s left hand. 3-2 Capitals. The goalie’s body language screamed trouble.

1:14 later the whole team got beat, and it was 4-2. The crowd started to turn. Some jackass screamed about the weather in Chicago. How soon they forget.

14 seconds later the crowd had a reason to boo. The guy who won the Thrashers a point on Tuesday was completely out of position and was instantly persona non grata. The Moose jumped the wall.

Ondrej Pavelec owes himself. Ondrej Pavelec owes his team. Two nights after single handedly earning a point on the road, the Atlanta Thrasher’s goalie laid an egg. The team in front of him was only partially responsible. Ondrej Pavelec should start the next game in goal.

Enough already. We lost. Here’s the good stuff:

The Capitals did not score again after Moose Hedberg entered the game. The Thrashers shut their opponent out for over 28 minutes to end the game.

Zach Bogosian scored a shorthanded goal in the third period that accentuated another perfect night on the penalty kill. A 7-0 night. The Thrashers are now 90.6% on the PK. Good for 2nd in the league.

An administrative aside

At the end of the 2nd intermission I headed to my seat mumbling about the 2nd period disaster. On the way through my portal I was stopped. Guest services professionals informed me that the alcoholic beverage I was carrying was not allowed into the stadium. The rules, it seemed, stated that no alcohol can be carried into the stands after the 2nd period.

My next action was shameful but justified. I moved to another portal and proceeded to my seat with my drink. The thwarted portal attendants noticed and were not amused. When confronted, I apologized for my sneakery, begged for mercy, and insisted that my season ticket holder status deserved the intervention of a security manager.

I value the relationship I have with the guest services personnel in my seating area and I feel guilty for pulling rank, but turns out the portal staff had been provided bad information about policy. Alcohol purchased in the arena can be carried into the seating area at any time.

God knows I needed it tonight.

See you all Saturday night,
Downtown Atlanta