Hockey Season! How about a little Captain's Skate 9/9/10?

I'm sitting here (mainly) watching the Blackhawks and Avalanche start their season.  Go Avs!  And Sharpie!  Funnily enough I'm having a tough time cheering for the 'Hawks for the following reasons:

1)  They swept us!  Come on!
2)  I want Turco to suck ass.
3)  We have Niemi who is our defacto starter; Greiss (and possibly Niitty) had a better camp.
4)  John Michael-Liles
5)  Tutu!

SHARKS NEWS

Jumbo is our captain!  Jumbo is our captain!  So happy this makes me!

Awwww...I luvs Joe Thornton!  There will be a lot of naysayers but I think it could be a really, really good thing for Joe and the team.  And I'm glad that Danny Boyle is the A; he deserves it.  Patty and Clowie will share the other A.  In honor of our new captain...  O Jumbo, my Jumbo!

courtesy of NHLPA

In other Sharks news...I'm inclined to believe that Doug Wilson is a bit of a dick. 

Now, I know that I don't fully appreciate the business side of hockey and definitely come from a homer fandom point of view.  That being acknowledged, I think it was a total dick move to take Thomas Greiss to his home country of Germany and then not let him play in the preseason game.  Give him one fucking period already. 

I understand that your new acquisition is late to the party...errr, system...and needs all the playing time and practice he can get so that hopefully he will be a semi-decent goalie for us with our fairly crappy defense.  And I also understand that you're not going to admit that Niemi might not be the greatest goalie to ever win a Stanley Cup.

But that was pretty damn bad.

It was also pretty lame to take Lilja to Europe and then release him just before the start of the season.  When he has like 4 days to fly home and gather his family to move them back to Sweden.  Unless he finds another job. 

End Sharks News

And now for another installment of Captain's Ice.

(But may I just interject that Vampire Diaries is killing it tonight?!?!  Awesome...)

In honor of our new Captaincy and Assistant to the Captain

O Cap-tin, my Cap-tin

 Alt Captain Dan Boyle was not in attendance at this practice as he was attending to the his wifey Amber at the birth of their daughter.  Congrats!  So I will post my favorite Boyler picture of all time.

Alternating Alternate Captain Patrick Marleau had a really, really good practice.  He 

* slammed home two goals from one knee during drills.

* had a sweet deke and behind the back pass with a smile for his defender

* scored on a speedy breakaway going through a defender

 And Alternating Alternate Captain Ryane Clowe...was there...  lol  The only thing I remember is that he took out my babyshark Demers pretty hard.  And I did not get one decent picture of him, so I'll post two more of smiling Joe and Patty (with Demers) to make up for it.



New to the ice on this day (I think, it was so very long ago) was

Juicy Logan Couture (with a peek of Ryane)

Marc-Edouard Vlasic Pickles

With Cheech

And Torrey Mitchell and Benn Ferreiro

Also new, although not on the ice, was the Hamburglerzzz - Nic Wallin.  However, he was eating an apple, not a hamberger.  I am disappoint.

Couple quick notes...

• Demers looked really, really good today.  Solid D with two takeaways...pushing Jumbo around pretty good with a laugh.  He did get leveled by Red Wing Brad Stuart.  Easy there buddy!  Don't hurt Demers!  Luvs him.  I hope he steps it up and has a good season.
• Mitchie looked speedy and scored a pretty goal.
• Greiss made a couple nice saves.
• Seems like every practice Seto gets squirrely and this one was no exception.
• Scotty Nichol was awesome as usual.  Went out of his way to give a puck to a sweet little toddler and walked a puck through Pickles like it was easy.  Well, maybe it was.
• Doug Wilson was in and out of this practice.  Not in attendance were Boyler, Heater, Dougie, and Pavs.

 Group Pictures!

I LUVS this picture of Ginners and Pickles

Mayers, Demers, Niitty

 After practice was done, Jay Leach was giving Frazer McLaren fighting lessons. 

These pictures are blurry but I had to include them.

 And after that, Juicy and Fraz decided to practice goal celebration!  LOL

Again, the pictures are a bit blurry.

And last, but certainly not least, I met a guy named Rick who was visiting his family.  He normally lives in Chicago and is a Blackhawks fan.  He was funny/crazy and a lot of fun to talk to.  He was soooo excited to get Doug Wilson's autograph on a 'Hawks cup.  Other funny Rick things:

• He called Brad Stuart "Pavelski"
• He tried to go on the ice (inside the door) after practice to get a puck and fell on his ass
• He was wearing a Cheech jersey but didn't know which one was Cheech.  I had to point him out and send him over to get an autograph for his cousin (who's jersey it was).

Well, that's about it for now.  Only two more preseason activities to get caught up on!  

Have to do that before the 16th when I will be attending the Sharks home opener.