I had hoped there would be a signing announcement today, but alas, there has been now news from The Swamp.
I think this lovely video will cheer you up. Please enjoy Carrot Top sounding the siren in Vegas.
I still can't believe the Wranglers did that by the way.
The Blades went on to win that game 7-2 and even the Kelly Cup Final series 1-1. Obviously, you guys remember what happened after that. Three home games, three wins, one Kelly Cup.
I wonder how long the curse of Carrot Top will hang over Orleans arena?
14 years of waiting and it feels good guys. It feels real good.
More in the, uh... whenever I manage to drag myself out of bed.
Let's Go Blades!
Update: Everything is up. You can find videos on the blogs YouTube channel of the post game celebrations, John Muse winning the MVP award and the players lifting the Kelly Cup.
The photos from the game are up on Flickr
If you missed Tuesday's set, you can click here to see those.
I'm now going to try to write up a post to summarize everything. No idea how that's going to work.
What is there to say about last night's Everblades game? The guys were awesome most of the time and any time they weren't John Muse was giving us reason to scream "MOOOOOOOSEEEEEE" as loud as we could.
A very rare specimen of Northeastern Arena Moose (massholias bamfus)
The guys have a chance to end our 14 years of waiting tonight. There probably won't be a single seat available by the time the game starts. All the local news stations are making the Blades a top story rather than a five second blurb once a week.
Basically, down is up and right is left, and it feels so good.
The pictures from last night (including awesome shots of the player intros)
My video of Ryan Donald getting jumped after a completely clean hit:
I don't even know what to say. Tonight's game is a big deal. Every single big game before this one during the playoffs pale in comparison tonight. People are throwing around lots of stats and predictions about game three winners and home ice wins and tons of stuff that makes my head spin.
Whatever, it's a pretty big deal.
My poor heart is barely holding on and I'm sure it's the same for all of you. No sense in trying to distract ourselves with links not related to the Blades. Here' are links to put you in the right frame of mind for tonight. We have to be loud and proud.
- This worked last time I posted it. Won't hurt to post it again.
- It looks like you won't have very much luck getting a good seat if you haven't already purchased your ticket. I count maybe 10 seats below row 11 left in the whole arena. There appear to be large groups of seats in the high rows behind the net though. You probably should call or hit Ticketmaster if you don't have your seats yet. No one enjoys the standing room only seats, no one.
- Also, you might want to swing by the box office and pick up your tickets early (They'll be open all day). I'm hearing the line for will call is expected to be a nightmare and I'm assuming the parking lot and the traffic into the arena are not going to be fun either.
- The team is calling for a white out tonight, the first 2,500 through the door get a free t-shirt. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Mostly because I adore my game worn navy jersey and it's done well it's first season in my possession. Life's little conundrums eh?
- The ticket increases have sucked big time, but this article from the News-Press put's the costs all into perspective.
- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today is, what else- "Florida Everblades"
- Here's a story on the fans who traveled to Vegas to support the guys. If you were one of those people please understand that you're my hero and that you rock.
- Leigh Salters was fined for being awesome (or messing with Joe Fallon, whatever) and the Wranglers coach was fined for being whinier than the chicks I went to high school with.
- After pretty much ignoring them all season, the local news media is finally giving a shit about the Blades. Here's a segment from WINK that stars the Kelly Cup.
- This is a weird find. Someone's put a Blades helmet on eBay. I'm not entirely sure what season or seasons it's from so I couldn't tell you who wore it.
- No Tweet of the week this week. Every tweet has been a tweet of the week.
Unfortunately, the Everblades couldn't win every single game. It just wouldn't be fair and honestly, it would make their victories a little less exciting. Of course, that's not going to stop me from feeling a little grumpy (staying up so late hasn't helped either, I'm sure).
It doesn't matter though. This is a best of seven series and the Blades have plenty of time. It only takes the bounces shifting our way for the tide to turn. Ratchuck started it last night. Now the other guys have to finish it.
It's time to forget last night and get ourselves into the right frame of mind. Luckily, This song is totally appropriate.
Of course, in my world anything by The Clash is an appropriate choice.
On an unrelated note, comments are back to requiring our approval because Wranglers fans have had all their brain cells fried by the heat and I'm not wasting Bloggers server space with their idiocy.
The Everblades announced the signing of forward Francis Lemieux today. The most interesting thing so far is the quote the Everblades included in the press release from Greg Poss,
"Francis is a good, fast skater. He’s spent most of his career in the American League and with that kind of experience we’re expecting him to show good leadership as well. He is a solid all-around player that is strong at both ends of the ice, and he’s the type of player we’ll be looking to be possibly on our top line.”
Interesting right? To me, it looks like Lemieux is being targeted to play a leadership role. He's the second oldest of all the players on the roster so far, and has the most AHL experience. The information on him over at Hockey's Future is also worth a look. They praise his work ethic and dedication especially.
His stats:
And a video from his time with the Las Vegas Wranglers:
It certainly seems that Lemieux will have a shot to get on the top line when training camp rolls around. He may even have a chance to earn the "C". It's definitely looks like he is Ross Carlson's biggest competition for both spots so far. Training camp is going to be interesting...
