30 years since the Miracle

In 1980 (6 years before I was born) a bunch of 19-25 year old American boys were heading to lake placid to play some older guys from around of the world, the USA team had no bussiness playing anyone but especially the Soviet (it would be like the UGA hockey team playing the capitals).They held try-outs and Coach Herb Brooks supposedly had his long list in the matter

of 1 or 2 days. He wanted boys he could mold using the school of thoughts and training used by many teams they would be playing against- I like that idea try beating people by copying their style. That's one of the main differences between the US team and the ugly Soviets- the Soviets trained and trained hard, our boys were relying on their talent. Another difference is that the Soviets played together for years , the Americans played against each other most of the time and maybe played with one of their Olypimic team mates in college. This little fact provided for a crazy moment in practice when Jack O Callahan cheap shot Rob Mcclanahan - which resulted in a fight. You see O' Callahan still had a gruge against Mcclanahan for cheap shooting him in college and "stealing the championship ring" off his finger. The Olympics would test these boys but the nation needed a distraction and hope, the whole world did. The Soviets and the US were in the middle of a cold war and the Soviets had invaded Afaghanistan which caused people to think that the Soviets wouldn't show up but they were favorites to win. The world was insane and alot of what the world was going through is what we are going through or what we have been through recently (remember the gas "outtage" of 2008, yeah there was one in 1980 too). The Soviets had only lost 1 gold medal since 1956 and that was to the US in 1960. The Soviets were classed as amateurs but a lot of the players were professionals. They were crazythey won at least 5 of the 9 games they played against NHL teams. When Soviets played the US for an exahibition game and won 10-3. It was a different story in the Olympics, the boys beat Czechosloviakia (7-3), Norway (5-1), Romania (7-2), West germany (4-2) and tied Sweden all coming from behind of course. As for the Soviets they beat Japan (16-0), Poland (8-1), Finland (4-2), and Canada (6-4). When the 2 teams met USA fell behind quickly but of course ended up performing the miracle by winning 4-3. Our boys went on to beat Finland (coming from behind yet again) to win the gold medal. To honor the miracle I was going to profile a few key boys and the amazing coach who somewhere around 2002 passed away. This is for them!

What's new

I already made ammends with the fan that I was in the middle of the Bogi situation with me. I lost my temper with her during the situation. I got an answer from her so now thers is just one last step- talk to Bogi. When I talk to Bogi I will tell him that IF HE wants me there I will be there and after I talk with him I will just leave it to God to take care of him. I will be able to focus more on my true boys- the Gladiators. They have earned my attention. I realized through all of this that they were waiting on me to come back to them which I think they kinda knew that I would come around. I do have to give some credit to Ms. Virgina for showing me how stupid I was being-and may I say she did it very bluntly. I am backing off and keeping my focus on the Gladiators. Thanks boys for waiting on me and thanks Virgina for being blunt---maybe a little too blunt. Wednesday night at Sola we were talking about Jonah (yeah the guy in the whale) and Chris was saying that God actually appointed the whale to swallow Jonah to show him that where he was going wasn't where God wanted him. I realized that maybe this situation and Ms. Virgina were my whale. Sorry Ms. Virgina I don't think you are a whale, you where just a small part of my spiritual whale. My whales-our whales-are sent to show us that we are going the wrong way spiritually. I'm still praying for the wolves and the thrashers but I'm not calling them my boys. I'm still trying to see how I feel about practices, I guess we'll see how the one I go to next goes.
Ok so on to the next topic! I think I haven't written about the actual new prayer partner match ups yet, I think I just mentioned there were new match ups. Ok so we have David Brown with Mary, Matt Caruana with Brittany, Chris Higgin with Morgan, Jason Lawerence with Lexi and Danny Taylor with Mr. Andy. On the wolves side of things Grant Lewis is with Kerianne, Drew Macintyre is with Taylor, Jamie Hunt is with Crystal, Arturs Kulda is with Grace, Jason Krog is with Hunter and Chris Chelios is with Mr. Craig. We do have a little bit of a situation with with the thrashers. Kari L. has been out for sometime so I assigned all 3 of the goalies that were listed on the roster (including Kari) a prayer partner. Then once I realized 1 of the 3 will have to be sent to the wolves I didn't invite the goalie prayer partners to adopt a wolf thinking that if 1 of them was sent down to Chicago I could just explain the situation and tell them they no longer have a thrasher but instead they have a wolf. As far as injuries go besides Kari the only other injury is assistant Coach Weeks who fell on a puck and had to have stitches on the back of his head. How in the world do coaches expect the boys to keep their eyes on the pucks if we have coaches tripping on them? Ok so anyway. With the "whales" being dealt with I can finally relax and deal with my boys. I can relax for the most part until the trades start up AGAIN!

Star player Drew Paris

The ECHL all-Star game and skills competition is all over and hardly anyone noticed besides the fans and players who knew about it. The Gwinnett Gladiators had 2 guys there, Sam Roberts and Drew Paris. Drew came to the Gladiators last year when Jeff Mason went home to be with his dad who at the time was sick. Mason's dad later passed away and Jeff was thinking about his options so was Drew. Drew went to the Thrashers camp over the summer only to return to the gladiators and do very well in the all star game. If I'm not mistaken Drew's team actually won. We are also very proud of how he did with the skills Competition. We all knew he could hit the puck hard but when they tested him he hit it around 97 miles per hour!! That was actually the 4th hardest! I would hate to see how fast the other boys hit the puck if that was the 4th. I wanted to honor Drew because of all of the talent that is in that boy. Although I'm a lot closer to a lot of the other boys on Drew's team there is no denying talent! SO good luck Drew in all you do!!

My boys redifined thanks to a game

Like I said in my last blog I had a situation with my thrasher which caused me to go running to my home-my hockey home that is (the gwinnett Arena). I knew my mom would be at home all day monday since it was martin lurther king day but I just had to get out of the house. I did however feel a little guilty leaving her alone but I knew she had stuff to do and I would just be getting in the way. I also knew that she'd be happy that I was getting out of the house and seeing my friends. I stopped claiming the thrashers as my boys after the situation had come up so I knew it was time to see th only boys I had left, it had been forever- or at least it just seemed like it. So I got up that morning and washed my car, got all dolled up- what I was going to see my boys I had to look cute!!- and went to see my boys. I got there early and was ableto get a good parking spot-cause that's just how I roll. After I got my ticket I went outside to wait where I found one of my friends, Dianne--yay!! She has the 2nd cuttest boy ever--what I had to put my cousin's baby as 1st!! Dianne's little boy likes to smack the boys as they come out which is super cute and funny. As I went in I already felt loved, welcomed and needed. I found my seat and placed my jacket there and went to see Krystal who has missed seeing me at the rink which felt good- I like being missed. After seeing the coolest girl ever-besides...ok yeah the coolest- I went to see Emily and Dianne. I also wanted to see if they knew if mama Linda was there. When I was over there seeing the girls out come the boys! It was sooo good to see them again, I missed them-I actually missed them. It's sad I missed them more than I can say, I have no clue why though. I got back to my seat to watch Forney and Siddall warm up- they looked mighty fine! It took all I had not to say "Heeellloooo Handsomes" as they came out. Sometime before the 1st period a guy came and sat down by me. I introduced myself even though I planned to sit by my friends later. So we started to talk and I told him I was there for my boys mainly Forney and Sids which wasn't a lie my beautiful sids had invited me to a previous game I wasn't able to go to! As the boys go back to the locker room and Krittle and the ice crew came out the excitement start to build. I knew I was doing the right thing by being there for my boys. I was truely there for no other reason but for my boys. About 20 minutes later the lights went down and out come the boys!! I was going wild for my favorites-yes I play favorites. Then the 1st puck drop and all that happens but what caught my eye was the checkers goalie. He came to his goal after the anthem and does the cross symbol Catholics do before they pray then he began to pray as he did people were yelling at him to get his attention. He was so focused as I sat there and watched him pray after he finished he did the symbol again and put his gear on. The guy sitting next to me continued to talk as I watched my boys. I was nice and held a conversation with him but I made sure I gave my boys their attention. I was happy I paid some attention to my sweet little forney some attention because he totally scored a goal. I went nuts screaming "Way to go Forney!!!" I was soo happy and excited for him. After that there was one more goal for our team and at least one goal for their team in the 1st period. I stayed in my seat- I felt like it was rude to leave the guy I just met. Maximus came out for the intermission game and then the ice crew came out. Then the 2nd period started and I stayed put. At some point I felt like I should look at Krystal, when I did she was looking at me smiling. I about asked her what but I didn't I just smiled back. I loved seeing Krittle again. Everything was normal it was 4 to like 3 in the 2nd and life was good. Some where either at the end of the second or the start of the 3rd the checkers tied it up. After the 2nd I was tired and had to walk so I went and got a shirt for my boys signafter the game. Then I got back to my seat just in time to see my boys skate back out for the 3rd. I was super excited until we had 4 minutes left and the Checkers pulled ahead then with a minute left they scored again! I was so bummed for my boys and for coach I knew they had it. I knew they could have won, if they truely tried. So then at the end of the game I walked to the line of people who were waiting for the boys to come out and signed stuff. I waited for what seemed like a long while and all of a sudden out strolls some of my boys and the crowd went wild. They kept coming out sometimes in 2s or 3s but sometimes just by themselves. I waited in line finally getting up to the 1st table seeing Mifsud, forney, Schellers, Berti and a few boys I had seen before. they all asked me what was new and was genuinly happy to see me there. Then the second table was full of boys I reconginzed and a couple I didn't. I loved seeing my boys again. I heard Sulli's accent and about teared up. I got through the line and had a lot of my boys ask me what was new. I knew then that things had to change. I was walking out and saw one of the "Babies" (new guy) walking away from the table I excused myself from the guy I met at the game and asked the very tall, very handsome baby his name. His name was Sean. I told him I was trying to learn their names and he kinda laughed and said that I better remember his. I told him that I would. As Sean crossed over my path to sit and talk on his phone I almost grabbed my camera and took a picture beacuse there's just something just so artsy about a tall guy slouched over in a chair, in the right way of course. But I didn't I was good! I got to my car and made sure noone was watching and acting suspecious as I started my car and teared up just a little bit. My reunion with my boys was over but I knew now that I had to still pray for the thrasher and that was it. I had to focus on these boys, they liked me and they geniunly cared about me being there. I'm now in the process of getting coach to allow me to pray over these amazing young men. I truely thank them for changing the direction of the ministry in 1 afternoon.

How dare you judge me

I know I'm not suppose to air out dirty laundry on here so I will only give out general inforamtion. I went through something with my Thrasher prayer partner and ended up feeling judged by another fan. I decided that I'd go to one last practice to make peace with Bogi and the situation until things simmer down and if they don't then oh well then I guessI was never meant to be a thrasher. With this situation in it's heat I found a partner in the ministry which is a God send. Mr. Gary (my partner) gave me an assignment for the week. I'm so excited about this partnership, Mr. Gary is a prayer partner to Jamie Fritsch the gladiator as well. When I didn't have Mr. Gary I never had stuff to do or ideas I was just going by the seat of my pants which got me in trouble. I love structure, I like having set stuff to do. When I was going by myself I hurt my thrasher for which I am very unbelieveably sorry. But if there is one thing I learned through my life and faith it's not to give up or give in, if you give up or give in the devil will win. If the devil wins the volchures will get you. In the midst of the crazy time I decided to switch my focus and give the thrasher part of the ministry to some one else at least for a little while. So Monday I ran to my original hockey home the Gwinnett Arena. As soon as it came into my sight I started to tear up, then when I got parked I just sighed and sat there for a second. Then I made the treck to get my ticket and waited outside where I found one of my friends so I'm redirectiong my focus for now and I'll blog more about my Gladiator day later! I'm so excited again---finally!!

1st NHL game epic fail!!!!

I have to start off saying that I am really thankful to my aunt and uncle for taking me to the game. I also have to say that I love my boys even though right now I am not claiming them.

Life was so good when the boys were winning now they got into the very ugly trend of losing and giving up! I know it maybe a lost cause but I still love my boys and I'm hoping for them to get at least close to play offs. So saturday night I went to my 1st NHL game, I was super excited. I went to my gym and then went to my grandma's to eat and get ready. She said I was grinning the whole time I was there, too bad the grin stopped half way through the 1st period. My aunt and uncle were there around 5:30 to pick me up. We got through Atlanta pretty good until our exit. Then when we got there Kaner and the boys were out on the ice finishing warm ups. I looked over and there's Alexander "Ovie" Ovechkin warming up. Alex is the meanest, ugliest, Stupidest and cockiest Russian player ever!! He is of course pictured in the 1st picture I posted (#8) along side him in the picture is my baby boy bogi. I really just don't like him. There is no rhyme or reason for me not to like ovie, I just don't. He's talented but I just don't like him. So the 1st period started as any 1st period starts. maddness soon came on as Moose lets one in and by the end of the 1st period the capitals had 3 we had 0! I was still kinda excited-they could come back. Then it was time for the 2nd period Moose got back in goal and I was praying that this would be one of those games that where moose shocked me and made me a moose believer!! It started to look up when one of my boys scored a goal! Then it went back down his as moose let another one by! But then the crowd went wild and I saw that Ondrej Pavelec was coming in! YAY! Pavs!! Who knew Yay Pavs would soon turn into "I'm mad at my boys!!" To pavs defense he probably would have done better had he played all game! So pavs came in and let 1 in in the second period. So it was only 5 to 1 so not bad they could get it close. Then in the 3rd my boys still were playing like crap but I took some pics so I could at least have something to show for it! 10 minutes into the 3rd period the caps did it again!! So we got disgusted and left. But as we left I looked at the ice and softly said "Bye bogi!!" When we finally got to the car and turned on the radio the Caps had scored 2 more times and it had ended! I was so mad!!! "Stupid boys! I get so excited and they let me down!!" My uncle was like "they didn't even show up!! but at least you got your feet wet with a bad game!!" I wish I would have waited but then again I wouldn't have seen what the big fuss was about Ovie was. I really didn't see it that not much so I have no clue why people like him......still!! So congrats ovie you're popular, cocky and stupid!! And congrats to my boys....you will feel the rath of tina!!

Star Player--Maxim Afinogenov

Let's just start by saying how precious Max is. He's not cute in my relm of cuteness but he has this spirit about him that is awesome. He is just soooo sweet to fans. This young man stopped and spoke to me as he signed the shirt I had. When I told him about his prayer partner he was amazed that someone thought enough of him to pray just for him. The reason why I wanted to honor Max is his stats and also his spirit. Max is listed in my little program I got last night as having 15 goals and 24 assist. Awesome, eh? Like I said earlier he is awesome. The one thing that I've learned about him is that he does well when he is set up. Ilya (ya-ya) Kovalchuck does so well to set up Max, it's like because they are both Russian they know how to set each other up. I enjoy watching this guy at practice, he has so much joy and drive to wanna do what is asked of him. I do realize that this is a late star player post but I also do realize that after my 1st NHL game it is ok to be late. But as always I wish Maxim the best and I am glad he is no longer with the sabers!!

What's new with the ministry and the boys

The adoption continues with the wolves. I'll post names later. There has been also some changes with the Gladiators but I have missed placed my notebook so I'll post those names later as well. We also have a few Olypians on the thrashers including Pavel Kubina (Czech), Ondrej Pavelec (Czech), Maxim A. (Russia), Ilya Kovalchuck (Russia), and Tobias Enstrom (sweden). If I missed any of the sweet bears I'll post more later also as more come in I'll post those as well! I'm checking with my Chicago source as well so I'll have those names later.

Now to this week I have my I have some sad news to report, our beloved gladiator zamboni driver passed away the saturday before Christmas. John Martin was 66 and died of a heart attack. Out of this tragedity I have a new purpose........to get our boys up to heaven to skate on the ice Mr. Martin probably working on now. So Mr. John, this ministry is for you buddy!!

In happy new it's somewhere around 2:30 am on January 8 so my 1st game is some where around 40 1/2 hours away!! I'll be blogging about that the day after. That evening I'll be working on the blog for our new star player Maxim from the thrashers so it maybe a few hours late in being posted but it will be posted!! I'm so very excited. The people at my church will have to deal with a tired and cranky version of me also they will have to deal with me possibly with no voice!! I'll still maybe working off of the aderaline of my 1st NHL game. Baby bogi and a few of the other boys know I'll be there! Also I just want to put a disclaimer out there if anyone gets a call from jail that night...it's me because I got in trouble for harrassing Alexander Ovechekin! But anyway I'll be posting more later