My pride knows no bounds....again!!

My boy Freddie and his partner in crime Jason Heyward!

HMMMM

I'm very protective of the people I pray for through my ministry, mainly Zach if I hear about a problem he's been having I would go to him and ask. Now I can't go and ask. So this caused me to have a little concern about the situation I left Zach in when I found an article about him called "Zach Bogosian's growth comes with pain". In it they talk about Zach's development in the game he loves so much. It also mentions that the GM (Rick Dudley) had been getting calls about Zach from other GMs but here's what he says about the situation:"I tell them, I'm not offering him up if that's what you're calling about. But if you want to make an offer go ahead." He better not sell my boy!! That was concern #1 concern #2 was his relationship with John Torchetti, one of the assistant coaches. Coach Ramsey said there was problems and that sorta thing but here's an excerpt from the article:

Head coach Craig Ramsay acknowledged Wednesday there have been issues with Bogosian's learning curve under a new coaching staff. And there has been some conflict with assistant coach John Torchetti, who deals with the team's defensemen.

"I don't think that John is mean to him. I don't think he's overly vocal with him. I think John is just trying to do what he thinks is best for Zach and for everyone," Ramsay said.

"I trust John to pass on the appropriate information in the appropriate way. I think misunderstandings occurred that have been dealt with and I see nothing but good things," the coach said.

For his part, Bogosian didn't have much to say about his relationship with Torchetti, who joined Ramsay's staff this past offseason after being behind the bench with the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks last year.

"It's between me and him," Bogosian told ESPN.com this week.

"It's not a huge deal where I'm losing any sleep over it," he added.

Bogosian, big, strong and fleet of foot, admitted this season has been trying.

"It has been an up-and-down year for me," he said.

Bogosian has been forced to take on a different role with the emergence of Tobias Enstrom and Dustin Byfuglien as elite power-play performers.

Byfuglien and Enstrom are first and second in team scoring with a combined 83 points and, when healthy, dominate the power-play time allotted by the Thrashers' coaching staff.

For a guy who's used to being one of the best players on any team on which he's played, that dynamic has been sobering for Bogosian.

With Enstrom out with a broken finger, Bogosian has been asked to do more and he has responded, Ramsay said.

In the team's last game, a loss to Toronto, Ramsay said he thought Bogosian looked as good as he has all year.

"I think he understands, I hope he understands, I believe he understands that we're only here to make him better. That's our only thought. We don't show him mistakes because we want him to be a bad player. We want him to understand how small the differences can be that would prevent those errors and would allow him to have some fun," Ramsay said.

I've never noticed an issue it looked to me like my sweet boy and our awesome coaches got along great, Torchetti even playfully man handled Zach both of course laughing. So the whole thing confused me but I'll respect Zach's wishes and let him be the adult and handle it.

Never Question people

This is Kyle Maynard, he's the driving inspiration for a lot I do. I lost that inspiration a couple times but I've gotten it back. I get so mad when people make fun of Kyle or say that he shouldn't do something or that he can't do something. "Why? Why can't he? Why shouldn't he?" If they say something besides "It'll hurt him" I just tell them "shut up and watch him try!" I never want Kyle not to do something but there should be a line he draws somewhere sometimes. I never tell him not to and I never say he can't, I've been proven wrong and I feel stupid for thinking that he can't. To me he's normal so when people say he can't and say he's disabled I say "he is? hadn't noticed" then I look at him and say "when did that happen?" People laugh when I say that but to me there's nothing different about him we're both going to 25 year old this year, he drives, he has a job and does everything a normal 25 year old does. So is there a difference? Should he have different rules? I get so mad at people, but I'm so proud he proves people wrong everyday. I one day hope to do something awesome and have him be able to brag on me. If I get my dream job as an Athletic trainer and I run out to take care of Matt Ryan I want Kyle to brag and maybe say to the effect of "I knew she could do it look at her! Way to go Christina!"

Funny

I noticed something

In some games I watched the boys win and they skate over and head butt the goalie. I think that's one of the funniest, sweetest and most adorable traditions I'm just now noticing! I asked bogie what he tells ondrej and he said "good game" and then he also said that he would say some kinda inside joke to make him laugh. I laugh when I seethe players do that. In the Dallas/ATL game I watch I saw them do that to Kari and he was smiling and I smiled because I miss Kari and I miss his smile so much, it's one of the best smiles ever! Kari and Ondrej smile like fools when their teams come over to head butt them. It kinda reminds me of crush and squirt from finding nemo when they say "Fin, noggin, dude!" Kinda funny

What I miss #1

Last weekend I got to "hop off center" with my mom and step dad to Jekyll Island and it made me realize what I miss from home and one of the things I missed is my freedom. Now don't get me wrong, I'm able to go off center and do stuff but it's not like it was back home where I could just go where ever I wanted when I wanted. So that kinda also means I miss my car. I miss going to my gym and seeing Bogie whenever I want. I also miss that drive I made whenever I went to see my aunt Patty that drive that took me past my friend Kyle Maynard's gym. I got to go the stores I wanted to without having to wait on someone to take me or pay for a cab. I'll write more later.

Star player: Coach Ramsey

As Much as I liked Coach Anderson we need to move on and see what we have now. What we have now is one of the best coaches in the league! Yes I just went there! I think Coach Craig Ramsey is such a classy guy, he treated me with respect when I went up to him during the summer. I just went up to him and said "Coach Ramsey?" in true coach style no matter what voice carries the word coach he looks. So when he looked I said "I'm sorry to bother you...." He says "Oh no no what's your name?"  He sticks out his hand and when I shook his I said "Christina Kimball" He says "Nice to meet you Ms. Kimball" I was floored but asked him to call me Christina. I was soooooo impressed by him in that one moment and have continued to be impressed by him. Opening night is always nerve racking then imagine being the head coach who just started and then add on top of that having your starting goalie faint, yeah that would be a tough first regular season day on the job. He's so made for this job and for this team. He has a lot of young people on his team which is good cause he has a lot of wisdom! He once said "The reward for playing well is the chance to do it again." He does show that mentality a lot if one of his boys plays well the kid gets a chance to do it again! Take Alex Burmistrov, he's played well and has gotten a lot of chances to do it again and again and again! He's so good for these boys and good for our town. That day that I met him changed the way I look at thrasher coaches. I'm crazy to say that but it's true Coach anderson didn't really stop to talk to the fans Ramsey does! I really like him and that's why I wanted to honor him! Good luck coach!!

Scared

Look at this picture, it's 19 year-old Russian Alex Burmistrov. He's tiny! What scares me is that with him being so small and playing hockey he could get seriously injured. There are good signs of him trying to change fate and it looks like he's getting stronger and more mature. Someone tried to pull him down in a game a couple of weeks ago and they just couldn't do it, that really encouraged me that he was growing up and developing muscles. I'm still so scared he's going to get into a situation on or off ice where he gets hurt and may truly mess something up. So go on burmi and get strong ok?

Ondrej is gorgeous!!

All I can say is look at those eyes!! :)

 

Rock stars of Sports #1

When you think of rock star, you probably think of slash (Gus 'N' Roses) or john bon Jovi or any number of people who are rockers or rock stars. But we even have them in sports. Think about it! You can go to anyone that likes certain sports and ask them who certain people are and they will probably tell ya who they are who they play for and their stats for the past 3 years! One example of that is Alexander Ovechkin. Not only is his name and face recognizable but he lives that fast and crazy "Rock star lifestyle". He even had a special on sports center dedicated to him and his madness and his bad Rock star behavior. He's gotten is so much trouble just for his driving that his license was almost pulled by the team's higher ups. His goal celebrations and off ice antics are infamous! There was a guy on sports center or one of the other sports programs that was so fed up with the way Ovie celebrated his goals that he called Ovie out on it and Alex could have cared less! Another rock star of hockey is Sidney Crosby. I of course have a love hate relationship with Sid but I think he's just a rock star because of the amount of attention he gets from just being him! A Rock star of the Atlanta area is Ondrej Pavelec, of recently he's been our rock star! He's been awesome! More will be written later

:( Bye-bye Boo-boo

This sucks!!! If I lose one more boy it's over, I will not support the thrashers anymore! I'm serious! I hate that Boris left, he was a connection to my heritage he meant something to me. I looked at him and I saw me, my heritage, my people. I just wanna know what the "higher ups" were thinking. I need answers cause I'm confused and I want my Slovakian man back! To Boston, Take care of my Peverly and Boris

Jim Craig

A heart Breaking move

No I didn't move but my boys did. Yep, my thrashers went from 8th to 9th place which means they're out of the playoffs ....for now! If I know my boys and coach they're not going to go down with a fight. So we need a win or 3. We're so in need of one that it's not even funny Come on Boys let's win and go to the stanley Cup!

Scary

As much as I dislike Alexander Ovechkin, I hate scenes like this more. Captain Caveman was chillin' on the bench at one of the last games the Capitals played this seasons in blue land. Then all of a sudden, bam!! He gets hit by a puck, scary.. I know luckily he was OK.It's amazing that there aren't more scenes like this but we're all kinda glad that Captain Caveman is ok

Ondrej, You are awesome!!

Let's Face it, I'm smitten when it comes to goalies

Especially Ones Named Ondrej

Happy Birthday to...

Boris "boo-boo" Valabik

The Heart break is over

It seems like ever since I became Zach's prayer partner I've never seen one of his goals and that kinda broke my heart a little bit, you know? I just really wanted to see one so on Feb. 5 I finally saw one of his goals when the little snot forced the game into over time! I freaked out "Atta boy!!! That's what I'm talking about Zach!!!! WAY to freaking go kid!!!" I started to tear up. One of the girls came by "aww are you ok?" I wiped a tear away "Yeah, Just saw my little prayer buddy score a goal, I'm sooo proud!" That meant a lot to me for him to score a goal I could actually watch in real time! So congrats goal scorer and over time forcer Zach bogosian

Bling...the hockey way

 Every one knows the black hawks won the 2009-2010 stanely cup but now......

Some of them belong to us so BRING IT!!!!!!

The "Bring it" look....the hockey way

And Blacks think hockey is stupid?

Thrashers hoping black fans notice diverse roster

Tuesday, 02.01.2011 / 9:16 AM 

By Paul Newberry  - Associated Press 

 

ATLANTA (AP) - Dustin Byfuglien looks around the Atlanta Thrashers locker room and sees something unusual........A bunch of guys who look like him. "The way we look at it, we're not any different than any other team. It's just the color of our skin that makes us different," Atlanta's all-star defenseman said. "But we do joke around with it a little bit." It's no laughing matter to the attendance-challenged Thrashers, who are trying to seize on the possible benefits of being just the second team in NHL history to have five black players on the roster in a city with a huge, affluent African-American population.The team has beefed up its advertising on urban radio stations and black-oriented publications, focusing heavily on the team's most prominent players of color, Byfuglien and 19-year-old star-in-the-making Evander Kane (a Canadian who was named after one of Atlanta's most favorite sons, former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield).
"Given that we're in a nontraditional hockey market, we've always made a concerted effort not to pigeonhole ourselves with just die-hard hockey fans because, frankly, there's not that many in this marketplace," said Tracy White, the team's senior vice president of sales and marketing.
"I don't have any hard figures to tell you, yeah, we've seen more African-Americans coming to games. But I can tell you anecdotally, yeah, we've seen more African-Americans coming to games. You can just eyeball it and see."
In addition to Byfuglien and Kane, the Thrashers have suited up three other players of black descent this season: Defenseman Johnny Oduya and wingers Anthony Stewart and Nigel Dawes, giving the Thrashers a staggering 20 percent of all black players in the NHL and equaling the 2000-01 Edmonton Oilers, who had Anson Carter, Mike Grier, Georges Laraque, Sean Brown and Joaquin Gage on their roster.
These are not just bit players, either.
Byfuglien is Atlanta's leading scorer (16 goals, 41 points) and just played in his first All-Star Game. Stewart (12 goals, 28 points) and Kane (13 goals, 27 points) are solid contributors on offense, even though Kane has been plagued by injuries in recent weeks. Oduya is a stalwart of the defense, playing all 52 games. Only Dawes has failed to crack the regular lineup, spending most of the season in the minors.
"These guys are among our best hockey players," coach Craig Ramsay said. "That is what's really exciting. Throughout the United States, this could be a great influence on the game. People could get a look and say, 'Hey, I like that guy. I want to watch him. I can do that, too."' There's certainly a large but largely untapped audience in Atlanta.
In the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., blacks comprise more than 31 percent of the population over the sprawling metropolitan area, more than any other city in the top 30, according to the 2000 Census. While poverty is still a major issue, especially in the inner city, the more accurate view of the black community these days can be found in thriving suburban communities, populated with large homes, well-paying jobs and plenty of disposable income.
The Thrashers would love for African-Americans to start spending some of that money on hockey tickets. Despite going into the All-Star break with the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the team ranks 28th out of 30 teams in average attendance at just over 13,000 per game.
There have been persistent reports that Atlanta is on the verge of losing its NHL franchise to a Canadian city, and the owners recently conceded in a lawsuit that they've been trying to sell the team since 2005.
Given its financial woes, some wonder if the team is doing enough to take advantage of its diverse roster in the African-American community.
Matthew Harper, a 21-year-old student at Morehouse College, recently attended his first hockey game as part of an assignment for his sports journalism class. He said many of his friends have no clue about the number of blacks playing for the Thrashers.
"This could be a marketing machine," he said. "But I really haven't seen anything out there on blimps or the side of buses. If people knew, they might be like, 'Wow, there are that many brothers on the team? Let me go support the cause."'
Harper grumbled beforehand about having to attend the Thrashers game, figuring it would be nothing more than something extra to put on his resume. Once he saw the sport in person, however, he was totally won over. He plans to attend more games and hopes to his friends to come along.
He acknowledged there are plenty of barriers keeping African-Americans from displaying much affection for hockey, many of them grounded in race.
"It's an unknown," Harper said. "We don't know the sport, the history of it. Why get immersed in that culture if you don't know anybody who's playing? Excuse me for saying this, but it's a white man's league. Why get involved in that if you can't connect to it?"
But Mark Hayes, a local television anchor whose 15-year-old son is furthering his hockey career at a New Hampshire prep school, said there is clearly more buzz about the team in the African-American community this season.
"I think this is the most African-American folks I've seen since I started going to games nine years ago," said Hayes, who is black. "The word is slowly starting to get out."
The Thrashers insist race will never be a factor when evaluating players, and Dawes is skeptical anyway about just how much it boosts attendance to have more blacks than any other team.
"It might help a little bit, but over time it's not going to be a huge difference, where people are going to come watch your team just because you have more African-Americans on it," he said. "As a GM or coach, I don't think you can target players just because of the market you're in. It's just kind of funny the way it worked out."
Kane is more hopeful about the impact of Team Diversity.
"I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but it's good," he told the Morehouse journalism students. "To play with players who look like me, it shows how far the game has come."

 

Star Player: dustin byfuglien

So I superstar stopped posing long enough to participate in All-star weekend and sadly our little blond Swede was hurt so he couldn't help big buff  represent our thrashers. I wanted to honor big buff cause we worked really hard to get him to that moment and he really deserved it. Dustin and our youngsters have really been carrying the team lately with our amazing goalie Ondrej proudly doing what needed to be done! I love watching big buff he's so energetic and just a power house! He even scored a goal for his team in the all star game! We are so proud of how well he's been playing! Good luck buff with the rest of the season!

I'm HIS sister in Christ?

Last Saturday I spent most of the game not liking Eric Staal so imagine my surprise when I looked on the Hockey Ministries International's website to get names of some hockey players who are Christians and I see Eric's ugly mug looking back at me. Are you kidding me? That guy? Are y'all sure that's the Eric Staal y'all were talking about? Alright, I guess I have a brother in Christ I don't like during hockey season and that possibly robbed my Thrashers of the Stanley cup. Oh Lordy Lordy very torn! Gah do I hate him for what he did or do I love him as my brother in Christ?

Danick Paqquette

OK while I was home I noticed something about this kid, he's a little bit like Zach Bogosian. The first time I saw Zach I wanted to protect him become like a big sister to him all of a sudden when I saw Danick for the first time I thought that all familiar thought "I wonder where this kid is from, what's his story? what makes him tick?" Then when I saw him fight it took all I had to sit in my seat and not go running to try to see if I could talk to him to calm him down to see what was going through his mind and to see if he was OK. Mostly I wanted to pray with him in that moment. It's something that I can't turn off in certain moments this mothering thing.According to a few of my friends I wouldn't want the mothering thing to be turned off or go away. Anyway Zach was born July 15 1990 while Danick was born July 17 1990, 2 days apart in age that's wild! Of course they're playing in the same organization, the Atlanta thrashers organization. Zach was drafted in 2008 by Atlanta along with Danick. They're both brunette with brown eyes and that's about where the similarities end. But this is not where Danick ends, Danick is someone who is feisty, talented and young. I did some research on this kid and he's had some solid stats, in this season alone he has scored 7 goals and 5 assists! That's really good considering he has 130 penalty minutes over 43 games. In the 2006-07 season he played with the  Lewiston MAINEiacs where he scored 4 goals 14 assists with 112 penalty minutes. 2007-2008 he played with the same team and he scored 29 goals and 13 assists with 213 penalty minutes. In the 2008 -2009 season he split his time with the MAINEiacs and the Chicago wolves of the AHL. With the MAINEiacs he scored 25 goals and 25 assists with 230 penalty minutes but with the Wolves he played in 4 games with no points and 12 penalty minutes. In the 2009-10 season he played with the Quebec Remparts scoring 36 goals and 29 assists with 136 penalty minutes. This season we had to share him with the Remparts but no stats were available for the Remparts. For up to date stats and past play off stats pleas go to this site http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=96341.This guy is awesome he's a wild guy to watch but I believe he's what we need on our team so good luck Danick!

Ryan Lochte: the remix

Bogie and paint ball

Why is he so funny to me?

Happy Super bowl sunday!

I believe in 2nd chances and redemption so let's go big Ben and the Steelers!

Ondrej's mask

It's no secret that I love a well designed goalie mask and well last season there was one that caught my attention (and really held on). It belong to our little Olympian and IIHF world champion Ondrej Pavelec. I really liked the detail on it but loved the depiction of the Fox theatre on one side of it. I would try hundreds of time just to get one picture of it, I liked it that much.  Mom laughed as I say "you think he would let me have it when he's done with it? I mean come on! He's going to get a new one anyway so who needs all those extra goal masks laying around?" He did get another mask but I have not gotten up  the nerve to ask for this gorgeous mask. I do wanna be a goalie so I can use that as an argument "Well I wanna be a goalie but I don't enough money for a mask" I think that should work but that's just me! It really is a gorgeous mask but he loves his current mask more because of the colors. As I write this I'm getting ready to watch the game he's getting ready to play in. So ondrej, may I have this mask?

Really First hockey now baseball? Leave it be Sidney!

You Know what forget apologizing

I'm not apologizing any more! I tried to apologize about the whole Johnny Weir thing but that didn't work so you know what? I'm not homophobic and at least I know that and at least I knew what I meant! I just don't think y'all got that I just meant that there's flamboyant and then there's gay and Johnny is flamboyant times 10!

our little Russian

Funny Zach