A special star player: Joey Crabb

Even though Joey just released I wanted to honor Joey because he is one of the sweetest and hardest working people ever!! He really takes care of kids and other fans. This past season Joey played with the Chicago Wolves who went to the Chadler cup. But this was after he came to Duluth for the Thrashers training camp. Joey was so sweet to me at camp. It's always good when athletes are sweet to fans, especially when it's genuine. Joey is genuine, no faking here!! Joey scored 24 goals 29 assists this past season w/ the wolves in the regular season. In the post season he scored 6 goals and 5 assists. He is awesome and I wish him the best with his new team.

why I don't mind summer: Ryan Lochte

I was a swimmer in high school, I know big shocker, so now when there's a swim meet on TV or the summer olympics are on I'm glued to the TV for a few reasons including a few of the swimmers. I started off just liking Michael Phelps but then a few other swimmers caught my eye. I started to really have an interest in Ryan Lochte, none of my friends really knew much about him so it was kinda cool having an athlete who was just mine. Ryan "Reezy" Lochte is one of those boys you think you couldn't bring around your mom or grandma but you would to love hang out with. He is also a model with ford modeling agency. The reason I think I like Reezy so much is that while he is almost as popular or as popular as Michael Phelps he has less bad press and I'm kinda tired of Michael Phelps, it's like if Michael swims he wins with Reezy chances are he'll win but you never know. Plus he seems pretty cool and did I mention the hair?? I LOVE his hair!!! It's all crazy and curly, especially when he takes his swim cap off. I wish I could play with his hair, I think it would be fun! Reezy is awesome, though there is one problem with him....... he swam for the university of Florida, that's right the gators!!! I won't hold his college against him, if I could be friends with a Georgia Tech Grad I can root for a gator!! In the 2008 Olympics he won 1 individual gold, 1 relay gold and 2 individual bronze. At the 2009 world championships Reezy won 4 golds (2 individual, 2 relay) and 1 individual bronze. At the worlds Reezy also beat michael's time in the 200 meter IM, which at 2009 worlds michael didn't swim that event he was suppose to but didn't. With being a model and a swimmer he gets a lot of attention, especially since his relay teams ussually consist of Phelps, which lead to him being cougar bait! He was featured on some web site/blog called confessions of a cougar!! Cougars are starting to get out of control!! Any way Ryan is really good and is improving, breaking his records at every compatetion!! I wish Ryan so much luck with everything he does and maybe one day he'll beat Michael!!

Note from me

Hey Guys,

As you can see the background has changed so has the lay out hopefully y'all like it! Y'all probably have also noticed that I haven't been posting much either. I'll try to get better about that, right now there's not much to right about. August will bring more news so I'm trying to rest and take a break from hockey until it picks up more. I've been taking advantage of the scheduled post feature where you tell blogger when you want certian things posted and it'll automically post it. I also have put out a message to my friends about them writting certian things for the blog and I'll tell y'all more when that comes about. For the rest of the summer there will be goofy blogs, devotional blogs, star player blogs, and news blogs. I'm working on one now about the best advice people had gotten and things people would tell their younger selves. I also wanted to pass on a sad bit of news, Mike Johnson who was the president of the Gladiator booster club past away a few weeks ago of cancer. For this reason I will be making Puck Cancer blankets to raise money for the cancer society. I'll post more about this later. Anyway I'll head out to get some stuff done amd I'll holler at y'all later!

~~CHRISTINA~~

Babies, firings and a whole lot more

Well the 2009-2010 Season was insane. There was some drama and trades and the off season brought babies, medals and firings. Ilya, Anssi and Kari were all traded bringing in a few new faces including Johnny Oduya, Evgeni Artyukin, Patrice Cotehmier (spelling), and a couple of others. Although Patrice never apeared in a game or on the roster he was one of the guys we got in the Anssi/Ilya trade. Patrice is 19 and was banned from the OHL for a couple fights. Everyone was mad and saying that Ilya shouldn't have left but he WANTED to leave and GAVE UP! so why not let him go? In other news Coach Anderson was fired and I heard somewhere that all of the assistant coaches were let go as well, but that was not comfirmed any where else. Craig Ramsey has just been named as head coach. Ramsey was the Bruins coach for the last 3 years. Don Waddell, everyone's least favorite GM was promoted to president- yay! (NOT) The more power we give this man the worst it'll be. In happy news Ondrej Pavelec (my favorite thrasher goalie) was the gold medal winning back up goalie in the world championships while Max won sliver with Russia. Also in happy news Scott Misfud got married, Chris Thorburn beacame a dad for the first time (a son named Bennett) and Colby Armstrong also became a dad (a son named cruise). One of my former boys also became a dad yes ladies and gentleman JC Sawyer became a father to a little girl named Taylor who I had the pleasure of seeing at come and get it hockey. In signing/drafting news the thrashers have signed Carl Kling berg and drafted Alex Burmistrov. The Gladiators have signed Sean Hurley, Andy Brandt, Phil Youngclaus, matt Francis and Sam roberts. Sean and Phil are on the protected list as well as 6 others. As more info and news comes in I will post more.

Star Player: Dan Sullivan (and his wife liz)

I wish I could say that I'm honoring my prayer partner for some great play or some awesome goal he scored but the reason I'm honoring him is because he is so amazing as a person. His motto in life is "just do it". Sulli runs a camp during the summer for kids called "Come and get it hockey" and his amazing wife Liz helps out. I met Sulli the year he came to be a gladiator (in 2008-2009) he wasn't my prayer partner then but I became his prayer partner in 2009 (during the summer). He is such a sweet genuine guy. I met his wife during the 2009-2010 season at the last after party. I love them both, they just are so amazing. Dan scored 15 goals and 18 assists in the 2009-2010 season. While that stat is impressive for a guy who told me "well I can't score goals so I might as well fight" I wanted to honor Sulli and Liz for their work at come and get it hockey. They had 68 campers at the June 7-11 camp I loved hanging out and doing little things as they came up to help. It was so crazy but we all survived for the most part. Dan had surgery in may so he wasn't able to go out on the ice. He is so good with those kids though. He had one kid who couldn't hardly skate his 1st year at the camp and Dan had to help up if he fell so finally Dan told him that he would have to get up on his own next time and the boy did and this little boy is now 11 and is now so good at playing compared to where he was and I believe it was all because Dan invested in the kid. Thank God for Dan and Liz. They do sooooooo good camp. Dan congrats on all you have done and Liz God bless you for helping Dan and dealing with his maddness!!

star player Adam berti!!

In keeping with what I started when the season ended I wanted to honor Adam Berti for scoring the most points on his team (the gwinnett Gladiators). Adam was one of my buddies this season. He was on the Gladiators in both the 2008-2009 season and the 2009-2010 season but had to split his time between the gladiators and the fresno falcons in the 2008-2009 season. This season Berti scored 41 assists and 16 goals for a total of 57 points!! That's why I wanted to honor Berti!! He is such a sweet guy and pretty goofy. He's from canada and played in the OHL and the AHL for a while before coming to the Gladiators. He's also on the "protected list" this up coming season. I'm completely excited to see him this upcoming season and I wish him the best of luck!!

Retro Bio--- Mike Eruzione

Mike Eruzione, or Ritz, was the captian of the 1980 olympic hockey team coached by Herb Brooks. Mike was born on October 25, 1954 in Winthrop Massachussettes. He was the captain of his high school Varsity team. Ritz attended both Berwick Acedamy and Boston University. He went on to play for the USA national team for the '75 and '76 world Championships, then played for the Toledo goal diggers in the IHL. He won the rookie of the year award while playing in Toledo and lead his team to the turner cup 1978. He played 2 years in toledo then scored the winning goal in the miracle on ice game. The goal was voted the best highlight on ESPN in 2008. Ritz turned down a contract with the rangers after the olympics to retire. He went on to announce at Rangers and Devils games for the USA network and for 5 Olympic games. Ritz currently works at Boston University as director of special outreach he was the assistant coach for 3 seasons at boston college. He's the member of many halls of fames and is part owner of the USHL Omaha Lancers. He's a motivational speaker and helps the Winthrop High School hockey team. In 2007 he appeared on the TV show "I got a secret", his secret was that he was the captain of the 1980 Olympic hockey team. In the 1981 made for TV movie "miracle on ice" he was played by Andrew Stevens but was played by Patrcik O'Brien Dempsey.

Retro blog Herb Brooks

To continue what I started before the Olympics of 2010 I wanted to honor the man who kinda made the miracle on ice possible, the coach. Coach Herb Brooks is one of the best coaches in the history of the game. Sadly I never got to meet him he coached before I was born and died in 2003 shortly after production of the movie about his 1980 Olympic team, Miracle. He was only 66 when he died but you could only imagine all of what he could tell you if you sat and listened. Coach was born August 5, 1837 in St Paul Minnesota and played Hockey and baseball at Johnson High School. His high school hockey team won state in 1955 while he was on the team. Herb went on to play for the university of Minnesota from 1955-1959 and almost played for the 1960 Olympic team but was cut a week before the games (USA won gold that year). The night USA won gold in 1960 Herbs Brooks Sr. told Herb that "it looks like coach Riley cut the right guy"!! Could you imagine your dad saying that to you about you? It would be awful!! From 1960-1970 Herb played in 8 Olympics and world championships. Coach Herb Coached at the University of Minnesota leading them to the NCAA Championships in 1974, 1976 and 1979. In 1983 Herb had the oppurinity to coach at Michigian tech but turned it down to coach at St Cloud state Unoversity. Of course we all know that in 1980 he coached the Olympic team but did you know that he was the 1st American coach to lead a hand picked team to victory against the soviets in 20 years? After the Olympics he moved to Switzerland to coach for a year. He then coached the Rangers from 1981-1985 becoming the 1st american born coach in Ranger's history to win 100 games. He was also the coach for the Minnesotta North stars, New jersey devils, the Pittsburg penguins and the 1998 French olympic hockey team. Herb returned to coaching US olympic hockey in 2002. He was inducted into the US hockey hall of fame in 1990, the international hockey hall of fame in 1999 and then the hockey hall of fame in 2006. Coach Herb will be remembered forever as america's coach. He died August 11, 2003 when he fell asleep driving not wearing his seatbelt sadely he may have survived if he did wear it. He will be missed! Rest in piece coach!!

Late star blog!! Brett Sterling

In the 2008- 2009 season Brett was a thrasher breifly but this past season he was a Wolf. I believe this is the 1st time I honored a wolf since adding the wolves to the ministry earlier this year but sadly it will be short. Brett had one of the highest amounts of points this season and even went to the all-stars!!! He had 34 goals and 22 assists in the regular season, 2 goals during the all star game and

he had 4 goals and 6 assist during post season play. They recently got knocked out of the Calder cup race. They had been doing ok in the 1st 2 rounds but it got worse as the playoffs went on. Brett has done very well in his career going to the Calder cup and the all star game 3 times. There is no doubt this 26 year old Califorina native will make it to the NHL very soon for a full season, Don't give up Brett it will happen! Never give up, never back down!

Star player Nik Antropov

In light of the thrashers and gladiators not being the play offs I decided that I would look at all 3 teams in the ministry and decide who should be star player based on points scored. I checked the thrashers 1st and noticed Nik Antropov had scored 24 goals and 43 assists this season. I had no clue he did so well if I had I would have honored him a lot sooner. So I apologize to Nik for not giving him a shout out sooner (believe me he's huge, I don't wanna make him mad). Nik was signed by Atlanta as a free agent on July 2, 2009 after playing with both the maple leafs and rangers in the 2008-2009 season. He is orignally from Kazakhstan but now lives in Canada with his wife and 2 kids. At 6' 6" 240 he's the 2nd biggest guy on the team (Boris Valabik is the biggest @ 6' 7" 245) and one of the fan favorites. He is so sweet smiling and signing stuff for fans at practices. He actually won the MVP award this year at the last game of the season. Nik is such a good guy and I wish him nothing but the best. I hope in all of the changes that the thrashers are going through that Nik is able to stay with the team!

Congrats on all the goals and the MVP award and good luck next season Nik!