2010 WORLD JUNIORS: I WAS THERE

really deeply sorry about the title, but i think the whole "i was there" cliche fit. well this post is about my world juniors experience in 2010. it may be short it may be long. first off, on december 21st, i went to "family fest". (i bought a word juniors notebook and wrote down everything i did, world jr related, so most of this post is going to be about what i said). they had the stanley cup there and former NHL players, aswell as a big display from the hockey hall of fame. they had all the other trophies there as well including jerseys and sticks that were used/worn. they had mega sized tickets, a game area and a place to get things signed. after that post in my notebook, i wrote about each of the players and what i thought about them. i said that i hated calvin deHaan haha but "it was funny when he locked himself out of his hotel room". on the sunday of the pre-comp, we wore our green jerseys. loved them but if you hate saskatchewan, you probably didnt. we beat sweden 6-2. the next game vs finland was played in calgary where we won 3-0. the last pre-comp game was vs the czech and we won 3-2. the game on the 26th vs latvia was so intense and nerve-wracking. seeing the hype in saskatoon was mind-blowing. made me so excited (like i already wasnt haha) for the rest of the tourney. that game, we won 16-0. on tuesday, december 29th, i wrote about the game vs switzerland the night before. brandon mcmillian (anaheim) got a hatty. "they got a 2 on 1 and ellis was the only team canada player and they actually hit the post" (what i said). we won 6-0. the bext game was vs slovakia where martin jones got the start. i put that my prediction was 8-2 canada, which it was,. wednesday, december 30th.. "today i went to worldfest to see the olympic team be announced, there was over 4000 people! so much media and fans. mike babcock left his live interview early cause his flight left 20 minutes from then". canada vs slovakia... canada wins 8-1, taylor hall hatty. "I WAS RIGHT ABOUT MY PREDICTION!!!!!" also, della rovere with a short-handed goal. team canada vs team usa prediction: 5-3 canada. january 1st 2010... "yesterday i went to the Canada/USA game.wow! we got so many things. tsn booth was right beside me." credit union centre for that game was crazy. you moved maybe 10 steps in 5 minutes. it was so crowded. acual score, 5-4 canada, shootout. attendance, 15171 (103.2%). "there were about two dozen usa fans. it was tied after 1." "one minute into the third, they scored. it was 4-2 usa. but then we scored twice and it was tied!!! we scored again but it got waived off because brayden was in the creast. there was a BULLSHIT chant in the crowd". "eberle got a golden chance in overtime but couldnt sneak it in". anddddd, it was off to shootout. eberle, goal. usa (whoever), goal. kadri, goal. usa, goal. kozan, goal. schroeder, no goal. we win!!!! alex pietrangelo's goal was a shorty. january 2nd, 2010.... "RUSSIA LOST!!!! SWEDEN LOST 4-3 TO USA AND WE WON 6-2 VS SWISS. WERE PLAYING THE USA IN THE FINALS!!!". on the day of the gold medal game, i could not sleep (i guess the night before.). i was so excited to go. parking was a bitch but we made it before warmies started. they were giving away so many things. attendance, 15171. being in that building for that game gave me butterflies. i knew that it might not ever be in saskatoon again (atleast in my lifetime) so i better soak it all in. lines were huge, i never went to the bathroom at all during the game. neither did i buy anything. during warmups, i got way too excited. i had crazy funny fans around me and they made it even better. one guy gave me fireworks haha. once the game started, everything was so intense. it was like if they scored, it was the end, no matter how much time was left in the game. the atmosphere was unbelievable. i went down by the benches pre-game and saw luke adam. he look so ready. the usa guys had their pucks arranged to say "USA". the refs were so bad, they called everything on us. despite the outcome, that will no doubt be the best hockey game i have ever been to. when eberle tied it up (scored the two goals) the building was jumping. there was a "BOB MCKENZIE" chant during intermission. when pietrangelo hit the post in overtime, it was the most intense feeling ever. just knowing that it could have ended killed me..and im pretty sure everyone else. here's something of what i said in my notebook... "Fuck! no no no!!! we lost!! the refs were SO bad". losing a gold medal game in overtime, and being there to witness it, was the most dissapointing feelng ever. i felt so bad for the boys. they worked their asses off and came second. i remember tweeting usa/ref death threats after saying that i was going to bomb their plane. i dont think i was joking at the time. i still havent (to this day) seen the replay of the overtime goal. i just cant. the only time i have seen it, was when i was actually there. i wore a world juniors shirt underneath my jersey at the game, i still havent washed/wore that shirt yet, after the game. i cry almost everytime i think about that night, and unfortuantly, theyre not good tears. being at the world juniors was almost life changing. seeing team canada fans and how they act in the same building was so amazing. those days that the tourney was on, it felt like it united us. i kept all news paper articles from the world juniors (every year i do) and to go back and read them, might be a good thing, or it might not. anyways. if anyone kept reading this, i added some picutres that i took. i also got both of eberle's gold medal game goals on video. theyre at the very bottom. sorry, none of the pics are alligned (sp?). and, if you think i tweet lots now during hockey games, just wait until the world juniors start up ;) GO CANADA!!!!!!

more of my pics: http://twitpic.com/photos/baileytrask?page=22
http://twitpic.com/photos/baileytrask?page=23
http://twitpic.com/photos/baileytrask?page=24
http://twitpic.com/photos/baileytrask?page=25
http://twitpic.com/photos/baileytrask?page=26

gold medal game warmups

taylor hall. so dissapointing.

the boys :(

fuck the usa

december 31st warmies

nazem waiting for his turn

we win!!!

the olympic team.

camp

chris kreider penalty shot (new years eve)

eberle's first goal

eberle ties it.

"DESTINY IS A LIE. FORCE FATE"



BLADES VS PATS: VINTAGE JERSEY NIGHT #2

i guess it wasnt really a "vintage jersey night" but i wasnt gonna put "warman night" in the title. the boys (...excluding jake, thanks to suspension) were looking to get back on track (i sound like a coach) and our first home game of the month came vs regina. i loooove playing against the pats..no fights during the game (boohoo) but i totally positive if jake was playing he would fight!! (not). we were down 2-0 then in the middle of third the boys really lit it up. 4 straight goals to win is a great way to start off another home winning streak ;) makarov saved around 40 shots.. anyways, this was the first home game of six for december. next one is on the 14th vs the blazers.. so pumped ok

BLADES VS GIANTS: VINTAGE JERSEY NIGHT

so last night the blades hosted vancouver, and well we lost. the boys were wearing vintage saskatoon quakers jerseys and they (especially jake) were looking sharrrrrrp. stovin scored the first goal of the game and makarov got the assist. love love love when goalie get assists... stanford had atleast 5 last season. it was tied going into the third, then they scored 3 straight. boo. but i bought jake's game worn jersey! it only went for $375...weird. next game wednesday vs kootenay.

SASKATOON BLADES, NOVEMBER 2011

from the 1st, to the 30th, the boys played 14 games. and ended up with 9 wins and 5 losses. amazing month (first part...) other than the hitmen crushing our hopes and dreams on the 25th. almost all our away games (regina, moose jaw, swift current, medicine hat, kootenay, red deer, calgary) were one goal games and we won 5 of the 7. first november home game came on the 2nd vs calgary, where we won 4-1 (dietz, stransky, nicholls, sutter), and makarov saved 39 shots. the following saturday we played lethbridge and won 7-3 (burns, mcevoy, sutter, stransky, olsen, stovin, burns) where we had a 6-0 lead at one point during the 2nd. we played brandon (ugh) on the 8th and surprisingly, won. stransky, paradis, nicholls, trask (!!!!) and stovin scored for a 5-2 win. dziurzynski also scored in his return.. so after what seemed like a roady that took months to finish, the boys returned home on the 22nd to play medicine hat. such an intense game it was awesome. we won 4-3 in a shootout, and jake, burns and haas scored in regulation for us. both shooters for the tigers missed in the shootout (shinkaruk, etem) while 2/3 for the blades scored (trask and stransky) and nicholls missed. on the 25th, we had a chance to re-write the record books, which did not happen. we lost vs the hitmen...badly, i guess. simple mistakes. giving pucks away, not winning faceoffs, and horrible reffing. tons of fights though, loved that. i'm still on the pursuit to see jake fight. what i would do to make that happen..... the next night we played vancouver, which was the return of morrison and bews. it was vintage jersey night and you can read all about that in the post below this. on the 20th we played kootenay (fuck everyone on that team) and we lost againnnnnnnn :( the reinhart's are too fucking good i hate it. that all cancels out because jake scored. you already know that. the first part of the month was perfect then after our loss to calgary on home ice we fell apart. soooo pumped for december hockey. first blades game isnt until the 10th but at the end of the month there are games left right and centre, plus the world juniors!!! :) bye and goooo blades!!

BLADES VS HURRICANES: RETRO NIGHT

so on saturday, the blades hosted the hurricanes, which happened to be retro night. the boys were wearing the old "pacman" jerseys (am i the only person who thinks they dont look like pacman?). the boys ended up winning 7-3, with goals from stovin, olsen, stransky, sutter, and two from burns. also travis mcevoy scored his first goal. worthy of mentioning is trask, who got an assist yay. adam todd was in goal for makarov and was sickkkkk! brody sutter had a penalty shot in the first and obviously missed, if you read gameday tweets... anyways, there are barely any home games for the boys this month! one tomorrow and a few at the end of the month. so that sucks :( anyways, i took some pictures. take a look below.

SASKATOON BLADES, OCTOBER 2011

so after eleven games in october, and a horrible US road trip, the boys ended up with 5 wins.. :( and tonight (the 29th) we are in PA. first game in october was in brandon, no comment. prince george was here on the fifth, we (yes, we) ended up with a 4-1 win. hate playing them, just a team i have no interest in. the following saturday, we played edmonton. 5-1 win, loved the game. probably wouldnt have even been mad if we lost. jake wasnt playing, so that probably was the worst part of the night. searched for him in the concourse... not really but kinda, ya know? tuesday was the last home game before the big roadie, moose jaw was here, again, not really a team i care for. we took a 4-3 overtime win. after that came the disaster. one win in everett on the friday, a couple close games (josh was amaaaaazing) and then that was that. it felt like a million years since i had been to a game, but finally on wednesday, we played regina. one of my favourite teams to play. their coach is just so sexy, holy hell. art bidlevskii wasnt playing so that was a bit dissapointing. also, sorry for my tweets that night. really. and we're undefeated at home! so anyways, raiders/blades tonight then into MOVEMBER!! so pumped. love a good muzzy. and flow. and everything else.

all the pictures i took from these games (not too many) are all super shitty, so sorry about that. most are from my phone. i hate taking pictures at games, makes me feel super awkward. anyways, see ya next month.
regina

regina

moose jaw

edmonton

moose jaw

edmonton

2013 MEMORIAL CUP REACTION

first off, i'm biased, so this might be pointless.
this isnt really a reaction, its a rant.
well well well, looks like i will be going (...as a fan, of course) to my first ever memorial cup tournament in about a year and a half. obviously, i'm excited, as my tweets expressed. i pretty much thought kelowna was out of it, for multiple reasons, one being they recently hosted. but whats with all this "the blades have to host it to be able to win it" bullshit? last (post) season was rediculous. brayden schenn isnt god and personally i think he fucked us over in the long run. are all these haters/jealous people/fans of other teams just commenting on how they'd rather earn their way there than get an automatic spot? obviously that is true, but what if we lost the bid and weren't hosting? i'm sure they'd be equally excited as i was/am. i've seen tweets and other blog posts about how since the blades hosted and lost in overtime to the broncos in '89, that the exact same thing is going to happen again... over 20 fucking years later. the one thing that makes me mad the most is just the fact that other people are saying that we cant make it without an automatic spot. when it comes to our roster and who will be playing, that is obiously hard to comment on when its over an entire season away, but with our recent trades, the work starts now.
so fuck all you haters. have fun watching on tv. to the people who can actually deal with my tweets and what i say. jesus christ how do you do it?! :)

SASKATOON BLADES HOME OPENER VS THE RAIDERS

ASDFGHJKL!! WHL HOCKEY IS FINALLLLLLY BACK! first regular season game was on friday, against (obviously) the prince albert raiders. the actual game started about 25 minutes late because of the opening ceremony and honouring brad mccrimmon and wade belak. the guys also raised 2 banners (east division champions and regular season, scotty munro memorial trophy) and also another in in memorial. midway through the first, the new guy jesse paradis went fivehole on eric williams. 1-0. so happy i/we dont have to deal with the diver jamie tucker. 5 minutes into the second, tyler yaworski scored to tie it up. then the blades (can i just say "we"?) scored 3 straight... goals came from jesse again, chris collins and brent benson. assists to josh nicholls, darren dietz (2) and jake. then the raiders scored 2 quick ones like 15 (not even) second apart. butttttt they ran out of time and the blades won 4-3 :) that was the first of a home and home, and the boys won again last night, 5-3. and if you read my tweets you should obviously know who scored..... ;)

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS VS EDMONTON OILERS

So last night the blackhawks were in town playing the oilers. of course half of the players no one has ever heard of before, but tazer was there so that was juuuuuust fine. seeing curtis play (most likely) his last game at CUC was super depressing. huge cheers for him when he got an assist. crowd was mostly pro-blackhawks but there were a ton of oilers jerseys too. also saw alot of penguins, flames, leafs, and canadiens. but the oilers won 4-2, so it ended sucky. f you eberle. except when you play for team canada.

blades home opener on friday!!