2012 BLADES HOME OPENER VS THE RAIDERS

so the whl season kicked off this weekend, the blades won in prince albert on friday in a shootout then dropped the home opener on saturday. i am soooo pumped christian stockl scored his first dub goal on friday and matt revel got his first point. it went to a shootout. mccolgan and stransky scored, then mark mcneill kept the raiders alive. walker missed buuuutttt so did leon draisaitl so the blades win!!! on saturday, a shit ton of people pregamed at the blades tailgate party at cuc. the arena was rockin even though we went down 3-0 ten minutes into the first. we had a pp and brenden walker put us on the board at the end of the first. the second started off pretty damn good when dietz scored 21 seconds in. then, the refs decided to be one sided and lost the game for us. every one of their goals except one, they had an extra man. guess our pk needs help too. there was a shit load of penalties, 90 minutes combined.

 

sooo we lost 5-2 but hey, were only two games in. next game is on wednesday in brandon, and the next home game is october 3rd vs red deer. go bladesssssssssssssssss

 

BLADES PRESEASON & SEASON PREDICTIONS

soooooo after four preseason games, i think its about time to get the season started. the first game in prince albert was horrible, especially because the whole population of saskatchewan was on the highway to PA. three of us went to the game and it may have been a good idea to wear bullet proof vest under our jerseys. we got our asses kicked in the second period and then ended up losing 6-2. also i may have been slightly off when i said medicine hat has the worst arena..i guess now they have one of the worst. the next day we played the raiders again in warman. packed house and we won 6-3 :) lucky for my followers on twitter there was no sevice in the arena sooo no tweets for me durng that game. on the 14th we were in regina.. makarov played his first game and we ended up winning 2-1. the next night we played them back at cuc for the first time this season.. very tight game the whole way, then we went up with 6 minutes left in the game, then they scored 2 quick ones :( stovin scored with 14 seconds left but it wasnt enough :( oh and not to mention they read one of my tweets with my name on the jumbotron...not embarassing at all. ohhhhh wellllllll i'm fired up for the home opener next saturday vs the raiders.

new boards and glass for the season, a few new players, a new seat for the season....fucking excited. i'm reeeally looking forward to watching new player logan harland this season. saw some great stuff from him last night. also excited to see homeless boy shane mccolgan play a legit game. no really sure whats up with our goalie alex moodie but i guess once he's healthy its a battle between him and patrick johnson...who i really havent seen play, at all. anyways, i love our schedule this season and even though i'm not expecting a 2010-11 season outcome, i'd (obviously) love it, i am more expecting a 09-10 outcome. also maybe we dont get swept in the playoffs? i can buy my memorial cup tickets in october and i am puuuuumped! see ya on friday/saturday :) go blades!!

update: i wrote this on sunday, so it wasnt "last night" that i saw good things from logan harland. and patrick johnson got sent down, so alex moodie should be almost set to go. anddddd, we signed matt revel today. very interested in seeing him play for the first time.

2012 CANADIAN COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION AWARDS

so on sunday i went to the ccma's in saskatoon. i made my way to credit union centre early and got a decent spot for the "green carpet". i wasnt even planning on going to it but i was early and the doors didnt open until a half hour after the green carpet started. the celebs came out in mostly vintage cars, some suvs's, mercedes, but i think the best one was the john deere tractor that codie provost (saskatchewan boy) rolled up in. all the big stars came out...even luke and brayden schenn. the only one who didnt come out was eric church :( after the green carpet was over, we had to make our way inside, since we had to be in our seats 15minutes prior to 5pm. dean brody kicked things off and sang canadian girls...amazing performance. got you jacked for the start of the show. taylor swift presented after that. one of the coolest parts were the commerical breaks...some guy came out and talked to the crowd, and then every 90/60/30 and 10 seconds, a guy announced to everyone that were going live in x seconds, the with about 3 seconds left, he'd say "applause please". pretty cool if you ask me. best performance goes to jason aldean, he sang "take a little ride" and killed it. eric church was up there too, but he sang "springsteen" and i dont really like that song. miranda lambert wins for the best performance by a girl...damn she killed it and she was soooo energetic. luke and brayden also introduced (i forget who) a singer, it was defiantly awkward since brayden was asking luke questions while they were onstage (the mic wasnt on but the camera was there). 

all n all, it was a sick show. definitley makes you want to go to more awards shows. CMAs next? ;)

SASKATOON BLADES TRAINING CAMP 2012

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training camp officially started on friday with the practices and scrimmages. it may or may not have been -30 degrees celcius  in that arena, but frig was it ever worth it. you know the quote "futures so bright i gotta wear sunglasses"... well that sums of the blades farm. the kids are speedy and sure know how to dangle around the big guys. it was a good time to look at our four overagers..i think the two that are battling for the last spot is between connor cox and chris collins...and as much as i love him, i think collins isnt gonna make the cut. dalton thrower didnt  take part in training camp (some sort of injury? he looked fine). ryan graham also didnt play...i was wondering all weekend why he was there but not skating,i guess one leg is longer than the other and fucks his back up or something like that, #limpy.
 i am super pumped to watch the new guys we got in the summer.. shane mccolgan, jessey astles and brenden walker. you could already see the bromance going on between josh nicholls and the new boys. jessey astles is like last years overager, jesse paradis...the hair and the face. honestly this years crop of players consisted of dangles, snipes, flow and hits. best training camp ive been to yet. brenden walker seems like the guy who would take you to cabelas on a date and then go out hunting. a hockey player crossed with a country boy..i mean what more could you ask for.
 for the younger guys, i cant wait to see what nick zajac, travis mcevoy (emoji heart eyes) and especially christian stockl bring to the team. i hope tommy (#DJtomislav, you have to be a blades fan to get it) gets his injuries in order and plays a full season with the blades. for the goalies, obviously makarov will take the title of starting goalie...back up is most likely adam todd but i still think alex moodie is that much better. players that caught my eye...obviously #19 black (five foot two...), #18 black cameron hebig and 3 black..all short guys (atleast compared to the rest). players i hope get their five games in, landyn hickmott, derek davies (itll never happen with the goalies we have), nick gomerich and nelson nogier.

 the blue/white intrasquad game on monday was possibly the biggest tease ever. great game but it got me even more amped for the season, then before you know it its over and you have to wait until friday for another game. the overagers were the coaches, collins and walker for team white, nicholls and cox for blue. there was only one fight, great tilt by the way.  i was going for team white (mcevoy/stovin) buuuuut blue (zajac/stipancik) won 4-3.

awards for the best dangles go to.......shane mccolgan, darren dietz and josh nicholls. dirty.
awards for the best flow go to.....jessey astles, kyle schmidt and brett lernout.

hands down the best training camp i have been to. and im headed to prince albert on friday for preseason game number one!!