Days Gone By

I suck at this...

Luckily, it hasn't been as long as I thought it has since I last posted.... just.... about four months. whoops.

We've lost a couple of our amigas along the way this season... our cousins (the two that are sisters) have love interests now so they kinda leave Amanda and I hanging. It's hard for me to keep up with everything on my own. And now Amanda is trying to get me into baseball... I barely learn one sport before she wants me to learn another. So far, baseball players just aren't as appealing to me as hockey players are.

Amanda had been trying to get me interested in the Blackhawks all season because she is a huge Toes fan (yes, I misspelled it on purpose). So I gave in... now I regret it. I bought a Versteeg shirt around about the end of March, right before playoffs because we figured we might get to go to Nashville and see the Hawks play in the playoffs if all things went our way (unfortunately the games ended up being during the week and we couldn't go). I fell in love with Versteeg, Ladd, Buff... the underdogs for me. I'm more of a personality type of girl. I don't want the ones that stick out. So I was feeling all swell about my decisions to like the Hawks... I mean, they honestly had a lot of amazing players... I was even bringing myself around to Hossa (granted, I knew nothing about hockey when all the crap went down in Pittsburgh with him... so you can't hold it against me.) But now I just realize that Hossa's 100 year multimillion deal just meant that the Hawks would have to get rid of the heart and soul of their team. All my favorite players- minus the cute Swede and the Thunder Bay native- have all moved on to other teams. It makes me uber sad. I'm not sure how I'm feeling about the Hawks these days...

At least Versteeg is with Toronto. A team that I can appreciate. And Ladd and Byfuglien are just a few hours away in Atlanta, so we could probably catch some games. I might could even bring myself to appreciate the Thrashers if Evander Kane didn't play for them... but I just don't like him.

On another note... Jared Staal is now a member of the Carolina Hurricanes... which is way awesome. That means that he is now on the East Coast and at the least, only four hours away! Amanda is a huge fan so this is good for me because...? BECAUSE.... the Albany River Rats (an affiliate of the Canes) are becoming the Charlotte Checkers. And....? AND.... when Cam Ward was hurt the Canes brought up a goalie named Justin Peters who I just absolutely fell in love with... and I figure at the least, he'll be playing in Charlotte for the affiliate team.... THUS... I can con Amanda into going to Charlotte to watch him and Jared Staal play. :) And if both should be called up... then at the most all we would have is a six hour drive to see them. It's not like we haven't driven to Raleigh a million times to watch games anyway!

Sad news.... the Penguins lose Gonchar, Eaton and Leopold... among others (but I really liked those three.) Maybe that means we can sign Marc Staal...? Hey, a girl can dream can't she?

Like I said... I suck at this. You would think since I'm a teacher and off during the summer that I could actually maintain this blog. You would be wrong. Sorry. lol

Anyway... I hope everyone is doing well in the offseason. Hang in there... just a few more months till hockey.

Till next time. Peace, Love & Hockey.

~Brittany

P.S. If you are that bored, you should watch TrueBlood. I've become addicted. I bought seasons 1 & 2 and I'm halfway through all the books. You can do things like this when you have nothing else to do in the summer. And lucky for me... the guy that plays Eric Northman- Alexander Skarsgard-is actually Swedish! Those darn Swedes... they give us everything good! ;)

Examples: Victor Hedman, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Henrik Lundqvist, Alexander Skarsgard. :)

Enough Said.

Team USA

CONGRATULATIONS TEAM USA!!! HOLD YOUR HEADS HIGH! YOU PLAYED AMAZING AND WE SHOWED THE WORLD THAT WE ARE A DEFINITE HOCKEY POWERHOUSE!!!

Paging Al Michaels: U.S. Will Beat Canada

Paging Al Michaels: U.S. Will Beat Canada

Top TWELVE Swedes

So... I really should be doing a recap of our AMAZING New Year's Eve trip to Carolina to watch the Hurricanes play the Rangers... but I'm slacking on that end and have nothing ready for that so instead we're (---> read I) will be counting down the top Swedes in the NHL (all in my opinion obviously). Here we go.

TOP TWELVE HOTTEST SWEDES IN THE NHL

(I mean... why stop at 10?)

#12: Andreas Lilja- Detroit Red Wings

#11: Jonas Gustavsson- Toronto Maple Leafs


#10: Loui Eriksson- Dallas Stars


#9: Viktor Stalberg- Toronto Maple Leafs



#8: Tom Wandell- Dallas Stars

#7: Carl Gunnarsson- Toronto Maple Leafs

#6: Niklas Hjalmarsson- Chicago Blackhawks

#5: Mattias Ohlund- Tampa Bay Lightning

#4: Patrik Berglund- St. Louis Blues

#3: Henrik Zetterberg- Detroit Red Wings

#2: Henrik Lundqvist- New York Rangers

Okay... so I'm not gonna lie... Henrik Lundqvist should definitely be number one hottie Swede... but I have MAD LOVE for Victor Hedman and he's soooo number one in my heart. Not that he's not beautiful right now, but give him a few years and I think he'll be even better.

Soooo.... here's number one Hottie Swede....

#1: Victor Hedman- Tampa Bay Lightning

Well... hope that kept everyone entertained... if you have any suggestions that I might have missed... please let me know.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Until next time... Peace, Love & Hockey.

Go Penguins!!!

(I feel that win coming on tomorrow night against the Panthers... no five losses in a row for us!)

~Pansy (w/ love from Guardian, Slasher & Enforcer)

Why Am I Not Part of This Family?

So I'm killing time today... and googling Jordan Staal pics... when I come across a picture of them with their mother. Now granted, their mom is a nice looking lady and when she's my mother-in-law one of these days I'll let her know... but I would have loved this picture a lot more if it were just her sons. What do you think?

I would LOVE to be a part of that family!

Men's Olympic Roster for Team Canada to be announced on December 30, 2009.

That's tomorrow btw. Good luck Staal brothers! I hope all of you make it! That would be amazing!

If not... at least two of you have that shiny thing... and there's always next time... but you all are going to make it so there's no use for all the negativity.

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's!
Be Safe!

Until next time... peace, love & hockey!
XOXOXO

~Pansy (w/ love from Enforcer, Slasher & Guardian)

Oh... I almost forgot. Here's a link to an article on Marc Andre Fleury. It's worth reading!
He seems like such a great guy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I thought I would do better with this whole blogging thing after basketball season was over for me, but apparently teaching is a full time job! Who knew!? I'm hoping after I'm through this first year that it won't be as time consuming. I feel like that's all I do. But I want to do my job well so I spend a lot of extra time at school. But for now, it's the holidays. One of the perks to being a teacher? Two weeks off at Christmas! Yeah... that's worth 4 1/2 years of college. Seriously.

The Pens are doing well. But of course you don't need me to tell you that. Luckily Jordan Staal did not break his nose on Monday night. I'm gonna admit. I was a little bit distraught. I mean, it's possible I might have cried a little. That was a lot of blood that came trickling out of his nose. I'm not gonna lie. I was scared. I thought some hard core hurtin' went down with that. I was thinking it hit his eye and broke his nose or possibly fractured like an orbital bone or something. It was scary. But, like the bad ass he is... he came back into the game and he's gonna be able to play tonight. An Iron Man he is.

Not much to report on here. Slasher, Guardian, Enforcer and I are going to Raleigh on New Year's Eve to watch the Rangers and Hurricanes play. Hopefully the Staal boys will spend quite a bit of time in the penalty box! I'm thinking since I'm not a huge fan of Carolina or New York, I'm gonna be the retard sitting behind the penalty box in a Jordan Staal shirt. I figure someone needs to show him some love, even though he's not playing. We'll see. If you're watching the game, be sure to look for us. We'll be the four chicks (and one dude... we're taking our cousin Doug as well. He just doesn't realize what he's getting himself into.) with a sign that reads...

"WE MAY BE FROM MAYNARDVILLE, TN... BUT OUR SEATS ARE DEFINITELY CENTER ICE".

Yeah. We'll be those idiots who can't decide which Staal they like more. That's us.

Anyway. Until Next Time.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Peace, Love & Penguins!

~Pansy (w/ love from Slasher, Guardian & Enforcer)

I Miss College....

I'm just going to come right out and say it...

The real world SUCKS!!!

I miss the days of college, where if I wanted to go to a concert or sporting event in the middle of the week... out of town... I could. I didn't have to worry about getting things together for the day I was going to miss. I didn't have to worry about being missed. I didn't have to worry about losing my job for laying out late at night in the middle of the week. It was kinda nice. I understand why people stay in college for years at a time now. I really do. The funny part is, I think I actually had more money when I was in college than what I have now with a full time job! Man... it sucks!

But what doesn't suck is the fact that as of next weekend, my cousins and I are going to Atlanta to watch the Penguins vs Thrashers. The bad part about that (if there is a bad part) is the fact that Letang, Gonchar, Brooksie, or TK probably won't be playing. Word on the street is, though, Malkin will be back before then. That's a plus!

Pens were off to such a great start but have kinda been sucking it up lately, since 1/3 of the top players are out with injuries. But you all already know that. Slasher, Enforcer and I blame it on Guardian. She's been bailing on us and hasn't watched one Pens game with us all season. Even Moose has been watching with us, but apparently she doesn't bring the luck that Guardian does. Things are going to have to get better...

Enforcer is an angel and used her knowledge of Amazon to find us Penguins calendars. There's nothing better than flipping to a new beautiful Penguin each month! Now we have them year round.

As excited as we are about the Penguins game... Enforcer is a huge fan of Marc Staal so that makes her a fan of the Rangers as well....

She's been dying to see them play, so we decided to get tickets to see them play Carolina in Raleigh on New Year's Eve (since Carolina is our second favorite team).

Since it was the holiday season... we decided to splurge a little on tickets and just not get each other Christmas presents. And I'm pretty sure that's been one of the best decisions we've ever made... because our seats are CENTER ICE... two rows behind the penalty box. Maybe Marc and Eric will get put in at the same time! Hopefully Carolina will turn something around before then. If not, it's going to suck being with probably the only Rangers fan in the building (namely Enforcer).

Basketball season is over for me. Hopefully that will give me lots more time for hockey (and hopefully a nice bonus for Christmas presents). I haven't got to watch my games as much as I'd like. It's all gonna turn around now!

Step it up Pens!

Until next time... peace, love & hockey.

XOXOXO

~Pansy (w/ love from Guardian, Enforcer & Slasher)

Sports Illustrated Loves Me

I know it has been a while since I have sat down and filled you all in on the stories in our lives... so, I apologize and I hope you aren't too disappointed.

Sorry about not posting. Again, I can't get any of my cousins to contribute or this wouldn't be so much work. I'm nine weeks in to my new career and a month or more of that has also consisted of being a basketball coach... boys and girls. Thank goodness that their season only lasts about a month and a half. Not only am I missing some hockey games but the only two shows that I watch religiously (Heroes and Bones) come on on Mondays and Thursdays which are the two days a week that I have basketball games. Since I coach the boys and girls, it means I don't get home in time to watch either show. That's what you get when you live out in the boondocks. Speaking of... the elementary school where I went to school is the smallest in our county and it's really where I wanted to teach but it's difficult to get a position there because that's where everyone wants to be. Since I'm teaching (and coaching) at another school in the county, we ended up playing my elementary team last week and my teams ended up winning both games. Awesome, considering my boys haven't won a game all year... or even come close. I was so proud that my kids beat my elementary school in their gym. On the other hand, I go to church with their coach and assistant coach and I'm pretty sure I might be banned from the community. J/k... hopefully.

On another note, the Penguins are off to a great start, as if you didn't already know that. Gonchar is going to be a big loss (broken wrist), but we have other players that can step up and fill his shoes.

BUT... the main reason why I chose to post today is because usually I curse Sports Illustrated for not having much hockeyness in it but apparently the hockey gods have been smiling down on me this past week because I've been blessed with much lovely Jordan Staalness. Because we live in football country and hockey isn't important there is only one little store (that's an hours drive away) that we know of that sells Penguins gear (and we're pretty sure they only have that much because we've became good friends with a couple of employees and the owner knows us by name) so that is where we go to con grown men into ordering a bunch of hockey stuff for four girls. Anyway, we go in last week and I'm not really planning on buying anything because I think they have nothing new and there isn't anything that I really need. WRONG! What does Enforcer find sitting on the shelf, that was definitely not there the last time we were in... A JORDAN STAAL BOBBLEHEAD! I bout peed my pants, and bought it of course... so it's been sitting in my room smiling at me for about a week now. AND THEN... I go to the mailbox today (expecting hockey shirts that I've ordered and being sad about because they still didn't) and I see that my Sports Illustrated has come. I bought this stupid subscription just so I could learn more about sports and usually I just flip through it, hit the high notes and give them to Enforcer... BUT NOT TODAY... I'm flipping through looking for the little they have about hockey and what is there on one of the very first pages...? AN INTERVIEW WITH JORDAN STAAL!!!! SERIOUSLY?!?! Somebody upstairs must really love me. Not only that, but also on the Penguins site you can take a survey and be registered to win an autographed Staal jersey... WHAT?!?! What is with all of the Jordan Staal love? I don't know what it is, but it does not bother me at all!

The cousins and I are headed to Nashville this weekend to hang out. We've been going to Lynchburg these past few years to the Jack Daniel's BBQ Festival and it's become a tradition. I think this will be year number five. It should be exciting. Me and five of my cousins. Good thing we are so close... it means we can all cram in one hotel room and save some money! It should be fun! It always is.

Slasher, Guardian, Enforcer and I are headed to Atlanta in November to watch the Penguins play the Thrashers. Can't wait! We are the traveling support crew for the Pens. Sucks we can't seem to get tickets to Mellon Arena so we'll just catch them on the road. Maybe we can catch a game at Mellon in the Spring!

Hope all is well with everyone! Again, sorry it's been so long! Penguins play tomorrow night and Saturday night! Word on the street is Brent Johnson is going to be starting in the crease tomorrow night...

Until next time... peace, love & hockey!

XOXOXOXO

Go Pens! Bring the cup back home!

~ Pansy (with love from Guardian, Enforcer & Slasher)

11 Days...

The Penguins first pre-season game starts tonight! How I wish I could watch that!

Regular season games tickets went on sale this past Saturday for October and November... With no luck, my cousins and I attempted to purchase Pens tickets for Mellon Arena. Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain any tickets... and that left us very sad....

UNTIL...

I actually went over to Enforcer's house last night to get a few things that she had picked up for me. Well, we got to talkin about how we were upset that we didn't get any Pens tickets and how we would probably have to wait until the Spring for our next chance to see them at Mellon Arena when Enforcer mentions how the Pens are playing in Atlanta in November...

WHAT!?

No way! I hadn't even looked at away games. I thought they were all too far away. BUT! Atlanta is actually pretty dang close for us. So... we decide to see if there are any tickets for the November 21st game... and guess what? There are! So as of this moment, Enforcer is actually ordering us Pens tickets! Woo!

So... that's another hockey game that we have lined up to go along with the other two. ONE: 11 days from now we go to Nashville to watch the Predators play the Hurricanes in a pre-season game. TWO: (hopefully) we'll be going to Raleigh for New Year's Eve to watch the Hurricanes play the Rangers. (And now) THREE: we're going to watch the Pens play the Thrashers in Atlanta on November 21st! YAY!

Hockey season is so close! To quote Enforcer, "I can feel the cold of the ice and taste the blood." Unquote. I can't wait to get this season started. It'll be the first full season of hockey for Guardian, Slasher and I! We're looking forward to it!

I'm trying to balance things out with work. I'm an assistant (girls & boys) basketball coach now so that keeps me busy as well! It only lasts a couple of months though so I should be okay. With all the germy kids though, I'm fighting a cold and losing my voice. Go team! lol

Regular Season is so close!

Until next time... peace, love & hockey.

XOXOXO

GO PENGUINS!!!

STANLEY CUP CHAMPS!!!

~Pansy (with love from Guardian, Enforcer & Slasher)

He's Legal

Jordan Staal is officially 21 today... I guess if he wanted to drink anywhere in Minnesota, he could now! If not, he'll always have Pittsburgh... and... that... shiny... thing.

Jordan Staal rocks my world! And apparently since I'm the only one that blogs anymore, this post is going to be all about him!

Yeah. I'm pretty sure he needs me.

Single game tickets go on sale Saturday!!! Pittsburgh here we come!

Oh, and the Penguins changed their site. It's nice.

Our first pre-season game that we get to attend is two weeks from Saturday! I can't wait. It's almost hockey season.

Sorry this couldn't be longer. Work is killing me. I'm trying to find time.

Until next time. Peace, love & hockey.

XOXOXO

~Pansy (with love from Guardian, Enforcer & Slasher)

P.S. Enforcer turns 29 on Saturday so we'll be celebrating all weekend. Wish us luck... or pray for us... however you wanna look at it.