Epic Raleigh Adventure Pt. 1 of Many/other hockey notables. Or "Hey, I finally motivated myself enough to write stuff!"

Hey guys! Long time no type. And now it's HOCKEY TIME.

First, Raleigh. Let me tell you, this was an adventure. Now, flying to Raleigh from Buffalo is usually a nice, short trip. Oh wait... I took a fucking bus. Thus, I stopped EVERYWHERE from Erie to Akron to Charleston to Winston-Salem to Raleigh. It was a 19.5 hour bus adventure, but the scenery was so rad so it was worth it-and I slept twenty minutes combined (that's not an exaggeration, either, that's fact) so I got to see a ton of it. I was met at the airport Greyhound Station by epically beautiful hostess number one of the weekend, Katy, where we then drove to CANES PRACTICE! We met up with Arielle at practice and watched the players do *gasp* drills. Like you do at practice, you know. But it was awesome- RBC Center is pretty sick. We stopped at The Eye, the gift store, after and I got my brother a Stormy doll and a foam finger and got myself a Jussi shirt. Stormy, for those who are unaware, is the mascot of the Hurricanes (since a hurricane is, coincidentally, a storm- go figure) and he is an Ice Hog- that is, a pig on skates. I think he's a great mascot except there's a lot of BBQ pork places around the Arena, and how can you go out and do your job knowing your brothers and sisters are getting chomped on around the Arena? What a brave Ice Hog.

Anyway, after eating some smuggled Mighty Taco with Katy and epically beautiful hostess number two, Heather (FYI- if you have to do it, ask them to double wrap it in the paper and then when you get home, double wrap it in foil and pop it in the ol' freezybox- it'll work, i'm living proof- and no sour cream on it or you'll ruin everything), we went to the CANES GAME. Holy damn, that's all I can say. That arena is awesome. The Canes lost the game, but the experience was awesome. It reminded me of the Aud- it's a little smaller than HSBC, but not by much, but BOY is it loud! It wasn't sold out by any means- I mean, it was the Preds- but it sure sounded like it. I'm not even saying that being biased. I had probably the best BBQ pulled pork sandwich I've ever had in my entire life, and during the game they have an auction for game used and autographed merchandise. They had a Brandon Sutter helmet, autographed AND game used. Needless to say, $230 later, I had my helmet. SICK. Go to a game, leave with a helmet. It also helped that my lovely hostesses kept me amused the whole game with chants of "SHOOT IT CAM!" and kept me enthusiastic the entire game. At one point, Cam turned his head after the "SHOOT IT!" chant haha. Oh, the perks of third row seating. hahaha Anyway, yeah, good times. Sunday we went to the Caniac Carnival, which was pretty sick. I'm not going to write too much on that, but some highlights-
-Arielle is a huge Joni Pitkanen fan. I got an hour and a half of sleep Saturday night and while she, Bryan (sorry Bryan for making you wait through that charade hahaha), and I waited in line, I spent the entire like, 25-35 minutes in line for the Staal/Pitkanen line making up fun facts about Joni. Like how he's actually "Jon I. Pitkanenczak" (the I stands for Ichabod) from Finlandia, Wisconsin. Or calling him Joni Mitchell and Joan Rivers. Then I finally get up there and he gives me the most insane signature- TO MIKE!! JONI PITKANEN #25. He also couldn't spell Mike. There are two Mike's on his team. Juuuuuuust saying.
-Aaron Ward was in our line, and I swear to God the kid in front of us had a photo of Scotty Walker punching him in the face from the playoffs for him to sign. He did it though, which I thought was crazy because I was hoping A-Ward would just punch him all the way into next week.
-Chatting with Stormy. I got my picture with him but I have no idea who actually took it... I need to track that down.
-I purchased a Mike Grier Starting Lineup from some random vendor which was AWESOME, because then the next Friday at practice I had him sign it.
-Meeting Chad LaRose! That was awesome. And oh yeah, Eric Staal, Cam Ward (who is seriously ridiculously nice-Katy had her Leighton jersey on and he asked her if she found him to sign her jersey even!), and various other fun players like MATT CULLENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. OH EM GEE.

Needless to say, Raleigh was sick awesome. Big thanks to my awesome hostesses, and all my new friends I met down there- Ashley and Bryan, Arrrrr, Kerri, Joey, and the random lady I talked to who helped me find the trash receptacle where Heather and Katy live was solid too. OH and Stormy, how can I forget my little Ice Hog? My little brother might've won out the most on the getting presents part. He got a Stormy doll, foam finger, Canes schedule, and a Sabres Conference Champs 99 Banner and Matthew Barnaby jersey that one of Heather's relatives or friends gave her. And I've already planned a trip back November 13-15/16th (I don't know exactly what day I'll have to go back to work but it'll be another SICK BUS ADVENTURE because I am CHEEEEEEEAP) and there's TWO games that weekend. Mega rad.

Now that you read all that awesome, it's time for HOCKEYS. with Mikey.

Let's play a game called Hat Trick where I name three things currently I want to talk about.

1. Dany Heatley. Now, for those who read my last post and know me one iota, this is going to come as a shock, so bear with me. Grab a seat, sit down, and grab a paper bag to hyperventilate and/or vomit into. Here goes.

I don't hate Dany Heatley now that he isn't a Senator anymore.

I don't know how this could've happened myself. I mean, he was just so easy to hate! Scoring goals and stuff against us all the time, the Speed Racer jokes... so simple. But you know what? Once he was off the team I despise ALMOST as much as Philly or Toronto or *shudders* Edmonton, I came to realize that he is actually a pretty sick hockey player, because I wasn't watching the stupid Sens kick our ass (or really even just them playing upsets my brain) but instead I was watching him deke his way up the ice to net a hat trick. I started watching him after someone talked some (also see:tons of, multiple) sense into me by showing me that like a Jeff Carter, who I love but plays for a team I really don't love one millimeters worth, Dany Heatley was just a good player I could root for who just happened to play for a team I want to punch in the taint. Oh San Jose Sharks, you ruined EVERYTHING

2. As long as Ryan Miller is the only real reason we're winning more games than the Buffalo Bills, Patrick Lalime will never start. And that is fucking awesome, and not so at the same time. I do not want our team's top goaltender (player, even? will we dispute that, peanut gallery?) getting tired as hell after he plays all the beginning of the year and then in the Olympics (for how long is uncertain, but he'll probably play a few games) because he started like, 58 out of 62 games, but come on. Do we as a team REALLY have a chance with Lalime in net? This season thus far we have four freaking goals in three games. We had 42 shots on net against Nashville before a goal with three minutes left won it for us. 42. Miller is going to be relied upon heavy. Lalime's record last year- 5-13-3. Anyone who wants to argue the offense wasn't there, great. Do it, since it really wasn't. But it's not here now, and we're 2-0-1. When you miss the playoffs by two points (we would've won tiebreakers with Florida and Montreal as well), those 29 points you didn't pick up start to weigh on your mind. Juuuuust saying.

3. Calgary's loss tonight was depressing, but not as depressing as the Bills loss yesterday. Can we fire a team? Is that possible?

Ummmmmmmmmm... that's about it. Going to my first Sabres game of the regular season Saturday with Stephanie against the Thrashers. I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably going to spend a good portion of time hurling insults at Max. But he'll probably score a goal out of spite and we'll lose. 1-0.

Much love to you all and think positive. Later.


My lovely hostesses, with cameo from Arielle! From left- Katy, Arielle, Heather. <3

Cam Ward is pretty sick, you guys. I WAS SO CLOSE TO HIM...and then really close when he signed my gamecard Sunday haha.

Because I loved Ray on the Sharks when I was little. This turned out to be my favorite photo of any of the Canes. Solid.