Wild Road Trip, NHL Awards, NHL Draft

Wild Road Trip
Well, it seems we've found someone who goes more ga-ga for a hockey player than I do for Wes Walz.  That would be the two young ladies I accompanied to today's Wild Road Trip pit stop in St. Cloud.  The recipient of the giggling, flustered and totally red-faced request for autographs?  That would be Mr. Cal Clutterbuck in all of his furry-faced glory.  Ginnie's girls were all but melting in their shoes and Cal sent them into fits of hysterical laughter when he asked if one of them had taken the pictures they had brought for him to sign.  Gin had to step in and she pointed to me, not in line but following along while holding purses and coats.  I darn near fainted as Wes waived and gave me the nod, along with Cal's big smile.  I didn't catch the conversation but I got the OMG report from the girls on the way out to the car.  Wes Walz said he knew he recognized his picture from somewhere before and Cal said he loved the candid shots of him during warmups just having fun.  I loved that I helped two young hockey fans get to meet a Wild Legend and a Wild Fan Favorite.  The girls chattered all the way home and thought Mom and Aunt Dee were Hockey Goddesses for taking them.  It was a good day in the State Of Hockey.             


NHL Awards
If I had to sum up the awards show in two words: John Hamm

This guy is one handsome hunk of hockey fan!  I've lusted after him for a number of years now with Mad Men going into it's third season and prior to that in The Day The Earth Stood Still, The A-Team and The Town.  But finding out that this man is from St. Louis, Missouri and has always been a long suffering Blues fan just sent me over the moon!  I lost track of the fact that he was presenting the Vezina Award because I was drooling over what he'd look like in a locker room....Oh, yes...congratulations to Tim Thomas too.  

Hosting again this year was Jay Mohr, normally a funny guy, just not when it comes to hockey.  He did much better than last year but then he had no where to go but up from last year's show. 

Funniest Moments
Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler looking like they'd rather be anywhere else doing anything else rather than accepting a trophy that wasn't the Stanley Cup.  The Hockey Gods punish and I laughed out loud. 
  
Wild Represent!
During the clip showing the NHL Plays Of The Year we got to see our very own Wild represented...one of our guys going ass over elbows into the players bench after being hit by a Mac truck. 

2011 NHL DRAFT
Television Coverage: Versus 6:00 p.m. our time Friday.  I'm not seeing coverage for Saturday but that could be a misprint?  I'm pretty sure Versus showed both days last year. 

Here's the official draft order for this coming Friday and Saturday, compliments of Russo.  Minnesota has the 10th pick in round one on Friday.  They pick again on Saturday: at 71 in the 3rd round, 101 in the 4th, 131 in the 5th, 161 in the 6th, 191 in the 7th.  That means unless Chuck is wheeling and dealing like a master magician there's not much for the Wild to get hot and lathered over in this draft.  That doesn't mean you shouldn't watch or pay attention to the draft.  I mean, C'MON PEOPLE!!  It's the freakin' draft and we're hosting it this year!!  I am so jazzed for this experience I can't hardly wait for Friday to get here!  I bought an extra SD card for my camera and a portable charger for my battery just to be sure I won't have to miss getting shots of hockey legends wandering around the arena and mingling among the tables during the draft.

For Nan and George - This rendition of your song always makes me think of you :) 

Ramblings

Friendship Quote

"A good friend can make you laugh until you pee...And then make you laugh about that." 

This was on one of the 50 or so birthday cards I've received and it's just too good not share with you all.  That statement represents the True Friend mantra at its best, right along with: "Yes, those pants make your ass look fat" when you're in the fitting room and "Let's do that again!" when you're both sitting in jail waiting for the bail money to arrive.  When you've got great friends, you've got everything you need in life.  Thanks to everyone for making this the best birthday month a 50 year old 'girl' could ever have!  I'm going to need a three day siesta when all is said and done but what a blast it is to be spending time with the folks I hold near and dear!  
Movie Reviews

Super8
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.
Baby Boomers will laugh their way through this one and Rich firmly believes that's exactly what J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg were gunning for.  The references to our generation were "Mint!" and the music rocked.  Kids in the age range of 9-13 will be hooked by the action, CGI and other special effects.  I personally could have done with a lot less of the flared lens effect Abrams is obviously so fond of but I did LOVE the zombie movie theme and the finished product at the end.  This is not a statement movie, or leave-you-thinking-for-days movie.  This is just plain entertainment, folks - enjoy!

The Tree of Life
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by 'Sean Penn' ) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Introspect is the best word I can find to describe this movie and what I took away from it.  This is the movie that will have you thinking for days, possibly weeks afterwards.  It made me remember feelings from my past that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.  Clearly this movie spoke to me on both personal and faith levels but in talking with other people who saw it they felt the same way.   

Trailers
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (June 29)
Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet???  Rich, dude - get your game on buddy and watch the 2nd movie, which was amusing but embarrassing, kinda like the Star Wars movie with the JarJar Binx character but WAY COOLER effects.  Oh, and when are we going to see Green Lantern??  

Cowboys and Aliens (July 29)
Read the book (Scott Mitchell Rosenberg).  Then set your sights on the oh-so-delicious mostly naked Daniel Craig, grizzled Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell and some chick named Olivia Wilde.  When I saw the first trailer for this movie way back during the holidays I was pretty skeptical.  Now I'm excitedly awaiting the NOW PLAYING status at my local theater.        
 
Minnesota Twins
As badly as those first few weeks of the season were, it seems the last three weeks have been just as impressive.  After sweeping the Padres at home this weekend the Twins have won 13 of the last 15 games.  Delmon Young still sucks,  Baby Jesus needs to produce big time now that he's back in the line up.  Of course, it's just a matter of time before another 'bi-lateral soreness'  or hang nail or bad haircut sidelines the Twins' equivalent of Marian Gaborik.  I'm sure I'll be hearing from Connie or Bobbi for that remark...but that's why I made it - bring it!  Never forget that I am...Evil Dee :) 

Crunch and Munch
My latest addiction:

                                               +
 Newman's own Peach Salsa
                                       
                             
Yummy Goodness that just keeps on giving!  The Hint Of Lime chips are pretty darn good too. 

Off Kilter, Yo! We Got A New Coach!

Out Of Alignment
There's a little tick in my left eye starting up and while I'd like to attribute it to seasonal allergies that would be a lie...mostly because I don't have seasonal allergies.  There's no hockey being played and for me that's like when the car is out of alignment just a skosh.  Not enough to pull the car across a lane of traffic but just enough to catch you off guard when you're making that one-handed left hand turn when you really should have both hands on the wheel.  It's the kind of small thing that will get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list for the next little while because other things will pop up. 

• Like for instance, the Wild's 2011-2012 Season Schedule coming out on Tuesday.  And that's followed by the Wild Road Trip on Wednesday to stalk admire Wes Walz up close and personal.  Oh, and Cal Clutterbuck will be there too - I wonder if the other two Stooges will be joining me, especially the one with the personalized Clutterbuck Calendar hanging in her cube?  
• Then there's the 2011 NHL Draft this Friday and Saturday being held in my home away from home - the Excel Energy Center!  Seeing all the young boys with hopes and dreams of NHL careers, spotting some of hockey's greatest players sitting at team tables, finding out what the name of Winnipeg's hockey team will be, booing Bettman, being in the arena again - just freakin' marvelous!   
• I'll just barely have time to recover from that when Free Agency starts on July 1st.  Not that the Wild have anything to trade with...or for, but hey - it's always fun to see what all the other teams can do with actual talent to barter with.  And it's good to know what the home team will be up against within our own division in terms of trades and acquisitions.  I'm actually looking forward (with much glee) to seeing if Vancouver sells off their key nonproducing playoff players as a means of making amends to it's rioting fans for having choked the chicken during three of the seven games during the Cup Final series.  Too bad the one player who should be run out of town on a rail is firmly mortgaged to the team for the next 11 years....MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!      

After free agency I'll have some serious down time waiting for the season to start up and that's when I'll be twitchy and pissy and snarky and just a tad bit off.  You know, out of alignment. 

Prove Me Wrong
Mike Yeo was named to the new head coach.  That's who Chuck Fletcher went with and apparently Craig Leipold bought into it at 100% as well.  Yes, Yeo's assistant coached in the NHL before: for the PENGUINS...you know, with the fully loaded and talented Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and the likes.  Yes, Yeo's coached in the AHL: for one season...and yes, he took the team to the Calder Cup Final.  Is that a winning track record of enough substance?  Not in my book.  I'm not saying that head coaching in the AHL is an easy feat.  But let's just look at this in daylight: 

• It's no secret that the Wild was a collective pile of steaming poop this last season. 
• We all knew half way through the season that heads (players and coaches) were going to have to roll in this off season.  
• It's no secret the Wild's budget is maxed out, thanks to the previous GM as well as the current GM and their combined poor judgement on contract amounts and lengths.  That means no blockbuster trades.  Yep, rebuilding from within is our motto for yet another two full years.  

How's that for incentive at the AHL level to work your butt off?  So, you've got a bunch of 20 somethings who know they've got a legitimate shot of making the Wild during the 2011 training camp.  Of course they're eager to play and make an impression.  And then there's Mike Yeo.  The guy could sell you a bridge over the Sahara desert before you realized it - he's just that smooth of a talker.  Apparently he mesmerized Fletcher right out of his good sense and then Fletcher had to sell it to Leipold with some peanut butter to make the pill go down smoother.  Two glaring telling points for me during the press conference: 
1. Leipold wasn't even there, which tells me Fletcher is on the shortest of leashes and Yeo will be out the door with him in a heartbeat if things don't mesh immediately.  
2. Fletcher says the Wild isn't rebuilding but instead is building...building a foundation for the future.  Um, Chuck - this is an eleven year old franchise in really big trouble with no existing tradeable talent or future superstar in Houston waiting to take center ice.  I'm not sure what dictionary you're using to put your press statements together but the ones I read define that as REBUILDING.  You only get to say BUILD when it's a brand new franchise or as a continuing effort to support an already successful team.  The Wild is NOT a successful team.   
Nor is this a team of shiny faced 20 year old boys ready to hang on every word just to prove they belong at the NHL level.  Anybody remember Marty Havlat and Mikko Koivu, the two co-reigning Queens of Pissy on the team?  Or the other Dial-It-In players on the team: Eric Nystrom, Chuck Kobasew,  John Madden, Antti Miettinen?  First and foremost, we need a coach who will let these guys know their days of just collecting a paycheck are over.  Chuck Fletcher says Mike isn't afraid of confrontation.  Mike followed that up with this in his press conference: "I’m looking to become teammates with these guys. I don’t want to be coach and they’re the players."  Wild Fans, welcome to Todd Richards 2.0.

All this having been said from my soapbox - it's a done deal.  Mike Yeo is the head coach of the Wild and there's nothing to be done about it, for now.  Go ahead Mike, prove me wrong.  Make me eat my words in December and again in February and again in April.  Nothing will make me happier than to say I had you pegged all wrong because that will mean the Wild are winning and that they're giving 100% of themselves every game and that means I'm screaming cheers at my tv set, not obscenities like I have for the last two seasons. 

The Better Team Won, On So Many Levels

Your 2011 Stanley Cup Winners - The Boston Bruins!
In a game seven that was more exciting to watch than the 4-0 score indicates the Boston Bruins brought the haughty Canucks back down to earth and into off-season depression...and rioting - more on that later.  PuckDaddy's got the game covered, including some great video coverage so read that and then this one and come on back here. 
Images that will give me pleasure for a lifetime:

• Tim Thomas doing his winning goalie ritual of banging each post of the goal with his stick before he succumbed to being mobbed by his team mates. 
• The smile on Tim Thomas's face when he finally took his mask off. 
• Mark Recchi, 43 years old and playing in his last season, receiving the Stanley Cup first from captain Chara.  
• Nathan Horton pouring water from Boston onto Vancouver's ice before the game.
• Nathan Horton - able to be with his team for game seven, his uniform and skates hanging in the locker room for good luck.
• Top-Notch Officiating through this entire series.  Best refs in an NHL series - EVER.     
• The Canucks, every last one of them, being called for diving, unsportsmanlike conduct and getting suspended - as they should have been.
• Okay, Kesler especially, being called for diving...and the Sedins...and Burrows...   
• Roberto Luongo choking BIG TIME in yet another important series of games.
• Luongo and Kesler and Burrows crying.

Of all the comments I've read in the dozens of articles regarding the difference between Boston and Vancouver this one sticks with me: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

And The All-Time Loser Award Goes To - The Vancouver Canucks and Their Fans!
For a team that dominated the league with superior play for almost the entire regular season the Canucks were Hell-Bent on degrading themselves, the game and their legions of fans once the post season started.  It was like watching a train wreck and you just couldn't look away as the disaster unfolded right before you.  It's too bad they didn't shoot themselves in the foot more seriously just one round prior to making it to the Cup Final.  Luongo didn't just start to choke in the Cup Final - he kinda has a history of it and had been giving up beach ball goals in the previous series.  Burrows, Kesler, Bieska, Torres, LaPierre, Rome - all seemed to be in some kind of competition for dirty hits and diving: 263 PIMS between them.  Heck, even the Sedins combined for 48 PIMS.  The twins should have spent their energy actually trying to put the puck in the net during the playoffs.  I never thought I'd live to see the day where another NHL team would make the Flyers look like angels on ice.  And while I take comfort in knowing an arch rival of my Wild is suffering great embarrassment I have to temper it with the knowledge that the Canucks still got a lot further than my Wild did this season...or the last three seasons for that matter.
      
The sport I love so much deserved a much better lasting impression than what was shown around the world Wednesday night: riots, fights, looting and fires in the losing team's city.  Vancouver - way to represent the sport...and your team and your fan's intelligence levels.  I don't want to hear how it was just a handful of hooligans who were involved.  The live tv shots, hundreds of cell phone pictures and videos on youtube don't lie.  There were thousands and thousands of idiots involved in the trashing of Vancouver.  You just had to know there was a reason why the rest of Canada was never behind Vancouver in the playoffs.  Nobody likes to associate with the felons of the family.  The league should pretty much adopt the same approach. 


I'll be back later to respond to the announcement of Mike Yeo being named the new Head Coach for the Wild.  I need some time to stop the screaming in my head...oh wait, that's me making all that noise out loud.  Good thing I live alone. 

        

Game Five: Spine-Tingling, Bone-Crunching, Teeth-Rattling, Puck-Battling...

BIG TIME
Holy Guacamole, we got us a Stanley Cup series for the ages!  From the national anthems to the last buzzer this game was a knock-down, drag-out, fight to the bitter end.  I was a tense mass of nerves and muscles the entire game - it just never let up.  Big Hits.  Big Drives.  Big Shots.  Big Goalies.  Vancouver took penalties like they were on clearance but Boston just couldn't capitalize.  It wasn't for a lack of trying or gaining the offensive zone because I was on my feet for most of the powerplays screaming at the t.v. and asking the Hockey Gods how in Hell did that puck NOT go in??!!!  Vicki and I are yelling to each other via texts.  I'm texting Dave to get in front of his tv NOW so we can chat in real time for this game.  The Bruins outshot the Canucks and the Canucks outhit the Bruins.  In fact the Canucks looked like a pinball game on steroids the way they were bouncing off of and into Bruins players.  And sure enough it started to go sour on the Canucks when Burrows was trying to egg on Lucic in the faceoff circle by stepping over Lucic's stick and then did a Peter Forsberg-worthy backwards flip to the ice trying to draw the penalty.  It worked in that Lucic got 2 minutes for tripping but Burrows got nailed for embellishment - neener, neener, neener.  Russo's tweet: "NBC should run a montage of all the Canucks 2010-11 dives. You'd need to do it over a couple intermissions, but it would be entertaining."
Louongo pulled his head out of his ass for this game and despite all of the Boston powerplays he stands tall while each team is hell bent on killing each other with BIG hits.  Tim Thomas at the other ends defends like a goalie possessed and catches a big break when Vancouver's Glass fans BIG TIME on a wide open net.  Still waiting for Dave to chime in when he's caught up on the DVR with this game... tick, tock Coach...  Boston is sloppy and slow in the first five minutes of the third period and then it happens...sonofabitch!!  Crafty sidewinder-bad angle shot by the very hated Lapierre.  MsConduct tweet: "Poop. The Canucks are so distasteful."  Boston kinda reeling afterward and they need to get back in the game.  Dave's text: "Another dive by suck-hole Burrows."  I ♥ Coach Dave :)  Boston gains the zone but Louongo is...well, Louongo - bastard.  You can hear the Canucks chattering on their bench - they're in the zone and their confidence is high.  Boston is turning the puck over - not good.  Boston tripping penalty - not good.  Bruins are tired, BIG TIME and finally win a couple of faceoffs in the Canuck's zone.  They get the puck on the net but either Louongo covers it or sends it around the back of the net.  Empty net and extra man for Bruins but they can't get it done.  The Canucks will take the series lead 3-2 into Boston Monday night...big old poopy Canucks.            

Tonight's Theme Song:



My favorite e-trade commercial played during the third period.  It never fails to make me laugh out loud:    


Alrighty then, I'm off to the hinter land for a weekend of cold-ass weather and no t.v. as a means of celebrating...yep, you guessed it: my birthday!  There will be some of the best home cooked meals along with the traditional Midnight Madness Monopoly Marathon games played and I will cherish every minute of it once I'm there.  

For Heather - I will be chanting "there's a top for those pants!" all the way to Brainerd as I search the glove box for my "matching hat" to keep my head warm.  Sale On, girlfriend!  Oh, and I ♥ your mom :)        

 

Hot Enough For Ya? (the F word found here, along with video clips)

Note to all of you hot weather whiners out there, especially Rena Sarigianopoulos at KARE11 news who, last weekend - after one day of 86 degree weather - prior to the this week's record temps - begged of the weather guy "when will this heat end????" 
SHUT THE FUCK UP! 
We Minnesotans just finished shoveling our way out of the third snowiest winter on record.  In addition, we suffered through minus zero temps and one of the nastiest, coldest, wettest, snowiest springs on record.  In a mere 4 months the snow shovels will be honed and the snow blower engines will be tuned up and ready to go yet again.  Can you frickin' snivel monsters enjoy the next 90 days without having to piss all over it for the rest of us?   
Just. Shut. Your. Pie. Holes. 

We now return to our regularly scheduled blog...

Yes, for the love of heat and humidity, I'm on the deck and soaking up every minute of this weather.  When you know the AC is just five feet away you can live dangerously when the thermometer out here reads 98° in the shade... at 10:00 a.m.  Actually, with a fresh pitcher of ice tea and a bowl of cold chunked up cantaloupe there's no danger here at all.  Except for maybe the cantaloupe finding it's way into the blender with some tequila later on - but that's a whole different adventure.  Now that it's Wednesday and the blistering heat has passed on through the state I've got the windows open and the smell of lilacs is wafting through the house once again.  It's a tad windy but it's not subzero and blowing snow so I'm good with it. 


I'm loving my birthday month and it's shaping up to be a memorable one on a number of levels. 

• Chelsea Handler is a must see live - you're only getting a very limited dose of her humor on t.v.
• Tim Allen is still funny after all these years.  For those of you who've been with me for a number of years here's a history lesson: Joe took me to see Tim Allen at the Orpheum on my 30th birthday.  That little nugget came to me out of the blue as I was walking into Treasure Island on Sunday.  Twenty years have come and gone with lots of changes, yet apparently the need to tickle my funny bone hasn't waned at all and it was great fun to celebrate with Mr. Allen once again.
• Shaw's Bar & Grill in Mpls. has fabulous St. Louis style BBQ ribs.  I highly recommend rolling up the sleeves and digging in.  They make a pretty decent Long Island Tea as well.  
• Jensen's Supper Club is just a great treat and their service was perfect - not hovering but we never had to ask for anything.  They seemed to sense when we were ready to move to the next course. 
• Cirque du Soleil - OVO was just WOW!  These people obviously have their spines removed in order to perform and they are so graceful and athletic and expressive.  I caught myself with my mouth open in awe several times, only to look around at everyone else doing the same thing and then remembering it's like this every time I see one of these shows.
• Vicki, in the off-season, is still the Greatest Hockey Friend In The World! She has faithfully texted me updates for each of the three games so far in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Yes, I've managed to have birthday plans that weren't based on sitting in front of the t.v. drooling over hockey.  I'm a hockey junkie and Vicki has been my dealer this last week.  You never imagine yourself sitting in the restroom of a refined restaurant, texting your hockey dealer for a hookup, but there I was... At least the rest of the month's adventures are pretty much based around games 4 - 7.  Going forward Vicki will only be subjected to my in-game text complaints about the Sedins and how the Bruins need to stay out of the penalty box instead of texting her "what's the score?" every 5 minutes.

Hockey, Anyone?
Game three between the Bruins and the Canucks was BRUTAL.  The Canucks are very clearly going for the Dirtiest Players Award along with the Whiniest Team Award.  I never dreamed there could be a whinier player than Brendan Shanahan but the Sedin Twins sure do give him a run for his money.  The best play of this game goes to Bruin's goalie Tim Thomas for checking Henrik Sedin: 

     
This game was a referee's nightmare but I have to say that they did their profession proud for all 60 minutes.  If there are ref/linesmen awards they better go to the zmen in black and white for Game Three.  Both teams tried their best to make a full mockery of this game, especially in the third period, yet all four officials were right on top of it.  The worst play of the game goes to Canucks Aaron Rome for blatantly head-hunting Nathan Thornton:  
        


Rome has been suspended for 4 games, the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and that's as it should be, unless of course you're mouth-breathing Canuck player, coach, GM or fan.  These idiots think the hit was completely legal and that Thornton somehow deserved to be hit after getting rid of the puck.

Here are all of the highlights (and lowlights) of game three - take a moment to relive them because tonight's game is going to be epic.  I hope all four on-ice officials have the rule book memorized because I think there's going to be some pop quizzes coming their way tonight.  


Houston Aeros Lose Bid for Calder Cup
Our boys in Houston gave it their best shot.  In the end it was tired legs from having to play two consecutive seven game series to get to the final that did the Aeros in.  The Binghamton Senators (Ottawa Sens farm team) took home the Calder Cup last night.  As Russo indicates, there are things to be happy about going away from this series: the Wild's training camp will be eventful and hopeful for a team that's rebuilding. 
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it because it's true: T3I has some of the most passionate writers for this sport I've ever had the pleasure of reading.  MsConduct, John Royal and Andrew J Ferraro write with such great emotion yet avoid being Homers about their team.  Chris Jerina, who has the BEST job in the world, took phenomenal pictures that captured the true meaning of the Aero's most defining moments.  I am envious and delighted all at the same time.  As MsConduct says: Living The Dream! 

We still have the Stanley Cup to award and then there will be a short intermission while the State of Hockey preps for the 2011 NHL Draft on June 24 & 25.  Before that you'll find me at the Orpheum, Up North, Target Field, MnZoo, Wild Road Trip, Various Grad Parties, Bring Your Own Lawn Chair Event and on the deck - soaking up this heat and humidity!  

Birthday Month, Is This Summer?, Stanley Cup, Calder Cup

Staring 50 In The Eye!
Yep, the big 5-0 is upon me and I'm embracing it with everything I've got - which ain't alot - but I'm ready for it.  Something tells me there's a country song in there somewhere...  Anywho - AARP came calling and I signed up.  I mean, why not?  Great discounts on shit you young pups don't have access to and I've come to terms with being called Ma'am.  Actually, I kind of like the power it wields in some instances.  I'm a Gemini so I'm partying twice as hard to be true to my astrological nature.  I usually celebrate for a whole week instead of just one day but since this year is a key milestone in life I'm going for the Full Monty (with clothes on, mind you though).  Looking at my calendar right now there are roughly 3 days not filled with some kind of activity.  If I'm still alive and kicking at the end of June I'll take it as a sign I'm meant to go on...


Summer Is A Crap Shoot
The weather in Minnesota for the months of June, July and August are, at best, a crap shoot.  This year is no exception with a cold, wet and wild (tornadoes in MPLS!!) month of May finally giving way to some sun and temperatures rising past the upper sixties.  The good thing about the cool and cold spring is that the lilacs in my yard are just now reaching their prime.  With the daily winds gusting at 20 mph, or more, it makes for a better type of aroma therapy when patrolling the poop in Buster's designated area.  Learn to count your blessings, I guess.  Seriously, there is nothing like the smell of lilac and fresh cut grass wafting through the windows this time of year.  Really gets the stink of winter out of the house.  There's still more rain in the forecast because, like last winter when we just couldn't shovel enough snow, apparently we're being blessed with even more water in order to grow a bumper crop of mosquitoes.  I know Melissa is a wilting flower down in ATL with temps stagnating in the upper 90's for the last 2 weeks, but when you're living in the hinterland you'll gladly trade places by the end of May.   

Stanley Cup Battle
As in many years past, neither of my picks made it to the final round, which is why I never encourage anyone to place a money bet on what I predict back in April.

Canucks vs Bruins for Lord Stanley's Cup
Game one was intense and exciting as all get out, despite being a 0-0 game all the way until the final 18 seconds of the third period.  That's when Raffi Torres scored an amazing goal from an exceptional pass by team mate Jannik Hansen and the Canucks took the series lead 1-0 on their home ice. 

Speaking of counting blessings, I'm thankful for unlimited texting.  Vicki and I were showing off our mad texting skilz during the game and for the most part were sending each other identical messages.  It was almost like being with her at the game :)  I don't get why there are three days before game two - some kind of NBC ratings thing, perhaps?  

Calder Cup Battle
Our Houston Aeros are still in the thick of it, leading the Cup series 2-1.  Game four is tonight.  Please link on over to the T3I site for some passionate coverage and live vicariously through the Minnesota Wild's farm team's quest for the Cup.


Miscellaneous Hockey Tid Bits

• It's official - the state I will likely be moving to has no NHL hockey team anymore.  Is this a sign from God?  Makes me wonder what He's thinking (and I'm probably going to Hell for it) but it is par for the course with my life.  The Atlanta Thrashers have been sold to True North Sports and Entertainment Group and will be relocating to Winnipeg.  That's twice now that Atlanta has been unable to make a go of NHL hockey - first the Flames moved to Calgary and now the Thrashers are gone.  As tragic as this is for the true and faithful Thrasher fans in Atlanta there are some ecstatic NHL fans in Winnipeg who now are feeling what we jilted North Stars fans felt back on June 25, 1997 - REDEMPTION.  It remains to be seen if Winnipeg can make a go of a second NHL franchise so there are no guarantees, but maybe with a hockey-rabid nation supporting them now there's more than a fighting chance.   
• Colin Campbell leaves his post as NHL Disciplinarian - only to be replaced by Brendan Shanahan, known for being one of the whiniest players in the union back in his playing days.  Looks like nothing will change in terms of "sending a message" to players in this league.  

That's it for me for now.  I'm on my way to the Wisconsin side of the river for a day of boating followed by a an evening celebrating a years-old tradition of firepit festivities, including making s'mores and washing them down with Diet Mountain Dew and Tequila concoctions...don't ask. 

Tequila - My Drug Of Choice!