No pics, but don't worry. My annual preseason trip up to Philips wasn't too late as I made it up there last Friday for the preseason finale against the Ice Cats, er, Panthers.
All day, I was thinking about the game. I couldn't help myself from going, really. So I ended up doing the 40+ minute drive up north, strolling casually up to the box office, and securing a $10 ticket in 413.
It was oddly comforting returning to the Arena. The sights, the sounds, the smells - it really is such a relief to come back to something so familiar. Even looking around, you could tell that I wasn't the only one reveling in this sentimentality. Season ticket holders were reuniting in their usual seats and meeting locations, some discussing their summers with their families, with conversations eventually leading to what really mattered inside the Arena - the hockey.
I decided to make the trip because I knew this was it. The players on the ice Friday were the players who were going to dress on October 5th. There was no questioning anyone's play, no high pressure situations leading to big mistakes (that really had no consequence anyway), and no one was scared to walk into the locker room afterwards because everyone on the ice had a guaranteed spot on the roster. This included rookies Bryan Little, Brett Sterling, Tobias Enstrom, and Mark Popovic. And because of these players, I was definitely chomping at the bit to see exactly what they were about in a game situation.
Usually preseason games are sloppy. Kids are joining the big guns of the team/league for however long the ride will last, leading to poor plays, questionable decisions, and comments to alleviate the pain, like, "He needs time in the minors, but he's gonna be great in x-amount of years!" Players are also sluggish from their summer break. These games just leave a lot to be desired, and they also have zero ramifications on the future (i.e. standings). The only thing players are playing for is practice, and the new guys are trying to deal with the pressure of trying to make the team. Missed passes, whiffed shots, and goaltending blips occur with frequency. Did any of that occur on Friday?
There are ways to interpret that. The Thrashers ended their preseason run with a 1-0 win over a division rival who was still trying to work out their own kinks with their roster. Scoring was infrequent, but that is not to diminish the quality of play. Sure, there were sluggish times as players were still attempting to acclimate themselves to the elevated style of play. Jim Slater was one who stood out with regards to this. There was a fanned shot that happened early in the first period that was courtesy of "AC" Slater and there were some other times during the matchup that Slater was witnessed stumbling down to the ice because of skating errors. There were also some plays that occurred with the rookies that demonstrated some mistakes that could've yielded goals from the opposition. Brett Sterling and Bryan Little demonstrated this a few times, passing through highly congested areas with the hopes of reaching their desired target and ending up turning the puck over.
However, with the "eh" comes the pretty good. Sterling made some fantastic moves with the puck and clearly demonstrates some puck-handling skills. There was one play in particular that really got me jazzed (yeah, I said it). In the third, when I moved down to 119, I had an excellent viewing position behind the Panthers' goal, which featured the great Tomas Vokoun. The puck was dumped into the Florida zone and Sterling was chasing it down. As he came around the net, Vokoun got there first and had possession. While Vokoun was going to steer the puck aside by lightly flicking it in the air to his right, Sterling noticeably caught up with the action, put his stick in the air, and took advantage of Vokoun's lack of strength here. Sterling plucked the puck out of the air, gained possession in an excellent spot in front of the net, and, with little threat around him, he took the shot and instantly wowed me with that kind of play. It was remarkable, actually.
It cannot go without mention that Kari Lehtonen returned to form... well, at least for that evening. Even though he had 30+ shots against him, I felt like he was barely tested throughout. That's definitely indicative of the defenders in front of Kari, and they definitely did a great job steering the action away from our franchise goalie. Kari had excellent movement, temporarily putting to rest the groin talk that always plagues him.
Was Kari's shutout against the Panthers noteworthy though? Absolutely. He's only played two to three preseason games and had nothing short of success throughout his time on the ice. The 1-0 victory he could log was also an excellent goalie duel because Vokoun is nothing to sneeze at (hm). While the Thrashers were outshot, I felt that our scoring opportunities were more, eh, "legitimate" and threatening. Note the Sterling play I mentioned earlier.
During training camp and the earlier preseason tilts, all I kept hearing about was the passing skills of Enstrom and his time on the power play. While his passing does look crisp, I didn't notice anything worth mentioning. He needs some more time, in my eyes, to really form an impression. He also displayed swift and quick movement on the ice, and also dispelled a bunch of scoring opportunities the Panthers might've had in the scoring lane.
The game was enough to bring me back to hockey, which really wasn't in doubt to begin with. Almost everything I love about the sport was on display Friday evening in Philips. The sounds of the National Anthem, the skate blades digging into the ice to gain another ounce of speed to create that breakout, the crowd rumbling "SHOOT IT!", the smell of a fresh sheet of ice in between periods, the last time I'd see three banners on the Thrashers side of the Arena (two of which are LOGO banners).
I'm so ready for this coming Friday though. The Arena was probably 1/2 full (if that) for the Panthers game and you could tell. Nothing will compare to the energy inside for the opening night. Well, there were those playoff games last season. This will come close to that, for sure. But it'll be the most intensity in that arena since those games that occurred so long ago. Bring it on already!
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