Our Year in Review

2011 was a big year for us (hockey wise, at least). We got to meet some of our favorite players and go to more events than we ever have before.  2011 reminded us why we love hockey. Here's a recap of this years adventure:


January


1st- Watched the Winter Classic on TV. Lackluster, frustrating, and ughhhh Crosby got injured.  Not the best start to the year.


28th- All Star Draft Night

• Got lucky & had a prime spot for all the draft action (including Ovi freaking out like a kid when the confetti fell (see picture above).  
• Got to talk to JR & Kevin Weekes. 
• Came REALLY close to meeting Matt Duchene. Still angry at the guy that led him away from us.  
• Almost killed a guy for yelling at Skinner for 5 straight minutes.
• Saw the Stanley Cup again!
• Danced to Three Doors Down from the top of a parking deck. 

29th- All Star Skills Competition Day 

• Woke up early to go to Steven Stamkos & Jeff Skinner signings!
• Stalked Tyler Seguin (how could we not?)
• Met Ryan Kesler & Jamie McBain!
• Unfortunately met Taylor Hall.  We heard from rumor sites that he's not very nice and it's actually true. 
• Got great spots at the Red Carpet event before the Skills Competition!
• Watched the Skills Competition from our friends couch while hanging out with some of our favorite people! 

Feb-March

• Continued to be sad about Sidney...especially when the Penguins came to the RBC Center!
• Still attended lots of Canes game. 

April

• First road trip down to Charlotte! Got to see the Charlotte Checkers defeat the Hershey Bears on the  way to winning the series! 
• Perfected a recipe for Depression brownies since the Canes didn't make the playoffs

May 

• L made N the best birthday gift ever
• Participated in Susan G Komen Race for the Cure with the Canes for a Cause team!

June-August 

• Summer school + no hockey = no fun :(

September 

18th- Caniac Carnival

25th- Heart Walk- Canes with a Heart (American Heart Association)

 (This picture was stolen from the KNCF facebook page)

October

• Hockey returns!
• Attended Opening Night for the Hurricanes!
• L's Birthday hockey game! Included getting to do a promotion! 

November

• More hockey

December

• Hurricanes vs Penguins game on the 3rd
• First Charlotte road trip of the year! 

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Hopefully next year we'll have even more awesome pictures to share!


L & N

Picture Post: PHX Coyotes @ CAR Hurricanes

These were taken on last Wednesday, Dec 21, 2011. 

Sorry, the quality is so bad (I didn't even attempt many action shots this time).

Hopefully soon I will have a decent lens so I can actually take decent pictures at games.

 Boys during warm-ups! 

 This is the most we saw of Biz (Paul Bissonette) all night [healthy scratch]. Sad, but at least I got a picture of this face! 

 Ray Whitney makes his return to Raleigh (wrong colored jersey though!)

 OLIVER! Ekman-Larsson is a super nice guy (and adorable)! Got to meet him during All-Stars and he was one of our favorites of the weekend. Could help but snap a bunch of pictures while he was one the ice! 

 Random shot of the arena- all the Whitney supports were in neon green!

 Happy Holidays jumbo-tron! This was during the performance of the bells! 

 Face off time for the start of the 2nd! Pretty sure it's Brandon Sutter taking the face off, but can't read his #

 Some action in front of Ward. Luckily that wasn't a goal...

I think this may be my favorite Stormy outfit! 

Canes lost 3-4. Tough one to watch because Phoenix scored first, but the Canes rallied to get the game to 3-1. Then they lost the lead in the 3rd period. Typical of this season :(

Picture Post: OKC Barons @ Charlotte Checkers

Last Tuesday, Dec 20, 2011, we road tripped down to Charlotte to see some of our favorites in action. L snapped a few pictures so we decided to post them. Sorry about the quality, L needs a new (arena legal) lens for her camera, so was working with her Point & Shoot. 

 Pic 1: Bench shot. Jared Staal in the middle (sawoooooooooon).

 Pic 2: Jon Matsumoto gets a penalty shot & scores! Ties the game at 2-2 with 6 minutes left in the 1st. 

 Pic 3: We just love Zack Boychuk, yet this was the only picture that came out okay :/

 Pic 4: Zac Dalpe taking a face off for the Checkers! We miss him in Raleigh! 

 Pic 5: Action shot! Dalpe & Boychuk working in front of the net! 

 Pic 6: Jared Staal in action!!!

Pic 7: Jared Staal again in action.


Checkers ended up going into overtime & losing within 30 seconds into it. Sad, but the boys put up a good fight. 


Final Score= 4-3 OKC Barons

Post-Christmas Cross Check

Starting off the after-Christmas post with a scene from Friends:


Chandler: "Hey, y’know what, I’ve got two tickets to tonight’s Rangers game, you wanna come with me?
Rachel: "Cute guys in little shorts... Sure!"
Chandler: "Well, actually it's a hockey team, so angry Canadians with no teeth"
Rachel: "Well that sounds like fun too."


Season 4, Episode 10- The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie


Love that show. 


Tonight the Canes play the Devils; don't know yet if I'll be watching (TV hates me & we're planning on dinner & a movie tonight with a friend). Definitely keeping up with the score though. Going to do a quick penalty cover...


Cross Check

This is when an opponent is hit with the stick when it is held with two hands and no part of the stick is on the ice.

Pretty basic, but here are some videos:

Orr Cross Checks Green

Sidney Crosby is naughty sometimes...

Let's Go Canes!


Until Next Time,
L

It's Staal Good

Okay.. Stole that really bad title pun from NHL.com, but it seemed fitting. 


[Insert random Staal post for no reason here]


Random Staal Facts:

• Eric Staal has only fought once in the NHL (05-06). Jordan has fought 4 times (1 was pre-season). Marc has fought 4 times too, but not since 2009.
• Jared Staal is the only brother that shoots right-handed.
• Remember last season when Jordan was still out from the torn tendon in his foot that nagged on forever? Remember who did it?  PK Subban. I'd forgotten that little fact & it only makes me dislike him more.
• Jordan was the first brother to be nominated for the Selke! 
• Eric is the only brother to be a part of the Triple Gold Club. ( Olympic Games gold medal, a World Championship gold medal, & Stanley Cup).  Both Marc & Jordan were cut from the Olympic team in 2010. Both Jordan & Eric have won the Stanley Cup.
• Jordan was arrested for underage drinking at Eric's bachelor party in MN. Marc was not arrested, but Eric was held overnight. 
• All the Staal boys are the same height- 6'4"
• Jordan was the youngest age when he appeared in the NHL for the first time

Some of our favorite pictures:

 From Marc's wedding last summer. Gotta love Eric, but Jared always makes me giggle.

 Gotta love the brotherly love...

 Dawhhh- Jordan, Eric, & Marc last summer for Bauer. 

 Team Canada :)

Oldie, but goodie!

Out of the Silence

So has anyone noticed our Twitter has been silent for the last couple of days? It's been really weird not posting & keeping up with hockey. We both just finished our last fall finals of undergrad and we're pretty tired out.  I actually slept through most of the Hurricanes game last night (I woke up to see the last 15 minutes).  It's pathetic when you're so tired you sleep through hockey.  


But the good news is that we're back to posting and I get to dig through 3 days of hockey news & happenings.  Here are some quick thoughts & a little update on our lives.

• We hate concussions more than ever.
• Losing Skinner & Sidney to concussions in the same week is the quickest way to upset us.
• We almost feel sorry for Flyers since they've lost Pronger for the season.  Wishing both Pronger & Giroux back to health quickly.
• N understands head trauma bc last night in a vicious game of beer ball with some of our hockey friends she bumped her head pretty hard.  No concussion, but if these guys are in more pain then she is, we instantly feel really bad for them.
• We're both home for the holidays... translation: farther away from Raleigh & hockey :(
• Good news is that we're closer to Charlotte! Headed down next Tuesday to Charlotte to watch them take on the Oklahoma City Barons. It's Cheesy Holiday Sweater night so it should be a good time.  Expect lots of blogging and pictures!
• We're making super cute t-shirts for the Checkers game! We'll blog about the experience (trying a new method)
• The next night (Weds the 21st) we're making another road trip to Raleigh to see the Canes play the Coyotes. 
• Also we're planning on watching 24/7 when we get a chance to see it together (likely Sunday for epi 1). Expect a blog post about it on our thoughts!

Until Next Time,

L

More Well Wishes for Skinny

Some days I think we should just adopt the name of Jeff Skinner's unofficial fan club.  
But with Skinny out with a concussion, we're stuck remembering the good times since we can't live in the present right now.

Get Well Soon, Jeff!!!

Really.

We need you out there.

And your smile keeps us smiling.

Here are some more of our favorite Skinner moments:

Can't forget the figure skating.

He'll always be our Ice Princess.

It's mandatory that I love every picture with his tongue sticking out.

I don't even know.

But it makes me giggle...