Everblades vs. Pee Dee Pride (12/4)

[nccanes]

As a last minute decision, we went down to Florence and watched the Everblades play the Pee Dee Pride tonight.

The Everblades won 5-1, and Brent McDonald had a hat trick. Rob Zepp was 2 mins away from a shutout, but somehow a slow motion puck went right in the net, perhaps it hit a skate or something.

Fun to be back at a live hockey game! The crowd was tiny, but they supported their "Prahde" and it didn't seem like people left early despite the beating. It seemed like the Everblades could have been up 6-0 or so after the 2nd, lots of whiffs on the puck right in front of the net, but to be fair, the Pride had their shares of misses too.

I've read a little about Saviano and how he's a tiny thing that is full of hustle and exciting to watch. All true. He makes Damian Surma look big! Well, not really, but Surma is certainly taller. Saviano flies all over and he and Surma are little gnats out there on the ice (same line). You can also see how Saviano's personality has made him a favorite - we caught him singing along to the arena music at least 3 times, Brown Eyed Girl, an Outkast song, and even YMCA, lol.

The Everblades looked like they were having a blast, even before it was a blowout and the score was only 1-0.

The coach noticed the kids Canes jerseys and said "nice jerseys" afterward. We chatted for a moment and he thanked us for coming down for the game.

Definitely worth the quick trip. And I did take some photos. As usual, the lighting sucks, so the pictures do too pretty much, lol.

First period:
http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/blades8.JPG

Bench - notice the Reebok logo'd sweaters. Lots of RBK sticks as well (of course I didn't notice, but the kids did)
http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/blades9.JPG


Before the 2nd period:
http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/blades10.JPG

This was the lovely "tunnel" for the visiting team's locker room, lol. The guys never used it going off the ice, but Zepp used it both ways, so they used it to follow him going out, but not in.
http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/blades6.JPG

The Pride mascot (name escapes me) after the Blades were up 3-0. He kind of looks like a bear, but I suppose he's a lion.
http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/blades5.JPG

Surma getting thrown out of a face off, Saviano is #12, McDonald #11. And yes, the glass was really in horrid shape.
http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/blades4.JPG

Hmmm, how did this end up in my camera???
http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/blades3.JPG

Okay, for those of you bored enough to get this far -- just for fun, here's an avi of the Blades taking the ice for the 3rd:

http://www64.pair.com/efrancis/Everblades/2004_12%20047.avi

If the NHL is still in limbo (or finito for this season) in January, we may head to Charlotte to watch them again. :)

[tommy]

Good lookin' photos! Must have been fun to be there.

The only live hockey game I've seen recently was "Team Carolina" -- at the Factory Ice House in Wake Forest... I'm not even sure what league they're in -- some form of juniors -- but they got beat 7-2 and the other team couldn't have had more than 25 shots. lol. But it was still fun, and I talked with one of the guys from the other team (Pittsburgh), and he explained that some of the guys actually haven't been playing very long at all. It was pretty cool.

[NHLCanes]

Glad you enjoyed yourself nccanes! I'm leaving in about 30 minutes for the Sunday afternoon game in Florence. I guess we'll be seeing Kowalski in goal since Zepp played last night. Hopefully the result will turn out as well as it did for last night's game!

[Turbulence]

Isn't spontaneity great? :D Sounds like a great trip! Glad to hear our boys won.

[nccanes]

Glad you enjoyed yourself nccanes! I'm leaving in about 30 minutes for the Sunday afternoon game in Florence. I guess we'll be seeing Kowalski in goal since Zepp played last night. Hopefully the result will turn out as well as it did for last night's game!

I didn't realize until this morning that Pee Dee had not yet lost at home and were leading their division. Guess it was a big loss. But it also is kinda sad that the division leading, no losses at home, Pride could only get that few people on a Sat night.

Today there are $2.50 kids tickets, so maybe the place will be more crowded. (Although our LL seats were a SONG last night). Maybe there will be more kids to sing along with the Sponge Bob song - hilarious!!

I really wish we'd decided to stay over and take in today's game. There's a Hampton Inn just next door and a huge mall across the street - plenty of places to do xmas shopping. But we needed to get our xmas decorations up since we'll be gone next weekend, so coming back last night was the plan.

Have fun!!

[NHLCanes]

Just back from the game in Florence, and the Blades won again 4-2! We sat right behind the Florida bench about 6 rows up. Kowalski was in goal this time, and Zepp was making himself useful on the bench by being the 'doorman.' Kowalski looked to be scrambling a little at first, but settled in nicely and made some good saves. I think there were around 40 or so shots on him today. The team are very aggressive and don't sit back much to wait and see what happens like a lot of teams seem to do. They are also quick, and I really enjoyed watching all of them. There was one dust-up in the first period between Greg Hornby and the Pee Dee captain (I think) - that Hornby is a scrappy fellow.

The crowd today was terrible, and I would be surprised if there were even 1000 there. They did support their team though, and the team acknowledged the crowd at the end of the game and got a round of applause from their fans. Nice to see both the fans and the team appreciating one another.

Also went to the mall afterwards for some Christmas shopping on the spur of the moment, and the crowds were minimal there as well. What a relief to get some done without having to dodge a zillion other shoppers. All in all a successful Florence trip for us!

[nccanes]

Maybe December isn't a good time for hockey in Florence (though I guess it didn't appear they were all out xmas shopping, lol). The boxscore says 1099, so it was a small crowd!

Glad you had fun!