Something Is Fishy In Here

Last weekend was a good one for us northwest hockey fans. Two Seattle/Portland games. One in the Rose City and the other in the Emerald City. Not to mention another game in Portland between the Winter Hawks and the Everett Silvertips.

Friday nights game down in Portland was a blow-out. The Thunderbirds thumped the Winter Hawks 9-1. Portland looked like they didn't even care out there. Well, there were two exceptions. The first being Kyle Bailey's big hit on Seattle's Scott Jackson and the resulting fight with Bretton Stamler. The bodycheck was clean and Stamler did what he had to do. After Bailey won the scrap, I told Kurt that perhaps that was what the Hawks needed to get things back on track and get back into the game. Famous last words...Seattle scored a short-handed goal about 20 seconds later to extend their lead. And they kept scoring...and scoring...and scoring. Then, with about a minute left in the game, there was yet another line brawl that have become a staple in the Seattle/Portland rivalry over the years. Other than that, it looked like the Hawks didn't even want to be in the old Coliseum that night.

Things started out a little better for Portland in the rematch on Saturday in the Key Arena. They came out the more aggressive team and held a 1-0 lead after the first period. But Seattle scored twice in pretty quick fashion, and it was all over for the Winterhawks. The Thunderbirds wound up winning that game 6-2. And we all went home with a coupon good for a free medium pizza. In fact, I walked out of the Key with five of those in my hands. But that rotten bastard Tom W took them away from me and gave them to someone else. Oh well...maybe Seattle will score 6 goals again sometime this season (lol).

But in that game in Seattle on Saturday, there was a happening for the ages near the end of the game. With about 6 seconds left in the 3rd period, someone finally got around to tossing the traditional fish out onto the ice. For those not familiar with that, for years and years, during Seattle/Portland games in Seattle, there's always some wahoo who sneaks a fish into the arena and tosses it out there onto the ice at some point. It's been happening for a good 80 or 90 years now. Anyway, the fish landed at the feet of Portland defenseman, Max Gordichuk. And good old Max took his glove off, picked up the fish and tossed it right back into the crowd! I had never seen that happen before (lol). I haven't heard one way or the other, but I'm pretty sure he'll get a suspension of some sort out of that. In face, I told Karin after the game that his doing that was so priceless, I'd be happy to pay his fine for him just because I hadn't had a good laugh like that in a long time.

The Portland Winter Hawks have been plain awful lately. After Saturday's loss to the Thunderbirds, they had lost 11 games in a row. So outside the Glass Palace on Sunday afternoon, there was a buzz of anticipation. Would this be a record-tying night for the Hawks? The franchise record is 12 losses in a row. But alas, they choked away their chance at history. The Hawks scored a late goal to tie it up and wound up winning the shootout against Everett to break their streak. Tom went with me to that game and was particularly proud of his favorite player, Michael "GRAAAAAND" Funk for not only scoring the first goal of the game, but also for scoring the only goal in the shootout.

One of the sponsers of the game on Sunday was the local Jesus station in Portland. They had signs all over the Coliseum. There was one inside the seating area that had a multi-colored Jesus fish on it. Tom claimed they got that fish straight out of the Willamatte River. I dubbed the seats above it the "Gordichuk" section.

Another highlight was the t-shirt toss. One of the shirts went flying over Tom and into the hands of one Brandon Dubinsky. Tom begged and pleaded with Dubinsky to give him the shirt. After giving him a "is this guy crazy" look, Dubinsky finally gave the shirt to Tom. The joke was on old man Winter, though. It was a kids shirt. So he swallowed his pride and gave it to a boy sitting a couple rows in front of us.

Here's one for the "Tom W Hates Everything About Seattle" file; with Kurt as my witness, he actually claimed that the Seahawks getting to the Super Bowl was "tainted" because...his quote here..."they played all their playoff games at home".

Huh?

I asked him if he would prefer it if the Seahawks had thrown a couple of those games so they had to go on the road in the playoffs. Afterall, isn't that why they play the regular season...to get homefield advantage? He answered "they should throw all 16 games down the toilet so they never win".

Not too suprising (lol).

That's about all for this week. But stay tuned for my next update. This Saturday, I'm heading up to Vancouver. But this trip will be a little different. No Tom, but Kristi is going. Along with Jacque, some chick named Stephanie and her boyfriend and....yes....even Emily (lol). So that should make for some interesting stories.