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Blake Thrashes Lambert!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers are on a roll as of late. After playing 6 games sofar which is the most for any team this season, the Thrashers went a very respectful and surprising 3-3. Other players stepped up and took a load off of Simon Gagne's shoulder. The Thrashers are on a 2 game win streak and they certainly picked up their game after preseason. Jani Hurme is playing phenomenal and is the reason Atlanta is winning. His record is right now a very good 3-1 under the inexperienced, and underrated Thrashers. Also a deal has been made. GM Brian Blake sent Denny Lambert to Minnesota for injured defenseman Ian Herbers. Apparently Lambert had a disagreement with Blake as Lambert was mad for being benched for 4 games and then sent to the farm. Apparently there was alot of swearing as Blake said that Lambert sucks and that Blake can play better hockey then Lambert. Lambert got mad and pushed Blake. Brian was never a guy to back down from a challenge so he pushed Lambert back and Lambert took a swing at Blake. Blake ducked and threw a haymaker at Lambert that knocked Lambert unconscious. Apparently Blake didnt have enough as he continued to pound Lambert in while Lambert lay sprawled and unconcious. After that tough guy Andre Roy and captain Simon Gagne came in and cleaned up after Brian Blake as they continued to pound on Lambert for 30 more minutes. After they were done Denny Lambert was sent to the Atlanta General in critical condition with a big concussion. After the miraculous 2 day recovery Lambert was shipped to Minnesota for Herbers. Blake was heard saying "No one touches my brand new Armani suit specially if its a punk like Lambert. If someone does and I dont like him then I kick his a*s. Finally I got rid of that f****r!!!" This happened happened 3 days ago but Blake told the sun not to report anything till Lambert got traded or released or he retires. Apparently this sparked the Thrashers as they won 2 games in a row. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, February, 4th, 2001
Atlanta Thrashers Captains Revealed!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers have named their captains and alternate captains today. The captain is 20 year old future star of the Atlanta Thrashers Simon Gagne. The alternate captains go to Radek Dvorak, Steve Staios and Andre Roy. The Thrashers have put a big weight on Simon Gagne's shoulders. The alternate captain Radek Dvorak has shown great improvement in his offensive and defensive game and has shown great playmaking skills. Steve Staios has grown to be General Manager Brian Blake's personal favourite player. They have become close friends as they go back a while as they me once in Toronto when Steve Staios was still playing on the Vancouver Canucks a while back. Andre Roy has really shown heart for the Thrashers. He has intensity, grit, heart, leadership and he deserves to wear the A on his sweater. On the other note the Thrashers beat the Nashville Predators by a score of 4-1. The most impressing thing was the shots on goal favouring Atlanta by 20 as the shots were 39-19. Mike York scored the first hat trick of the Thrashers organization as he scored his 4,5 and 6th of the season. Damian Rhodes had an easy night to win as he only made 18 saves. Simon Gagne scored the other goal and Radek Dvorak got 3 assists on the night. The next games will be against two struggling teams the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, who have pretty good squads but cant put it together. Also the Atlanta minor league team the Solar Bear are still undefeated with a 8-0-2 record. Top 3 scorers in the minor league are from Solar Bear and also the 5th leading scorer, with 8 players from Solar Bear in the top 20 in scoring. Also the second best goalie in the league is from Solar Bear and it is Scott Langkow and the leading scorer is Kyle Calder. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, February, 8th, 2001
Atlanta Thrashers Free Agent Signings!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers have been really busy over the last three days with free agent signings. The Thrashers had seven potential free agents but they managed to sign all of them in the past three days. There was some big free agents as they were Todd Fedoruk, Marian Cisar, Per Svartvadet, Steve Staios, Herbert Vasiljevs, Dan Snyder and Sergei Vyshedkevich. All of them were resigned to contract extensions. Marian Cisar was the first to sign as this 22 year old potential star signed a 4 year contract at $800,000 with a $800,000 signing bonus. Then general manager Brian Blake decided to sign 5 players at the same time. He signed Steve Staios to a 2 year $500,000 and also Sergei Vyshedkevich to a 4 year $450,000. They were not done there as they signed Herbert Vasiljevs to a $400,000, 4 year contract along with Dan Snyder with the same finances 4 year $400,000. The last player signed that day was Per Svartvadet who signed a 4 yar extension worth $750,000. The following day after that Atlanta finished all the signings as they signed Todd Fedoruk to a 4 year $600,000 contract with a $300,000 signing bonus. Brian Blake was so happy he decided to take the whole Thrasher team to a bar for a drink. Apparently the whole team took advantage of this and they got really drunk. They were so drunk they got into a brawl at the bar and kicked the shit out of 20 guys. It was pretty uneven as there were over 40 Thrashers there and some of the people at the bar were hospitalized. Since this happened in Montreal there will be no charges pressed since the cops in Montreal aint that bright. Apparently because of this brawl and the hangover the next day the Thrashers lost to Montreal as players like Jackman, Donovan and Kallio threw up on the bench after the mad hangover. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, February 15th, 2001
Simon Gagne Stripped Of Captaincy!!!!
Yesterday the Atlanta Thrashers reportedly have made a trade with the new gm of the Vancouver Canucks Richard Blundell. Reports say that Andre Roy was shipped to Vancouver in return for Tie Domi. This trade certainly adds leadership and experience and more skill. Domi who can step up for any of his teammates is a hard worker who never gives up. He is a true leader on and off the ice as he brings a great personality to the changeroom. He also contributes a lot to charities. The trade makes the Thrashers older, raises their salary but they get leadership and experience and more skill and hard work. That is not all the big news. Brian Blake said "I was eyeing Tie for a long time. On this young team he will become captain, as Gagne had a lot on his young shoulders. Tie is personally one of my favourite players and his leadership and experience is certainly welcomed in our dressing room." With this news Simon Gagne was seen crying, but also said "This is for the best of the team and this was a lot of pressure on me. Tie certainly is a better leader, and he will kick the shit out of Zyuzin for me. I can now concentrate on my game as I have been stuggling after a great start." Domi is only 5 foot 8 but plays like he is 6 feet 8 inches. A small guy who is not afraid to tangle with anybody in the NHL and he never got knocked out. For a fighter, he has surprisingly great hands as he is scoring alot, scoring some nice goal scorers goals and showing great playmaking ability. Strong on the puck and hard to take the puck away from him, always buzzing in the offensive zone and is not afraid to drive to the net. More players like Tie Domi are needed in the CTCHL. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, March 2nd, 2001
Hectic 2 weeks for the Atlanta Thrashers!!!!!
The last couple of weeks have been really hectic for the Atlanta Thrasher organization. First off a big deal was made for the Atlanta Thrashers. The Atlanta Thrashers received Jochen Hecht and Brad Ference from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Chad Kilger, Shean Donovan, and prospects Samu Isosalo and Simon Gamache. This is a great deal for the Atlanta organization as they finally get a great second line right winger to play behind Radek Dvorak. Hecht is another good young player that can help us not only in the future but also in the present. Brad Ference is the brother of Andrew Ference and Brad is a great prospect who has been scouted very well by the Atlanta Thrashers general manager Brian Blake and his scouting staff. Another thing that happened in the past week was the robbing of Atlanta Thrashers from the All-Star game. The Atlanta Thrashers should have had one player representing them but they were robbed as Radek Dvorak, Simon Gagne and Brendan Morrison were not picked. On the bright side Simon Gagne competed in the Skills Competition in Colorado, altough he didn't win any event, he did a very good job as he was in 3 events. More big new is the firing of Curt Fraser and the signing of Brian Sutter. Brian Sutter was signed to a 4 year deal at $250,000 per year. Sutter is certainly a better coach with better offence, leadership and experience. He is the oldest of the legendary Sutter brothers and knows the game of hockey very well. He should lead the young Atlanta Thrashers squad to a CTCHL cup in the very near future. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, April 12th, 2001
Closing In On The Trade Deadline!!!!!
Nearing the trade deadline the Atlanta Thrashers made more than half a dozen trades to perfect their roster. General manger Brian Blake has been very busy wheeling and dealing big trades and small trades to perfect the team. It was not only dealing for youth but also for a couple of veterans. It all started with the acquisition of Ian Herbers who was formerly a Thrasher and a 3rd round pick. Next was a huge trade with the Phoenix Coyotes. Atlanta picked up one of the best young power forwards in Shane Doan and top prospects in Ramzi Abid, Kris Beech and Johan Holmqvist. In this deal they gave up $1 million, Dan Snyder, the 1st round pick, Jochen Hecht and Brad Ference. The next couple of deals got the Thrashers Stu Grimson, 3 5th round picks, Denis Hamel along with some top prospects like Norm Milley and Mike Zigomanis. The Thrashers then traded recently acquired Ian Herbers and traded him for a 3rd round draft pick. After giving away a 1st round pick they also picked up another 1 along with top prospect Gerard Dicaire. In exchange they traded Mike Sullivan, Jarred Skalde, Wes Mason, Daniel Tjarnqvist and low end prospects Ray DiLauro and Evan Nielson. The final trade sent money and 2 marginal prospects to Dallas for former Atlanta Thrasher Adam Burt to help the young inexperienced Thrasher defence. This trade was the 38th trade of the history of the CTCHL Atlanta Thrashers. To view all the trades check out the Atlanta Thrashers website and go to trades. The Atlanta Thrashers are playing great as of late beating teh Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 and tying the New Jersey Devils 1-1. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, May 11th, 2001
New Owner of the Atlanta Thrashers!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers are looking to deal the DAL 5th pick in 2001 (143rd overall) the only pick left that the Atlanta Thrashers currently own. The Atlanta Thrashers feel that they have alot of talented prospects in their organization and depth chart. Also the Atlanta Thrasher made another deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs their 2nd in 3 days. Coming to Atlanta are Jeff Farkas and Matthew Spiller and going the other way are Brett Clark and a 4th round pick in 2002. The 1st deal was Shayne Corson, Peter Svoboda and Adam Mair to Atlanta for Bryan Adams, Antti Laaksonen and Richard Jackman Also a 3rd deal in 3 days was done by the Atlanta Thrashers where the Thrashers traded 3 promising prospects for just one to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Atlanta received Tuukka Mantyla for Kenny Smith, Vladimir Sicak and Hugo Boisevert. The drunk owner of the Thrashers, who no one seems to know who he is was very mad at the Thrasher gm at the Pittsburgh deal and the owner physically threatened the Atlanta gm. Brian Blake didnt like that so he sent out Todd Fedoruk, Wade Belak, Stu Grimson, Tie Domi, Chris McAllister, Jean-Luc Grande Pierre, Steve Staios and prospect Darcy Hordichuk to hurt the owner. This happened inside a strip club called Caddys where Blake and his team, who he calls his "boys" were hanging out drinking and putting money down strippers panties. They were there to celebrate and initiate the new players from the team coming from Toronto and Pittsburgh and from the entry draft. Also they were celebrating that Darcy Hordichuk finally graduated as a prospect adn will paly on Atlanta's farm team Solar Bear. It was all harmless fun until the owner showed up. As he showed up Blake ordered his boys to jump the owner. The owner was severly beaten and is now staying at the Atlanta General Hospital in critical condition. He suffered deep facial lacerations, broken limbs, both arms and both legs, broken ribs, a collapsed lungs and a fractured skull. It is known that Blake has a mental problem as he is known for his tick after the army experiment and the beating of his own player Denny Lambert which happened last year. After the fight where Blake sent Lambert to the hospital, Blake traded him for useless 20th dman Ian Herbers. (you can find this story in the archives of the Atlanta Thrashers website) Herbers was then traded away for basically a bag of pucks and $$$. It is also reported that the owner currently in the hospital has sold the Atlanta Thrashers to Heineken the world famous beer company. The players will receive free beer and a new rule will be in full effect at the start of the season where no player of the Atlanta Thrashers may step on the ice for a game or practice unless he is totally drunk or has drunk 10 Heineken beers. Also Heineken may move the Atlanta Thrashers to Flin Flon, Manitoba where there is a new mine that grows hemp. All though most of the Thrashers would like that as they are red out before each game GM Brian Blake likes Atlanta and told Heineken that the team inat moving. What a guy Blake is the fans of Atlanta love him for stopping the move from Atlanta to Flin Flon. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, August 5th, 2001
2pac Rises Up From The Dead And Helps Atlanta Win!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers have one of the lowest payrolls in all of the CTCHL even after signing over 20 free agents restricted and unrestricted they only boosted their payroll by $7 million making it a low $21 million dollar payroll from $14 million dollars. This leaves the Atlanta Thrashers with a lot of extra money. Atlanta Thrashers general manager wants to attract more fans to Atlanta games and he wants to use this extra money to bring more fans to the Phillips Arena. He has decided to hire rap stars to sing the Canadian and American national anthems along with one of the artists hit songs. The first person to do this was Tupac Shakur who has come back from the dead. Yes that is right. 2pac!!! 2pac was quoted "Yo, I didnt die, it was trick yo. I be chillin at my boy Brian Blakes crib the hoe time. He be chillin in his 5 million bones house with his whack hoes in his brand new Rolls Royce where we in the hood call a Brougham. He a cool white boy and I sing outta love. We be true thugs." The Thrashers have already booked the first 15 artists to sing for the Thrasher home games. They will be 2pac, Choclair, Ludacris, Coo Coo Cal, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Eminem, DMX, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Drag-on, Nelly. The last two artists added to this list are Notorious BIG and Aaliyah, who like 2pac have come back from the dead. They will be performing at every Tharsher home game starting from Day 18 where 2pac debuts. Along with the national anthems of Canada and the United States of America, 2pac will be performing the song called "All Eyes on Me". The next home game will feature Choclair who will be performing with the rest of the Baby Blue Soundcrew to sing "Love 'Em All". On day 18 the Thrashers came out flying and Thrashing against Minnesota. It was a tribute to 2pac and thy slaughtered the Wild by a score of 6 to 2. Jeff Hackett like always played a solid game stopping 33 out of 35 shots bringing his record to a decent 3-3-2. He has been the best Thrashers player night in and night out and if it wasnt for the rest of the Atlanta Thrashers team Hackett would have had better numbers. He earned the 1st star again and he is currently 3rd in the league in star points. The Atlanta Thrashers received very balanced scoring in the game as every line scored except for the 1st line which was invisible and played a very bad game. Shane Doan scored 1 goal and added 2 assists for 3 points. Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre and Filip Kuba both scored 1 goal and 1 assist. Shayne Corson, Stu Grimson, and Andrei Markov scored the other 3 goals. Marian Cisar also assisted on 2 goals. The other assists went to Per Svartvadet, and Tomi Kallio. It was a solid performance by the Thrashers except for the 1st line. The Atlanta Thrashers farm team the Solar Bear also celebrated 2pac's return as they beat the Lumberjacks 14-4. There is too many scorers to name but Adam Mair scored a hat trick and added an assist. Kris Beech also had a good night with 2 goals and an assist. The next game comes against Los Angeles on day 19 and on Day 20 the Thrashers are back at home where Choclair, from T.O. (Toronto) will perform. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, October 12th, 2001
Atlanta Gunning For Jay Bauwmeester!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers recently dealt one of their better prospects Kyle Calder to the New York Islanders for a couple of assets including the New York Islanders top 1st round pick which may be top 5 at the 2002 Entry draft. In the deal the Atlanta Thrashers received the 1st round pick, Vaclav Prospal, Garry Galley, while only giving up Kyle Calder along with 2 prospects David Kaczowka and Pasi Nurminen and farm player Chad Allen. General Manager Brian Blake was quoted "This is a great deal for us. We get a player who can fill in as the number three centre, a veteran depth dman and the 1st round pick. This pick will be in the top 5 and at that position I see a lot of great talent. I personally have my eyes set on Jay Bauwmeester. This kid is a great defenseman in the WHL and has loads of potential and can be a franchise defenseman. If he is not available the choice will be one of Rick Nash, Kari Lehtonen, Vladislav Evseev, Ryan Whitney, Maxime Daigneault or Scottie Upshall. With the Atlanta Thrashers pick I am looking at the players I just mentioned and maybe even Kiril Koltsov or Joni Pitkanen. This pick should get us a very talented prospect in the next draft. I think Kyle Calder is a good player but we just couldnt wait for him to develop. He had chances to develop last year. He may fit in well with New York but I would like to improve this club and with this deal I certainly feel I did that." The Atlanta Thrashers who have spent lots of money on scouting are hoping to have another great draft just like the one last year. A lot or Atlanta scouts have been sent all over the world to see what kind of talent is available in the whole world. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, November 23rd, 2001
Take a win anyway we can and beat the Rags!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers will take a win anyway they can. The Atlanta Thrashers were battling against the top team in the Eastern Conference trying to stay on top, the New York Rangers. The Rags are only slightly ahead of the Buffalo Sabres for the top seed in the conference so this game was important as it was to the Thrashers who are struggling for a playoff spot and are currently in 7th in the Eastern Conference. The Thrashers played their hearts out and handed the Rangers a 4-1 loss while the Sabres beat the Islanders to tie the Rangers for the top spot. The Thrashers played a tough game and eliminated the Rangers star Pavel Bure for the game after Aki Berg crossed checked him and received the game misconduct at 18:34 as Bure got injured in the first period. Nontheless the Thrashers were up already 4-0 and Berg already had 2 assists on the night and thought that it was enough so he wanted to prevent the Rangers from scoring and everyone knows that the only scorer on that team is Pavel Bure. After taking Bure out the Rangers only managed to get one goal by Oleg Kvasha. Jeff Hackett was awesome again and is leading the Thrashers to be the team MVP this year. He made 27 saves out of 28 shots to bring his record to a very impressive 24-18-6. He got the 1st star of course and another Jeff (Halpern) got the 2nd and Andrei Markov go the 3rd. All the goals for the Thrashers happened in the 1st period. The goal scorers were Marc Savard, Jeff Halpern, Simon Gagne and Andrei Markov. The assists went to Shane Doan, Marian Cisar, Jeff Halpern, Simon Gagne and Aki Berg who had 2 assists. The attendence was also great as there was 14067 fans who attended the game (mostly Thrasher fans) and the team came away with over a million dollars from attendance. The Chicago Wolves which is the Thrashers farm team also managed a win as the Wolves beat the Wolfpack 6-1. Was a balanced attack from the farm team as every line managed a goal. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, December 28th, 2001
New Anthem (Welcome To Atlanta) by Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris!!!!!
From today on the Atlanta Thrashers have decided to add a new anthem on top of the national anthems. It will be the Atlanta anthem which is called "Welcome To Atlanta" which will be performed by Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris at every Atlanta home game. The first anthem that will be played will be the Canadian national anthem followed by the American national anthem because the majority of the Atlanta players are Canadian. After the anthems, Welcome to Atlanta will be played and every Thrasher player will have to stand for this anthem or they will be fined by the Atlanta Thrashers thus helping the Thrashers earn more money. Apparently the Atlanta Hawks have adapted this idea also that was thought of by the genious Brian Blake. This is how the song goes that will be heard before the drop of the puck at all Atlanta Thrashers home games. (Do not read if your offended by cussing)
Artist: Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris Album: Instructions/Word of Mouf (bonus track) Song: Welcome to Atlanta
[Ludacris] Yeah, Welcome to Atlanta, jack and hammer and vogues' Back to the mackin' and jackin' the clothes, adolescent packin a fo' A knock on the do', who is it? I would happen to know, the one with the flow Who did it?, it was me I suppose J-D in the Rollz and Luda's in the Cutt Supreme Skatin down old Nat, Gat tooked and lean I split ya spleen, as matter' fact I split ya team No blood on the sneak's, gotta keep it so my kicks is clean I get the cream, cops see me flick my beams Im allergic to 'doc perscribed anti-histemines Oink Oink, Pig Pig, do away with the pork Only silverware needs a steak knife and a fork Did you forget your fuckin manners, Im loose with banners Ludacris, Johnny Rockets when i shoot the cannon The Wooley mammoth saber-tooth, bitch bite your tounge I wont stop until Im rich as them white-boy come I pull up in the black Lotus, you're plaque's are bogus So I stripped them off the wall Waiting for my cue to corner pocket eight balls You rackin' 'em up, Im big paper like pancakes, stackin' 'em up In fact Im slappin' 'em up, Cadallacin' the truck I cant loose with 22"s, bitch thats whats up Runnin in the back the fuck, runnin better than aquaduct chil-li-li-li-li-n.. what
[Chorus] (JD) Yo, Yo.. Yo..Yo, Yo, Welcome to Atlanta where the playas play And we ride on them things like every day Big beats, hit streets, see gangsta's roamin' And parties dont stop til' eight in the mornin' (Ludacris) Welcome to Atlanta where the playas play And we ride on them things like every day Big beats, hit streets, see gangsta's roamin' And parties dont stop til' eight in the mornin'
[JD] Now the party dont start 'til I walk in And I usually dont leave until the thing ends But in the mean-time, in between time You work yo thing, I'll work mine I been puttin' it down here since 83' Since the late show MD rivalry More froze than bad ice, with a place to be If you was ridin, you was ballin to homie Shadi Im the MBP, Most Ballernous Player Make my own rules, bitch call me the mayor Monday night, Gentlemen's Club Tuesday night, Im up in the velvet room, gettin fucked up Wednesday, Im at strokers on lean Thursday, jump clean, and I fall up in cream Friday, shark bar kyack with Frank Skeem, right on the floor is where you can find me Saturday, is off the heezy fo' sheezy, you can find me up in one-tweezy Sunday, is when i get my sleepin' Cause on Monday we be at it again, Holla!
[Chorus 2x] ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, January 13th, 2002
Stupid Quote and Big Workout!!!!!
"Thrashers are a decent team but the Gm doesn't help them at all." National Hockey News
What a stupid quote only the National Hockey News could make. If the gm didnt help them at all the Thrashers would be bottom feeders. They wouldnt be contending for a playoff spot more like the first overall pick and a chance at Bauwmeester. The team looks like they have a future for years to come, lead by guys like Gagne, Poti, Sykora instead of old geezers like Ferraro and Audette. The gm may run his mouth because he wants his team to play their best. The team should contend for years to come.
They didnt play their best though last night against the New Jersey Devils who are catching up in the standings to the Atlanta Thrashers. "This game was unacceptable. My boys will work like dogs to better the game last night," gm Blake was quoted.
Some quotes from the dressing room last night by general manager Brian Blake. "You little sissies call that hockey!!!!! My 50 year old grandma could play better than you shit eating punks!!!!! You mama's boys gonna cry to your fat mamma!!!! You play a man's sport!!!!! Do your mommas tie your skates still!!!!! You came to the CTCHL to win and play good hockey!!!!! What happened last night, eh? You could have been beaten by kids playing peewee!!!!! Crying like little babies cuz the truth hurts? Don't it!!!!! Next game everyone has to show up and if someone doesnt we got a lot of replacements out there waiting at a crack at teh big show!!!!! NO all you little scrotums shape out or ship out!!!!! All of you get down and give me 100!!!!! No whores for you tonight to pick up off the street you lousy thugs!!!! You shouldn't be called hockey players!!!!!! Shut your mouth Tie and give me 200!!!! Still not shutting up???? Double it!!!! One more word and you do push ups with Stu standing on your back!!!!! What now Savard, acting all big and bad, huh!!!!! Didn't look like you played all big and bad tonight!!!! Talk again while I'm talking and youll spend time on the bench filling up water bottles!!!! Who's your daddy now Marky!!!! Marky Mark all big and bad!!! Get down and give me 1000 more on top of those 100!!! You will be hear all night. A screw this, everyone does 1000!!!!! I am going for a beer and get drunk cuz my team stunk the hell out of the joint!!!!!!!! Brian Sutter make sure each one of them does 1000. If anyone of them misses one pushup, they will have to redo all 1000 of them!!!! I am fed up with your shitty effort!!!! Even if you lost and played a good game thats acceptable but all you plain sucked!!!!! And to those Devils!!!!! I saw OHL teams better than them!!!! I am buying all of oyu tickets to the St. Mike Majors so you can watch how they play and you can learn from guys like Marc Popovic!!!!(2nd round draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers, 33rd overall in the 2001 CTCHL entry draft.) ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, January 31st, 2002
Looking Ahead Toward Offseason!!!!!
Well the Atlanta Thrashers and their fans are really disappointed at the season. The general manager wanted to make the playoffs really badly this season but the Atlanta Thrashers fell short. They have a young team that will only improve so they will try for another run next season. They are looking to add a couple of proven veterans during the offseason. The Atlanta Thrashers with a low payroll are looking at several players. General manager Brian Blake stated on several occasons that he is interested in acquirng a tough defenseman and another top line centre. Blake will most likely try to come to terms with defenseman Dimitri Yushkevich adn centre Doug Weight. Arturs Irbe has also received interest from the general manager. With these players added their will be more trades this year as the years before. Look for a lot of players to be available next season like Marc Savard, Jeff halpern, Vaclav Prospal, Jean-Luc Grande-Pierre, Filip Kuba, Jason Wiemer, Radek Dvorak, Chris Tamer and a few others. This is just to name a few players. Also very highly touted super prospect Dany Heatley will make his CTCHL debut next year. Expect him to be the front runner for rookie of the year. The Atlanta organization built a franchise and he was one of the centrepieces. Speaking of prospect the Atlanta Thrashers are looking to make a splash at the draft. They have 2 picks in the 1st round, the 3rd overall and the 12th overall. With the 3rd overall pick the Thrashers are targeting 3 players Jay Bauwmeester, Kari Lehtonen, and Joni Pitkanen. General manager Blake is still unsure on who to choose with the 12th overall pick, but it looks like it shoulkd be another great pick. Players like Vladislav Evseev, Ryan Whitney, Maxime Daigneault, Scottie Upshall, Anton Babchuk and Pierre Marc Bouchard come to mind. Look for a very great entry draft. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, April 1st, 2002
Free Agency just around the corner!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers are looking for a very successful draft and also a very successful free agency signing. Last year, in a very deep draft, Atlanta general manager faired really well picking lots of younsters with lots potential with almost every pick. It was a very good draft and the Thrashers oranization believe that Atlanta will once again make out very good at this draft even though it is weaker than last years. With the 3rd and 12th picks overall, the Atlanta Thrashers are targeting one of Jay Bauwmeester, Kari Lehtonen and Joni Pitkanen, and with the 12th pick the Thrashers are looking at Scottie Upshall, Steve Eminger, Alexander Syemin and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. When free agency starts, the Atlanta Thrashers will try to sign all their players first and that is their priority. After they are signed the Atlanta Thrashers will not try to land any unrestricted free agents like Teemu Selanne, Al Macinnis, Scott Young, nor Patrick Roy. They will try to pick up a centre like Doug Weight, Ron Francis, Adam Oates, or Petr Nedved. A centre is what the Atlanta Thrashers are looking for. Strong sources also say that Atlanta is interested in acquiring Gino Odjick, ot make the toughest team in the CTCHL even tougher. The Thrashers may place a bid on a couple of defenseman like Dmitri Yushkevich, who Brian Blake speaks highly of. Other defenseman the Thrashers may take a look at are Bryan Berard, and Jon Klemm. After picking up goalie Jeff Hackett last year, the Atlanta Thrashers are solid in net but they also may bid for a goalie also someone in the calibre of Arturs Irbe, Felix Potvin or Byron Dafoe. The Thrashers are looking to make a little splash in the free agent market although not a huge one. But this is all speculation as none of us know what crazy Brian Blake will do. He is so unpredictable that he beat up his own player Denny Lambert and traded him the next day. The Thrashers have a below average payroll, but have a strong team that almost made the playoffs. The Thrashers want to keep fairly young but add a little leadership to finally make the playoffs this year with no intention to win any of the playoff rounds. There are teams like Ottawa, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Washington, St. Louis, with such high payrolls they may not be able to sign even their own players, and signing other teams unrestricted free agents is out of the question. There is also low payroll teams that no player would want to sign in except to have an earlier summer and round of golf. Very few players would want to sign in non competative teams stacked with only youngsters trying to learn the game, like Edmonton and New York Islanders. It seems they aren't even trying to improve. The Atlanta Sun thinks that the most active teams during free agency will be the Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames (just like last year), Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, San Jose Sharks, and Toronto Maple Leafs. You can also add Atlanta to that list. In a perfect world Atlanta would be able to pick up Patrick Roy, Doug Weight, Teemu Selanne, Scott Young, Adam Oates, Ron Francis, Petr Nedved, Al Macinnis, Kevin Hatcher, Mark Messier, Bryan Marchment and then head to win the CTCHL Cup. But this is impossible and the world is far from perfect. A more realistic wishlist would be Doug Weight, Gino Odjick, Byron Dafoe, Dmitri Yushkevich and Bryan Berard. Again this is just a guess. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, July 3rd, 2002
7 Wins In A Row!!!!!
Lately the Atlanta Thrashers have been red hot, playing their best hockey in the franchise career. They went on a 7 game win streak and were unbeatable and now they sit 2nd in the Eastern Conference with 17 points in 12 games. The streak was snapped last game against Calgary. The team is playing great and do whatever it takes to win. They can be physical and hard working or they can just out play and out class opponents. Arturs Irbe shows why he won the Vezina last year as his record is an impressive 8-3-1. Offensively the team is lead by highly touted rookie Dany Heatley who is one of the franchise players on the team. He is averaging a point per game in 12 games. The Thrashers have been playing really dirty in the ames that they won as Stu Grimson received a 5 game suspension for attempting to injure Darius Kasparaitis after they had a fight. He didnt injure Darius but he was very close. Krzysztof Oliwa will fill in for Stu's spot to maintain the toughness on the team. Antropov has also been playing physical as he crossed checked the best goalie of all time, Patrick Roy, in the face giving him numerous facial lacerations and making St. Patrick miss a week of hockey. In the 7 game win streak the Thrashers beat teams like Anaheim, Colorado, Buffalo, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Carolina, and Minnesota. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, November 13th, 2002
Thrashers Gunning For Major Awards!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers are looking for lots of hardware at the end of the year. Thus far, they look like they have a great chance to win a few of them. Right now, very highly touted rookie Dany Heatley leads the team in points with 13 in 13 games, and he also leads all rookies in points. He is sure making a case for himself to win the Calder Trophy. A lot of analysts like Don Cherry and Ron Maclean picked him to win it and so far he is showing them why they are analysts. Another player that is having a phenomenal season is goaltender Arturs Irbe. This is not a surprise for sure as he was the Vezina winner last year with the Ottawa Senators. In the off season he decided to sign with the Atlanta Thrashers and he certainly changed things around here. If you count goalies who play at least 6 games and are starters, Irbe leads the CTCHL in save percentage, has the second best goals against average, and the 3rd best record of all goalies. Now he is showing us all why he won the Vezina last year and is making a strong point this year again. With the team playing great all around hockey the Atlanta Thrashers are challenging for the Presidents trophy and for a playoff spot. Currently the Thrashers are 3rd in the entire league in points coming off a 7 game win streak. They are 1 point behind Phoenix and 3 behind Philadelphia, so the President's trophy is in reach. At this rate we hope the Thrashers make the playoffs and contend for the Stanley Cup. Brian Sutter should also receive nomination for coach of the year. When Curt Fraser was coaching the team was a bottom feeder but when Brian Sutter came in last year the team played .500 hockey, and this year thy are playing well above that. Those are some of the individual awards, but everyone on the Atlanta Thrashers are playing great. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, November 17th, 2002
Thrashers acquire Czerkawski!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers acquired Mariusz Czerkawski from the Buffalo Sabres. Mariusz and a 5th round pick were sent to Atlanta in exchagne for Marian Cisar, Chris Clark, Jon Zion, Tyler Boldt and Nathan Oystrick. This move was made to strengthen the already strong right wing position which contains snipers like Petr Sykora, Radek Dvorak and now Mariusz Czerkawski. This now ives Atlanta three lethal scoring lines. As Czerkwaski has 20 points in 25 games. For most of this season, Mariusz has been playing with the Magnificent One Mario Lemieux where they had a pretty good chemistry. Atlanta is hoping he can bring to Atlanta everything he had learned from Mario. The first game that Mariusz played for Atlanta, Atlanta demolished the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 8-3, where Mariusz managed to score a goal. That is not the only good news that came out of Atlanta this week. The other good news is that Tie Domi sined a 4-year contract extension with Atlanta. At season's end, Domi was the only unrestricted free agent for Atlanta, and after signing him, Atlanta will only have to deal with restricted free agents. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, December 7th, 2002
Small Trade Turns Team Around!!!!!
What Atlanta general manager Brian Blake despises the most, is a player who rides other peoples coat tails, gets impressive numbers and then acts like a star. Well Marc Savard must have certainly been irritating the gm. Savard was riding Sykora and Gagne's work and just passed it to them while they did all the work. For that, Marc savard was dealt for struggling centre Viktor Kozlov. Although Kozlov has not shown anything thus far this season but this 6'5 centre is better defensively and offensively than Savard. The two games after the trade Kozlov has 1 goal and two helpers and is + 2. He now has 5 points in the last 3 games as he also scored 2 for the last game in a Sharks uniform in just 7 minutes of ice time. "Well I was under valued in San Jose. I did not get my chances there. I hope I can get some chances to show my skill here in Atlanta. It looks like I will as our line of Simon and Petr is playing good thus far. For the 2 goals in 7 minutes. Well I was just showing the Sharks what kind of talent they will be missing. " Kozlov said. Kozlov is a better fit on the skill line of Gagne and Sykora instead of Savard. After a small skid, the Thrashers are back on track after this trade with 2 wins. "We were sort of on a skid the past 5 games or so. I guess that trade is a message from management to improve our play," stated Brian Sutter. The final deal was Marc Savard, Johan Holmqvist and a 4th round pick for Viktor Kozlov. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, January 6th, 2002
All Star Break Makes Blake Work!!!!!
The All Star break has made general manager Brian Blake work even harder. Brian Blake went to Florida to have a general manager's meeting with the other general managers in the league. The trip was worthwhile, as Blake made a total of three trades. The first one was a switch of 5th round picks with Florida. The second deal was another trade with Florida where Toni Koivisto came over in exchange for a 3rd round pick. The last trade was with Columbus, as Jean-Luc Grande-pierre was not needed in Atlanta anymore therefore was dealt pretty much for a bunch of prospects, adding more players to the prospect depth. Also the Atlanta players not participating in the all star festivities, participated in mandatory work out schedules as well as mandatory practices. The all star game was not only business though, as the players who went to Florida had loads of fun. Simon Gagne and Arturs Irbe both participated in the all star games. Irbe was the back up goalie for the Eastern Conference while Simon Gagne was the starting left wing for the same squad. They both also participated in the skills competition. Unfortunately the East lost both the skills competition and the all star game. They lost 4-2 in the skills and 7-5 in the all star game. The young stars game also contained 2 Thrashers players, Dany Heatley and Rostislav Klesla. They both helped the East win 12-9 in an impressive win. Both of them had great nights as Heatley put up 4 points, while Klesla managed 3. Now that the fun is over, the Thrashers will now start to concentrate an the season and the playoffs. ----- Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, February 16th, 2003
A Look At Deadline Trades!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers always manage to make a deal on trade deadline day and this trade deadline was no exception. With Atlanta being as high as 2nd place in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Thrashers are very much in reach of the playoffs. This deadline the Thrashers were concentrating to add some more leadership. A player they have coveted on getting was "Killer" Doug Gilmour who brings plenty of leadership and experience at 39 years of age. The deal was worked out with the Nashville Predators and they have been talking for about a week and a half on the topic of Doug Gilmour. With Gilmour Atlanta adds a veteran playoff performer. They did overpay for Douy though. They ave up a realy late 2nd round pick (Ottawa's) which could even be as late as 60th overall. Most likely this pick will be somewhere from 55-60 overall. Along with the pick Atlanta sent semi decent prospects to Nashville Carl Mallette, Jonathan Hedstrom and Damian Surma. That is the player Atlanta has targetted for about a week and a half before the deadline. That is not the only veteran that Atlanta acquired. Ray Ferraro was acquired just three minutes before Doug Gilmour. Atlanta only had to give up a 4th and a 5th round pick for Ray Ferraro. Ferraro is another aging vet brought in for the playoffs. It is said that Ray Ferraro will be retiring after this year and it is only fair that Ray Ferraro retires as a Thrasher as he was an important part of the team in Atlanta's first year. This former Thrasher will be retiring at the end of this year with dave Manson and Bob Probert. Ray and Doug gives this team much leadership and experience. -----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, March 8th, 2002
Signings in Atlanta!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers have now signed all their free agents but one. The only player unsigned is unrestricted free agent Doug Gilmour. No one really knows why that is. Is it because Atlanta has no interest in him or is there a possible trade in place. No one really knows. Besides Gilmour, the Thrashers only had one other unrestricted free agent, Tie Domi. He was quickly signed at the beginning of the year. There are also eight other free agents that will have their contracts expire, but tehy are all restricted. Atlanta management quickly signed them nonetheless. The other players were Petr Sykora, Tom Poti, Andrei Markov, Rostislav Klesla, Jeff Halpern, Steve Staios, Nikos Tselios and Kris Beech. If these players were not signed then that would mean that four of their top five defensemen would be sitting out and that would have been a disaster. It is reported that captain Steve Staios got a no trade clause in his contract, but the financial terms of all the contracts were not released but can be found on the web site on the two transactions pages. -----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, May 30th, 2003
Four Thrashers retire, start of a new era!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers had a retirement party today for four of its players today. Ray Ferraro, Stu Grimson, Bob Probert and Dave Manson. These players of couse can be found on the retired page. It will be sad losing these players but it also means that this is a start to a new era. Stu Grimson was an alternate captain with the team, but as he is retiring, someone will have to take his place. It will be stand out rookie Dany Heatley. He will join captain Steve Staios, and alternate captains Simon Gagne and Tie Domi as the only players in Atlanta wearing a letter on their jersey. The Atlanta Thrashers are not done though as they will continue getting younger at the CTCHL 2003 Entry Draft where Atlanta holds the 2nd and 13th overall picks. The Atlanta Thrashers will be younger this year than last and more energetic as well. Alexander Frolov looks like he is ready for the big leagues but will he get a contract? A lot of questions in Atlanta adn after free agency and the entry draft is over, most of them will be answered. -----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, July 30th, 2003
2003 CTCHL Entry Draft a success!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers general manager is quite pleased at the results of the of the draft. The Thrashers completed a total of 5 trades the last couple of days that look to help the team out in the long run.
The first trade sent Doug Gilmour and 2 5th round picks to Tampa Bay for prospect Carlo Colaiacovo. The Atlanta brain trust sees something in Colaiacovo for sure. They had to part ways with aging Doug Gilmour. Doug Gilmour is a good 3rd line centre, who can chip in with a few goals and is a feisty competitor. He brings experience and leadership, but from now on it wont be with Atlanta.
With Alex Frolov and Ramzi Abid looking to crack the CTCHL Atlanta roster, Atlanta was looking to part ways with left winger Tommi Kallio. It is rumoured that ramzi Abid will be Atlanta's 3rd line LW wing next year as long as he gets a contract. Atlanta traded Kallio to Toronto, who sure will use him for prospect Evgeny Gladskikh and San Jose's 3rd round pick in 2003.
The third round pick from San Jose was later dealt to Tampa along with Paul Lynch. In return the Thrashers received prospect wingers Tuomas Pihlman and Jason Pominville.
The Thrashers also one of the biggest deals around draft tiem with the Colorado Avalanche. The Atlanta Thrashers traded Filip Kuba and teh 13th overall pick for Roman Hamrlik and the 30th overall pick. Hamrlik will now take over as the Atlanta's number 1 defenseman.
The 5th deal was quite small as Atlanta sent the rights of Tobias Enstrom to Minnesota for the rights of Marcin Kolusz.
This is all great news thus far but the biggest was yet to come. The Thrashers got their men with teh 2nd and 30th picks of the draft. At the 2nd overall spot, Atlanta selected Nathan Horton who they felt was the best player in the draft since last year. "We scouted Oshawa since he strapped on the Oshawa Generals uniform," Brian Blake stated. "There is nothing we do not like about him. He looks like a young Joe Thornton out there, who is not afraid of nothing. If it wasn't for that jaw injury last year, Horton would have been #1 on everyone's list." Brian Blake was quoted.
The Atlanta also picked 30th because of the Colorado trade. With that pick Atlanta had 2 players pegged. Anthony Stewart and Vojtech Polak. Realistically there was no way that Stewart would slip to 30th as he was picked at 26th, but luckily Polak was still available at #30. Atlanta wasted no time drafting him.
"The 43rd pick took some research. We had and we had a tough time between 3 players. Lucky for us the other teams made the decision for us. We were debating between Igor Mirnov, Evgeny Tunik and Dimitri Chernykh at #43. Since Mirnov and and Tunik went 38 and 39, we prayed that Chernykh falls to 43 and in fact we were lucky again as he did." Brian Blakes summary of the 43 overall pick. Chernykh was in fact a good pick as he ended up being ranked 4th among European skaters in the Final Central Scouting Bureau rankings. Although the European side is supposedly weak this year, a guy with 2nd line potential is always a nice asset.
The last two picks for Atlanta were at #62 and #63. Although #62 was an easy pick #63 was not. Konstantin Barulin was picked with the 62nd overall pick and was rated the best European goalie in the draft. Supprisingly he was the 5th goalie picked inthe draft. Fleury with the 1st overall and the other 3 goalies right before him. Howard at 57, Munce at 59, Crawford at 60 and then Barulin at 62. This just shows how weak the Euro class was this year. The #1 rated Euro goalie was roughly on par with the #2-#4 North American goaltenders. The 63rd pick took some time to decide. When it was all said and done Atlanta decided to take David Backes out of the USHL. The Thrashers usually do not draft players the USHL. The Thrashers usually heavily scout the CHL and the main countries over seas. When it was all said and done though, the Thrashers' staff agreed that this is the best player available at the time and decided to grab Backes. That pick concluded the draft for Atlanta. -----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, September 6th, 2003
Atlanta Eager To Get Going!!!!!
With the CTCHL regular season just around the corner, the Atlanta brass is anxious for a hot start. Signing even more free agents to bolster the future, the Thrashers have recently added Yuri Trubachev, Berend Bruckler, Christoph Schubert, and Frantisek Skladany. This is after the Thrashers have added Roman Turek, Martin Rucinsky and Jody Shelley via free agency. Atlanta has also signed a couple of their prospects in Ramzi Abid, Adam Hall and Henrik Tallinder to bolster the lineup. The Thrashers have resigned all their restricted free agents except for Roman Hamrlik, where his player agent is real busy right now, but has given Atlanta a word that he will definitely resign with the Thrashers. The Thrashers have already engaged in light practice and are preparing themselves for the preseason. The team roster is not finalized yet as there should be more moves on the way that improve the hockey team.
Even though the roster is not finalized heading into preseason, the Thrashers have high expectations for sure. This has been the most talented team thus far and making the playoffs is the main goal. When in the playoffs, the team will go round by round. Not making the playoffs will be unacceptable. The team will be lead by Dany Heatley who has quickly risen to superstardom in the CTCHL by winning the Calder Memorial Trophy. With a great supporting cast on the top three lines of Simon Gagne, Patrick Marleau, Viktor Kozlov, Petr Sykora, Mariusz Czerkawski, Nik Antropov, Martin Rucinsky, and Radek Dvorak among others, the team has a solid nucleus of forwards. The defense has also improved with the emergence of Andrei Markov and the addition of Roman Hamrlik. There have been rumours that Tom Poti is on his way out of Atlanta. There is nothing concrete with that rumour, but expect Poti to be on another team. Roman Hamrlik has replaced Poti as the number one defenseman in Atlanta. If the team where to start the season right now, here is what the lineup would look like:
Line 1: Heatley, Marleau, Sykora
Line 2: Gagne, Kozlov, Czerkawski
Line 3: Rucinsky, Antropov, Dvorak
Line 4: Shelley, Halpern, Domi
Defense pairing 1: Hamrlik, Markov
Defense pairing 2: Poti, Klesla
Defense pairing 3: Staios, Berg
Starting Goalie: Hackett
Backup Goalie: Turek
Scratches: McCauley, Belak, Oliwa, Parker
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, December 7th, 2003
A Couple Of Trades In Atlanta!!!!!
With the trade freeze being lifted by the head management of the CTCHL, the Thrashers were busy talking to other organizations for potential trades. The first trade was made with the Minnesota Wild. It was a small trade as it featured just a swap of prospects. Atlanta sent prospect Tobias Enstrom to Minnesota for prospect Marcin Kolusz. Enstrom is a very small defenseman and is considered a solid prospect in the CTCHL even though he was drafted in the 8th round by Atlanta. Although Enstrom is undersized, he is very skilled and is a very offensive defenseman. He has great vision and a great outlet pass. The only thing that can prevent him from playing in the CTCHL is his lack of size and the possibility of getting overpowered in the CTCHL by much bigger forwards. Marcin Kolusz on the other hand is virtually unknown. He was a 5th round pick for the Minnesota Wild (157th overall). Kolusz was born in Poland where he played hockey until he was drafted for a team called Nowy Targ. After the entry draft, Marcin was sent to the WHL to get accustomed to the North American game. Kolusz is a quite skilled player who prefers to share the puck with his teammates instead of shooting it himself. He is also solid in his own end and is no stranger to back checking, but do not expect a Selke trophy.
The second trade saw long time Thrasher Radek Dvorak head to Florida. Dvorak was traded along with a 5th round pick in 2005 to Florida for Radim Vrbata, Justin Papineau and a 2nd round pick in 2005. Atlanta knew that they were giving up a very good player in Dvorak. Dvorak was the longest serving Thrasher to this point. Dvorak came over in the first trade Atlanta made in franchise history that sent Stefan and Audette to New York for Mike York and Radek Dvorak. Dvorak spent a whole three seasons here in Atlanta and has truly been a great player in Atlanta. As a parting gift, Atlanta also purchased a car for Dvorak because he was such a loyal player. Florida will enjoy Dvorak who is a consistent 20-goal scorer and 50 point producer in the CTCHL.
To Atlanta came two players with great potential. Justin Papineau is still considered a prospect in the CTCHL but he has potential to be a second liner. General manager remembers Papineau from juniors where Papineau played for the Belleville Bulls of the OHL along side right wing Jonathan Cheechoo. Those two together tore up the OHL league where Papineau recorded 99 points one year and Cheechoo put up 82 himself. The 4 years that Papineau played for the Bulls, the Bulls dominated the OHL while having players such as Branko Radivojevic, Branislav Mezei, Kyle Wellwood, and Daniel Cleary. The other player received in the deal should replace Radek Dvorak. Radim Vrbata is the name the fans will get accustomed to here in Atlanta. Although Radim is not as good as Radek, he has great potential. Vrbata has potential to be a top line sniper in the CTCHL. He will get a chance to do that here in Atlanta. Radim will take over Dvorak’s position on the third line along side fellow Czech Martin Rucinsky and big Kazak Nik Antropov. He will play on the right wing as he is behind Petr Sykora and Mariusz Czerkawski on Atlanta’s right wing depth chart.
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, December 13th, 2003
Atlanta Mourns Loss of Roman Lyashenko!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers were forced to bid farewell to Roman Lyashenko as he passed away tragically. It is a tragic and shocking loss not only to his family and the Atlanta Thrashers, but to the whole hockey world and CTCHL.
“It is sad to see Roman go. He loved his family dearly and also loved the game of hockey. He was a great person. He was kind, caring and a very hard worker. He was persistent and very dedicated. Roman was a friend to us all. The Atlanta Thrashers will miss him dearly. Our prayers and condolences go out to the Lyashenko family,” stated general manager Brian Blake at a press conference.
When Lyashenko was still playing in the Russian League, he was touted as the ideal third line centre. He had great defensive instincts as well as an offensive touch. He had a great work ethic that helped him make the CTCHL and NHL. He was being touted as the best defensive centre not in the NHL or CTCHL, and was going to become a great shut down man in the NHL and CTCHL.
Roman Lyashenko was a winner as well. He won the Russian League Championship in 1999 and won the gold medal at the 1999 World Junior Championships (under 20) as well as a silver medal in the 1998 World Junior Championships (under 20). It is always sad to see someone pass away at such a young age. Roman died at the age of 24. The memorial service will take place in Russia where he will be sent back to Russia to be buried in his home country. Lyashenko is now in a better place as his family and friends will be praying for him.
The Atlanta Thrashers would also like to offer their condolences to Dan Snyder who was also a part of the Atlanta Thrashers for a time. Dan Snyder was another hard working player who moved on to another franchise
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, December 31st, 2003
Exciting Game in Columbus!!!!!
With the press having a lot of problems covering stories the Atlanta Sun was still able to report on an exciting win over Columbus in OT.
The game started awful with the BJs scoring 3 goals in the 1st and another early in the 2nd for a 4-0 lead. When it looked like it was over new coach Craig MacTavish did what he was brought in to do. He took the team by the throat and the team responded by scoring 5 straight goals. Sykora with 2, Czerkawski, Domi and Rucinsky. Unfortunately the BJs scored on the powerplay with 1:45 left to tie the game at 5. In OT the Sykora-Heatley-Kozlov line went back to work. They were buzzing all night and clicking at the right times.
Sykora got his 3rd of the night in OT to seal the game for Atlanta. This was Sykora's 2nd hat trick of the season and what is amazing is that he scored the last 3 Atlanta goals of the game. The Kozlov-Heatley-Sykora line combined for 8 points on the night.
There was some rough stuff in the game too. Nik Antropov ran Cory Stillman from behind. A big cheap shot that could have seriously injured Stillman. Stillman wasn't hurt and took exception to that by kicking Antropov. Of course he didn't want to fight Big Nik because Big Nik is 6'6 and 235 lbs. Both players got 15 minutes. A 5 minute major and a game misconduct (10 minutes). Antropov received the major for cross-checking while Stillman got the major for Kicking. Although the league reviewed the incidents, there will not be any suspensions for the two players.
Atlanta's recent success comes from great defensive play and a cut down on penalties. Atlanta is 5th in penalty killing, and 4th in team defense (goals against/game). Atlanta's penalties have also dropped as they are now 6th in the league in PIM/game averaging 23.7 PIM/game. Atlanta will look to cut down that number a little more and hopefully it leads to more wins.
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, February 12th, 2004
Reporter visits NYC, T.O. and D-Town!!!!!
Atlanta Sun reporter Anita Cunt recently went to three big cities in the world to talk hockey. She went to Detroit (hockeytown as they call it), New York (largest city in the world), and Toronto (the hockey capital of the world as they say).
Anita Cunt asked random fans the following question: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" The answer we all know is the Dallas Stars and Atlanta Thrashers as both teams have won 5 straight games. Atlanta (8-1-1 in last 10) and Dallas (7-3-0 in last ten).
We will start with New York.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Ranger fan: Better not be those Islanders. Obviously its the Rangers. Anita Cunt: Actually its the Atlanta Thrashers and Dallas Stars. Ranger fan: Atlanta who??
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Islander fan: F**k the Rangers. GO Islanders!!!!! WHOOOOOOOO!!!! Anita Cunt: Lets move on. Obviously the Ranger fans are a little brighter.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Ranger fan: The New York Yankees and the New York Rangers. Anita Cunt: The Yankees are in baseball. Rangers fan: Ya but those are the only 2 teams that matter. Anita Cunt: How about building a franchise instead of trying to buy it a*****e. Obviously Ranger fans are a******s.
Anita Cunt: Lets go back to an Islander fan "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Islander fan: I am so happy it is not the damn Rangers. I will say Toronto and Philly because they always beat us in the playoffs. Anita Cunt: Actually its Dallas and Atlanta Islander fan: Haha you are a funny show. You guys are hilarious. Haha. Atlanta. Too funny. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Anita Cunt went to Toronto where everyone there is a Leaf fan.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Leaf fan: Toronto is the hottest team in the league. They will win the Stanley Cup like we always almost due and that 134 year drought will end this year!!! Go Leafs Go!!!!! Toronto is the hottest team in the league. Anita Cunt: Its actually Atlanta and Dallas. To tell you the truth sir, if the playoffs would start today Toronto would not make the postseason. Leafs fan: Shut the f**k you b***h. Get the f**k out of Toronto. Anita Cunt: I thought all Canadians were nice.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Leaf fan: Toronto is the hottest team in the CTCHL. Tkachuk is the best player in the world and Nabakov the best goalie. Finley is the best defenseman in the league and DJ Smith will become the next Bobby Orr when he reaches full potential, and Brantt Myhres will become the next Gordie Howe. Anita Cunt: BWAHAHAHA. I will not even comment on that. You are so biased you only see through your white and blue coloured glasses.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Leaf fan: The Leafs are the hottest team in the league and will win the Stanley Cup because Toronto is the capital of Canada, and hockey is Canada's game. Anita Cunt: Newsflash buddy. Ottawa is the capital of Canada and Atlanta and Dallas are the hottest teams in the CTCHL. Leaf fan: Some reporter you are. HAHA. First of all you Americans know nothing. Toronto is the capital of Canada. Just ask our President. Anita Cunt: You mean Prime Minister. Leaf fan: Shut up!!! and another thing. Atlanta does not have a CTCHL team and Dallas shouldn't have one either. Anita Cunt: Stupidity has reached a new level.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?" Leaf fan: Its Atlanta and Dallas. Anita Cunt: Wow congratulations. You are the first person to answer this correctly. Leaf fan: Wow. How about you come back to my igloo to shag. Anita Cunt: No thanks you have no teeth!!!
Anita Cunt then hit Detroit to find out the intelligence of Red Wing fans.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?, and why is Detroit called hockey town?" Wing fan: Its all about Ben Wallace. He is the best player in the league. He can shoot, he can score and he can rebound. He blocks shots, and those pucks hurt. He can also fight to. He reminds me of a former Detroit hockey player. His name was something like Gordie Howe. We call Detroit hockey town because the Tigers are the best team in the CTCHL. Anita Cunt: Whats the capital of the United States of America? Wing fan: Detroit. Anita Cunt: Close race between Toronto fans and Detroit fans.
Anita Cunt: "Who are the hottest teams in the CTCHL at this moment?, and why is Detroit called hockey town?" Wing fan: YO YO YO. Representing D-Town. DRE. EM. WHAT UP!!!!! YO YO Gangsta!!! Detroit What??? DETROIT WHAT???!!! Anita Cunt: No comment.
Anita Cunt: Well thats if folks. I think we have been asking the wrong population this question as only 1 person answered the question correctly. Wow the population of New York, Toronto and Detroit aint that bright. Glad that I am from Atlanta.
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, February 17th, 2004
Booed Vrbata finally dealt!!!!!
After getting booed consistently every time Radim touched the puck, the Atlanta Thrashers finally decided to move him. Vrbata has really struggled with the Thrashers as he had 2 points (both assists) in 34 games. Both the points were assists. It would be ok if he was responsible defensively but he was a -7 as well. The young forward has plenty potential showing signs of brilliance but he has not scored the entire season. With that said the Atlanta fans were really not pleased with his played and booed him out of town. They booed him every time he touched the puck on home ice. The Atlanta Thrashers can not wait 3 years for him to finally score 20 goals in a year as Atlanta has a solid chance right now and is a playoff bound team. The team will wait for prospects in Juniors, in Europe or on hte farm team but not on the pro team. The player has to perform on the pro team no matter what. The Atlanta Thrashers also sent Ramzi Abid to the Blue Jackets. Abid recently graduated from Atlanta's system. He has potential to be a good player but Atlanta received more potential and added some grittiness. The Atlanta sent Abid and Vrbata to Columbus in exchange for Todd Harvey, prospect Sean Bergenheim, and Columbus's 2nd round pick this year. Todd Harvey adds even more grittiness to an already gritty Atlanta team. Sean Bergenheim is considered a very good prospect which adds to a very long list of top prospects. With Atlanta's great scouting staff, the pick can be very good as it looks to be in the 32-36 overall range. That should get a good player in the upcoming draft. Harvey has 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points. Although he is a minus 11, it was with a very weak Columbus team, one of the worse teams in the league. Harvey adds more experience something Vrbata had nothing at all. Harvey, a former 1st round pick of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft (9th overall), was a scorer in junior but has not translated his offensive output in the CTCHL. He still can develop into a lower tier power forward someone in the mold of Scott Thornton. He is best suited for the 3rd or 4th line, and that is where he will play in Atlanta. Sean Bergenheim is a former first round pick as well. He was picked 20th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2002 entry draft. Scouts have been impressed with him and believe he has a lot of potential and upside.
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, March 11th, 2004
Atlanta At The Half Way Point!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers now have played 41 games, which is 1 game above the halfway point of the season. After a very slow start to the season where Atlanta only won 5 of their first 15 games, the team has picked up their game immensely. Now as it stands, the Thrashers sit 3rd in the Eastern Conference with 46 points and a point percentage of .560. The current record is a very respectable 19-14-8. The thing that makes the Thrashers as good as they are, is team defense and the solid tandem of Dan Cloutier and Hackett in goal. Dan Cloutier has been one of the best goalies in the league thus far and Hackett has been great as well when he was called upon. Cloutier has a 2.43 goals against average, which is 6th best in the league among goalies who played at least 16 games. He also has an impressive 3 assists (tied for first) showing that he is a very good puck handler. He has a .907 save percentage (2nd in the league for goalies over 16 games played) and a personal record of 15-12-4. Hackett has 4-2-4 personal record, a 2.03 goals against average and a .925 save percentage. Atlanta was represented by two players at the All Star game in reward for their strong seasons to date. Gagne averages a point per game with 40 points in 40 games. He leads the team with 6 power play goals and 2 short-handed goals as well as 110 shots on goal. Petr Sykora is currently 7th in the league in goals with 20. He has 37 points in 41 games but what is most impressive is his plus 17 rating. Numerous players have stepped up and elevated their game. From the top three defensemen of Bryan McCabe, Roman Hamrlik and Andrei Markov to the second and third line forwards like Rucinsky, Czerkawski and Kozlov. The team is playing well and will try to continue their play until the end of the season.
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, April 4th, 2004
Thrashers Add Experience Down The Middle!!!!!
The Atlanta Thrashers, always trying to improve their club felt that they did just that in acquiring centreman Jason Arnott. Jason Arnott is best known for the cup clinching goal for the Devils in the now defunct NHL. Arnott is very experienced having won the Stanley Cup. He will join former team mate Petr Sykora who he had great chemistry with. Although Arnott is considered to be the team's #2 centre he will certainly have some games where he will play on the first line. The Thrashers also add prospect depth in Chuck Kobasew who can become a scoring winger in this league. He will battle Adam Hall next year for the 3rd line spot on the roster.
The price tag for Kobasew and Arnott was high. The Thrashers ended up parting ways with big and talented pivot Viktor Kozlov as well as one of the better prospects in the CTCHL, a prospect who can step in now and play a key role on any team right now. The prospect is Trent Hunter and he has a very good chance at winning the rookie of the year award next year. The Atlanta Thrashers also added a 4th round pick in the upcoming draft.
Although Trent Hunter is a great prospect and was definately a part of the future in Atlanta he was won of the players coveted by McKay, the new Phoenix general manager. Dealing Viktor Kozlov is also a tough pill to swallow. A very big centre, at 6'5 and over 220 lbs, skilled and big centremen are tough to find. One of the better passers in the game, Viktor Kozlov has been one of the teams better defensive forward as he is +17 at the time of the trade. He has 38 points on the year, but Atlanta expected more goals from this gifted centre.
Arnott is expected to fill in and more. At the time of the trade Arnott was leading the Coyotes with 47 points. This now places him second on the team in scoring after Simon Gagne. Arnott also a very big centre at 6'4 certainly doesnt away from the physical game. He is much more physical than Kozlov but also receives more penalty something Kozlov did not do. Arnott has been solid defensively this year for Phoenix as he is a +1, having a very bad defensive team. Arnott also has stepped up for his team. Although probably not as talented offensively as Kozlov, he is grittier and a heart and soul type of player. Definately a true winner.
Kobasew also has a lot of potential but he has still not reached it. He can be a top line player if he wants to, although he is on the smaller size, he will have to overcome his small stature with heart. He has good offensive instincts but few small players that are just pure offense make it to the big show. There are some exceptions indeed, but when there is a choice of a player with similar offensive instincts and a 4 inch height and 20 pound weight advantage, most coaches will take the bigger guy.
The Thrashers will now wait and see how Arnott fits into the new line up.
Arnott on the trade and new team "I am happy to join the Atlanta organization. They know what they are doing thats for sure. I will miss Phoenix as well. Spent a lot of time there and madesome friends there but I am overjoyed that I will be back in the playoffs."
Chuck Kobasew was heard saying on his way to the Chicago Wolves (Atlanta's farm team) "I have no comment really. I get passed around the CTCHL like a piece of meat. Hopefully I can find a place to live. I was traded like 5 times this year already. Twice in two days to. Atleast Atlanta treats their players well."
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, May 3rd, 2004
Thrashers Not Busy At deadline, Most Deals Made Earlier!!!!!
Well yes the Thrashers were not really to busy at the deadline completing only one deal that added just depth, due to being busy 2 weeks before the deadline filling holes.
Brian Blake, quoted at the last team conference after the deadline had this to say, "Nearing the deadline we felt we only had a few holes that needed to be addressed. One: Another star defenseman. Two: Add another depth defenseman. Three: Add another right wing on one of the top 3 lines. A scoring right wing on line 1-2 would be a plus. Four: Depth at centre. Five: Address the lack of scoring. We felt that we met most of those needs earlier on and that we also fixed those needs within our organization. It all started with the rerate camp where McCauley, McCabe, and Staios came into their own and became the players they are now. Then we made some transactions here and there and filled all those needs silently.
It all started with the addition of a depth defenseman in Alexander Karpovtsev. We felt he can be our #7 guy in case there are injuries. Karpovtsev plays a good defensive and stays out of the penalty box. There are a few negatives here and there about Karpovtsev, but he should be the team's #7 guy where there wont be much on the shoulders. This move saw Wade Belak get demoted to the farm team. Need #2 addressed.
After having 3 players rotating on hte 3rd line right wing spot starting from the beginning of the year, the Thrashers had finally found their man. The Thrashers went through Vrbata, Harvey and now Hoglund to see who can play on that 3rd line. No one delivered until Jonas Hoglund. Vrbata was horrible having only 2 assists in 34 games. Also being a -7 was unacceptable. Vrbata was then dealt for Harvey. Harvey who was better on the defensive end and brought in more grit also only scored 1 goal in 19 games. That was pretty bad as well, so closer to the deadline, Harvey and prospect Aaron Lobb then was dealt for Jonas Hoglund. Hoglund fit in perfectly on the team. Hoglund has 7 points in 16 games on the 3rd line. Thats more points then Vrbata and Harvey combined in less games. Hoglund although a fine fit, still gave Atlanta brass second thoughts. With that said the Thrashers talked to a lot of teams about a possible right wings that included names like Owen Nolan, Scott Hartnell, Steve Thomas, Pavel Bure, and Daniel Alfredsson. A trade for Daniel Alfredsson was almost done but the deal eventually fell through. After a few weeks on the team though, Jonas Hoglund is certainly not a problem on that 3rd line. Hole #3 addressed.
On the same day of that Hoglund deal, the Thrashers dealt Rostislav Klesla and prospect Shaone Morrisonn for Buffalo's first round pick that looks to be first overall.
Knowing the value of the first round pick the Thrashers did not know if they were going to keep the pick or trade it. A few days later the question was answered when the Thrashers filled another one by adding a star defenseman. The Thrashers dealt that first round pick from Buffalo for offensive defenseman Sergei Gonchar. There are also future considerations to this deal that shall remain undisclosed. Need #1 filled although the Thrashers are still waiting for Sergei Gonchar to show everyone what he can do.
The Atlanta Thrashers were also unhappy with the play of Viktor Kozlov. The same day the Thrashers made Kozlov available was the same day Kozlov was dealt. Kozlov was dealt with power forward in the making Trent Hunter to Phoenix for Jason Arnott and small, but skilled forward Chuck Kobasew. Arnott then became the Thrashers 2nd leading scorer behind Simon Gagne. The way Arnott had been playing certainly looks like the #5 need of lack of scoring has certainly been fixed.
Now nearing the deadline, the Thrashers had only one need. Get more depth at the centre position. Well about 10 minutes before the deadline, the Thrashers pulled Robert Reichel out of a hat. They sent 3 prospects and a 4th round pick to Phoenix for the services of Robert Reichel. It sure looks like overpayment, but it gets PJ Stock demoted to the farm as he certainly is not a CTCHL player. Now in case of injuries in the playoffs, the Thrashers can put Reichel in, who can be used effectively on the PK. That was the last hole that the Thrashers needed to fill.
Those were the moves that were done nearing the deadline that filled the holes of the Atlanta Thrashers. They were done strategically ahead of the deadline to not worry about fixing holes on the last day. The Thrashers filled the holes slowly but surely. Now the only thing missing is for Dan Cloutier to regain his form that he showed in the earlier part of the year. If Cloutier plays up to his abilities, the Thrashers would not only make the playoffs but could make serious noise in the playoffs.
-----Anita Cunt, Atlanta Sun, May 24th, 2004