Brian Sutherby's grandparents were reacquainted with some fans they met last season, and were tickled to be at Piney to witness their pride and joy in his try out for the Big Team.
Jazzy completed her mission to give Biller a hearty Happy Birthday, since last 9/11 was not a day for celebration. He seemed to appreciate her message from his cadre of fans, and agreed that this year's celebration was much nicer.
Olie, Charpy and Muller were each knocked on their keesters in turn by the zealous play of the rookies. Robert Lang seems to have a case of permagrin, as does Bondra. In fact, there were smiles all around for most of the day. Gonchar gave several good challenges to Lang as he skated in toward Olie's goal, prompting Compbug to remark "When did Gonchar learn to play defense?" Ryan VanBuskirk fouled Bondra three times in succession, resulting in Bonzai landing on his ass in a spin, grinning from ear to ear.
Slapshot did his best impression of a surfer standing on the Zamboni. Unfortunately, he kept his balance.
Nolan Yonkman and Brian Sutherby seem to have grown over the summer. In Nolan's case, this is almost frightening.
Doig has been playing well. Lang and Bondra seem to be developing great chemistry, and Ciernik does not look out of place on that line. Kip Miller seems to be doing duty with Jagr and Simon on the top line. The trio of Peat, Pettinger and Sutherby also look good.
As if that weren't enough, Cilla has also completed another work in oil of Olaf Kolzig. However, instead of a portrait, this is a stylized vision of Olie in goal, superimposed on a painting of his mask. Cilla was sporting a t-shirt with the image as an iron-on, and Ted, Joey B, Laugher, and Elliott were quite impressed. (The I/O staff hopes this becomes available for purchase!) The reaction of the day came from Olie himself, however. When Cilla unveiled the painting and showed him, he was speechless for a moment. She presented Olie with a print of the original.
Just remember, folks, when Cilla's artwork graces some future Media Guide or poster, you can all say, "We knew her when...."
Witt has lost the long haired look, and is the proud papa of a new baby girl named Sophia.
Simon seems to have hair, at least so far.
Apparently when you are as low on the radar as Trent Whitfield, you receive calls from your agent on pay phones. A call came in on the Piney Orchard lobby pay phone, which was ultimately fielded by Cilla. The caller asked for Trent Whitfield. Cilla indicated that she did not know where he was in the building. The caller then identified himself as Trent's agent, and asked Cilla to relay a message for Trent to call him. Cilla relayed the same to Trent, who was later observed in his truck on his cell phone. We think Cilla should get a piece of the action.
Nolan Yonkman has a secret yearning to be a country disc jockey if his NHL career doesn't take off. You heard it here first, folks.
Witchy showed us that connections matter. She thwarted the increased security when Bondra told them she COULD come over to his car to say "hi".
There appears to be a fleet of badass minivans for all the rookies this season. It must be some sort of rite of passage.
Coach Cassidy was baptized by fire as he was asked to pose for photos with several fans. Get used to it, Butch.
Robert Lang appears to be much more congenial that Jagr about signing and photos. He also dresses better. Perhaps Jagr hasn't gotten to him yet.
Coach Cassidy. Ditto.
HONORABLE MENTION: The always affable Tim Hunter.
The Rookies. They're SO up for this.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jeff Halpern, just because.