Your hosts for each edition of I-O will be Em, Dubs and Jazzy, with occasional guest hosts of eaglehaslanded and other various webheads who have nothing better to do with their lives.
Newcomers Trent Whitfield, Matt Pettinger, and Chris Corrinet made their indentations on the ice, but unfortunately not a whole lot in the back of the net, unless it was behind Biller.
Speaking of Biller, he was AMAZING in net today, particularly in the instance where he shut out a cartwheel-turning Brendan Witt. It was during this time that Jaromir Jagr was getting a little "Reekieluvin" on the sidelines. However, Biller's play dramatically declined, particularly after we continued cheering when he was scored upon.
Practice lasted a meager 45 minutes, however Simon, Dima, and Zettler stayed behind to skate laps with Tim Army and Tim Hunter. The highlight of this after-practice practice was when Dima lost his edge and got a face full of ice and had a snow cone in front of us.
Under normal circumstances, we would have a more detailed report of the on-ice practice. However, dubs spent all of her time staring at Trent, then submitted a snotty Kleenex for her report, which was later reissued for Dainius Zubrus in the emergency of a recurring atomic snot blast.
Em, dubs, and jazzy continued to feel the undeserved, scornful stares of Adam Oates. We still don't know why.
Kenny Klee earned bonus points with the peanut gallery today by promising not only that he'd play tonight, but also that he hoped to kick Keith Premieu's ass for the cheap shot he took on Brendan Witt during the preseason.
Craig Billington unleashed his wrath on the innocent Inside-Out staff upon his exit of the building, claimg us to be "Goalie-haters" who were "pissing him off" with our excessive cheers against him. Although at first concerned, the I-O staff caught him chuckling in his car after the unnecessary berating. Later, after a brief staff meeting, it was decided that we should have corrected him and let him know that we DO love Olie.
Inside-Out staff member dubs was bombarded on two fronts by the simultaneous exits of Jaromir Jagr (5 time Art Ross winnder, $77 million dollar man) and Trent Whitfield (fourth line center, makes less than Jagr in one day), from both of whom she wanted autographs. Dubs politely first asked Jagr to sign her picture, to which he replied, "Sure, hold on a second" and proceeded to go to Joe Sacco's car and check out the interior. In the meantime, Whitfield had made his way to the grassy knoll where the Inside-Out staff was stationed. After receiving a warm welcome, he cordially signed dubs' picture, said a few kind words, then exited. After Trent drove off, waving, Jagr's father piloted him by us as he threw a million-dollar smile in our direction (i.e., he dissed us).
Jeff Halpern made his presence known off the ice nearly as much as he'd been doing on the ice. I-O staff member dubs was kind enough to inquire about a large, bulbous ice pack strapped to his right wrist, to which he curtly replied, "It's nothing." (Manwhore.)
I-O favorite Trevor Linden exited quickly after Jeff Halpern, but was noticeably more courteous, then left with Halpern in yet another different vehicle. Must be nice, as the low-budget I-O staff can only afford one car apiece.
The pleasant surprise of the afternoon was the presence of Capital Co-Captain Steve Konowalchuk (The I-O staff prides itself in the correct spelling of his name, unlike more professional publications.). He graciously stopped for a picture with dubs, who promised not to touch his bad arm.
Rookies Chris Corrinet and Matt Pettinger replaced Brian Sutherby as temporary drivers of one bad-a$$ red minivan. When I-O staffer Em questioned the boys on their relationship to the minivan, they reluctantly declined to comment. But the I-O staff laughed at them anyway. (Even our budget isn't that low.)
Frank Costello, Chris Simon, and Rob Zettler must have met and discussed prior to exiting which question they would field to the I-O staff, because they all asked if we were getting some sun and having a picnic. I-O staffer Em submitted the same reply, that "we'd sent the menfolk to get us some food."
Sergei Gonchar wears his pants too tight.
Tim Hunter was cordial and chatty as always. When asked if he was going fishing due to the tan outdoor vest he wore, he replied, "No, but Ron Wilson asked me to catch him a pheasant." After explaining he was wearing it due to the cold, dubs promptly reminded him he didn't have any sleeves, so it couldn't be that warm.
The I-O staff voiced its disapproval over the treatment they received from Jaromir Jagr, claiming retribution of him being behnched of sent down to Portland. Mr. Hunter replied, "Well, I guess you can be that way when you're the king." He then sneezed into his meshed dirty laundry bag.
Dubs voiced her approval of the Trent transaction, saying "I'm glad Trent is back, now I don't have to kill George McPhee for lying to me." To this, Mr. Hunter claimed, "Well, we try not to lie."
As Mr. Hunter was exiting the parking lot in his vehicle, the I-O staff stopped him to inform him of the incident during the Peter Brondra post-Montreal game interview. After getting a huge kick out of it and inquiring about a copy of the incident, he informed the I-O staff of another incident of that nature. He assured us the tape in question would be highly scrutinized during game review (LOL).
HONORABLE MENTION: Kenny Klee, for promising an a$$-kicking during the game tonight.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jeff Halpern, just because.