putting the Peepitals to bed

Just a few last angles of the Peepitals before they get too crunchy and all their colorful sugar falls off. Notice the yellow laces on Ovie's skates. Fedorov had a pair too, but unfortunately his line was relegated to the bench. Maybe Jagr Peep can wear them in our KHL diorama. And also Brashear's view from the penalty box. Mike and I weren't sure if adding him was in poor taste, but it felt wrong without him. If we'd known this project wasn't WaPo bound we'd have added a little more blood - on the ice, on the boards, in the stands - basically everywhere.


Game 1 tomorrow, I'm all hopeful and anxious. My goal is to steal one of these road games, preferably both. I know it's unrealistic to expect a repeat of the 2007 Atlanta series, but a girl can hope. What are the chances that Zherdev and Antropov are furiously teaching Avery some choice words in Russian? Maybe all 3 will be chirping their way into a series win. That would be beautiful.

Up with Peeps, down with Caps!

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and supported the Peepitals. Most especially a huge thank you to Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy for giving the project the national shine we were aching for. He's by far my favorite voice in hockey, and now I love him even more. Thanks also to Tarik at Capitals Insider for reciprocating a shoutout. Lastly I want to make sure to give respect to Mike Dudolevitch, fervent Caps fan and master diorama constructor, who was a co-creator and instrumental in making the Peepitals come to life.

Now, the Peepitals wouldn't have been possible without a heavy dose of love for the Capitals and Ovechkin in particular. In fact the Washington Capitals are my second favorite team in the league. My playoff plan was to support the Caps full stop if they went further than my beloved Blueshirts, but all my plans have gone to hell. We meet in the first round, and unfortunately my second team is just that, coming in second and golfing early if I have my way (Sorry Mike!)

Not that it's gonna be easy. The Rangers are gonna have to give A game and beyond and may just squeek through. They have a lot of areas that need improvement: power play, scoring, protecting a lead and winning on the road. Luckily, the Rangers managed all these things with aplomb in the very last game of the regular season taking it to Philly in Philly on Sunday. I thought the game didn't mean much originally, but it pocketed Henrik his record 38 win and instilled a lot of confidence in the team. I would have been happy enough with Dubinsky ruining the Flyers shot at finishing the season without giving up a shorthanded goal. His two on one shortie was a beauty, but when the Flyers retook the lead I thought the game was over. After all they had home ice to play for, but my boys Avery and Betts came through with 3rd period tallies. Then there were hugs all around. Now onto DC, and I just hope everyone plays well, and that the Rangers prove to be a little bit better than the Caps.

The Stanley Cup contender of Peeps dioramas!

Or so I thought, until my friend Mike and I were shut out of the Washington Post 2009 Peeps diorama contest with our frankly awesome entry "The Washington Peepitals Roast the Pittsburgh Poultry".

I thought we were guaranteed at least the top 40 by depicting local D.C. heroes crushing their hated PA rivals. Ovechkin was so dominant in the NHL this season, why wouldn't his sugar coated bunny equivalent be as masterful? Could it be the execution? Well, while it might not meet Industrial Light and Magic's standards for a scale model, I think the arena is pretty darn accurate. We even included a shoutout to Tariq El-Bashir's Washington Post blog with an ad for "Peepitals Insider" on the boards!

I think the Post's style section must not have appreciated our hockey theme. How else could they fail to enjoy Mike Green and Semin celebrating Ovechkin Peep's goal in deep while Crosby, Fleury and Gonchar look on in total defeat? Or that the score is already 12-4 despite being the 2nd period?

Or our Boudreau peep? Originally we envisioned him as a hard boiled egg because the coach -while delightful- bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain Mr. Humpty Dumpty, but the Post contest stipulates all characters must be peep depicted. As good citizens and rule adherers we complied- but to no avail.
Curses Washington Post!!!

We're in!

I could watch these two hugging forever, so if they want to put on that show for 2 more months I say, "Go for it!" I'll be watching.

Congratulations boys.

14-6-2

NOTE: This post is over a day late because like an idiot I saved it as a draft!

That's my season subscriber record. Pretty darn good, right? I think Mr. Dolan should spot me a full season come September.

A very enjoyable game last night. My Rangers looked very capable if not quite dominant. 2 by Drury. I wish he always played like this. I had this vision of him during the game morphing from #23 Drury into Mr. Clutch, like his wrestling persona. His catch phrase could be,"It's time for Little League season."

Big cheer went up for Philly beating Florida. A little weird. I like Florida, but not enough to spot them a playoff berth. Now we have to serve a beating to that same Philly. One win and we're in. Love it.

ps. I love Cally. Congrats on his Steven McDonald award.

Evdollie Malkin

This week started out wonderful. Crazy great 3-0 shutout of the Devils (Suck it Marty!) on Monday. All was set for a dominant Ranger sprint to the regular season finish line. Then it all went to hell. Not only did I have to suffer through two infuriating games where my Blueshirts played just well enough to lose, but I was concurrently blighted with dental related Malkin-morphia wherein my cheek puffed out to dangerously unattractive Geno proportions (see left). I should not have pain in my head and heart at the same time it just isn't fair.

Now I'm nearly recovered and 90% back to my usually adorable self (see left with the stupendously handsome -and stitched- Freddie Sjostrom).
I will give shout outs to Callahan who has been playing lights out recently. So proud to have him. And to Sean Avery too, who always gives the fans something to cheer about even in a 1-0 loss. I love that he messed with Thomas during a TV time out, it's just his luck that the refs would see fit to penalize him based on a jumbotron replay. They should be applauding him for his brilliant timing, not sending him to the sin bin well after the fact. The move didn't pan out on Saturday, but may have laid the foundation for a memorable first round of the playoffs. We need some serious points in the next 3 games just to make it, but I feel confident Geno-disease has gone for good from both my face and the ice.

ps. No word on the Peeps contest. I'm torn between being worried and peeved.

breaking records

Henrik has reached 30 wins in his first 4 seasons, the only goalie to do so. Congrats Henrik (eat that Brodeur!) Now he has 32 this season and counting. I would love for him to crack 40 wins but it will be a tough push to nail down 8 of the last 11. I think we can do it though, especially with the "never die" attitude that got them 2 points against Montreal Tuesday. Now I'd like to see the Rangers build on a lead. Perhaps Sunday and Tuesday when I'll be among the Garden faithful? Hands rubbed raw - that's what I want. Tortorella also notched his place in the history books this week when he surpassed that bitch Laviolette as the winningest American coach in the NHL. Congrats Torts. May the wins keep coming and perhaps you'll even be named the Olympic coach. Suck it Laviolette!

I think Brodeur might have accomplished something this week too -maybe giving a speech without congratulating himself on being so awesome? No couldn't be. I'd rather focus on another non-Ranger milestone. Last night Alexander Ovechkin scored 50 goals for the third time in his 4 season career and celebrated with an on-ice mime routine of his stick being too hot to handle. Dorky and wonderful. It's even better that it wasn't his home Arena. Suck it Tampa Bay! I think Ovechkin the Peep may need a separate Hendrix style photo shoot to commemorate the occasion!

things are looking up

3 things have come into my world recently that have drastically improved my quality of life. The most important is this little grey beauty Fiona. She's full of love and fluff and I'm crazy about her.

The next is Susan's Laundromat. For 11 years I've been toting my laundry unreasonable distances to get clean clothes, but through some miracle the long vacant bar two blocks from me was renovated into a spanking new laundry that boldly promised "Over 80 Manchines"!!! You know that got my bubbles blowing. Unfortunately they actually meant washer-dryers and not studly specimens using their washboard abs in the literal sense. But no matter now I can clean my clothes from 6-Midnight without going on a walkabout.

And lastly my beloved hellion Avery came back into the Blueshirt fold and celebrated our first game together by scoring twice on two shots and getting the #1 star. Avery has been a dream in his few games - hitting everything that moves, chatting up opponents, getting dirty in the crease. Oh and he's scored in 3 consecutive games. Love that guy. And apparently so does Torts because he's bumped him up to the first line and it doesn't look like he's gonna be moved down anytime soon. I can't tell you how much I missed his freckly scarred face. MSG postgame is now must see instead of must fast-forward through.

In other Rangers news Henrik has been suffering through an odd malady where he cannot stomach much food and has dizzy spells dating back to March 2nd. Wait, isn't that the day he met J and myself? I think it must be lovesickness. Well, come over, come over Henrik -we'll cure what ails you!

This is what my team should look like!

Oh Sean Avery, how I missed you! Even just your face, but I like all of you in red, white and blue! Welcome back #16.

Alright, so a lot has happened since I last posted, but as far as the Rangers go most of it was terrible. Shanny became a Devil for next to no money. It's a sick joke. We lost too many games to name or remember, although I will say that my Blueshirts managed points in all but one game I attended. Renney and Percy Perry Fun Handsome were fired. I'll miss those well-dressed and well-spoken men. We didn't win a single road game in February!

But there were some highlights - The Adam Graves retirement ceremony was emotional and perfectly orchestrated, Sather granted Sean Avery a second chance, and oh yeah J and I got to meet most of the team at Casino night. You can't photoshop that tipsy glow on both Henrik and myself -it actually happened! Is that my head on his shoulder? Is that taking advantage? Well if I'm gonna molest unsuspecting people it may as well be the Rangers!

Plus we won two in a row after taking it to the Isles last night. Keep it up boys!

ps. Prucha and Dawes, I'll miss you both too! Best of luck in Phoenix.

valiant efforts

All of my men came up a little short this weekend but they (and I) can take some solace in just how well they played. For the Rangers it was getting chances, hitting posts and letting in one tricky deflected goal adding up to a 1-0 loss to Boston. The only thing about the game that stings is Boston had a call-up in net. We should score on that guy.

Roger didn't have it so easy. He was up against his toughest opposition and was nearly the victor. He cried, I cried. I should have known there was no way number 14 could come easy, we both want it too much. Here's a couple of new scenarios. Roger takes the French, bests the record at Wimbledon. Beautiful. I would also sign on for 14. Wimbledon. 15. US Open 2009. That would be tremendous. I believe in Roger and the Rangers.

You can probably guess I was vaguely pulling for the Cards in the Superbowl. Sorry Kurt Warner.