Game 6

Dear Hockey Blog Diary,

Yesterday I had the most amazing day off between games.  I got up in the morning and decided to do a little shopping, nothing too excited needed coffee and pizza toppings from the grocery store.  Then I had to hit up the liquor store--YAY BOOZE.

Around noon all my favorite girl friends started arriving, we had a day of crafty goodness planned.  While we worked on player scrapbooks we talked about relationships and ate cupcakes.  For dinner we had a build-your-own pizza arrangement which, by the way, was brilliantly delicious.

Then the booze started flowing, let the sleepover begin!  Sadly, there were no pillow fights, no fingernail painting, and no sharing and comparing the latest Lisa Frank stickers.  We did, however, end up playing "Hot Poker"  (aka "Who shaves their balls?").  It's what should be a junior high game where you pick four guys, assign them a suit then ask the "dealer" various life questions--Who is the best marriage material, who would be the best dad, who shaves their balls, and so on--then the dealer deals the cards in some magic way (I tried to watch but was drunk) and your questions are answered by which suit comes up in the shuffle.  I'm not going to say who got what results for their questions, but just know it was the most hilarious fun I've had in a long time, I freakin' love these girls.

HOLY SHIT THIS IS A HOCKEY BLOG WHAT IS THIS CRAP???

Granted, I'm not a paid sports writer or anything, but srsly, it's a hockey blog and there's a game today.  A pretty big one.  If the Americans win they clinch the Western Conference title and go on to face the Calgary Hitmen for the WHL championship.  Yeah, that's a big deal.

"Every game has been outstanding hockey," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "(Today) will be no different. We will have to have our best game. Everyone has had an impact in this series. Against a team like Vancouver, you don't have success unless you get it from everyone."

"Looking at our team on paper at the start of the year, we had no draft picks, just guys who are willing to work hard," said Tri-City forward Brendan Shinnimin, who leads the Americans with 20 points in the playoffs. "We are a team that could contend for the championship with no big names and no big draft picks. The hard work has gotten us here."

"It's great to have a goalie like Drew to back you up when you make mistakes," Shinnimin said. "We have total confidence in both of our goalies (including Alex Pechurskiy). They have gotten us here so far."  (Herald)

Well huh, will you look at that?  Gathering quotes from players and coaches on the day off before a big game.  Crazy.

It's a 5 o'clock start today so liveblog will get going around 4:45, come on in and bring the funny.  GO AMS!