Finally, Frozen Fury 9 has come and gone. Now, I’m anxious for the real season to start!
During the weekend, we were able to get down to the MGM Grand Arena and wait outside for the players to come out after the morning skate. We didn’t have a Sharpie (bad planning) but we did have our small digital camera. As a result, I took Annette’s picture with Craig Conroy, Alexander Frolov, Tim Gleason, Sean Avery, and Eric Belanger. Rob Blake and Mattias Norstrom walked by but we didn’t get their picture. A few of interesting things about the experience. First, every player was gracious and friendly. No one was turned down for an autograph or picture. Second, Avery walked out with Norstrom and Blake. It seems that Avery now has two dads since the Kings have purposely put avery between Blake and Norstrom in the locker room. Maybe Avery will avoid the controversy this year and just play hard. Third, Craig Conroy has to be the happiest and niciest of all the Kings. He was all smiles for hte picture and really seemed in the moment. By this, I mean that for the 15 seconds or so it took to take the picture, he seemed focused on what Annette was saying. Annette commented that he had healed up nicely from last season. He understood what she was saying and said it was a rough two weeks for him. Annette was refering to the weeks when Conroy had taken a couple of pucks off the face and had a bloody/bruised eye last year and looked very scary. Lastly, it was strange when a couple players came out and no one recornized them. One of them was Sopel who was only on the team for the last 20 games last season. Overall, the players were fantastic. I wonder if baseball, football, or basketball players would be so gracious or even have the time. I’ll post a couple of the pictures later.
The MGM Grand, where the game was and where we stayed, was unusually expensive. Maybe it is just me but when I go to Las Vegas, I expect my food to be cheap. The buffet at the Grand was $21 a person on Saturday and the coffee shop had $12 entrees for breakfast. At home, I can get breakfast for less than $10. Nathans hotdogs cost us $20 for a fast food dinner. Next time, I’m staying downtown. =)
The gambling in Vegas was horrible. We lost lots of money on video poker, craps and slots. Fortunately, we made some of back on a good streak at Blackjack on the way out of town at Whiskey Pete’s.