Saturday, November 17, 2007

Gladiators 11-16-07: Stingrays and changing over the arena

Chad Denny is back on his second assignment. He played on defense this time, paired with Dinos Stamoulis. That's the second pairing according to the depth chart coach Jeff Pyle has on a white board in his office. The fact that Pyle actually rearranged the board means that it's likely to stay that way for a while, although there was a bit of tinkering during the game. Ryan Mahrle, normally a defenseman, played wing and Pyle said he did a great job of it. Jamie Milam also moved to forward. Andy Brandt moved to the top line with Hamilton and Nesbitt.

Below are a few photos taken tonight. The first is Stringray Travis Morin, a Capitals prospect. He's pretty easily the team's best player, and shouldn't be with them long. The caption here should be something like "Swish, swish."


OK, all done.


Rookie Paul McIlveen, who led the team in points coming into the game. I think he is saying something like "what kind of pass was that?"

Myles Stoesz and Grant McNeill (who looks really good and poised) get into a dust-up after a hit along the boards.


Off to the penalty box.


Tonight I wrote the game story for the Gwinnett Daily Post so I wasn't watching in my usual way. Writing game stories may seem easy, but it is much harder than it looks. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but it is challenging and I enjoy a good challenge once in a while.

I talked to Turps afterwards for it, since he played well (was the first star of the game). He was barefooted and I had 3" platform heels on, so he didn't seem as tall as usual (ha!). Heading into the game I didn't know it was going to be him I would talk to, but having said that I do try to match up my heel height with player height so as better to meet eye to eye -- it makes for a better interview. Just a little trick of the trade. I also try to avoid wearing red when I go talk to people, especially ones I don't know, since it's supposed to make people angry subconsciously and that's the opposite of what you want. All these things to think about.

Writing the game story also meant I was there longer than usual afterwards. How long do the press stick around after games? Long enough for half the insulation flooring to go down...


This crew has this jigsaw puzzle down to a science.


Forklift.


The attack twice end looks quite different just an hour after the game.

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