Random post-game notes

I don't usually post after games, but tonight I will. Expect some cuts to the roster tomorrow as the team heads out on a road game. Jordan LaVallee won't be one of them though, he's playing in FLA. Ondrej Pavelec certainly seems probable, given that Kari Lehtonen will play.

I didn't get to talk to one of the players I wanted to after the game because he changed and ran out so quickly, but I did talk to one of the Zamboni drivers, who very kindly walked me to the MARTA station. I'm sure he didn't know he would be making a blog appearance tonight. Anyway, I asked how the ice was, and he said much better tonight than Saturday night. They had just put it in on Thursday so it hadn't had time to really set up then. Now it has, and it's in regular-season shape he said. You could tell that was true because many fewer players fell this game. He also showed me where the guy fell to his death after a WWE event at the arena a couple weeks ago. I had been curious about that, so I actually was interested. He jumped off the walkway that goes from Centennial garage to the arena underneath the road, and then fell from lower down right where you go into MARTA at ground level.

My missed player tonight made me think of Mike Stathopoulos, the fastest-dressing player I've ever encountered. Stats played for the Gladiators a couple years ago. The Gwinnett arena is not quite as big as Philips, so we usually walk down the stairs to Coach Pyle's office after games (down three levels). Stats would be showered and walking to his car by the time we got down there, which had to be like three minutes. I don't know how he even got wet in the shower in that amount of time. He played for an opposing team the next year -- and it got even more unbelievable. He would be showered, changed, and have his bag packed and on his shoulder headed out to the bus by the time arrived. He was a fast skater, so maybe he just did everything in life really fast, I don't know. But he has definitely set the standard for how to make a quick escape.