Let’s talk about the Atlanta Thrashers’ annual Casino Night — always a spectacular event for a worthy cause, and Goddess Kaatiya and I go every year. While many teams have charity events, I must say the Thrashers always put on a night to remember.
The event was held at the Opera House on a record chilly Atlanta night, yet it took no time to warm up as the festivities began. Goddess Kaatiya had brought a game program for our friend Tatiana whom we are going to visit in Moscow next week, with the intent of getting the Russians plus a few others to sign.
As much as I wanted to stop by Toby Enstrom’s table (in fact it took a while for it to fill up) tradition dictated that we stop by Slava Kozlov’s table first. Plus, I wanted to save the best for last in Toby. Slava remembered me as the crazy woman who was learning Russian, and we actually got to exchange a couple of phrases. Last year, he let the assistant deal but was determined this year to do it himself. As always, he was incredibly kind, signed a personalized message to Tatiana and gave me a yellow chip! After chatting with an apparent Russian friend of his at the table for a few minutes, I moved on to find my goal for the year – Maxim Afinogenov.
The ever serious Slava Kozlov © 2010, Geneen Pipher and HockeyGoddesses.com. All Rights Reserved.
You have to understand, as a speed skater of many, many years, I love Max and his speed. He’s so amazing to watch, and I’ve admired him for a long time. He is an incredibly sweet, genuinely friendly man, and had a smile on his face the entire night. He truly enjoyed himself and you can tell he’s having he time of his life playing for Atlanta. When I told him we were leaving for Moscow next weekend to see some KHL games, he got excited and told me I had to go see Moscow Dynamo because “They’re my team!” He was more than happy to sign the program, and humored me by listening to me make no sense in Russian. He played until they closed his table, keeping both men and women alike entertained.
The lovely Maxim Afinogenov. © 2010, Geneen Pipher and HockeyGoddesses.com. All Rights Reserved.
Next stop was Nik Antropov. Of course, his table was fully of young females batting their eyes at him, yet he gladly wrote a personalized message to Tatiana.
We stopped to chat just a bit with John Anderson, Evander Kane and get a pic with Boris “healthy scratch” Valabik and Johan Hedberg, who seemed much more relaxed this year.
Finally, we got to Toby’s table. You have understand, Toby is my favorite Thrashers player because a) I love Swedes, b) I love Sweden, c) I’m a fellow defenseman and d) He’s so damn adorable.
Unfortunately, as last year, we got to his table very late in the game. The goddesses had consumed much vodka and the tables were close to closing. Still, he was very sweet and I told him I may be making it to Stockholm or Gothenburg to coach hockey next summer so we talked a bit about Sweden. Next year, Toby, I promise to start with your table!
Toby Enstrom and Goddess Sasha. © 2010, Geneen Pipher and HockeyGoddesses.com. All Rights Reserved.
At that point, time was running out. Ilya Kovalchuk had long closed his table and like the wonderful husband he is had gone upstairs to be with his wife whom is 7 months pregnant. They left a bit early, but I was able to snag him and get his to sign for Tatiana. I refrained from begging him to stay in Atlanta – we had already made half a dozen signs doing that exact thing for the game against the Caps the night before.
As the night came to a close, I ran into Anssi Salmela. I told him I liked his hair and he got very excited, telling me he dyed it and that it was naturally lighter. The ensuing conversation was … interesting. And we’ll leave it at that. I did get a nice picture of us though.
Goddess Sasha and Anssi Salmela. © 2010, Goddess Sasha and HockeyGoddesses.com. All Rights Reserved.
I must say, the mood wasn’t as jovial as last year. With Kovalchuk’s contract still far from being signed the future of the team is tenuous. It also may very well be Slava Kozlov’s last year in the league, which is also left us feeling a bit melancholy.
Regardless, I’ll be back next year. The Avalanche don’t have a casino night (one of the few teams in the league that doesn’t) and really, the Thrasher’s event is top notch.
On a side note, I had considered handing out my business cards in case any of the guys were interested in a trainer, but I managed to only give out one and that was just to use the back to write on. It seemed like it might not be an appropriate venue to push my services.
Next week, Moscow! Yep, Goddess Sasha and Goddess Kaatiya are going to Moscow to catch some KHL games. Look for live Tweets from the games, as well as blogging.
До свидания!
Photos: Slava Kozlov, Maxim Afinogenov and Tobias Enstrom by Goddess Kaatiya. Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved. Anssi Salmela by Goddess Sasha. Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.
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