Opening Night October 9th, 2010 Preds v. Ducks

Nanciello (the gnome) had a wonderful time late Saturday night cheering on his team from the bench seats. More accurately, Nanciello had a wonderful time terrorizing the opposing team.

For example, here is Nanciello staring down Saku Koivu, and the rest of the Ducks Bench. 

Now, I shall finish my captions in order. First up, before the game.

Nanciello watches the warm-up before the game, on the Ducks side of the line. 

After the warm-up, but before the players came on the ice, Nanciello prepares to stare down the Ducks during the game.

Nanciello watches the opening face-off.

Poor Corey Perry, he spent roughly 10 or 15 minutes during the beginning of the game having to feel Nanciello's stare. He was the Ducks player that most frequently forced himself to stare at Nanciello, therefore in my opinion was the most intimidated. Considering he did not sit next to Nanciello again in the game, I think Nanciello may have scared him off.

See, he's leaving.

My favorite shot from the evening, though it doesn't contain Nanciello.

This guy is leaning away from Nanciello, maybe he got scared off too.

Nanciello stares down a Duck in the penalty box. He did not start the game doing this, but the first power play he did was the one where the Preds scored. 

In this picture, you can kind of see some Ducks in the penalty box, with Nanciello staring them down.

Another, more zoomed out shot.

Ryan Getzlaf may have been the duck who tried to slam the door hard into Nanciello's wall in an attempt to knock him off. May not have been him, but whoever it was failed miserably. 

Nanciello watching a face-off in the Ducks zone.

Nanciello after the game.

Post game celebration.

Nanciello poses in front of Sullivan's interview for this lovely shot.

 My Recap:
In the first, Rinne looked pretty good, though there were a few scary moments. Preds led the shot count 16-9, but no score. Franson, Weber, Lombardi, and Wilson all had two shots in the first period for the Preds. Selanne and Blake both had 2 for the Ducks. Bouillon took on Bodie in a fight of not even close to being equal size. The Ducks ended the period taking three penalties (big surprise after Friday isn't it) and the Preds took two (well, at least the PK worked). The Ducks won 53% of the face-offs in the first, none on the PP. The Preds won their only faceoff during the PP. Hornqvist won a face off, which now looking at it really surprises me. O'Reilly didn't. The remaining periods won't have as in depth of an analysis because I don't have the separated stats for them.


In the second, Nashville started off with their first regular season first goal of the game, but unfortunately, the Ducks tied it up soon after. That didn't matter much though, because Sullivan capitalized on a power play opportunity, giving the Preds a 2-1 lead. Hornqvist had a beautiful (well, ugly but beautiful in my mind) goal about 8 minutes later. It made me really happy and Hiller really wasn't expecting it, which made it more awesome. Weber got his second assist of the night on that play.

In the third, Pekka Rinne GOT HURT. It was horrible, especially because we could really see what was happening. It took them FOR EVER to get everyone off of him. There was a spat in front of the goal afterward, and negating penalties were awarded. Rinne tried to play a minute, but looked slow, really slow, so it was probably a good thing Lindback came in and he went to get treatment. Lindback managed to survive, and drew a penalty not long after coming on the ice. It was Perry, I think Nanciello got to him. The Preds managed to score again before the game was out, by Legwand (one of the people we were with said there was no way he would score tonight, he was wrong). A very comfortable 4-1 lead, which was good considering Lindback didn't have time to prepare. But he didn't need it, the puck rarely came near him, and he stopped the few shots that did.





Other notes:

This game was awesome!!! Especially to have the bench seats for.
O'Brein looked good on the ice, I was personally amazed he made it through the night without any penalties, a step in the right direction.
I loved the fight between the Cube and Bodie. I also loved the 8 inch height difference considering the Cube appeared to win the fight.
Apparently I must refer to Hiller as "the golden lamb" now, I just now realize how well this fits him.

More to come after the next game, though the pictures will never again be as awesome.

Nanciello at (well after) the Meet the Team Party on October 5, 2010

The following pictures will show some of the signatures on Nanciello after the Meet the Team party. Based on the reactions I received upon presenting the players with a gnome to sign, I can proudly claim that I am one of the first to get a Predators gnome signed. Also, if Wade Belak suddenly scores 15 goals and credits his lucky gnome, I am the one to thank for inspiring him to get a lucky gnome in the first place.

    Upon Nanciello's back, you will find Wade Belak's signature. He was not the first to sign the gnome, but was the first to not be freaked out by it. The most freaked out by a gnome award goes to..... Jerred Smithson. He was the first to sign it, Belak was second. I guess it takes a good sense of humor to full appreciate the value of a Predators gnome. For his reaction only, I hope that Belak does stick around this season and is not immediately replaced by O'Brein (I almost typed O'reilly, oops).

In this wonderful photo, on the bottom right corner of Nanciello's hat you will find the signature of Jerred Smithson. As I have previously stated he was the most alarmed at being presented a gnome to sign. The curly thing that goes sideways up Nanciello's hat is supposed to be Martin Erat's signature. He wins the Most Likely to Struggle When Figuring Out Where to Sign a Gnome Award. He took at least twice as long as everyone else to decide, and was not one of the last people to sign it. He also wins the Most Interesting Angle of a Signature on a Gnome award. In between the two signatures is another that I cannot read, at all. However is responsible for this one wins the Most Illegible Signature on A Gnome Award considering I can't even make out a number.

More of the same.

J.P. Dumont's signature. I don't really have any more comments about it.

I can't remember who signed this here, and I can't figure out who #12 is either. I assume it is Parent since he got traded today and we didn't go to Andersson or Sulzer's table. Anyone know? Whoever this is wins the Most Creative When Choosing a Spot to Sign a Gnome Award. If it was Parent, I'm not really sure how he sees past his hair.

So I feel like I am missing some, so I will go back and review my gnome. I'm hoping he's plastic so I don't break him but I can't really tell.

If you have never gotten a gnome signed before, you are really missing out. It is impossible to discribe the hilarious reactions you get when instead of presenting a person a jersey/piece of clothing/paper like most other people, you set a gnome down in front of them, giving no instructions until they start to struggle. Or ask you about it.

On a side note, Anders Lindback was more excited to sign a Sweden jersey than Patric Hornqvist was. I'm still figuring that one out. At least he didn't try to speak to me in Swedish like people did at the Olympics. Oh well...

On a another side note, the people in front of us at the Meet the Team party tried asking Kostitsyn a question a few times, without a response, or even acknowledgment, before Suter (who was sitting next to him) told them he doesn't speak English. Is this true? If it is, it could explain a lot of his issues.  

Next up, Nanciello at the Bench seats during the home opener Oct. 9 vs. Anaheim. (Yay extreme brithday gifts and hopefully I don't forget him... or a camera.)

The Beginning...

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the Nashville Predators Organization in any way.

Somewhere, months ago, someone jokingly featured the Nashville Predators Gnome as the must have for any Preds fan in a blog. Unfortunately, I took them seriously.

I did not purchase the gnome until recently, however, and could not come up with a relevant name for him. So now, he is named Nanciello.

Throughout the season, Nanciello will appear at many Preds home games, and I will post the pictures of him at the games here. These pictures may or may not be followed up with my comments on the game, event, ect that Nanciello has appeared at. Hopefully my pictures of him will get better too, then again, using a camera meant for underwater pictures in the dark probably wasn't the best idea.

To start it off, look forward to pictures of Nanciello after the Meet the Team party, during which I had quite a few players sign him.