Friday, December 5, 2008

Know Your Blogger: Maalivahti of Fire Wagon Hockey

It's difficult to categorize Fire Wagon Hockey. I suppose it's officially a Thrashers blog, but the blog's proprietress Maalivahti is notoriously more a fan of individual players than of teams. Nothing wrong with that, says the Chronicle, especially since she's a fan of some of the Chronicle's favorites.

Of all the players in Maali's shrine, no one has a bigger altar than Kari Lehtonen. Her name, "Maalivahti," is in fact Finnish for goaltender, and she seems to have a strong interest in all things Finnish, including the language (which she can speak and write!). Finnish is only one of the foreign languages she speaks though, as our recent post-Montreal game conversation in French proved. At any rate, FWH is an excellent source of crazed and passionate hockey commentary. Your Chronicle editor recently managed to get a glimpse into makes Mrs. Lehtonen tick:

Why do you blog about hockey?

because my friends who didn't like hockey got sick of reading about kari lehtonen on my regular blog. :)

What's your favorite hockey team? How long have you been a fan, any key experiences/memories with the team, etc. etc.

thrashers, and also the bruins. not very long for either. the thrash, since kari was drafted. the bruins, off and on most of my life, but really since they signed savvy. aaaand, no. but i've also had a lot of favourite teams, due to the love-for-team being tied to the love-for-player.

Favorite hockey player of all time? (we'll accept up to a 3-way tie here)

luc robitaille, mike richter and patrick wahhhhhhhhh

Favorite current NHL player? (ditto)

kari lehtonen, jason smith, marc savard

Would you consider yourself a fan of other sports? If so, which ones? Favorite teams in those sports?

i like the us football. redskins. d'as it.

What's the biggest problem with today's NHL?

cost of going to a game. glaring lack of parity in terms of talent, even with the cap. lack of media and marketing in non-traditional hockey markets *coughatlantacough*. i can go on here for days, buddy.

Is there any hockey-related issue about which you've changed your mind? For example: Visors, the instigator rule, the merits of this or that player, etc.

i like the shootouts now. i still don't like them as game-deciding factors, but they're entertaining as hell. i think it's bullshit that it dictates the game's winner though, because you're effectively negating all the hard work of the defencemen, and also the losing goalie.

What are your favorite hockey blogs?

i don't read too many. my girl's sabres blog, http://mysafetyisharvard.blogspot.com or um... well you guys, puck daddy, thrashers411, illegal curve. i dig the ice man. i don't have a lot of time to read a lot of blogs.

Favorite music?

well that was random. my musical tastes are eclectic. five random recently downloaded songs on itunes: blur by britney spears, how we do by the game, ghetto rock by mos def, next go round by nickelback, falling by the wayside by people in planes. (Ed.- Your Chronicle editor LOVES "Ghetto Rock" by Mos Def and wishes it were played at Thrashers games)

Favorite movies?

transformers, accepted, bad boys 2, uh. i'm not good at remembering movie names.

Books?

i don't have a lot of time to read lately. but mystery/suspense stuff.

Teevee?

i do not watch it live, i buy it on dvd. but ghost hunters, ncis, entourage, um. others? i don't watch a lot of tv either.

Who do you think is the most underrated player in the NHL?

marc savard :) or, you know, KARI LEHTONEN. see what happened to savvy when he got an awesome supporting cast?

3 comments:

Tiffany said...

i can READ finnish, and i can sort of write it, although not well. but i speak fluent french and russian, and some italian and spanish as well. :)

The Short Handed Mole said...

I'm trying to pick up the Russian. How did you achieve this? Classes?

Anonymous said...

Maali ROCKS!!!