Sabretooth's House

Bye STH!

2009-11-29T08:38:00.000-05:00

by Anne

Well, here is the final post in Sabretooth's House.

The madcap hilarity will continue on over at Queen City Sabres Blog. Join me, won't you?

Clicky

Come on over!

Schenner in a Kings uniform

2009-11-26T19:46:00.002-05:00

by Anne

While I attempt to digest dinner, I just need to toss out this exciting bit of information:

Tonight, 2009 1st round draft pick Brayden Schenn will be making his debut for the Los Angeles Kings.

He signed a one-day amateur contract but can sign an entry level deal and stick around for a few more games if need be.

I was contemplating falling asleep before tonight's game but now that Greener is on a goal-scoring streak... ok, maybe the start of one.... ok I know... and Baby Schenner is going to play in his first game, I'll try to stay awake.

Sidenote: I didn't know that teams could do that with the one day contract thingy.

Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know you're Canadian, but wooo!

I'm sure Luke is pumped as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T14:09:00.000-05:00

by Anne

Hey y'all. I'm ridiculously tired from the good times last night, so here's a list.

Things I'm thankful for:

The Buffalo Sabres, even if they can't score a goal to save their mother-effing lives.

The Los Angeles Kings, who won last night 3-1 over Edmonton

David Backes deciding to be David Backes last night and having an awesome night for my fantasy team. 1G, 1A +2, 10 FOW, 6 SOG, 2 Hits, 1 blocked shot. :)

My girlfriends and guy friends who I went out with last night because I had a totally awesome drunk time.

Matt Greene scoring his first of the season, the game-winner, on the road against his old team. I wish he'd waited until I was watching, but I'll take it.

All that usual stuff like family and friends. I have both in abundance and it's fantastic

The refs for ejecting Ovechkin for his hit on Patty. Not because I thought he really deserved it, but because maybe they're going to do something about hits to the head/from behind now. Maybe. They're really touchy about Ovechkin v. the Sabres, huh?

This quote:

"For a guy like me, who scores once a year, to say that I was picking my spots, is way more than an overstatement.”

Excuse me Greener, you scored TWICE last year...

And lastly, for all you people who read this blog and will read the new one (that starts being the only updated blog tomorrow. I hope your team wins, your favorites play well, your families are healthy and happy and you have all that you need in life.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Olympic Teams of Hottness

2009-11-24T13:27:00.001-05:00

by Anne

An executive decision has been made by me that it takes long enough to make two rosters (east and west) for the All-Star teams that trying to compile three will make me go insane.

Therefore, the Steve Yzerman and Brian Burke in me have decided to make one six-man line-up for each country (USA, Canada and Team Everywhere Else) and have you all vote on which team takes the Bronze Silver and Gold medals of hottness.

Those will be posted probably around Christmas time which means I have a lot of soul-searching to do and hot pictures to examine. There is the chance that I may need your help to make some tough close-calls. Therefore, you should follow me on Twitter, as I'll post those questions there. My tweets are protected because I have students whom I don't want following me, but just request and I'll add.

Wow, life's tough. :)

Also, remember that the new blog is Queen City Sabres Blog. Starting Black Friday there will be no new posts posted at Sabretooth's House. The hilarity and goodtimes (including the hotties voting) will continue over at QCSB. As of right now, all the posts are cross-posted.

Six of one, Half dozen of the other

2009-11-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

by Anne

In the last three years the Sabres "Top 6" has looked like this:

1. Vanek

2. Connolly

3. Pominville

4. Roy

5 & 6. Stafford, MacArthur, or maybe Hecht. Someone's hurt? Move up Paille. No luck? Ok let's toss Goose up there. Not working? Afinogenov? Kotalik? Maybe Mair for a shift or two? Nah, let's scrap it and start over.

Basically, other than spots 1-4, things have been rather jumbled since Drury and Briere skipped town.

However, this season, the top 6 have basically remained consistent. The only differences were when Stafford was coming back from injury he was testing things out on the 4th line so he wouldn't hurt himself again.

Pominville, Roy, Connolly

Vanek, Stafford, MacArthur

------------------------------------

Grier, Ellis, Hecht,

Kennedy, Kaleta, Gaustad

+Paille or Mair, occasionally Paetsch

Looking at the line-ups for the past few games, you can't really disagree about that line of demarcation. No one's crossed it for more than a few shifts except Stafford, but he was an exception. Also, when a top sixer was hurt, instead of moving up a bottom sixer, Lindy brought in Ennis. I like this plan so far. I'm not sure why "Tennis the Menace" (thank you, Drew Stafford) wasn't brought up for Saturday's game instead of playing with eleven forwards.

In these recent goal scoring struggles, does Lindy leave his top 6 and bottom 6 in tact and just try to kick them into high gear? I'm much happier with the way the boys below that line have played. Does one of them get rewarded for that? Who would get bumped down? If any change were to be made, I think I'd propose switching out Pommer or Vanek and Hecht or maybe Royzie and Kennedy, even if only for practice. Maybe get Gaustad up with Stafford and MacArthur.

Lindy shook up the lines in practice today, but he didn't switch between the groups. The top 6 were still the top 6 and the bottom were still the bottom.

Will Lindy make any switches? Probably not, but if he needs to send a message to a top 6 forward, creating such clear groupings will help him to send those types of messages down the line, even if not right now. If a top 6 player spends just one practice with the bottom 6, that should send a clear message, even without changing the line-ups for a game. It's a mental thing. Mindset is just as important in this game as conditioning. I like it.

How we gonna paaaaaayyy...

2009-11-22T01:35:00.001-05:00

by Anne

I didn't watch Saturday's Sabres' game. I was seeing a musical about people who have foreclosed on their homes called "mortgage." Or something like that. They all seemed to have AIDS and all the girls were in knee high boots with crazy curly hair. I'm not sure, but that sounds like me on a typical Saturday night. Wait, I don't have AIDS. Not that there's anything wrong with having... nevermind.

ANYWAY, the point is I didn't watch the game and henceto therefore happenstantially I can pretend it went anyway I want.

Here's my take:

The Sabres had a COMMANDING 3-0 lead CHARGING UNRELENTINGLY into the third period. Patrick Lalime had already stopped 34968734.4 shots, all by Jason Spezza with two somehow by Dany Heatley all the way in San Jose Theodore.

THEN, as if by BLACK MAGIC, Chris Neil and Jarkko "Chompy Times" Ruutu held Lalime hostage and locked Miller in a beer portable and the Sabres were forced to play the entire third period with NO GOALTENDER.

THEREFORE, Myers, Tallinder, Rivet, Lydman, Sekera, Perreault, Korab, Barnaby, McKee, Mogilny, and TSUJIMOTO combined to block an additional 5386723 and 2/3 shots. HOWEVER, those evil RAT BASTARD Ottawa Senators managed to fire off 5386728 and 2/3 shots and they won 5-0. Or wait, I guess it was 5-3 with the Sabres 3-0 lead EATEN ALIVE.

ANARCHY AND CHAOS AND PANDEMONIUM SHALL RAIN DOWN FROM THE STREETS OF BUFFALO.

This is how I choose to believe WHY WON'T MY V KEY WORK PROPERLY that game went.

In a related story, the Ottawa Senators have released their new uniform design:

I JUST REALIZED THAT MOST OF THE SENATORS I REALLY HATE ARE ON OTHER TEAMS.

Whatevs.

Good night.

The Kings lost too.

They suck.

MAYBE IT'S ME? Why do all my teams SUCK and then alternately ROCK sometimes? I can't take the swinging of the pendulum, BOYS. WIN MORE.

I wish the Sabres were more like my fantasy team. We are kicking ass and TAKING NAMES. What does that expression even mean V KEY START WORKING ALL THE TIME PLEASE VVVVVVVV.

Yes, I am intoxicated.

Oscar has some thoughts: lp.tjuvb jnhb

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Good night

Another Snoozer for the Sabres; Thriller for the Canucks

2009-11-21T11:21:00.001-05:00

by Anne

Once again, no one stepped up and took control of the game. Well, someone did; Patrice Bergeron did. For those keeping score, Patrice Bergeron does NOT play for the Buffalo Sabres.

Whatever, I don't have much to say about that game. Good job, Goose. Cookies for Goose, and for Staffy. Staffy is hurt with a bone bruise. That sounds unbelievably unpleasant. Does this mean Tyler Ennis makes the return trip? Is Gerbe healthy yet? Here's hoping one of them is ready!

Tonight they play the Senators. I'll be at a show, so I won't see it. Too bad.

The Canucks won last night. The first period started out pretty darn rocky, with the Avs jumping out to an early two goal lead. After cutting the deficit to one in the second period, the Canucks scored four more unanswered goals in the third to take a 5-2 victory. Their last game, ten years ago it feels, was an 8-2 victory over the Avs. Wooo! Big Bear scored a PP goal on a nifty little deflection:

They may have fallen to #3 in my heart but I still loves them.

Especially Big Bear.

Especially goals like that.

Please don't go six days between games again, I don't like that and neither does my fantasy team.

Nothing to do with the game

But how adorable are Henrik Sedin and his son?

Other things:

Danny Briere and M-E Vlasic fought last night. Yes, you read that right. I... I'm so confused. I wish I had seen it live. It's just so bizarre:

The best part is the looks of disbelief on their teammates' faces.

Also, I don't think any punches were thrown, but gloves were off.

hahahahahaha fantastic

Good job, Pickles!

You don't let Danny Briere attempt to put you in a headlock!

Also in that game, Dany Heatley had his second hat trick of the season. This pleases me for two reasons: It was against the Flyers and he's a Sunny Hedgehog Enchanter. Yessss.

Tonight the Sabres play in Ottawa (barf), the Kings host the Flames and the Pens are in Atlanta. Hopefully I'll be able to watch some bitchin' highlight reel goals scored by the Sabres and Pens during the intermissions of the Kings game tonight! They're all gonna win, right? Please, Sabres? I don't know what's in the kool-aid you drink before Senators games, but they're not freaky zombie people, out to eat your brains and such. Especially now that Heatley's gone. Please win? Thanks.

ETA: The Kings game is at 4:00. Good thing I looked at the schedule again!

Worst Game Day Ever

2009-11-20T12:08:00.000-05:00

by Anne

I'd love to be able to write a whole blog post about tonight's game against the Bruins and them being a divisional opponent and what not. Here's all I can think of to say:

Lydman in, Sekera out

The Bruins played last night all the way to a shootout in the empty cave known as Philips arena in Atlanta, GA; they didn't skate this morning

Tim Thomas is hurt with a "minor undisclosed injury" according to Bruins' head coach Claude Julien.

I have to leave early to help everyone in the Arena put up signs to point Danny to the right locker room

But Drew and Clarke and Paul and Adam and Hank and Ryan and Thomas and Tim and Derek and Jason and Jochen and Steve and Nathan and Mike and Other Tim and Matt and Pat and Craig and Toni and Reggie and other Pat and Chris and That Big Guy are in THAT room.

Yes Danny, I know, but you go with them now:

Oh. Ok. See ya later.

:'(

Hero of the Game

2009-11-19T18:39:00.002-05:00

by Anne

All Sabres fans are well aware that Ryan Miller is the hero of the Sabres roster. I don't need to go into anymore "night after night" platitudes and blah blah blah because we all know what he does.

However, on those nights when the Sabres find themselves down a goal or two heading into the third, who do they rely on to get them those clutch goals?

Uhhhh? Vanek? Not at this pace. Connolly? Maybe. Royzie? He's too busy losing clutch faceoffs. MacArthur or Stafford? Occasionally. Pominville? Not this season.

When you can go through your top 6 and confidently say that none of them are heroic, reliable goal scorers at this point in the game, you have a problem.

Last night at the Arena while I was changing to go home, the score was still 3-2. I found myself standing in the lockerroom thinking this sentence: "Ok _____ time for some magic." And it occurred to me that I have no idea who could fill in that blank.

Last season Vanek offered heroics, and we've been able to rely on him a lot in the last few years to do that. This season has been slow going and no one else has stepped up to offer that boost, that feeling of "Don't worry, get him the puck and things will happen."

All of the boys in the top 6 can score goals, and they all have been (some later than others, ROYZIE). But none of them are are go-to goal scorer. That keeps the other team's defense guessing, they can never bee 100% sure who's going to be that player with the quick trigger. Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Kopitar, Nash, Iginla, Zetterberg, Kovalchuk, all over the NHL there are teams with that one player or more than one sometimes. You keep that guy covered at all times. The balanced attack makes for a confused opponent, but it also leaves us without the game-saving goal scorer.

Miller can stop the pucks from going in (most of the time) but he can't score the goals for them. Someone needs to kick it up a notch or 10. Not just someone, but a lot of someones.

12-5-1 is still a good record through 17 games, let's not kid ourselves. This team isn't completely perfect. It's got a lot of really solid elements, but now that they've gone through their feeling things out phase, it'll be nice to see them kick it into that next gear they should be able to kick it into.

They need to push harder and drive harder and score more. Who's going to do it?

What the HELL was THAT?/Blog news

2009-11-18T23:28:00.000-05:00

by Anne

I have very little to say about that game. When I left the Arena it was 3-2. When I got home and realized it was 6-2, I was pretty sure I was misreading something. I was not.

I didn't pay attention to that game because there was lots of shenanigans going on in the 300 level so I can't offer any pithy insights other than: they should've played better in the last two minutes.

So after much deliberation, I've decided to create a new blog. I've been thinking about it for a while but I've finally decided to do it. This blog will be just mine, that's the biggest difference.

S(h)ara and I hate each other's guts so she's not joining me on the new blog.

Ok, the first part of that sentence is not true. S(h)ara and I are still BFFLFAE (Best Friends For Like Forever and Ever) but we are parting ways in the blogging world.

SO. Without further ado: please to be updating your Google Reader or Blogs You Follow or Bookmark entitled "BEST BLOGGER EVER" and add:

Queen City Sabres Blog

Since I've finally fully committed to the LA Kings being my 2nd favorite team, the Kings will be getting a little more love, particularly by being included in the banner of the new blog title.

All the posts from Sabretooth's House have been posted to Queen City Sabres so you won't have to look far to revel in past hilarity and carryings-on. Basically it looks exactly like Sabretooth's House with only minor modifications.

I'm going to crosspost until Thanksgiving and then I'll make the full switch on Black Friday, just in time for the holidays.

Anne! Anne! Anne!

Kin I come too?

Yes, you're all coming with me, Danny.

Where we goin'?

The other blog, Greener, weren't you paying attention?

I WILL OVERTHROW THAT BLOG AS WELL.

Whatever, Evil Timmy.

You HAVE to bring us.

LOOK HOW MUCH FUN WE ARE.

Hordi, SO'B, just because I love the Kings more, doesn't mean I don't love you Canucks dearly, you're just not as lovable at the moment, I'm sorry.

I'm ready to go.

Yes, Iggy, yes you are.

Join me, won't you?

New Blog?

2009-11-18T01:14:00.000-05:00

by Anne

I've been kicking around the idea of starting a new blog. I'm tired of the name of this blog, mostly because it's not original and it belongs to something that already exists.

It's not as though this just started bothering me. We've been writing in this thing since January of 2008.

I've mentioned this before but I'm more serious about it now. I wouldn't want to delete this blog and lose the over 900 entries that have been written over the last almost two years. I've already exported it to put it up somewhere else with a different name.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not going anywhere, I love writing in this goofy blog and I won't stop blogging any time soon, I'm just looking for a new venue. We shall see what happens.

Would you guys follow my ramblings to a new URL?

Danny will come too:

Where we goin'?

I don't know Danny, we'll see what happens!

Ah, Dick, We Hardly Knew Ye

2009-11-17T15:18:00.003-05:00

By S(h)ara

Ok, maybe the title isn't all true, but it sounded catchy.

Dick Jauron was fired today as head coach of the Bills. I'm sure you're all surprised as I am. The story just broke, but I found a (very) brief article online. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bills-hand-jauron-pink-slip-report/article1366762/

At this point though, can't we just settle for a good draft number and be done?

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2009/11/nflcom-buffalo-bills-fire-head-coach-dick-jauron/1 is a better article. I have to say though, I hate that they say fans in Buffalo put up a billboard. It was some unemployed dude in Erie, PA who did that.

Monday Night Hockey/Record Intact!

2009-11-16T23:54:00.006-05:00

by Anne

This Sabres Wednesday - Friday - Saturday schedule, while mostly annoying, is at least helpful in keeping track of when the Sabres play this month.

Monday is not one of the days listed above, therefore, the Sabres did not play tonight. However, the Kings did.

The Kings played the Florida Panthers in Florida tonight in a very back and forth game. The first period was close and scoreless and the second started much the same until the Pussycats potted two fairly quick goals to make the game 2-0. The Los Angeles Kings, more experienced this season and less prone to panic, kept their wits about them. Wayne Simmonds decided to help things out the best way he knows how. Beating the crap out of someone:

Simmer (as he punches): WHAT. KIND. OF. NAME. IS. KENNDAL. ANYWAY?

Ok, the fight was fairly even actually, but I'm giving Simmer the edge on this one. Not long after, Jack Johnson or JJ3 or JMFJ as he has been known (the first only by me) scored. Jarret Stoll made it 2-2 and Randy Jones, filling in for The Piece who is out with injury, scored a shorty to give the Kings their first lead of the game.

Then a fustercluck (TM Amy at Shots Off the Crossbar) of activity in front of Quickie Monster gave the Panthers the equalizer. Quickie lost his stick and in the scrum a Panther shot his stick into the corner. Yes, it was definitely deliberate. Isn't that some kind of penalty? Ugh.

Anyway, nothing doing in OT so it headed to a shootout, the Kings' fourth of the season. The first two came against the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks. The Kings lost both 2-1. The other was Saturday night in Tampa and the Kings won 2-1. Tonight, the Jon Quick was 3 for 3 and Jack Johnson scored in the shootout to give the Kings the win!

They finish this five game road trip 3-2. We are never speaking of that Thrashers game again.

The Kings next game is Wednesday night home against the Flyers. Ewww. Hopefully Mr. Jones can play against his former team. He's been pretty solid thusfar. I don't know if Scuds will be back by then.

Elsewhere:

The New Jersey Devils were vying for their 10th straight road victory to start the season, in an attempt to match the record set by our very own Buffalo Sabres in 2006. They faced the Phlyers. This is the only time in my life I have ever wanted to see Ray Emery win at anything. The Flyers won and the Sabres record still stands as their own. Woo!

Danny Paille scored his second of the year as the Bruins lost to the surprisingly not-terrible New York Islanders. I didn't say they were good, I just said they were not-terrible. They're quite like the 2008-2009 Los Angeles Kings. Not good, but not as bad as people were anticipating. Lots of youth, lots and lots of talent and a few veterans like Weight and Streit. They need more pieces, obviously, but the Islanders are treading water respectably.

Mouth open.

Perfect

I hate those yellow socks.

Vinny Lecavalier, a prominent Sunny Hedgehog Enchanter, remembered that he's really good at hockey and had himself a three point night (2+1) and was a +3 in the 4-1 win over the Coyotes. Fortunately, Vinny's Enchanters teammate Ilya Bryzgalov was not in goal.

Marty scored like that

Vinny helped

Tuesday night none of my teams play. Alas.

Lastly, enjoy this unmitigated FAIL from ESPN.com:

Oh ESPN.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

He's a Star!

2009-11-16T18:59:00.000-05:00

by Anne

Not that we didn't already know that he was, but Ryan Miller was named one of the Three Stars of the Week by NHL.com. Woo!

Here's the blurb:

Ryan Miller -- In a season that has seen several goaltenders get off to blazing starts, no one has done more with less than Miller, who won all three of his starts last week while allowing only four goals -- even though his team scored only six non-empty netters. He leads the League in wins (12), goals-against average (1.77) and save percentage (.939)

Love.

Hopefully getting pimped by NHL.com won't make him too FAMOUS

I've decided I need to know more about hockey

2009-11-15T19:25:00.004-05:00

By S(h)ara

I need to learn more about hockey, so that I don't have to keep asking Anne dumb hockey questions. (Like, does a short-handed goal still count as special teams? It does, in case you were wondering.) Anyway, fantasy hockey is helping me with that, and Harry Neale just ends up confusing me when he starts talking about rules the NHL needs to change. Although, judging from some of the tweets I read, he confuses a lot of people.

The mighty Saskatoon Topnotch Lemons are doing pretty well. We're in 5th place, currently, and since both Zetterberg and Henrik Sedin had hat tricks last night, the team owner is in a pretty good mood.

Anne has been helping me with the process of loving the Sharks. I mean, I already love Joe Thornton, so you wouldn't think it would be that hard. There is a part of me though that is starting love Edmonton a little bit. Just a little bit. It's a work in process.

In the meantime, San Jose is losing to the Blackhawks right now. Hey, Jumbo Joe! I need some more goals/assists, so pass the word on to Demers and Clowe. And just as I was typing that, you got an assist. Well done. You listen well. I'm proud of you, Grasshopper.

Winning Is So Much Better than Losing

2009-11-15T14:36:00.001-05:00

by Anne

All four of my favorite teams played yesterday, and in an effort to make up for last weekends failures, they all won! Woo!

The Sabres have won three in a row! They won back to back games! One on the road! They beat Ray Emery and Danny Briere and Chris Pronger and all those other disgusting, repulsive Flyers! Wooo!

The mark of a good team isn't just winning blowouts, it's winning close games, especially on the road.

The Flyers entered last night on a five game winning streak, with one of those five games coming at the expense of the Sabres last week, jerks.

Thomas Vanek scored on the power play to open the scoring and the Sabres never looked back.

Tyler Ennis was re-called just before the game (literally) to fill in for Little Foot who was injured in the Calgary game. He had a grand total of about two hours to get acclimated to the team and the surroundings before being tossed onto a line with Vanek and Connolly. He saw time on the top powerplay unit and scored his first NHL goal! Yay!

Lookit that babyface

Happy face.

Congrats, little Tyler!

Goose tipped a Myers shot from the point on the powerplay by Emery to give the Sabres the 3-2 edge.

The downsides included Jeff Carter scoring an incredibly gross shorthanded goal and some other Flyer scored but I don't remember who because they're disgusting. I think it was Pronger.

Pat Kaleta had a great game with his usual hitting-everything-he-sees style and one incredible takeaway where he skated from the goal line to the opposite blueline and effortlessly stripped the Flyers forward of the puck. It was pretty phenomenal.

There was lots of in-crease pushing and shoving, as is to be expected when you play a team as vile as the Flyers. One particular scrum between Goose and Pronger got things fired up. Goose and Pronger were pushing and shoving a lot near Emery and Goose took serious exception to Pronger being his usual self: a total douchebag.

Pronger was being a douche after the whistle.

Goose was not happy.

He looks so hot when he's bloodthirsty

Elsewhere the Canucks routed the Avalanche 8-2. Big Bear responded to me dropping him from my fantasy team by scoring two goals. Hooray! I was out bustin' a move on the dancefloor so I did not watch this game. There were, sadly, no photos of Big Bear on the Canucks website. Tragic. Henrik Sedin had a hattrick. Hooray!

The Kings somewhat redeemed themselves with a 2-1 shootout win over the Lightning. Quickie won but I benched him because I'm not currently speaking to him. He stopped 28 of 29 pucks. That would've helped both my team's GAA and SV% but it wasn't a risk I was willing to take. Oh well.

Yo.

The Pens beat the Bruins 6-5 in OT. Jay McKee scored his first of the season! Wooo!

The Bills are currently losing to the Titans 17-14. The Titans just attempted a 60 yard field goal. Needless to say, it was short. They will lose 27-21.

The Pirates, The Sabres and the Rest

2009-11-14T12:57:00.002-05:00

by Anne

The Pirates game on Thursday was lots of fun. I wasn't feeling too solid about attending, mostly because the Amerks are the best team in the AHL and the Pirates are the worst. Umm, awesome news heading into the game.

Jimmy "Parsley" Bonneau plays for the Amerks now and Kim was unable to contain her sadness, especially when he and Derek "Noodles" Whitmore were on the ice together.

Cody McCormick, who tried REALLY hard at the end of training camp to take Adam Mair or Pat Kaleta's job, was desperately in need of a spice-related nickname. After much consideration, we settled on Dill Weed.

In the first period, I don't think the Pirates had one completed tape to tape pass, the Amerks were constantly lifting sticks and getting in the way; although the Pirates were doing a lot of that themselves.

The second and third periods were more fun, mostly because there was lots more scoring. In the end, the Pirates ended up winning 6-3. Hooray!

The crowd was much smaller than the 11,000+ that attended last year's game and it was more mixed between Amerks and Pirates fans. It was still a really fun game and barring any unforseen circumstances, I'll definitely be attending the second game in March(?)

The Sabres continued to win last night in another close game. They beat Jarome and the Calgary Flames 2-1 in a shootout.

I think it was on Thursday that someone, maybe Cari, said that it had been a while since there had been any good fights, at least as far as the Sabres are concerned. Last night, the Sabres obliged this lack of punchy hockey. Both Mair and Gaustad had fights and there was lots and lots of pushing and shoving in and around the goal creases.

Royzie scored his fourth of the season (on the powerplay, thank goodness) and Royzie and Pommer, who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn last night, scored in the shootout to give the Sabres the win.

Hooray!

This picture was on the cover of the Sports section of the Buffalo News

Such joy and elation.

I love Pat Kaleta

Drew Stafford's thoughts on the victory are here

Iggy didn't score and he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Excuse me, but Jarome Iginla is never unsportsmanlike. Pat Kaleta got the same penalty. Him, I might agree with.

The Los Angeles Kings played the Thrashers last night using ministicks, having not slept the night before, with one skate on, wearing blindfolds.

Photographic proof of this is sketchy, but it's the only explanation I can come up with when they lost 7-0.

Of this we shall never speak again.

Geno is back for the Pens!

But now Chris Kunitz is hurt. OF course he is.

David Backes responded to my strongly worded letter by getting zero points, 17 PIM and 10:31 in ice time. I wasn't clear enough.

Sabres play the Flyers tonight in Philly. Ugh, gross. I predict a 4-1 Phlyers victory, the Kings play the Lightning, the Pens play the Bruins and the Canucks play the Avs.

An Open Letter to David Backes

2009-11-12T12:15:00.003-05:00

by Anne

Hey David!

How's it going? How's your wife? Is she still in school? How about all those puppies you two rescued? How are they holding up? Great!

I thought you might like to know some interesting factoids about how my season as a hockey fan has been going.

First off, the Sabres are doing well, thanks for asking. They lost two stinkers over the weekend but finally beat Hotmonton (as Drew Stafford called them) last night. Drew Stafford scored a goal! It was spiff-o-riffic.

Hey! You and Staffy have been teammates at the World Championships the last two seasons. How exciting for you both! You must be so happy for him!

Look! There you both are!

Hooray

Good times.

Hey, also, this season I started my first fantasy team! I know! I'm excited too! I drafted you! Yeah, really! Isn't that great? I had just named you my favorite St. Louis Blue and you were all foxy and swift for team USA at the WCs in May and it was warm happy fuzzies so I picked you up! You had 54 points last season, 31 goals! That's great! Smiles and happiness.

HappyFunTimes

So here we find ourselves headlong into November. Teams are shaking off that "new season" smell and starting to show their endurance or lack thereof, injuries are piling up, some players are returning and the real muck and grind of the season begins. This season's stars are starting to shine, rosters are being shaken up, all sortsa stuff is going on around the National Hockey League. I'm first place in my fantasy league, but this week's lead is tenuous. I'm playing a tough opponent, I need all my top players to produce!

That leaves me with one question:

HOW DO YOU ONLY HAVE THREE POINTS IN SIXTEEN GAMES?

Are you hurt? BADLY? What is the DEAL? Pick up the PACE, BUDDY BOY. Don't MAKE me drop you or switch to a new favorite St. Louis Blue. Eric Johnson is waiting in the wings, my friend. At least VINNY has twelve assists to go along with his pathetic TWO goals. He has FOURTEEN points in fifteen games. That's just under a point per game pace. SWEET. YOU, sir, are on pace for fifteen points for the ENTIRE SEASON.

MATT GREENE HAS MORE POINTS THAN YOU. MATT. GREENE.

SNAP OUT OF IT, KIDDO.

I took a quick picture of myself while writing this post so you can truly see my displeasure at your lack of production, DAVID:

Fear my wrath

FEAR IT.

Love and smooches,

Anne

This feels a lot better

2009-11-12T00:10:00.004-05:00

by Anne

Wheee!

Between Friday and Tuesday the Pens, Canucks, Kings and Sabres played eight games. In those games those four teams went a combined 0-8-0. WHAT? That's terrible. I was not too happy. Eight straight games of FAIL.

Tonight, my two favorite teams (Canucks, you'd better get your act together to try to reclaim this title from the Kings) played two splendid games.

Clearly, I saw the Sabres game, but I did not see the Kings game because they are in the midst of an East coast trip and their game was also at 7:00.

First my beloved Sabres won somewhat of a snoozer against Edmonton at HSBC Arena tonight.

Steve Montador scored his first as a Sabre and the line of Stafford - Connolly - Vanek, known (by me only) as the Should line (because it SHOULD work) contributed the first goal from Staffy and then provided some stifling offensive zone pressure to set up the Full Monty's goal. Yoyo added the empty netter to seal the 3-1 win.

The Sabres powerful is godawful terrible. Good LORD. They were 0 for 7 against the Bruins the other night and tonight they went 0 for 4. Maybe practice the power play in practice lots and lots? Thanks.

Clarke MacArthur accidentally pulverized Liam Reddox into the boards with only a few minutes left in the third period which drew a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. I didn't see the hit but me may be suspended. Dang. Although maybe Mairsy will play? Grier had a strained groin and if he misses time, Mair will definitely be back. Maybe Paetsch will be in at forward? I hope Grizz doesn't get suspended. I think it's clear that he had no intention of hitting him hard from behind; Maybe taking the body to knock him off the puck, but he seems to lose his footing at the last second.

Still scary, regardless of intent.

That five minute penalty was interesting. For the first two minutes of it, the crowd was holding its collective breath, as if we were willing the puck to stay out of the net. Then as the PKers started to really control the situation, a loud "Let's go Buff-a-lo!" chant energized the Arena and the penalty was killed and met by a standing ovation from the crowd.

Hey Should line.

Good job

Cookies for you.

Well, maybe not you, Tommy. You took lotsa penalties.

Next game IGGY COMES TO BUFFALO!

:) :) :)

Also on tap, and experienced by me via boxscore checks and LAKings.com highlights, was the Kings 5-2 win over the flailing Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight's loss brings the Butter Snaps losing streak to 13 games. I believe they are 0-10-3 in their last 13. Yeesh.

Erik Ersberg made his second start of the season and got his first win. Anze Kopi-star had two assists upping his league-leading points total to 30 (14+16). Oh snap.

Randy Jones, the Kings 7th defenseman recently acquired from Philly, played in his first game as a King and recorded the game winning goal and an assist. Woo!

This line is also foxy.

This line contributed six points tonight (2+4)

Well done, boys.

I love you.

Lots.

Both teams are off tomorrow and then both teams play Friday. Then, of course, both teams play Saturday. Yeesh, schedulers!

Pie for everyone!

2009-11-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

by Anne

Last night Danny Paille scored his first goal of the season and it was spiffy:

Then, if you were fortunate enough to peruse the front page of NHL.com, this is what you saw:

:')

I miss Pie

Too bad he beat the Pens. Oh well.

The Canucks played an atrocious game last night. Andrew Raycroft let a goal in on the first shot he saw and it didn't get much better after that. The Blues ended the first period up 4-0 on thirteen shots. Luongo came in for periods two and three even though those goals were garbage and Raycroft had no help. One of them was banked into the net by a Canuck. Just terrible. They lost 6-1. Henrik Sedin scored the only goal for Vancouver.

The Sabres play the Oilers tonight at HSBC Arena. The last time the Sabres went to Edmonton they put up a 10-2 victory. Here's hoping the Oilers do not return the favor and that the Sabres can get their act together. Puck drops at 7:00! See ya there!

Catching Up

2009-11-10T18:56:00.000-05:00

by Anne

There's much to catch up on.

Adam Mair cleared waivers.

I'm surprised no one claimed him.

The Sabres have the option of sending him to Portland or keeping him in Buffalo. Happily, they opted to keep him in Buffalo as our thirteenth forward :)

The dog is thrilled.

I lost forty pounds a few years ago and I've gained about half that back, so I'm getting back on track. Any and all unsolicited encouragement is welcome.

The Kings "played" a game against the Blackhawks. They lost 4-1. It was not pretty.

Kopi scored, Dewey got an assist and then they all pooped the bed and rolled around in it. The game was close through the first and second, you knew it was going to explode in the third and unfortunately it was the Blackhawks who decided to start scoring. :/

Drew Miller was put on waivers by the Tampa Bay Lightning, as was Tyler Arnason who reportedly signed a deal with a team in Europe and was subsequently suspended by the Rangers

After the Kings "game" last night, it looks like there might be some shakeups in the lineups and Mr. Jones may get into the lineup soon. That's good. Terry Murray didn't rule out the possibility that he'd get in tomorrow. Who sits? Greener only played 14:30ish last night. Peter Harrold already sat out last night.

If the Kings don't beat the Hurricanes tomorrow, I'm never speaking to them again.

Because the Canes are unspeakably bad, Erik Ersberg may get the start the other night. I think Quickie needs a break. He's started all but one of the Kings' 18 games.

Canucks play at St. Louis tonight, Pens play at Boston. Woooo!

Adam Mair on Waivers

2009-11-09T12:48:00.001-05:00

by Anne

Maxim Afinogenov.

Nathan Paetsch.

Henrik Tallinder.

Just a few of the players we have BEGGED Darcy to trade or waive over the last two seasons. Today, he decided to do just that. He put a player on waivers.

That player: ADAM MAIR?!

Why Mairsy? I just don't understand why he was in the doghouse. I understand that we were playing fine without him, but I assumed he'd be hanging out in the pressbox with Paetsch until his services were needed. Apparently not?

Nooooo!!!

Maybe Darcy is trying to clear cap space for something? Even if we're off the hook for Mairsy's entire salary, Paille and Mairsy's combined cap hit is only $1.91 million.

Sad times.

ETA: Even though he was waived, Mair still practiced with the Sabres this afternoon. Ho-kay?

Enroth to Start?

2009-11-07T14:44:00.001-05:00

by Anne

The scuttlebutt around the Sabres is that Jhonas Enroth may get his first NHL start tonight. That was the idea earlier in the week when Lalime was hurt, and after last night's five goals allowed by Miller, it looks like he may need to cleanse his palate of that effort.

Let's all remember how atrocious Ryan Miller was in his first NHL season, 2002-2003. Well, maybe "atrocious" is the wrong word, but he certainly wasn't the "Millerrrrrr stops 'em cold!" we know him to be today. His first season in the NHL he played 15 games and was 6-6-2-1 with 1 shutout, 2.63 GAA and SV% of .902. Not bad, but not phenomenal. He actually regressed the next season, had three starts, was 0-3 with 5.06 GAA and a .795 SV%. Basically we learn almost nothing about the longterm capabilities of a goaltender based on his first NHL start. I'm sure all the brilliant folks who read this blog knew that already.

The Bruins have been struggling offensively, shutout two games in a row and scoring only one goal in the last three games. Looks like being without Savard, Kessel, Lucic and Krejci is adding up to some serious goal-scoring droughts. I have no doubt they'll turn it around... just hopefully not tonight, especially if Enroth plays.

Don't be nervous!

I'm sure you'll do just fine, kiddo!

Enroth needs a nickname. That shall be my project for the evening. I've already created two nicknames that others have picked up, maybe I can create a 3rd and SWEEP THE NATION... or the Sabres' fanbase...well the fans I talk to... ok just maybe my Mom.

Puck drops at 7:00 at TD ~~Banknorth~~ Garden! ETA: Apparently it's just TD Garden now? Lame.

The Kings play the Predators at 4:00 and the Pens play the Sharks at 10:30 (ugh). Yay for all-day (or afternoon and evening) hockey!

What a night!

2009-11-06T08:02:00.001-05:00

by Anne

Last night the Pittsburgh Penguis rolled into the Staples Center to face the Los Angeles Kings.

The reigning Stanley Cup champs v. a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 25 years (figures estimated).

Both teams played a tight, close game through two periods. The Kings were outshooting the Pens, but the Pens took a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period.

That's when this game kicked into overdrive, the kind of overdrive that all fans (of the winning team, anyway) can enjoy: lots of goal scoring to clinch a victory. Not the overdrive where players just start beating the snot out of each other or anything like that.

No fights tonight, which makes me happy.

Anze Kopitar continues to dominate teams from all over the standings. He had another two goal night to up his season total to 13 and put some space between him and those trying to catch him in the scoring race.

The Kings also got goals from Wayne Simmonds, Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown. They fired lotsa shots on goal, played with lots of speed, and shut down the Penguins top players.

This game, particularly the 3rd period was just what the Kings needed to really draw some attention to themselves on the East coast. They didn't do so well in their Eastern trip in October, and playing this well against the reigning champs sends a statement to the rest of the NHL.

Major props to the Pens post-game analysts who were full of praise for the Kings, unlike the Sharks analysts who ripped them apart when the Sharks were defeated by the Kings. Yes, the Pens were playing without Gonch, Geno, Talbot and Kennedy, but the Kings played them the way they should play a team that depleted. The Pens have been on the other side of that score many times so I'm sure this was unfamiliar territory for most of these boys.

This was the Pens first road loss of the season which is still pretty damn impressive.

Jordan scored the Pens first goal at 1:10 of the first period

Which was actually the second goal of the game as Kopi scored at :27 of the first

Greener didn't score, obvi.

But he had some good passes(!)

And was used by Craig Adams as a battering ram to break some glass.

The Canucks won last night by an identical score but the game wasn't as crazy and exciting because the Wild aren't very good at hockey.

Darcy Hordichuk of all people opened the scoring. Raymond scored, Henrik added a shorty, Matt Pettinger scored his first of the season and Burr added an empty netter to seal the deal. Andrew Raycrot has been solid in relief of the injured Roberto Luongo. Raycroft improved to 4-1 on the season. I picked him up on my fantasy team and all four of my goalies won. Sweeeet.

Somehow, Kyle Brodziak scored two goals

Christian "The Hoff" Ehrhoff's crazy face shows his disbelief

Big Bear has the flu and didn't play. Poor Big Bear, I'll be right there with Cold-Eez, soup, tea and tissues. Never fear!

What a fantastic night of hockey it was!

AM/PM Fail

2009-11-05T19:19:00.000-05:00

by Anne

Ed. Note: I wrote this post to publish this morning but it didn't. Whoops. I scheduled it for 8pm instead of am.

Tonight my #2 Eastern Conference team and my #1/#2 depending on the day Western Conference teams are playing each other.

I'm not quite as conflicted about this game as I am about when the Canucks play the Kings. Quite simply, my allegiance for the Sabres comes into play here and, because it will be better for the Sabres, I'd prefer it if those two points stayed in the Western Conference.

I don't give the Pens enough love on this blog, mostly because once the season starts it's hard to keep track of them and the Sabres at the same time.

I still love me some Pittsburgh Penguins and it can't be denied that they're probably the best team in the East, maybe the whole league, but Craig Anderson and the Avs might have something to say about that statement.

Anywhoozle, I don't want either team to lose, but as we all know, in the post-lockout era, that can't happen.

NO TIES FOR YOU!

I hope that they play a good clean game, both teams have lots of shots on goal and that there isn't a blowout on either side.

The Pens are dealing with injuries to Gonch and Geno while the Kings don't have any major injuries to speak of. Advantage: Kings

Jonathan Quick has played very well for the Kings this season, but Flower has been even better for the Pens. Advantage: Pens

The Kings have the league's leading scorer in Anze Kopitar, the Pens have Sidney Crosby. The Kings have Dewey and JJ3 the Pens have Letangarang and Go-Go boots. Advantage: Draw

It should be an interesting game, a chance for the Kings to test themselves out against the best in the East.

Rob Scuderi's first and only chance this season to take on his former team. The Piece is ready for business, I'm sure.

Ok boys?

Raitis: Just gettin' ready as per usual

Eric: Gettin' ready to play my type of hockey

Sigh. Ok, well at least my two favorite blondes will attempt to keep things running smoothly:

Greener hears my cry for sanity

Jordan's ready to keep things clean and happy.

Puck drops at 10:30pm EST (barf)

Sweet, Tasty Redemption

2009-11-04T23:32:00.002-05:00

by Anne

The Buffalo Sabres finished off their home and home (with three days in between) with the New York Islanders with a shutout victory of their own to match the one they suffered against the Islanders on Halloween

The Sabres won 3-0!

Most impressively Derek Roy, Tim Kennedy and Clarke MacArthur were undefeated in the playoff circle, going 21-0. Royzie went 14-0. That is totally bonkers.

All in all, the Sabres were 38-9 in the faceoff circle

Royzie also scored his first goal of the season (thank the LORD)

Therefore, Royzie was named the game's first star

Ryan Miller got a REAL shutout, not a "Ryan Miller" Shutout (see glossary). He made 24 saves.

Matty Ellis had 6 shots on goal, a team high.

For some reason, Thomas Vanek only played 11:47 yet had two points (1+1). I hope he didn't get hurt

Pat Kaleta decided it would be a good idea to take a totally bone-headed penalty and shove an Islander into Marty. Marty responded:

Hahahaha, Marty

Boys, boys, boys

Towards the end of the game, after Goose's goal was allowed, the Arena and all its inhabitants joined in a rousing chorus of "Sweet Caroline." It was fun

I thought there was a Kings game tonight, but I was wrong. Sad, sad times

The Sabres face the ~~Flames at home on Friday. IGGY!~~

Hi Iggy!

Umm I looked a week too far ahead in the schedule and we actually play the Flyers on Friday. Thanks Anonymous poster! Of course I will leave this foxy picture of Iggy up here.

Ummm...

2009-11-04T10:39:00.001-05:00

by Anne

The Canucks won a game against the New York Rangers that was crazy and punchy and fun eventhough Avery wasn't really involved on the ice but Shane O'Brien poked him with a stick on the bench and that was weird and Ryan Kesler is totally badass and I love him and Andrew Raycroft has played outstandingly well and here's a fun picture:

Ryan Keslerrr who's your favorite player and you can't say y- OVECHKIN!

Good answer

Ok, now that that's taken care of, Jhonas Enroth has been recalled but no one has said for whom. Quite obviously it's for either Miller or Lalime (I know, the insight of that statement has MY head reeling too). But no one Sabres-related has bothered to type, tweet, text, call or e-mail to let any of us know who is hurt. Smoke signals? Morse code? After practice?!

This Tweet went out around 9:30 this morning and as of 10:30 (right now) they haven't said anything. I guess we'll wait until after practice? Miller CANNOT be hurt or sick.

If Goose or Patty or Griz got him sick, they will be in DEEP doo-doo. Maybe Lalime has realized that he's adorable but terrible and has quit?! :)

Let's see what they say after practice. :/

ETA: Ok sweet, it's Lalime.

The Kings are doing better than the Bolts

2009-11-03T11:14:00.003-05:00

by Anne

I started to work on a post comparing how the two worst teams of two seasons ago are faring these days, but that turned out to be a lot of work. Basically all you need to know is the Tampa Bay Lightning are not re-building well at the Los Angeles Kings are.

We all remember the freakshow that was the free agent signing craze that went down in Tampa Bay in 2008, and look how well THAT turned out for them. Hey, it got them Victor Hedman.

Whatevs. The Kings went to Phoenix with their Papas last night and walked away with a 5-3 win.

Anze Kopitar scored first but Shane Doan managed to sneak the puck in behind Jonathan Quick with only 0.4 seconds left in the first. Ugh, that one stung. Quickie had no chance on that one. The Coyotes scored the next two goals of the game and the Kings trailed 3-1. Ryan Smyth scored in the second, Justin Williams scored early in the 3rd and Drew Doughty scored with five minutes left in the game to make in 4-3. Ryan Smyth added the insurance empty-netter in the final minute of play.

I love these two

When did I start loving defensemen?

Well, it started last season, but it's become even more ridiculous this season

Dewey and Drewey

The other big positive that came out of last night's game? Kopi's three points moved him back into the scoring lead. With Ovi out week-to-week, Kopi should (hopefully) be able to put some space in between the two of them. You know when Ovi comes back, he'll be on a tear.

Wooooo!

Tonight the Canucks play the Rangers at home and the Pens play in Anaheim. On Thursday the Pens head to Los Angeles and Rob Scuderi gets to face his former team! Woo!

Ok, its been a few days

2009-11-02T16:14:00.002-05:00

by Anne

I hope the Sabres just crinkle up Saturday's game and throw it away and never speak of that atrocity again.

The Canucks won last night! They defeated the red-hot Colorado Avalanche 3-0. The Avs are ranked 30th in the league in shots taken per game, and that seemed to fell them. Andrew Raycroft earned a shutout, but he only had to make 18 saves.

Kes' face drew six minutes in minor penalties last night.

That Kes, always sacrificing for the team

Kesler had a heck of a game, as did Mason Raymond who appears to be 17 but is married? Bananas.

Speaking of babies having babes: according to Sabres Edge, Jason Pominville and his wife welcomed a baby today or at least sometime in the last 24 - 48 hours! Baby Pommer! How adorable. Lindy put it best in his post-practice presser:

The reason Jason Pominville didn't skate today?

"The population of Pominville went up, so he had the day off," said coach Lindy Ruff, referring to a baby for Pominville and his wife.

Oh Lindy, you devil, you. Congrats Pommer and Mrs. Pommer who I think is named Kim!

The Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters managed to hold onto first place in their fantasy league, despite having a bye week. Phew! We return to action tonight. Vinny Lecavalier and David Backes remain in the doghouse. I traded Phil Kessel. I might regret that down the line, but probably not. If this were a keeper league, I would've held on to him.

The Kings are hosting a Fathers' trip for the game in Phoenix tonight. There are 16 dads on the trip. Interesting name tidbits: Davis Drewiske's dad's name is David. How confusing. Jack Johnson, whose full name is long and complicated is actually Jack Johnson III so Dad is also Jack Johnson. Teddy Purcell's dad is also Ted, Rob Scuderi's dad is Bob. I just love Randy Jones' dad's name: Butch Jones. His name sounds like he should be starring in a B-rate action movie as Rambo's arch-nemesis. There are four dads named Jim: Greene, Harrold, Smyth and Richardson. Wayne Simmonds' dad and Kopi's dad win for best names: Cyril and Matjaz, respectively. Hopefully there will be delightful anecdotes and photographs soon.

The Bills are just terrible and the Steelers didn't play so football was a bust this weekend. The Vikings/Packers game was exciting but I don't care toooo much about that. I like Brett Favre, always have, but I just don't care too much.

I used to really enjoy reading Joe Caligiuri's blog. He's a trainer for the Kings, and he offered some interesting insight into the world of the LA Kings. Unfortunately he seemed to offer too much insight and his blog has been shut down. Fortunately, Google Reader held onto these posts so I can still read them.

The Kings play tonight in Phoenix, which means the game is at 9:00 instead of 10:00 or 10:30. Sweet

Yeah

2009-11-01T01:31:00.001-05:00

by Anne

They were shutout by the Islanders.

They lost 5-0.

That's all there is to say.

Happy Halloween

What's a better birthday present than a goal and a win?

2009-10-31T00:26:00.001-04:00

by Anne

Nothing that I can think of.

Drew Stafford celebrated his 24th birthday with a goal and Timmy Connolly got him a win for his birthday. It's way better than his original gift idea:

Timmy got hungry

This gift is something we can all enjoy.

I like his teammates chillin' on the bench, ready to make a change

Matt Stajan isn't good at birthday gifts either.

Frankly, the Sabres came wwaaayyy too close to losing to the Laffs. At least when the Maple Leafs are THIS bad, some of their fans have come to terms and are actually pleasant at HSBC Arena. I had a pleasant conversation during the third with a Leafs fan who was very complimentary to the Sabres. It was unsettling.

Tyler Myers celebrated his first game as a legit rookie with 22:36 in ice time, including 3:29 on the PP, two penalties, four blocked shots and getting hit in the face with a stick. Frankly, I'm just impressed a player was able to get his stick that high.

Points of note:

Britney notched his first assist of the season. That's a bit unsettling, but hey, he's got at least one!
Derek Roy notched his eighth point of the season but still hasn't scored a freakin' goal. The only reason people aren't freaking out about this is because we're winning.
Rivs and Sir Christopher were both -2
Henrik Tallinder was a +1 AGAIN. Playing with Myers has done wonders for him. Apparently he needed someone even taller and blonder to be his partner

I turned off the Canucks game when the Ducks scored their sixth unanswered goal to up their lead to 6-2. Cory Schneider is not the future, apparently. He doesn't seem to be good trade fodder at this point. It's too bad the Kings are fairly set in net, he could've been slated into their previous revolving turnstile of starting goaltenders. (They've had like 10 in the past three years, no joke).

The Leafs were playing soccer when I walked in today. Holy CRAP, Jason Blake is the tiniest and blondest man I may have ever seen in person. Niklas Hagman almost crashed into the little fence that's set up to keep the riffraff away from the players. That would've been not so great for the Leafs, Nik.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Happy Birthday, Drew Stafford!!

2009-10-30T09:00:00.005-04:00

by Anne

Oh Little Foot. We've had our ups and downs over the years: I loved you, I hated you, you creepily remind me of a dude I went to high school with, then I loved you again, then you were obnoxious..it's a vicious cycle. Now the wheel of affection is stopped on "love," but give it time, your maddeningly frustrating goal droughts and penchant for ignoring mild concussion symptoms will, I'm sure, drive me away again.

Regardless! Today is Drew Stafford's 24th birthday! They're hosting the Maple Leafs, the worst team in the NHL, tonight. I'm sorry to say that because of these factors, we will undoubtedly lose tonight. Alack and fie.

I baked you these totally badass cupcakes

Rock on.

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Canucks Win! / Kings lose :(

2009-10-30T02:20:00.001-04:00

by Anne

In the first of four "I don't know how to feel?!" match-ups of the season, the Canucks walked away the victors.

That game was wicked-hella boring after the first period.

It was so boring it zapped me of almost all energy to blog about it. I feel I will be unable to show a bias but all I will say is about the fans I was talking to during the game: there were a few questionable non-calls by the refs for Canucks penalties or some moments when Canucks players were getting a little too chippy for the Kings' tastes and none of the Kings fans were whining. I say that with love, Canucks fans, it was only one tweeter whining who bugged me.

Scott Parse, sans teeth, scored his first NHL goal tonight!

Stolly, Greener and Teddy are all looking at the net thinking the same thing:

"Did someone get the puck?"

Good teammates.

Check out Bailey's sweet Halloween costume

Mikael Samuelsson got the equalizer and then scored the shootout winner on a beautiful fake that totally fooled Quickie Monster. The Kings are so bad at the shootout, it hurts. Why Kopi wasn't in the top three shooters is completely beyond me. IMO it should be Kopi, Jack Johnson (apparently I've deduced I should call him "Killer") and Michal Handzus. Toss in Fro maybe to mix it up now and again.

The Kings outshot the Canucks 31 - 15. Raycroft stood tall in net in filling in for Roberto Luongo who fractured a rib the other night against Toronto, but still played against Detroit, despite the pain.

Matt Greene was named the 2nd star of the game. He was playing the intangible role, a few key hipchecks, solid presence in front of the net on the PK, including dealing with Big Bear at least once and being all defensively responsible and the like. He also played 16 seconds on the PP. I'm really not too sure how that happened, he must've been confused.

It clearly wasn't because of his crisp tape-to-tape passing skillz

Oh well, let's do this again, shall we? How about on (American) Thanksgiving? Say 10:00ish EST? Oh hell, ain't no way I'll be able to stay awake for that. I'll try. I really will.

Oh hey, Alex, Alex.

See you two then!

(Sidenote, have the Kings had their Halloween party? I'd love to hear about it. Andrew Cogliano as Dany Heatley to the Oilers party will be hard to top.)

Mr. Jones and Me

2009-10-29T15:43:00.001-04:00

by Anne

The Los Angeles Kings have claimed defenceman Randy Jones off of re-entry waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers.

The waiver order, which is tied to last year's regular season finishes was heavily in the Kings favor and they took advantage of their high waiver spot to claim Jones. Altough why they did I'm not exactly sure. The Kings took advantage before the waiver order is adjusted in a few days and, with their great start to the season, they'll be pushed waaaaay down the list.

Jones isn't exactly an offensive juggernaut, he has 69 points in 217 NHL games (13+56) along with 134 PIM. He'll clearly be the Kings 7th defenseman, but that's an upgrade from Philly where he was their 8th defenceman. With Peter Harrold apparently sticking with his new roster move to fourth line center, I guess this is ok? Alec Martinez is hurt, so it's good to have a player in reserve who has shown he's capable of putting some points on the board. In 71 games in the 2008-2008 season, Jones had 31 points in 71 games.

Apparently he was also named one of America's Most Eligible Bachelors back in 2007? Seriously? I wonder if that's a joke.

Oh, hey there, Randy.

He fits all the criteria of a seventh defenceman: somewhat useless but kinda hot.

Perfect.

Whatevs, weclome to LA, Randy Jones!

He's Not Goin' Nowhere

2009-10-29T11:29:00.002-04:00

by Anne

Darcy Regier announced today that Tyler Myers will remain with the Buffalo Sabres for the foreseeable future!! :)

This shouldn't have been a surprise, and it wasn't but it's still nice to see!

You've come along way, JBG!

(In case you were wondering, he's only four years old in this picture according to the person who I stole it from, anyway)

A Night of Win (Mostly)

2009-10-29T10:44:00.003-04:00

by Anne

Wooo the Sabres are the best team everrr!

Just, please, please PLEASE, no one inform them that they're playing well. They play so much better when no one's talking about them.

The Sabres beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1! Tim Kennedy scored his very first NHL goal :) It was of the game-winning variety as well. Yay Tim!

Fighting to keep that roster spot!

(In a frightening note: Tim Kennedy's goals: 1; Derek Roy: 0)

Pommer upped the population to three, Grizz took hold of the team goal scoring lead with his fifth, and Goose flapped home his 2nd. Huzzah!

Ryan Miller continues to be totally badass. It's an amazing feeling to know that your team is totally secure between the pipes as long as your #1 netminder remains healthy. The back-up situation is still not so great, but it's hard to get a good back-up when your starter is going to play so many games. That's why Marty went to the Island. He considered Buffalo but ultimately he chose to go where he would get more playing time. Now, what happens when Rick DiPietro comes back (if he ever does) remains to be seen. Watching other teams go through their cycles of goaltenders, never finding one that's really all that great, makes me feel so lucky that the Sabres have an elite goaltender who plays every night with conviction and calm. It's pretty darn awesome.

Does it make anyone else nervous that his eyes are frequently closed in photos like this?

Open your eyes, Ryan!

Or, wait, don't.

Just do whatever it is you do, you do it well, sir.

The only Sabre I'm unhappy with at the moment (other than Patrick Lalime - sorry Patty), is Derek Roy. Whenever you feel like scoring, Roysie, the rest of us will be right here, waiting to cheer for you. Thanks.

Elsewhere:

The Pens demolished the Habs 6-1. Sid scored a hat trick, and Chris Kunitz finally found the back of the net. Huzzah!

Sid looks like he and Kunitz are at a bar, just chillin',

not being rained upon by baseball caps.

Sid: Yeah, Chris, you know how it is, scorin' goals and whatnot.
Chris: Yeah Sid, no, no I don't.

But he did later!

Congrats, Sid!

BOYS.

Mouthguards work better to protect your teeth when they are actually in your mouth

I've never been able to understand this mouthguard thing so many players do

What an odd habit.

It's quite remarkable watching them move those things around without their hands, though.

I'm going to swallow all the "that's what she said" comments that I'm thinking if I continue in this line of thought.

Yay, Pens!

Kings lost 2-1 in the shootout to the Sharks. I fell asleep during the 3rd. Sad times.

But! They still earned a point in the loss and haven't lost in regulation in five games. Alexander Frolov continues to respond well to this benching a few games ago. He had a goal tonight and has seven points (3+4) in his last four games. Oh well, they have to lose sometime, I suppose.

Lovely jeté, Brownie
Maybe work on the landing.

Tonight the Kings play the Canucks. I'm not sure how to feel. Puck drops at 10:30 at the Staples Center :/

Sabres in New Joisey

2009-10-28T11:02:00.002-04:00

by Anne

Tonight I have a show, so of course, tonight the Sabres are playing a game. This time, the season's first match-up with the New Jersey Devils.

I have no strong feelings about the Devils. I like Zach Parise, Marty Brodeur, Paul Martin Travis Zajac and PETEY!

Petey hasn't played since last Friday. Think Jacques will let him get in on this one, especially with Jay Pandolfo out?
ETA: Petey's out for tonight according to Sabres' Edge. Guess this will have to wait:

Please don't try this tonight, Petey.

Goose and Mairsy would turn you inside out.

No one wants to see that :(

For some reason, I have noticed I have an affinity for (some, not all) players that went to UND. I have no particular affection for UND, but clearly I like the hockey players they turn out. If you're not sure who I mean, Parise and Zajac went to UND, along with Drew Stafford, Matt Greene, James Patrick, and Mike Commodore. T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews went there as well but I don't have strong feelings about either of them. I feel badly about Ryan Johnson's injury (UND alumni) but before that I didn't feel too strongly about him, so I won't pretend that because he's injured I've adored him all long. Current Sabres prospect Corey Fienhage attends UND so I'm sure it won't be long until I love him or am indifferent about him. Portland Pirates goalie JP Lamoureux wen there as well. Hot.

Back to the Devils: I'm deeply ambivalent about David Clarkson: he's pretty but he can be kind of a dbag. But mostly he's pretty, so I'm ok with it. He's a little Goose-like in that respect. They don't really have any players that I strongly dislike, now that Bobby Holik's NHL career has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

I hope Petey doesn't try to start anything if he's playing tonight. I love Petey and that would make me love him a little less. I do, however, hope that he messes with Royzie a little, and maybe messes with Millsy a little, just to ruffle his feathers and loosen him up.

Paulie Martin has broken his arm and will be out for a month. He's one of the Devils' top defencemen so: point in our favor.

The Devils are third in the Atlantic and are coming off of a three-game winning streak including one in MSG and one at the Igloo. The Sabres are undefeated on the road this season. The Devils are 6-3-0, the Sabres are 6-1-1. Marty Brodeur, that Saucy Minx^TM, is looking for his NHL record 100th shutout. I feel confident that the Sabres can help him out in that regard.

Puck drops at 7:00!

You too may have your very own Zach Parise UND Fighting Sioux bobblehead

Enjoy it, this is their last season as the Fighting Sioux. I vote they go back to "Flickertails"

In other news:

The Kings are playing in San Jose and the Pens are hosting the Habs. Sa-weeeet. The Kings host the Canucks tomorrow and I'm not ok with it. This is the first time this season any of my four teams are playing each other. Basically, when it's not the Sabres, my loyalties are confused :(

Canucks lose game and Ryan Johnson

2009-10-28T09:00:00.004-04:00

by Anne

At least when this player was taken off on a stretcher, it wasn't because another player hit him :/

Ryan Johnson of the Vancouver Canucks was skating into the corner, moved aside of Nick Lidstrom and then for some reason was unable to control his body and his speed and crashed (almost) head first into the end boards at full speed. The instant he hit, it was clear that he was hurt.

Here's the full video:

As soon as he hit, Red Wing (and former Sabre) Brad May was immediately to his side, gloves off to get an initial take on the situation. Clearly, May wouldn't be able to help him medically, but a veteran like him has seen enough to know the immediate signs of a severe injury, or if there was any thing that needed to be done as fast as possible after the injury like if he had cut himself badly.

RyJo was able to move his extremities, albeit only slightly, on the ice and was taken to the hospital. No word at the moment about his condition. You can see in the video the split second that he realizes he can't stop and he twists so that at least his head isn't the first thing that hits the boards. Regardless, he is in immediate and serious pain.

And to make matters worse, the Canucks lost to the Red Wings.

Feel better, RyJo.

Happy Birthday, Chris Butler!

2009-10-27T10:45:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Today our dearly beloved Sir Christopher turns twenty-three years of age.

I baked you this cake.

It's of Sir Christopher doing various chivalrous deeds: Making peace with his enemies, slaying dragons, protecting the fortress, you know, all in a day's work for our beloved blueliner.

Happy Birthday!

Sunday was interesting

2009-10-26T14:43:00.003-04:00

by Anne

First the good:

The Kings won and Anze Kopitar scored yet another two goals as he takes firm control of first place in league scoring. I'm not sure he can keep up the pace all season, but if he can be at least half as hot all season, the Kings will be in good shape down the middle, especially with Jarret Stoll having a great season, points wise and in the faceoff circle.

Look at that cocky SOB, hahaha
Click to enlarge

Kopi does his best Pat Kane impression

If these two can stay consistent, the Kings will do quite well

The Canucks won 2-0, Bobby Lu set a new Canucks record for career shutouts, and Ryan Kesler cracked his stick over his knee in a fit because Tom Gilbert tripped him and nothing was called:

Oh Kes.
Big Bear just skates calmly by, opting to not respond... that is if he even noticed.

He didn't score, but he's always in this position, and it works out well for the Canucks when he is

Now the bad:

Is anyone in the NHL still alive after this weekend?

First Darcy Tucker, then David Booth, Carlo Colaiacovo (the Tim Connolly of the Leafs and now the Blues) and then Jason Chimera are all the recipients of highly controversial hits. I won't post all the YouTube clips of them, Puck Daddy has them compiled nicely, as per usual.

These hits all upset me for a variety of reasons. First and foremost that I find it incredibly upsetting to see a sport, a game, come so close to seriously injuring someone. I understand that hockey is a high-speed and high-contact sport, but at some point, there has to be a limit to what is and isn't acceptable, and there must be some consistency in how these things are dealt with.

I'm not saying that Ruutu (Tucker), Richards (Booth), Ott (Colaiacovo) and Scuderi (Chimera) should all be just grouped together and suspended but the league can't treat these kinds of hits on a case-by-case basis if they want to send any kind of statement about how unacceptable these kinds of dangerous hits are.

Also, in the "good": The Bills won this weekend. Miraculous.

Tyler Myers makes my heart happy

2009-10-24T23:56:00.002-04:00

by Anne

I was having kind of a blah day in this yucky weather in Buffalo. I had two shows today so I couldn't watch the Sabres game. :( Periodically checking the score on my phone isn't quite the same as watching it. I was mostly OK with how the game was going until the shootout when my heart burst into song. JBG scored the game winning goal in the shootout!! Stafford and Grier scored in regulation.

:) :) :) :)

Absolutely no freaking way he gets sent back to Kelowna now. Only watch this if you think your heart can take the bursting:

Elsewhere because EVERYONE PLAYED ON SATURDAY:

Pens lost :(

This picture sums up the game: KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PUCK

Kings won! 5-3 over the Coyotes. This game proved that Ilya Bryzgalov is fallible, but still awesome.

Scott Parse was called up to play in his first NHL game

he registered an assist!

Good job, Parse!

Canucks won and the Maple Leafs remain win-less. Yeesh. It's really no longer funny. Now it's just sad sad sad.

Normally I frown upon Schenner being beaten up but Glasser has some crazyface goin' on here

The Maple Leafs are so sad that I decided to drop Phil Kessel from my fantasy team. I got Kevin Bieksa in exchange. I think that's fair considering I need PIM and the other team needs goal scoring

Pie got an assist again and the Bruins won :)

Yay!

On The Road Again

2009-10-23T16:38:00.002-04:00

by Anne

A few quotes from Chris Bandura's blog on Sabres.com.

On the "Clarke MacArthur wearing a surgical mask" tidbit:

On the way down, Clarke MacArthur had to wear a surgical mask because he was a little under the weather and had missed practice earlier in the day. Steve Montador did as well, just to make him feel a little less alone.

Aw Full Monty, what a teammate.

Then he addresses Pie's trade :(

I spoke with Dan later that night and he said how surprised he was that all the guys were downstairs to say goodbye. We gave him our own locker room tribute later the next day by sharing all our infamous Paille moments over the past few years at the morning skate.

Hahahaha I would love love love to hear those stories.

Then finally:

When the game was over, the guys were gathered together around a television that was showing highlights of the Bruins game. When we all saw Danny pick up his assist on the Bruins game-winning goal against Nashville, all the guys cheered and gave him a loud team chant.

Once a part of the family, you’re always a part of the family.

Aw Pie :')

I enjoy that these features and blogs have allowed we fans to finally see that yes, the Buffalo Sabres have personalities and are actually, ya know, a team you can feel good about.

Treat him well, Beantown.

When the Sabres aren't playing, I talk about other teams, you're just going to have to cope

2009-10-23T12:08:00.000-04:00

by Anne

On nights when the Sabres don't play, I appreciate it when my other teams win.

Last night, the Kings played a fantastic first period and then a solid start to the 2nd before they crapped the bed in the beginning of the 3rd, blew a three goal lead and allowed the Stars to tie. Fortunately, Michal Handzus said "Yo, eff this, I want these two points" and scored the OT winner 55 seconds in. Phew!

The biggest story of the night was Anze Kopitar's first career hat trick. Hooray! Confetti!

Bailey was so proud

This was Kopi's 12th career multi-goal game but his first hat trick. The Kings are 5-1 this season when Kopi scores. I like it.

In a related story, I really like the Kings third jerseys. Christmas is approaching. You do the math.

The Sabres are doing more stuff to make the players seem, I don't know, human? For example, a few weeks ago they started this new feature that, like most Sabres features, probably will happen three times and never be heard from again. For some reason I'd never seen it before. Here it is:

Good old Little Foot

Sabres Defeat Kitties 5-2; Pie's debut

2009-10-22T00:59:00.002-04:00

by Anne

The Sabres are the best team everz!

When I walked into Cari's house and the Bruins' game was on, I nearly wept. I spotted Pie on the ice without seeing his number because I know his skating style and I miss it. :(

Anyway, that first period was a doozy and a half. It was all kinds of fun. Especially because each player I told a story about (almost) score while I was telling that story.

It started like this:

Kim: Who has the road A's

All of us: Roy and Hecht

Me: I don't get why Roy wears an "A." Well, really it's more that I don't understand why Mike Grier doesn't have one.

RJ: Scooooooooores! Mike Grier!

At the close of the 2008-2009 season, my list of favorite Sabres went like this: 1. Spacek; 2. Paille; 3. Rivet; 4. Butler; 5. Ellis

With 1 and 2 gone, I guess that bumps everyone up. Matt Ellis responded to his promotion by scoring a goal. Thanks, Matty!

Awwww.

Similar things happened for Myers and Ellis after recently being bumped up the ranks. Also, Derek Roy had a much better night in his own zone and made a particularly big in-the-crease save while I was telling a story about him.

Grizz had an interesting night. From the game recap:

Buffalo LW Clarke MacArthur suffered from flulike symptoms earlier in the week and wore a surgical mask on the team's flight to South Florida, but was in Buffalo's starting lineup Wednesday.

Hokay. I guess whatever works to keep the team healthy?

At the end of the 3rd, Dominic Moore draped himself aaall over Grizz, yet Grizz got a penalty. Perhaps he got a bit mouthy for the ref's taste so he was kicked out of the game. Patty Kaleta was already in the box for this:

Take THAT, Nathan Horton.

That'll teach people to start "Stafford-for-Horton" trade rumors

When Grizz arrived, all pissed off into the box and dramatically hit the door and the penalty box door holder guy with his stick, Patty gave him a reassuring fistbump to the Grizz leg when he got in there which seemed to say "It's ok Grizz, I miss Danny too."

He got an assist!

Also, stop calling him "Daniel." It's Danny. :(

Woo!

Also, Big Bear scored and the Canucks won. Willie Mitchell also nearly killed Jonathan Toews :(

Finally, from the LA Kings trainer Joe Caligiuri's blog Offsides (link in the blog roll):

The most common of the pranks is the tie clipping. Make sure you have a good tie or its gonna get clipped. Last year, Kyle Calder had his tie clipped and as the circle of pranks suggests, someone must pay the dividends. As the team dress code requires, all players and coaches are to wear suits to all home games at Staples Center. With this rule in mind, Kyle Calder raced to Matt Greene’s house one morning after pre-game skate and stole every single piece of dress clothing out of his closet. Upon returning to his house, he had yet nothing in his closet but two dozen swaying hangers. Looking high and low, he managed to find an old suit, one that more closely represented his suit from first communion. Being his only suit, he squeezed himself into the little boys pants and suit coat and walked his way shamelessly through the Staples center corridors. Picture Pee-Wee Herman in a khaki suit – Priceless.

My favorite is the use of "shamlessly." Also, the suit was probably Doughty's, haha.

Vanek and Ellis are Back, Pie still gone, Anne not coping well

2009-10-21T18:39:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Britney and Matty are back...y. This pleases me as I find both of them to be important to our team and are two of the best at filling the roles that they have been brought on board to play.

The deadline is fast approaching on the "To demote or not to demote" debate on Tyler Myers. As I'm sure you all know, for JBG it's Kelowna or Buffalo; Portland is not an option as he's only 19 years old.

I had a bad dream that Dan Paille was traded to the Bruins. Thank goodness I'm awake now. Phew! In all seriousness, to those who claim that Paille was shipped for not playing to his potential last season: name me one Sabres forward that did play to his potential? Pommer and Royzie had declines in production as well. Vanek is exempt due to injury. But, name me one, I'd love to hear it.

Sergei Kostitsyn is a fucking moron. Honestly, what is wrong with this kid? He gets involved in some bizarre sex, drugs and hookers kind of scandal last season, he fails to report to the AHL once already, gets suspended and is abandoning the dog house AGAIN. I don't know who this kid thinks he is, but I don't think the Habs are THAT attached to him. Let him go to the KHL.

Alexander Frolov was benched the other night (and the Kings won). There have long been rumors that Fro is gonna go (ha!) but that was the clearest indication of the possibility of such a move. For those hoping the Sabres will get him: one of the main reasons the Sabres moved Pie was because we have a logjam at left wing and Alexander Frolov plays guess what position? Left wing. He's not coming here, sorry. Not unless we move at least one other LW in the next few days.

Sabres at Panthers! 7:30!

SAD DAY :(

2009-10-20T18:22:00.001-04:00

by Anne

THEY TRADED PIE TO BOSTON FOR SOME DRAFT PICKS! DREW STAFFORD'S TWEET WAS TRUE!

I KNOW DANNY I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT EITHER

Goooooooooooooooooooooose, et al.

2009-10-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

by Anne

This is just a post to mention those few players that are pretty sweet and I don't mention them enough.

Paul Gaustad is 2nd in the league in face-off win % at 67.1%

Jason Pominville scored his 100th career goal and has played in something like 257 consecutive games. (that number is close but might not be exactly right)

Henrik Tallinder, whom I don't really love, is leading the team in +/- which is nothing short of a miracle. He's a +6

Much like last season, Clarke MacArthur has jumped out to grab the team's scoring lead. He has four goals and two assists. Those numbers aren't exactly blistering but at least he's playing with some consistency

Sir Christopher is leading the team in ice team and only he and Craigory are averaging more than 20 minutes/ game

Jochen Hecht seems to be showing signs that he might be playing more like he did two seasons ago than last season. Only signs, basically it just means he hasn't imploded yet. He leads the team in takeaways

Tim Kennedy and Tyler Myers, whom I've mentioned plenty have both been earning their roster spots and it makes me smile

I really liked the Ellis-Gaustad-Kaleta line. I'm glad Mairsy is back and sad Ellis was hurt but that line was pretty BA, I'd like them back.

What a goofball

Weekend Recap

2009-10-18T21:01:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Ryan Fitzpatrick had a much better game than Trent Edwards has over the last few games. Does this mean he should start? Goodness no. Neither of them should. The Bills actually won, though. At least if Fitz has to start next game he won't face the same vitriol Losman faced last season when he had to start for Edwards. No one expects anything from Fitzpatrick or from this team.

I missed my final game of the season on Saturday. There's little to no reason why I should miss any other games this season. Looks like I didn't miss a whole lot yesterday, just the Sabres usual level of suck against the Thrashers. Remember that time we beat them 10-1 in January of 2008? That was super fun. At least we were still the last team to lose in regulation.

Afinogenov scored an insurance goal that ensured the Thrashers 4-2 victory. Alas.

Not a sight we Sabres fans are used to seeing

A happy Afinogenov

A more familiar sight, Sabres goaltender crashed into while Tallinder looks helplessly on

I fell to 2nd in our fantasy league after narrowly losing to S(h)ara's Saskatoon Topnotch Lemons. Curses! My team's +/- really did me in, as was expected.

The Pens and Canucks won last night which is good. The Kings and Sabres lost which isn't good.

The Maple Leafs STILL haven't won a game. They now sit at 0-6-1. Really Leafs? Really? Phil Kessel is chillin' on IR in my fantasy team and I'm pretty sure I'm going to drop him or attempt to trade him. At this rate, I'm not sure that he'll be able to contribute to the Leafs this season. As I'm not in a keeper league, I might ditch him. My team seems to be doing ok without him. But, like any good GM, I don't want to just drop him. Maybe I can convince someone to take him...

Wooooo Kes!

Samuelsson scored and got to hug Big Bear, which part is better, really?

Lastly, the Sabres have posted one of those "Hey look! We have personalities!" locker room videos that we all so enjoy and they've done about one of over the last two seasons. TK is far more relaxed in this interview:

Next Sabres game Wednesday @ Florida.

Woooo!

Game Day All Over Again

2009-10-17T13:32:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Tonight begins a whole bunch of weekends in which the Sabres play back to back Friday - Saturday games. Last season of the 6 or 7 back to back weekend night games we only managed to win both of them once. We got anywhere from 0-4 points from those weekends. That's not so great. It's not that I expect them to win every back-to-back series but when they're both at home, I'd like at least three points, please.

How will the trend begin this season?

Lalime will start tonight; hopefully he'll allow fewer than six goals tonight. The Thrashers aren't quite as bad as they were last year but the season is only three weeks old.

Also, this guy:

I haven't really thought about him much.

Just please don't let him score.

Puck drops at 7:00. I won't be there :(

Fortunately this will be the last game I'll miss this season. Woooo!

We won! Hooray...zzzzzz...

2009-10-17T01:00:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Guys I totally loved tonight's game (Well except for most of the 2nd and Miller flopping around like he was hurt) but I'm so blinking tired I can't even type in complete sentences.

Things to love:

Tyler Myers first NHL goal on a seemingly harmless backhanded chipshot
Grizz scoring on a penalty shot with some nice hands
Goose beating the living snot out of Jackman for breathing in Miller's general direction (ok it was more than that)
Pommer and Yoyo getting their first of the season
Pommer getting the 100th goal of his career, the same night Myers gets his first
Pie's nice move to the net that set up Patty's goal
Chasing a goalie. That's one of my favorite things in hockey

Things to not love:

Miller's brain fart on Tavares' goal
Derek Roy in general
The majority of the second period
Miller getting shaken up a bit in the 3rd

Other pithy thoughts about the evening include that Lalime should start tomorrow night. I know Lindy likes to use Miller as often as possible but Lalime's got to get into some games soon. If he's going to start 15-20 games, that's an average of starting roughly every 4th or 5th game. Miller needs some rest. He's been playing really well but the season is too young to push him too far.

I'm so glad that they've really started lighting the lamp these last few games. Scoring four goals in three games was not exactly inspiring or exciting.

I can't get over the quote from the recap about the Sabres having the stingiest defense. They said similar things early last season, so let's not get ahead of ourselves. Of course last season there was no JBG:

Hoooooooooray!

His teammates are so happy for him
They've never hugged a teammate quite so tall

A great photo that captures a rare moment. That brief second between when the puck crosses the goal line, before the light comes on, before referee, player or crowd has realized the player has scored:

Scooooooooorrrrrrre!

Since the Stars lost tonight, once again the Sabres are the last team standing in the "Teams with no regulation losses ONLY" VIP area of the club.

Tomorrow the quest continues at home against Atlanta! There's totally no way they can keep this up, right?

Blogger Delinquency

2009-10-16T17:10:00.000-04:00

by Anne

I haven't blogged since Tuesday?!

Yet I don't have time now.

See you all at the game tonight!

Islanders @ Sabres 7:30!!

I haven't used this picture in a long time and I love it

Bulleted Lists are easy to write

2009-10-13T23:08:00.007-04:00

by Anne

Since I didn't watch the game :( here are a few observations from what I didn't see:

We WON! WE SCORED LOTSA GOALS!

Vanek is hurt. :(

Goose, Little Foot and Patty all netted their first goals of the season;

Mike Babcock can shove it about Ryan Miller. Especially after THAT performance by Ozzy;

If this style of play is this "system" we've been hearing so much about, I totes have a crush on him and I hope he stays so I can admire how pretty he is;

I'm glad the Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters (who are currently PWNING the league... and I just cursed myself) benched Chris Osgood tonight;

The Toronto Maple Leafs are god-damn AWFUL and it's AWESOME. I really thought they might be better this season. MAN was I wrong;

Why do people keep using the word "truculence" when discussing the Leafs? I mean, it's true but people keep using it and I don't think they all really know what it means, they just think it sounds good;

Georges Laraque is in trouuuuuuble This whole thing just screams of the reaction to the Avery "sloppy seconds" debacle. Yeah the ad was a little objectifying and in poor taste, but calm down, he said he was sorry;

How much did Lindy enjoy that his team just pummeled Babcock's, his head coach for team Canada?

I may be developing an inappropriate crush on Tyler Myers;

Hey Brad May

I also might be ok with it.

Ohhh Patty. Nice dance

Lindy's Nashville Game Plan

2009-10-11T00:58:00.002-04:00

by Anne

Lindy Ruff's patented "How to Suck the Life out of every game we play in Nashville" plan:

Charge in to the offensive zone alone, Max Afinogenov style and then pass the puck to no one, allowing Nashville to clear
Charge into offensive zone and take weak shot on net
Fall down a lot
Don't hit anyone
Don't take any penalties
Don't fight
Fall down some more
A few more weak shots on goal
Eventually, when the whole crowd has been drained of all energy, Mike Grier will score a goal.

WHEN DID THE SABRES BECOME THE MINNESOTA WILD? Is Lindy Ruff just Jacques Lemaire in disguise?

That game was hella boring for the first 55 minutes, give or take a few scoring chances in the middle somewhere that kept us all from nodding off.

They still had a billion and ten shots on goal but only one went in. Poor Pekka Rinne stopped 41 shots and lost. Why do we get so many shots on goal and so few goals? Oh wait, because they shoot directly at the goaltender's mid-section. He will not suddenly become permeable, boys.

At least Miller got a shut out and was all cute scooping up the puck at the other end.

Tim Kennedy got his first NHL point tonight!!

Matt Greene got his first point of the season!

I took a gamble and benched a goalie I thought would lose and I was wrong. He won. Whoops. Oh well.

When does Lalime get his first start?

I vote for against the Islanders at home.

Feel the love.

Reggie is hurt :( It seems to be a mysterious nondescript pain down his left side pertaining to his muscles. Hell, if I didn't know they drank gatorade constantly I'd suggest he was really dehydrated as muscle pain is a symptom of dehydration.

Once again, Myers looked pretty decent. He's really solid on the point in the powerplay. His reach and size and his always surprising mobility is really a benefit to the PP.

I'm surprised that Royzie and Yoyo have the "A"s on the road. I thought Grier might have one.

Lindy: Ok, I want you to crush them like this.

Jochen, stop meditating and watch.

That "A" is velcro you know.

The Pens won, the Kings won, the Sabres won and my fantasy team continues to OWN this week's opponent.

Now begins a solid week where at least one of my teams is playing every night. The next night off is next Sunday. Yay!

@Nashville Tonight

2009-10-10T17:48:00.003-04:00

by Anne

See how it looks like a Twitter name?

Ha. ha.... okay. I'll stop.

Last night none of the teams I follow played. Tonight, three of them do. Awesome.

Tonight the Sabres take on yet another relatively unknown Western Conference opponent in the Nashville Predators. This is only the seventh time the Sabres have played in Nashville.

It's a little ridiculous to start looking at standings at stats but the Predators are 2-0 thusfar.

Neither the Sabres or Predators have scored a whole lot, over two game the Sabres only have three(!) goals. Ummm, anytime Roy, Pominville, Hecht, Stafford and the lot would like to start lighting the lamp, we'll be waiting with breathless anticipation.

When you can still hold the number of poins the vast majority of NHL teams has on one hand, it's too early to be looking at standings. I'm not even thinking about moving any of my standings magnets around until every team has played at least 10 games.

One interesting story about Nashville is Patric Hornqvist who was picked last overall by the Predators in 2005. Hornqvist is one of only 8 last picks to play at least one NHL game. At this writing, Hornqvist is tied with Preds Captain Jason Arnott for the team scoring lead with four points (2+2). Dead last over all in the same year as Sidney Crosby and before tonight's game, he actually has more points than Sid the Kid (2+1). That's pretty cool. Let's keep is point total at four.

Also:

Do the Sabres know they're playing the SMASHVILLE Predators? *eye roll*

The Kings play in St. Louis

The Pens play in Toronto where I'm sure someone is going to get hurt. : /

Will Myers play another solid game in road barn?

J.P. Dumont was hurt last game and might not play tonight. Hornqvist has been filling in his spot while he's out

I can't believe this is only game three

Let's Go Buff-a-lo!

Oscar still hates hockey

It makes Mommy yell and then he can't sleep.

Fantasy Hockey Will Bring Me Back To the Fold

2009-10-09T18:09:00.004-04:00

by S(h)ara

So for a hot month or two, (OK, more like six...) hockey had lost its lustre for me. I even despaired of gaining enthusiasm in time for the regular season.

And then I made a fantasy hockey team.

I've become obsessed with my team. I mean, look at our logo, we're fierce.

Fear the mighty lemons. Fear them.

In other happy news, I've picked a new favorite Sabre, Good Ol' Timmy Connolly. 'Cause let's face it, I love bald men.

I went back to school this semester. I feel too old to be taking undergrad classes. It's tough when some of your professors are only a couple years older than you are.

Trickery and Such

2009-10-09T02:25:00.000-04:00

by Anne

It's weird to not watch a Sabres game, it's also weird to not be AT a Sabres home game. Weirdness abounded.

Here's what I gather happened (by period)

1st: Nothing except Ryan Miller is really good at hockey
2nd: They didn't score on a lot of PP time, Ryan Miller is really good at hockey
3rd: JBG was nearly decapitated and murdered by Shane Doan, Grizz scored, Britney scored and we won and Ryan Miller is really good at hockey
At some point, Pat Kaleta tried to kill Petr Prucha
They won!!! 2-1! Hooray!
Post-Game: Brian Koziol shouldn't talk about things unless he's sure he knows the facts....and Ryan Miller is really good at knitting. HAH! You thought I was going to say hockey again! Didn't you?!

I like the cut of his jib

I also didn't watch the Pens game, but all I really learned about it was that they won and Scott Hartnell might've taken a page from the Jarkko Ruutu school of fighting and made a late-game snack of Kris Letang. Gross.

The Kings, who have a terrrible PK, beat the Minnesota Wild 6-3. Kopitar had 3 points and Dewey played something like 24 minutes. Greener only played 13:52. I'm trying not to be too concerned about him. It is, after all, only game three. :) I'd also like Brownie to score soon, please and thanks.

The Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters had a fabulous night, Dany Heatley had a 4 point night (3+1) and was a +6. Both Ozzie and Quickie won and all-in-all the Enchanters cleaned up nicely tonight.

Phew, they finally won!

2009-10-08T12:12:00.000-04:00

by Anne

The Vancouver Canucks, who roared out to an almost undefeated preseason, quickly fell to 0-3 to start the season, much to the dismay of their fans both near and far.

Last night was the team's last ditch effort to avoid starting 0-4 for the first time in franchise history.

Bobby Lu, in spite of his usual October doldrums was given the start against the Montreal Canadiens who had started the season well.

All was not too swell in Vancouver land, the Canadiens were dominating play early on, and things looked like they might go the way of the first three games.

That is until Ryan Kesler decided to say "Yo, screw this baloney." and scored a goal. Then Mason Raymond followed suit as did Henrik Sedin (twice), Alex Burrows, Mikael Samuelsson and, adding his first goal of the season (on the power play of course):

Big Bear!

It was a really effective power play, and Big Bear was the recipient of a beautiful series of passes among him and the Sedins. Of course the analysts (as usual) gave all credit to Heniel and Danrik. Whatevs, Big Bear put the biscuit in the basket and that's all that matters to me.

The Canucks crushed teh Canadiens 7-1 in Carey Price's first game in his home province of British Columbia. I don't like the Habs or Carey Price but I feel bad for the kid, ever since last season, he hasn't had it easy in Montreal. In all honesty, a lot of those goals Price had little to no support from his D, and as much as people try to use that as an excuse for why their goaltender gave up seven goals, it's true, there were some definite defensive screw ups on the part of Montreal. Yes, even Sissy, who was in front of the next when Burrows scored.

Also! Yesterday Kevin Bieksa and his wife welcomed their second baby into the world, a little girl named Reese. Congrats! Reese and sleep deprivation appear to be Kevin Bieksa's secret weapons as he picked up an assist in last night's win.

I didn't want to talk about it but the Pens were shutout by the Phoenix Coyotes.

The only positive I can take from that game is that Ilya Bryzgalov is on my fantasy team. Woo? I'm not really worried about the Pens, Brent Johnson played well in the backup role, including an absolutely sensational glove save on Shane Doan in close. I'm not worried, they'll be fine. Getting shutout is a bit stressful, but they'll be fine.

Enough about those other teams, my one true loves FINALLY play again tonight. Oh wait, they're playing those same Coyotes who shutout the PENS? Uhhh, well, on the plus side, they played last night and the Sabres haven't played since Saturday. Also Jason LaBarbera might start in net. Well, they might start Bryz because he's on a hot streak and he's a workhorse, like our very own netminder. Regardless, I'm benching him because I can't find any reason to cheer against the Sabres or take joy in their loss. Although, if they lose, it would give me another W in the column... NO ANNE, NO. Bench Bryz for tonight. It doesn't matter.

Puck drops at 7:00. I will not be in attendance as I have recently been diagnosed with tonsillitis and would prefer to not infect my fellow employees or the fans. :(

Joe DiPenta is a D-Bag

2009-10-07T15:15:00.002-04:00

by Anne

I'm not sure why he thought this was a good idea:

But it's not. One game suspension. Awesome. Glad we have him leading by example down on the farm. I would love to know what was going through his head when he decided that was the best option.

Note to self and everyone else: If a hockey stick was intended to be swung like a baseball bat, you would play hockey with baseball bats

Hey, the Kings won too!

2009-10-07T14:02:00.001-04:00

by Anne

My lack of interest in baseball coupled with my complicated homework assignment caused me to not watch any sports before the Kings game at 10:30 last night. I hear I missed an exciting ball game and a whooole lotta goal scoring in Philly (or were they in Washington?). I don't know.

I love (x1,000) that Mike Richards got a hat trick last night and not Ovechkin. Haha. I have nothing against Ovechkin or the Caps (I like them better than Richards or the Flyers) but I just love when people are so high on someone or something and they're forced to go "Uhhh... ok well, he's good too... I guess."

I find it interesting that the unabashed Ovechkin love - which closely parallels the frequent unabashed Crosby love- never draws criticism from anyone in spite of the fact that Ovechkin has not accomplished a lot of the things that Crosby has accomplished yet. Hmmmm... hypocrisy, FTW.

The Kings won last night. Say what you want about the Kings, their games are rarely dull.

They roared out to a 4-0 lead, causing Evgeni Nabokov to be pulled. Thomas Greiss came in and the Sharks managed to score four unanswered goals to tie the game. It wasn't pretty.

Then somehow, someway, Teddy Purcell shooting the puck from behind the goal line scored the game winning goal. It took a crazy bounce off a Sharks defenseman and slid it's way past a totally unprepared Greiss, who until that point, had really kept his team in the game.

Davis Drewiske scored his first NHL goal - an empty netter - to seal the deal at 6-4. In his defense, there were lots of people between him and the net when he scored the empty netter, it wasn't like it was a dump in from the opposite blueline.

I think the crazy person on the left is Raitis Ivananabananas

(OMG UPLOADING PICTURES IS SO MUCH EASIER WITH THIS NEW EDITOR)

For those who were wondering: Davis WILL be featured in the ballot of this year's Team USA Olympic team of hottness:

Anyone with a roster photo this adorable and a jawline so chizzled MUST be featured

Also, he and Greener are partners sometimes

Those Sharks post game analysts are a bunch of dicks. They were SO put-out that the Sharks lost to such an INFERIOR team. Dude, it's the second game of the season, it's hard to say yet which teams are going to contend, compete for the playoffs, or tank. Who would've thought the Canucks, who had a blistering hot pre-season, would start 0-3? The Sharks won the President's Trophy last season, yes, but what else have they accomplished? They added a proven goal scorer in Heatley - who did score a goal last night - but they've gone through a leadership shake-up and with the weight of these expectations: what do they have to be so damn smug about this early in the season?

The Kings aren't exactly the 1974-1975 Washington Capitals here. They're going to win a few games, and seem to have the pieces to make a push to the playoffs (fingers crossed) and, believe it or not, the Sharks are actually going to lose some games, even to such sub-par teams as the Kings.

Last season is OVER, Sharks, this is a whole new slate and -brace yourselves- the Sharks might not see the same kind of success they had last season. Everything has started over and you'll have to fight to earn the credibility you feel such a sense of entitlement over.

Whoa New Formatting

2009-10-05T18:25:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Blogger has gone all crazy and updated their post editor. Maybe that's why Blogger was down for part of this afternoon? Regardless, I'm taking advantage of this new editor right now whilst I blog.

I need to stop obsessing over my fantasy team. Ok, obsessing is a bit strong, but I need to stop making minor, unimportant roster moves that will ultimately make only a minimal amount of difference for my team in the long run

I can add background color to my text Oooooooooo. Ahhhhhhhh. See that? blue and gold. I'm so. damn. clever.

Waive Nathan Paetsch, please? I understand he can play forward AND defense like a crazy magician and whatnot but what we really need are seven strong defensemen and even though Tyler Myers has only played in one NHL game, he's making a strong case for staying put. I would dump Paetsch to keep Myers up here in a heartbeat.

As far as the forwards go: as much as it saddens me, I can accept that Danny Paille has been deadweight this pre-season and, if anyone should go, it should probably be him. :(

Bucky Gleason tossed out the idea of waiving Matt Ellis but that's a terrible idea and I think he just said it to spark discussion. Why would they waive the hardest working guy on the team? A fourth line of Mair - Ellis - Kaleta sounds good to me. They have the grind and the drive and have even been known to contribute 5-10 goals each. I'll take that as a fourth line any day.

Dominic Moore has landed himself in Florida. He apparently had a broken wrist last season which he broke just after joining the Sabres. Great, take up that roster spot and play only to partial effectiveness when Kennedy could've been given a better shot at the NHL, good, great, thanks Dom.

The NHL should participate in the Olympics after 2010. Gary Bettman is doing a lot of damage by saying they won't. The kinds of problems this will cause in the 2013-2014 season aren't 100% clear but rest assured that there will be plenty of them.

Hopefully the Canucks will start winning tonight, now that they're playing at home.

Dustin Brown strained a gluteal muscle and sat out of practice on Sunday. I don't have anything to comment about it, I just wanted to say that Dustin Brown strained his butt. My name is Anne and I am extremely immature.

Another good thing about this Blogger editor update is that it now lists the publishing time as the time you hit "Publish Post" as opposed to when you started writing the blog. Sweeeeet.

No Hockey?

2009-10-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

by Anne

I think it's totally rad that the NHL has these days in which every team plays. It's cool and it makes for some interesting fantasy hockey decisions. However, what I don't enjoy is that the following day features no hockey at all.

Part of the "Super Saturday" idea is that games will need to be condensed to accommodate for the Olympic break in February, but why then do the Sabres not play again until Thursday? Their November looks almost identical to last November. Three weeks W-F-S games followed by a week of M-R-S.

December starts ramping up they have 15 games in December which is kind of a lot.

Whatevs, I don't make the NHL schedule and for this we should all be extremely grateful. I wished there was some hockey to watch to kill the bitter aftertaste of that football game.

The Bills are terrible. I watched the game at a bar with a few friends so I was slightly distracted from the game but unable to change the channel. How embarrassing was that game?

The Steelers won, it got a little closer than we would've liked but they pulled out the win and have evened up their season at 2-2.

Thank goodness for the Pens, Canucks and Kings or I'd have little hockey to watch over the next few days when I'm supposed to be doing all this "homework" I've heard people talk so much about.

Dewey promised to try harder, he's leaping into the next game

Blogging

2009-10-05T01:18:00.004-04:00

by Anne

I realized the other day that there are A LOT of blogs I read that irritate me. They irritate me for a variety of reasons. Most of the time they irritate me because they're not clever, they're not interesting, they're just someone regurgitating what happened in a game as it happened, not with their own thoughts, that are unique to them and I can't read in the Buffalo News tomorrow morning. I like people who are funny, who offer a different way to look at something, offer content that can't really be found anywhere else or talk about subjects rarely discussed.

One thing in particular that bothers me is when someone refers to a team as theirs or acts as though they are the only person to ever have loved a team or an individual player. Blogs are personal responses and I totally understand that, but one of the things I love about blogging about a team or teams is finding other bloggers who are as passionate and dedicated about the team you both love. Playing hockey is not an individual effort, so cheering for a team shouldn't be either. Share the love, people.

Before you go all "But Anne, you're really not all that interesting or blahhhhhh...." I'm not saying that I am, and if I checked my analytics sometime and no one's reading my blog, I'll stop. However, this blog, tiny though it may be gets thousands of hits every month, so someone must find something I have to say on the outside edge of interesting.

Back to the individual player thing: several other bloggerladies and I have discussed this so I want to know what you guys think too. It drives us CRAZY when someone who has never professed any affinity for a team or player suddenly LOVES a player when they do something good. I won't give examples of individuals who do this because that would be rude but if Tyler Kennedy scores a hat trick tomorrow, I won't suddenly be all "I LOVE TYLER KENNEDY AHHHH!!!!" I'll say "Well done, sir. You are still really fug." Ok that was mean, but he is. A good hockey player, but fug. On the converse, I have a short list of players whom I adore but I do not hope to pretend I am the only person who cheers for these players. Except for the fact that I'm probably the only Matt Greene fan in Buffalo, I don't claim any exclusive ownership to loving individual players. I have a short list of favorite players and it occurred to me the other day that not a single one of them is a Sabre. Now that Sissy has left, there are no other players that I'm consistently excited about. So, anytime Darcy wants to acquire one of those boys, I'll be ready to buy their jersey :)

I felt a little disheartened over the summer with my lack of interest in blogging and the corresponding lackluster hits, so I'm very glad to see that people are coming back to read not only this blog, but hockey blogs in general.

Thanks for coming back!

THE SABRES WILL NEVER WIN AGAIN

2009-10-04T01:37:00.002-04:00

by Anne

Calm down.

We lost a very close well-fought game. It was the FIRST GAME of the season. Think we all know that the Sabres are not going to win every single game. They got a point.

Wait! Hold on! Yes! Read that again: THEY GOT. A. POINT. BECAUSE IT'S A GAME THAT MEANT SOMETHING! Yay!!!

The pace of the first period was absolutely bananas. HSBC Arena was rockin'. People were so excited about the season, the energy was infectious.

It does stink that they lost. I would have, of course, loved it if they had won, but they didn't. They have almost a week to get ready for the next game. I'm not sure why there's such a large space of time between games 1 and 2, but that's the way the NHL sliced it.

As per usual, I can't comment too much on games at home but from what I saw, JBG had a few good moments. A few moments where he remembered that he's a giant and used his size to his advantage along the boards to get the puck out.

I'm glad that Tim Kennedy picked a new number. It makes him seem all grown up. :') He got the loudest cheer during the intros which were pretty sweet.

The Canucks lost and were shut-out. Ouch.

The Pens won! Sid scored, as did John Tavares with his first NHL goal. Woo!

I'm writing this while listening to the Kings game. They're losing 6-3. They scored all three goals on the powerplay. Therefore, the Kings just need to play the entire season with a man advantage and they'll have success. Good plan? Yes?

They lost.

Anyway, on to something you won't read anywhere else:

For those new to the blog, I work at HSBC Arena. I get to go to all the Sabres home games for free. In fact I get paid to be there. The downside is that i don't get to just sit and watch the entire game, I see only about half of the actual hockey that's played. The major perk is things like the story I'm about to tell.

FYI: When you enter the Arena from the security entrance you go left to head towards the SportService offices and the Zambonis. If you go right, which we are not permitted to do, you get to the locker rooms. Never the two shall meet.

I was running late to begin with, I'm supposed to be there at 5:30 but I rolled in about 5:35, dropped off my bag and headed to punch in. Unnnfortunately, my card was not there to punch in. I had to head down to the office to sign-in. On the way back I decided I would look for my card one more time.

So I head to where the cards are, right next to the elevator, and whom do I see, just chillin' in front of the time cards, looking all crazy tall and introspective listening to his iPod? Paul Gaustad. Completely random. I've never seen a player in that part of the Arena. The closest is around the bend behind a door where we can't see them, they play ping pong and we can hear them sometimes.

I actually had to move around him to get to the cards. I was like "Oh, do you need help punching in? Do you guys have to do that now? That's odd. My, you have skinny legs."

Anyway, that was random and funny.

World's most awkward high-five, FTW

And finally, we see the revelation of the evening. Mike Grier suddenly remembers why he left Buffalo in the first place:

Opening Night Didn't Go So Well

2009-10-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Well, in brief, here is how all four of last night's games went from my perspective:

Toronto v. Montreal: Ok, guys, we get it, you like to hit. Two fights, Mike Komisarek nearly sending himself through the glass to make a point to his former team. Habs won 4-3 in OT.

Schenner!
Look out!
Sneaky little Scott Gomez is right behind you!

Brooks Laich(!) and Alexander Ovechkin each had two goals and the Caps defeated the Bruins 4-1. I guess that was my preferred outcome, now that we think divisionally, at least for the next few months

Oh Sissy.

The Avalanche beat the Sharks 5-2 and Joe Sakic's number was retired. Joe Sakic, what a dude.

Darcy Tucker is REALLY excited about scoring a goal

Also, to celebrate his hero, Matt Duchene earned himself his first NHL point, an assist on JM Liles' goal (the 5th).

The Canucks were losing 3-0 at one point and had a nice rally, but fell victim to an empty-net goal and bad penalty killing.

Big Bear had three shots on goal and four hits
He had an assist but they took it away :(

Steve Montador has a personality: He talks about our youngest defensemen on Saturday's Roster. He makes fun of the JBG and I'm a-ok with that, keep things loose around the kid:

"I've seen [Sekera] do some pretty special things," Montador said. "He's strong on his feet, has good vision and for a European guy who has English as a second language, he talks quite a bit, which is great for a partner.
"Butler plays so confident, knows he can skate and does the little things well. Then you look at a guy like Myers who's 10 years younger than me. For a guy pulling moves and skating like that when he probably hasn't shaved a day in his life is impressive to me."

Brent Seabrook and Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks appear to be having a European affair. Just don't tell Adam Burish who's stuck back home in Chicago with a knee injury.

Ain't they sweet?

I love game photography:

Beauchemin: No, Luke, really, let's go left
Schenn: No, Francois, the play says move the puck up the ice
Beauchemin: I really don't think that's it
Schenn: Totally man, it is
Lapierre: If you two are finished chatting, I'll just come and take that puck...

Just In Case You Forgot...

2009-10-01T18:15:00.003-04:00

by Anne

Woooo!
Canucks play at 10:00 EST!

Wednesday Morning

2009-09-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

by Anne

I like lists, don't you?

Injury report: Drew Stafford has a "mild concussion" and Tony Lydman has a hand injury. Stafford may be ready for Saturday but Toni probably will not be.

Does this make room for Myers? He's had a strong, not outstanding, but an improving-each-game kind of camp. Do we give him his 9 game stint? I say: yes. Especially with Toni being out.

Cody McCormick cleared waivers and was sent to Portland. I am not surprised.

With Stafford and without Mair, we have twelve forwards, leaving a roster spot for Tim Kennedy, who I feel has had a better camp than Gerbe. Not to say Gerbe didn't have a strong camp, but I'd give Kennedy the edge. They both picked up the pace towards the end of camp and started scoring some goals, much to everyone's relief.

Leave Kennedy up, definitely, and once Mairsy comes back, we'll see what happens.

Don't touch my Matty Ellis. :P

The Florida Panthers AND Chicago Blackhawks lost to European teams on Tuesday. That's the first time an NHL team has lost in like 19 years and two lost on the same day. Well done, boys.

Many are super pumped about the Canucks. As. Am. I. Contender? I'd say definitely more so this year than last. Luongo, Heniel, Danrick, Burrows, Kesler, Ehrhoff, and crew are looking good. The defense looks pretty solid, and the scoring is there, even with Demitra out.

I'm a little less pumped for the Pens. I know pre-season is meaningless, but they had a really bad record in the pre-season.

People are also pumped about the Kings. Ok, "pumped" may be a little strong, let's define pumped as "predicting the Kings might not suck as hard as last year or the year before." Terry Murray is about defense and some of the Kings are... less inclined to be defensively responsible. Some of their +/- from last season is.... paralyzingly bad. Speaking of such things:

The Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters drafted yesterday and after some moves of some ill-advised draftees (who knew they all had such bad +/-?) the roster looks... ok?

Highlights of the Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters (or SHE) would be three of its four namesakes: Rick Nash (aces) Drew Doughty (ummm....) and Matt Greene (don't judge me). Sadly, Schenner was not available and BabySchenn went back to Brandon. Also on the roster are Nick Lidstrom, Vinny Lecavalier, Dany Heatley, Phil Kessel and Sissy. My team can score, win faceoffs and hit. Goaltending? Ehhh maybe not so much... My trio includes Osgood, Quick and Bryzgalov. I'm not thrilled with that line-up.

Also, I guess from some form of sentimentality, I drafted FIVE Kings. It's a really good think BabySchenn went back to juniors, I probably would've drafted HIM too. Their combined +/- is so unspeakably bad, I can't even think about it. Greener leads the way (and was #2 on the team last season) with a blistering +1. Yyyyeah, it's not good. Not Brind'amour bad, bad not even Lidstrom can counter-act all that negativity. I'm planning to unload Kopitar as soon as I can bully someone into taking him. Unless he suddenly starts playing defensive hockey, which is highly unlikely. Alas.

I have a lot (like three) more defensemen than everyone else in my league. Should I be concerned about this?

Can you tell I have NO IDEA what's going on in fantasy hockey?

Speaking of fantasies... [;)] we're formatting this year's All-Stars of Hottness differently, as there is not All-Star Game. Instead we will be selecting the national teams of the United States and Canada.... and maybe Sweden. But not Russia, they're all too ugly. Remember, this is purely superficial.

Team USA expects to announce their roster around December 30. I can't figure out when Team Canada announces their roster but I'm guessing it's right around then. We'll use December 30 as our date too. Look for that ballot to be posted by Thanksgiving and up for voting until Christmas. Nominations are accepted all the time, so submit some.

Final roster cuts must be made by today at 3:00pm EST. Eek!

Greener's trying to keep his +/- "high" for SHE's sake.
Thank you, Matt Greene.

I Guess That Was Good?

2009-09-28T10:37:00.005-04:00

by Anne

The Sabres and Maple Leafs participated in a lovely game of three on three pond hockey last night with piles of snow serving as netminders.

Wait, what's that you say? There WERE?

...I guess what you're all trying to tell me is that the Maple Leafs' "starting" goaltender and the Buffalo Sabres' #1 "back-up" were, in fact, in net las night.

Well, color me surprised.

The final score was a whiplash-inducing 7-6. First it was 2-0 Leafs, then the Sabres rallied to make it 4-3 and never fell behind again.

Vanek scored twice, once on a powerplay tip-in (thank goodness), Kennedy and Gerbe had two points apiece (1+1) each, Ellis scored, Grizz scored and Yo-yo scored. Yeesh. Royzie had three assists.

It was a game rife with emotion [not for the players, for me]. On the one hand, it's totally bad-ass that the Sabres scored seven goals in regulation. However the the "other hand" is sneaking up to tell us all that the Sabres (Patrick Lalime) let in six goals on 27 shots. And yes, some of them were definitely his fault. Some where shoddy coverage by his defenseman, but some of them he definitely should've had. There were so many I can't remember who scored the one I'm thinking of and trying to describe it would be ridiculous.

Kennedy and Gerbe have both really shown up these last two games, at least on the scoresheet. Gerbe only saw a little under 13 minutes of ice time, Kennedy just over 16, but they made their presence known.

The Bills, Steelers, Kings, Pens and Canucks all lost close ones (except the Bills, ok and the Pens too) yesterday. All of my teams were playing yester day and only one of them won. Normally, this would put a person into a bad mood, especially considering the football games really COUNT CUZ ITS THE REGULAR SEASON. However, because the Sabres were the only team that won, I'm ok with yesterday, because of all six teams, they're my over-all favorite.

The Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters draft tonight. Prepare to feel their wrath!

I'm going to draft approximately one legit player and then just use the rest to draft players that make me laugh. We will be the worst band of happy-go-lucky fools in fantasy hockey and it shall be glorious.

Oh yeah, and Pat Kaleta is a good person. Kennedy and Kaleta have yet to royally eff up and be irritating and embarrassing to the city of Buffalo. Hooray! Patty saves his douchebaggery for on the ice, where it belongs.

Good boy, Pat

Pre-season is over!! Time to re-arrange my standings tracker. Woooo!!

Sissy's in the line-up

2009-09-26T16:48:00.001-04:00

by Anne

While perusing the Canadiens website, my worst fears were confirmed: Sissy will be suiting up tonight against the Sabres. :(

He's still wearing #6.

I miss mah Sissy.

He's been playing well for the Habs. He has three points (1+2) in the Habs four pre-season games. Tonight's is their last and they're apparently heading to Toronto to hang out and bond. Why Toronto? I'm pretty sure the Maple Leafs fans won't be overjoyed to spot them out and about on Yonge Street.

I don't feel well. I blame Sissy.

I Adore Matt Ellis

2009-09-26T14:00:00.001-04:00

by Anne

Earlier this summer I didn't realize how much I adored Matt Ellis until I discovered that there was a possibility that we wouldn't re-sign him.

Now, he appears to be somewhat entrenched in the Sabres line-up, earning praise from Lindy and his teammates.

The fourth line of Paille - Ellis - Kaleta seems like a good one, but once Mair comes back, who's the odd-man out? According to that article above and John Vogl's most recent Sabres Edge post, it seems it would be Pie, unless he can really ramp up his scoring.

I love Pie, but this season is make or break for him. We need to see the kind of numbers he had in 2007 - 2008 if he wants to stay in this line-up.

But, regardless, his fellow Welland native is tearing it up. I noticed at the World's Most Boring Puck Drop Ever when they were doing speed testing that Matty is pretty darn fast, faster than a lot of the top six forwards we have, and as all anyone ever talks about is the speed of the NHL is break-neck (and seriously if one more person asks a rookie that question and we get that answer, I'm going to hurt myself from rolling my eyes too much.)

I love this blingee:

Wooo Matty!

Is it just me or...

2009-09-26T12:47:00.003-04:00

by Anne

Does Dany Heatley's NHL 10 persona look like Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone?

Twins.

Wanna Hear about my Wednesday?

2009-09-25T09:00:00.003-04:00

by Anne

Wednesday was the Sabres final home game of the pre-season. Cheap tickets, Toronto game, decent weather? Should spell a decent house, right?

Oh how very very wrong you would be if you thought that.

I work up the 300 level. I'm estimating there were maybe 300 people in the ENTIRE 300 level; the upperbowl holds about 6,000 people (I'm totally estimating on that number). Every single vendor was called into work.

The grand total of attendance was officially 11,008. That doesn't even fill the 100s and 200s. Everyone could've fit in the 100 level.

It was a huge waste of time. Our supervisor, who did not make the schedule, came by at the beginning of the second period and told us we could go home. I sold a grand total of: 1 popcorn, 2 cotton candy, 6 pop, 1 peanut and 1 twizzler in about 2 hours. Normally I sell that in the first 20 minutes when people are just starting to show up.

So when I was told to go home I said "Eff that." I changed into my regular clothes and found two empty seats in 117 next to Cari, Kim, Clare and Kelsey whom I just met and I'm not sure if she writes a blog. I enjoyed being a spectator for the 3rd period immensely as its the first time I've sat and watched a Sabres game in person since... March or April of 2008 I think.

Random observation: In the pre-game warm-ups Roy was wearing the C and Pommer was wearing an A. Once the game started, Gaustad was wearing the C, Roy was demoted to an A and Pommer and Yoyo also had As. Did Derek not give it his all in the warm-ups, Lindy? Maybe he spilled gatorade on it? I'm covinced that they're all on by velcro so Lindy can switch leadership as he sees fit.

Who do you think will ultimately wear the letters? Craigory with the C. A's I'm thinking will go to Grier, Gaustad, Pominville and Timmy or Royzie.

John Vogl wrote on the Sabres Edge that the current projected top three lines for the Sabres are:

MacArthur - Connolly - Pominville
Stafford - Roy - Vanek
Hecht - Gaustad - Grier
xxx-xxx-xxx
(I'm thinking those xxxs will be Paille- Mair/Ellis - Kaleta)
(Although is there room for Kennedy or Gerbe?)

I'm feeling our third line. I like that combination a lot. It's lines 1 and 2 that give me pause.

I always have trouble when fans decide they know more than a headcoach when it comes to forming lines, but as we live in a free country, I'm taking leave to speculate.

I wonder about a top line of Vanek - Connolly - Pommer and a second line of Stafford - Roy - MacArthur. Maybe toss Gerbe in as a winger with one of those line combinations down the line... not on October 3rd, I don't think he's ready. I'm not of course guaranteeing that I have any idea what I'm talking about, but it's my blog and I'll speculate if I want to.

The Sabres are ramping up their number of blogs this season. Adam Mair is starting one "Mair's Office." Hey, the sign's there most games. Sabres PR guy Kevin Snow is starting up a fantasy hockey blog he's calling "Livin' the Dream." Of course KSlyv still has his blog, Erin Pollina (who has great fashion sense but really wears completely ridiculous shoes to games, at least she did to the Washington game, she looked like she couldn't walk. But she looked great so who cares? Do I have a girl crush on Erin Pollina? No, I think I'm just glad we've seen less Maria Genero this pre-season) is still writing Beyond the Boards. No sign of Pommer's blog yet but hopefully we will be blessed this season by his choppy sentences and over-simplification of the English language.

We're fast approaching the start of the regular season!! Woooo!

This post needs a picture, let's find one, shall we?

So he's not a Sabre
However, I believe we can all support Shane O'Brien encouraging literacy
Although, maybe not his supporting of the Detroit Tigers
BUT. He SCORED the tying goal in the last minute of regulation on Thursday.
SO'B scored only one goal in the playoffs, none in the regular season and now one in pre-season
Someday he'll have a regular season goal for Vancouver

Happy Birthday, Toni Lydman!

2009-09-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

by Anne

Our [new] favorite Finn is turning the big 3-2 today.

Toni, whose only personality quirk seems to be his ability to reconcile his quiet demeanor with a love of heavy metal and hitting things, is another year older.

Keep on, keepin' on, Tone

Remember that month when he was captain? That was weird.

Happy Birthday, Toni!!

These Games STILL Don't Count?/ Anne Succumbs to Fantasy Hockey

2009-09-23T09:00:00.004-04:00

by Anne

By some cruel twist of fate, it is STILL pre-season. I'm not sure how but, trust me, it still is.

The Canucks are 5-0 in the pre-season. On Monday night they jumped to an early 3-0 lead against the Flames only allow four unanswered Flames goals to trail 4-3 late in the third. Here's what happened: 10.2 seconds left - Six attackers for the Canucks. A Mason Raymond goal is disallowed because of an early whistle. Faceoff goes to the neutral zone. Game over, right?

Daniel Sedin says NO:

He scored the tying goal with 0.2 seconds left
And THEN he scored the winning goal in the shootout

Curtis Glencross scored too.
Big Bear gets all emo with displeasure

The Sabres sent 14 players to Portland. There were no surprises. Myers, Weber, Kennedy, Gerbe, Gragnani, Enroth all remain in camp.

Speaking of the Sabres, they'll walk the red carpet tomorrow night before the game against the Maple Leafs where no one will buy anything and I'll have no money to show for my trouble.

The Kings beat the Islanders in Kansas City on Tuesday night. Wayne Simmonds had a fantastic game. Two goals- one short-handed- and a nifty fight:

Simmer's intense fight-y face is obscured by some Ts
Trust me, it's intense and fight-y

Sean O'Donnell earned himself a match penalty that will be reviewed by the league. Yeesh O'D.

The Pens lost to the Maple Leafs. I didn't see much but I did see Gronk tangle with Mike Komisarek and lose. Two blonde giants that I enjoy, Gronk clearly more than Komi. Gronk had a lame-tastic shootout attempt. Eh, its ok. He was wearing an A though. :)

It wasn't pretty

Hi Jay!
I hope you're enjoying your time in Pittsburgh!

I've joined my first fantasy hockey league. The reason I never joined before was because I couldn't come up with a good name. Problem solved! I decided that I needed someone to create it for me and if I laughed, I'd use it. Most of the team name generators are completely lame. Therefore I decided to go the anagram route and started tossing in combinations of my favorite players names. Behold:

+ + +

Greene+Schenn+Doughty+Nash=

Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters

Fear their wrath.

I feel strongly that there were way too many pictures in this post.

Sabres Earn Another Win

2009-09-21T22:30:00.001-04:00

by Anne

The Sabres beat the Caps to improve to 2-0-1 in the pre-season.

Hooooooray!!

Chris Butler's big shot from the blueline was tipped in, once again, this time by Stafford.

Patty Kaleta was absolutely FLYING out there tonight. He was hitting, blocking shots, nine(!) to be exact, and even scored a goal, just 11 seconds after the first goal by Stafford.

Patty Lalime wasn't really tested too much, he faced 20 shots, stopped 19. The story of the game was defense and penalty killing. The Sabres managed to limit the shot-happy Washington Capitals to just one shot on a five minute major penalty to Goose. Who was FRAMED, btw.

However, there was one huuuuuuge save Patty made. Unfortunately, Weber had a terrrrrrible turnover that handed the puck to Matt Bradley alone in the slot and Patty had to come up absolutely huge to make that save.

Basically, Weber has made a few too many costly mistakes these pre-season and he's going to be heading down to Portland. With competition as high as it is, Doof basically needed to be more than just good, he needed to be fantastic to make this squad. He was not fantastic. To Portland he goes. He is incredibly frustrating and I'm sure he's frustrated as well. He still managed 22 shifts and 20:06 in ice time, in spite of his paralyzingly bad turnover.

Myers and Butler looked pretty good. Sir Christopher looked especially good in his own zone, which is pretty darn important considering that's, ya know, his job.

Why hello, Sir Christopher
Lookin' snappy

Timmy wore the C, Goose and Vanek had the As. Goose wasn't very captainly with his 17 minutes of penalties, including the 5 minute major. He also saw only 9:26 of ice time. Yeesh.

I know its only pre-season, but tonight's game felt good.

He puzzles me
Three shots on goal
No goals yet
Where does he start the season?

Next pre-season game is Wednesday at home against Toronto.

If you're going to the game, I'll see ya there! Tickets are only $20, 50% off for kids 12 and under with the purchase of an adult ticket. Go here. And use the code "tweet" to make all ticket prices either $20 or $15. Its a good deal, use it.

Let's Go Buff-a-lo!

Epic Third Period Win is the New Epic Third Period Collapse

2009-09-19T22:39:00.001-04:00

by Anne

Last year the Sabres suffered mightily at their own irresponsibility during the third period. These two pre-season games have been exactly the opposite.

The Sabres have scored a respectable six goals in two games. That sounds fine, but the truth is they scored six goals in two periods: both of the 3rd periods they've played.

They looked absolutely abysmal tonight against the Red Wings... until the third period. Same goes for the other night against the Caps.

Royzie managed to score on the power play, and Vanek scored on a nice little deflection of a Chris Butler shot from the blue line. Goose added the empty netter to seal the deal.

The star of the game was most definitely Miller. The Red Wings were relentless, shooting double digit shots on him in each period. Nice to see that Miller's "dumb" ankle has smartened up. He looked fantastic in his first game of the pre-season.

Denied.

Myers looked just ok tonight. He made a few poor choices, including the ill-advised decision to slide to the ice to block a shot that ended up being just one of several bad Sabres choices that ultimately ended in the Red Wings goal. He saw his 20+ minutes of ice time from the other night drop to just under 17:00 tonight. On the converse, Weber looked better and his hefty number of shifts (28, most on the team) reflected that play.

The Sabres managed to win in the faceoff department with Kennedy, Ellis and Gaustad each winning over 50% of their draws.

If you were to just look at the last two third periods, the Sabres look fantastic. However, games are 60 minutes, not 20 minutes long.

There Were So Many Games Last Night

2009-09-19T11:12:00.001-04:00

by Anne

Yet, I care so little about almost all of them.

The only points of note:

Matt Duchene scored his first (albeit unofficial) NHL goal for the Avs lsat night, but they lost 6-2 to the Blues

Speaking of the Blues, former King Derek Armstrong scored a goal for the Blues :) I'll miss Army in the Kings line-up but I'm glad he found a home in the NHL

Filppula scored the Wings first goal of the game, 30 seconds into the 3rd period. The Wings scored 4 goals in the 3rd to down the Rangers 4-3

The Canucks defeated the Sharks 6-2. The Sedins had three goals. Two for Henrik and one for Daniel. Hooray! I was glad to see Ehrhoff get one in past his former team.

Phil Kessel was finally traded to the Maple Leafs last night for a bunch of draft picks. I think two first rounders (one in 2010 and one in 2011) and a 2010 2nd rounder. This affects the Sabres almost not at all because the trade was within our division and he's going to a worse team. Oh yeah, and he's hurt. Looky there.

Sabres play in Detroit tonight.

Kennedy, Gerbe and Miller who all have strong Detroit ties are all playing tonight. Its because they got Lindy this hat:

It worked

Puck drops at 7:00 at the Joe!

Fantastic Photograph

2009-09-18T17:59:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Sabres.com has an article up about Tim Kennedy's big return to Detroit for Saturday's game; Kennedy played college hockey for Michigan State.

The article touches on how Tim became friends with and still keeps in touch with a young girl who suffers from a rare medical disorder, and on his friendship with the Red Wings' Justin Abdelkader who was this close to becoming my Red Wings WCB.

I adore Tim Kennedy, in spite of my mocking of him in the past, which people flipped out on me for. My adoration of him sky rocketed after viewing this photograph:

AMAZING.
That's Abdelkader in the Spartans green
I don't know who the little girl is, I don't think its Katie

Good old Timmy. Making Buffalo proud. It's nice to see some guys from Buffalo doing good and not doing stupid bone headed things, Pat Kane.

Hooray for hockey!

Thursday Night

2009-09-18T10:47:00.004-04:00

by Anne

I didn't invest much emotionally into last night's game. Its too bad they lost but, eh. Whatevs. Its just pre-season.

The game went by really really fast, so I didn't get to watch much of it. Normally I get to watch a lot of it by standing in the aisles but without commercial breaks and all that jazz, and very few stoppages in play, the game flew by and I had to keep a-sellin'.

I'm really glad I'm working at the Arena again. I forgot how much I like a lot of the people I work with there.

Some stuff:

Pie had the hit of the game. He did this:

Pie go boom.

There was a moment where a player took a puck off his visor. I don't know who because I didn't see it. I only know it happened because it was SO LOUD I heard it up in the 300s. Imagine if that had hit his eyes instead of a visor?! Yikes

TK's and Grizz's goals were classic examples of two basic hockey principals: #1 Just shoot the puck at the net, you never know what might happen (Grizz) and #2 Get to the front of the net and an opportunity may present itself (Kennedy)

For the most part Lalime and Enroth both looked decent. Its a shame we probably can't keep Enroth for long. I'm sure he'll back up Miller in a few seasons but if he continues to develop as well as it seems he will, he'll be too good to be a back up in a few years. Oh well. We can still be Facebook friends, right, Jho?

Royzie was wearing the C. Vanek was wearing an A. I didn't see anyone else. I assume Pommer? Yoyo was not.

They took two penalties v. Washington's 5 or 6. Unfortunately, they were very untimely penalties as they occurred in the dying seconds of regulation which gave Washington their two man advantage heading into OT. Oh well, its only the pre-season.

Vancouver v. Anaheim:

Big Bear scored!!!! :)x1,000

Wooo!
His goal was the opening and game-winning goal.

Los Angeles at San Jose

I only listened to this one but both teams traded lots and lots of power play time. I believe the Kings PK was a perfect 8 for 8 while the Sharks PK was a still pretty good 7-8 or 6-7. I don't feel like checking.

It was 1-0 Sharks until Brownie FINALLY scored on the power play with just 9.5 seconds remaining in regulation.

Despite the two penalties they took in OT, Jon Quick came up big, and only allowed one shooter to score in the shootout. Unfortunately Greiss did even better and didn't allow anyone to score in the shootout so the Sharks won.

Yer doin' it wrong!

Elsewhere:

Theo Fleury scored the deciding shootout goal for the Calgary Flames... I still have trouble remembering he's back. Its not that it makes a huge impact on my life, but my brain has become hardwired to read "Fleury" and think "Marc-Andre" not "Theoren" so I keep getting tripped up by this comeback.

Dion Phaneuf was convicted for the attempted murder of Kyle Okposo in last night's Flames/Islanders game. Okposo was diagnosed with a mild concussion. Seeing someone laying on the ice, head in their hands while goalies and linemates wrestle for his defense is not something you expect to see in the pre-season. Okposo irritates me when he's on Team USA but Phaneuf irritates me all the time, so advantage Okposo. Get better soon.

Everything about last night's game from employees to the game itself felt very pre-season. There wasn't the usual amount of nervous energy you feel at most Sabres games. There wasn't as much shouting in the concourse, there wasn't as much beer consumed. But there was still a lot of excitement. Unlike games where the Sabres HAVE to win or they're screwed, people were genuinely happy. Even when they lost, people were ok with it. Everyone seemed just happy that hockey is FINALLY coming back.

I've Missed Him SO MUCH

2009-09-17T11:43:00.005-04:00

by Anne

I can't help it, Tim Connolly makes me giggle.

Nice flip flops, bro.

I alternately hate him and adore him.

Its so fantastic.

THERE IS SABRES GAME TONIGHT. YES ITS PRE-SEASON BUT ITS STILL THE BLUE AND GOLD SKATING AGAINST ANOTHER TEAM!!

Wooooooo!!

See you at the Arena tonight!

The Good The Bad and The WTF

2009-09-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

by Anne

Additonal roster photos have been released throughout the league. I will not, of course, be posting the 600+ photos that have been released.... OR WILL I?!

No, I won't.

I will, however, post those of my WCBs and Vice-WCBs (maybe) as they are revealed to me.

The Good (sorry about the watermarks):

Big Bear, looking all chizzled and ready to go

SO'B ready to charm his way into a roster spot
Fierce roster photo: check.

The Bad:

Thank goodness there's photoshop
He looks like he's 5'3"
You can see the bottom of the "canvas"
hahahaha

The WTF:

I appreciate growing the hair back
I appreciate the smile
I do NOT appreciate that gross landing strip of facial hair you have on your chin
Please remedy this situation posthaste

The Totally unrelated:

I came across this picture of the Schenn brothers at the draft
I take every oppotunity to see Luke Schenn in a suit
Brayden is not yet old enough for me to ogle him
But give it time.

Ennis Is In & Other Stuff

2009-09-16T22:07:00.000-04:00

by Anne

As he mentioned earlier would happen, Darcy Regier has announced that the Sabres have signed last year's other Tyler to an entry-level contract. Lil' Tyler will have a lot of competition for the "little guy" on the team job. Frankly, we already have one full-time and one who will probably make the full-time this year.

That red-headed dude is just as excited as I am

Two other things. The Sabres Media Guide was released today. Its the same old stuff as usual. They've done away with the "favorites" section, but have added their "signature," or autograph, as it would seem. Adam Mair's looks like they forgot to ask him and the PR guy's secretary had to fill in at the last second:

So neat and tidy.

I love the picture the team chose to use for the NHL.com preview tab on the Sabres.com homepage. I'm assuming this is at a critical point in a shoot-out:

I don't think they normally lean this far out during a game
Grizz and Pie are having a serious chat.
Enlarge to see how creepy Matt Ellis looks.
I think he's looking at the jumbotron.

First pre-season game tomorrow!!

Yesss New Roster Photos

2009-09-15T17:57:00.002-04:00

by Anne

I absolutely love roster photo day. Who shines? Who smiles with their eyes? Who suffers from that dreaded disease Roster Photo Panic, more commonly known as RPP?

Unfortunately, most of these boys seem to be better prepared for these photos. No one looks like they slept in the car last night, there's the standard "cut by a weed whacker" hockey hair, vacant stares and odd lighting. However, let's check out some high (and low) lights:

Oh Sir Christopher
You could use a trim, but I'll forgive you

Aww Pie's all growed up.
He got himself hitched this summer.
Awwwww.

Awwww, Little Foot always mixes up his photos.
This is tiny because there's no watermark

Felix has a remarkably thick neck
And a remarkably vacant facial expression

Ha.
Hahahha
Jacob Lagace looks like he took a puck to the head, someone pulled a jersey on him and pushed him in the direction of the stool and he almost missed.

The photographer told all the Kings to put their hands on their lap and lean slightly forward
Dewey complied

Greener did too

All the Oilers roster photos look like they were taken in a bathroom

Aww, Matt Duchene's first NHL roster photo

I could not come across rosters for many other teams, so many of my other WCBs don't have roster photos up yet or they're not hilarious or adorable.

Wooooo. Hockey is almost here! Fo' Reals. The Canucks beat the Islanders 2-1 in the Hockeyville game last night. Hooray!

Not Too Shocked

2009-09-14T22:45:00.003-04:00

by Anne

Why?

Every. Fucking. Time.

Done.

Let's Go Steelers!

Happy Birthday, Craig Rivet!

2009-09-13T21:35:00.002-04:00

by Anne

I resolved that starting this season I would acknowledge all players birthdays aaaaaand, I sort of forgot today was Craigory's birthday.

Sorry Craig! :)

yummm

Your team won the scrimmage today! Hooray! Thanks for convincing Mike Grier to come back! Yay!

Training Camp For Everyone!

2009-09-13T19:42:00.002-04:00

by Anne

Its not just training camp for the Buffalo Sabres, its training camp time for all. Huzzah!

Here are some snapshots from my other three favorite teams. The Penguins, Canucks and Kings.

It appears the Penguins were too busy visiting Barack Obama to post any training camp photos. Psh. Lame.

Here's what the Canucks and Kings have to offer so far:

This.... doesn't look safe

S'OB tries not to show his panic over the fact that there are six roster spots and approximately 74 players vying for those six spots

Kes promised Bur a lollipop if he didn't cry when she drew blood.
I hope he made it.

The Kings posed for portraits
Thank goodness he cut his hair.

Jarett Stoll is wary of you sneaking up from behind and hacking him on his newly arthritic wrist.
He doesn't want you to know which one it is...

He blabbed