Painful

by Anne

That game was painful. Two of those goals were just ridiculous. I turned the game off half way through the third because I just couldn't bring myself to watch anymore. If they're not going to play 60 minutes, why should I watch 60 minutes?

Stars tomorrow. A team we should beat. We'll probably lose.

I watched the game a few minutes behind "live" so I fast forwarded through the six minute power play that resulted in absolutely nothing but heartache.

Anyway, moving on. Just a reminder, ladies, voting ends Thursday night at 11:59 (supposedly) so get your last minute votes in and think about players who are not Sabres for a few minutes.

How unfair is it that its in the single digits today and will be in the negative tomorrow and those good for nothing Sabres are in Dallas? Ha, I just checked Thursday's high temp in Dallas and its only supposed to be 38. HAH! ... although that's still about 37 degrees warmer than it'll be in Buffalo. Jerks.

I'm glad Soupy won and I'm glad Sharpie scored. They deserved the win. Its nice to see people in the seats at Blackhawks games, I really like Chicago and the Blackhawks are a good team with a lot of young talent that deserves to play in front of sell-out crowds.

Its too bad Duncan Keith was hurt on Staffy's hit, because that hit was highly entertaining.

I don't know if its the cold weather or he's finally decided he likes his mommy but my cat is incredibly cuddly lately. He's laying on my arm right now, making it somewhat difficult to type. But he's pretty much one of the cutest things ever so I can adapt. I seriously hate cats. Oscar is one of three cats I can tolerate. At least something pleasant happened tonight. After re-reading that sentence I've decided its the clearest indication I've seen recently that tells me that I need a boyfriend, haha.

Anyway, my love life is not what this blog is about.

Its so annoying to write when they lose. Its just draining. You already sat through a loss, sometimes a nauseatingly pathetic loss like this one and then you have to try to discuss the game in someway. No thank you. We're still in 7th place, but only because other teams keep losing, not because we're winning. The Pens lost tonight 6-3 to the Caps. Jeff Carter and AO have moved into another tie for first place in goals scored with 29. TV is still sitting stagnant at 27.

So what's the next formula? Juggle the lines? PLAY CHRIS BUTLER? Miller clearly gets the start. Although, while Lalime gave up those fluky goals, the offense didn't help him out much. I don't have the energy to write about that game anymore. Fortunately, they get a chance to redeem themselves RIGHT AWAY.

I haven't had to do this yet this year, but I need to go to my old stand by to cheer me up. Animals wearing people things:

He's ready for the Catwalk for Charity.

Tuesday Afternoon

by Anne

I didn't watch Sunday's Bills game. Not a second of it. Does this make me less of a fan? Maybe. I'm sure a lot of people would have a few things to say about refusing to watch and loving the Bills. All I have to say is a sure sign of going crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and looking for different results. Therefore, by that logic, all sports fans are crazy, because that's exactly what we do.

Season after season we sit down on our couches and watch the Bills vacillate between glimmers of false hope and tidal waves of crushing disappointment. Yet, every year we watch, hoping things will be different... and they aren't.

Remember all those 10-10-220 numbers for cheap phone calls from, I don't know, like the late 90s? Hahahaha, what would happen if you tried to use one of those now? What did those even do exactly? I just thought of those the other day and how ridiculous they were. There were several 10-10-### combinations if I recall. Who thought this up? Does your telephone service provider bug out and charge you less if you dial an extra 7 numbers before the 7-10 numbers required for making an actual phone call? Did some crazy voiceover message come on like "Thanks for using 10-10-936, now dial the number of the person you're trying to reach."? Because if it didn't and you messed up your 10-10-### code and then talked for like 2 hours, you'd be PIIIIISSED when you got your phone bill.

The phone company's last ditch effort to avoid the inevitable "Death by increasing popularity of cell phone."

It doesn't surprise me at all to read that Drew Stafford is not a superstitious guy. Superstitions are baloney. Staffy's "Your Sabres Delievered" is good but its better if you imagine him wearing the mustache and wig while answering questions.

Caps tonight. Their last game was a 4-1 home win over the Leafs and Ovechkin scored another 2 goals, as did Brooks Laich. Wooooo! (for them). It's amazing what a different team they are with AO out there. Without him we beat them 5-0, with him we lost 3-2. Of course, he's playing tonight.

I leave you with a shot of one of S(h)ara and Mama Peg's favorites, the Patrick Sharp All-Star Voting Campaign ad:

WCB Weekend Update

by Anne


*sniff sniff* It's really brought a tear to my eyes all of my WCBs who took up the cause to give me happy things to talk about on Saturday night. Here they are in no particular order:

Chicago: Patrick Sharp (12+8)

Sharpie scored 2 goals Saturday night! One a nice tip-in of a rebound and the other a straight skate in and shoot. He gave the Blackhawks their first two goals in an attempt to climb back from a 3-0 deficit. They went on to beat the Leafs 5-4 in OT. Yay!!!

Columbus: Rick Nash (10+9)

Nasher got his 10th of the season in a 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers, giving Steve Mason his first NHL shut out. The Thrashers didn't make him work very hard, they only offered him 15 shots to stop. Yay! This extends Nasher's 5 game goal streak. Yayyy!!!

rawr

Minnesota: Owen Nolan (1+5)

Nothing in the write up or box score indicates why, but ONo was named 3rd star of the night in the Wild's 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. But, who cares! Yay!!! ONo!!!

Anaheim: Ryan Getzlaf (8+18)

Saturday night Getzy scored in the shoot out and talked himself all smart and the like when he talked about how well he can read Marty Turco. Muahahaha. On the other side of that game, Brendan Morrow's season is over :( His necessary surgery will require several months of recovery time. :( HOWEVER! Marty Turco got an assist and I friggin' love when goalies get points, hahahaha.

Detroit: Nick Lidstrom

Ok, so this isn't exactly about Nick Lidstrom. Its about my former Red Wings WCB, Brett Leda.
Brett heard all the mean things I said about him being terrible so he scored a goal and was named first star of the night! Wooo! Toooo bad he's not my WCB anymore. Look, one goal does not reclaim my love so easily.

LA Kings: Matt Greene (0+2)

Greener was a +2 as the Kings fell to the Avs 4-3 in OT. Once again, Greener failed to put one home. I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP HOPE, MATTHEW! THERE'S STILL LIKE 63 GAMES LEFT! YOU CAN DO IT!

San Jose: Marc-Edouard Vlasic

PICKLES SCORED A GOAL!!!!! Yay!!! And he had an assist!! Hooray! I hope he had all those adorable rosy cheeks I've heard so much about!! Weeeee! I love when defensemen score!

Moving on:

Vancouver and Chicago had better watch their backs in this "Favorite Western team 08-09 race" I just discovered this on the Calgary Flames website and things are looking up for my 07-08 team to really get back in the mix here.

The Flames participated in a charity wheelchair hockey event and got their butts kicked 11-6. Hahaha.

I bet Iggy wishes he could use that purple stick ALL the time.


I might be in love with Mike Cammalleri

5-2 Actually Sounds Better Than It Looked

by Anne

Things that are bad: Losing

Things that are worse: Losing to the Senators

You know, I saw Yo-yo after the game and he looked PERFECTLY FINE to me... and I am DEFINITELY a qualified medical practitioner, so, JOCHEN, GET OUT THERE. GOOSE, YOU TOO. TIMMY, STOP FAKING IT AND PUT ON YOUR DARN SKATES.

I still love you, Patty Lalime.

Petey did kick Chris Neil's booty in that fight. I don't care what anyone says, I love Petey.

HA! I just looked at the standings and even with the loss tonight to the Sens, they have 7 points and we have 14. Hahahahahaha. I don't feel quite as bad anymore, but 16 points to their 5 would've been even sweeter.

WCB Watch

Ducks at Blue Jackets

The Good: Getzy had 2 points (1+1) and was +2 with 4 hits!! Yay!!

Corey Perry is channeling my love and sending it to Getzy
Chris Kunitz is kind of uncomfortable

The Bad: Nasher was non-existent except for 2 shots on goal and 1 takeaway.

Rrrreeeeeaach!

Blackhawks at Wild

Sharpie had a goal, was +1 and his team lost.

ONo had 1 assist and 1 hit and was +1 and his team won.... making them the last team to lose in regulation. :( Although they've only played 7 games and we've played 9. So if they lose their next game, TECHNICALLY we were undefeated in regulation longer.

His stick broke because the pressure of being the stick of one of Anne's WCB's was too much for it to handle.
Remember, ONo's been out for a while, his equipment will need time to adjust to the awesome weight of my adoration

Bruins at Oilers
or
Zzzzzzzzzz....

Ok, the only kind of 1-0 victory that are usually entertaining is a 1-0 OT decision, and that's what this was.

However, there were no fights and only like 8 power plays all together. What a SNOOZE fest that probably was.

Ethan Moreau had 0 points because his team was shut out, 2 PIM, 3 hits, 1 giveaway and 1 takeaway. Woo. Hoo. I'm not even going to bother looking for a picture.

Red Wings at Kings

Greener got an assist!! yay!!!! 2 blocked shots! The Kings lost because Jason LaBarbera is not very good in shootouts. He allowed 2 goals on 2 shots and Osgood stopped both his attempts. In other news, I correctly guessed Detroits first two shooters and only 1 of LAs. I'm amazed I can name 3 LA Kings that aren't Matt Greene, Drew Doughty or Anze Kopitar. Ok, there's Dustin Brown and Jarett Stoll, but now you've REALLY tapped my resources. But, A+ for even getting to OT, Kings, the Red Wings are really good and last season you were... not good.

No pictures of Greener. :(

I need a new Detroit Red Wings WCB, Brett Lebda sucks and is not worthy of my love. Any suggestions? If your suggestion is "Pavel Datsyuk", I'll pass, because not a single on ice photo of him exists in which he does not look like he just descended from the Mother Ship.

Because no WCB Watch is truly complete without him, who was named first star of the week? WHO? Ok, no, not Thomas Vanek, he was last week, but IGGY!!

His eyes pierce the soul

Has anyone else noticed that the Chris Pronger and Dion Phaneuf "Is this Year?" banner ads on NHL.com are the same except for the color (and pictures of course).?They're both like "Some say the season only ends..... so his opponents can heal." Did they think no one would notice? I spend about .02 seconds a week thinking about Dion Phaneuf and Chris Pronger's NHL ads and I noticed, Flames or Ducks fans must've noticed.

If we lose to the Lightning on Thursday, we're breaking up and I'm keeping the ring.

I've been looking into the WCBs that will be heading to HSBC Arena this season.

Coming to see me and experience my love first hand: Rick Nash (11/14) J.P. Dumont (12/1) MATT GREENE (the prince of my Western Conference Heart, 12/19) Ryan Getzlaf (2/24), Peter Mueller (3/6), Whoever I pick from the Red Wings (4/6). Big Bear has already come and gone. AND SCORED ON MILLSY, JERK. JUST KIDDING, BIG BEAR, I LOVE YOU! I'm a little sad that Iggy won't be coming. :( But I shall soldier on!!!

OMG I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THE WORLD JUNIORS.

Just a head's up, be prepared to read some permutation of the previous sentence in every blog post.... ever... until it happens and then my head explodes.

What a Weird Wednesday

by Anne

Wednesday was full of ups and downs... actually mostly downs.

• Cap'n Craigory is hurt and OUT for a few weeks :(... this story made me legitimately sad, maybe its just because I have all this hockey sadness to unleash but we haven't suffered a 3rd period giving up a 2 goal leadcollapse yet, so it had to go somewhere :'(
• There was no Sabres game :(
• There was no Project Runway

The nightly WCB report:

Chicago v. Edmonton

Chicago wins it 3-0. Sharpie scored the first goal which is therefore, technically, the game winner! He had a 2 point night (1+1),was a +1 for the evening and was picked as #2 star after Nikolai "Anybody wanna goaltender? No? Really? Ugh, fine we'll keep him" Khabibulin. Yay!!!

Sharpie!! Write Out Loud!!!

San Jose v. Philadelphia

WHOA. Periodically throughout the night I was checking on scores. When it was 4-3 after the first, I knew this game was not going to be a clinic in solid defensive hockey.

Pickles had 1 pt on a PPG (0+1), finished -1, but lead the team in ice time with 27:50. Woooo!!!!

This was the best Getty Images had to offer from the game
Where's the Sharks' French Canadian Pimp's adorable face?
Stop smushing it, Scott Hartnell!

Detroit v. St. Louis

Errr my WCBs for these teams were mostly quiet.

Brett Lebda had 0pts, even +/-, 1 missed shot, 1 giveaway and 2 PIM.

Skate for the puck, Brett!!!!

Jay McKee had 0pts, +1, 1 hit and 1 blocked shot. Woooooo. Thus the trials and tribulations of loving defensemen.

This picture is technically from the game on the 18th, but its still
AWESOME CUZ ITS JAY MCKEE

I'm not surprised that New Jersey got a shut out, but I am surprised they scored 5 goals, that's kind of unlike them.

Apparently all that talk of "regrouping" and "fixing problems" and "trying to win games" from the Senators camp hasn't really done much because they lost 3-1 to the FLORIDA PANTHERS. Remember when the Senators used to be all tough and scary and "AHHHH THEY'RE GOING TO EAT US!!"? They might still beat us, but they seem about a kabillion times less scary this season.

With the exception of the "Kahlua Line" in Atlanta (which is pretty awesome, a line of Little-White-Kovalchuk) can we PLEASE stop naming lines? Unless its universally AWESOME like that one, lets just stop. I actually tried to sit down and name one of our lines, completely unsuccessfully. Like, the Pizza Line? Really? Alfredsson-Spezza-Heatley, because they always deliver? LAME. You know what else gets delivered? Mail, the newspaper, and babies. And the "mail must go through" boys, it's a way more effective slogan than "at your door in 30 minutes or less or it's free".

I have to run out and buy a book between classes. Ugh. Not fun.

My Quest Continues

by Anne


REMEMBER WHEN THOMAS VANEK IS THE GREATEST HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD?!?!

Ok so maybe not but he's still TOTALLY AWESOME.

I continue in my quest for Western Conference Men!!

Thanks to a few excellent suggestions earlier today I have locked in the following choices:


Chicago Blackhawks:

Patrick Sharp

I was given the "all clear" to love Patrick Sharp and HERE I GO.
He had a beautifully productive 07-08 campaign and was just given an "A".
NICE
And he scored a goal last night!! Woooo!!!

Colorado Avalanche:

John-Michael Liles

I have no reason to love JM Liles other than:
1. He's cute
2. Ryan Miller is friends with him
3. I don't give a HOOT about anyone else on the Avs

Minnesota Wild:

Owen Nolan

He was born in Ireland!
Ok, so he only lived there until he was like 7 months old but THAT'S JUST GETTING INTO DETAILS.

Really, its partially because I love the name "Nolan" and I plan to one day name a child that.

Here's hoping Owen Nolan and I never decide to procreate, then I'd be stuck.

That, and he's gotten foxier with age:

Ummmmm.....

San Jose Sharks:

This is a tough one, it would've been Kyle McLaren but, ummmm, that's a touchy subject for Jess and Soph, so I'll just move along.

Then there's Marc-Edouard Vlasic who seems totally BA but can I love a man whose nickname is Pickles? I might need someone a little more rugged, even if he does remind me of Jason Pominville.

HOWEVER. Upon perusal of the Sharks' website I noted that one Mr. Torrey Mitchell appears to have pulled a TimmyHo and broken multiple bones and is not playing for the foreseeable future and has been declared my San Jose Sharks boyfriend.

"But, Anne", you might be saying, "he's hurt, he's not going to be able to WOW you with being all tough and swaggery and breaking people's bones when he crushes them into the boards, right Kurtis Foster?" And those who might be saying that, would be correct.

HOWEVER:

YYYYYYESSSSSSSSS!!!

Already we've been treated to a few "I was going to do this stuff anyway but now I'm hurt, thanks for cheering for me anyway guys." moments and a roommate anecdote about how Devin Setoguchi ruined a pair of Torrey's flipflops because Devin's feet were too big for them. GOLD. PURE GOLD. Is he any good at, ya know, playing hockey? I have no idea. Does it matter? HECK NO.

ETA: The amazing Soph has informed me that Torry Mitchell is a JERK FACE who elbowed her once and therefore I shall continue to enjoy his blog but I am demoting him from the list. SAVED FROM CERTAIN HEARTBREAK!

Dallas: Ok I don't have a selection made but Fabian Brunnstrom scored like 106 goals last night, should I consider him? Dallas fans?

He's got a kind of "I Might Be Crazy Awesome or Just Plain Crazy" vibe to him, no?
Thoughts?
Good Choice? Bad Choice?
Should I Just Pick Marty Turco and call it a day?!?

AND HIS NAME IS FABIAN SO DREW STAFFORD PROBABLY ALREADY HAS HIM ON SPEED DIAL

Sidenote, who didn't love it when MSG decided to park the camera on Drew Stafford last night at the top of the 3rd period and he was just like patting all his teammates on the back like a reassuring Dad? I thought it was darn cute. Granted, he might do it all the time, but we've never seen it before.

As always, I soldier on, searching for men to love as I eagerly await the return of BIG BEAR TO BUFFALO.