I Guess That Was Good?

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!!

I Adore Matt Ellis

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!

Wanna Hear about my Wednesday?

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

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

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

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

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.

Thursday Night

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.

Most National Anthem Singers Should Be Shot

by Anne

Minnesota had a very good anthem singer on Wednesday night. Columbus was one of the "I'm not going to quite sing the right note so I'll just kind of slide around until I get to the right note." kind of girls that we usually have to suffer through when Doug Allen isn't there. The one that sang the other night wasn't quite as annoying as she was last year, but, ladies, this isn't American Idol. Have a little respect for the countries and just sing the songs as they were written, thanks!!

Anyway, that is neither here nor there.

But what IS is that we WON!!!

WOOOOOO!!!

The top of the first period was a little nerve-wracking. Two games in a row of allowing the other team to score right off the bat doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in this blogger. I was starting to wish the debate was starting at 8:00 rather than 9:00 when that one went in.

I'm not sure what it is that got them off of their edge at the beginning, it can't be Columbus's RAUCOUS crowd, as Rick frequently mentioned the emptiness of the arena. Attendance was just north of 11,000. However, a goal from Yoyo and the first intermission seemed to set the groove and Buffalo controlled the rest of the game.

Kotalik, Vanek, Yoyo, Teppo and GERBE lit the lamp and gave us our first REAL decisive, clear cut victory of the pre-season.

GAH I wish I could watch these games so I could actually say more about them. Listening is great but watching with Rick's sweet sweet voice calling the plays is just about the best thing ever.

No hockey game is complete without at least one or two of Rick and Harry's "killing time while they fix broken glass or sort something out" side commentary completely unrelated to the game. Tonight a GEM came at the end of the 2nd as they were sorting out the penalties in that "Rick Nash diving over Lala and Stafford beating the snot out of Tollefsen" hullabaloo. Discussing the flight arrangements back to Buffalo, Rick described that because of the inflated roster during the training camp there were only 2 seats left on the plane, and now that Matt Ellis had been acquired, there was only 1. Rick said (basically): "I keep looking at Darcy Regier, hoping he won't acquire any more players, or we're walking home Harry." Harry: "You know we'd be the first ones to go."

WHAT A GREAT BUDDY MOVIE THAT WOULD MAKE.

Play-by-Play

The Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale Story

I'd see it.

Important Sabres Facts and Figures:

Most shots on goal: Gerbe (4)

PPG: 2 (Teppo and Kotalik)

+/-: +2 (Jaro)

PIM: Weber (12)
Ummmm, Doof, I know that you're trying to make a physical presence but please, PLEASE cut down on the minor, double minor and misconduct penalties, THANKS!

Face Off Win %: 33%

Uhhhhhh that's BAD. I know more wings than centers took faceoffs, but, let's work on that, boys. YoYo has really never been that great on the faceoffs, usually sitting around 40% (he was 38% the other night and 25% tonight). Although, as much as they want to talk about the importace of faceoff wins, as I pointed out before, in 07-08 Detroit was #1 in FOW%, but Pittsburgh was #30. So there ya go, the two teams in the Finals holding first and last place in that paricular category. And we won tonight, so, in the end it doesn't really matter, but seeing that number come up would be good.

Seemed like the boys brought a great physical game, and Gerbe was gettin' up in Nash's face which is pretty awesome.

I hadn't realized until Rick pointed it out that Stafford has played in every single pre-season game. First development camp, now this? Staffy is working very hard and hopefully it'll pay off in the regular season. Its good to see him maturing as a player, considering one of his criticisms from last season was that he was a bit immature in his play and listening to the coaching staff. The result? Less ice time. It looks like he's calmed down and is working towards becoming even more serious about hockey.

Another excellent quote from either Rick or Harry, I can't remember which:

"You don't want to be hanging around the Buffalo goaltender when Craig Rivet is on the ice."

PREACH! I more than kind of love Rosie the Riveter and his toy poodle named Ted. He was rocking the C tonight which probably won't be permanent, and I'd like to offer my vote for if he should be an alternate or whatever, but I have no idea how the captaincy positions are going to be dealt out this season, so I'm just going to say I'm glad Craig Rivet is in the mix.

BTW, GerbDogg and I are no longer Facebook friends. It TOTES lost its appeal once we were friends but his profile was limited.

Anyway, last pre-season game is Sunday against Detroit which will actually be TELEVISED!! Yayyyyy!!!! I know its pre-season and losses and wins mean nothing, but the pre-season teams are slowly looking more and more like the regular season team so its starting to make me feel better. Sunday will be a real test.

Sabres Lose to Wild, No One Cares

by Anne

Ok, its not that NO ONE cares but that game was HELLA boring. You could tell by the faces of the people as they came out of the stands to NOT buy popcorn and cotton candy that the game was less than exhilarating.

Yoyo scored one and Staffers scored on the shootout. Ok, Sissy kind of scored a goal, as it deflected off of him... and into our net. IT'S OK SISSSY, I STILL LOVE YOU. CALL ME WHEN YOU GET BACK FROM MINNESOTA!!

Its only the preseason. Whatevs. However, MK is never allowed to go to a game again. They've lost EVERY SINGLE GAME SHE'S EVER GONE TO. No joke, this is at least game # 6 or 7. My sister is a bad omen.

There isn't much else to report about the game except that Goose fight was awesome (except for the thumb thing). Gerbe looked good, a little all over the place (in good and bad ways) but he actually delivered some hits which was sweeeeeet. He went first in the shootout with no success, but that's a lot of pressure for a new player. Kennedy missed the shootout, too but that's ok, I can forgive them both. Lalime had a good game, that goal was totally not his fault. The shootout wasn't OUTSTANDING but eh? Its the pre-season.

Oh, and can people PLEASE stop asking Lala how many games he's going to play this season? 15-20ish, k? There. WRITE IT.

TO MORE IMPORTANT GOINGS ON FROM LAST NIGHT:

On the way out of the Arena I passed Miller who was talking to some dude who looked like but was not Tim Kennedy about golf while demonstrating his swing and Goose was talking to some woman, unless Goose is into cougars (which hey, get it, boy) she wasn't a girlfriend, so don't worry ladies! hahaha. Goose's back was to me, sad sad times. I contemplated asking about why he left the game (they don't tell the people actually AT the games when a player is injured unless its quite obvious). However, I did not because 1. I'm too chicken (ha Goose, Chicken!) and 2. we're not allowed to solicit autographs from them and therefore, trying to strike up casual conversation is probably frowned upon.

In other news, if it were possible I would eat nothing but Tortilla chips and queso dip for my entire life.

I ordered a new digital camera that UPS.com tells me has been in New Stanton, PA since Saturday morning. What can Brown do for me? Torture me with a nearby but not in my possession camera from Overstock.com.

Blahhhhhhhhhh. Less than two weeks to the start of the regular season!!!! Yeeeeee!!!

Pre-Season Home Opener or No One Else Seems to Care About Tim Kennedy Like I Do

by Anne

So last night was the pre-season opener and of the little that I saw, the game was a lot more entertaining than the 0-0 score through the first 40 minutes indicated. The game was definitely fast, at least on the Sabres' side of things. Can we just discuss that Tyler Myers was definitely in on that little scrum that happened during the 2nd (I think). Yay! Rosie doing a number on Hollweg, the announcer accidentally calling Pat Kaleta "Andrew", and that entire row of kids from the Kitchener Jr. Rangers and their big sign up for Royzie (and then they got to see Royzie score a goal!!). Woooo!

I worked in the 100s last night and no one seemed to have any thing for me to do or anyone to show me how to do anything. (I know its pre-season, but a little "hey Anne, I'm your manager so and so let's get you to where you need to go" would've been nice.)

Anyway, I followed around a guy named Dave who was really nice and showed me a lot about how things work. The only thing I don't quite understand fully is how the buying of products works but I'm sure I'll figure it out and they won't expect me to know how to do it all tonight.

All I know is that my back and legs are really tired, which is to be expected, I suppose.

Anyway, on the "players I randomly saw" front:

During the first intermission, Tim Kennedy and his girlfriend were just kind of walking around the 100 level acting all nonchalant and "I don't play for the Sabres." It was a little weird to see him walking by and no one paying any attention to him. I mean, just the fact that the guy was wearing a suit probably should've drawn some attention his way. For those who've never been to a game at HSBC Arena, the only people who wear suits are Arena and Sabres bigwigs and players. That's it. Most people are in jeans and a jersey or a sweatshirt. Of course you get the random girls wearing too much makeup, 4 inch stilettos and a lot of cleavage as though Ryan Miller will see them in the crowd, stop the game, leap over the boards and propose marriage at first sight of their potentially frostbitten ta-tas. Come to think of it, Tim kennedy's girlfriend was dressed kind of like that. Whoops.

Anyway, as I was leaving at the end of the night I was not anticipating running into any Sabres, but Whoops. I was wrong. On the way out I passed Pommer, Stafford and Funk and some other dudes that are probably Sabres but I just don't know who they are. I'd probably recognize their names but their faces were totally lost on me. Sorry random dudes! But good times anyway, am I right?!?!

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL:

We won!!! We won!!! WooooooHoOOOOOOOO!!!! Royzie! Goose! Al! It would've been nice if those goals had been perhaps spread out over more than the last few minutes of the 3rd period and overtime, but I'll take it!!!

I stole some pictures from a random girl's Facebook album, hope she doesn't mind!

Someone please tell Nate to "Get his legs goin" to a good tailor

Ahahahahahahahahhahaa
LOVE

ALSO! If you told me he would single-handedly rid the world of hunger and poverty and then offer to come over and clean my cat's litterbox everyday, I could not love Patrick Lalalime any more than I do. THEN YOU ADD THIS PICTURE AND I AM LOST. TOTALLY LOST.

OMG
Could his daughters be anymore adorable?!?!?!!!
The little matching shoes and skirts and hats!!
the little pigtail braids!
Daddy's sweaters!
Their adorably shy little smiles!
The Lalime family is TOO CUTE
Never having seen any other players children, I hereby declare Liliana and Rosemary Lalime the cutest children in hockey.

Oh, this also blows some more SERIOUS holes into Ryan Miller's "We don't live like rockstars" slant on things. Red carpets, RYAN!?!?!?! jk jk

Next game tonight at 7:00! From Sabres Edge, the lines that skated this morning:

Paille-Gaustad-Stafford; (interesting, lots of size on this line)
MacArthur-Hecht-Pominville; (This line did well for us at times this season)
Gerbe-Kennedy-Afinogenov; (Gerbe and Kennedy are kind of like Royzie and Vanek Jr.)
Mancari-Zagrapan-Gogulla

Defensemen dressing (with my own pairings assigned)
Butler, Spacek;
Rivet, Tallinder;
Sekera, Weber

Lalalime will be in goal and Marian Gaborik won't be playing :(

So Hecht or Pommer with the C? I'm guessing that there will be an A and a C on both of those shoulders. The other A.... Rivet and Goose had them last night, there's also Jaro and Hank. I think it might be Sissy because I don't think he's worn a letter in this pre-season yet.

yay!!!! Gerbe's Buffalo debut!!! (remind me to post my updated thoughts on my life long BFF Nate Gerbe soon.)

Good times, good times.

HOCKEY IN HSBC ARENA!!!1!

by Anne


First home pre-season game!!


I'll be there, trying not to hate my life.


Oscar can barely contain himself:

My cat is TOTALLY normal

LET'S GO BUFF-A-LO!!!!!

Pre-Season "Game" #1

by Anne

So last night's game got me all worried and riled up and foolishness. I was like "WE LOST 7-4 TO THE MAPLE LEAF ROOKIES?!?!?!?! FORGET THIS TEAM!!! I HATE YOU ALL!!!! BURN DOWN THE ARENA!!! GIVE ME DARCY REGIER'S HEAD ON A PLATTER!! THIS IS ALL BECAUSE WE LOST BIG BEAR!!!! OK THAT LAST ONE PROBABLY ISN'T TRUE!! GAHHHHHH!!!.... but on a totally not-related note Heroes was AWESOME."

HOWEVER.

Then I got home and read the lines from last night's game and they were totally ridiculous. So many veterans didn't play that I'm not going to bother listing them all. I'm just forget about the game. It was the hockey equivalent of a first stumble through - it was really rough, but it wasn't like we had our top lines. I mean, come on, Yo-Yo was playing without Pommer. How is he supposed to focus while most of his energy is going into babysitting Stafford and Pie? Hank was playing without Tone, how is he supposed to be able to concentrate with his team life partner up in the press box? At least Roysie and Vanek were both out, because one without the other is just a mess.

Don't freak out. Although... Miller did allow in 3 of 11 shots.... errrrrrrr, ok that's fine, I suppose I can get over that.... right....?

Whatev. S(h)ara was talking me down from a ledge and she's right; its not worth freaking out over. Its one pre-season game with some cracked out lines and pairings.

Tonight is the big "Hockeyville" game. The NHL wants to put on a good game for Roberval, and because the Habs and Sabres will probably play some competitive hockey, I'm sure Lindy will play the top lines. Pommer will play for sure, and maybe he'll be rocking the "C". Hecht had it last night, which works just fine for me. As long as the C is on Pommer, Hecht, Teppo, Gaustad, Spacek or Roy, I'm really fine with it. Hell, I'd probably be ok with Rivet rocking the C.

Sidenote, Kevin Sylvester's game blog was awesome and I hope he keeps doing it. I love blogs and hockey and hockey blogs and Kevin Sylvester even though someone told me he's a jerk. WHATEVER. He posted a picture of Elmo. I love him. And his blog. Don't deny our love.

I wanted to post pictures from Puck Drop but they're really bad because my camera sucks, so instead I bought a new camera, a Kodak Easyshare with higher megapixels and better optical zoom. Its not a Canon or anything, but it was an inexpensive refurb from Overstock and it'll be better than the camera I have now.

Wooooo!!!!!!! Pre-season game #2 tonight!!! Soooooo its not being broadcast on MSG or Versus or anything, but let Rick Jeannerett's dulcet tones soothe you through what will hopefully be a better game. Listen to Harry Neale ramble about God only knows what and say all the wrong things that make you want to just throw the radio across the room and start cheering for the Thrashers. The THRASHERS, HARRY. SOMETIMES YOU MAKE ME WANT TO CHEER FOR THE THRASHERS. I HATE Ilya Kovalchuk.

Whatever, HOCKEY IS BACK!!!

Hey Facebook BFF! Hope you play tonight! Love ya!