The Latest Polls Indicate

by Anne

Your "However Often Anne Feels Like Checking" Poll Update is here.

Voting has cooled down slightly, but PEOPLE! YOUR VOICES MUST BE HEARD! Every vote counts! Just ask Barack Obama and the 21st Amendment.

Here are the latest numbers

Eastern Forwards
Paul Gaustad 19.43%
Patrick Eaves 11.85%
Scottie Upshall 10.9%
Markus Naslund 9.95%
Vincent Lecavalier 9.48%
Oh, and Staffy got a write in vote

Eastern Defensemen
Andrew Ference 21.01%
Craig Rivet and Luke Schenn tied at 16.81%
Mike Komisarek 13.45%

Eastern Goalie
This one is by far the most spread out category
Rick DiPietro 56.41%
Patrick Lalime 24.36%
Carey Price 11.54%

Western Forwards
Patrik Berglund 15.74%
Patrick Sharp 13.43%
Mike Cammalleri 8.8%
Ethan Moreau and Jonathan Toews 8.33%

Western Defensemen
JM Liles and Shane O'Brien 25.22%
Sheldon Souray 15.65%
Andreas Lilja 12.17%

Western Goalie
Brian Boucher 37.5%
Andrew Raycroft 26.79%
Cristobal Huet 19.64%

There have been 2 write-ins in this category

Josh Harding ok, he's cute
Dwayne Roloson <~fo' reals? whatevs, to each her (his...?) own, I'm not here to judge

Ahhh yes. Good times. Keep voting!

I Am So Smart, S-M-R-T/ Poll Update

by Anne

Woooooooo!!!!!! On a whim to see if final grades were posted yet, I checked out my final grades and weeeeeeeeeeee! Four As and 1 B. That B annoys me but I completely deserved it, haha. My unofficial GPA is 3.8 and its definitely the highest GPA I've had in my college career, and these were like real classes not a dance class and a show (yes we got grades for working on shows) and then like dramatic lit classes. I did wwwaayyyy more work this semester than I ever did at UB and it paid off. Ok, ok its Buff State, but I'm excited so don't ruin my fun. :-D

Ok, so the moment you're all waiting for. I'm going to list the top few for each category because listing them all would take forever. Sorry this is late but Moms and I were out stimulating the economy and taking advantage of amazing sales at the mall. Take THAT recession. Anyway, here are the standings thusfar:

Eastern Forwards:
Goose has the lead (20%) by a fairly large margin. The next 4 are:
Markus Naslund (13.33%)
Patrick Eaves (12.5%)
Scottie Upshall (11.67%)
Vinny Lecavalier (10%)

Eastern Defensemen: Andrew Ference has a slight lead with 19.7%
Craig Rivet (18.18%)
Luke Schenn, Mike Green and Antoine Vermette are all tied (13.64%)

Eastern Goalie:
Patrick Lalime (really?) (32.35%)
Rick DiPietro (26.47%)
Carey Price (23.53%)
Henrik Lundqvist (14.71%)
This category has 1 write in vote for Ryan Miller (written in by my Mom, she loves him)

The voting in the West is much more even and the top few change every time I check it:

Western Forwards:
Patrik Berglund (13.25%)
Jonathan Toews (10.38%)
Patrick Sharp, Ethan Moreau and Ryan Kesler are all tied (9.43%)
After them, there is a 5-way tie at 6.6%

Western Defensemen:
JM Liles and Shane O'Brien are tied for first (23.33%)
Sheldon Souray (1.67%)
Shea Weber and Andreas Lilja are tied (11.67%)

Western Goalie:
Andrew Raycroft has a healthy lead (37.93%)
Brian Boucher (24.24%)
Cristobal Huet (20.69%)
Dan Ellis (17.24%)

There ya have it. We've had SO MANY votes, its awesome. Keep voting! Its super fun checking the stats.

Can we just take a moment to discuss how awesome pop-up books are? Seriously. They're so much better than regular story books. Peg and I just bought some for my cousin's two kids. One is about going on a bear hunt (for the 5 year old) and one is about mice making cookies and the last page is this AWESOME giant gingerbread house. I considered picking up a copy for myself.

Also, speaking of Peg, last night we were discussing her choices for the poll (Peg <3 Ryan Miller) and she said of Mr. Patrick Sharp (and I quote) "Oh, he really floats my boat!" I burst out laughing and despite her protests, I declared it was going in the blog. Moms are funny. So Patrick, if Peg and Jim ever split up, I'd be on the look out for Peg to head on over to Chicago and look you up. Wooooo!

Oh and as if things couldn't get worse for him, Jay McKee is out indefinitely with a broken left ring finger. :(

Devils at the Arena tonight! See y'all there!!

Fifteen

by Anne

I waited in line at Dave and Adam's with Andrej Sekera today. We did not chat. What was I supposed to say? "Hey Andrej, my aunt is Slovakian too, nifty, eh?" "Hey Reg, can you stop being mediocre and go back to being badass like you were last season?" "You're more broad shouldered than I anticipated you'd be." "Why are your pants so shiny?""Why do your friends look like they're thinking about stealing my car?" I don't think any of those are good openers. I was buying a t-shirt for my cousin and the guy ringing me out was looking between me and Sekera and appeared to be thinking "Does this girl know who he is?" the answer is, yes. What do you want me to do, have a panic attack? Apparently if I'd been like 15 minutes earlier I could've seen Paille. GRRR!!!! Or I could go back and see Royzie. Meh. Anyway I bought my cousin a Miller t-shirt with the original logo on it. It's a little big but by the time Miller's contract runs out it'll be too small for him (he's 11, have you SEEN the way boys grow between 11 and 16? omg, he's going to be 16 one day. I still think of him as being about 5 years old or when he was 2 and he was the fattest little kid you've ever seen but he was so adorable and now he's really skinny, wait what was I talking about?)

Anyway, the title corresponds to the number of Sabres I've now encountered off the ice. Most of them were in the bowels of HSBC Arena, but they were not on the ice so I think that counts. They are, for those who are curious:

Derek Roy (S0Ho, ugh don't judge me, it was a bad idea)
Tim Connolly (Arena)
Danny Paille (Wegman's)
Adam Mair (SoHo)
Thomas Vanek (Arena)
Paul Gaustad (I feel like we used to be next door neighbors I saw him all the damn time when I lived downtown)
Jason Pominville (Arena)
Ryan Miller (Arena)
Pat Kaleta (The airport, wearing a #36 hat and carrying a Sabres bag)
Patrick Lalime (Arena)
Andrej Sekera (Dave and Adam's today)
Brian Campbell (SoHo)
Craig Rivet (Arena)
Max Afinogenov (Place I used to work)
Andrew Peters (Same place I used to work and at Wegman's multiple times)

If Mike Funk, Mike Card or Geoff Peters count for anything then the number is 18. (All at Mother's and Card at the Arena)

Anyway, voting is well underway. So far the Sabres are dominating the East. Who's surprised? Encourage others to vote!! Link to this blog in your blogs and get people to vote so we can get an accurate sampling, hahaha. Vote often. I'll update on the first 24 hours of voting tomorrow.

BTW why are all the clothes sold by the NHL ginormous? I found this kind of sweet shirt at Dave and Adam's for a man and I'm like "no biggie, mediums in unisex shirts fit well enough." The small was HUGE and they do not sell extra small for men, haha. Whatevs, I don't go to Sabres games anyway... ok, well I do, but, yeah. I don't generally wear Sabres gear around town

I'm currently bidding on a pair of Sabres tickets for $1.04. No joke. I couldn't resist. If I win them, they're basically up for grabs. They're for Friday's game against LA. I'll find out Thursday. If I win I'll have an extremely easy to win contest and the first person who emails me with the correct answer can have them. They're not great seats but they're in the last row so you can stand which is really a perk if you've never done it and they'll most likely be free, so its really win/win. Oh and if I can think of a clever enough sign, if you get the tickets, I might make you hang it up for me.

Oh yes, and yay to the Tylers for making the World Junior team! Can't wait to see them! Thomas McCollum is tending goal for Team USA as well. Hooray!

I think I'll watch Devils at Maple Leafs tonight and cheer for the Devils over at Interchangeable Parts.

I Hope Jamie Langenbrunner Eats Rotten Fish

by Anne

-Even though Greener scored the goal of the decade (at least, maybe century?) last night, the Kings lost in the shootout to the Sharks.

-I'm going to give the Sharks the benefit of the doubt and assume last night was an off-night, because I wasn't all that impressed with what I saw. They were turn-over city and were losing 2-0 to the KINGS. Ok, ok the Kings are much better than they were last season but so are the Sharks. Honestly, I assume the Sharks are saving the bells and whistles for home games.

- NATHAN GERBE IS HURT. I hate you Jamie Langenbrunner. Why you gotta hurt Nate-dawg? not. cool.

-Patty is back! At least if we can't have Gerbe we can have Kaleta... they're basically the same, right...?

-The polls are now open and are located on the left. I'm hiding the results but I'll give you updates of the leaders as often as I remember to. Woooo!!! Vote often!

Drink It All In - The East

by Anne

Ok, these posts are being started well in advance because I'm sure its going to take FOREVER. After extensive research was done for this post, it was determined that some players were to be eliminated because there was insufficient evidence to support their nomination. Sorry, Marc Savard.

We tried to avoid using on-ice photos unless the picture was particularly fantastic. We just want to emphasize that we don't discriminate, we'd shamelessly lust after these men if they were hockey players or not.

Voting starts tomorrow at noon and runs until January 16. Be sure to examine your options carefully, ladies and gents.

Here are your Eastern forwards in alphabetical order:

Patrice Bergeron
Center
Boston Bruins



David Booth
Left Wing
Florida Panthers



Wade Brookbank
Left Wing
Carolina Hurricanes



Jeff Carter
Center
Philadelphia Flyers



David Clarkson
Right Wing
New Jersey Devils

This picture is an amazing exception to the no on-ice photo rule
"I AM DAVID CLARKSON, HEAR ME ROAR!"




Patrick Eaves
Right Wing
Carolina Hurricanes



Paul Gaustad
Center
Buffalo Sabres




Jeff Halpern
Center
Tampa Bay Lightning

This girl is awestruck by Halpie



Christopher Higgins
Center
Montreal Canadiens


Feat. Guest Star Mike Komisarek



Brooks Laich

Center
Washington Capitals



AHHHHH!!!


Maxim Lapierre
Center
Montreal Canadiens




Vinny Lecavalier
Center
Tampa Bay Lightning




Markus Naslund
Left Wing
New York Rangers



Zach Parise
Center
New Jersey Devils


Jordan Staal
Center
Pittsburgh Penguins



Scottie Upshall
Right Wing
Phildelphia Flyers

Here are your defensemen, in alphabetical order:

Andrew Ference
Boston Bruins






Mike Green
Washington Capitals


With special guest, Brooks Laich and that kid


Mike Komisarek
Montreal Canadiens


I'm sorry, I couldn't resist


Wade Redden
New York Rangers




Craig Rivet
Buffalo Sabres




Luke Schenn
Toronto Maple Leafs




Antoine Vermette
Ottawa Senators

And last, but not least your goalies:

Rick DiPietro
Starter (?)
New York Islanders




Patrick Lalime
Back-up
Buffalo Sabres




Henrik Lundqvist
Starter
New York Rangers




Carey Price
Starter
Montreal Canadiens

Phew! That was exhausting. Ok, blah blah blah it wasn't THAT bad. It was time consuming but having to debate between which picture of Markus Naslund accentuates his Swedish beauty the most is a great way to spend an evening. Ok, be sure to check the Western Roster, just below this one!!!

Thanks, Brooksy! I would've nominated you anyway!
The yard looks great!