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.