Free Agent Day is Going to be SO LAME

by Anne

With everyone running around trying to find things to prop up the cap ceiling so they can fit in more stuff and trading away all the UFAs, it seems as though the 2nd best day of the year is going to be hella lame.

Although there is serious potential for Nabokov to totally dick over the Flyers, and that I can't wait to see if I'm reading the reports on his trade/not trade/signing/not a signing. Any time the Flyers suffer I count that in my personal "W" column.

The Predators who no one really pays attention to most of the time, have shipped away several of their biggest names and aren't bringing back Dan Ellis meaning the team is one big ol' question mark for next season. But fortunately, it's the Predators so no one is really all that concerned about how they do. I'm not, especially now that Dan Ellis is gone as he is my favorite NHL player to follow on Twitter. Well, I suppose the Preds also have Shea Weber. Yummy, yummy Shea Weber.

Everyone is basically writing it off as a foregone conclusion that Kovalchuk will be a King on Thursday. I mean, I'd be okay with it, so long as he isn't the locker room cancer he's been rumored to be. Do you think Greener can keep him in line? 

I'm also pretty tired of all this "BRIAN BURKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?" Nothing has happened of any significance since that "okay, maybe if we switch out our entire rosters, no one will notice. Aaaaaand GO!" with the Flames a few months ago. I mean, where's this Kaberle deal? Where's the big shake-ups we've been promised. I hope they come soon.

A little sad to see Cheechoo and Kotalik on waivers. Well, Cheech more than Big Czech Al. Cheech was once a 50 goal scorer and now he'll be in the minors? Unreal. Big Czech Al is mostly deadweight. He'll enjoy playing in the KHL, I'm sure. 

In all the draft hubbub, I forgot to show my EXTREME DISPLEASURE that Big Bear has been dealt to the Florida Panthers. EW EW EW EW NO. I mean, he'll be closer to me and we'll play him more often but :( :( :(. I'm running out of ties to the Canucks, people. Kes and SOB are about all I've got left.

I miss the Sabres. When will they be coming back to us?

Happy Day!

by Anne

Thoughts on development camp later.

There are more pressing and exciting things to discuss!!

The Sabres have signed my beloved Matt Ellis to a one-year contract!!!

Hoooray!!

I really love Matty's work ethic, his nose to the grindstone style and his often timely and unexpected goal production. Happy things!! One out of two requests for our UFAs isn't so bad.

:)

Hey, now we have twelve forwards on the roster!

Also in other happy funtimes news:

The Penguins have signed Jay McKee to a one year contract! *confetti!*

ETA: Apparently its not officially a signing. Its just an offer. Sigh.

ETAA: Now its official!!

If we can't have Keezer back in Buffalo, I'm happy he's back on one of my favorite teams.

Ohh...
Ummmm...



That's a little better.

Although, in not such happy news, Big Czech Al signed with the Rangers . :/

Boo.

Meh.

So far its been a pretty grand day. Development camp was fun. One more day, then I'm sure I'll offer some completely BRILLIANT insights on the week's events.

Woo!

Tuesday Tidbits

by Anne

• After that article about the silent Sabres lockerroom, some sweet bloggers were chatting and I decided to post a poll for people to select a personality player to add to the roster. The list is a conglomeration of many people's nominations, over on the left sidebar. Its open for a week, until Apirl 27.

• Team USA, seriously lacking the happyfuntimes from last year, have their first exhibition game this afternoon at 2:15 EST against host nation Switzerland in Zurich.

• Team Czech's roster was announced and Big Czech Al will be representin' his country again this year, along with Jaromir Jagr and Ales Hemsky.

• The Caps FINALLY won, and won handily. Simeon Toast Crunch™ got a shut out and managed to casually brush off being punched in the face by Sean Avery.

• I only put ™ there because I just learned how to do it I may do it after all STH nicknames just because I can ™ and its fun ™
  

• The Flames also won and Adam Burish forgot that Jarome Iginla is the manliest man on the planet and the two attempted to engage in fisticuffs. They're almost exactly the same size so it'd be interesting to see who'd take that fight. But clearly it would be Iggy.

• A really great story about a terminally ill Columbus Blue Jackets fan getting to attend the first ever playoff game held in Columbus tonight. God I hope they win for him tonight. This kid got to sign a 1 day NHL contract and as part of a charity event the club was selling his jersey and its the 3rd highest selling jersey behind Rick Nash and Steve Mason. Also, Jason Chimera is now my #2 favorite Blue Jacket. Its one of those rare "More than just a game" moments.

• No! I am totally not tearing up over here after that story... ok maybe a little... *sniff*
  

• Friggin' Hasek is un-retiring... again

• Kevin Divine, Sabres Director of Amateur Scouting hates the draft, or at least he hates the first day of it. So do I, Kevin. It takes like 4 hours to get through round one. There's a video on Sabres.com. I don't like embedding those videos, they slow things down too much.

• This entry needs a picture...

perfect &trade

We Ordered the "Warm" Weather for the Coyotes

by Anne

My first class was canceled and now that I've recovered from the trade deadline, I'm gearing up for tonight's game and this "heat wave." Its 54 degrees here which to Buffalonians in March is really like 70. Wooooo!!

The Coyotes are in town tonight and -lookie there- we've already played them once this season and we won 2-0. Yay!

Oddly enough, one of the only two trades we made on deadline day was with the Coyotes for back up goalie Mikael Tellqvist who will continue to watch from the bench. Lalime will get the start coming off a great performance the other night. Its been said many times that consistent playing time is the best way for a goalie to put up wins so Lalime definitely should get the start tonight. Lindy likes to put in goalies against their former teams so sorry Telly, even though we're playing your former team of 2 days ago, gotta use the hot goalie.

I'm eagerly anticipating where Moore will fit into this line up. Lindy said he might bump Royzie to the wing which sounds like a fine idea to me. If Moore continues to dominate the faceoff dot as he has thusfar this season, I'm ok with that. We're only winning faceoffs at just over 47% of the time on the season. Can't wait to read the practice notes.

I'll be quite unhappy if this stuff with Moore's visa isn't worked out yet.

Those FREAKIN' Los Angeles Kings WON last night. I was so annoyed at them. They were down 3-0 in the 2nd, I did some homework, came back and it was 3-2. Then it was 4-2 until over halfway through the 3rd so I went to bed. Imagine my shock when I discovered this morning that Michal Handzus had completed the hat trick he started in the 6-goal 2nd period by scoring the Kings' 3rd goal and then the winner in over time.

If they had lost last night I basically would've put a nail in the coffin of their playoff hopes. Their chances are still pretty slim but they're not 100% out of it yet, just mostly out of it. They'll more than likely be at the golf course when the playoffs start in April.

To recap Michal Handzus' night:

He went from this.

To this:



and this:


Woo! First star!

Also I want to be friends with whoever writes the headlines for the top stories on LAKings.com. Here's a screen capture of the headline about last night's win over Dallas:

Quoi?
I'm Ron Burgundy?

Oh and to those who blew a gasket over Tellqvist wearing #32. Calm the -bleep- down. Yes #32 was Rayzor's number and its been sentimentally retired in the hearts of fans. However, it does not hang from the rafters at HSBC Arena so Telly can use it if he wants. However the rumblings that I heard about Moore possibly wearing 23... that's a different story. Too soon? He'll be wearing 17.

I peeked in on the Oilers game to see how Big Czech Al was doing and it wasn't so hot to start things off. He was on the TOP line that was on the ice when Jason Spezza set a Senators record of fastest goal to start a game at :12. Al finished the game a -2 with two shots on goal, just over 18:00 of ice time and two hits. Al Kotalik on the top line? Ehhhhh... I'm not so sure about that, Craig MacTavish. But that's why the fans have been calling for Coach MacT to be fired this season.

Hey Al!

I love 7:30 start times on Fridays because I get to avoid most of the traffic when I head downtown. Good stuff. Have a great Friday everyone!

Welcome Aboard, Dominic Moore and Mikael Tellqvist

by Anne

I started doing "Welcome Aboard" posts when we signed new players last year so I figured I'd keep it going.

Today the Sabres traded for goaltender Mikael Tellqvist and Center Dominic Moore.

Here's the skinny on Moore:

• Born August 3, 1980 in Thornhill, Ontario
• He's 6'3", 230 lbs or maybe he's 6'0" 188 lbs? The 2nd seems more accurate and is from the Sabres roster.
  
• He went to Harvard and played there for four years
• He was drafted 95th overall in 2000 by the New York Rangers
• In his NHL debut on November 1, 2003 in which he tallied three assists
• He does not score a lot of goals (like 5 a season usually) but this season he already has 12
  
• He has at least two older brothers, and one of them is Steve Moore, yes THAT Steve Moore
  
• The Sabres are his fifth NHL team
• They haven't assigned him a number yet. He wore 18 in Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and New York and 19 in Toronto.
  
• He wins more faceoffs than he loses
• He will be a UFA on July 1, 2009 and Darcy has no plans yet to re-sign him for the obvious reason that he's probably never met him and he's never played for us
  

He reminds me of someone I went to high school with
I think that's who he reminds me of anyway

He also did this last week:

Mikael Tellqvist

• Born September 19, 1979 in Sundbyberg, Sweden
• He was drafted 70th overall by Toronto
• He is 5'11, 185 lbs
• He'll wear #32 as a Sabre
  
• He spent the majority of his career in the Toronto system and the last two seasons with Phoenix
• He was on Team Sweden that won gold at Turin in the 2006 Olympics
• He has great Euro hair:
  

Bye bye Big Czech Al! I'm sad to see him go because he's been a Sabre his whole career. He will wear 21 for Edmonton, FYI.

He was part of one of the moments in the running to be featured in the top moments of the season. The Vanek/Kotalik love tackle from earlier in the season:

Who would have thought he'd be GONE?!?!
:'(

Ok I'm really not too upset but I was fairly surprised and that's why I'm a little sad. Bye!

Now we mostly retire the "Ales Kotalik" tag, and bring about the "Dominic Moore" and "Mikael Tellqvist" tags. Don't get too attached to them, folks.

I wonder where we'll trade Moore to in order to get a defenseman this summer? Moore to Anaheim for Wisniewski?

And we won tonight too! I don't have the energy to recap so I'll just say: YAY!!! TOMMY'S BACK!

The Curse Has Been Lifted

by Anne

S(h)ara and I have broken the curse of curses. If memory serves, we watched 2 games together in '07 that the Sabres won, 1 a playoff game the other just the shootout part of a win. However, stretching from all of last season into this season the Sabres have lost every game we've watched together. every. single. one. Actually, come to think of it, most of the losses we've sat through together have been shoot out losses.

Anyway, we watched the game tonight at Tully's and they won so WOO!

I was bitching and moaning and carrying on in rage over Drew Stafford's blunder last night and then he went and scored and had teh presence of mind to call for the puck from the ref to get the puck for Gerbe's 1st NHL point :) Good boy, Drew, my mis-spent rage should not have been aimed at you and your righteous mustache.

Patty came through with some big scrambly saves and Teppo saved a goal on an early wraparound. There were only 2 power plays in the whole game, they were both ours and we capitalized on both. WHAT?

Also, uhhhhhh??:

No way you slice it is this a 4th straight anything

Other pictures:

Its only fitting that he scored it
love.

Britney: YAAAAA!!
I'M WICKED SWEEEET
Royzie: YAAAAA!!
YOU ARE!!


Kotalik wins the funny face game:




With an honorable mention to this guy:

In other news:

Woooo!
I watched this game and I really thought Greener scored the goal he assisted on.
He was on the PP!
He's NEVER on the PP!
Greeeeeenerrr!!!

ETA: They fixed it, hahahaha:

Food For Thought

by Anne

Thomas Vanek is on pace for 70 goals, Clarke MacArthur - 35 goals, Ales Kotalik for 29.

Miller is on pace to go 41-12-12 , Lalime is on pace to go 6-6-6, combined, that would give us 112 points. Hahahahaha. I really don't think that's going to happen, but let's just try to think about that while we get the taste of an awful Buffalo sports weekend out of our mouths.

THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED

by Anne

I watched that game on like a 2 hour delay, so basically after it was 6-0 in the 3rd, I checked the final score and fast forwarded to the Islander's and Grizz's goal.

I'd really like to know what was going on with the "Adam Mair is in the dressing room. Now Adam Mair is at the bench. Now he' gone to the penalty box. Now he's back in the dressing room."

My "Hahaha ILU" Award of the game goes to Ales Kotalik for being on his back turtle style for Mair's and Pommer's goals in the 2nd. Watching a player sliding on his back and celebrating a goal at the same time is one of the funniest things ever.

Mad love for Britney (2 goals) Paille (2 assists) Staffy (5 shots on goal OMG YOU HAD SO MANY GREAT OPPORTUNITIES AND YOU PLAYED SO WELL, YOU BRONTOSAURUS,YOU ILU) and Lala (Some WICKED sweet saves and ALMOST a shut out, haha).

I'm not sure if I want to give mad love for Kaleta, Mairsy and Rosie for getting thrown out of the game, but that fight was awesome. Not only did we OWN the game, the boys in blue and gold OWNED that melee. And it made Rick happy, so WOOOOOO!!!!!!

That's all I've got for right now. There's a cat who missed his Mommy to pet, dinner to eat, reading to do, and puppies that have tummies that need some serious rubbings. Check ya later.

Aaaaaaand Adam Mair is back to being terrifying
AND I LOVE IT


This is what happes when you mess with Patty Kaleta
Yeccchhhhh

ETA: While in Shippensburg, PA, there was a girl randomly in a Danny Briere Sabres tshirt. It was REALLY random. Hockey is completely MIA in that part of Pennsylvania. It's 2 1/2 hours to Philly and 3 hours to Pittsburgh. Football RULZ Shippensburg and the surrounding area.

ETA #2: From NHL.com, "That was my first short-handed goal at any level of hockey," Vanek said. "It was good." Awwwwwwwww! Britney, ILU!!!

A Few Thoughts About A TOTALLY RIGHTEOUS WIN Before I Fall Asleep On My Keyboard

by Anne

I got to see Vanek's goal and it was awesome. What control and presence of mind he showed on that play. That's what we pay him for.

Paille was on fire tonight, really throwing the body around and drawing a penalty.

Millsy was solid (that first goal was, errrrr....) but he got himself together and put up a great game, including a shoot out win.

Kotalik and Staffy, FTW!!! I got to watch the shootout from the Zamboni doors which was pretty SWEET, I cannot tell a lie.

Pommer's Player Tunes brought in a lovely selection of Kanye West and U2, with a splash of 50 cents "In Da Club". Jason Pominville, where were Les Cowboys Fringants? I'm a little disappointed, Pommerdoodle.


Game By the Numbers:

8: Thomas Vanek's shots on goal

53: Percent of face-offs Buffalo won.

100: Percent of face-offs Jason Pominville won

0: Number of goals scored on the PP by either team

4: Teppo's penalty minutes

0: Andrew Peters' penalty minutes


"Game Stats" and "Event Summary" on NHL.com have different totals for shots on goal. I have no idea who's right.

There were apparently A LOT of things going on at this moment



Weeeee! You had such a good game, Pie!!



Awwwwwww, you too Britters, that goal was pretty righteous



Happiness is a happy Ryan Miller

:)

I'll be mostly MIA this weekend as I'll be back in 1998 at my Grandpa's apartment in Pennsylvania. I'll be able to check my email and that's about it. Booooo. Grampy still has dial-up and I can't steal the internet anymore. Someone wised up and fixed their router so I can't mooch. Booooo!!!


SABRES WON!!! WE ARE THE BEST TEAM EVER!!!!! 2 POINTS!! YAHHHHH!! TIED FOR FIRST IN THE DIVISION!!!

Ok, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.... Awww who am I kidding, I'm from Buffalo, ITS OUR WAY.

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.

Pat Kaleta is a Crazy Kid and Don't Expect Craig Rivet and Tim Connolly to Become "Bros"

by Anne

You know what's the greatest feeling ever? Being desperate for a topic idea for a response paper and getting all stressed and then realizing THE PROFESSOR MOVED THE DUE DATE TO MONDAY SO YOU HAVE 2 EXTRA DAYS TO PERUSE THE SABRES' MEDIA GUIDE INSTEAD OF WRITING!!

Ok, we need to talk about Patty Kaleta

Kaltsy? Like, really? Did they not have a nickname for him so they just chopped off the end of his name an added a "sy" like everyone does?

I had to look up MXC. Apparently its like competitive Jackass only in teams. It, of course, airs on Spike TV. Its basically a comedy show or a parody of those types of shows, and it sounds like I'd either hate it or completely love it. I also don't think Morgan Freeman would appear on it... I'm just sayin' Patty. Oh, and he HAS to be different and say "rice" everyone else says "Chicken and pasta" but not Patty, he has to be particular. Someone said Spaghetti Bolognese though, I don't remember who this connoisseur of carbohydrates was, but I don't think we'd get along. WHOOPS it was TEPPO. J/K TEPPS! WE CAN STILL BE BFFS!!!

Thanks for continuing to thwart me, Ales Kotalik. I was really hoping to get a fun nickname. "Al" is NOT fun. He also lists "Californication" as his favorite karaoke song. Let's just pause and reflect for a moment, shall we?

this man:

Singing this song:

Every player seems to love U2 and has a different concert they liked going to. Petey and Britney both enjoyed the U2 concert at HSBC. Think they went together? Double date? Just the two of them? They don't seem like they'd be BFFs but I'M OK WITH PLAYERS FORGING NEW FRIENDSHIPS!!!! Maybe Petey was trying to make Royzie jealous by hanging out with his line mate. BOOYA.

Also!! Craig Rivet lists one of his pet peeves as "cockiness and arrogance". Errrrr, I think you'll be mostly ok on that front, buuuuuut you maaaaayy want to steer clear of a few of your less enlightened teammates. Don't expect "Rivs" to be calling up TimmyHo for late night poker games and trips to Spot Coffee.

Even though he says he's happy here, in all his interviews I really get the feeling Craig Rivet is not happy in Buffalo. :( Rosie!!! Don't worry!! Be happy!!

This face seems to encompass how Rosie feels about Buffalo
"eh."

Apparently, according to the media guide, I've been spelling "Millsy" and "Royzie" all wrong. I will endeavor to correct my spelling errors, boys. I'm SURE Ryan Miller was writing a strongly worded email to me as of this writing. Sorry boys! I'll do better, I promise!!!

More Mad Love for Derek Roy, Should We Change the Name of this Blog to Derek Roy's House?

by Anne

So, as I am wont to do while killing time between class, I decided to raid NHL.com to find out any interesting tidbits. And by "interesting" I mean "about the Buffalo Sabres and/or Jarome Iginla", naturally. I scoured the inner depths of the front page of NHL.com to find an article projecting the league's top scorers. Ranking in at #16?

16. Derek Roy, C, Buffalo - 2008-09 projection: 34-61-95

95 points seems about right, based on the upward trend Roysie's been on the last few seasons. DEREK ROY WHY ARE YOU SUCH A SOURCE OF DISSENTION WITHIN ME? I hate you and I love you all in one breath. How can S(h)ara handle this up and down web of chaos you leave your most loyal fans in? Unimaginable, truly.

Oh, and lest we forget #1 also appears on the list:

18. Jason Pominville, RW, Buffalo - 2008-09 projection: 33-59-92

No mention of him being a totally righteous captain though and completely adorable in post game interviews OR the evolution of the PommerFro. Unacceptable.

I'm hoping Rocky is aiming a little low in his projections for SabreBritney:

33. Thomas Vanek, LW, Buffalo - 2008-09 projection: 41-40-81

I'm hoping Britters can add in a couple more goals and toss in a few more assists. Derek Roy's got to get assists from more than 1 of his line mates, DREW STAFFORD! I took all of Rocky Bonnano's yammering about the boys out because he's not saying anything new.

Oh yeah, Max is mentioned as #51, but eh? He probably won't be a Sabre for the entire season, and even if he is, he probably won't be after next June unless he somehow manages to score 30+ goals and be consistent about it.... which I just don't see happening. Timmy was ranked #88, Kotalik #108 and Staffers #112.

BTW:

10. Jarome Iginla, RW, Calgary - 2008-09 projection: 48-52-100

Oh Iggy. :) I hope you get 50 goals again so I have more reason to play the Jarome Iginla song.

On to other things:

I would have greatly enjoyed meeting Rick Nash in NYC, however I'm in Buffalo, so please stop emailing me, NHL Connect and telling me that I could've been chillin' with Rick Nash as NHL 2K9 was released. I get it. I'm SAD ABOUT IT. I missed this:

Weeee!!! I mean, Wiiiiiiii!!!

I just want pre-season to hurry up and get here. I'm tired of season predictions, I want season ACTION. I want to know if Britney will be able to carry the momentum from last season into this one. Will Teppo be our captain? Will Pommer? WHERE IS POMMER'S CONTRACT?! Is this the year Drew Stafford matches his potential? Will Pie-YAY continue to suprise us? Will Millsey REALLY play 70+ games again? Will the Atlanta Thrashers really be as abyssmally awful as everyone thinks they will? I cannot WAIT to see how the Lightning do. After the Sabres, the teams I'll be following most closely are the Pens and the Lightning. Let's see how all those signings affected Sid's team and if the owners of the Lightning really did right by the team with their wacky demolishing and rebuilding of their roster.

John Tortorella had plenty to say about the 'Bolts new brass:

"You got a couple of cowboys in there as owners," Tortorella said. "How you treat your people and run your business is very important in this league. I look at the club and how some things have been done and how they treated Danny Boyle and really lying to the kid, and some of the other things that have gone on there, it's a total different team."

Interesting. Is he simply bitter about being canned? Does he have a point? Is he upset that he and Barry Melrose have the same hairstyle? Wouldn't you be?

Anyhoot, I should go do productive things, like figure out a cheap and timely way to get to NYC, convince Rick Nash that he and I are in love and return home in time for dinner. I think I'll go check in with the physics department, brb.

Trade Winds are a-blowin

by Anne

So we'll be trading for our newest blue-liner, it appears. That, to me, is more exciting than an obscene signing.

MAYBE MY WEEK AND A HALF LONG DREAM OF SIGNING MIKE GREEN CAN COME TRUE!

So, Greener's getting 5.25/ season? Hmmm, that's a lot. BUT if we dump Max's salary... that's only an additional like 1.75 next season. After that, it might become more of a concern. Ha, just to confirm Max's salary was $3.5, I checked some website that's all screwed up that says everyone is a UFA and the only player signed is Sissy. Hahaha. We're gonna need more than just one defenseman, Darcy!!

If we dump 2 of our excess of forwards, that frees up even more space. A lot of people are saying Kotalik might be on the trade block, but I don't want to dump him, he's size and powerplay goals and we need size and powerplay goals. I would be lovely if he scored a few more EQ goals, but hey, we'll take what we can get. He's also one of our most consistent shooters in the shoot out (sad, I know). I could see packaging a smaller player like MacArthur (sorry, Grizz) and Afinogenov and shipping them for a solid defenseman.

On Sabres Edge, John Vogl suggested trading Max for Jay McKee. As deep as my love for JKee runs, I don't think that's the right move. Not at his current price and level of injury prone-ness. We already have a near-paraplegic in TimmyHO, I don't think we need another.

And HAH! Awesome, Mr. Burke. Awesome.

It's hard to stay excited when we haven't heard anything in like 2 days. BOOoOOO!!!

I want to at least hear about my RFA's!!!!! COME ON!!!

Whoop-Dee-QuarterFinals

by Anne

NHL:

I only watched the 3rd period which was exciting, especially the crazy scrum at the end with Ott and Holmstrom, yikes. I opted to watch Team USA v. Team Finland, more on that later.

Stars hang on to fight another day. Unlike San Jose, who boasts the red-headed Messiah on their team, no one seems to think that they can pull off a miracle, but they did, of course, mention the stats about coming back from being down 3 games to none, as is mandatory. I will say that it is quite a feat to limit the Red Wings to one goal. Well done, Dallas. I knew they were going to win this game, I knew they wouldn't be swept, just like the Rangers won their 2nd home game of the Pens series with them. Eh. Whatevs, GO PENS!


So the World Championship Quarter Finals were held yesterday. NOW the games are single-elimination.

We've already bid farewell to Andrej Sekera and Slovakia in this tourney, and now we bid farewell to Ales Kotalik whose Team Czech Republic was eliminated yesterday by Sweden in a 3-2 overtime game that was probably pretty exciting to watch. Sweden scored first, then the Czech Republic scored 2, then Sweden got the equalizer and the OT winner. Sorry Ales!

AL! DO NOT MOON THE SWEDES!

FYI: Sekera finished the Tournament playing in all 5 games, 1 pt (o+1), +3, 11 SOG, with 19:01 average ice time per game. Yay!

FYI: Kotalik finished the Tournament playing in all 7 games, 7 pts (5+2), 3 PPG, -1, 0 PIM. Awww no penalties, good boy, Ales!

Team Canada took on Norway yesterday afternoon and Heatley scored just 37 seconds in. Yeesh. The first shift hadn't even gotten their legs going and Heatley potted one. Whoops. Then they traded 5 on 3 opportunities and both scored, followed soon after by another Norwegian goal. It started out really really close....aaaaand then became the monstrous blowout I was expecting. Yay! Canada won 8-2! Yay! Derek Roy had himself a 4 point night (3+1)! Hat trick! Yay!!!!!

Next, Canada plays Sweden. Boooooo. I don't care that you have Nicklas Backstrom! You also have Henrik Lundqvist and while I have nothing against him personally, I don't like his team, so PHOOEY on YOU Sweden. I don't care HOW funny this picture is:

Swedish Indians?

Hey look! Someone once found my blog while searching for "Henrk and Joel Lundqvist shirtless"! Here ya go! I live to serve my readers, haha. I hope a large check or lots of booze was involved in the conceptualizing of this ad. I mean, look at Joel's shorts. I know, you it took me a while to notice them too, as I found myself lost in Henrik's pecs. 35 might just be my new favorite number. Sidenote: who doesn't love the classic "make yourself look bigger and more buff by crossing your arms and flexing every muscle in your upperbody" move. Good show, boys, good show.

Anyhoot, Russia defeated Switzerland yesterday 6-0. Afinogenov had 2 goals. Woohoo! Next, Russia takes on the winner of the USA v. Finland match up.

Speaking of which:

That game was painfully boring until the end of the 3rd period. It was 2-0 Finland until about 5 minutes left when Mr. Yick scored a goal. And then, oh JOY of JOYS! His first goal of the Tournament, Team USA's first shorthanded goal, 37 seconds apart... STAFFY!!!! YAY!!!!!! GOOD BOY, STAFFERS!! You're trying SO HARD to be my favorite again, and you just might do it.

Tooooooo bad they lost in OT, and are now eliminated from the tournament, finishing in 5th place. :( What the HELL am I supposed to do now?

Anyhoot, when it all comes down to it:

Pommer played in all 7 games, had 5 points (2+3), both goals were powerplay goals, was +1, 0 PIM and averaged 16:54 in ice time.

Staffy played in all 7 games, had 4 points (1+3), +4 (tied for the team lead), the only shorthanded goal for Team USA and averaged only 8:41 in ice time per game.

An excellent showing from the boys in blue and gold for Team USA. I guess it's all about Roysie, Max and Kalinin....ugh, ok it's all about Roysie:

Two of Roysie's three goal celebrations:

Typical happy smiley Roysie

Suddenly and inexplicably stony celebration by Roysie. Probably because at this point the score was like 7-2 and its just rude to overly celebrate when you're PWNING the other team

Sigh.

Well, Adam Burish heard my plea yesterday. On their day off:

Some guys took the opportunity to go fishing. For some, it didn’t go as planned. Kessel got pretty sea sick as he spent most of the time leaning over the end of the boat, so guys were joking with him about that the past couple days, and Mueller didn't fare so well at sea either. O'Sullivan and Backes came back with a pretty good tan, and I would say Greene did too but he had a bit more of a lobster red shade to him, ha! Over all they had a great experience catching a ton of cod. Other guys spent a lot of the day walking around the downtown Halifax area eating outside and shopping.

Ok, there was no specific mention of Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford, I'm going to go ahead and assume they were in the "walking around and shopping" group. Go ahead, try to picture Drew Stafford fishing... no, really, I'll wait...... doo dooo doo, done? Yeah, I couldn't really picture it either. I bet Derek Roy dragged Pommer to all the fancy euro-style boutiques and gave him a personalized Roysie-over while Staffy and Zach Parise threw water balloons at passing elderly ladies and capped off the day by eating their weight in Starbursts on a patio while Kaner and Tom Gilbert made clay flower pots for their mommies at the pottery cabin of Camp Morningwood.

And yes, I did snicker at the thought of Phil Kessel being a big wimp and reintroducing the contents of his stomach to the world, hahaha. I'm not very nice. Here's a question: what exactly did they do with all the cod they caught? I'm guessing you can't bring live or dead fish across international borders, fellas, so I'm gonna go ahead and assume they did a "catch and release" deal. I think Adam Burish has a crush on Matt Greene, not just a ManCrush, but like really thinks they'd make a great couple. Let's start that rumor....aaaaaand GO.

---

Private to Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford:

It's ok, you tried. Too bad you won't be back at the World Championships anytime soon because the Sabres will never miss the playoffs ever ever ever again. Right? RIGHT? That's what I thought.

Love,
Anne

---

Private to all our boys that have been eliminated:

SMOOTHIE TIME! WOOOOOO! GOOSE IS DRIVING!! No Al, you can't have shotgun, Sabretooth always has shotgun, its the rules. WOOOOO!

Love,
Anne

---

Will Ry-ry finish off the Flyers tonight?!?! FINGERS CROSSED! Tomorrow is my last day! As Sissy would say: "YAAAHHHHH!!!!"

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!

by Anne

Detroit and Dallas:

I'm working on disliking Dallas again, so I wasn't too upset by the loss. The first period was exciting and then NO ONE SCORED AGAIN FOR THE REST OF THE GAME. It was a SNOOZE. The Red Wings are just monsters. I almost want to change my prediction to Wings in 4. But I'll stick with Wings in 5. I bet the Stars can eke out a win at home... at least I hope they can.


Worlds:

YO CANADA TOTALLY MADE GERMANY THEIR BEEYOTCHES YESTERDAY.

They won 10-1. Eric Staal, who I agree had not really made his presence known in these Championships decided that yesterday was the day to start being BA.


Staal had 4 goals on 7 shots. He had 6 points in the game. WOWZAS. That's pretty freakin' sweet.

The reason Louie plays so well with eStaal because Louie pretends eStaal is Vinny

Roysie had a 2 point night (1+1) Caps PBF had 3 points (1+2). Roysie had 1 shot on goal and 1 goal, haha. I wish I could love Team Canada. I mean, I like them 2nd best... I think. They have Louie, Roysie and my Caps PBF, and my former Pacific Division boyfriend..... but they also have Heatley and Spezza which is totally yickey. Buuuut, Canada is America's hat.... so I guess I'll be ok with their gold medal or silver...probably gold.

Happy 23rd Birthday to my ex-Pacific Division Boyfriend!

Russia beat Sweden, but neither of our boys had any points, Max had a penalty, but that's it. Psh.... that's not exciting. Although its about what we usually expect from them for the Sabres, a couple of freakin' sweet games and then nothing for a month and a half.


The Czech Republic beat Belarus in a shootout. Guess who had the tying goal and then scored on the shootout?

WOOOOOOO!! KOTALIK!!

Slovakia beat Slovenia in a shoot out and and avoided being relegated to Group A which is the tournament Austria played in last month. It's too bad that Austria and Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be without some of their best players because THE SABRES WILL BE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!! Ahem. Yes. That's true.

Look who was named one of Slovakia's best players of the tournament:

yay!

Philly tonight at Pittsburgh tonight at 7:30. USA takes on Finland at 3:30! Woo!

Here we go Sabres, et al. participating in the 2008 IIHF World Championships, here we go!

by Anne

I really need to work on scaling down my cheers and chants. They're a little lengthy.

I wrote this as I checked the scores throughout the day and wrote each team's paragraphs before the others had been played, except Russia and USA which overlapped.

There were 4 games yesterday.


Kicking things off was:

Denmark v. The Czech Republic featuring Kotalik

Czech Republic wins 5-2

Radim Vrbata, whose name is crazy fun to say, had like 87 points in this game. Ok so it was 3 (2+1) including the game winning goal. Woop!

Kotalik scored a powerplay goal, what a SHOCK! Gasp! He does that a lot. Well done, Al.

It's really amazing how players I don't spend much time thinking about during the Sabres regular season are suddenly the most important player in a game to me, lol. Although, now that I know the Czech Republic boasts a player named Zbynek Irgl, my life is that much closer to being complete. WHERE ARE ALL THE VOWELS? Huh, apparently he was drafted by Nashville but opted to stay in the Czech Republic

And he's kinda cute:

If it weren't for Sissy Spacek, I'd have a new Czech Boyfriend

Denmark's goaltender does not appear to be very good, he let in 5 goals on only 17 shots. That's a .705 SV%. Yyyyyyeah, and we always rag on T-Bone for being .869. That's like astronomical compared to this dude.

Next game for the Czech Republic is Sunday against Russia.



Next up:

Derek Roy v. Anze Kopitar (Slovenia)

Canada wins 5-1

There's so much lovin' to be found on Team Canada, Mike Green, Getzy (former Pacific Division boyfriend), Jonathan Toews, Louie. But also so much yick: Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley. Do you think Roysie is totally cool with Spezza and Heatley or does he like not talk to them because they're Senators? Does Getzy pick on them because the Ducks Mightily pwned the Sens last year? Does Roysie yell mean things at Spezza and then hide behind RickNash? Nasher will totes protect you, Roysie....he looks out for his wee teammates.

Roysie was on a line with Rick Nash and Patrick Sharp. Woooo!

Anyhoot, Heatley got a hat trick and Team Canada had 65 shots on goal. Wowzas. I've been saying it since the roster was announced, I bet Canada will take Gold with Russia giving a good run. Maybe Finland, and probably not the US. They'll probably finish in the 3rd-5th.

Next game for Canada is Sunday v. Latvia.



Next up we have:

Kalinin and Afinogenov v. The Team that Sabres' goaltending coach, Jim Corsi, is working with

Russia wins 7-1

There are apparently no Italian citizen hockey players in the NHL.

Kalinin and Afinogenov were not in a unit together. So, Afinogenov was wearing 61 but Kalinin was wearing 7. Random. No one else was wearing 45, but then again, maybe he's always wanted to wear 7, but it's retired so he couldn't wear it in Buffalo.

Ovie scored a goal and Semin scored 2. Caps reprezentin' woop woop!

Italy also boasts a goalie whose last name is "Gunther Hell". I don't know if Italians realize what that means in English. They might. Regardless of how bad their team might be, Italy can say they can "Give 'em Hell in net" and they're totally right.

Max tries to score, doesn't succeed, but still looks good doin' it

Next game for Russia is v. The Czech Republic.

Finally, rounding out Friday's action is:

Team from Camp Morningwood v. Latvia

USA wins 4-0!

We all know who's tearin' it up on Team Morningwood. However, Molly from Boston College has informed me in her comment a few posts ago that Gerbe-Derby was cut from the team: (I'm not surprised, Pommer was cut from Team Canada when he was 20 and there he is today! Woo!)

Staffy and Pommer are on a line together. Staffy's rockin' Timmy's # and Pommer has stuck with good ol' 29. I like it when players use the same number. Kaner is wearing 83. Peter Mueller got 88. I'm guessing an epic battle of rock paper scissors decided this one, that, or Mueller is a few months older.

Kaner had 3 pts in the game (1+2), Pommer and Staffy were point-less, but, um Staffy got a penalty!.....? Pommer had about 14 minutes of ice time and 1 shot on goal. Stampy didn't score on his penalty shot he was awarded when he was yanked down on a breakaway.

The live blogger at the game said that Kaner would've been the star of the game with Tim Tom comin' in 2nd. Yay!!! Wooo! Although, on the IIHF website the "best player" was Paulie Martin. Whatevs! It was the only shutout on a very lopsided day of hockey. Yay!

Kaner scored a goal! And had an assist! Yay!

Next game for the USA is Sunday v. Slovenia, Woooo!