So let me get this straight

by Anne

• Teddy Purcell who has spent time on all four lines and in the press box this season and has been accused of having no identity gets slated into the top line with Smyth and Kopitar? I'm all for attempting to re-ignite his game but from press box to top line in one day seems like a strange turnaround. Simmonds for Willy's spot!
  

• Tonight the Kings play the Wild for the 2nd time this season. The last time they played them was October 8th when the Wild were struggling mightily. They've since righted that ship and have played much better since then.
  

• The Caps traded their Captain and Milan Jurcina to the Blue Jackets for Jason Chimera. Now begins the "Who gets the C?" rigamarole. The two nominees on Twitter were Ovechking (hurl) and Laich (yes, please) with a few nods to Mike Knuble.
  

• The Caps are teetering on the edge of falling into the "ubearable" category currently only occupied by the Chicago Blackhawks. If they pick Ovechkin, they'll be firmly entrenched and probably more unbearable than ever before, far more so than the Blackhawks.  

• But let's be honest, I can never hate the Caps. I still like them. I can talk a big game but they are fun to watch.
  

• Staffy is back playing on a line in practice. Hopefully the message was sent that he needs to step up his game and play the way he's shown he can in the past. Festivus or no Festivus.
  

• Only 92 days til the Nashville game :) :) :) :) :)
  

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Anne

Hey y'all. I'm ridiculously tired from the good times last night, so here's a list.

Things I'm thankful for:

• The Buffalo Sabres, even if they can't score a goal to save their mother-effing lives.
  

• The Los Angeles Kings, who won last night 3-1 over Edmonton
  

• David Backes deciding to be David Backes last night and having an awesome night for my fantasy team. 1G, 1A +2, 10 FOW, 6 SOG, 2 Hits, 1 blocked shot. :)
  

• My girlfriends and guy friends who I went out with last night because I had a totally awesome drunk time.
  

• Matt Greene scoring his first of the season, the game-winner, on the road against his old team. I wish he'd waited until I was watching, but I'll take it.

• All that usual stuff, family and friends. I have both in abundance and it's fantastic
  

• The refs for ejecting Ovechkin for his hit on Patty. They're really touchy about Ovechkin v. the Sabres, huh? Not because I thought he really deserved it, but because maybe they're going to do something about hits to the head/from behind now. Maybe.
  

• This quote:

"For a guy like me, who scores once a year, to say that I was picking my spots, is way more than an overstatement.”

Excuse me Greener, you scored TWICE last year...

• And lastly, for all you people who read this blog and will read the new one (that starts being the only updated blog tomorrow. I hope your team wins, your favorites play well, your families are healthy and happy and you have all that you need in life.
  

• Happy Thanksgiving!!

:)

Canucks Take Series Lead

by Anne

I have a million papers to write and like 20 minutes to write them all in, so time's a tad bit tight. However, I cannot neglect my Canucks.

Yay! The Canucks won 3-1 last night! Big Bear scored his 2nd goal of the playoffs (btw both of them have been the game-winning kind, I'm just sayin'). His goal was the finish to a lot of hard work by his teammates on the powerplay. He parks his big self in front of the net to tap in those rebounds, and that's just what he did:

Owwwww!

The win gives Vancouver the 2-1 series lead. I'm absolutely loving this series so far. It's been very back and forth and fancy. Both goaltenders have looked great and looked terrible. Scoring has been coming from all over the ice, in all situations, lots of hits and lots of foxiness in general.

I wore my Canucks t-shirt all day yesterday but was seeing a friend of mine from college in the national tour of A Chorus Line so I was unable to watch the game. :(

Fortunately, I am not working Thursday night so I will be able to watch game four!!

Taylor Pyatt was back last night! I'm sad I couldn't see his triumphant return. I also scoured the photo galleries for a picture of Pie v. 1.0 with little success. I think he's in the back of one picture but I'm not 100% sure it was him. Regardless, I'm very glad he's back and I'm sure his teammates/coaches/fans/family are all glad he's back too.

Let's Go Canucks!

Also, those pesky Ducks have taken a 2-1 series lead over the Red Wings. That's crazy times. Where was this team all season? I dont' think Ducks fans care, they're just glad they're here now.

My Pens are disappointing me. Sidney Crosby scored a hat trick, and they LOST. Ovie scored a hat trick and they won. Why? Because one more Cap (David Steckel) decided to show up. If the rest of the Pens could please arrive on time for game three, Sid and I would appreciate it.

Apathy

by Anne

*Its shockingly easy for me to detach myself from home losses. Being at the game but not watching every second of it, its quite easy for me to not take them too hard and just basically detach myself from the outcome. Its very difficult to write about games when you didn't watch the whole thing completely.

*I saw Mairsy's goal and it was lovely. Thank you, Adam Mair. Clarke MacArthur, Matt Ellis and Paul Gaustad, thank you to you as well. Its nice to not hate an entire team.

Derek: Ugh, do I have to go aaaaaall the way over there? Ew.
Guy on phone: Hey buddy, yeah thanks for the tickets, but, hey, listen, next time you can't use tickets to a Caps game, can you give them to someone else?


I imagine to most hockey players on the other team, this is the scariest thing they've ever seen


No this is not a picture of my 11 year old cousin, James.
This is Brian Lee of the Ottawa Senators.
Yes, this dude is old enough to play hockey. With grown-ups. Without a face cage.
He scored his first NHL goal tonight.

*The Canucks lost tonight 3-2 to the Flyers. Ugh. Also, the Canucks acquired former Kings' goalie Jason LaBarbera for a 7th round pick today, thereby allowing them to ship poor abused Cory Schneider back to the AHL to continue to tear it up down there and rebuild some confidence. What the heck happens to LaBarbera when Luongo is healthy? Manitoba? Waivers? I'm sure there are teams that could use him when the Canucks have dispatched with his services.

*In World Juniors news, Team USA trounced Team Kazakhstan 12-0. This would be even more impressive if Canada had not just shellacked them 15-0 two days ago. Yeesh. Now Team USA takes on Team Canada and the Tylers tomorrow night at 7:30. I'm not feeling completely confident but it should be a really good game. At the very least both teams will speak the same language. Poor Kazakhstan. I only feel bad for them because that's where James and Elizabeth were born. I hope for Nik Antropov's sake they score at least 1 goal in this tournament.

*Since working at the Arena, I can no longer stand the smell of buttery popcorn. I still eat popcorn, but I can't stand the smell of so much butter against the smell of the ice. Ok does that make any sense to anyone, because that's the best way I can think to describe it.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year's Eve!

Shmeh.

by Anne

Team USA defeated Germany today 8-2. Woooooooooooo!!! Sanborn native and Red Wings prospect Thomas McCollum made 16 saves in the win. Yay!

I vegged out at my sister's house with her cat while she's out of town. I'm nursing a bit of a cold, so I'm sniffling over here by myself with Maximus the cat.

I couldn't focus too intently on the game because of my cold medicine-induced haze.

I just about shrieked when they showed Paille basically pulling Vanek off the ice and onto the bench after he was hit in the leg by Ovechkin's slap shot. I was pretty sure his career was over... then he came back in the 3rd and scored a goal... ok then, apparently he bounced back? I wouldn't be surprised if he might miss a game after that.

That Ovechkin goal was pretty slick, I hate to admit. It was a combination of Ovechkin being slick and Tallinder being completely unable to handle knocking the puck off of his stick. That was a little embarrassing, Hank.

If I had to pick one word to describe this game it would be "scrambly". There was very little in the ways of playing as a 5 man unit. They all just seemed to be shoveling the puck in the zone and on net. For every frenzied shift in the Caps zone there was one in the Sabres zone, and back and forth and lots of scrambling.

To be honest, this game was so boring, I found playing Wii Tennis was way more fun than watching the first 2 periods of that game. On the plus side, I'm much better at Wii Tennis than I was before tonight.

I just might be better at Wii Tennis than the Sabres are at hockey.

And the Winner is..../Weekly Poll

by Anne

So when I set up that last poll, I didn't anticipate the LANDSLIDE victory that it was, hahaha. I try to make it possible for it to be more even. This was not a good example of that, lol.

The question was:

Quick! The babysitter canceled! Which of these players do you call?

Your choices were:

Danny Pie-YAY
Alexander Ovechkin
Marty Biron
Jaroslav Spacek
Jordan Staal

So, tied for 4th were:

Alexander Ovechkin and Jordan Staal

If you don't want your children to do this, don't call either of these boys. I have a sneaking suspicion that all your children would learn from these guys would be the perfect spitball making technique, honed over years of practice.

In 3rd place:

Jaroslav Spacek

I don't exactly understand why more people don't want a cubic Czech man screaming at their children. I voted for him, as did my sister. Come on! Who doesn't want their children to live their lives with the patented Jaro "SHOOT PUCK SCORE GOAL WIN GAME" mentality?

In 2nd place:

Only a few people wanted Danny Paille to bring his ice cream man into your home. I'm sure he would teach LOTS to your kids about Perry's... and... uhhh how to put your shoes on the correct feet? I'm not 100% sure that Pie-YAY has managed to figure that out completely, so while I'm sure he's an excellent role-model for your children, he may not be able to keep track of them if "Bob the Builder" suddenly comes on TV.

The winner by a LANDSLIDE, and perhaps because he seems to have the same attention span of most children, perhaps because he has his own children, the winner:

Marty Biron

I'd want Marty to take care of my children as well, I'm sure. He'd probably talk non-stop about whatever comes into his stream of consciousness brain which is something they could probably relate to. Children are probably the only human beings that possess the verbal fortitude to rival Marty. It would seem that the parents and future parents of America value Marty's sweet nature more than the iron-fist rule of Jaroslav Spacek.


Ok so this week's poll isn't exactly "racy" but it's a little bit more PG-13 than last week.

The question is:

You're drunk and stranded in downtown Buffalo and your friends have deserted you. You only have enough battery to call one of these people. Whom do you trust to not take advantage of you in your drunken state, but secretly hope that they will?

Jason Pominville
Steve Bernier
Pat Kaleta
Mike Ryan
Nathan Paetsch

EDIT: Ok, so, no, Goose isn't on the list. The reason being that I knew everyone would pick him. So for the purposes of this post let's say Goose is off in Europe with Millsey, which he actually is as of this writing. Woo! They're meeting up with Jaro and Kotalik in Prague! HOW CUTE! CAN I BE THERE?!?!

And the Winners Are

by Anne

Some thoughts from the Awards show:

Dear sweet Ovie looked like a kid who got lost on the way to the prom. Did Tuxedo Junction hook him up? There was so much shiny red vest and tie going on, I couldn't handle it. Iggy appears to have gone to the same tailor, but they gave him white with black polka dots or something.

I was pleasantly surprised by how genuine Ovie seemed in his speeches. Genuine but boring. He was annoyingly humble. I wanted him to celebrate the Hart and the Pearson the same way he celebrates his goals. They should've put in some glass for him to throw himself into after his name was announced.

When Ron McLean interviewed Iggy in the audience, it was strange. Not gonna lie. NOT THAT I DON'T ENJOY ALL THE IGGY FACETIME I CAN GET. But it was like everyone was acknowleging that Ovie had already won and they wanted to give Iggy a chance to make his speech he probably hadn't prepared. IGGY!!!!! I STILL LOVE YOU! CALL ME!!

Pavel Datsyuk looks a lot like a kid I went to college with. I've never acknowledged this before on here, but it always throws me off.

As if trying to KILL ME, the man who introduced the Lady Byng decided to write the great American Novel while yammering his way towards the nominee video. Like, for serious, it was like the event organizers wanted people to care even less about the Lady Byng than most already do. I, of course had pinned all my HOPES AND DREAMS ON POMMER'S NAME APPEARING ON THAT TROPHY. But that's ok, Pavel Datsyuk. You're no where near as adorable and lovable as Cap'n Pommers. So PHOOEY ON YOU. POMMERS IS BETTER THAN YOU IN EVERYWAY POSSIBLE. I BET HIS GIRLFRIEND IS WAY HOTTER THAN YOUR GIRLFRIEND! If they gave out an award for the player who most embraces "The System" Pommer would win every year. The award for player who gives the most upbeat post-game interviews when staring into the face of a 7-2 loss? Pommer. The award for the player who most makes me feel like he makes bad things go away and makes rainbows appear after rainstorms? Jason Pominville. The award for the player with the most adorably doofy smile? Pommer. OMG DID YOU ALL SEE HOW UNBELIEVABLY ADORABLE HE LOOKED? I didn't really get a chance to see his lady, but the girl sitting next to him for the approximately 2 seconds we saw her, she looked pretty foxy, so, well done, possibly future Mrs. Pommerdoodle. I'm jealous of your life.

Trophy 2 of 3 that I cared about was the Jack Adams. No one pulled their team out of the basement more than Bruce Boudreau. He was a minor league coach who came in and coached a young, uneven team to a division title. Granted, it was a crappy division, but they were the best of the crappy. Yay Bruce! My mom was excited because he used to coach in Hershey and my mom grew up about 45 minutes from there. It doesn't take much for my mom to find deep, meaningful connections to random people, places and things.

Trophy 3 of 3 was the Calder. I was excited, but I knew Kaner was going to win, so I wasn't as nervous about it. That glorious Buffalo flat "a" vowel accepting an NHL Award did do wonders for my overall health and well-being though. It was a nice touch for him to give a shout-out to Buffalo, especially since he's probably been here since the World Championships ended and he knows that he'll catch slack if he didn't mention us. Yes, we in Buffalo are cracked out like that.

Vinny Lecavalier is one of the most attractive men on earth. What is not attractive is that buzz cut. I know he just had surgery and all, but, really? No. He must be single... or hate his girlfriend. Vinny's hair is one of his top 10 physical attributes, why would you change perfection? No one goes up to the Statue of David and tells him to put on some clothes. On that note, Vinny, I think you should strive to be more like the Statue of David each day. Start by being naked all the time. See how Tampa Bay embraces this habit. You may want to wait until after your hospital wing is dedicated. Being naked in front of a bunch of kids is probably not the way to win anymore King Clancy's. Just sayin'.

---

Private to whoever gave those kids who sat on stage those jerseys:

"Lidstrom" not "Lindstrom".

Wasn't that embarrassing.

You're fired.

Love,
Anne

Game(s) 1 Day 2 or WOOOOOOOOO!!!

by Anne

When the Pens were down by three I contemplated changing the channel and playing Monopoly Jr. with the kids I was babysitting. My innermonologue in the 2nd period went something like this:

"Yo, screw THIS. CHRIS DRURY TIPPING IN A STAAL BULLET FROM THE POINT? I don't need this crud. I would only sit through this crap for Jason Pominville, and even this I don't know. How much more of this can I- Wooo! Ok, that's one, one isn't gonna do WOOOO! Ok...only down by one, maybe I'll stick around"

The third period went something like this:

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO - oops it's tied....WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! BLARG! 15 SECONDS LEFT AND THEY TIED IT AGAI- off the goalpost? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Geno and Sykora have been taking swing dancing lessons.

Here, they try to show their skills.

Their instructor, Ry-ry, comes over to lend a helping hand.

Things are a little off kilter in my HockeyWorld. Not only did I cheer the Stars goals, I found myself wanting them to win more and more with each passing shot on goal. I'm still motivated 90% by my desire to see the Sharks lose, rather than a desire to see the Stars win. It's a change of pace from my totally pro-Flames attitude of Round 1. The other 10% is pro-StuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUU BARNES!

Regardless, Go Stars! Of the 3 games I've watched, none of them have disappointed. So far I'm 3 for 4 on winning teams. Wooo! Come on Avs! Pick it up! I want to win my meaningless Round 2 pool!

Obligatory Sabres mention:

I love Ryan Miller because (i) he held an entire pizza during the anthems at the Wings/Avs game last night (ii) he probably ate that entire pizza (thank goodness) (iii) he makes no bones about the fact that he likes JM Liles more than he likes Brian Campbell, for those who think he's cheering for San Jose (iv) I couldn't pick JM Liles out of a line-up if my life depended on it, but I like him better than Brian Campbell.

Oh, and on the IIHF front: Ovie's playing for Russia! Wooooo!

Maybe the Russian Men's National team will do better than the Under 18s did. They lost to Canada 8-0 in the Gold Medal game. Whoops.

Bye Bye B's

by Anne

I watched most of the Habs/Bruins game with only mild interest. I'm not all that excited that Montreal won, but I'd be pretty mad if Boston won, especially considering I didn't expect them to win one game.

Congrats Carey on your 2nd shut out!

What is up with Versus AND HNiC both playing the Habs/Bruins game? I assumed HNiC would show the Canadian game in Canada, but I really thought that Versus would show me the Caps. Forcing a Game 7! Woooo!! Ovie with 2 goals! He must've been tired of people whining about his lack of production so he scored the game winner and an insurance goal. Yay! AOOOOOOOOOO!!!


Once again, a monster hit changes the pace of the game. Aaaaand it came from one of my new faves Mr. Michael "Yo, I always rock a fauxhawk" Green. Stickless, he still contributed in a big way to the play, leveling a huuuuuuge hit on Kapanen. My favorite part was that after the hit he stood up and looked down at Kapanen, in my mind it's because he was gloating over his victory, but he was probably just making sure he didn't break his neck. Wooooo! Greener!

Woooooo!

Um Yeah

by Anne


I watched not one second of hockey last night. I was at a play. Although, I would've much rather have been watching teams I have only moderate emotional investment in than sitting through that production populated by friends of mine, whoops.


The only thing sadder than the Sabres not making the playoffs is the Sabres leaving town extra early. This means with each Saturday night that passes when I'm tanked in downtown Buffalo, the chance of running into one of those bodacious hotties rapidly decreases. Friends have tried to point out to me that there are other men who live in the City of Buffalo but these platitudes fall on deaf ears.


Sigh.


I am determined to take incriminating photos of the Buffalo Sabres to blackmail them into hanging out with me.

What made me think of this, was this entry from My Safety is Harvard. I got all jealous and tried to justify blowing my money and flying to Atlanta with the outside chance I might be withing 10 blocks of Staffy, when something occurred to me: Anne, you live in the same city as Drew Stafford basically 8 months out of the year and make no attempts to stalk him here, why would you travel to the south to do it? Answer: I'm crazy and bored.


Anyway, I watched the Caps/Flyers game today and I noticed what I think has been the reason the tide has turned in this series:


AO has shaved his monster beard into a goatee.


While I appreciate that he looks much less werewolf like, I'm not sure how I feel about the departure from the rustic "I don't bathe either" look he was rocking before. GASP! What's next? Plucking the unibrow? Don't let all this playoff badassery go to your head, Ovie. I likes you just the way you is.

Heretofore UnAppreciated SexPots

by Anne

Each game affords me the opportunity to appreciate new players' sexaliciousbadassitude.

Tonight I will explore my newfound love for one Mr. Michael Green of the Washington Capitals

Derek Zoolander?
Mike Green.

Hi, Mikey!
You look kind of scrawny and geeky here


I'm loving all this redonkulous CapsTV stuff on YouTube

That video has also lead me to be jonesin' on Brooks Laich.

Hahahahahaha, you have to watch this until the very end:

I'm sorry to those who don't like him, but I love AO.

Day 3, still no Buffalo Sabres. I don't like this practical joke anymore

by Anne

After 3 days:

Sens v. Pens (Pens win 5-3, lead series 2-0)
NYR v. NJD (NYR win 2-1, lead series 2-0)
Caps v. Flies (Caps win 5-4, lead series 1-0)
Avs v. Wild (Wild win 3-2, first OT, series tied 1-1)

I watched the first period of the Pens game before going for coffee and came home just in time to see them win it. WOOOO!!! I actually said "Did we win?" WE? I suppose in the absence of my Sabres, the Pens are my "we".

Yay for my Atlantic Division boyfriend! Good boy, Ry-Ry! That was a SICK wrap-around goal. He's gonna beat the Sens just for me. Poor Gerber he stopped 50 shots and STILL lost.

Now, you are subjected to a gratuitous shirtless shot of my (Atlantic) man:

Yessssss

Ok, Devs. We need to talk.

How can Zachy lose his teeth in a loss? Come on now. He didn't sacrifice his pearly whites for THIS.

Look at that smile:

: (

Gone forever....or at least until he can get to the nearest Newark-area dentist.

I hope Staffy calls him with comforting words and pudding recipes.

Congrats, Ovie! Of course, he got the game-winning goal on his first playoff goal, so now the NHL will talk about nothing else until Drury is Captain Clutch or Crosby grows wings and flies over a goaltender to score. Oh, Flyers. Danny and Vinny Prospal each net 2 and they STILL lose. HA! Sorry, Danny! Actually, no, I'm not at all. What a shock...the tying goal was a PPG by Mike Green from Ovie and Backstrom. How often do we see that combination? Look out for that to be a HUGE trio for years to come.

I honestly don't really care about the Avs v. Wild series. Sorry. I will say I think Jose Theodore has his goal posts blessed between periods, though.

Did anyone else notice how herky-jerky TSN's tenths of a second are in the countdown to the end of a period? They fly down to .0, pause and then move on. Showing tenths of a second always makes things seem more frantic. They should do it the entire period, that'll at least get the crowd and home more into it...by drastically raising their collective blood pressure.

Words cannot express how much I love watching Manny "I'm 5'9"!" Legace commentating on Versus. He's new to this, he doesn't want to make grand, unsubstantiated, sweeping generalizations about a team or a player. Give it time, Manny, give it time. Ha! He was in the can for the end of the Wild game because it happened after only like 1:30. At least he admitted it, haha. Aww, Manny.

I wrote this post while watching the Wild game, it's currently 1-1, 7:30 into the third, so I can't post this until it's over in order to accurately post the score and the series standings. EDIT: I prematurely declared a 2-1 Wild win in this post, so when the Avs tied it up a few minutes later, I declared it my fault and took that part out.

I've been unfaithful to the Sabres

by Anne
Ok, so I have to admit, I've been stepping out on the Sabres. Not to the same magnitude as the All-Star weekend where I was like a 45 year old divorcee at a singles' mingle. But, I have been peeking a little more frequently at my #2 and #3.

So, inspired by Katebits recent rundown of her feelings on the Eastern Conference, I thought I'd enlighten our readers as to which teams are distant 2nd and 3rd in my heart and why.

#2 The Pittsburgh Penguins

I grew up in a football household. My uncle and cousins played football in high school and college and now coach it, same with my grandfathers.

My mom grew up an avid football fan, my dad the same, although his was more of a baseball household.

Both my parents were raised Pittsburgh Steelers fans despite my mother's close proximity to the Washington Redskins.

No one in my family before me was really a hockey fan. So, why, might you ask, do I give a hoot about the Pittsburgh Penguins? They were mostly terrible when my parents were tots, so no one in Pittsburgh even cared about them. My parents were married and lived in the city during the dreadful declaring of bankruptcy 1974-1975 season, so, city-wide morale for hockey was at an all time low.

So, why, might you ask, do I cheer for them?

This man

Mario Lemieux.

Until recently, I was anti-superstar. I can't stand Wayne Gretzky. I fully acknowledge that he was one of the greatest hockey players of all time, and many of his records will probably stand forever, in spite of Sid the Kid's attempts to break them. However, as he was considered #1, by most of the NHL, Mr. Lemieux was considered #2. I found this offensive, and therefore like him better. Nevermind that Gretzky has said nothing but great things about Lemieux and how he admired him. Phooey.

Lemieux was the Ovechkin to Gretzky's Crosby. Still widely regarded as one of the greatest, but could never quite break fully from his shadow, didn't create the media frenzy of his more highly publicized rival. Most people outside of hockey don't know who Sidney Crosby is, NONE of them know who Alexander Ovechkin is.

Only Lemieux, Gordie Howe and Gretzky have won the Art Ross 6+ times. Lemieux even beat out Pat Lalalalalalalafontaine for the award in 1993. However, Lemieux was coming back from being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, and you can't help but be impressed. He missed 24 games that season while battling the disease, and STILL won the Art Ross. Bitchin'.

I think its this way I feel about Lemieux that makes me an Ovechkin fan instead of Crosby, inspite of the fact that Sid the Kid is a Penguin. I still like him but I'll take Ovechkin.

When the Pens won yesterday, I was super stoked because it was good for them and better for us that the Pens beat the Caps. Sorry Ovie.

#3 The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Ducks

I like them for very few reasons:

1. They realized their name was totally LAME and dropped the word "Mighty".

2. They have Ryan Getzlaf.

3. They were featured in one of the funniest reality show moments of all time: Snoop Dogg ice skating.

3.5 They also have Drew Miller

4. In every interview with them, they all seem like a really fun group of players, so on top of being on the ice good, they're off the ice likeable.

Is it just me, or does Chris Pronger's wife appear to be about 6'1"?

5. They embarrassed the Ottawa Senators in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals. WA-HOO!

Getzy and Giggy hug it out after winning the Cup

I managed to get 3 pictures of Ryan Getzlaf in one post. SWEET.

Of course, above all other teams, I couldn't even cheer as hard for a hockey team as I do for my hometown boys:

It was after this goal that I started calling him The Soviet Bomber

(does anyone else get why the ref is keeping Kalinin away from Max?

I will never forget where I was when he scored that goal. I skipped out on the beginning of Act 2 of a show I was seeing to stand in a disgusting dive bar in North Tonawanda, because the game was on. When he scored it, I was so excited I jumped up and down and everything flew out of my purse but I could not have cared less.

I miss that feeling, but I'm sure one day we'll have it again. Maybe not this year, but soon.

Whoops

by Anne

So, if you recall this previous post regarding a Monday night Eastern Conference non-Sabres game I chose to watch, I was very bad luck for the Bruins.

It's currently Monday and I'm watching the Bruins visit the Caps on Versus, and I've just watched Ovie score his 50th and 51st goals of the season, on top of the goals by Cooke and Bradley, at 8:29 of the 1st, it was 4-0 Caps. Needless to say, TimTom was yanked and AA is in. Wowza.

Ovie, your yellow laces infuriate me to no end, but I do so enjoy watching you play hockey.

If only I were this unlucky for the Bruins when they play the Sabres. I was thinking I might be a good luck charm for Huet, but he was injured during a time when I changed the channel, so I don't think he'd consider me to be lucky for him.

Now that the game is over I can say that was one hell of a game. A 5 point night for Ovie and an adorable post game piece about some of the Caps riding around D.C. on Segways. Whoop.

Look around and you will find...

By Anne

So. Now is the time in life when I look around the sports world to see what else it has to offer, as my favorite professional sports team of all time is not giving me the emotional support I need.

Two of my top 3 scored our goals, so I have that little comfort to keep me warm at night. That and my kitten.

I know! I'll just root for my #2 favorite hockey team! That's it! Look to the Pittsburgh Pengui- what do you mean Sid the Kid has a badly injured leg that's so swollen they can't even fully examine it and he has to have an MRI today?...Ok... don't panic. There's always MALKIN! You non-English speaking goal scorer Malkin! 2 goals and an assist last night!...in a shootout loss to the Caps. Ok, ok, Anne, don't panic. Football!

The Bills! Not in the playoffs. The Steelers! No. The Colts! No. Ok, so forget the AFC.

The Green Bay Pa- oh yeah, we covered that yesterday.

::taps fingers on the desk while thinking hard::

How are the Bandits playing these days?

So, John Tavares did break the NLL all-time scoring record!! 597 goals!! WOOHOOO!! Perhaps I shall become a huge lacrosse fan. It's like hockey only with more running and more goals scored. Sweet.

A Shoutout to Ovie for your 3 point (2+1) night, and for that shootout goal. I really love when you and Our Lord and Savior Sidney Crosby go head to head, but I suppose I'll have to wait for the next time to enjoy it. 2nd star, I say 1st!

Ovie, the only thing that keeps me from truly enjoying you is this:

BUT! Danny got back at you with this:

And that was in one of those games where the Caps were being slaughtered by the Sabres, so I suppose I can call it even.

I think the real reason I enjoy him is that Ovie beat out Sid the Kid for the Calder in 2006. Granted, the Kid won many awards the next year but THE NEXT ONE was beaten out by the new Alexander the Great (hats off to Alexander Mogilny) for the Rookie of the Year.

Sidenote, does anyone else think Gretzky is looking a little...um...pretty these days? He looks like he's hitting the Phoenix hair colorist's salons a little hard. And last night he was lookin' super tan. This picture is not from yeaterday's game.

Game +/-

By, Anne

I bring you the game's +/- for last night's game against Ottawa:

-:

-We were once again without Roysie and the Soviet Bomber, AND TimmyHo AND we lost Sissy after the 2nd due to back spasms, leaving us with only 5 D. Although, Pratt and Campbell looked good together. What a cute defensive couple.

-Ugh, there is nothing I hate more than short-handed goals scored by the opposition. Those 2 in that Philly game were gut-wrenching. asdfnasdgangAlfredsson. Kotalik and MacArthur were back at the point, and neither could control the rush...well they are forwards and not defensemen.

-As per usual, 0/3 on the PP. But hey, it's never been our thing.

-Staffy had some not so stellar moments. 2 penalties in a row? I can't imagine he was told to take either of them. He slept on the couch last night.

-The shootout was poor. Grizz is now 0/2 in shootouts. Although, being without TimmyHo, Roysie and Maxy, they were probably about to throw Petey in there if it went another round.

+:

+Thibault stopped 23/25 and kept Ottawa scoreless in the first round of the shootout.
N.B.- Roby told us Thibault has 38 shutouts in his career. That's pretty f'amazing when you think about how much of his career has been spent playing 2nd fiddle.

+Pie-yay broke a 17 game goal drought to tie things up on a nice wrister over Gerber's shoulder.
+Grizz nets another one, making his season total 7 points in 15 games. Not bad.

+6/6 on the PK, although in my book, at least one of those is negated by allowing the SHG.

+With the injuries to centers TimmyHo and Roysie, Adam Mair got pulled up to skate on the 2nd line with Kotalik and Vanek and he was all over the place, finishing his checks and messing up Ottawa's top line. He had one great opportunity to finish things off in OT, but couldn't connect.

+Unlike the last 2 games, this team kept the AlfredssonSpezzaHeatly line under control, they were not able to play the same game they've been able to play against Buffalo earlier in the season.

+THOMAS VANEK SCORED IN THE SHOOTOUT WITH HIS USUAL EFFORTLESS STYLE WOOOO!!...of course if we'd put him in the top 3 we would've won...but I digress. WOOOO VANEK! Clearly my expectations for Vanek's play are not what they were a year ago. But he did play well last night.

+There were no sightings of SpartaCat and his $1.50 weave.

+I love shots of backup goaltenders on the bench, especially when that back up is a waste of space like Ray Emery. He apparently got into a fight with teammate Brian McGrattan during practice yesterday. Awesome, it does so much for team morale when teammates fight each other.

I have the mind of an 11 year old boy sometimes. After reading this line, I now plan to use the word "groin" to describe someone instead of something like "dick".

"Derek Roy and Maxim Afinogenov were joined on the shelf by Tim Connolly (groin)"

I'm aware he wasn't calling TimmyHo a groin but I laughed, regardless.

Grizz gives great, Pommerdoodle-esque post-game interviews:

“It’s a mixed feeling for sure,” MacArthur said.“I go from hero to zero like that, huh? I tried to freeze [Gerber] early and he was sliding back with his pads on the post. I didn’t have much chance. The right move would have been to shoot. I’d love to have that shot back.”

And, as usual, Soupy gives great shout outs to his goaltenders. We all know he and Millsey are BFFLs:

"He was great,” Campbell said. “He gave us a chance to win in regulation, a chance to win in overtime and in the shootout. It’s too bad we couldn’t reward him.”

Ok and then I read this on NHL.com. And we're uncertain about offering Vanek 7 years for $50 million?I mean, clearly Ovie is a phenom but that is insane. 13 years? $124 million? It's a gamble that will more than likely pay off for the Caps but MY LORD. 13 years? Kids born today will be preparing for high school when his contract expires. Next it'll be Sid the Kid's 87 Year, $87.87 billion dollar deal. (Have to keep reminding us of his birthday, so we can't say we didn't know when we forget to send him a card.). His grandson will be contracted to the Penguins before his son is even born. Ovie's a $9.5 million dollar cap hit. For the next 13 years. Crazy. However, its obvious why the Caps want to keep him around, he's an incredible hockey player and he genuinely seems to love Washington and being a part of the community. He does a lot for the city. I say, congratulations and I hope it pays off for the Caps and Ovie. Where would the Caps be without Ovie? It's clear they don't want to find out until at least 2021.

This equation is definitely true:

And the Caps hope this one is true too:

Can you tell I love picture equations?