Happy Birthday, Andrew Peters!

by Anne

Today, lovable goon Andrew Peters turns 29. He may not be the best hockey player, but it saddens me to think he will more than likely not be a Sabre next season. :(

I still love ya, Petey!

I hope you like green and black?
I couldn't find a 29th birthday cake that wasn't lame.

Also, Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

Prospects Tearin' it Up, All-Star Games and Ruutu Gets Tuu

by Anne

Its been a great couple of days for Sabres' prospects.

First Team Canada, featuring Tylers Ennis and Myers, wins a 5th straight gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Ottawa. The Jolly Blonde Giant finished the tournament with 1 goal, 2 PIM and a +5. His smaller teammate, Tyler Ennis finished the tournament with 7 points (3+4), 0 PIM and a +1. Congratulations, Tylers!

Ennis battling for the puck against Kazakhstan


The Jolly Blonde Giant calmly moving the puck against Germany

Also, Mark Mancari has been named to the Canadian All-Star team for the AHL All-Star Game. The AHL All-Star Game is Canada v. Players from Everywhere Else. Nathan Gerbe and Tim Kennedy have been named to the PlanetUSA All-Star team. If y'all remember, last year at the AHL All-Star game, Mancari broke the AHL hardest shot record. Can't wait to see what these guys do! Hooray!

Tim and Nate: Uh, yeah, Mark, weeeee're not on the same team.

In other All-Star news, the Western Conference reserves were announced today and WCBs Rick Nash, Jarome Iginla and Ryan Getzlaf were named to the team. Hooray! Eastern Conference reserves are announced tomorrow and I'm hoping there's at least 1 slug on that roster. I know the All-Star Game is stupid and voting is lame but I enjoy the ridiculousness of the festivities and the feeling I get that I'm having a wild weekend fling with the rest of the NHL while watching the goings on. I'd rather watch this all with at least one Eastern Conference player I won't feel dirty about cheering for (other than Ovechkin).

Also, voting closes soon for our All-Star Rosters. Things are getting close! Don't let your favorites go unappreciated!! Its Wednesday, which is apparently usually the day I update these standings, so here they are:

Eastern Conference Forwards
1. Gaustad
2. Lecavalier
3. Eaves
4. Laich
5. Upshall

Eastern Conference D-Men
1. Ference
2. Schenn
3. Rivet
4. Komisarek

Eastern Conference Goalies
1. DiPietro
2. Lalime
3. Price

Western Conference Forwards
1. Berglund
2. Sharp
3. Nash
4. Toews
5. Cammalleri

Western Conference D-Men
1. O'Brien
2. Liles
3. Souray
4. Weber

Western Conference Goalies
T1. Boucher and Raycroft
3. Huet

There ya have it. Some of these races are extreeeemely close.

Oh yeah, and Ruutu got 2 games for gnawing on Petey, and is now considered a "repeat offender".

I'm convinced no one edits articles on NHL.com. From the above linked article:

It is the second time this season that Ruutu has been suspended this season. On Nov. 12, Ruutu earned a two-game ban for an elbow he delivered to the head of Montreal's Maxim Lapierre in a Nov. 11 game.

Really driving the point home, aren't we "Staff"? I write bad sentences, but I don't write for the NHL.

Good times were had by all.

Thomas Vanek 31, Jason Pominville 23

by Anne

Woooooooooooo!!! To quote RJ "That was a wild and wooly one!"

Ahhhh, 3-0- in '09.

We all must admit that this season, whenever any preview of any kind breaks down a Sabres v. Whoevers game and it says anything like "The Whoevers have lost 48 of the last 50 on the road and couldn't put a puck on net if the life of their mother depended on it", it usually means the Whoevers will leave HSBC arena with a brighter future ahead. It already happened earlier this season against Ottawa in one of their only FOUR road victories to date. FOUR.

MIRACULOUSLY, that did not happen tonight and the Sabres won 4-2. Although for a few minutes when it all too quickly went from 3-0 to 3-2, all things were not feeling so great. However, Vanek came through with the empty netter and slammed the door on this one.

Who doesn't love a game in which your team scores 15 seconds in? and it was Matt Ellis (AGAIN) no less.

I put a lot of stock into tonight's game. For some reason I felt like this was a do or die game. I'm not really sure why, we're only halfway through the season and Ottawa isn't a threat to us in the standings, but I was more emotionally invested in this game than I anticipated I would be. I guess I can best sum it up by saying that I love watching the Sabres play and I love the feeling of winning and there's nothing more disappointing after a big win over a divisional opponent than a big loss to another divisional opponent. I like the glow of "the last time the Sabres played, they won." as I go about my day and I hate having that feeling taken away.

For those who might not have been in attendance, let me just say that the RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION chorus of "BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" that rained down when Ruutu decided to have a mid-game snack of Petey's "texting thumb" was unreal. The passion and rage flowing from the 300 level was oppressive and impressive.

I can't wait for the fallout from "ThumbGate 2009". Jarkko, WHO DOES THAT? WHO BITES AN OPPOSING PLAYER? That's just embarrassing. Its much easier to defend Mairsy marching down the hall than it is to defend a player deciding to cut his teeth on another man's digits. I love selling where I do because I'm across from the benches and I could watch the whole debacle of Petey shaking his hand and waving it at the officials and then getting penalized for whining or something.

Ladies, a bit of advice. If you work in the service industry and you get tipped, wear a thin white polo shirt and a leopard print bra. Watch your tips sky rocket. Thank me later.

I've now won the pool in our commissary 4 times this season. I am not popular in our commissary because of this record.

So the title refers to my daily "Anne needs something to do before the game sometimes" . I decided last game to count jerseys of players who still play in the NHL but no longer for the Sabres. That was only like 8. Tonight before the game I counted Vanek jerseys v. Pominville jerseys. I was expecting the outcome to be closer. My sampling was whoever walked by me before the game started and I could definitively see the number on their jersey. If I could only see a 6 or a 9 it didn't count as either because it could've been Peters or Kaleta or Roy or Connolly. In that 1/2 hour I saw 31 Vanek jerseys and 23 Pominville. Roughly half of the Vanek jerseys were the new third jerseys, interestingly enough. Next game I'm planning to count Miller v. Vanek. I'm positive Miller's total will blow Vanek's 31 out of the water. I might just count Miller v. everyone else and Miller might STILL win.

Hats off to Derek Roy for nearly face planting into Patrick Lalime during the 2nd period to avoid a too many men on the ice penalty. Royzie calmly dumped the puck in and then went off on a change through the door which is inside the blue line. However, the puck slid all the way back around to him and if he had touched it, or it had touched him, we would've been penalized. Watching him hop onto the boards (literally), startling Patty Lalime and his little yellow cap was highly amusing.

The Pens actually won tonight, but it was the Thrashers, that doesn't mean much. They're still a point behind us, out of a playoff spot. The 'Canes also won (thanks a LOT, New Jersey) which maintains their 2 point lead.

Should I not be thinking about playoff spots already?

The 'Hawks blanked the Coyotes in their own building tonight. Adam Burish, hetero life partner to potential hottie All-Star, Patrick Sharp, scored his first goal of the season tonight in a 4 goal 2nd period. Towes scored twice and Kaner is still sitting out with an ankle injury. :(

No game again until Friday at home against the Rangers. Can't wait for the boos for Dru. Oh yeah and Kalinin will be there too... remember him?

Feels good to finally be in the 20-win column.

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.

HAPPY FREE AGENT DAY!!!!

by Anne

I consider the trade deadline the hockey fan's Christmas. Mostly because it's all day long and you could hear about a trade at like 8:00 a.m. in Anaheim. Since free agent day coincides almost directly with my birthday, I consider free agency day to be the hockey fan's birthday.

Last year, I avoided the whole Briere/Drury debacle by being in Italy on July 1 and Spain on my actual birthday (July 4). So, as I am on American soil this free agency day, I consider it to be quite fortuitous for our boys in blue and gold.

We've locked down Goose who's totally excited to still be here, almost as excited as I was when I read the news on TSN. There was jumping up and down and squealing. Ahhhh female sports fans, we have our own unique way of celebrating. It's roughly the same way I celebrated when I found out a friend of mine was pregnant, actually. WOOO! MORE RANDOM BAR AND GROCERY STORE ENCOUNTERS FOR ME AND THE GOOSE. Cuz, honestly, where else do people aged 23-26 gather other than bars, grocery stores and work? Ok, creepily enough I might soon start working at the Arena. Maybe I should start shopping at Tops...

Anyhoot, I love delving into "anayltics" sometimes:

To the person who found this blog by searching for "man buds" umm, welcome? I'm not sure what "man buds" are, but I hope we were able to aid you in your quest.

What's up creepers who searched for "Drew Stafford is mine" and found this blog? Does that then make him MINE if it's on this blog somewhere? I don't recall ever typing these words except in perhaps: "Brian Campbell is S(h)ara's favorite Sabre, Drew Stafford is mine" Well I mean, hey, I think Staffy's pretty B-A but that doesn't make him MINE. Besides S(h)ara and I were young and foolish and have new favorite Sabres now. Although the race is back on next season, boys.

"Andrew Peters girlfriend 2008" is that like NHL 2k8? Do you go on virtual dates with Petey and have to pass hockey-player-girlfriend related tasks?

Why is "Thomas Vanek" our top player name hit? Mad love for ya, SabreBritney, but I don't think I talk about you all that often. Although, for a hot minute his play in the World Championships was the only hockey related/ Sabres related thing I had to talk about, maybe that's why.

"'what a guy' orphans blind" I'd love to know what this person's ultimate goal was in using these search terms.

Anyway, I have class from 1:30-4:30 today and then I have to take the bus home so I will miss the most exciting hours of free agency. I don't want to talk about it. BOOOOOOOO. I'll have to wait til I get home to find out the good stuff. I'll be able to pay attention to the first hour, and hopefully that's when the most exciting Sabres-related or most exciting non-Sabres-related deals go down. WOOOO!

And the Winner Is...

by Anne

In a poll most would deem crass and inappropriate, I am pleased to see that we got by far the most votes. WOO!

Here are the poll results for the question: "Which of these people would you be least surprised to see agreeing to pose for Playgirl Magazine?"

By your votes:

#5 Thomas Vanek (0%)

Apparently you all assume that 10 million dollar babydaddy and soon to be newly wed SabreBritney is as pure as the driven snow that fills our Buffalo lawns each winter. Not one single person thought that Britney would show us the money in Playgirl. That's ok, I only put him in there because, let's face it, Britney is not all that interesting or smokin' hot. Maybe it'd be a good way to spice up his career? Um, on second thought, please just stick to scoring goals, Mr. Vanek. You're pretty good at that. And your fiance is a babe, she might not approve. Then you'd have to marry some skank ho. Don't do that.

This is all the skin you'll expect to see from Britney:

I'm not sure how I feel about the shirt and tie combo, but I can get over it

That's fine. I figured SOMEONE would expect it from him, but I guess I thought wrong.

#4 Andrew Peters (8%)

I assume it would got a long way toward bringing Andrew Peters some notoriety in the press if he were to bare it all for the women of the world. He's got lots of downtime, he could be farming out offers to various adult publications. Alas, as is probably the truth, most of us assume he would not do this. Yay Petey!!!

Perhaps what he and Vanek have in common is that whilst they are professional hockey players, they both are humble about what they do. We all see that Britney, in times of HockeyPeril is the first to say what we're all thinking about his performance: that it just isn't good enough. Petey knows his role on the team, and embraces it, involving himself in other projects in the community. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that so few people decided it wouldn't be odd to see him flashin' the goods in Playgirl.

Petey's so sad you all don't think he'd pose for playgirl over his current and former teammates. He'll try harder this coming season to prove otherwise.

#3 Brian Campbell (22%)

I thought Mr. Campbell would've placed no lower than second in this poll, so giving him the Bronze Medal is quite shocking to the system

We all see that Soupy clearly thinks he is the cat's pajamas but most would expect him to keep on those pajamas.

He freakin' turned down $5 million/season to play here because he assumed he could get more. He might be right, but that takes some serious family jewels to reject a team you supposedly love's offer... family jewels that few of you would expect to see gracing our newsstands.

Perhaps to supplement his income when he has to settle for less...? Wait. Why am I trying to FIND reasons for Soupy to pose au natural? YICK.

These girls would buy a Playgirl with a Soupy centerfold

This girl too.

Honey, you have a lovely smile, you can do better!!!
ACK! LOOK AT THAT HAIR!
*BARFHURL*

#2 Tim Connolly (33%)

I'm surprised Timmy wasn't the runaway favorite in this. I definitely voted for him. I assumed he'd be the undisputed champion of expected smut.

We all know how much TimmyHo must love Timmy Jr. And, let's face it, Timmy Jr. is probably in great shape. He works out a lot. If Timmy Jr. were a person he'd be in better physical shape that Sidney Crosby. Why not get him all gussied up to pose as a naughty cowboy in Playgirl or a fireman or whatever it is men do in Playgirl...maybe I should've looked into that. Meh.

Try to wrap your brain around this:

The bald non-smiling dude in the shiny shirt has gotten 10,000x more booty than Jason Pominville, all-around good guy. Ok, so this picture makes Pommer look rather vacant and scared, but he's wearing roughly the same facial expression I'd have if Tim Connolly were rubbin' up on me too. Tim probably went home and boned both of those girls and their moms...twice.

Ladies! By wrap "your brain around this", I did not really mean "your legs around Tim Connolly". Take note.

Now that I think about it, why would Timmy pose for playgirl? Half of the women in the world have seen his pork and beans and lived to tell the tale. Most of Playgirl's target audience has already had a turn on the Tim-a-Whirl. It's just not good business sense for them to do a 4 page spread on the Timster.

However, apparently a few more of you think it more likely that our final contestant would oil himself up for the pages of playgirl:


#1 Derek Roy (36%)

I cannot stop LOLing at the thought of our Lil' Roysie flexing and sweating in the pages of Playgirl. COULD YOU IMAGINE. I WOULD BUY EVERY COPY AND GIVE THEM AS GIFTS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

Derek listens intently as I pitch pictorial concepts at him.
Two words Derek: Naked Skydiving. Think about it. Call me.

Derek: Do YOU think I should pose for Playgirl, RIT reporter girl?

I have some difficulty envisioning a grown man who I frequently talk about in the same voice I use to talk to my cat (He's so LITTLE!!) lying bare-assed on a bear skin rug for the ladies of Buffalo. Not that I wouldn't love every second of it and tell my grandchildren about it at family reunions some day.

Roysie actually looks.... cute here.

Well, there ya have it. You would all be least surprised to see Derek Roy signing on the dotted line for his centerfold spread in Playgirl. WOW. What an eye opening experience this poll and post have been. This upcoming poll shall be more tame, with the occasional spicy topic mixed in. But ya can't be too spicy all the time, cuz then it just gets old. Unless you're Big Bear. Then you can be spicy all the time:

LOVE. HIM.

I just want to hug him, is that so wrong?

Doesn't Barney look like he'd be a great hugger?

And now, I don't mean anything "unseemly" by that.... or DO I?!?!?

He's spicy in San Jose.

Aaaaand in Buffalo.

WHY CAN'T I BE THAT GIRL?

I found this in Webshots, and if M.J. doesn't already have it, she needs to have it:

Aw, Mikey. Come back next season!

It's all Been Done

by Anne

I'd write about Saturday's game, but my fellow bloggers summed it all up nicely.

I thoroughly relished in every second of TEPPO. I loved Roysie's totally unselfish pass to Britney for his hat trick. I'm amazed Mike Weber survived that crazy assault from behind. There was nothing not to love about that game. I whooped it up for Thibault and the defensemen who limited that Bruins to only 17 shots and zero goals.

Today I will highlight my top 10 moments of the season (on the ice):

10: Yo-yo's 20th "Personal-Best" Goal of the Season

It didn't come until March 19, but we all knew Captain October and February would pull through in the end. Who didn't love that crazy angle shot that miraculously went in to get Yo-yo his first 20 goal season? Yay! There had BEST be a letter permanently sewn on his left shoulder come October....Lindy, I'm lookin' at you.

9: Andrew Peters' Annual Goal

I like this picture because of Kalinin's face

Andrew Peters has many roles as a Buffalo Sabre: awkward slow skater, bench warmer, NHLPA Player Representative, Press Box Coffee Boy and terrible fighter. But on February 27, 2008, he had one title: Goal Scorer. Woooooo! Once a year, baby!

8: Sekera's GWG against Boston March 30, 2008

When Andrej Sekera first came up from Rochester earlier in the season we were all... rather "underwhelmed" by his performance. However, a few months down in the trenches with Webby turned him into one hell of a defenseman. There were many moments of defensive HOTNESS however, no moment shines out more for Reggie this season than his crazy offensive BULLET from the point goal to keep our SLIM playoff hopes alive. Excellent work by Britney and Webby to make it happen.

7: The December 21, 2007 Game aka Danny's return to Buffalo

I was fortunate enough to take Mama Maloy to this game. Danny's first return after jumping ship. The mood in the Arena was TENSE. It was so great. This is probably my favorite game I've ever been to. Winning it, Spacek's bone crushing hit on Danny. It was perfect. Ok, so both Danny and Dru are in the playoffs...but for that weekend, we were the team that won WITHOUT Daniel Briere.

6: Miller's 1st game after his cousin passed: 6-0 Win

Not long at all after Ryan Miller's cousin Matt passed away, Ryan had to go back to business as usual. He gave a then-abysmally-crappy team a huge win, their first of the season, I might add. That game was so emotional. Any one who is a fan of either of the Miller brothers knows how much "Matt Man" meant to them. I can't lie, when Miller raised his helmet showing his cousin's nickname written on the back, I got choked up, kind of like I am right now.

5: Big Bear's first game as a Buffalo Sabre: February 27, 2008

Derek Roy's face reads: I don't even know you, but I'm going to hug you

In the words of Rick Jeanneret: "WELCOME TO BUFFALO, STEVE BERNIER!" Could you have really asked for a better debut? Granted, Big Bear has only scored 1 additional goal and a handful of assists since then, but the physical play of the team his just exploded since dropping the Skating Tomato and picking up Big Bear. I don't want to love him because his time as a Sabre might already be over, but if he had driven from the Arena to my apartment and proposed to me after that game, I definitely would've said yes. Actually, if Big Bear did that right now, I might still say yes.

4: 10-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers: January 18, 2008

I know, Danny, I couldn't believe it either

With every goal that was scored in that game, my faith and love for SabreHockey that had been forcibly chipped away from me by each of the 10 preceding losses was put back in its rightful place. My then-favorite Staffy (sorry, no longer my absolute favorite, but#2 ain't bad) got his first hat trick, newly named as S(h)ara's favorite, Derek Roy, got a hat trick after Lindo basically told him he needed to step it up. That game was beautifully merciless towards the Thrashers and I loved it. They played dirty that game and moved themselves onto my top 5 least favorite teams. I loved that game so much I wanted to marry it and have little goal scoring babies.

3: Tampa Bay comeback #1: February 20, 2008

This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole season

This game was not pleasant. I was so frustrated with the boys that with about 5 minutes left when we were down 3-1, I drunkenly changed the channel. Approximately 5 minutes later I changed back to officially see that we had lost when, what's that? Why is Hank hanging out on the ice after the game? Wait, WHAT? BRITNEY DID WHAT NOW? Oh Britters. Even though you were wrong about us being in the playoffs,I don't fault you, 4 hat tricks in 23 games is quite a feat, you did what you could. And you did it well in that game.

2: Tampa Bay comeback #2: March 19, 2008

Max got annoyed with this guy...oh, it's Jeff Halpern

Almost exactly 1 month after the aforementioned comeback came another huge deficit to overcome. We were, once again, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning heading into the 3rd. I was, once again, very unhappy, although not intoxicated. While eating some dinner at a restaurant and trying not to be too annoyed by the NCAA fans who were ignoring the REAL game, and also trying to not be bothered by the slight video lapse, I watched the boys score 6 goals in one period. It was totally awesome. The only reason this game ranks higher than the Thrashers game is because at this point in the season we really believed we were going to be in the playoffs. For the January game, I think we were just content to not be kicked out of the league.

And finally...............

Drum roll please..............................

1: Henrik Tallinder's SO Goal FTW! February 6, 2008!

No moment will standout more to me from the 2007-2008 season for me than Hank the Muthafuckin' Tank's CRIZAZY shootout goal. Poor Staffy, he also beat Mr. Brick Wall, but no one remembers that. They only remember the feeling of "Uhhhh...... Tallinder?" followed very closely after by "WOOOOOOO!!!!! TALLINDER!!!!! " Oh man, I have never loved a hockey goal more. Ok, that's not true, this goal and Pommer's OT in 2006 can duke it out for supremacy.

Honorable mention goes to TEPPO for his return on Sunday, but that game was meaningless to everyone but Teppo and Thibault basically.

There ya have my top 10. Any thing you feel I left out? Any moments are higher or lower on your list?