I wish I was going to be at the Draft/Yo, Chicago, calm down

by Anne

My #2 team is hosting the NHL entry draft on Friday. I hope to see Dustin Brown there when the Kings announce their pick and the trade that sends Kovalchuk's rights to Dean Lombardi for the negotiatin' of a new contract. Even the NHL schedule is planning on this happening. The Kings' home opener is against the Atlanta Thrashers. Fan crisis moment: Can I really cheer for Ilya Kovalchuk? Once he starts scoring like crazy, I'll have no problem, I'm sure.

While I'm not terribly excited for this year's draft class, it would still be exciting to see the players drafted and be there while some crazy trades are going down on the floor of the Staples Center. Maybe after I get a real job (I have an interview on Monday, fingers crossed) I'll start saving to go to LA for a game this coming season or the season after. There's always the possibility of seeing them play when they head East for a road trip. Maybe back to Nashville? Columbus? We shall see, but I really want to see the Kings in their natural habitat.

Everyone has November 19th circle on their calendars, RIGHT?! :) That's the day that the Kings come to play the Sabres in HSBC Arena :) I'm not sure if I'm going to wear any Kings' gear; I don't want it to look like I'm cheering against the Sabres. What will probably happen is that I'll just wear plain black and cheer all of the goals.  

Speaking of trades and such: YO, CHICAGO, CHILL. We all knew that the Blackhawks would be cleaning house, but not necessarily this soon after and not necessarily this many trades at once. Byfuglien, Eager, Sopel and prospect Aliu (whom I have a soft spot for because he served as a  Russian translator during the NHL combine interviews) to Atlanta for Marty Reasoner, two picks, and prospect Jeremy Morin. I love Marty Reasoner because he had Greener were BFFs when they played in Edmonton. 

In addition, the Blackhawks sent poor adorable little Collin Fraser up to Edmonton for a 6th round pick. Yikes. 

I mostly don't care about these trades because they will have limited or no impact on my teams. However, do the Thrashers really need another enforcer with only limited talent in Ben Eager? It'll up the opportunities for Kaleta and Eager to renew their old rivalry, but still, really Thrashers? Really? 

Also on the UFA front: I'm glad the Sharks re-signed Patrick Marleau. I was getting a little tired of hearing Sabres fans drool over him, but am sad that Joe Pavelski wasn't dealt to the Sabres. I loves me some Pavelski. 

Looking forward to the Draft Party tomorrow night! Who all is going to be there?

It's before midnight, it totally counts

by Anne

Wednesdays are my longest days and I just realized during my last class (at around 9:00 p.m.) that I hadn't blogged for today. Day two and I'm already almost messing it up.

Last night's game was an unpleasant adventure. Watching the Thrashers score three goals that fast was bad enough, then you add on that Miller was pulled after only five shots (including  hose three goals, omg) and many Sabres fans were already changing the channel.

Why does Lalime play best when Miller is pulled? Maybe that's the secret to Patty's troubles. Maybe he psyches himself up all day to play and then when he gets in net he hits panic mode and suddenly can barely control his own bodily functions and can't be bothered to tend goal. 

From here on out I vote that Miller starts every game but about every sixth game he suddenly returns to the bench claiming a mysterious non-visible and certainly short-lived nondescript injury so Lalime has to go in spur of the moment. The Lime played pretty well and only allowed one goal. Unfortunately it was the game winning goal so he takes the loss. :(

 It's gonna be a loooooooong night

The Sabres normally have a January meltdown, it just seems to have come to town a bit later this year. 

Redemption tomorrow night in Tampa? Here's hoping.

Oh yeah, Tyler broke his nose? It was his own fault, but keep your head up, kiddo.

Timmah: Srsly, JBG, take it from me. 

Blogging Everyday

by Anne

Starting today, Tuesday, March 16, 2010 I resolve to blog everyday until the Stanley Cup is handed out.

Do any of you care? No probably not. However, I miss this little guy and I always enjoy reading blogs and writing my own so I'm going to vow to post SOMETHING everyday until I put a new magnet in the "Stanley Cup Champions" circle on my standings tracker. They only way this could go wrong is if by some miracle the Flyers win because I lost my Flyers magnet somewhere in my bedroom. 

GUESS WHAT?! I can't watch tonight's game. I know everyone must be stunned and flabber-ma-gasted. The Sabres for real need to stop playing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, aka the nights I have class. Jerkfaces.  Kings, same goes for you.

SPEAKING OF THE KINGS. 

Two weeks from today I will be in Nashville, TN preparing to watch my beloved Kings lose to the Nashville Predators!! Woo!

So there were some good suggestions for signs. "Going Greene"suggested by my sister of all people. Someone tweeted something about Drew Doughty which I can't remember. Suggestions still being taken. I plan to make the sign the weekend before we leave (the 27th and 28th) if I make one, so keep the ideas coming.

Tonight the Sabres play the Thrashers. Last season the Thrashers had the Sabres number but this year we've won two of the three previous games so here's hoping to end the season series above .500? :)

This coming Thursday I have NO OBLIGATIONS. No classes, no meetings, no forums no war tribunals, NADA. I will have the entire evening free to enjoy the Sabres and Kings and beat myself up over how badly the lesson I taught at the middle school where I'm observing went. Should be GRAND.

See you all tomorrow!

Much better

by Anne

I must confess that I picked coffee with friends over watching the Sabres game last night. Based on the updates I got on Twitter, I gather it was kind of a snoozer.

However, snoozer or thriller, the Sabres kicked off their roadtrip strong with the all-important two points! Granted, they gave Atlanta one point, but that is of no consequence at the moment.

I may have been sad to see that Matt Ellis was scratched in favor of Pat Kaleta, however, I am pumped that Kaleta scored and I have yet to watch the replay to see if he did his obnoxious "roll the dice" celebration he does just to spite me.

Upon further review it appears that yes, yes he did:

The adapter for my laptop broke leaving my laptop powerless until just now when I bought a new one so I have some serious highlight catching up to do.

Those Sabres are just so darn cute and thoughtful, winning games and such and having such a massive lead in the division. They're so sweet. :)

I managed to watch a little bit of the Kings game which they won 4-0 over the Ducks! Woooo! They're now 11-3-1 against the Pacific division this season and have a tenuous hold on eighth place. They really need to put together some more wins here so they don't make me punch them in the face as previously threatened.

Jonathan Quick improved to 4-0-0 all-time against the Ducks, earned his fifth career shutout and first shutout of the season! Yay Quickie!

Bobby Ryan, Rhodes Scholar that he is, decided that with seven seconds left in the game he was going to unnecessarily pummel Oscar Moller into the boards and for his trouble received roughly 17 minutes in penalties. Idiot.

Good game, boys!

Keep it up!

Both the Sabres and the Kings  just kicked off crucial seven game stretches. The Sabres have seven straight on the road and the Kings are in the midst of seven straight at home. Including the game on January 21st which will be all at once the best and worst game ever. I'm guessing Greener will not be playing in that game :'( That is extremely disappointing to me. But his health is most important so he shouldn't rush back.

They both play tomorrow night too! Also I might have a date with a Sharks fan next week. I don't know how to feel about his allegiance. He's from California and he still likes the Sabres so I suppose I can let this slide... maybe...

8CZB4QJZZSBM

Withdrawal

by Anne

Don't worry, the Sabres are playing tonight.

You'll get your fix.

Ya addict.

Hey! Hey! U-S-A! And the Sabres won too... eh!

by Anne

The Winter Classic game was boring except for the last five minutes and OT and I would've preferred it if the Flyers had won only because they are not in our division.

Anywhoozle, then the Team USA roster was announced and there weren't toooo many surprises. The only players I was displeased to see there were Mike Komisarek and Chris Drury. Or as they shall now be known "Not Rob Scuderi" and "Not Paul Gaustad."

From teams I care about: Ryan Miller was named as one of the goaltenders. Frankly, I'm pretty surprised. I mean, his stats this season haven't been exactly phenomenal and he hasn't really played at an elite level but I guess Brian Burke is ok with that?

Jack Johnson and Dustin Brown will be representin' the Kings, and ya know who else will?!?!

The one real surprise (for me anyway?) was that the #3 goaltender named to the tournament was Jonathan Quick!! Yay Quickie monster! I'm so excited for him. He won't see a second of ice time but he's being groomed for the back-up job for 2014 after TimTom presumably retires.

Also in "WOO!" for team USA was Patrick Kane, Brooks Orpik, and David Backes. Wooo!

Theeeeennnn there was the Sabres game.

Ok.

I'm very glad they won, especially when they had NO BUSINESS winning that game. Jochen Hecht even SAID SO! They were ONCE AGAIN down 3-0 and rallied to win 4-3. I'll take the two points anyway we can get them but this bizness is no longer cute.

Derek Roy's winning goal was also hilarious.

[So the video was supposed to go here but it won't work, sorry!]

Woo! A win is a win! Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve!

The Pirates, The Sabres and the Rest

by Anne

• The Pirates game on Thursday was lots of fun. I wasn't feeling too solid about attending, mostly because the Amerks are the best team in the AHL and the Pirates are the worst. Umm, awesome news heading into the game.
  

• Jimmy "Parsley" Bonneau plays for the Amerks now and Kim was unable to contain her sadness, especially when he and Derek "Noodles" Whitmore were on the ice together.
  

• Cody McCormick, who tried REALLY hard at the end of training camp to take Adam Mair or Pat Kaleta's job, was desperately in need of a spice-related nickname. After much consideration, we settled on Dill Weed.
  

• In the first period, I don't think the Pirates had one completed tape to tape pass, the Amerks were constantly lifting sticks and getting in the way; although the Pirates were doing a lot of that themselves.
  

• The second and third periods were more fun, mostly because there was lots more scoring. In the end, the Pirates ended up winning 6-3. Hooray!
  

• The crowd was much smaller than the 11,000+ that attended last year's game and it was more mixed between Amerks and Pirates fans. It was still a really fun game and barring any unforseen circumstances, I'll definitely be attending the second game in March(?)
  

• The Sabres continued to win last night in another close game. They beat Jarome and the Calgary Flames 2-1 in a shootout. 
  

• I think it was on Thursday that someone, maybe Cari, said that it had been a while since there had been any good fights, at least as far as the Sabres are concerned. Last night, the Sabres obliged this lack of punchy hockey. Both Mair and Gaustad had fights and there was lots and lots of pushing and shoving in and around the goal creases.
  

• Royzie scored his fourth of the season (on the powerplay, thank goodness) and Royzie and Pommer, who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn last night, scored in the shootout to give the Sabres the win. 
  

• Hooray!

This picture was on the cover of the Sports section of the Buffalo News

Such joy and elation.

I love Pat Kaleta

• Drew Stafford's thoughts on the victory are here 
  

• Iggy didn't score and he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Excuse me, but Jarome Iginla is never unsportsmanlike. Pat Kaleta got the same penalty. Him, I might agree with.
  

• The Los Angeles Kings played the Thrashers last night using ministicks, having not slept the night before, with one skate on, wearing blindfolds.
  

• Photographic proof of this is sketchy, but it's the only explanation I can come up with when they lost 7-0.
  

• Of this we shall never speak again.
  

• Geno is back for the Pens! 
  

• But now Chris Kunitz is hurt. OF course he is.
  

• David Backes responded to my strongly worded letter by getting zero points, 17 PIM and 10:31 in ice time. I wasn't clear enough.
  

• Sabres play the Flyers tonight in Philly. Ugh, gross. I predict a 4-1 Phlyers victory, the Kings play the Lightning, the Pens play the Bruins and the Canucks play the Avs. 
  

Weekend Recap

by Anne

Ryan Fitzpatrick had a much better game than Trent Edwards has over the last few games.  Does this mean he should start? Goodness no. Neither of them should. The Bills actually won, though. At least if Fitz has to start next game he won't face the same vitriol Losman faced last season when he had to start for Edwards. No one expects anything from Fitzpatrick or from this team.

I missed my final game of the season on Saturday. There's little to no reason why I should miss any other games this season. Looks like I didn't miss a whole lot yesterday, just the Sabres usual level of suck against the Thrashers. Remember that time we beat them 10-1 in January of 2008? That was super fun. At least we were still the last team to lose in regulation.

Afinogenov scored an insurance goal that ensured the Thrashers 4-2 victory. Alas.

Not a sight we Sabres fans are used to seeing

A happy Afinogenov

A more familiar sight, Sabres goaltender crashed into while Tallinder looks helplessly on

I fell to 2nd in our fantasy league after narrowly losing to S(h)ara's Saskatoon Topnotch Lemons. Curses! My team's +/- really did me in, as was expected.

The Pens and Canucks won last night which is good. The Kings and Sabres lost which isn't good.

The Maple Leafs STILL haven't won a game. They now sit at 0-6-1. Really Leafs? Really? Phil Kessel is chillin' on IR in my fantasy team and I'm pretty sure I'm going to drop him or attempt to trade him. At this rate, I'm not sure that he'll be able to contribute to the Leafs this season. As I'm not in a keeper league, I might ditch him. My team seems to be doing ok without him. But, like any good GM, I don't want to just drop him. Maybe I can convince someone to take him...

Wooooo Kes!

Samuelsson scored and got to hug Big Bear, which part is better, really?

Lastly, the Sabres have posted one of those "Hey look! We have personalities!" locker room videos that we all so enjoy and they've done about one of over the last two seasons. TK is far more relaxed in this interview:

Next Sabres game Wednesday @ Florida.

Woooo!

Game Day All Over Again

by Anne

Tonight begins a whole bunch of weekends in which the Sabres play back to back Friday - Saturday games. Last season of the  6 or 7 back to back weekend night games we only managed to win both of them once. We got anywhere from 0-4 points from those weekends. That's not so great. It's not that I expect them to win every back-to-back series but when they're both at home, I'd like at least three points, please.

How will the trend begin this season?

Lalime will start tonight; hopefully he'll allow fewer than six goals tonight.  The Thrashers aren't quite as bad as they were last year but the season is only three weeks old.

Also, this guy:

I haven't really thought about him much.

Just please don't let him score.

:)

Puck drops at 7:00. I won't be there :(

Fortunately this will be the last game I'll miss this season. Woooo!

Just Some Stuff

by Anne

I don't have much time to write because I have about 150 pages left to read before I head to this class which I might not go to because I feel like garbage.

I want to throttle Thomas Vanek for that turnover that gave Kovalchuk a breakaway. I want to wring Lindy's neck for having Teppo out there during OT.

However. I must pause and reflect.

Thomas Vanek may have handed out the biggest turnover of the season in OT, but he was also the only player that scored for the Sabres yesterday. Thomas Vanek's two goals gave us one point and his turnover cost us the other. Never has one player been so directly involved in the earning and losing of standings points.

Moving on:

• The Sabres signed Matt Generous and I read some really inaccurate article about him yesterday and Cari, Kim and S(h)ara had to set me straight last night at Tully's. People need to check their facts before they start righting blurbs for accredited news sites. That's all I'm sayin' about that.
  

• I should probably welcome Matt Generous aboard the FailShip as I do all incoming players but my lunch is ready and I have reading to do and an essay to type so that shall have to wait.
  

• Also, I organized the tags yesterday so they are a little more user friendly. I left the tags up there people are most likely to be searching for. If we only had one post tagged with something, that tag probably did not make it onto the list. It makes the the list much much shorter and, if nothing else, it irritates me a lot less.
  

• I also fail because we were going to do an April Fool's post last night but I forgot to write it so I'll have to save it for next year.
  

• The Kings are releasing new wallpaper for a different player every month, this month is Matt Greene. Hooray! It is not currently my background because I can't bring myself to take Dan Paille's open-mouthed, curiously wide-eyed look of wonder picture down as my wallpaper.
  

• Tonight the Canucks host the Ducks and the Kings are on the road in Phoenix, both at 10:00 p.m. Booo.

Was it MY Birthday?

by Anne

Yesterday, as we all know, was Steven Bernier's 24th Birthday. A joyous day I almost forgot to commemorate. However! Whilst perusing the Canucks website yesterday I discovered something amazing:

Big Bear wrote a blog.

Is it Christmas? My birthday? What have I done to earn such a wonderful gift? Is this kismet? Whatever it is, its amazing. SO amazing that even Cari texted me to make sure I'd read it. My love is known far and wide.

Here now is a breakdown of some of Steven's thoughts on the Canucks' recent road trip:

Despite all the places I’ve had to fly with my teams, I still get a little nervous on the plane. We have an awesome crew and everything but I don’t know why I still feel that way.

Steven is a nervous flyer. How cute! Yet he still manages to give props to the flight crew, for fear he has insulted them with his apprehensions. I am not a nervous flyer and basically feel totally at ease until the flight attendants start panicking. We do not have this in common but perhaps this is better than two people in a full tilt panic when we hit some turbulence?

This trip has been a long one and we’re playing a lot of game[sic] in a short amount of time but it’s a good feeling on the plane and in the room so I’m not complaining.

Note the keen way in which Steven disregards basic English written syntax and once again tries to assure us all he's not upset. What is this? A NON-plural where it should be plural? Big Bear has a lot of issues with plurals be it discussing his happiness to be a "Sabres" or apparently being unable to speak of multiple games. The letter "S" is his downfall. Perhaps this is because his name starts with the letter "s"? There maybe deeper issues at work here.

I always love going back East because my family is there and I get to see them, which is always good and it’s exciting whenever Canadian teams play each other anyway. I really miss all of them, so I make an effort to see them whenever I’m back in Eastern Canada.

Once again, what?Is he discussing missing his family in Eastern Canada or does he miss the Eastern Canada teams? Does he long for his Mama's home cooking or watching Alexei Kovalev play?

After almost nine months in Vancouver, I still can’t believe how beautiful this city is. I can’t stress enough how amazing everyone in this city is and how much they’re into the Vancouver Canucks.

Vancouver is probably the perfect balance between San Jose and Buffalo. In San Jose there were beautiful beaches but not as much fan involvement. In Buffalo there's lots of fan involvement but not so much beauty. Looks like Big Bear found a great place to play. Awwww!

Big Bear chills with Mama Bear on the plane

Thinking about tonight's game makes me so nervous. Both Florida and Montreal won last night which is putting the playoffs almost completely out of reach. If they lose this one, they're basically done. Not officially but they might as well be.

Also, if the Sabres don't make it, I will need to choose an Eastern team. I'm leaning towards the Devils right now. Thoughts?

Puck drops at 7:00 in Atlanta.

*I hate formatting posts on a PC, it never works right. Sorry if this is really smushed or crazily spaced out.

To Recap Last Night and Preview Tonight

by Anne

I can't wait for the total freakout over new Facebook. As per usual, don't invite me to any "Anti-Facebook's New Layout" groups. I will decline your invitation because I feel there might be a few more issues in the world.

If everyone put half the effort into fighting world issues that they do into fighting Facebook's re-designs, the world would probably be a better place.

You're not going to delete your profile, calm the hell down.

Right, sports. Hockey and the like.

The Canucks beat the Kings last night. I only watched the 2nd half of the third period. Just enough time to watch the Canucks win 4-2. I hear it was a tad bit one sided in the first. And by that I mean the Canucks outshot the Kings 20-3. I'm kind of glad I missed most of this one. If its two teams I enjoy, I'd enjoy a close game.

Apparently Steven has a fractured bone in his face (cheekbone I heard? confirm/deny?). This must've happened during the Anaheim game which I did not watch. He was wearing a full face shield last night:

He did not figure into any of the Canucks scoring last night
:(

Henrik Sedin had two goals close together that broke a short lived tie and gave the Canucks their eighth win in a row on home ice. Yay!!! Henrik's 1st goal was the game winner and also the 100th goal of his career. Hooray!

Happy Sean O'Donnell Day!

Today Sean O'Donnell plays in his 1,000th NHL game. If you give a hoot, here's a link to the Kings' stuff about him.

He was part of the Ducks team that won the Cup in 2007 when they were my favorite Western Conference team, so he's made the journey from Anaheim to LA. That must be one of the easiest moves in the NHL. Except for maybe between the Islanders and Rangers.

He also happens to be rookie Drew Doughty's defensive partner (most of the time).

Congratulations Sean!

Sabres take on the Thrashers tonight without Cap'n Kovalchuk. No time for resting on our laurels, boys. Just because they don't have Kovy doesn't mean they don't have players who can score like... uhhhhh... Colby Armstrong? Ok, Bryan Little does have 29 goals this season, so look out for him.

I'm not thrilled about tonight's game. It spells disaster. A crappy team we should easily beat at home on a Saturday night usually spells disaster.

Also, I was looking at my list of top moments from this season and at this writing I only have six and some of them aren't even that great. I'm expecting some heroics down the stretch here. When is Petey going to score his annual goal?! Can Tallinder be in a shootout again this season?
Thomas, score four hat tricks again please?

This season has been boring. At least last season there was drama. Soupy's contract, the Winter Classic, Thomas Vanek's rebirth, Jochen Hecht and Dan Paille each scoring in the neighborhood of 20 goals each, it was way more fun last season. Even when they lost, there was more to talk about. If we miss the playoffs again, we'll just be one of those mediocre teams again with one great goal scorer, a great agitator and a great goaltender, just like most of my youth.

If they miss the playoffs again, can someone please be fired?

So Tired but So (almost) Worth It

by Anne

As my secondary and tertiary teams both reside on the Western coast of North America, whenever they have home games they usually start around 10:00 or 10:30 pm EST. This stinks. Usually I fall asleep before the game is over or I watch the whole thing and am cranky the next day.

However, in Buffalo State College's infinite wisdom, we had the day off today. Buff State really really loves days off. Therefore I was able to stay up and watch the entire Kings/Thrashers game and it was totally worth it.

Things did not start out so hot. The Kings were quickly down 3-0 only eight minutes into the game and Jonathan Quick was pulled. It was his eleventh straight start, I'm thinking he might've been a little fatigued. I was about to pack it in when they scored to make it 3-1. Unfortunately the Thrashers answered right back and made it 4-1. Just when you thought it was over, those scrappy little Kings made it 4-2 and it was only the end of the first.

These Kings have a tendency to find ways to score so once I made it through the first period I was hooked.

Fast forward to just over three minutes into the 3rd and its 6-3, Thrashers on top. Last season, the Kings are toast. Heck, most teams are toast when down three goals at the beginning of the third.

Anze Kopitar scored the Kings 4th goal with 12:30 left, Denis Gauthier (ew) scored goal #5 and Anze completed his four point night (2+2) with the game-tying goal on a 6 on 4 with just five seconds left.

Kopi celebrates being wicked sweet

Kopitar also beat Hedberg in the shootout but unfortunately he was still the better goalie and the Thrashers ultimately prevailed.

The Kings could've really used those two points as eighth place gets farther away. The point puts them in 11th with 57 points, five points out of 8th place but with a few games in hand over some of the teams in between. Overtime losses have been the Kings' friend this season. The playoffs aren't completely out of the picture for them yet, but if they don't string together a few wins soon, they'll be getting farther and farther away.

What's this about the Kings and the playoffs?
Terry Murray, you fiend.

The rest of February won't be easy. They only play at home one more time this month and the rest of the time they're on the road against Anaheim, San Jose, Philly, Detroit and Minnesota. Minnesota is currently sitting between the Kings and the playoffs but who knows where teams will be by the time they get to Minnesota next week.

Its very trying to love a stay at home defenseman. Greener was a -1 with 0 points and almost 23:00 of ice time at least one blocked shot and a few hits. Its times like these when I wish I was still all about flashy offense and then I could declare Kopi my favorite. Kopitar was definitely the difference maker last night and deserves all the props he's getting aroud the interwebs these days.

Kopi and your Homer slippers, I salute you.

ETA: Give us a break, Carrie, no one cares that you're dating Mike Fisher.

All-Star Voting is Complete, Christmas is Over, Time for Trade Rumors!

by Anne

We've all heard about Kovalchuck potentially being moved from Atlanta. He's an offensive superstar wasting away on a team that's ranked 28th in the league. However, in a move that most expected to come at the beginning of the season, the Thrashers have just NOW named Kovy their captain. Hard to believe he's only the fifth Russian born and trained player in history to be named captain of an NHL team. Does this quash the trade rumors? Does this mean Kovalchuk is happy in Hotlanta? Does this mean Don Waddell trades away the team's only legitimate star? Soupy was an alternate captain the month he was traded and captain only two months before that. I still say Kovy is moved.

Then there's his South East Division goal scoring hombre, Vinny Lecavalier. He's the team captain and just signed a DiPietro-esque 11 year contract extension that goes into effect this July 1. For the last few crappy Bolts seasons, there have been rumors that Marty St. Louis or Vinny were on the trade market, but for some reason this season the rumors are hotter than ever. The ever popular Vinny-to-the-Habs trade has come up yet again. Why in God's name would they trade him? I'm not saying that they won't trade him, because that genius parade running shop down in Tampa has done some pretty bone-headed things this past few months, but Vinny is their only superstar. If I lived in Tampa and there was no Vinny Lecavalier, who else would I go to watch? Marty "Don't Call Me Shortstack" St. Louis? He's good, but he's not the franchise player that Vinny is. Stamkos is floundering and probably should be back in Sarnia where he can gain some confidence, why wasn't he allowed to be in the World Juniors? That's beyond me. Basically, I don't want Vinny in Montreal because that just ups Montreal into serious contender status and that's bad for the Sabres. Bad bad bad.

What's the latest in trades for the Sabres? Darcy doesn't make splashy trades. Well, he gives away splashy but doesn't bring IN splashy. We could use Vinny up here! Tampa needs defense, right? I say Tallinder, Paetsch and a first rounder for Vinny. Who's with me?!

Another center that might be on the move is Jason Spezza. As much as I want a solid top line center for the Sabres, I feel like Spezza in Buffalo would be like that scene in Mighty Ducks when that kid who never appeared in any of the other movies called Adam Banks a "cake-eater" when he was forced to play for them when the divisional lines were redrawn and something about a lake being a cutoff point. I'm putting money on Royzie being the one to dish out that kind of smack talk.

Stafford for Kesler? As part of something bigger? That's the rumor from the unreliable Hockeybuzz.com. I love Kesler so if we were to lose Staffy it'd have to be for someone like Kes to avoid the onslaught of sadness. However, what would this "bigger" be, I wonder? If we got Kes, I'd want to keep him. What's with the Sabres trading with the Canucks all of a sudden? 1970 represent.

If Staffy gets traded, I have to say I TOTALLY CALLED IT. A month after that post, things are a little different and Staffy is producing more, meaning we'd get more a in a trade involving him than we would in a trade involving Pie.

Whatevs, I really love the trade deadline. It's my favorite hockey day of the year, followed closely by free agent day, opening day and the draft.

In Case You Were Wondering

by Anne

• Rob Ray is shorter than you'd think he'd be, and his head does look as enormous in person
• Goose was on the bench  doing his pre-game meditation way later than usual. He was still there at 20 minutes to 7:00
• If you're cut off from beer consumption at HSBC Arena and you're caught with another beer, you will be escorted out of the building
• Mark Mancari scored another goal, giving him 18 points and moving him to 2nd in the AHL in scoring
• Tim Kennedy ending his point streak :(
• I was that graceful popcorn vendor mentioned in John Vogl's live blog, the one who dropped the tray.
• Larry Quinn is also shorter in person than you'd think
• Montreal also lost in a shootout so we maintain our 1 point lead in the division
• In spite of the fact that Buffalo is, in fact, in the United States, all of the ushers were wearing poppies for Canada's Remembrance Day (FYI, until about 10 seconds before I hit "publish post" that said "poopies" instead of "poppies")
• This is how Drew Stafford reacted when Lindy told him he would be benched:

Drew! Do NOT throw pucks at Lindy!!!

That about covers it. Hey, we got a point, Max got the monkey off his back and scored, Vanek maintained his scoring lead, Grizz scored one for MK and I bet Lalime starts tomorrow.

Whats with Ryan Miller either allowing 0 goals or 5? Whatev, it wasn't a divisional game, and its not as though the Thrashers are going to do much with those 2 points.... aaaaand cue EPIC Atlanta winning streak.

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?

Wait, there's STILL no Sabres game?

by Anne

Ok, hasn't it been 3 days yet? No? I haven't had 3 days of no Sabres hockey since the All-Star Weekend.

I tried to care about the Minnesota Wild v. the Colorado Avalanche but, unlike most Monday night Versus games that I watch, this one was not a catastrophic blowout with the first goal being scored less than a minute in. I was hoping Gaborik would bust out another 5 goal night in honor of me taking the time to turn on the TV and mindlessly sort of watch his team play in the background on mute while I cleaned up the mountains of clothes on my floor.

Tonight, there is a game between the Flyers and the Thrashers. Here's a refresher course in Anne's Top (Bottom?) least favorite teams:

1. Ottawa Senators (I love to hate them, I really do)
2. Toronto Maple Leafs (It's not as much fun to hate them post-lockout...but I still do it)
3. Philadelphia Flyers (My ire is long lived, eff you Philly, eff you)
4. New York Rangers (Gross. Avery, Jagr, Drury: gross. Yes, I still hold it against Jagr and his mullet that he left Pittsburgh. What?!)
5. Atlanta Thrashers (A very, very recent addition, ousting the 'Canes from this list)

So, based on this list, I should cheer for the Thrashers? Hmm, let's look at the standings:

1-7: Not the Sabres
8. Philadelphia Give us back Danny but you can keep Martys- 80 pts
9. The Greatest Team Ever - 79
10. Washington Ovechkins - 78
11. Florida Huh, You're only 2 pts back of 8th?s - 78
12. Toronto Maple Chokes - 74
13. New York Misfits - 71
14. Atlanta League Worst 246 GA, ha!s - 70
15. Tampa Bay 2/3 of a Good Line Still Lefts - 66

So, Go Thrashers? That seems wrong to say, but: Go Thrashers, none the less.

Toronto takes on the Islanders...um... Go Isles? Who cares. Neither of them are making the playoffs, sorry, SteveDangle. I still enjoy your videos and now know more about Andy Wozniewski than I ever thought possible. The fact that I even know who Andy Wozniewski is, is really a credit to you, Steve Dangle. BTW, even if you aren't a Leafs fan, and if you're reading this blog, you're probably not, his videos are funny and entertaining and its interesting to hear what non-douche bag Leafs' fans have to say.

Pens v. Rangers - GO PENS! There's no doubting how I feel about this game. The Rangers are due to choke soon, I'm banking its against Evgeni Malkin, that goal scoring freakazoid. Sidney WHO?

After Tampa on Wednesday is the dreaded "We need to finish playing all the games against our division, let's cram them all into the last 8 games of the regular season" run. Too bad we're in a very tough division. Even the Leafs (Leaves?) give us trouble from time to time. Can we temporarily trade schedules with the 'Canes? No? Ugh, fine.

How do we all feel about our renewed playoff hopes? I had begrudgingly resigned myself to being ok with hanging out in 9th for the rest of the run. Now, I'm back to: PLAYOFFS OR BUST!! This is a tough position to be in. My hockey ulcer can't handle it. No more spicy food for the rest of the season.

---

Private to Thomas Vanek:

I hate you and your 9 minutes of ice time. You, our "star goal scorer" our "10 million dollar man" had the least amount of ice time of ANYONE ON THE TEAM THAT ACTUALLY DRESSED FOR THE GAME! PATRICK KALETA HAD MORE ICE TIME THAN YOU. ONLY THE SOVIET BOMBER AND THE CHICKEN HAD FEWER SHIFTS AND ONE OF THEM IS A 7 GAME ROOKIE.

What you have to show for this weekend: a -1, 2 penalties totalling 4 minutes, 2 shots and roughly 26 minutes of ice time spread out over 2 games. ARE YOU SECRETLY MIKE RYAN DRESSED AS THOMAS VANEK? HOW DO YOU MANAGE A -1 WHEN YOUR TEAM SCORES 13 GOALS? Get on it, Britney, lose some weight (you're lookin' a little soft these days), gain some confidence, start playing with that "Eff THIS" attitude you enjoy taking out and displaying occasionally. Don't treat that attitude like a Gretzky rookie card, keep it out of its protective case, use it, enjoy it, embrace it, mess around with it a little and we won't be screaming for your head if we don't make it to the playoffs. You're a fucking great hockey player, what the hell is the problem? Stop being so damn mopey and fucking play hockey. Get mad, get passionate! DO SOMETHING.

Love and kisses, Anne

---

Private to Paul Gaustad:

AN 80% FACE OFF WIN PERCENTAGE ON SATURDAY? 4/5! Oh Goosie, I loves you.

Love, Anne

---

Private to Pat Kaleta:

HA!

Oh, Patty, you are always good for some great pictures. I hope you're cozy up in the front of my SabreHeart, you'll definitely be there the remainder of the season. Don't laugh at Staffy, it's not nice, he's still got a tentative hold on his seat. Would you and Pie-YAY please stop putting tacks on his chair? Pat Lafontaine has been giving good repots that you haven't been annoying him, so that's good.

Love, Anne

Pain in my soul a/k/a my leg, back, ankle, head, groin, bone spur

by Anne

This entry's title brought to you by the confirmed and potential injuries facing some of our dear Buffalo Sabres.

I wasn't zen last night. That's why they lost. I couldn't concentrate my chi on the team so they could win. Oh yeah, and LYDMAN flipped the puck over the glass putting us on the short end of a 6 on 3 with about 20 seconds left when we were only up by 1, that didn't help. And those a-hole Thrashers hurt Millsey and Mairsy and Roysie and Sissy and they tried to take out Kotalik. There's something to be said for getting revenge for a loss, but that revenge should be on the scoreboard, not injuring another teams top players, that's bullshit.

I. Hate. Shootouts. We started last month with a shootout and I guess we just missed them so much that we wanted to have another go. With T-Bo in net. Excellent. In T-Bo's defense he did have some good saves, but nothing to write home about.

I've never really cared about the Thrashers other than they have Kovalchuk who's kind of a punk and Hossa who falls into the same category. But after that shizz last night, they fall into my list of most disliked teams in the Eastern Conference:

1. Ottawa Senators
2. Toronto Maple Leafs
3. New York Rangers
4. Philadelphia Flyers
5. Atlanta Thrashers

They bumped Carolina from the list, whom I don't particularly care about anymore (I've gotten over the '06 playoffs).

The kicker is that the 2nd period was some great hockey from the Sabres, the 3rd as well....for the most part. There were tons of blocked shots, Hank the Tank, Roysie and Pratters all took some pucks for the team, I'm sure there were others too. At least the boys know they have to change their game when its T-Bo in net and not Millsey.

Does Tobias Enstrom look like a midget hockey player who put on the wrong jersey and showed up to the Thrashers by accident one day to anyone else?

Good job Goose in stating your case for why your goal should've counted. You showed more passion about that than some players have shown about anything all season. Good thing Sissy was the one to talk to the refs about it, or you might've been ejected. Good boy, Goosie, you fight for your rights. Not enough to earn you a BAMF, but excellent effort.

Ok, I need every Sabres fan to sit down. All seated? Not you in Kenmore? Ok. All set? Good, I have to tell you something you might not believe, no, no one was traded. No, no one appears to be out for the season. It's much more surprising.

This man:

I'll pay you $1 million if Kalinin didn't immediately wipe out after this picture was taken

actually scored a goal. I know, right? You can't believe it either.

Oh and BY THE WAY, LINDY, Where my captain at? Who will lead this team bravely through February's cold and treacherous days and nights? Who will we turn to to argue goals and penalties in these wintery days? Who will be his assistants? His right and left hand men? I must know now! Who do we turn to for interviews?!

The Catwalk for Charity is tonight. Probably would've been nice to go into it with a win, but whatevs. I'm actually kind of glad I'm not going, after last night's game. Watching Millsey limp around tonight isn't exactly a memory I'd want to cherish. Although I'd like to cherish the memory of meeting a certain #21 and his B-A Guitar Hero skills.

Private note to Ryan Miller's legs:

Dear Millsey's legs,

Hey, it's Anne. I know we've never met and you've never actually heard of me before, but I just wanted to pass on some words of encouragement.

You, Lefty, are very important to the City of Buffalo. See?:

Good work, Lefty!

Righty, I haven't forgotten about you! Look at how important you are too!:

And Righty makes the save!

Excellent work over the years, boys! Where would the Sabres be without you?

Oh, right, here's where:

Lefty fell asleep on the job

Or, possibly even here:

T-Bo, the puck is over- No! T-BO IT'S OVER- ugh, never mind

So, legs, please, don't be hurt badly. Please? We in Buffalo really need you to be healthy. Groin - the same goes for you!

Love,
Anne

Do you really want to huuuuurt me?

by Anne

The weather outside is absolutely disgusting. So disgusting that I find it difficult to go to work today. But, here was my train of thought as I lay in bed, staring at the clock:

"Ok, I could call in, I still have sick days left...but I have to finish entering time...eh, someone else could do that for me, no big deal...if I call in I won't have to hear the girl who sits next to me screaming on her phone about how Precious took her job at the bar....but if I call in, and then go to Pearl Street to watch the game and someone I work with sees me, that could be bad."

And in what has turned out to be a defining moment for me, I chose comfortably watching the Sabres play a road game in Atlanta at a bar when the weather is gross over missing work. Thus proving that I love the Sabres more than I hate my job. Wow. Who have I become?

Any tick, congrats to Ovie for pulling ahead in the NHL scoring records. I wonder how Ovie celebrates this stuff? Does he care? Do you think he'll celebrate by investing in a new tooth? I originally thought he had lost the tooth long ago and didn't wear his fake veneer at the All-Star Game, only to realize that when he was interviewed on the red carpet, he was still sans tooth, leading me to believe that this has been a recent dental tragedy. Poor Ovie he's lost withou- wait, he's the NHL scoring leader and is making $9.5 million on average for the next 13 years, I don't feel bad.

Sabres have slipped to 11th place, but it is through no fault of our own - we didn't lose, the Caps just won. So, I'm not worried.

Kovie might be back in the lineup tonight, I haven't heard the results of his MRI yet after he and Ruutu had a battle of the knees the other night. UPDATE: Kovie is not playing tonight.

Atlanta is planning on getting payback for our last meeting which, lest we all forget, was a 10-1 Sabres victory featuring hat tricks from the 2 Sabres who are most beloved by the residents of Sabretooth's House. You know what, Atlanta, bite me. Even if you win tonight- in both games we played against you in Buffalo you managed to score 1 goal. We scored 16. Yeah, that's right 16-1. Chew on that, Kovie, how does it taste? Bitter? That's what I thought.

Ok, so we did lose against Atlanta in Atlanta on January 6. But the Sabres couldn't buy a win then, so I don't really hold that against my boys.

And, you know what? The Southeast division sucks. The Southeast is like the "No Child Left Behind Policy" of the NHL. We have to keep the slower kids in with the regular kids, just to keep them progressing, well I say phooey! Go hangout in the sunny part of the Eastern Conference and leave those of us who barely made it into work today because of the freezing rain in peace.

Coming later will be a post from S(h)ara on her thoughts on February's captain. As I am severely divided amongst myself on the issue, it is best that she tackles it. My post would be mere half, incomplete sentences where I second guess any decision I make on who our next captain should be.

I will leave you now with this, try not to swoon too much:

And this. If the video didn't make you swoon, just be sure you're sitting down now:

http://sabres.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=MediaGalleryPlayer&galleryId=4539

Game +/-

By Anne

So was there really any - to this game?

The only thing I can think of is that that SHG slipped by the PP. I still hate shorthanded goals, no matter how many goals we have up on a team, short handed goals suck.

OK !!!

+:

Dear Drew Stafford,

No joke, the other day I was thinking to myself: ya know, I can't believe Drew hasn't gotten himself a hat trick yet in his time in the NHL. He's pretty BA so I'm surprised.

So what did you do? You went and stole my heart forever by putting up a 5 point night (3+2) with a hat trick of your own and setting up 2/3 of Roysie's goals for the night. AND scoring the game winning goal.

As if that weren't enough, finally, NHL.com gives its first star of the night to you and your "what's that on the floor under the camera" roster photo is available for all to see with a sweet #1 right next to it. I'll frame it for you.

You are so firmly entrenched as my favorite Sabre that no one can take you down. You haven't yet reached Pat Lafontaine or Brett Favre (I know he plays football but I really love him) status in my heart, but keep it up, and you'll be giving La-la-la-la-la-la-la-fontaine a run for his money.

Love,

Anne

Derek Roy is also now firmly entrenched as S(h)ara's favorite Sabre. Scrappy-doo comes back from a shoulder injury having prepared and skated and kept up his conditioning in his off time to score his first hat trick of the season. Both of our boys netted 3 goals. Granted, one of them bounced of Roysie's leg as he went flying through the crease, but WHO CARES! He still threw himself across the goal crease. I'll take it. I kind of wish Pie-YAY had gotten credit for that goal, but then Roysie couldn't have been the comeback kid he was tonight. So in my heart they both scored that goal.

The Roy-Stafford-Vanek line was freakin' on FIRE tonight. 7 goals tonight among the 3 of them. Not while all on that line, but they produced at least 2 in the 1st as a line. Staffy had 5 points, Roysie had 4 and Vanek had 3. After scoring 1 on the power play and having some seriously BA playmaking, SabreBritney totally gets the babies back.

Yoyo had a 3 point night (1+2), Danny Pie-Yay had 2 and DMITRI KALININ had 3!?! He hasn't notched a point since the season opener. What was in that gatorade?

You know the team is on a roll in the game when you look at a player who didn't get a goal and you think, what's wrong with you? Sorry, Grizz.

So when down by like, 8 goals, what's the most logical step? Oh, right, take 19 minutes in penalties, just to you alone, Eric Boulton. Including a game misconduct AND getting thrown out of the game for crosschecking Pommerdoodle into the half wall? Excellent, classy, well done.

Games like last night are one of the greatest feelings in the world. As I said last night, if this was last season and we were playing a team that was in the bottom of the conference and this was the result, it wouldn't feel as good. Don't get me wrong, I'd still love it, but it wouldn't be as sweet. We scored 1 goal for every game we didn't win. Sweet, beautiful, poetic justice. I think last night's game should count as 2 wins at least.

Remember when I almost didn't watch last night's game? I tuned in just to check the score when I got in my car after rehearsal. It was just after Roysie made it 4-0. I wasn't listening during the actual goal scoring, I only heard it announced over the PA while Rick was talking and I thought he said Buffalo's 4th goal of the night, but I figured he must've said 1st. Then I listened to ATL score their goal, but Rick didn't seem upset. (At this point, after listening for like 6 minutes, I still didn't know the score). When I heard 4-1 I nearly drove off of the road.

COULD YOU IMAGINE IF I HADN'T WATCHED THE GAME AND I MISSED DREW SCORING HIS FIRST NHL HAT TRICK? I would be so pissed. Thankfully, I listened to or watched all but the first 10 minutes of the game.

So let's keep this energy alive. While we don't expect 10 goals every night, we do enjoy goals, and we'd like you to score as many of them as possible for the rest of the season.

As if there were any doubt, Staffers is clearly game BAMF. With and honorable mention to Roysie and SabreBritney.

Just enjoy:

In sad, nonSabre news, Sid the Kid has suffered a high ankle sprain and is out for the next 4 weeks. What have I done? Heatley? J-Spezz? Alfie? Now Sid? With the exception of Dany Heatley who is a total piece of garbage, I don't really want terrible things to happen to the top players on any teams. When I said I wanted them to go away, I meant more things like they got confused and thought they played baseball for a living or went to the wrong arena and missed the game, not serious 4 weeks of no skating high ankle sprains and hip injuries. Whoops.

So the next 7 are on the road- - we'll be ok. We need to send mad Buffalove to the Sabres on the road.

For those who haven't heard (because you live under a rock or don't listen to WGR) Slick Ricky will not be doing the play by play in Phoenix or Dallas, that baby-faced slickster Kevin Sylvester will take over the responsibility. If I have to be without Slick Ricky, I'm very glad its K-Sylv whose taking over. I love Kevin Sylvester. He always looks optimistic and genuine and when we lose, his face is easy to hear the bad news from. Roby, not so much. He's the bad cop to Sylvie's good cop. I'm still working on a Kevin Sylvester nickname, it'll be in the works.

In spite of all the goals, my favorite moment of the night goes to Adam Mair. Mairsy, who I deem to be one of the most terrifying men in the NHL in spite of the fact that he's a Sabre takes this moment when, while we reviewed his mic'd-up footage, he looked over to equipment manager George Babcock mid-game, not to get a new stick, sharpen his skates, or fix a helmet problem no, no.

Mairsy: Hey George! ya got any gum?

Perfect.