Um, Blackhawks?

by Anne

The only reason I felt I didn't need/want to put much effort into watching this series was because I assumed that beating Philly would be no problem for you. I do not like that this series is tied at 2. Do gooder when back in Chicago. NOW. That is all.

My sister will be in Chicago for her final weeks of grad school this summer, it would sweeeeet if when I visited for her graduation in the end of July, I could see all the "Woooo Stanley Cup champs!" banners and carryingson that are likely to occur throughout the summer. I would appreciate not having to see the losers and ne'er-do-wells of Philadelphia (my cousin included, but not his wife or son)* celebrating a cup victory.

Duncan Keith didn't lose 90% of his teeth just to lose in the Final. Brent Seabrook didn't sacrifice his beautiful face and resemble a yeti to give it all up against Philadelphia. Jonathan Toews doesn't look like Wolverine's reject sidekick to NOT hoist the Cup over his head. But for serious, when are we going to have a winning captain with a proper playoff beard? If Nick Lidstrom's is the most "impressive" playoff beard of the last three Cup winners (if Chicago wins, I mean), this will be sad. HOWEVER, that does NOT mean that I want Mike Richards to raise that Cup over his head. NO SIR. 

Niedermayer's was by far the best since the lockout:

2006 - no beard

  2008 - pittance of stubble, sort of a goatee.

2009 - Does that even count? At least you can see it?

2007- What a captainly face full of hair.

If Jonathan Toews winning keeps this playoff beard drought going for a third year, I can live with that. 

* For the record my cousin is neither a loser nor a ne'er-do-well, but don't tell him I said that.

I Could Not Be Multitasking More Right Now

by Anne

Yes, readers, I'm blogging while walking up on the treadmill. Wow. Who AM I?

Oscar seems to have gotten over his fear of the loud noise the treadmill makes and is now merely laying in the hall, eyeing it suspiciously.

Upon perusing the Team USA Media Guide, it would seem the teams definition of "Personal Information" is "NHL Transactions." Basically everyone's is when/if they were drafted, and when/if they were traded and other signings. Interesting. Nothing about wacky antics, nicknames or anything funny. Lame. It also lists date of birth in "Personal" but that is also listed at the header on the top of each player's page in the guide.

Camp Morningwood blows this year. Remember the paintball? The soccer game? Adam Burish explaining that lobstermen were men who caught lobsters for a living and not half-men half-lobster creatures roaming the streets of Portland Maine? They might be having these happyfuntimes but for some reason USA fans are not allowed to hear about them. What, are you traying to be all "Team Canada?" Psh. Lindy Ruff >>>> Ron Wilson.

I thought Zach Bogosian's page was comically short until I got to Alec Richards/ Ryan Shannon's SHARED page. Burrrrn.

I just realized I have no idea who the Captain of Team USA is but I think its Dustin Brown based on this picture:

You have to enlarge it, but I think that's a C beind his teammates helmet.
Also, J-M Liles looks so teeny.

Shane Doan is named captain of Team Canada and its front page news on TSN. In order to learn Team USA's captain I have to scour game photos with a magnifying glass. I know a lot of Americans don't care so much about this stuff, but maybe if there was more coverage, more American hockey fans would care.

A-HA! Jason Blake is rocking an "A":

He's the oldest, he gets a letter.

Team USA/ Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Al Montoya's first name is Alvaro. That is completely awesome. Way better than Albert or Alfred or whatever I thought it was before.


Also:

Feel the Staaly-love, Flower

Hooray! My Playoff Mistress team (2008 edition), the Pittsburgh Penguins, rallied from a 3-0 defecit to beat the philadelphia Flyers and advance to round 2!! Wooo!

Tonight will tip the series advantage in either Calgary or Chicago's way and could see those upstart Anaheim Ducks upset the San Jose Chokemasters. I shall be at a birthday party and will not see these games.

Yeeee-haw! It was almost 80 in Buffalo today and it was hella awesome. Gotta go and actually work out, its hard to type while running. Check ya later.

AHHHHH CRAIG RIVET ILU

by Anne


I KNEW HE'D COME AROUND!! I KNEW IT!

Initially, Rivet was not keen on the idea of coming to the Sabres. After being traded to the Sharks in 2007, the defenseman thought he had found a permanent home in San Jose. Learning he had been dealt to Buffalo on July 4, the 34-year-old was disgruntled having to move his family again.

“But it wasn’t anything to do with Buffalo,” Rivet said. “We’ve put all that behind us now. My family, and myself, we’re extremely happy to be part of this organization. We’re very settled. I think Buffalo gets a bad rap and once you get here you realize how great this city is.”

Rivet has previously served as an alternate captain for San Jose as well as the Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres take on The Habs Friday night at HSBC Arena in the season opener.

“We’re going to be playing one of the best teams in the league in our very first game,” Rivet said of his former team. “It’s going to be great to see where we stand against the best. I think we’re right there.

“Its giving me chills thinking about it already.”

It gives ME chills to think about how you've swooped into Buffalo and made me all topsy turvy this off-season, Rosie. You take away my Big Bear (no love) and then complain a little (even less love) and then you won't smile (ugh) BUT then you get here and stand up for Millsy (much love) beat up that d-bag Ryan Hollweg (mad love) and then become our Captain (more love) because all of the boys I've spent so much time analyzing and writing about VOTED you captain (SO MUCH LOVE), which is, like the best thing ever, am I right?!!!1!

shut UP!
Is that a SMILE??!?!

Ok, not quite, but I'll take it!!!!!

All you naysayers can kick it elementary school style and go fly a kite. I'm excited. I couldn't believe it was Stu Barnes who last had the C on a permanent basis in 2003. That would've been my guess but it just seemed too long ago.

Pirates and Sabres ad Captains, oh my!

by Anne

I decided to peruse the Portland Pirates website last night, and came across this totally righteous picture:

There are so many awesome things about this picture

Nathan Gerbe's bright yellow pullover
His actually not-so surprisingly large calf muscles
Cracker's belly shirt and the fact that he appears to be about 9 feet tall.
(Do you think Sabretooth will ever try to eat Crackers?)

In case you were keeping track of the "Crackers Classic Golf Tournamet" (what a great name) This team did NOT defend their title. Boooooooo!!!!! Gerbeeeeee!!!

They kick off the season on Saturday against the Manchester Monarchs, AHL affiliate of the LA Kings (I love when AHL and NHL teams names are similar). Last season the Monarchs finished 4th in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, 1 spot behind Portland... and they were swept out of the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Whoops! Anyway, should be a good start to the season for them.

This is the first season where I feel I have a strong enough grasp of the NHL that I can branch out and try to learn about the finer points of the AHL. Therefore, it would've been nice if the Amerks were still our affiliate, but as they are not, I am not discouraged: GO PIRATES!!! WOOOOO!!!! PORT-LAND! PORT-LAND! PORT-LAND!

AND they're giving out thundersticks at the opening game. AWESOME.

Their seating sections have fun Pirate-themed names too:

Personally, I think they should change "Quarter Deck" to "Poop Deck"
Too bad no one called and asked for my input.
Do you think the locker room is called like "The Cabin"?
Do they call the equipment manager the "Boatswain"?
Are they "Port Wing" and "Starboard Wing"?
I've got a million of these.

Can we just discuss that their athletic trainer is named Robert Frost?

The most expensive ticket to any regular season game is $21 if bought ON game day. Pre-sale its $20. WOW. I NEED TO START LIKING THE AHL A LOT MORE.

Ummm, the Flyers lost a game to their own AHL affiliate as they said good-bye to the Spectrum...again. Quoi? I thought they already said goodbye to the Spectrum, but whatevs. Should Flyers fans be nervous because the NHL team lost to the AHL team? Or excited because they clearly have some talent in the system?!!!

News of the captaincy drops today after practice!!! As Kate so eloquently pointed out, we have really no idea what exactly makes a good captain or which Sabre actually possesses those talents, so, as excited as I am to hear, and as willingly as I offer up my blatherings on my choice for captain, I will be perfectly happy to accept whatever choice our own "Ruff Rider" makes. (Thank you, NHL.com).

Woooooooooo!!!!!!! 2 more days til opening night!!!! YAYYY!!!! WOOOOOO!

SO, WHO'S THE FINAL CUT?!!?!!!!!

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN! FINALLY!!

by Anne

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Captain October and Captain February!!!

and.... an even bigger YAY!!!!

Assistant Captain February!!! Yay Mairsy!

Woooo! Two of my cents were heard! Oh yeah, and:

Him too.

From a distance, the world (playoff picture) looks blue and green (not navy and gold)

by Anne

The good news is, my pep talk to Righty and Lefty seems to have worked and Millsey isn't seriously injured and will most likely play against Boston. Good.

Perhaps its that its Super Bowl Sunday and once again, same as it has been for many years, the Bills are not in it, nor have they been in the playoffs for the past 7 YEARS.

Born in 1985, my most formative years as a sports fan were the early 1990s when the Bills were tearin' it up and the Sabres were being torn new you-know-whats. Baseball was the sport my dad was raised on, and football my mom. Being that Buffalo has no major league baseball team, I became a football child. I usually listened to hockey games with my mom, but having never actually attended a hockey game, I really had no idea what was going on. I just really liked it when Rick yelled "La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-fontaine!" and for years, in my mind, Pat Lafontaine was the greatest hockey player ever. Wayne who? My mom used to tell me about how she was at the Aud when Perreault scored his 500th goal and how the Sabres had never won a Stanley Cup.

So, this morning I find myself once again prepping to watch yet another SuperBowl in which I'm forced to choose a team that I want to win, rather than having it just be a given. This year I choose the Giants but not because I hate Tom Brady and not because I'm rooting for the underdog, but because I just think they're all cheating jerkfaces and I don't want them to win. This is the same reason why Anaheim is my favorite Western Conference team. They beat Ottawa. There's really no other reason. Ok, there's Ryan Getzlaf, and they team itself is pretty entertaining in interviews, but really, they came this close to being my new least favorite Western Conference team. If the Sabres had beaten the Sens and then lost to the Ducks, I'd hate Anaheim as much as I hated Dallas for years and still hate Brett Hull.

This mood also has me feeling down about my beloved Sabres. We're currently 5 points out of a play off spot, but once again find ourselves a few games down in the GP column. I should be optimistic, I should be. I just really hope that the Habs win this afternoon, I still think they're the Eastern team to go all the way, or at least to the ECF.

I think that knowing who our fearless leader shall be would go a long way to cheering me up, Lind-o. Eh? Eh?

Might I throw in my 2, 3 or 4 cents?

That jersey is aching for a letter, Lind-o

This boy made no bones about his determination to stay in Buffalo and we're better for it, that left shoulder is looking a little empty, Eh Lindy? I've switched from thinking he's terrifying to thinking he's one of those big brutish teddy bears.

Now, you already have the jerseys, why make them useless?


HONK!

And maybe someday?:


Total. Badass.


PIE-YAY!

I feel better now. GO SABRES!!! YOU CAN DOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIIIT!! Wooooooooooop!