2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Forwards

by Anne

Continuing where we left off yesterday: the forwards.

#9 Derek Roy

80gm, 26G, 43A, +9, 19:22

All in all a somewhat typical season for Royzie. He took FOREVER to get his first goal of the season and he didn't amass as many points as he has in previous seasons. However, those previous seasons he and only a small number of other forwards were contributing and this scoring by committee style has knocked his goal totals down a touch. He was good more often than he was awful. He tied for first in GWG and had 3 OT winners.

Grade: B

 #13 Tim Kennedy

78gm, 10G, 16A, -3, 12:57

This being his first full season in the NHL, I'm going to go easy on Lil' Timmers. He was ok. He has signs of being better in years to come. Pommer, Royzie and Vanek all had just "meh" rookie seasons. He'll be better next season.

Grade: B-

#19 Tim Connolly

73G, 17G, 48A, +10, 18:37

Aside from his recent injury, Timmah was an iron man this season. He had an epic point-streak in December/January and lead the team in assists. There were several nights when he was the best player on the ice and was frequently the best forward. Remember how we said a healthy Timmah makes the Sabres better? True dat.

Grade: A-

#21 Drew Stafford

71gm, 14G, 20A, +4, 14:28

I think the thing about his stats I found most surprising was that he finished the season a + player. He's been better, he should be better and he's just not. I'm glad to see, though, that we stopped relying on him as a consistently top-6 player because he's not one. He's had a few solid games but not enough.

Grade: C-

 #22 Adam Mair

69gm, 6G, 8A, -2, 9:14

Remember when he was put on waivers? Yikes. I'm glad Mairsy is still here. He works hard, he took the waiver wire with professionalism and the Sabres are the better for it. He knows his role and he does it well. As a whole, the team fought less this season and tried to limit penalties as a whole. He did his job.

Grade: B

 #25 Mike Grier

73gm, 10G, 12A, -4, 15:47

Mikey had a very Mikey season. He has hands of stone and he's slower than molasses on a cold day but he's consistent! He was topnotch on the PK, a great veteran mentor for Tim Kennedy and just made everything better.

Grade: B+

#26 Thomas Vanek

71gm, 28G, 25A, +9, 16:45

Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. Yet another frustrating season in which you went bananas at the end. He should just always be told it's mid-March/early April. He seems to play really well then. However, his four-goal game could not make up for his endless stretches of goal-lessness. He was a + player, which has been a struggle for him since his +47 season.

Grade: B-

#28 Paul Gaustad

65gm, 12G, 10A, -7, 15:44

Tied a career-high in goals (set last season). His greatest contribution to the team has been faceoff wins, which he produced at 57.4% this season. Goose doesn't get much fanfare and got even less than usual this season. His +/- is a tad unsettling but bottom six players rarely have high +/-. I'm fairly confident that he, Miller, Grier and Rivs were responsible for keeping certain players in line and being held accountable. That topic didn't come up nearly as often this season as it has in the past two (non-playoff) seasons.

Grade: B+

 #29 Jason Pominville

82gm 24G, 38A, +13, 18:44

Pommer was the Sabres most consistent forward for most of the season. Once again, he played all 82 games this season. He hasn't missed a regular season game since he was a healthy scratch April 7, 2006. I really don't have much bad to say about his season. Like every other forward, his points total was lower than last season or the season before. It's the new system and I think we all have to accept that.

Grade: B+

#36 Patrick Kaleta

55gm, 10G, 5A, +2, 10:09

One of the only exceptions to the above statement about players scoring less is Pat Kaleta. He more than doubled his career high in goals and lead the team with 2 shorthanded goals. He had 148 hits in only 55 games. He was consistent and did his job as was expected of him. He even had a few fights and drew lots o' penalties.

Grade: A-

#37 Matt Ellis

72gm, 3G, 10A, -1, 9:03

Matty played a career-high in games and set a new career high in assists. Much like Mike Grier, he was consistent and has an incredible no-quit work ethic. I often describe his work ethic as "If I don't play well tonight, they'll feed me to the lions tomorrow." He was responsbile (12 PIM) and won some faceoffs. What more can you really ask?

Grade: B+

 #55 Jochen Hecht

79gm, 21G, 21A, +14, 17:11

Lead the team in +/-. Thank goodness he's back in his defensively-responsible mode. We definitely needed that from him this season. He was consistent and consistently solid. I liked seeing him and Pommer occasionally reunited this season. It made my heart all a-flutter. Same thing with Royzie and Vanek. Sometimes the old chemistry worked for them.

Grade: A-

These three players played only 10-20 games in a Sabres uniform (and are still with the team):

 #17 Raffi Torres

14gm, 0G, 5A, -3, 13:20

Go away. I don't like you.

Grade: D

 #42 Nathan Gerbe

10gm, 2G, 3A, +1, 14:38

I definitely like what I've seen. The 3G Network^TM (Gerbe-Gaustad-Grier) has been clicking. A huge sigh of relief to see him produce at the NHL level. Thank goodness.

Grade: B+

 #63 Tyler Ennis

10gm, 3G, 6A, +1, 15:20

He can score in the AHL and in the NHL. Gee, the 2009 AHL rookie of the year (Gerbe) and now the 2010 AHL rookie of the year (Tennis the Menace) actually playing well in their call-ups? Wa-hoo! Here's hoping things stay consistent and they don't suffer Chris Butler-like collapses when they inevitably make the club next season :)

Grade: A-

Overall this "scoring by committee" has diminished most players scoring. Having Ryan Miller in net still made it possible for us to win. Lots of players had scoring bursts at the end of the season which makes me feel little more optimistic about their ability to score in the post season.

Forwards overall grade: B+

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!

No time for a pity party

by Anne

Sigh. Of course they lost to the Senators. It's their way. It's what. they. do.

How can you expect to win when you have ONE shot on goal in the ENTIRE first period. The cheer that went up from the crowd at HSBC Arena when the Full Monty got that shot on goal was hilarious. Good lord, that was bad.

Based on this team's record, I should probably love them, but I just hate them more and more every game.

If we didn't have Ryan Miller, we'd be the Maple Leafs. Disgusting.

The Kings lost in regulation to the Coyotes last night. Meh, they played ok. The worst part was Justin Williams breaking his leg early in the game. Wooo! We had our top line back for a whole shift! Ugh. Get better soon, Willy.

Then Greener had a "fight."

Dear Matt Greene,

Please don't fight. I understand that you'll be labeled poorly if you back down from a fight, but for the sake of your team, let Simmer and Crazy Face Ivananas do the fighting. OR maybe get tips from them? I love you and I don't like seeing you embarrassed like that. Please cease and desist.

Love,

All your fans

There's no time to feel bad about that disgusting display of a Sabres game last night because tonight they're in St. Louis. Please win? Royzie is hurt :/ I hate him but he occasionally makes good plays. Maybe Timmy will have to move back to center now and talk to Goose about how to win faceoffs?

I dyed my hair really dark brown the other day and then I noticed that my hair is the exact same color as Oscar's fur. Almost black, but actually just really dark brown. Whoops.

Don't forget to vote in the poll in the left sidebar, and here's the roster for reference!

Hero of the Game

by Anne

All Sabres fans are well aware that Ryan Miller is the hero of the Sabres roster. I don't need to go into anymore "night after night" platitudes and blah blah blah because we all know what he does.

However, on those nights when the Sabres find themselves down a goal or two heading into the third, who do they rely on to get them those clutch goals?

Uhhhh? Vanek? Not at this pace. Connolly? Maybe. Royzie? He's too busy losing clutch faceoffs. MacArthur or Stafford? Occasionally. Pominville? Not this season.

When you can go through your top 6 and confidently say that none of them are heroic, reliable goal scorers at this point in the game, you have a problem.

Last night at the Arena while I was changing to go home, the score was still 3-2. I found myself standing in the lockerroom thinking this sentence: "Ok _____ time for some magic." And it occurred to me that I have no idea who could fill in that blank.

Last season, Vanek offered heroics, and we've been able to rely on him a lot in the last few years to do that. This season has been slow going and no one else has stepped up to offer that boost, that feeling of "Don't worry, get him the puck and things will happen."

All of the boys in the top 6 can score goals, and they all have been (some later than others, ROYZIE). But none of them are are go-to goal scorer. That keeps the other team's defense guessing, they can never be 100% sure who's going to be that player with the quick trigger. Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Kopitar, Nash, Iginla, Zetterberg, Kovalchuk, all over the NHL there are teams with that one player or more than one sometimes. You keep that guy covered at all times. The balanced attack makes for a confused opponent, but it also leaves us without the game-saving goal scorer.

Miller can stop the pucks from going in (most of the time) but he can't score the goals for them. Someone needs to kick it up a notch or 10. Not just someone, but a lot of someones.

12-5-1 is still a good record through 17 games, let's not kid ourselves. This team isn't completely perfect. It's got a lot of really solid elements, but now that they've gone through their feeling things out phase, it'll be nice to see them kick it into that next gear they should be able to kick it into.

They need to push harder and drive harder and score more. Who's going to do it?

Sweet, Tasty Redemption

by Anne

The Buffalo Sabres finished off their home and home (with three days in between) with the New York Islanders with a shutout victory of their own to match the one they suffered against the Islanders on Halloween

The Sabres won 3-0!

• Most impressively Derek Roy, Tim Kennedy and Clarke MacArthur were undefeated in the playoff circle, going 21-0. Royzie went 14-0. That is totally bonkers.
  

• All in all, the Sabres were 38-9 in the faceoff circle
  

• Royzie also scored his first goal of the season (thank the LORD)
  

• Therefore, Royzie was named the game's first star
  

• Ryan Miller got a REAL shutout, not a "Ryan Miller" Shutout (see glossary). He made 24 saves.
  

• Matty Ellis had 6 shots on goal, a team high.
  

• For some reason, Thomas Vanek only played 11:47 yet had two points (1+1). I hope he didn't get hurt
  

• Pat Kaleta decided it would be a good idea to take a totally bone-headed penalty and shove an Islander into Marty. Marty responded:

Hahahaha, Marty

Boys, boys, boys

• Towards the end of the game, after Goose's goal was allowed, the Arena and all its inhabitants joined in a rousing chorus of "Sweet Caroline." It was fun
  

• I thought there was a Kings game tonight, but I was wrong. Sad, sad times
  

• The Sabres face the Flames at home on Friday. IGGY!

Hi Iggy!

:)

Umm I looked a week too far ahead in the schedule and we actually play the Flyers on Friday. Thanks Anonymous poster! Of course I will leave this foxy picture of Iggy up here.

Weekend O' Pictures

by Anne

I worked about a gajillion hours this weekend so I was a negligent blogger. Here now is a recap in pictures:

NHL:

Sighs.The Canucks lost a bad one to the Blackhawks. They blew a two goal lead and dropped Game 2 by a score of 6-3. Ouch. That one stung. I wasn't watching too closely as I was working and/or at a bar in which the game was on a TV that was very far away and there was no sound. Le sigh. The series is tied 1-1. On the bright side, this was the first loss of the post-season for the Canucks, and no one thought that this series would be a sweep.

Also, we tragically learned that Big Bear has a neck beard:

I think I can get over it.
I think.
Just keep playing physically and I can get over it.
Maybe score a goal.

IIHF Worlds:

Team USA played Russia on Saturday and lost 4-1. Boooo. And Staffy cut his face in the game against France, it would seem (some of the pics from the game against France did not load when I wanted them to the other night):

Ouch.
But NOT a neckbeard.

But don't worry, Staffy and his uber-intense excited eyebrows were still available for Saturday's yicky loss to Russia:

Please don't grow a mustache Drew, those are gross.
Much like that game.

Team USA next faces Switzerland this afternoon at 2:15 ET. Woooo!

Team Austria has done quite well in the Relegation Round. They beat Hungary 6-0 on Friday and Sunday morning at 6:15 am ET they beat Yoyo and Germany 1-0. Vanek had the only assist on the only goal Sunday morning.

Britters is interviewed, probably in German.

Austria next plays Denmark today... oh wait, the game will have already started by the time this is posted. Whoops. I'll edit this to add the score, I'm sure. ETA: Austria lost 5-2 and will be demoted back to Division I. :(

Team Canada defeated Norway 5-1 Sunday afternoon. Team Canada remains undefeated thusfar in the tournament.

Royzie, dangerously close to being a dirty Swiss hooker



Dewey melts hearts internationally with this little Canadian fan
Look! He's holding a stuffed Cooly!
Where can I get a stuffed Cooly?

Team Canada next beats plays Finland at 2:15 today in the final day of Qualification round play. Team USA needs to win today to make it to the Quarterfinals.

Happy Birthday, Derek Roy!

by Anne

Today Buffalo's beloved Derek Roy turns 26 years old. He has as many years as the alphabet has letters. 26 is also my lucky number, so good on ya, Royzie.

The "C" stands for cool
or Canada
Whichever

Celebrate your birthday with a Team Canada victory.

Happy Birthday, Derek!

Look! He's Really There!

by Anne

Today Royzie, Lindy and Team Canada played Reggie and Team Slovakia and Canada won 7-3:

Lindy's really at the Worlds! Look! I found him!


Royzie opened the scoring at 4:50 on the power play
He played 21:36, the 2nd most minutes on the team
Shea Weber, also pictured, played 21:37
Liiiindyyy, are we playing favorites?
There were no pictures of Reggie who played 20:01

Today Yoyo played France and lost 2-1.

Yoyo and Germany lost, but Yoyo scored Germany's goal!
All three goals were scored in the first period
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Yoyo played 20:44, 2nd most minutes on the team
Well done, Mr. Hecht

Tomorrow Little Foot and Team USA take on Sweden at 2:15 p.m. and Britney and Team Austria take on Latvia at 10:15 a.m.

Round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs ends today too! Woooo!! Let's go Caps! Let's go Devils!

I'm a Bad Fan and Something Ottawa and Buffalo Fans Can Do Together

by Anne

The Sabres lost to the Senators as I knew they would. They have yet to walk away with four points from back to back weekend games this entire season. At least the two points went to Ottawa and not, like, Florida.

Fortunately, my secondary and tertiary teams managed to pull through and come up with victories against higher ranked opponents to salvage my Saturday. Granted, with the Kings, there are only two teams ranked lower in their conference.

The Kings took on the Wild in a matinee which they won 4-3. Greener had an assist, giving him 11 assists and 12 points this year. I'm a bad fan because he suddenly went from having 7 assists to having 11 and I did not notice. Last week the Sabres level of FAIL reached critical mass and I was running around with duct tape and ribbon trying to put things back together. I feel shame.

Sorry, Greener
Reader Amanda wants to encourage my odd love of Matt Greene and found this picture on Ebay
I could apparently own this card.
That would be hella weird
But thanks anyway Amanda!

The win gave the Kings a 4-0 season series sweep over the Wild. Woooo!! Its still a longshot for them to make the playoffs but everything is so close that you can't completely count them out just yet.

Saturday night after the Sabres fail of game, the Canucks hosted the Sharks and won 3-1. Yay! Big Bear had a decent game even though he was left off the score sheet. I wish he'd get a little scrappier though. Just start hitting some more things, Steve.

The Canucks have been rather less than successful against the Sharks in recent memory so this win was huge.

Ryan Kesler was on After Hours and I really really wanted to stay awake and watch it but considering it started at 1:00 am and I had been running around all day, I did not make it. Sorry Kes! Maybe the CBC video will be working tomorrow. It was out of commission when I attempted to watch it this afternoon.

Also, if you want to take a brief moment to find the positive side of Sens fans, read this letter to Derek Roy. I say we put aside our petty differences with Ottawa (what's a few Eastern Conference Finals between friends?) and join hands in proclaiming the downfall of the Montreal Canadiens. Because, frankly, don't we want them all to just shut up and go away?

Winning out West!

by Anne

Other people have said it, and I've said it as well, but I really have enjoyed watching the other teams' broadcasts. They offer a new perspective on the team, and unlike the ass hats on Versus, they are allowed to be biased towards the other team. It was nice to be treated to a brief Kevin Sylvester pre-game interview though.

That being said: "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Shut out! Timmy! Pie!

We're all going to be talking about it for a while I'm sure, but my GOD Derek Roy, who ARE you? I so enjoy the "Royzie has the puck, its ok" feeling. That pass for Pie's goal was amazing. It was reminiscent of the falling down, stick behind the head goal Ovie scored in Phoenix. If you don't know what goal I'm talking about you need to turn in your credentials as a hockey fan post haste. Even though Danny got the goal, that was all effort by Royzie. However, Pie easily could've had the puck jump over his stick, or have been off stride and it would've been all for naught. Regardless, as far a the Sabres are concerned, definitely play of the season for Derek Roy. thusfar. Woooooooooo!

Please do yourselves a favor and click to enlarge this picture and check out Adam Mair

Jaro can you hear me? Is he hurt? Badly? Anyone know?! :( Weber is healthy! :)

What the heck was with the officials stepping in and breaking up that fight between Carcillo and Paetsch before it even started? That was lame, at least Paetsch got to redeem himself later in the game against another opponent.

There were four shut outs out of twelve games tonight. Ouch. Getting shut out is the worst. Its so disheartening. You can't even score ONE goal on this team? Wow. Atlanta, Philly and the Rangers were the other teams shut out tonight. Philly should be the most embarrassed, they lost 4-0 to St. Louis with Chris Mason in net.

Pittsburgh and Florida lost tonight and Carolina won, but our victory keeps us two points ahead of Carolina and four back of 6th place. Hooray!

Elsewhere:

Luke Schenn just keeps getting better. Tomas Kaberle is going to be out with a hand injury, so Luke's going to be one of the many defensemen that will be seeing more ice time. With greater ice time comes greater responsibility, and tonight was a great game for him. I only watched a little bit of that game before turning over to the Sabres game, so I got to see him lay out a huge hit on Malkin and then fight Tyler Kennedy.

Here's what went down: Malkin gets the puck, Schenn scoots over to him, and hits him along the Pens bench, Malkin is fine, gets up, stays in the play, passes to Orpik who takes a shot on net, Toskala gloves it, play stops. Whatevs, everything's fine. During the stoppage, Tyler Kennedy who was on the bench when Malkin was hit, goes up to Schenn and an altercation happens, Max Talbot tries to keep Schenn back, but no dice, they fight, Schenner beats the crap out of the much smaller Tyler Kennedy.

Tyler, don't pick a fight with a rookie just because he's a rookie and you don't like that he was "tugging on Superman's cape", to quote the HNiC announcers. He's 6'2" 216 lbs, you are 5'11 183 lbs. Bad idea. Love, Anne.

I missed Schenn's sweeeeeeeeeet moves to set up Matt Stajan for his goal at the beginning of the third. He got the puck at the blue line and stick handled his way to behind the net and Matt Stajan scored on the rebound when Schenn tried to stuff the puck in. Schenn's pretty much a stay at home defenseman so this was far more of an offensive move than people are used to from him. So, yay!

Together, we will score a goal tonight


I AM LUKE SCHENN, HEAR ME ROAR
what a badass
haha


Oh Lord
Someone tell Grapes he doesn't have a microphone

After five of the six games of this road trip, the Sabres are 3-2-0. They have already RUINED my prediction, but ruined it in a great way. I don't know how things will shake down on Monday, seeing as I gave up on following the Ducks closely over a year ago.

Super Bowl tomorrow! Screw you all who are probably cheering for Arizona because they're the feel-good story of the millennium. I'm sure if the Steelers weren't in the Super Bowl I'd be cheering for them too. BUT, Big Ben and Troy Polamalu ARE in the Super Bowl so I cannot cheer for Kurt "Jesus is my Homeboy" Warner. Let's Go Steelers!

There's No Hockey

by Anne

The All-Star Break comes every year, yet every year I'm surprised at this mini off-season we have. I came home from a movie tonight, and is my usual "I just got home for the night" routine, I was planning on checking the scores from the games that had already happened or were happening. I was CRUSHED when I realized there would be nary a score to check.

Sad times.

Adam and I saw Milk tonight. I'll give it 3 stars out of 4. It wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. There were sections of the movie I felt could have been condensed to make the film move at a smoother pace. The movie only covers eight years of Harvey Milk's life. I read one review that was like "an immense amount of time is condensed in this film" and I have to argue with that assessment. It was only eight years. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a slightly longer movie but covers many more decades than Milk. I came home and Googled Harvey Milk and found there were some interesting facts and incidents that were left out of the film. All in all the movie was interesting and engaging and Sean Penn and Josh Brolin gave well-crafted performances. I don't want to reveal anything about the plot, but both of these characters could have easily fallen into caricatures. I don't know how accurate they are at representing the real people, but their performances were great. This movie won't win Best Picture, and if it does, I think it'll be more about people supporting the issues it touches upon than the quality of the film itself. I'd recommend seeing it, especially so you can judge for yourself when the Academy Awards air next month. It depends on the person of course, but I'd still suggest if you had to see either Slumdog Millionaire or Milk, I'd say see Slumdog first.

So this guy who just started a blog asked me to do a write-up about the Sabres for this series of posts he's doing about each team. I happily obliged. However, talking about why you should cheer for a team is very difficult whan said team has decayed on ice the night before. Except Derek Roy. I should've just written the entire post about Derek Roy. Fortunately, I started the post during the day before the Lightning game so I had a head start on the good stuff. I didn't write anything that most Sabres fans don't already know, so its nothing too earth shattering. When he posts it I'll post a link to his blog so y'all can read it if ya want.

Alix has told me that Steve Bernier will be in Hawaii this All-Star break. :( Get tan, Big Bear! Don't get eaten by a shark, San Jose or otherwise!

This post brought to you by milk and honey hockey.
quite a tie

Sometimes Good Things Happen

by Anne

I got a call from my boss today at the arena telling me that I don't have to come in tonight! Woooooooooo! Its just because I'm the lowest ranked vendor and I made like $0.52 last night (figures estimated).

Whatevs, I don't care. After my bad night last night I really needed a pick me up. My BFF Adam and I have resolved to see all of the movies nominated for the Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards so we're going to see Milk tonight. We feel lame picking a winner having only seen one or two of the movies nominated. We've already seen Slumdog Millionaire and will probably see The Reader next, in spite of my irrational dislike of Ralph Fiennes. We're not sure when or where to see Frost/Nixon. Adam's friend's Dad votes as a member of the Academy so he gets the DVDs of all the nominated films and performances, so we're probably going to watch Frost/Nixon on his DVD because its not playing in Buffalo at the moment. We also might see The Wrestler, just to see what all the Mickey Rourke fuss is about.

Hockey: Sidney Crosby is not playing in the All-Star Game after getting a record setting 1.7 million votes in the ridiculous joke of a voting process. He has some concerns about lingering injuries to his knee and forearm and wants to take the time to rest. This is probably a good idea considering the poor situation the Pens find themselves in at the moment. Marty St. Louis will be taking his place on the roster. I'm not sure how I feel about the selection of St. Louis (17-29-46) over players like Phil Kessel (24-17-41) or Derek Roy (18-26-44) who have similar numbers on more successful teams, and Roy averages more ice time than either of the other two players. Whatevs, I just love Royzie. Also, who moves up to the starting line-up? The player who came in fourth in voting? I don't know who that is and I can't find the voting totals past the top three forwards.

Mirtle has released a list of the top defensive defensemen in the league up to this point in the season and WCBs M-E "Pickles" Vlasic (9) Nicklas Lidstrom (11) and Matthew Greene (20) have all made the cut. Woooooooooo! Normally I am all about flashy offense and captains and the like, but this season has gotten me appreciating defensive hockey more and more. I know I was SHOCKED that no Sabres defensemen made the cut.

Speaking of Sabres defensemen... we are royally effed. Trade? MATT GREENE? Let me live this pipe dream, people. But for serious, everyone is hurt. I'm suspicious that Craig Rivet may be playing with a wooden leg and Toni Lydman might actually be seriously concussed, but they can skate backwards, so they're still in. Just point Toni in the right direction and tell him to shoot and we'll be fine.

Danny Briere has "nerve entrapment" and will miss ANOTHER four weeks of the season. Poor Danny. I just tried to look up a little bit about nerve entrapment and it appears that obturator nerve entrapment is a cause of chronic groin pain in athletes and athletes with successful surgery often become symptom free after recovery. Apparently this is a fairly new development in the study of the causes of groin pain and groin injuries which could spell good things for players with chronic injuries. Oh Hasek, if only... if only...

Martin Gerber was put on waivers. That sound you hear is every hockey fan rolling their eyes as the Senators goaltending woes soldier on, this time with Alex Auld and newcomer Brian Elliot. The Senators sound more and more like the LA Kings with each passing day.

While working on our All-Star Roster post (almost finished, I SWEAR) I discovered something.

When did David Backes get so pretty?
Or
Why have I never noticed how pretty David Backes is?

Kicking Off the Road Trip the Right Way

by Anne

Once again, Ales Kotalik won a game for the Buffalo Sabres. If for no other reason than that, we can't lose him as people have speculated we might this season. What is UP with these shootouts? Last season the shootout made me want to cry, literally. I feel like the only shootout we ever won was the one where Hank schooled the Saucy Minx. I'm sure we must've won more than that, but that's the only one I remember winning last season. This season we're a healthy 6-2 in shootouts. Maybe the first game of the season starting on a shootout winner was a good thing.

I KNEW Booth was going to score on that penalty shot. You could just feel it. Miller is still 1-8 on career penalty shots, but still, 0-9 would've meant a regulation victory... maybe.

It really sucks for Panthers fans the way our first goal was scored. Hey, at least it wasn't Bryan McCabe this time, right Leafs fans?

What a timely goal for Mr. Vanek. Power play, on the road, on his birthday. Its not as though Vanek has been playing badly, I believe he had something like 7 assists over the last 8 games or something like that, but its nice to see him moving back up in the goal column.

Derek Roy's goal was postively Kessel-esque. I feel for ya, Vokoun, that goal was bogus... but close up that five-hole if you're really that serious about it. Kotalik wanted to try his new "forehand" move he's been hearing is really popular with the ladies, but Vokoun was prepared, so Kotalik said "Oh yeah? Watch THIS. BACK HAND TOP SHELF BLOCKER SIDE." I may or may not have drunkenly screamed that phrase during a Devils shootout last season in which Mr. Kotalik had a failed forehand attempt. This may or may not have also been the same game in which I drunkenly named Martin Brodeur a Saucy Minx...and then called him DiPietro at one point in the game, not on purpose. What a night.

David Booth had a heck of a game, scoring on his first career penalty shot and nearly scoring a few times in regulation. Miller managed to redeem himself by denying Booth's attempt in the shootout... thank goodness. If we had lost 2-1, I was never going to say anything nice about Toni Lydman again. But, we won, so, Toni, you had a nice shot on net that gave Thomas the rebound to put in the net, thank you and please do that again. Also, you were in the middle of the fracas that gave Timmy his "goal", so thank you again. You have redeemed yourself.

Paetsch was "meh". He didn't screw up horribly and he had a few passes to keep the puck in the zone at important times so at least for now I can live with him in the line-up.

I really like the return of rough and tough little speedy scrappy Royzie. He's been back for a while but tonight I felt that old sense of relief that "Don't worry, its ok, Derek Roy has the puck." These days you know that whenever Royzie has the puck on his stick, something is bound to happen, be it on the power play, penalty kill or 5 on 5. Ok he's not always perfect, (he had at least one awful giveaway) but he's more reliable than some of his teammates *cough*Max*cough*.

Never fear, Royzie's here


I could really get used to this
BUT I WON'T
(think I undid the jinx?)


Timmy: You little punk, wipe that smirk off your face



Goose: Aw, Zeds, I'm just so glad you're ok
Zednik: Aw Paul, thanks. Want to let me have the puck then?
Goose: Hellz no.

Shanahan scored in his first game of the season with New Jersey, first goal of the game, and on the power play, as one has come to expect from Shanny. Good to have him back...?

Its nice to start to see a little distance between us and the teams behind us. Ok, now this streak is a total set up for a Sabres classic, we've now beaten two teams close behind us in the standings to keep them off our heels a little. Now we face a team that boasts within its record both the second lowest win total of any team in the league (15) and the highest number of overtime losses (10). Now they're tied with Ottawa for 15 wins but only because they beat the Stars tonight somehow. If ever there was a team we should beat, its the Tampa Bay Lightning. We've done it before. Please please PLEASE lets do it again? We have a chance to make up some ground on the Phlyers who are four points ahead of us right now, and to put some space between us and the Pens and Panthers who are three points behind us.

If we were in the West, we'd be in 4th place. Weird.

Happy Inauguration Day, America!

What a Ride! Can We Go Again?

by Anne

Ok, that game was draining. I'm exhausted, I don't know how the Sabres feel, but I'm ready for bed.

I was pretty disgusted until the third when the following happened:

Me[to the Sabres]: Oh, fuck it, just GIVE UP!
Rick: GAUSTAD SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!

The timing could not have been more perfect.

Then I was back on the couch and MacArthur scored and I got so carried away I threw a cookie out of my hand and down the hallway.

After the first, the game was definitely all Sabres, and they climbed back from a 3-0 deficit. My sister and I are probably the most ridiculous people to watch a hockey a game with. We basically yell about everything and varying volumes and with varying inflections but we always celebrate and lament goals scored the same way and we always bury our faces in pillows during shoot outs.

That game was really fun. Thank goodness we won. It's nice to create some space in the standings by winning, not just because other teams are losing.

I loved Royzie's little kick on his shootout goal. He's gotten back to feisty Royzie after his usual slow start to the season. Yoyo once again scored one of those "If I can't score on a wide open net, I'm quitting the game." goals after several failed open net attempts by his teammates. GOOOOOSE with another 2 goal game and another excellent effort that we've come to expect from him lately. Then we were treated to a lovely post game interview. Lindy was uncharacteristically smiley during his interview. Hooray!

Miller was freakin'sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet in the shootout as usual. Its really nice to see the old shootout Miller back in net. He wasn't sweeeeeeeeet in regulation but he hung on and kept us in there in OT. Dallas didn't offer much in the way of pressure during OT but Miller kept us in it anyway. Marty Turco played an excellent game and really stole that point for Dallas in OT. He was great in the shootout, denying the Sabres top shooters, but might not have been as prepared for Royzie and Pommer who don't shoot very often, especially Pommer. Kotalik used the move that won it for him the last time, but Turco was prepared for it. Maybe next time he'll go back to the backhand.

Happy 3000th Regular Season Game, Rip!

Just when I'm ready to give up on them they go and friggin' win. Saturday is a game against a team that's close behind us in the standings, therefore, we will almost certainly lose. Oh well, I will enjoy this happy feeling while it lasts. I'm still exhausted.

Oh yeah, and today my Dad called Lindy "Lindsay". Hahahahahah, Dad. Hurricanes at home on Saturday. Woooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Don't forget to vote! Time's almost up!!!

Just a Thought

by Anne

I was going to write about the game and BloggerCon 2009 but instead I have to say the following:

If you're going to email me pictures of Sabres off of the ice, please do not straight-up admit that you stole the pictures from that player's sister's Facebook page.

None of these pictures are "bad" or anything, in fact they're kind of cute. They're of a Sabre chillaxing at home around Christmas time/ New Year's, and a baby picture. However, out of respect for that player, I will not post these pictures. If these dudes can't expect that pictures their sisters take of them at home will not be splattered around the blogosphere, what can they expect?

Not that this is some widely read publication and its not like I have any journalistic integrity (its a blog, not a newspaper) but I just feel like a creeper posting those. Feel free to email those snapshots to someone who might post them.

So if anyone who reads this blog has a brother who plays for the Sabres, maybe you might want to rethink your Facebook friend choices, or double check your picture availability stats.

The weird thing is that Cari and Kim and I were just talking about this very thing at JJ's tonight. Weirdness.

I openly welcome pictures of players out and about and doing things that are cute/funny/awkward, just not when its them at home with their family and the pictures aren't from some widely available public gallery.

I will recap that loss as: "barf" and thanks, Royzie and Millsy. Miller has had to face almost 100 shots in the last TWO games. ...yeah.

This lost just proves to me again that no, the Sabres are not an elite team. They were outshot 48-22 tonight. The Red Wings had more than DOUBLE the number of shots on goal the Sabres did. That's bad. Very bad. The Sabres had FOUR shots on goal in the entire 2nd period. What happened to this "put pucks on net and good things can happen" thing we had going on for a while? I liked that better.

I must say I really don't like watching Sabres games in a bar, haha. I've always known this but I frequently choose to ignore this fact in an attempt to be social. I'd rather watch the game on my couch with someone or someones who will limit the conversation to about the Sabres or the sport of hockey in general. If it weren't for the boobs, I'd think I was a boy sometimes.

Instead of the pictures that were emailed to me, I will instead post my all-purpose Danny Paille photo:

I know Danny, I can't believe it either

That Was Not Pretty

by Anne

Yes, we won. That ROCKS. 4-0 in '09!

However, its a darn miracle that the Rangers didn't run away with that one in like a 7-1 rout.

THE BUFFALO SABRES DIDN'T MUSTER A SHOT ON GOAL IN THE SECOND PERIOD UNTIL THE 9:58 MARK. The sarcastic smattering of applause throughout the arena that followed that shot was priceless.

The important part of that display of suckitude is that we won. The Sabres really turned on their motors in the 3rd and came dangerously close to scoring many times. They did not, but they actually showed up to play in the third. Would've been nice if their big boy pants had arrived a little earlier, but we'll take what we can get.

Am I the only one who had a heart attack seeing Timmy in the shooting lane on the penalty kill? Like, the first one challenging the defensemen. I don't think I want Timmy taking a Staal one-timer to the skull.

Royzie's goal was nice. Vanek and Stafford's passes were spot on and Derek snatched up his own rebound to bury it. It was only our 11th or so shot on goal BUT THE 2ND PERIOD WAS ALMOST OVER.

Ryan Miller had to make 43 saves in regulation and OT and then made 3 saves in the shootout. He deserved that win. Someone (I think it was Puck Daddy) wrote at the beginning of the season that Miller doesn't "steal" many games for the Sabres. I begged to differ, and now add this game to the "why I'm right" column in that argument.

I must say it was quite delightful that Drury did not score in the shootout. I couldn't watch. I literally covered my eyes and hid behind some dudes in the aisle. I couldn't watch Drury tie it up and send out extra shooters.

That game FLEW by. There were only 2 penalties and they were both on us. If I'm clocking out at 10:08 after OT and a shootout on a 7:30 start, that game was clearly quick.

Sales were awful. Thanks A LOT, Sabres. When you're apathetic about the game, customers are apathetic about popcorn and cotton candy.

For those who are wondering, pre-game I counted Miller jerseys v. Vanek jerseys.

Miller: 38
Vanek: 28
Fuzzy Purple Coats: 1

A win is a win, they didn't blow a lead, they battled back from a one goal defecit to tie it and then not lose their cool and won in the shootout. The Rangers are dang good in the shootout, so all game I was like "Please don't let this go to a shootout" and YEP, shootout. But, they didn't lose their minds and won. It's nice to have a four game win cushion for our soul-crushing, mind-numbing defeat tomorrow.

Speaking of things that are soul-crushing and mind numbing: don't forget you can come and watch the afore-mentioned assumed loss tomorrow night at Casa di Pizza, 477 Elmwood Ave in Buffalo with some of your favorite Buffalo sports bloggers. Don't worry, we don't bite. Well, I can't say with certainty that NONE of us bite, but that's part of the fun, right?

ETA: We were the only team to win on home ice last night. Weird, huh?

Happy New Year Part 2!

by Anne

The Winter Classic was fun for the first 20 minutes then it wasn't as much fun. That is all I really have to say about it.

HOWEVER, I have much more to say about that Sabres game tonight. Completely the opposite from the Winter Classic, the first period stunk and the rest of it was a lot more enjoyable.

The tide was beginning to turn when Miller turned aside Hagman's penalty shot at the end of the first. However, things still weren't rolling the way they needed to be to walk away with 2 points.

The Maple Leafs were the dominant team until just before the Sabres scored. It was an unpleasant mishmash of poor passes and players being grossly out of position. The first 20+ minutes they looked like they were gift wrapping a New Year's Day win for the Maple Leafs.

Then came a Leafs penalty. And then there was Pommer. And then the puck was behind CuJo and in the net.

Derek Roy's somewhat boneheaded move to cover the puck with his glove instead of just sweeping it out has been all but forgotten considering Hagman did not score on the resulting penalty shot and then Royzie netted 2 goals of his own. Good thing for him. That was pretty careless, Derek.

Vanek had a couple of beautiful backhand passes to set up both of Royzie's goals. They're making a strong case for sticking on the same line again. When Vanek and Stafford and Royzie all combine for not one but two goals in a game, that makes it seem like their line should be back together for good, right?

I would like to state that I think my heart rate has JUST gone down from seeing Danny Paille crawling around on the ice on all fours in some serious pain? The only way he could've been in a more vulnerable position is if he were unconscious. However, he came back later in the period... Hokay, Danny, whatevs, you're built tough and I love ya for it.

Miller had another strong showing. We need more of those showings from him. He was getting a lot more help from the defense which obviously makes it easier for him to do his job.

These are the kinds of games we need to see more often. It'd be nice if we played this way against teams that are ranked higher than us from now on.

I was drinking so at times I found myself confused seeing the dark jerseys. At one time I had to make sure the center ice logo was a maple leaf and I wasn't accidentally ditching work. Looks like the third jerseys provide some spark even across borders.

There were a couple of guys I was watching the game with that were being total douchebags and they were partially ruining the game, but then they left after the first and played Wii Baseball and the game in the room and on the ice got infinitely more enjoyable.

Life is too short to watch Sabres games with douchebags.

Yay! NHL All-Star Ballot Nominees!

by Anne

4 of our men have been named to the NHL All-Star Ballot!!

Let's send Vans, Millsy, Roysie and TEPPO to the game in Montreal!!!!!

WOOO!! VOTE OFTEN! STARTING NOVEMBER 12!!!

Whoa, Ok I've Calmed Down... BUT JUST A LITTLE

by Anne

That game went from zero to 60 in 4 minutes. That's terrible for a car but AWESOME for a hockey game.

CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW AWFUL THE FLIGHT TO COLORADO WOULD'VE BEEN IF WE'D LOST 3-2, THEREBY MAKING RYAN MILLER'S "GOAL" THE GAME WINNER? WHAT A TENSE PLANE. I'm glad he can laugh about it. Every goalie has something like that happen to him at some point in his career, thankfully it wasn't a crucial or pivitol game and we won anyway, so he can laugh about it:

"That was about the most embarrassing thing I've ever done in my life," Miller said. "I took my eye off it to see where I could put it, and when I looked back the puck wasn't where I thought it would be. So I tried to backhand it, and a guy kind of hit my stick.

"I figured if I played long enough I'd make the blooper reel."

Ha. Its ok, Ryan, we still love you. We know you're just trying to make sure your teammates are working their absolute hardest. Thanks for thinking of the team, Ryan.*fist bump*.

That fake Stafford did and then shifting to the backhand was just cruel. That was just mean, and SWEEEEEET. :) As S(h)ara texted me, the brontosaurus is TOTALLY trying to win me back, and it just might work, Drew, it just might work.

Derek's gotten over the first goal hump, now we need Max and Danny to net one each and then its on to the injured boys once they come back to us.

Paetsch did well, he's not Craig Rivet, but that initial shot from the blue line set up Adam Mair beautifully. He had 1 point (0+1) and 2 hits in roughly 14 and a half minutes of ice time. Not bad, Patches, not bad. Its good to know we have depth we can rely on, even if its only been one game.

It's really great that we've rallied to overcome 2 goal deficits three times in a row, but not getting those 2 goal deficits would be even sweeter. IT WAS STILL AWESOME THOUGH.

Matt Ellis, well DONE on the faceoffs, sir, WELL DONE. 83%, winning 5 of 6? I'll take it. Thanks for being good at those! Mairsy, 60% is excellent as well. WOO!

Seeing Pommer as -1 with 0 pts makes me feel a little uneasy inside. Poor boy must be completely lost without Goose and Yoyo.

Who isn't in love with the Roysie-Staffy-Vanek line right now? 6 points among them last night: each player had a goal and an assist and a combined +/- of +7.

I'm pretty sure we won because my Wild WCB, Owen Nolan, is injured and will probably return to playing this weekend.

So, who got the pigeon? Royzie is my vote, for getting his first goal, the game winner and because I really want to know where he got that hat he was wearing in his interview with the goofy design on the front. Derek Roy probably rocks that hat post-game because he's vain, but I appreciate not having to watch sweat drip off of his ears. Thanks, Royzie!

In other Eastern Conference news: The Carolina Hurricanes were nursing a 1-0 lead through 2 periods until the Penguins remembered how to play hockey and had a 4 goal third period and won the game 4-1. The winner of this "Battle of the Staals": Jordan.

MOVING ON:

WCB Watch

Dallas at NYI

Marty Turco won a game!!!! Ok, well the Dallas Stars won a game, but Marty helped! He stopped 24 of 27 shots to give the Stars, and himself, a much needed win.

MY LOVE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS AND CLOSE UP FIVE HOLES.

Also, what a night Mike Ribeiro had! First goal of the season and 4 assists. Impressive.

Yeeeehaw!

Calgary at Nashville

The Predators went up 3-1 after the 2nd. Things weren't looking good for Cap'n Jarome, but the Flames kept their wits about them and IGGY SCORED A HAT TRICK TO LIFT HIS TEAM TO A 5-3 VICTORY!!! He had 3 goals on 3 shots, haha, yay!!

YAY!!!

Dumont had 1 assist and was -2 for the evening. Alas. When my boys play each other, one must come up short. :(

Yay!!!

Edmonton at Colorado

Avs win 4-1 after Edmonton scored the inital PPG in the first period. Oilers WCB, Ethan Moreau had 6 shots on goal and 0 pts.

Avalanche WCB, JM Liles had 4 blocked shots and lead the team in ice time with 22:02. Woo! The Avs have now won 4 straight.

Washington at Phoenix

Peter Mueller scored his 3rd of the season, the game winner over Ovie and the Caps! WOOO!!

Hooray!!

Tomorrow night we face Ryan Miller's BFF, and my Avs WCB, JM Liles in Colorado. All 30 teams are playing on Saturday, therefore, the NHL is calling it "Super Saturday". We have to lose in regulation SOMETIME.

OMG what a waste of... WAIT, WE WON?

by Anne

WHAT THE HELL THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME AND I CAN'T BELIEVE WE WON

ROYSIE AND STAFFY AND VANEK AND MAIR!!!

YAY!!

If this had been October 2007 we would've just rolled over and died.

NOT THIS YEAR!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!