One Staal Staaled in First InStaalment While Other Staal is Staalwart

by Anne

That title has reached "Staal" critical mass. However, if I could think of another way to put "Staal" in there again, I'd use it.

Jordan defeated Eric in the opening faceoff circle and then his Penguins defeated Eric's Butter Snaps 3-2. Therefore, the Staal who wins the opening faceoff, wins the game, or something like that.

In spite of the bozos on Versus discussing Jordan's superior faceoff skills and Cam Ward's infallible infallibility, Eric won more faceoffs than Jordan and Ward let in some softies. Still, Cammo ended up having to do the lion's share of the work in net. The Hurricanes fired 12 shots on Flower in the first, and only 13 over the second and third. Yet, Flower still came up big and made some snappy glove saves and a few wild flaily "OMG Flower, just lay down on it!" saves. Now, they'll talk up Flower in the next pre-game and Ward will have the best game of his career and Flower will allow 5 goals on 6 shots.

Miro Satan's goal was a perfect example of capitalizing on the 'Canes poor transition game last night, along with Matt Cooke's "I meant to do that" blind dump out to the neutral zone that ended up springing Miro on the breakaway. Toss that in along with just about the niftiest fake we've seen from good ol' Satan since he left Buffalo where, in 2002, someone claimed he was on the verge of becoming an NHL superstar. Yyyeahhh... abouut that..

Anyway, bad news for the 'Canes as Tuomo Ruutu and Erik Cole both left the game with injuries with, of course, no news forthcoming after the game. The Penguins only injury question mark, Sergei Gonchar, played over twenty-one minutes, so that's that.

Even though both teams scored when they were "a man to the good" as Joe "Crazy Specs" Beninati would say, special teams weren't soo much of a factor. There were four power play opportunities for Pittsburgh versus only two for Carolina. Both teams did a decent job of staying out of the box. That, or the refs are just letting things go.

Now for your obligatory "Jordan STAAL v. Eric STAAL OMG THEY'RE BROTHERS?!" photograph of the game:

'
So much Staal

Game 2 is Thursday at 7:30!
Wooo!
LET'S GO PENS!

Just When I Think I'm Out...

by Anne

My first loves were never in the playoffs, my #2 team is gone, my #3 team has been golfing since February, that leaves the ex-boyfriend of hockey teams left to cheer for:

Max: Gronk, Anne's totally checking us out
Gronk: Hells yeah she is, we're all she's got left
Both (and Sid, behind them on the bench): Awwww yeah

So Pens, its true. I came crawling back. You were right. You always knew I couldn't stay away.

I mean I like the Blackhawks, I really do. I want them to win, definitely. I know they're in different conferences, but I need to start distancing myself now. On the off chance the Pens and Hawks meet in the Finals (highly unlikely but not totally un-possible), I will be cheering for the Penguins, I can't deny their appeal. The Pittsburgh Penguins were thiiiiiis close to being my hometown team, and I can't ignore that almost-love.

When people predict repeat Cup Finals appearances in October I always call them crazy and un-original. Up until, oh, maybe five days ago, I didn't think it was possible for a re-match. Remember how godawful terrible the Pens were for awhile in there? New coach, some roster moves and BLAMMO, here they are, one step away from the big dance.

As far as Game 1 against the Butter Snaps goes, the B-Snaps have Scott Walker's wife's cancer toooootally playing the media on their side. I wish Scott and Julie Walker nothing but the absolute best and a full recovery and health and happiness. However, I'd like Scott's season to end after this series... so he can take care of his recovering wife. See? My reasons for the B-Snaps to lose are toooootally coming from a good place. Totally.

For those of you who've missed the biggest subplot to the playoffs EVER EVER EVER, there are two bros playing each other in this series.

Ok, thanks, we get it.


No, really, we know they're brothers

For those who aren't sure how this whole "Staal brothers playing each other" thing plays out. Here's all you have to know:


Simple math.

LET'S GO PENS!

I Like You a Lot Lot

by Anne

I watched the Skills Competition last night with a vodka tonic in hand. Sadly, the drinking game was not as successful this year, but the event was more entertaining.

I wish Vanek had done some more events, his goal in the Elimination Shootout was one of the highlights of the entire night. Being a Sabres fans, it seems logical I'd say that, but it was definitely one of the more creative attempts. Although, TV, I could really live without the fauxhawk. I love ya, but you deserve better than "The Royzie Special".

Marc Savard actually displayed a personality as he was mic'd up for the entire evening for Versus. I was shocked and awed, but plesantly surprised that he was actually more interesting than watching paint dry. I had anticipated he would not be a stimulating conversationalist. Zach Parise apparently decided to abandon ship on the mic and we were left with only Savvy. There was a moment after the fastest skater challenge when one of his teammates clearly thought Zach was talking to him and he had to gesture to his ear to be like "No, I'm talking to the voices in my head, er, ear, er, Doc." I wonder what Versus would have done if Savvy hadn't made it to the final round of shooters? Would he have had to hang out there until it was over? Most likely.

The Young Stars game was a hot mess. They kept showing replays while the game was going on and goals were being scored. I normally enjoy the Young Stars game so this was fairly disappointing.

The above title refers to one of those Young Stars, Luke Schenn. I know he's an icky Maple Leaf but I really think he's awesome. He's a great player, he seems to be a genuinely nice person and he's not too hard on the eyes. I cheered when he scored in the game and then laughed because he has yet to score in the NHL. Its ok, Luke! Give it time!

Schenn and Doughty
My new favorite defensemen.
(ETA: Except Matt Greene, of course.)
Why?
This is the first season I've given a hoot about defensemen and they're young and talented.



Work that -20 degree weather, boy


20?? Who's wearing #26?
psh! Marty St. Louis?!?!
That's BALONEY.
Thomas Kaberle won the "15"battle with Dany Heatley (#51)
Jay Boumeester (#3) lost the "4" battle with Vinny
Jeff Carter (#7) lost the "17" battle with Ilya Kovalchuk
Patrick Marleau (#10) lost the "12" battle with Iggy
Shane Doan lost the "19" battle with Jonathan Toews because Tazer is a starter
Joe Thornton also lost the "19" battle and went with "97"? Doan is wearing "18"


Soupy looks... really good.

These men have hockey sticks in their hands everyday, yet some of them look catastrophically awkward holding them while not in skates. I thought the stick was there to ease the awkwardness of the photo-takng experience?

Nasher, the only dual "Hottie" and "Skill" representative.



Yay!!


I love it.


Jeff: We gotta get that Stamkos kid to join. Then we'll get to Berglund.
Eric: Totally, we need all the blonde, nearly albino forwards together. We have to combat the Russian forwards some how. Kovalev can't join us.
Jeff: He's just not blonde enough.
Eric: I was talking to Vanek before. I think he's in.
Jeff: He's more strawberry than pure blonde like you and me.
Eric: I know, but we need to save him before the Europeans get him.
Jeff: Word. After this, want to go sit in dark corners and not get any sun?
Eric: Sure! Hey, what color was Keith Tkachuk's hair before he lost it all...

I will probably not watch the actual All-Star Game as I have class Monday morning. What's up with that? Anyway, if you watch the game, enjoy!

I Just Took a Test Worth 25% of My Final Grade in 16 Minutes

by Anne

In my Exceptional Education class (aka Intro to Special Ed) we have only 4 things that count towards our grade: 4 tests spread throughout the semester. I just took test #1. The test started at 8:00, I was walking to the library at 8:17. It was 50 multiple choice questions BUT 1 of the questions was "In what city is Buffalo State College located?" the options were like A. Buffalo B. San Francisco C. Miami and D. Berlin or something, another one was if we had filled in our name and another was if we had written the color of our test (its one of those huge classes that hands out multiple versions of the same test to avoid cheating. So I got at least 3 correct. Buff State is in Western Europe, right? Berlin was a good answer, right?

HA.

So Eric Staal signed a huge contract with the 'Canes the other day that was just rejected by the NHL. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Whoops. Way to screw up the wording on that no-trade clause, proving that no-trade clauses are the devil. The only time a no-trade clause should be on the table is if the player has some family member with a serious NEED to stay in that town. Teppo has a no-trade clause and I am totally fine with that. He's the only one that does, but he earned it.

How you doin'

I hope to high heaven this doesn't mean he wants to coach. Gretzky doesn't want to be the executive director of Team Canada anymore and Cap'n Steve will most likely assume the throne. The Great One is staying on in a lower level position. Does he want less pressure? Would being executive director be an issue if the 'Yotes somehow manage to drug the rest of their division and sneak into the playoffs? Yzerman seems more suited to the position, as he's been the Men's team general manager at the World Champs the last 2 years and put together 2 medal winning teams. Wait, don't I WANT Team Canada to be bad? I do! U-S-A! U-S-A! Phew. Go Wayne, coach that team. Wooo!

Are we having any rookie tournament games, because that'd be sweeeeeeeet. I'd love to see Gerbe tearin' it up out there again, showing off his skillz to the rest of the NHL. No? Maybe? Darcy? Lindy? Ok, get back to me on that one, I'll be waiting with my new sign. It's no longer "NATHAN GERBE WHY WON'T YOU BE MY FACEBOOK FRIEND" instead, I've changed it to "NATHAN GERBE, THANKS FOR BEING MY FACEBOOK FRIEND, CALL ME LATER, WE'LL GET PIZZA", followed by my phone number. I'm pretty sure he'll be so moved by my outpouring of love and affection he'll leap over the glass and we'll immediately flee the pepsi center to get mani-pedis and discuss why Tim Kennedy gives such awkward interviews, but why we still love him anyway.

Gerb-dogg is bowled over by my love
My love is a hockey player from Wisconsin or something like that

I have orientation or training or something at the Arena today. Wooooooooooo!!!! How exciting. The first home pre-season game is next Friday. Wa-hooo!!!! Puck Drop is Saturday. I'd love to go, but I'm sure it'll be a mad house, so I'm pretty sure I won't end up going.

And the winner is....

by Anne

In our first Weekly Poll, we asked you which of the Staal brothers was your fave.

The choices (duh) were Eric, Marc, Jordan and Jared.

The boys ranked as follows:

#4 Jared (5%)

I'm not surprised Jared came in 4th out of 4. Why? Because we know almost nothing about him because he's only 17 and not yet in the NHL. Give it time, I'm sure someday he'll be more than 1 persons favorite Staal.

Doesn't he look like Phaneuf in this picture?:

Marc (L) Jared (R)

#3 Eric (11%)

Since this IS a Sabres blog and Eric and his 'Canes gave us our playoff walking papers in the 2006 ECF, I'm not surprised he is not overly beloved by Sabres fans the blogosphere over. I'm actually surprised he got more than 1 vote.

The Staal Brothers <3 pinstripes... because they need to look taller...?

#2 Marc (27%)

My personal favorite underrated Staal. He's pretty sweet. He was the OHL's defenseman of the year last season. Wooo! Ok, I know its tough to love him because he plays for the gross-tastic Rangers. However, he didn't CHOOSE to be a Ranger, they DRAFTED him. I, of course, understand Eric was drafted by the 'Canes, but WHATEVS. Marc is described as the family goofball, and I love me a goofball. I also actually kind of feel bad that his younger brother started in the NHL before he did. But he's still more awesome. Marc's "Girlfriend" page has like absolutely nothing but pictures of him and Jared. He might have a girlfriend named Danielle from Sudbury (or Sudberry as they spelled it), or Casey from Quebec or I don't care from I still love him anyway. The best part is really the people who post things like "WHAT VOODOO MAGIC DO YOU HAVE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION?!?!" He's also a rockstar.

See?:

#1...by process of elimination Jordan (55%)

Jordan is quite popular amongst Sabres fans, apparently. I would assume most Sabres fans don't really find the Penguins terribly offensive and Jordan has the distinction of being really young and pretty hot. He is my 2nd favorite Penguin...maybe 3rd. Well done, Jordan. You are well-tolerated by the readers of this blog. Maybe its because he's the biggest Staal bro. They're all the same height but Gronk is 15 pounds heavier than each of his NHL playing brothers. Well done? I really would love it if Jordan could find his scoring touch again next season and have more goals than his big bro. He's def going to have more goals than Marc...ok, if he doesn't though, either Marc is playing out of his mind or Jordan has lost his.

Jordan on a lake lookin' super chill

I'd love to know the reasons why people chose the Staal brother they chose, so post 'em.


OMGAH, I'm pretty sure I keeled over and died when I found this picture. Thank God I came back to life in time to finish this post:

Eric Staal: Supreme Smiley Living Room Overlord
Jordan looks like an albino elf and Eric seems to be attempting to crush his head
Marc is his usual chill self
Jared is SO over this picture

Be sure to take this week's poll:

Favorite movie in which the main focus was a hockey team; aka, not Happy Gilmore.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!

by Anne

Detroit and Dallas:

I'm working on disliking Dallas again, so I wasn't too upset by the loss. The first period was exciting and then NO ONE SCORED AGAIN FOR THE REST OF THE GAME. It was a SNOOZE. The Red Wings are just monsters. I almost want to change my prediction to Wings in 4. But I'll stick with Wings in 5. I bet the Stars can eke out a win at home... at least I hope they can.


Worlds:

YO CANADA TOTALLY MADE GERMANY THEIR BEEYOTCHES YESTERDAY.

They won 10-1. Eric Staal, who I agree had not really made his presence known in these Championships decided that yesterday was the day to start being BA.


Staal had 4 goals on 7 shots. He had 6 points in the game. WOWZAS. That's pretty freakin' sweet.

The reason Louie plays so well with eStaal because Louie pretends eStaal is Vinny

Roysie had a 2 point night (1+1) Caps PBF had 3 points (1+2). Roysie had 1 shot on goal and 1 goal, haha. I wish I could love Team Canada. I mean, I like them 2nd best... I think. They have Louie, Roysie and my Caps PBF, and my former Pacific Division boyfriend..... but they also have Heatley and Spezza which is totally yickey. Buuuut, Canada is America's hat.... so I guess I'll be ok with their gold medal or silver...probably gold.

Happy 23rd Birthday to my ex-Pacific Division Boyfriend!

Russia beat Sweden, but neither of our boys had any points, Max had a penalty, but that's it. Psh.... that's not exciting. Although its about what we usually expect from them for the Sabres, a couple of freakin' sweet games and then nothing for a month and a half.


The Czech Republic beat Belarus in a shootout. Guess who had the tying goal and then scored on the shootout?

WOOOOOOO!! KOTALIK!!

Slovakia beat Slovenia in a shoot out and and avoided being relegated to Group A which is the tournament Austria played in last month. It's too bad that Austria and Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be without some of their best players because THE SABRES WILL BE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!! Ahem. Yes. That's true.

Look who was named one of Slovakia's best players of the tournament:

yay!

Philly tonight at Pittsburgh tonight at 7:30. USA takes on Finland at 3:30! Woo!

Game +/-

By Anne


"What we call despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope." -George Eliot

I'm trying to stay positive, SabreNation. It's one of my few character traits I have left, even in times of great despair, I usually manage to stay upbeat. Therefore, I shall soldier on.

Let's start with +:

+Millsey gave his usual solid effort, we can't fault him for allowing those 2 goals, especially that goal lead by Mara's slapshot from the point, that was just a bullet.

+Pommerdoodle and his line plus Soupy had some beautiful passing and playmaking on their goal.

+Adam Mair is still effing terrifying. Just look at December of the Sabres 2008 calendar. Would you want to take a face-off against that guy? I certainly would not

+MSG had a special on Staffy and his guitar, it was my only swoon-worthy moment of the night.
Update: The Sabres actually posted the video of Staffers and his guitar. They never do that, they must know how deep my love runs.

The embed code effed up my entire post, so here's the link

+Rick and Harry had some great exchanges:

Harry: The Sabres are 1/29 on the power play in the last 8 games.
Rick: That is not good.


Harry: There's Sean Avery, he's about as popular as a rattlesnake at a picnic.

Thanks, Harry!

+Yeah, I really can't think of anything else. Drury didn't score?

-:

-Not only was the game suck-tastically terrible, MSG's audio kept cutting in and out.

-The puck spent an abysmally little amount of time near the Ranger's net for most of the game, we just couldn't keep it out of our zone.

-There were so many power plays, including a 5 on 3 and we capitalized on NONE of them, the Rangers really know how to take the pain and block those shots. We tend to put TimmyHo in that position where we all know he's not going to risk taking a puck to the head...again.

-The first Ranger goal was basically scored because we couldn't get the puck past the blue line.

-Fucking Orr rolls over Millsey and there is no penalty and NO ONE teaches him a lesson. HE, WITHOUT TRYING TO STOP, CRASHED INTO MILLSEY AND HIS NET. Paetsch tried to go with Avery, but he's a pansy and wouldn't go, and the Sabres sent a message to the NHL, go ahead, fuck with Millsey, we won't stop you. He's only our best player, it's cool.

-Grizz took a header into the net like 19:00 into the 3rd. Great. Wonderful. Splendid. I need to change the subject. There's so much more I could say, but my hockey ulcer is not pleased.

How many Staal's are there? Ok, I know there's 3 in the NHL: Marc, Jordan, and Eric, but they're everywhere. Don't forget little Jared who plays in the OHL. MY GOD MR. AND MRS. STAAL, WHAT DO YOU FEED YOUR SONS?

Eric, Marc, Jordan, and Jared:

In much, much happier news, Buffalo son Patrick Kane was named NHL.com's 2nd star of the night when he ended a nine-game goal-less streak when he netted 2 goals and 1 assist last night as the Blackhawks slammed the Blues 6-1. And Lee Stempniak, West Seneca native, scored the only Blues goal. What a night for WNY natives!

Unfortunately, Manny Legace was injured after the 1st...and the backup let in all 6 goals. Ouch. Swarek has only played 11 minutes with the Blues so far this season and was clearly not prepared to play.

Kaner and Stempniak....wanna come home and play some hockey? Yeah? Yeah? Contracts? Phooey!

A woman my grandfather is friends with happens to be Kaner's great aunt. This I didn't know until around Christmas time. How exciting. Although, in South Buffalo everyone is related.

Kimmo Timonen has one of my top 10 favorite names of active NHL players. TEPPO is clearly #1. Dion Phaneuf makes the list, as does Rod Brind'amour. The MTL lineup has some fantastic names as well.

Let's end on a happy note. Check out Staffy, his buddy, his guns and his guitar. Look away from the worn-out hole in the crotch of his jeans...he's so badass, he doesn't even care. Oh Drew Stafford, why must you relentlessly force me to love you in spite of it all?