I've Missed Him SO MUCH

by Anne

I can't help it, Tim Connolly makes me giggle.

Nice flip flops, bro.

I alternately hate him and adore him.

Its so fantastic.

THERE IS SABRES GAME TONIGHT. YES ITS PRE-SEASON BUT ITS STILL THE BLUE AND GOLD SKATING AGAINST ANOTHER TEAM!!

Wooooooo!!

See you at the Arena tonight!

The Title Says It All

By S(h)ara

First off, I would just like to say thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. It was a pretty good one, I must say.

Anne and I are sitting on my couch and watching the end of the Sabres game, and I came across something that made me chuckle on NHL.com. I may have edited this for my own amusement. May.

This really entertains me way more than it should.

PS I saw Pat Kaleta at the mall today. He didn't look concussed, so good on ya, Patty!

You Can Swoon Over Paul Gaustad All You Want

by Anne

Buffalo.com Spotted is where I found these two gems:

Drew Stafford knows how to have a good time



Oh Sissy.
I wish I knew how to quit you.

I Must Bring Them Luck?

by Anne

Ok, so three games ago I started counting jerseys before the game in order to keep myself occupied. In the first, Vanek v. Pommer, Vanek won the head-to-head battle and scored a goal that night, the next one: Miller v. Vanek, Miller won and that was the shoot out win over the Rangers in which Miller had 46 saves on 47 shots including the shootout. Tonight was Connolly v. Stafford. The final score was 5-0 in favor of Tim Connolly. No love for Staffy tonight. Then what happened? Timmers pots 2 goals and doubles his goal total for the season. Now, we sit and wait for the injury report.... still not here? Ok, tomorrow then.

This picture makes me feel all warm inside

I'm sure we are all in agreement that the beginning of the third period made us all hold our collective breath, just a little bit. Its the Sabres, I only feel comfortable with a three goal lead when the game is already over. However, they managed to hang on and muscled out the win. I really love when the periods end with happy cheers from the fans because the team is playing well.

Another fairly fast game as well. The best way to gauge this for me is what time I get to my car. I was sitting in Jarome at about 9:50, this was after changing my clothes and stopping to help a guy that was lying face first in the snow and probably sprained or broke his ankle. Therefore, it was a quick game.

I honestly was surprised they won. Every other time this season, and last, a team that comes in on a losing streak that's right behind us in standings is guaranteed a victory, and usually a big one at that. Nice to see Timmy back and see Miller continue to play the way we've come to expect him to.

All in all a solid game from puck drop to final buzzer. Am I upset that we had only 5 shots on goal in the third? No. We had a three, then almost immediately a two, goal lead heading into that period and dumping pucks on goal wasn't necessary. No need to get fancy when you have a healthy lead.

Relative of almost nothing, I discoverd that I'm working EVERY SINGLE Disney On Ice show this week. Shoot me in the face. Seriously. I'm sure I'll enjoy the paycheck but there are shows Wednesday, Thursday and Friday then THREE on Saturday and two on Sunday. I have to be there at 9:30am on Saturday and I can't leave until after the last show at 7:00. Once again, shoot me in the face. I'm going to miss the Sabres game on Wednesday, but I have no doubt the game will be on the monitors in the corridor. So if I'm singing Disney tunes for the next week, my bad.

Both the Devils and the Panthers won tonight so this win is even more of a must in order to stay in the playoff race. We currently hold a two point lead over the 8th place Panthers. Woooooooooooo!!!!

Rookie and veteran: both making the same face in anticipation of the puck being shot at their heads


Pie is thinking: Gosh darn it, I'm going to get a penalty, Anne will not be happy with me

I know photographers tend to like a certain perspective for shots, especially when they shoot the same thing over and over again (like a hockey game). But could the webmaster of Sabres.com perchance have chosen two images that are not almost completely identical for top stories #1 and #2?

Even the Geico logo on the far boards basically hits the same spot on their calves
And, finally:


Sissy OWNS this funny face of the game picture

Tomorrow I'll have the post about our All-Star roster that I've slowly been working on. I'm trying to make it more than just regurgitating the same pictures we used for the ballot. This time, there will be video footage.

I guess I'm seeing Rent tomorrow? My sister declared I must so she bought me a ticket and we're going to the matinee. We should be home in time to see the Steelers game at 6:30. Wooooooooo!!

ETA: I didn't know Sean Avery had signed with the Lightning.

ETA2: Aw, Timmy. From the game recap on NHL.com:

Tim Connolly's grandparents wanted him to score a goal. He wound up getting one for each of them as the weary Sabres held on to hand Carolina its fifth consecutive regulation loss.

Connolly, an oft-injured center playing in only his 11th game of the season, made his grandparents happy by posting his third NHL multi-goal game and first since April 2006.

"I got one for both of them," said Connolly, who told reporters he had received a text message from his father telling him his grandparents wanted him to score.

Good boy, Timmy! :)

Not Much to Say

by Anne

I'm not going to sit here and rip apart the Bills and tell them all how personally hurt I feel by that loss which cannot be pinned on any one player, Trent Edwards.

Its difficult to find something optimistic to talk about this morning. On top of the bad streaks by our teams, it snowed this morning which isn't such a big deal, but most people in North Buffalo drive like they've never experienced snow before and it takes 10 minutes longer to get anywhere.

On the plus side, its Tuesday, which means I get to inappropriately ogle my high school style crush in my 10:50 class. I've missed him lately. Its the little things in life that keep you going, people.

On another happy note....

I don't know who made this picture, but they're my new best friend


hehehehehe

Super (boring) Sunday

by Anne

WOOO! I was so excited to be able to dedicate today to football! I was heading over to my Aunt's house who lives like its 1975, with no internet, no dishwasher and a TV antenna, so I could watch my Bills play.

.....and they lost. To the Dolphins. It was gross and unpleasant, much like the pile of dishes I decided to wash while my Aunt's out of town because it was taking over the counterspace and frustrating me almost as much as our passing game.

Then I was like "Ok, Steelers!" Sunday Night Football! WOO! Much like the Pens are my "#2 Eastern Conference default if the Sabres aren't in the playoffs" team, the Steelers serve the same purpose for me in football.

...and then they lost too.

WOW, what a GOOD DAY.

Then I watched the video footage of poor Brandon Sutter getting annihilated by Doug Weight. I almost feel as bad for Doug Weight who's not a bad dude. You could see on his face that he felt awful about what happened as they were tending to the most-recent-to-enter-the-NHL Sutter.

Hits to the head should be illegal. Period. I'm not sure how they should be regulated, but they need to be controlled. Granted, Doug Weight did not seem intent upon concussing Brandon Sutter and causing him to be hospitalized, but he's possibly an exception to hits like that.

Everytime I see something like that or, ya know, that time on February 10 when I was in HSBC Arena aka the last game Richard Zednick played last season, all I think about is how upset I'd be if that had happened to a Sabre. Just watch the footage of Brandon Sutter and picture one of our rookies. At that game on February 10, I kept thinking about how sick to my stomach and panic-attacky I would've been if that had happened to a Sabre. Ok let's change the subject, I don't want to think about that anymore. I got mad enough when Derek Roy's wrist was hurt when he was slashed yesterday.

GREAT.

Then I watched some Extreme Home Makeover WHICH ALWAYS MAKES ME CRY. Friggin', every time, I cry. Today it was a little boy who was normal til he was 4 then he had leukemia and then he had crazy awful pneumonia and had to have a double lung transplant and he has to take this awful medication that's given him cataracts and his body has swelled and he has diabetes. To CAP OFF the irony, the little boy's name is JOB. You are basically DOOMING a person to a life of trials and tribulations when you name them Job.

The only silver lining came when I was at Wegman's tonight. No, I did not see any Sabres... not exactly...

It's just as tasty this season when we're winning
Look at my crazy eyebrow

Ice cream was the highlight of my day. Wow. Now I have to read.

Sorry about that whole "think about the Sabres being brutally attacked on the ice" paragraph.

Let's lighten things up:

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha


love.

At Least Its Not Brian Campbell

by Anne

Ladies and Gentlemen of Columbus... Mike Commodore, complete with ginger body hair, chewing tobacco, flowery shear curtains and his benjamins
Thanks to Puck Daddy and Carolina Hurricane blogger, the Acid Queen for this GEM.

Just ignore Alexander Semin and WOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I slept like not at all last night so I'm hitting the hay for a good old fashioned nap. I'm still on the lookout for the rest of my WCBs. WOOOOOO!!!!

Henrik Lundqvist is a Mad Playa

by Anne


This week's installment of "Unintentionally Hilarious Pictures of Hockey Players Trying to Be Cool" is brought to you by Rangers' goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist:

I bet Joel has more game
I'm not sure how Carrie Millbank is still standing upright.
RAWR

Just Breathe it In, Hockey Will Be Here Soon

by Anne

When all seems bleak. Just remember Jaroslav Spacek, the little defenceman that could:

Come on, Sissy, you can make it over the wall to the bench if you just BELIEVE you can! Pull!

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING AND BY PUDDING I MEAN MARTIN BRODEUR'S HAIR

by Anne

Ok so yesterday I jokingly said that Roysie came along with Millsey to NYC to help style the boys for their media blitz in Manhattan. QUITE UNEXPECTEDLY, I have unearthed proof that it MIGHT NOT be a joke. This picture was found in a lost and discarded corner of the world.... the NHL Insider article on NHL.com.

Check out Marty's hair:

That is a CLASSIC Derek Roy fauxhawk if I have ever seen one.
AND. I. HAVE.

COMPARE THE TWO IF YOU WILL:

PUDDING, MEET PROOF.

Why else would a self-respecting man of Martin Brodeur's age and Vezina winning status be wearing such a ludicrous hairstyle. This style is meant for 16 year olds and men who want to look taller... er, um, I mean more RAAWKING, not that they're short. Not that its a BAD thing to be short. Aw hell.

On the plus side, at least Marty didn't rock this Classic Roysie style:

CAN YOU HANDLE THE HOT?
You just want to run your fingers through it

OR Classic Pommer:

Let's face it, Little Amerk Roysie was afraid Pommer might be the prettiest one on the team so he made him believe this was the hairstyle that would get him all the laydeez

OR He could've gone with my new personal favorite:

Retro Vanek
Complete with birthday cake elephant decorations

EPIC.

Haha

by Anne

Thanks to Amy at Shots off the Crossbar for pointing out the Getty Images gallery of the event held at the NHL Store in Manhattan yesterday featuring our very own Ryan Miller.

A few choice snapshots:

Ricky and Millsey discussing their disappointment over the season premiere of Gossip Girl
Ricky trying to explain that James is really Marcus and he's really British and not American.

Wow. That guy over Millsey's shoulder is the happiest looking person this picture and he looks more skeptical than happy.

What is wrong with that girl? Unless PKane is repeatedly kicking the back of her seat and repeatedly demanding that someone buys him pretzel bites with that nacho cheese sauce because he spent his entire contract on comic books and porn, how could anyone look that unhappy when in such close proximity to Rick DiPietro? More importantly, how can any female that close to Rick DiPietro refstrain herself from touching him in ways most would deem inappropriate for the public arena? Granted she may be forced to restrain herself because PKane is there, and can't handle such displays. THIS may be why this lady looks so displeased. It is truly the only logical explanation for such a sour puss

With the exception of 1 shot where the two of them are alone, and one where they're talking to kids, Ricky and Millsey didn't smile at all in these pictures. Too much partying the night before? Did someone just tell you that you'd be missing that nights episode of Project Runway?

So many questions, so few answers. I have to go to class now. Boooooooo. Check ya later.

Time Heals All Wounds

by Anne

A diligent reader who knows of the STRIFE I have been forced to endure over the loss of my beloved #5, MY BIG BEAR on my BIRTHDAY this year, has sent me a few photos to give me the smile and a chuckle that can only be brought about by Big Bear's goofy adorableness. I encourage people to indulge in my hopelessly short lived love affair. He was only a Sabre for like a month, but he STOLE MY HEART. NO ANNE, STOP! HE'S GONE! HE'LL BE IN CANADA, HE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD!! J/K, J/K, Canadian brethren. Although, if Big Bear showed up at my front porch right now with a platinum set diamond band oval cut diamond and a dozen roses, I would pack my bags and head for Vancouver. I'll be so close for the Winter Olympics!

These pictures feature our beloved Mr. Bernier in some sort of establishment where little clothing and copious amounts of alcohol appear to thrive and Tim Connolly is no where in sight. In short, this place is my Mecca. Therefore, to this place must I complete my Hajj. Where else can I enjoy such luxuries in a Tim Connolly free, Big Bear rich environment? Nowhere.

Hehe, look at Big Bear's undies

Blondie on the right appears to be participating in some sort of celebration of herself, as she is carrying multiple arrangements of cut flowers. Was Big Bear the provider of any of these floral arrangements? Is she wearing my ring?!?! He appears to be receiving thanks for them, and clearly is feeling very good about himself, based on his "Who da man?!" pose. I believe blondie on the left (BB's right) is the one responsible for the slight raising of the shirt and exposing of the boxer briefs and to her I am forever indebted in spite of her poor choice of neckline. Halter top, Left Blondie, halter top. Give it a shot. Although, it could be Righty squeezing Big Bear tight around his middle that has created this phenomenon, and if that is the case, then lefty is impeding our viewing pleasure and she must be desroyed! Or photoshopped out.

Warm in there, Big Bear?

We seem to find Steven in yet another den of iniquity on this night, or at least, this is the same den but on a different occasion, with what appear to be 2 different blondies and a gentleman caller. These ladies appear to have been OVERCOME by the sound of his broken English, floppy unkempt hair and penchant for goofy little hats and have COLLAPSED with glee, MUCH AS I WOULD, LADIES, MUCH AS I WOULD. In fact, if it were not for the fact that I have brown hair, I would have wondered if I were actually one of these swooning ladies, or maybe even that dude who appears to also have Big Love for Big Bear. Steven, ever respectful, has a keen understanding for the effect he has on the ladies, and some dudes, and allows these people to seek refuge on his lap. IF ONLY I HAD BEEN THERE, IF ONLY.

WHY MUST OUR TIME TOGETHER HAVE BEEN SO PAINFULLY SHORT, BIG BEAR? WHY? Cruel, cruel fate. But we must soldier on and my #5 spot is still vacant. Oh Steven, how I miss your little face.

And as Monday was the first day of classes and there is no word of my #1 beloved Sabre:

EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

No, Jason, this is NOT the fire drill, this is the FULL ON WHERE'S MY CONTRACT FREAK OUT

POMMER?!?! WHERE ART THOU?!? DARCY!! WHAT KIND OF SHENANIGANS ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL?!?! I CAN'T LOSE POMMER!!!! I CAN'T EVEN SUSPECT I MIGHT LOSE MY BELOVED POMMER. PLEASE. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GET THIS SITUATION RESOLVED BEFORE TRAINING CAMP. LORD KNOWS WITTLE JASON WILL COLLAPSE LIKE AMY WINEHOUSE AFTER A HARD BENDER IF HE HAS TO ENDURE CONTRACT TALKS IN THE DRESSING ROOM THIS YEAR. COME ON!!!!

AAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

FYI: Sidney Crosby is Not an Alien

by Anne

Maxime Talbot is taking the words right out of my mouth:

According to Maxime Talbot, Sidney Crosby’s faint attempt at growing a playoff beard makes him look “greasy.” As for the mustache he has going right now, Talbot said that makes him look “like Zorro.”

I prefer "like a hillbilly with a rusted out pickup truck", but "Zorro" works too.


Marc-Andre Fleury weighs in on the "let's show people Sid isn't a robot" campaign:

Fleury said when he and Crosby were both out with high ankle sprains earlier this year, they spent a lot of time at the goalie’s house playing Call of Duty 4 on Xbox 360. The game is so popular the Penguins take it on the road with them.

Oh, NHL, you're trying so hard to promote him as: THIS GUY WILL CHANGE HOCKEY FOREVER. SIDNEY CROSBY IS OUR MESSIAH....uhhhh but he plays Xbox too! Haha! He can't grow a playoff beard! Look how NORMAL he is! Yup, he's tooooootallly normal. Except for, ya know, that we treat him like he can turn water ino wine and all that and he's probably the best hockey player in the past decade stuff, but LOOK! He drinks gatorade! He eats food! He sleeps! He's a person too! Did we mention he's YOUNG? Look how YOUNG he is! He can't even buy alcohol in this country yet!

I love Sid the Kid, but, unlike my love for most hockey players, I have little desire to have "relations" with him. I'm sure he calls them "relations" because calling it anything else makes him blush under his peach fuzz. I think my lack of desire for Sid the Kid is his freakishly squeaky clean image. He's probably not really afraid of girls, but he just has such a "good guy" image that it turns me off. It's probably why I mostly like guys and players that look like they would have no problem with beating the living tar out of someone (Goose, Big Bear, Staffy) notable exception: Pommerdoodle. Eh, well, I still loves him and I bet he's more intimidating in person....no probably not, but that's ok, I think I could beat Derek Roy in a fistfight..again, that's probably not true, because I couldn't bring myself to punch Roysie and hopefully he feels the same way about hitting girls.

Oh yeah AND THEN THEY LOST 3-0 TO THE RANGERS. That is NOT COOL. Avery is LITERALLY in INTENSIVE CARE. I did say, however, that I thought the Rangers would win this won. But, they should be GONE after the next one. Is that CLEAR, Ry-ry? Sid? Geno? Gronk? Heh? Good, now let's take care of this.


Soooooo, I checked NHL.com for a score of the Wings/Avs game and it was 7-1 at the intermission. Last I had checked it was 1-1. WOW. Um, who was the MORON who picked the Avs? That would be this girl. What the hell was I thinking? I hope the Red Wings don't win the cup, but mostly because I just flat out won't care. I won't be excited or mad, it'll be an overall feeling of "eh, Datsyuk's ugly". And, because the Douche Canoe (TM Interchangeable Parts) has declared that the Red Wings are going to take my Millsey away, I just want to pretend they don't exist. Millsey can't play for them if they aren't REAL! That's what I'm going to tell him and his agent.


T-Minus like an hour until the World Championships start in Halifax. I hope Team USA is finished playing lasertag and making macramés hockey sticks in time to show up to play Latvia tonight night.


Team USA is ranked 7th in the world, Canada is 3rd behind Finland and Sweden. I know we have some BANGIN' Finnish (Toni, Selanne, the Koivu brothers) and Swedish (Hank the Tank, Zetterberg, Backstrom) talent in the NHL, but if the teams are that good, wouldn't you assume we'd have more NHL players from those countries? Maybe they just like playing at home and don't want to come to North America where I will begin stalking them.

---

Private to Paul Gaustad:

I managed to not run into you tonight. But so HELP ME if you had been at my sister's concert, I would've KNOWN that my life just became the Truman Show or a really long and uninteresting episode of Punk'd.

Love and I told you I'd stay aways,
Anne

---

This post needs one of those billions of pictures I save but haven't posted. This one started my "save this picture for later" craze:

In my head the conversation goes something like this:

Millsey (in fake uber gay man lisp): Hey SPAAAA-AAAC. As our new Captain, you should know that its your job to tell me how good my booty looks in these pants. It's in the fine print, under the C. Soooo how's the boooty? Good enough for NBC?

Sissy: Ya, whatever you say, goalie man. I go play de hockeys now. Where my helmet? Is ok, I no need it.

Millsey: Hey equipment man, how's the view from down there? Huh? Huh? Nice, right?

Soupy: What's this? He's asking SISSY? My defensive partner? How could he?! Fuckin' stupid Ryan over there trying to act like he doesn't need me. I tell him his booty looks good all the time, even when he doesn't ask me to. I bet JARO doesn't take the time mid-game when he's holding the puck behind the net to tell him either. Psh, fuckin' stupid jerkface.

Patches: I miss the press box. These guys are fuckin' weird.

Crowd: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! YAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! LET'S GO BUFF-A-LO!!

Pennsylvania is bad luck

by Anne

The Sabres now 3-3-1 when they play when I'm in the state of Pennsylvania and 0-3-1 when I stay in a hotel in Pennsylvania. They are guaranteed no points when I am totally out of touch with any game they've played this season. That's actually 100% true this season: any game I haven't watched or listened to while it was going on, they've lost in regulation.

I blame this loss on me. I'm sorry guys. I can't evaluate how CRAPTASTICALLY you must've all played tonight based on my viewing, so I'll use statbits.

First, the good:

Goose: 70% face off wins, keep up those numbahs!
Roysie got a 67% win.

I honestly just stared at the Game Stats for about 3 minutes trying to find something else good to say...and I got nothin'.

That must've been a painful game.

There's so much bad, but I can sum it up best with the following:

None of the Leafs were a -.

None of the Sabres were a +.

This calls for another animal wearing glasses picture, that's how bad it was.

At least....crap, Washington won... congrats Ovie on your 60th goal! It's been, what 11 years since a player scored 60 goals? Congrats!

Philly won...ugh. I HATE THE SABRES! THEY'RE MAKING MY HOCKEY ULCER REALLY BAD.

Ok, I can't hate them, I still love them forever. Those last 3 games were magnificent and they can't keep it up all the time but. But, but! Ugh.

I'M GOING TO BED. At least there aren't any more games while I'm in PA. OH GOD, IT'S THE SENATORS NEXT. They may not be as storm trooper like any more but they still play excellent hockey against us.

That's it! I need 2 pictures.

HA!

Ok, that helped a little.

Hahahahha

By Anne

This picture has gone a long way towards lifting my spirits today. Thank you, NHL.com for not posting obscene numbers pictures of Ovie scoring goals.

Just stick to the drum and the t-shirt cannon, buddy

Once again, I am still in search of videos that will soothe my soul: Drew Stafford playing sled hockey and Ryan Miller talking about how much he loves chocolate, raspberries and ice cream. Me too, Millsey! Pommer and I need some for when we get together to cry about Brett Favre retiring. Hook us up with some Breakaway Berry-er.

Random Thoughts about Last Night

by Anne

I think Maxim Afinogenov's goal scoring is directly related to my nasal health. I've been congested since basically Friday, we win a game, Max gets 2 goals, I can breathe.

Every morning I look over who NHL.com considers to be their stars of the night. All too frequently they disregard my picks entirely. Perhaps my persistent emails are not persistent enough?

My votes for last night's 3 stars:

#3 Andrej Sekera

The kid the boys at The Goose's Roost call "Balls". Balls or no balls (HA!) he played an excellent game in a desperate "Aw shiz, our top D-Man is down, let's play frantic defense." style, yet it paid off. He and Sissy skated well together.

#2 Derek Roy

You TOTES cheated and TOTES got away with it, hahahaha. I think it was a gimmie for not calling the boarding penalty on Hank.

#1 Maxim "The Soviet Bomber" Afinogenov

Ah, Max. I still don't like you, I never have, even after all these years together. Even though I met you once and took pictures of the hilarious shirt you brought into the dry cleaner's where I used to work, but you are still pretty sweet, and you stepped it up last night. You, Big Bear and Goose were a great line. I enjoyed it. Here's the thing about Max that really bothers me:

Why must you tuck in your sweater? It looks sorta LAME-O

Based on the look on his face, I'm assuming Nate-Dogg wasn't excited enough about the goal as Max was. Max looks like "Aw, come on Patches, I score de pointers, I sorry you no score dem as much."

*Sidenote: Who else always starts to type Paetsch's name and then can't remember where the "s" goes? Paestch? Paetcsh? Ha.

Here's a picture that does my heart good:

Gasp! Is that-!

It is! Staffy, playing some defensive hockey! Roughing up some random Flyer. I hope it was Carter, I hate Jeff Carter. Good boy Staffy!

Ok, this smoothie car ride is going to be full.

Just to show some tough love, I will not make smoothie car ride decisions until after tonight's game. So far, its easier just to say who's in the top of the pack and who's definitely out of the running as of right now. But a solid performance tonight could get them back in.

Most likely in:

Pommerdoodle. Eep! 9 game point streak! 24 POINTS IN 19 GAMES! Yay Pommer! You are so creeping up on top 3 favorite Sabre territory inspite of your role as puckbunny fodder.

Roysie. You sir, are pretty BA. And you and Pommer helped Hank the Tank off the ice last night. I seriously love it when players take care of each other like that...and by beating the snot out of whoever hit them.

Soviet. I may not like you, but you were pretty sweet tonight.

Millsey. While not your single greatest game ever, it was still your usual sweetness, and you totes didn't take dat shiz when Hartnell was all up in yo' grill. I love it when you get penalties for roughing. Hahahahahahaha.

*Sidenote, come ON! Who didn't want to see Marty and Millsey go at it? How hilarious did Marty look standing at center ice waiting to go? He looked like a lost penguin.

Most likely out:

Kaleta. My love for you is great, Patty, but you were a little bratty last night. I truly appreciate you standing up for Millsey, but 10 minute misconduct penalties are not cool. Don't yell at the refs, just don't.

Petey. You failed to prove your goal scoring prowess last night.

Kalinin. Do I really need to explain?

Pie-YAY. I know, Lind-o is already being tough on you, but you respond well to tough love, so I can't cave.

All injured players clearly are excused from punishment, as they were not at fault for any mistakes on the ice. So Mikey, Yo yo, Hank and Teppo, while you won't be rewarded with smoothies, know that its not because you were bad, its because you didn't do anything at all.

(Prive to Yo-yo and Hank...I'll bring you back a smoothie....just don't tell the others.)

Game +

By Anne

As I did not watch all of tonight's game (they play better when my viewing is intermittent) I cannot give a 100% accurate +/- so I will merely highlight my thoughts on last night's game.

I brought back the I Heart Buffalo Hockey sweatshirt. It didn't play full prominence in the Leafs game and I didn't wear it during the Phoenix game as hoodies are frowned up on in law offices, but I busted it out last night, freshly washed.

Also, whilst cleaning my room last night I came across a quarter. As I reached to pick it up I realized it was the Texas state quater. I opted not to touch it. It paid off.

Onto the game:

DEAR LORD I LOVE DEREK ROY. Not in the way S(h)ara loves him, but just enough. The Stafford Roy Vanek line really is on fire these days. I didn't jinx them! That second goal was some absolutely bee-you-ti-full passing between Vanek and Roy. Staffy gets it out of the zone up to Vanek, he and Roy go in on a 2-on-1. Staffy to Britney, Britney to Roysie, Roysie to Britney, Britney sends it immediately back to Roysie: GOAL! Well. Done. Boys.

Britney, last night was the 2nd goal you've been denied recently because of a high stick. I sincerely applaud the effort, but let's work on this in practice. Hitting puck into net with stick when stick is above crossbar= bad. But you are improving and now that the rest of your boys are back in town, I think you'll be ok. You can still keep the babies.

I always forget how big Danny Pie-YAY is until I see him stand someone up against the boards. Same with Staffy. Nevermind that their stats clearly indicate they are over 6' tall and over 200 lbs. Never mind! Confession: I can't read.

Stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Barnes scored. Tooooooooooooooooooo bad he doesn't play for the Sabres anymore. Like, fo' reals, too bad. I really loved Stu Barnes when he was a Sabre. I was so mad when he was traded.

THE (2nd) GREATEST AMERICAN HOCKEY FORWARD OF ALL TIME: Mike Modano (after Pat Lalalalalalalalafontaine of course) was dee-nied points. Sorry buddy.

Yo Millsey was pretty B-A last night. He had at least 1 highlight reel save, but it was when he wasn't stopping the puck that earned him his B-Aness. First he tripped someone. Whoops. Millsey, intentional or not it still looked like you could've kept it from happening, but well done. Ales got yo' back. He served it fo' ya. And then some Star, I'm not sure who, took a whack at Millsey's glove after he'd already snatched up the puck by his mask. So what did Millsey do? He speared the dude in the groin region with his stick. It was really the only place on the dude he could reach. Well done Millsey! Millsey don't take dat shizz.

While I agree with Katebits of the Willful Caboose that the Sabres aren't trying to kill us, I really think they'd like to give me a stress-induced heart attack to accompany my hockey ulcer.

At this time I'd like to call Jochen "Yo-yo" Hecht to come forward and accept his award as the BAMF of last night's game.

Yo-yo,

You have often been our team's most consistent player. In a season in want of playmaking, you, Pommerdoodle and Grizz are an excellent trio, combining to make some beautiful plays. You've been called upon to center this line, even though you are truly a winger, and you have delivered. Your post-game interviews are far too infrequent. Your "I can't look at you when I'm talking because I'm not supposed to talk to strangers" demeanor, accompanied by your adorable lisp and seeming inability to engage the sides of your mouth when speaking English, is what makes me adore your interviews so.

No one can deny that your style of shooting the puck on the net is well, messy, but somehow you manage to frequently backhand the puck through that hole between the goal tender's left ear and his glove. Presumably, Pommerdoodle creates a diversion by performing one of his many tricks learned in obedience school in the off-season and that's how you manage to sneak those pucks by.

However, tonight we do not honor you for your role as a center, as an assistant captain or even as a forward. Instead, we honor you for your role as a defensemen. In the waning seconds of the third period, Millsey blocked a shot on the right side of the net that went rogue all the way over to the left side of the net, leaving Millsey wildly out of position and Stars' defensemen Mike Riberio was ready and waiting. He took the pass and just as he was trying to gain control of it, you swept your stick into his and knocked the puck away, denying what was guaranteed to be a goal. For this, Mr. Hecht, we salute you and offer you, #55, your first BAMF award of the 2007-2008 season. Congratulations. You've earned it.

The current BAMF stats are as follows:

Millsey - 2
Sissy - 2
Staffy - 2
Pie-YAY- 1
Goose - 1
Pommerdoodle - 1
Kotalik (really?) - 1
TimmyHo - 1
Grizz - 1
Yo-Yo- 1

I can't believe Roysie hasn't been BAMF yet. I think we should toss him an honorary BAMF for his goal scoring lately. He has, what, like 5 goals in 4 games? Something like that, I don't feel like checking. It's a lot.

A Note: BAMF was begun December 1, 2007 to reward those who were playing well in this craptastic time. There have been many T-OCs handed out but I do not record those as we need not dwell in the past. Those players know of their transgressions.

Quote of the game goes to Harry Neale. While seeing a Stars fan beating on the glass while a scrum for the puck is taking place:

Harry: Look at that. The only difference between that fan and a horse's rear end is that that fan can vote in the upcoming election.

Thanks, Harry! As soon as I saw that guy, I was racking my brain to find the differences, and you laid it right out there for us!

Congrats to Alfie for his 7 point night. That's truly an accomplishment. Wait. You were playing Tampa Bay? Oh. Well, good job, but that hardly seems fair.

Pittsburgh lost. Booooooooooooo. It was a hard fought battle though, so I can accept it. At least the Leafs lost.

I fully plan on watching the Super Skills competition tomorrow but have no interest in the game. However, congratulations to Soupy and I hope you have fun this weekend. Try not to be too lonely without any teammates there, I'm sure you'll make friends.

Ha. I believe this picture:

Sutton drags down Kobasew

Lead directly to this picture:

Somewhere under Pretty Ricky is Chuck Kobasew. Hahahaha. Well done Andy Sutton, well done.

And an eff you to the Dallas Stars: Tell us to get over the 1999 SCF? I don't think so. We won't. You cheated. But you can't tell us to get over it and then play the song 1999 by Prince as the Sabres come out onto the ice. Gross.

Everyone enjoy the weekend off! This weekend will consist of my favorite and least favorite mascots and our favorite professional athlete names of the past seasons along with highlights from the SuperSkills competition. Go Vinny! Go Ovie! Go Tim Tom!