School's Out for Summer

by Anne

My horrendously terrible semester is over! It was basically a disaster and will have to be fixed, but that can't be accomplished until the Fall so I shall simply enjoy my summer and continue my job hunt.

In the mean time, I shall be attempting to give a hoot about the playoffs. The World Championships have been an utter disaster. I mean Team USA playing in the RELEGATION round? Good LORD. I knew they weren't going to win gold, but I thought they'd at LEAST win one of their first three games. Especially since they were up against such juggernauts as Denmark and Germany. Alas. They've won their games against Kazakhstan and France and just have to beat Italy tomorrow morning. Actually, the game will be over by the time this is posted. So, I'm going to go ahead and assume they won. 

I don't imagine Jack Johnson will look back on this foray into international captaincy with great relish in years to come.

In Sabres-related shenanigans, I'm looking forward to this summer extra hard. My lifetime of Buffalo sports fandom has done nothing to convince me that I should temper my excitement. Trade Stafford? Trade Connolly? What will happen? Where will they all go? Will Marty Biron be back in Buffalo?! Could my heart TAKE that?! Yes, yes it could. 

For the Kings, the only really big question mark is Frolov. I don't think he'll be back. I'd be ok with him staying but I don't think he will so I'm ok if he peaces out. 

As far as the current playoffs are concerned I suppose I'm cheering(?) for the Blackhawks. This is a huge surprise to me. I previously abhorred the Blackhawks. They're all annoying and smug and their fans have turned each player's facial tics into a "ZOMG BRB SHAKING AND CRYING" explosion on Twitter. However, they are by far the most palatable team remaining in the playoffs and their few annoying fans (the vast majority I follow on Twitter are funny and entertaining)  can be unfollowed, and for the most part have been. Besides. Seabs wants me to cheer for them. Isn't that right Seabs? 

 Come on, Seabs, open the door.

Look, I'm sorry I called some of your fans annoying.

They all love you.

FINE! I WON'T cheer for your team. 

Whatcha gonna do about it?

You make a compelling argument.

Also, at least we're not Cavs fans. AMIRITE? Or if you are, I'm gonna go ahead and assume you're revving up the engine to drive Delonte West straight outta Cleveland. Yikes.

Hey look! Other hockey!

by Anne

I don't like whining, I don't like bitching. Therefore, when the Sabres lost and that's all I could think to write, I opted to not write at all.

I won't pretend to have any solutions or suggestions for the Sabres moving forward but I'm just sick of nothing. ever. changing. We've been following the same system(barf) in management and on the ice for several years and the product isn't working.

I think Lindy Ruff is a nice guy but I question his effectiveness in this post-lockout, post-Chris Drury era.  Change for the sake of change isn't always grand but at least it will be something different. I'm fairly confident I've written something like this before, but doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity.

***************

Moving on. Now that the first round is over, the Team USA roster for the World Championships will be expanded upon today. There was no one worth mentioning on the first list and I had sincerely hoped to be busy watching the Sabres or Kings in the 2nd round instead of the Worlds. Alas.

To my joy and delight, both Jack Johnson and Matt Greene will be playing for Team USA in Germany. Andy Greene will also be playing for Team USA. I'm not sure, but considering the creativity of most hockey players, I'm guessing they both go by "Greener." Hilarity will undoubtedly ensue, as they are also both defensemen. Perchance they will even be paired together. I also enjoy that Kevin Allen referred to them as "The Greenes" in his blog post. How presh.

Tim Kennedy will play as well, yay! Nick Foligno will allow me a brief respite to like him once again. I am utterly terrified by our goaltending situation. Right now it stands as Scott Clemmensen and Ben Bishop. Good ol' Bish. He'll definitely make things happen... right? Really? Was Robert Esche not available? Conkblock? Fine. World Championship teams in Olympic years are wicked lame.

Round 2 of the playoffs start today and the Worlds start in a week. 

Sigh. I think I'm going to check out of the second round and wait until the Conference finals to give a crap about the NHL this season. 

It's so much easier to like the playoffs without your team if your team was never in the playoffs to begin with.

Recap and preview-not-a-preview

by Anne

I'm in the midst of chapter 3 of my psychology book and it's just downright zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anyway, as school makes me sleep a normal person's hours, I did not make it through the entire Kings game last night. I dozed off when it was 4-3 Kings and woke up to find the final score was 6-4 Kings. Yikes.

My love/hate relationship with Jack Johnson continues. Last night he and Kopi each had four points, JJ3 with one goal and three assists, Kopi with a pair of each. However, While Kopi was a +3, JJ3 managed to be a -1. Will wonders never cease? It's because he pretty much only scores on the powerplay, but whatevs. My fantasy team thanks them both for their contributions.

The Kings are now 22-0-0 when leading after two. Woooooo!

Tonight the Sabres take on the 'Canes. Cam Ward is out and Ray Whitney is going through an existential crisis now that Kovalchuk is off the market. He's all but guaranteed to be traded, but to where? Meh. It's the friggin' Hurricanes. They're turrrrrrible, please beat them? Pleeeeeease?

I realized that I mention my abundance of 8am classes in like every other post. But, for the record: 8AM CLASSES STINK. 8am classes on Saturday are surely the work of the Devil. Oh yeah and speaking of the Devil(s):

Like, Ilya Kovalchuk was traded to the Devils and junk. From a Kings perspective, this is fine with me. Dean Lombardi was not about to give away the future for a rental player. No, Don Waddell, you canNOT have Wayne Simmonds.

To summarize: Jack Johnson torments me, the Hurricanes are terrible and I still think Ilya Kovalchuk is a punk and I don't like his anti-backchecking ways. Also, Greener, don't move:

 

 

Sabres v. Canes tonight, puck drops at 7:30! Wheee!

Happy Birthday, Jack Johnson!

by Anne

Today Los Angeles Kings' and USA Hockey defenseman Jack Johnson III turns 23!

I thought I'd go a new route with your cake and bake one that reflects how your play sometimes makes me feel:

I toast to you

or

I want to wipe yours and Randy Jones' play in your own zone from my memory

Oh Jackie boy, you're American so I have a little more patience for your growing pains. Please get it together soon with the goals being scored on your team while you're defending? Or maybe score more to make up for it? :)

Happy Birthday, Jack!

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!

Who ARE these guys?

by Anne

The Kings played their best game of the season Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks with their backup goalie in net and somehow, someway managed to win 5-4 in OT.

Therefore, those boys had no business whatsoever bringing a solid game the next night against another tough opponent in the Phoenix Coyotes.

However, that's just what they did.

Oscar Moller, trying to be all "Look, I'm all mature and junk, look at my beard!" scored his first of the season and his first of this call-up to open the scoring.  Later that period Jack Johnson III shot the puck on net, it rang off the crossbar directly back to him and he shot the same shot, but this time it snuck under the arm of a Phoenix defenseman and he scored.

Then the Coyotes scored two goals by some losers and the game headed to shootout and then to OT.

The shootout went eight rounds, which happens to be the longest shootout in Kings' history. JJ3, Dewey, Justin Williams and Michal Handzus scored and they won!

Wooo!

Dude, how awesome is it that we snapped our goal droughts together?

And now we get to wear these boss 3rd jerseys

But, why do I feel like we're in a fishbowl?

Twenty wins!

First team in the West to hit the 20 win mark!!

:)

USA Wins First Game of Tournament

by Anne

The United States Men won their first game against Latvia 4-2 this morning!

It would seem that only current and former Los Angeles Kings are able to score in this tournament, but Brown, O'Sullivan and Johnson were kind enough to let this gent score too:

Nick Foligno and Drew Stafford put down their Sabre/Senator masks to celebrate Staffy's goal

Woooo! Drew Stafford scored Team USA's 2nd goal!

Jack Johnson (LAK, duh) scored twice and was named the Team USA player of the game, which means he was photographed with the awesome cow mascot:

Nice.

Goaltender Robert Esche who made 18 saves on 20 shots declared this was the best that Team USA has ever played against Latvia in his eight years playing in this tournament. Apparently Matt Niskanen was really freaked out about playing Latvia (click to enlarge):

Just close my eyes and SHOOT
Images from IIHF.com

Team USA fired 38 shots and were 0-4 on the power play.

Also, for those who might not remember, I'm very pro-Robert Esche. Here's a sentence from the game recap about Robbie:

"Robert Esche won his eighth career game in World Championship play. He has a 1.87 goals against average and a .938 save percentage in 13 career games played at the World Championship"

Well done, sir. How's Russia?

Their next game is Monday against Thomas Vanek and Team Austria at 10:15 am EST.