THEY DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOOD BYE!!

by Anne


Ok, so CLEARLY everyone else but me and John Vogl knew that Nathan Gerbe wasn't going to be starting in Buffalo on October 10th. THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT HURTS ANY LESS!

Sigh. Ok so I was aware that my former Facebook BFF wouldn't be here for opening night but I still had a teensy weensy sliver of hope.

Bye Nate! Bye Tim! Play nice with the other AHLers!!!! Marek and Marc might need some comforting... that is if Marc clears waivers... which I hope he does. Yeesh.

Anyway, Stafford has what Lindy is calling "cauliflower ear" which my Dad told me is something boxers get. If weirdly swollen ears gross you out don't try to hang out with Drew Stafford any time soon or google the term "cauliflower ear". Ewwwww. That's whatcha get for fighting Drew, and by that I mean, WOOO way to fight, Drew!!!! Wear that broccoli, er, I mean brocciflower ear with pride!


Tim Connolly is hurt. However, Tim Connolly is dead to me. Him being hurt is immaterial if he's already dead.


HA I love fun stories from practice:

The team, as a whole, had some issues during one of the drills at the tail end of practice.

As the players stood at the redline, Ruff placed a puck outside the circle and selected a player to shoot it at the net on the other side of the rink – about three-fourths the length of the ice.

Miss the shot, the team skates a lap.

And skate they did.

More than 10 players took a shot, and none were successful.

Craig Rivet? Too high. Jason Pominville? Not even close.

“This is a professional hockey team,” Ryan Miller yelled.

Even the coaches were unsuccessful. Assistant coach James Patrick and goaltending coach Jim Corsi both caused another lap when they shot the puck wide.

Miller decided to take matters into his own hands.

With Clarke MacArthur ready to take his turn, the goaltender crouched down and aligned his stick with the net, trying to tee up the shot.

Finally, MacArthur hit the back of the net.

“I was actually proud of the fitness part of it,” Ruff said after practice. “I wanted to see them miss a couple times, but I don’t know about 15.

“I was disappointed in James [Patrick] the most. You’re supposed to lead by example and he’s one of the coaches… you can understand with Jimmy [Corsi]. His almost didn’t get [the puck] to the other end,” Ruff laughed.

Hahahahahaha. Good times. In their defense, some of those players did play 2 nights in a row and SOME didn't, RYAN MILLER.

Oh yeah, and be prepared for the return of Captain Clutch. Yee-haw.

TGIF!!! I'm excited to actually be able to WATCH the boys in Blue and Gold on Sunday!!!!! and we'll probably actually get to watch the Bills too! (don't even go there with WIVB and WNLO and Time Warner Cable, its so STUPID.)

Have a good weekend!!

Question for the comments:

Matt Ellis, good acquisition? Bad acquisition? Where does he start the season? If its Buffalo does he stay here after Goose is better? Let me know what you think of him!!

And the Winners Are

by Anne

Some thoughts from the Awards show:

Dear sweet Ovie looked like a kid who got lost on the way to the prom. Did Tuxedo Junction hook him up? There was so much shiny red vest and tie going on, I couldn't handle it. Iggy appears to have gone to the same tailor, but they gave him white with black polka dots or something.

I was pleasantly surprised by how genuine Ovie seemed in his speeches. Genuine but boring. He was annoyingly humble. I wanted him to celebrate the Hart and the Pearson the same way he celebrates his goals. They should've put in some glass for him to throw himself into after his name was announced.

When Ron McLean interviewed Iggy in the audience, it was strange. Not gonna lie. NOT THAT I DON'T ENJOY ALL THE IGGY FACETIME I CAN GET. But it was like everyone was acknowleging that Ovie had already won and they wanted to give Iggy a chance to make his speech he probably hadn't prepared. IGGY!!!!! I STILL LOVE YOU! CALL ME!!

Pavel Datsyuk looks a lot like a kid I went to college with. I've never acknowledged this before on here, but it always throws me off.

As if trying to KILL ME, the man who introduced the Lady Byng decided to write the great American Novel while yammering his way towards the nominee video. Like, for serious, it was like the event organizers wanted people to care even less about the Lady Byng than most already do. I, of course had pinned all my HOPES AND DREAMS ON POMMER'S NAME APPEARING ON THAT TROPHY. But that's ok, Pavel Datsyuk. You're no where near as adorable and lovable as Cap'n Pommers. So PHOOEY ON YOU. POMMERS IS BETTER THAN YOU IN EVERYWAY POSSIBLE. I BET HIS GIRLFRIEND IS WAY HOTTER THAN YOUR GIRLFRIEND! If they gave out an award for the player who most embraces "The System" Pommer would win every year. The award for player who gives the most upbeat post-game interviews when staring into the face of a 7-2 loss? Pommer. The award for the player who most makes me feel like he makes bad things go away and makes rainbows appear after rainstorms? Jason Pominville. The award for the player with the most adorably doofy smile? Pommer. OMG DID YOU ALL SEE HOW UNBELIEVABLY ADORABLE HE LOOKED? I didn't really get a chance to see his lady, but the girl sitting next to him for the approximately 2 seconds we saw her, she looked pretty foxy, so, well done, possibly future Mrs. Pommerdoodle. I'm jealous of your life.

Trophy 2 of 3 that I cared about was the Jack Adams. No one pulled their team out of the basement more than Bruce Boudreau. He was a minor league coach who came in and coached a young, uneven team to a division title. Granted, it was a crappy division, but they were the best of the crappy. Yay Bruce! My mom was excited because he used to coach in Hershey and my mom grew up about 45 minutes from there. It doesn't take much for my mom to find deep, meaningful connections to random people, places and things.

Trophy 3 of 3 was the Calder. I was excited, but I knew Kaner was going to win, so I wasn't as nervous about it. That glorious Buffalo flat "a" vowel accepting an NHL Award did do wonders for my overall health and well-being though. It was a nice touch for him to give a shout-out to Buffalo, especially since he's probably been here since the World Championships ended and he knows that he'll catch slack if he didn't mention us. Yes, we in Buffalo are cracked out like that.

Vinny Lecavalier is one of the most attractive men on earth. What is not attractive is that buzz cut. I know he just had surgery and all, but, really? No. He must be single... or hate his girlfriend. Vinny's hair is one of his top 10 physical attributes, why would you change perfection? No one goes up to the Statue of David and tells him to put on some clothes. On that note, Vinny, I think you should strive to be more like the Statue of David each day. Start by being naked all the time. See how Tampa Bay embraces this habit. You may want to wait until after your hospital wing is dedicated. Being naked in front of a bunch of kids is probably not the way to win anymore King Clancy's. Just sayin'.

---

Private to whoever gave those kids who sat on stage those jerseys:

"Lidstrom" not "Lindstrom".

Wasn't that embarrassing.

You're fired.

Love,
Anne

Same result, different game

By Anne

Yes, Tone, this shit is getting old.

Aaaaaaand just like that, we're back on the rebound.

I couldn't watch most of this game, once we were losing to TORONTO by 3 GOALS, I had to turn it off. S(h)ara and I drowned our sorrows in dessert with our friend Tina at Pano's.

It's tough for those new to the love of Buffalo sports to accept defeat. After years of disappointment, I've become a hardened veteran. I grew up during Wide Right, the forward lateral pass in the 1st game of the playoffs v. the Titans, I watched No Goal in my basement family room with my parents and jumped up and down and screamed at the TV at the tender age of 13 and I've irrationally hated Brett Hull ever since. I hung onto the dream that when I moved back to Buffalo in the fall of 2004 I'd have Sabres games to watch....only to see that yes, really, the NHL had canceled the season. I'm still not sure how it got that bad. I watched the '06 playoffs with the starry eyed gaze of a child on Christmas morn, and it took me a long time to stop holding that penalty against Soupy. I, sadly, had to listen to us lose to Ottawa last season and almost cried right there in my car, driving along delaware when we lost. So, I'm used to losing.

It doesn't make it any easier when them team is redhot like they were last season, I still got mad and forced players to sleep on the couch when they made bone head plays, but they usually were able to quickly redeem themselves by being BA the next game. This season, not so much.

Yet, somehow, I'm not really sure how, I've developed an optimism defense mechanism, I still believe firmly that we'll win every "next game" or "next year". A tiny part of me kind of believes its possible for us to win "it" this season. That part of me is tiny and foolish, but it's still there.

Losses like last night are a little easier to swallow because it was to Toronto who until recently, haven't been able to buy a win. They're whole organization is falling apart. Carlton the Bear is about to be instated as GM. Things are tough. Although, maybe if mascots played more of an active role in contract negotiation, they'd be a little jollier. Sundin might ask for his no movement clause to be waived so he can be traded, the team might be sold, fans are quiet at the ACC and ticket prices are apparently sky-high? This is a dark time to be a Leaf's fan, so I suppose we can give them that win, give them something to be happy about while their franchise seems to be crumbling around them.

And, in spite of the many reasons why I shouldn't love him, Jason Blake, you are probably NHL BAMF. Dude has leukemia, takes medication for it everyday, and still plays hockey like nothing is wrong. You're pretty damn tank-ass Jason Blake, sorry your organization is unraveling. He's 5th in the NHL in shots on goal with (200+) that's pretty sweet.

Here's a picture of Goosie trying to fly away:

Spread those wings and fly, Goosie!