Thursday Night

by Anne

I didn't invest much emotionally into last night's game. Its too bad they lost but, eh. Whatevs. Its just pre-season.

The game went by really really fast, so I didn't get to watch much of it. Normally I get to watch a lot of it by standing in the aisles but without commercial breaks and all that jazz, and very few stoppages in play, the game flew by and I had to keep a-sellin'.

I'm really glad I'm working at the Arena again. I forgot how much I like a lot of the people I work with there.

Some stuff:

• Pie had the hit of the game. He did this:

Pie go boom.

• There was a moment where a player took a puck off his visor. I don't know who because I didn't see it. I only know it happened because it was SO LOUD I heard it up in the 300s. Imagine if that had hit his eyes instead of a visor?! Yikes

• TK's and Grizz's goals were classic examples of two basic hockey principals: #1 Just shoot the puck at the net, you never know what might happen (Grizz) and #2 Get to the front of the net and an opportunity may present itself (Kennedy)

• For the most part Lalime and Enroth both looked decent. Its a shame we probably can't keep Enroth for long. I'm sure he'll back up Miller in a few seasons but if he continues to develop as well as it seems he will, he'll be too good to be a back up in a few years. Oh well. We can still be Facebook friends, right, Jho?

• Royzie was wearing the C. Vanek was wearing an A. I didn't see anyone else. I assume Pommer? Yoyo was not.

• They took two penalties v. Washington's 5 or 6. Unfortunately, they were very untimely penalties as they occurred in the dying seconds of regulation which gave Washington their two man advantage heading into OT. Oh well, its only the pre-season.
  

Vancouver v. Anaheim:

• Big Bear scored!!!! :)x1,000

Wooo!
His goal was the opening and game-winning goal.

Los Angeles at San Jose

• I only listened to this one but both teams traded lots and lots of power play time. I believe the Kings PK was a perfect 8 for 8 while the Sharks PK was a still pretty good 7-8 or 6-7. I don't feel like checking.

• It was 1-0 Sharks until Brownie FINALLY scored on the power play with just 9.5 seconds remaining in regulation.

• Despite the two penalties they took in OT, Jon Quick came up big, and only allowed one shooter to score in the shootout. Unfortunately Greiss did even better and didn't allow anyone to score in the shootout so the Sharks won.

Yer doin' it wrong!

Elsewhere:

• Theo Fleury scored the deciding shootout goal for the Calgary Flames... I still have trouble remembering he's back. Its not that it makes a huge impact on my life, but my brain has become hardwired to read "Fleury" and think "Marc-Andre" not "Theoren" so I keep getting tripped up by this comeback.

• Dion Phaneuf was convicted for the attempted murder of Kyle Okposo in last night's Flames/Islanders game. Okposo was diagnosed with a mild concussion. Seeing someone laying on the ice, head in their hands while goalies and linemates wrestle for his defense is not something you expect to see in the pre-season. Okposo irritates me when he's on Team USA but Phaneuf irritates me all the time, so advantage Okposo. Get better soon.
  

Everything about last night's game from employees to the game itself felt very pre-season. There wasn't the usual amount of nervous energy you feel at most Sabres games. There wasn't as much shouting in the concourse, there wasn't as much beer consumed. But there was still a lot of excitement. Unlike games where the Sabres HAVE to win or they're screwed, people were genuinely happy. Even when they lost, people were ok with it. Everyone seemed just happy that hockey is FINALLY coming back.

Tuesday Tuesday

by Anne

So I didn't go to work yesterday as I was driving back to Buffalo from Chambersburg, PA, so today feels like Monday to me. At least I know that it is, infact, Tuesday, and not the reverse. There's nothing worse than thinking something annoying is almost over, only to find out it 's continuing.

Huh, that's roughly how I feel about the Buffalo Sabres' season.

Anyway, so the Habs did beat the Sens last night, but they beat them 7-5 after blowing a 7-1 lead. Um, that's BAD, Montreal, BAD. So what does this mean for the game tonight?

Well, as Amy at Shots off the Crossbar has already highlighted, the Sabres are prepping newSabre Big Bear for the Ottawa game, by explaining their feelings towards the boys from his nation's capital:

“We hate those [expletive] guys,” one of Bernier’s teammates chimed in.

My guess is it was Staffy. Anyone else have guesses?

Ugh, the Pens lost to the ISLANDERS last night. With Wade Dubielewicz in net. WHO? Whatev, excellent showing, Mr. Dubielewicz.

Don't worry Pens, that win would've only GUARANTEED YOU A PLAYOFF SPOT. That's ok, those aren't important. It's highly unlikely they'll be knocked out, however, the word "guarantee" is always nice.

I almost envy the Islanders. They're guaranteed to miss the playoffs, so this is a great time to be a young player. This is when the young guys get ice time. Like, who the hell is the Islanders back up back up goaltender? Apparently it's Joey MacDonald, who? Exactly, but in a situation like this, hell, put the guy out there, what do we have to lose? That's why young guys like Kyle Okposo can come up. He can fill a role vacated due to injuries and he can get plenty of on-ice NHL experience when it doesn't really matter too much for the team if he screws up. BTW, Kyle Okpsoso scored his first NHL goal against that Saucy Minx, Martin Brodeur. That's pretty sweet.

Not that the Islanders are playing for nothing. They're playing for pride. I'm sure their pride is showing after last night's win against the evil monster that is Evgeni Malkin.

I find it interesting that Versus went on and on about how much better the Penguins have been playing without Sid the Kid, and, lo and behold, once they start flapping their gums, a painful, lazy, stupid loss without Sid. He should be back for the next game, tonight against New Jersey.

Do we think the Penguins are pulling a Tom Brady on us all? The Pens are on a hot streak lately, could they be saving Sid for the playoff push? I don't think so, but nothing is totally out of the question.

So, the Sens lost 7-5 last night, true, but they also scored 4 goals in the 3rd. I'm sure the Habs were kind of laying back in the 3rd. It's hard to blow a 6 goal lead, right? Well, yes, and they didn't totally blow it, but they came awfully close to blowing it. Is that kind of loss energizing or disheartening? The Sens had a solid effort for the last 20. Too bad their goaltending SUCKS. After the first, they pulled Gerber and put in Emery, and that didn't go much better for them.

I honestly can't believe the Senators have had the successes they've had with their goaltending situation, meaning they have 2 back up goaltenders playing as starters. Gerber and Emery can be good, but neither of them are going to backstop a team to the Cup. AND the Sens lost 5-4 to Toronto the game before. They win games by allowing a lot of goals, but by scoring more. And they haven't been scoring more lately. That's why so many Senators games have the other team scoring more than 3 goals: becuase their goaltending SUCKS, but their top line can produce goals. At least we have solid goaltending. We may not win as many games, but at least it's not because we can't find a decent goaltender. We have a freakin' sweet goaltender.

Wooooo:

What up, Hobey Baker Award?

StormTroopers aka Anne's Most Hated Team @ HSBC Arena, 7:00, bring your game face.