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.

Six of one, Half dozen of the other

by Anne

In the last three years the Sabres "Top 6" has looked like this:

1. Vanek

2. Connolly

3. Pominville

4. Roy

5 & 6. Stafford, MacArthur, or maybe Hecht. Someone's hurt? Move up Paille. No luck? Ok let's toss Goose up there. Not working? Afinogenov? Kotalik? Maybe Mair for a shift or two? Nah, let's scrap it and start over.

Basically, other than spots 1-4, things have been rather jumbled since Drury and Briere skipped town.

However, this season, the top 6 have basically remained consistent. The only differences were when Stafford was coming back from injury he was testing things out on the 4th line so he wouldn't hurt himself again.

Pominville, Roy, Connolly

Vanek, Stafford, MacArthur

------------------------------------

Grier, Ellis, Hecht,

Kennedy, Kaleta, Gaustad

+Paille or Mair, occasionally Paetsch

Looking at the line-ups for the past few games, you can't really disagree about that line of demarcation. No one's crossed it for more than a few shifts except Stafford, but he was an exception. Also, when a top sixer was hurt, instead of moving up a bottom sixer, Lindy brought in Ennis. I like this plan so far. I'm not sure why "Tennis the Menace" (thank you, Drew Stafford) wasn't brought up for Saturday's game instead of playing with eleven forwards.

In these recent goal scoring struggles, does Lindy leave his top 6 and bottom 6 in tact and just try to kick them into high gear? I'm  much happier with the way the boys below that line have played. Does one of them get rewarded for that? Who would get bumped down? If any change were to be made, I think I'd propose switching out Pommer or Vanek and Hecht or maybe Royzie and Kennedy, even if only for practice. Maybe get Gaustad up with Stafford and MacArthur.

Lindy shuffled lines in practice today, but he didn't switch between the groups. The top 6 were still the top 6 and the bottom were still the bottom.

Will Lindy make any switches? Probably not, but if he needs to send a message to a top 6 forward, creating such clear groupings will help him to send those types of messages down the line, even if not right now. If a top 6 player spends just one practice with the bottom 6, that should send a clear message, even without changing the line-ups for a game. It's a mental thing. Mindset is just as important in this game as conditioning.  I like it.

Bulleted Lists are easy to write

by Anne

Since I didn't watch the game :( here are a few observations from what I didn't see:

• We WON! WE SCORED LOTSA GOALS!
  

• Vanek is hurt. :(
  

• Goose, Little Foot and Patty all netted their first goals of the season;
  

• Mike Babcock can shove it about Ryan Miller. Especially after THAT performance by Ozzy;
  

• If this style of play is this "system" we've been hearing so much about, I totes have a crush on  him and I hope he stays so I can admire how pretty he is;
  

• I'm glad the Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters (who are currently PWNING the league... and I just cursed myself) benched Chris Osgood tonight;
  

• The Toronto Maple Leafs are god-damn AWFUL and it's AWESOME. I really thought they might be better this season. MAN was I wrong;
  

• Why do people keep using the word "truculence" when discussing the Leafs? I mean, it's true but people keep using it and I don't think they all really know what it means, they just think it sounds good;

• Georges Laraque is in trouuuuuuble This whole thing just screams of the reaction to the Avery "sloppy seconds" debacle. Yeah the ad was a little objectifying and in poor taste, but calm down, he said he was sorry;
  

• How much did Lindy enjoy that his team just pummeled Babcock's, his head coach for team Canada?
  

• I may be developing an inappropriate crush on Tyler Myers;

'

Hey Brad May

• I also might be ok with it.

Ohhh Patty. Nice dance

NOTHING IS HAPPENING

by Anne

I REPEAT, NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

This is entertaining though:

I love Mike Weber.

Oh Lindy

by Anne

Lindy Ruff was officially introduced as an associate coach for the 2010 Canadian Olympic team. Team Canada executive director, Steve Yzerman, introduced the coaching staff in Montreal. Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings is the head coach and will work with Jacques Lemaire, Ken Hitchcock of the Columbus Blue Jackets and our very own Lindy Ruff. Each member of the team was introduced, presented with a jersey and spoke very briefly with the press. Lindy's comments probably excited Canadians, but gave pause to Sabres fans. He said something to the effect of "let's skip the season and get started."

Uhhhh... how about we don't?

Canada, like Buffalo, likes it Ruff

Look! He's Really There!

by Anne

Today Royzie, Lindy and Team Canada played Reggie and Team Slovakia and Canada won 7-3:

Lindy's really at the Worlds! Look! I found him!


Royzie opened the scoring at 4:50 on the power play
He played 21:36, the 2nd most minutes on the team
Shea Weber, also pictured, played 21:37
Liiiindyyy, are we playing favorites?
There were no pictures of Reggie who played 20:01

Today Yoyo played France and lost 2-1.

Yoyo and Germany lost, but Yoyo scored Germany's goal!
All three goals were scored in the first period
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Yoyo played 20:44, 2nd most minutes on the team
Well done, Mr. Hecht

Tomorrow Little Foot and Team USA take on Sweden at 2:15 p.m. and Britney and Team Austria take on Latvia at 10:15 a.m.

Round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs ends today too! Woooo!! Let's go Caps! Let's go Devils!

The Regular Season is Over but There's Lots of Hockey to be Played

by Anne

In the battle of the Russians, its basically a tie. Alexander Ovechkin wins the Rocket Richard for most goals scored during the season with 56 for the second straight year and Evgeni Malkin takes home the Art Ross with the most points on the season with 113 (35+78). Ovechkin had 110 with 54 assists. Congratulations to both, I really hope your teams face each other in the playoffs.
Also, Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez will share the William Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed... although Manny did the duo no favors Saturday in Buffalo, giving up six goals.

And once again, the playoffs begin again without the Buffalo Sabres. Here are the match-ups and my predictions:

#1 Boston Bruins
v.
#8 Montreal Canadiens
Prediction: Boston in 6

#2 Washington Capitals
v.
#7 New York Rangers
Prediction: Washington in 6

#3 New Jersey Devils
v.
#6 Butter Snaps
Prediction: New Jersey in 7

#5 Philadelphia Flyers
v.
#4 Pittsburgh Penguins (really? they made it to #4? Wow.)
Prediction: Hmmmmm Philly, no Pittsburgh...yes Pittsburgh in 6

Western Conference

#1 San Jose Sharks
v.
#8 Anaheim Ducks
Prediction: San Jose in 6

#2 Detroit Red Wings
v.
#7 Columbus Blue Jackets
Prediction: Detroit in 7

#3 Vancouver Canucks
v.
#6 St. Louis Blues
Prediction: Vancouver in 6

#4 Chicago Blackhawks
v.
#5 Calgary Flames
Prediction: Chicago in 5

I'm ALWAYS wrong about these things and I just realized I didn't predict any upsets... there aren't always upsets but the ones I could see upsetting are the Butter Snaps over the Devils, and Rangers over Caps. We'll see how I do in the first round. I'm thinking "not well."

What are your predictions?

If I can't have Sabres in the playoffs, I can at least have Sabres in the IIHF World Championships.

Lindy has officially been selected as Team Canada's head coach for the 2009 World Championships in Switzerland! Hooray! Dave Tippett of the Dallas Stars and Barry Trotz of the Nashville Predators will back Lindy as assistant coaches. Hooray! Congrats Lindy!

Also, congrats to the Women's USA hockey team for defeating Canada and taking home their second straight gold medal! Wooo!

Now that the regular season is officially dunzo, I'm sure we'll hear players names trickle down as they clean out their lockers around the league. :(

ETA: Staffy announced on The Drew Stafford show on 97 Rock this morning that he'll be playing for Team USA in Switzerland! Yay!!

Also the draft lottery is tomorrow! Hooray! Playoffs start Wednesday!! Calder Cup Playoffs start this week as well for our Pirates! Hooray!

Coming Up Soon

by Anne

• April 14th is the day of the NHL Draft Lottery. I'm super pumped because how much would it SUCK if the Islanders had this horrible horrible season and didn't get John Tavares? I mean, as a Sabres fan I would find it entertaining but feel bad for Islanders fans. Although Hedman is pretty good too.
• World Championship rosters should be announced soon and the Sporting News is reporting that Lindy is in the front running to coach Team Canada which he has never done before. Of course no official announcement can be made until the regular season is over.
• Also, World Championship team rosters should start being announced soon! Hooray!
  
• I'm a bad blogger but lots of shiz has gone down over the last day and a half involving near death and job loss. But, that's settling down now so I'm back MUAHAHAHAHAHA!
• There are THIRTEEN games on tonight but I have a paper to work on so I will probably only being checking on score updates. The Kings play tonight at 9:00 in Edmonton and the Canucks host the Flames at 10:00.
• Tomorrow I have time to kill between classes so I'll probably write something of substance including welcoming Travis Turnbull to the Sabres.
  

What a Ride! Can We Go Again?

by Anne

Ok, that game was draining. I'm exhausted, I don't know how the Sabres feel, but I'm ready for bed.

I was pretty disgusted until the third when the following happened:

Me[to the Sabres]: Oh, fuck it, just GIVE UP!
Rick: GAUSTAD SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!

The timing could not have been more perfect.

Then I was back on the couch and MacArthur scored and I got so carried away I threw a cookie out of my hand and down the hallway.

After the first, the game was definitely all Sabres, and they climbed back from a 3-0 deficit. My sister and I are probably the most ridiculous people to watch a hockey a game with. We basically yell about everything and varying volumes and with varying inflections but we always celebrate and lament goals scored the same way and we always bury our faces in pillows during shoot outs.

That game was really fun. Thank goodness we won. It's nice to create some space in the standings by winning, not just because other teams are losing.

I loved Royzie's little kick on his shootout goal. He's gotten back to feisty Royzie after his usual slow start to the season. Yoyo once again scored one of those "If I can't score on a wide open net, I'm quitting the game." goals after several failed open net attempts by his teammates. GOOOOOSE with another 2 goal game and another excellent effort that we've come to expect from him lately. Then we were treated to a lovely post game interview. Lindy was uncharacteristically smiley during his interview. Hooray!

Miller was freakin'sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet in the shootout as usual. Its really nice to see the old shootout Miller back in net. He wasn't sweeeeeeeeet in regulation but he hung on and kept us in there in OT. Dallas didn't offer much in the way of pressure during OT but Miller kept us in it anyway. Marty Turco played an excellent game and really stole that point for Dallas in OT. He was great in the shootout, denying the Sabres top shooters, but might not have been as prepared for Royzie and Pommer who don't shoot very often, especially Pommer. Kotalik used the move that won it for him the last time, but Turco was prepared for it. Maybe next time he'll go back to the backhand.

Happy 3000th Regular Season Game, Rip!

Just when I'm ready to give up on them they go and friggin' win. Saturday is a game against a team that's close behind us in the standings, therefore, we will almost certainly lose. Oh well, I will enjoy this happy feeling while it lasts. I'm still exhausted.

Oh yeah, and today my Dad called Lindy "Lindsay". Hahahahahah, Dad. Hurricanes at home on Saturday. Woooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Don't forget to vote! Time's almost up!!!

Mish Mash

by Anne

Yay UB!!!!!! Bulls fans couldn't have asked for a more exciting game. 5 turnovers and beating a team by 18 points that hadn't lost a single game this season, and had never even trailed by as many as 10 points. Wow, wow, wow. :) My heart is all a-burstin' with Buffalo and alma mater pride.

Hockey:

I don't like it when Mommy and Daddy fight :( All things like that do is make me think "desperation move?"

Owen Nolan left Minnesota's game against the Canucks in the first period with another lower body injury :(

The Canucks won! Jason Jaffray (who the eff is that) scored the game winner, his first of the season. Oooooook. Cory Schnieder picks up his first NHL win, making 30 saves, and on the road too. Woooo!!!

He looks like he fell out of a Norman Rockwell painting

Iggy scored in regulation and Mike Cammalleri scored the OT winner to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3. Wooooo! Phaneuf earned an assist on all 4 Flames goals. There's a joke about sloppy seconds and only getting assists in there somewhere...

Not Hockey or Sports related:

The lovely people at the Apple store fixed Isaac so he's as good as knew. Literally. I mean, he's beautiful. They replaced the whole top of the keypad so its a new mouse, trackpad and keyboard. Its so pristine and feels like new again. And because they're awesome it didn't cost me a penny. Good times were had by all parties involved.

I'm so nervous about missing a deadline for a paper or exam that I've woken up like three times this morning panicking because I think its Monday and I missed an exam.

Good times indeed.

I Just Didn't Want To Say It

by Anne

Ryan said it. Kate said it. I don't like to be an "I THOUGHT IT FIRST!" person (because I wasn't the first person who thought of it, I'm sure) but the last home game before Thanksgiving as I was walking out of the Arena, I seriously wondered if this might spell the end of Lindy's tenure as coach. I ignored it because I chalked it up to frustration but...

Something's gotta give.

We in Buffalo are too sentimental. We need to have more of a "We want to win NOW." mentality. Right now we have a "We might win if we wait long enough." mentality.

Nothing in the NHL is permanent. We've had a great run, but this crap isn't cutting it. The signs have been there for a while, players not responding and The System failing over and over and over again.

:(

I want to keep Lindy.

I want to win the Stanley Cup more.

Will we win it this season? No. But if we make the right changes we might next year.

Frankly, I'm tired of "next year".

I want "this year".

Peter Laviolette is free and he beat us on the way to Lord Stanley's Cup.

This really makes me sad. I have way too much to do to sit here and contemplate the fate of our head coach and our season.

That Man Knows His City

by Anne

Lindy Ruff was quoted today as saying:

"The Bills did their part to get the curse away from the city so now we have to do our part on Wednesday night,” Ruff said of Buffalo’s 54-31 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Its clear to anyone with internet access and a brain that the City of Buffalo has hit a rough patch these last few weeks in terms of the success of our teams. We all feel it. Whether football or hockey is your National league sport of choice in Buffalo, (and let's face it, most people love them both equally) we still feel each other's pain. Lindy's been a part of this city in one way or another for almost 30 years so he knows the way the fans think, he knows the right thing to say to remind us that he's invested in this City.

Aw, Lindy. You old so and so.

He's such a stud.

Pirates and Sabres ad Captains, oh my!

by Anne

I decided to peruse the Portland Pirates website last night, and came across this totally righteous picture:

There are so many awesome things about this picture

Nathan Gerbe's bright yellow pullover
His actually not-so surprisingly large calf muscles
Cracker's belly shirt and the fact that he appears to be about 9 feet tall.
(Do you think Sabretooth will ever try to eat Crackers?)

In case you were keeping track of the "Crackers Classic Golf Tournamet" (what a great name) This team did NOT defend their title. Boooooooo!!!!! Gerbeeeeee!!!

They kick off the season on Saturday against the Manchester Monarchs, AHL affiliate of the LA Kings (I love when AHL and NHL teams names are similar). Last season the Monarchs finished 4th in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, 1 spot behind Portland... and they were swept out of the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Whoops! Anyway, should be a good start to the season for them.

This is the first season where I feel I have a strong enough grasp of the NHL that I can branch out and try to learn about the finer points of the AHL. Therefore, it would've been nice if the Amerks were still our affiliate, but as they are not, I am not discouraged: GO PIRATES!!! WOOOOO!!!! PORT-LAND! PORT-LAND! PORT-LAND!

AND they're giving out thundersticks at the opening game. AWESOME.

Their seating sections have fun Pirate-themed names too:

Personally, I think they should change "Quarter Deck" to "Poop Deck"
Too bad no one called and asked for my input.
Do you think the locker room is called like "The Cabin"?
Do they call the equipment manager the "Boatswain"?
Are they "Port Wing" and "Starboard Wing"?
I've got a million of these.

Can we just discuss that their athletic trainer is named Robert Frost?

The most expensive ticket to any regular season game is $21 if bought ON game day. Pre-sale its $20. WOW. I NEED TO START LIKING THE AHL A LOT MORE.

Ummm, the Flyers lost a game to their own AHL affiliate as they said good-bye to the Spectrum...again. Quoi? I thought they already said goodbye to the Spectrum, but whatevs. Should Flyers fans be nervous because the NHL team lost to the AHL team? Or excited because they clearly have some talent in the system?!!!

News of the captaincy drops today after practice!!! As Kate so eloquently pointed out, we have really no idea what exactly makes a good captain or which Sabre actually possesses those talents, so, as excited as I am to hear, and as willingly as I offer up my blatherings on my choice for captain, I will be perfectly happy to accept whatever choice our own "Ruff Rider" makes. (Thank you, NHL.com).

Woooooooooo!!!!!!! 2 more days til opening night!!!! YAYYY!!!! WOOOOOO!

SO, WHO'S THE FINAL CUT?!!?!!!!!

I AM NOT GETTING DEFENSIVE

by Anne

And neither are the Buffalo Sabres.... yet.

COME ON! We've seen that we don't have the defensemen in the minors to fill in the (at least) 1 or 2 spots we have vacant. We've definitely got Toni, Hank the Tank, Sissy and Patches. We might still have Teppo and Pratters. Sekera will most likely be making the leap. Ok. That would give us more than enough bodies to throw on the ice. HOWEVER! We need at least 1 more strong veteran that will be around for a few years to (probably) partner with Sissy.

I secretly thought we might get Ron Hainsey from Columbus because I read about him in passing the other day and he's just the kind of obscure signing that Darcy likes to do. However, not so much. According to WGR's conversation with Hainsey's agent, the Sabres haven't expressed any interest in signing him.

According to Darcy, we're also all but out of the running for signing Orpik. BOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I know, I know, trades are still possible, but I WANT MY DEFENSEMAN NOWWWWW!!!

ALSO: Where my Paille at? Big Bear? Grizz? TEPPO?!?!?

You know what else is not a wondrous thing to start your day with? Well I'll tell you:

So I went to Timmy Ho's (no, the coffee place, I'm not having an affair with Tim Connolly) to get myself an iced coffee and a muffin. Delish. The guy who took my order was clearly not a native born American or even North American citizen. So, to cut the guy a break, which his co-worker was not, I spoke slowly and made sure I didn't rush my order. I was all pumped for my tasty breakfast, my iced coffee was perfecto, and I took my first bite of my wheat and carrot (don't judge my awful taste in muffins) muffin when, blech, barf GROSS it was NOT a Wheat and Carrot Muffin but that abomination to all muffinkind: a Fruit Explosion muffin.

For those who might not know Timmy Ho's GROSS muffin choices, a Fruit Explosion muffin is basically a raspberry flavored jelly-filled blueberry/cranberry muffin. The same stuff they fill the donuts with. To some people? Genius, brilliant, they can't get enough of that jelly. However, I am not one of those people. I enjoy this raspberry jelly when mixed in with my Breakaway Berrier, but that was a fluke, a rare happening, a potentially gross flavor masked by my love for both Ryan Miller and chunks of dark chocolate in my ice cream.

There are very foods in the world that grosses me out more than jelly-filled donuts or muffins. Really I can't think of any food off the top of my head that makes me gag more. NOT a pleasant way to start the day. I thought of one. I get really grossed out when I hold a peeled avocado. What a GROSS texture.

Anyway, it was not a good way to start the morning.

Dev Camp is over, I hopes it went well for da boys. There's a nice feature on SabresTV about a day at Dev Camp including a hysterical bit about them working on their skating skills set to awesome ice capades style music. Featuring my latest frenemy, Nathan Gerbe and some ring around the rosy style team skating.

There's lots of Lindy talking to the players, and a great conversation between him and Tyler Ennis. I'm no longer posting SabresTV segments on here, because on PCs they eat the screen and COMMAND your attention. Not on Macs though for some reason.

HOPEFULLY OUR NEXT UPDATE WILL BE TO PROFESS MY UNDYING LOVE FOR OUR NEW TOP 4 DEFENSEMAN!! WOOOOOOO!!!!

Road Trippin' It

by Anne

So Cory (sister's boyfriend) and I trekked it up to NU today to see the prospects skate it out from 3-5. It was way more fun than I anticipated it would be. I was afraid I might lose interest after a while, and yeah, some times I found myself watching the players on the bench or Lindy, but for the most part I was pretty committed to watching the scrimmage.

Cor declared team Golden Oldies was his team, and I was forced to root for the Navy Newbies. Ok, they were only the Oldies because Stafford and Kaleta were on their team. Anyway, team Navy featured Gerbe, Kennedy, Myers and Sekera among others, and they held a commanding 4-1 lead into the 2nd half and held on to win 5-4. Who picked the right team? This girl.

At one point in the 2nd half, Kaleta had some few sweet moves to get around a couple defensemen, and we were all cheering him on when he totally wiped out and landed right on his tush. Then we all, including him and Lindy, laughed at him as he looked for a penalty, haha.

I know its a drum that's been beaten to death but Nathan Gerbe is really really good. He was nuts. He was EVERYWHERE on the ice and scored a couple of goals. He didn't seem to be intimidated or slowed down by anyone or anything. He came out on the winning end of quite a few battles with guys like Mike Weber. He and Kennedy skated well together, and you can definitely see they get along well. At one point, Gerbe was sitting almost at the end of the bench and Kennedy came and sat down next to him and just shoved him out of the way so he could sit down, Gerbe was unfazed.

At one point I think Ennis blocked a shot because he seemed to be in a considerable amount of pain when he was sitting on the bench and kept gesturing to his side... or so it seemed... I couldn't really tell exactly where he was hurt, to be honest, he was kind of far away.

After practice, Myers, Stafford, Gerbe and I think Southorn stayed back to work on some drills. Some other players were down at the other end, but they were far away so I didn't pay them any mind.

Darcy was wandering around going in and out of the locker room, he pretended not to hear me when I asked him about what he was planning on doing tomorrow. Just like Andrew Orpik pretended not to hear me when I asked him about his brother. Jerks. Just pretend not to hear me, I can take it!

Phrase I enjoy that gets tossed around all to much: "He's a special player" "He's a special kind of player" They can't ALL be special, guys!

Anyhoot, it was lots of fun and I'm pretty sure tomorrow is the last day for it, so if you can get up there, check it out, its a good time.

Hockey is Complicated

by Anne


What an evening of hockey THAT was.


WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! The only down side was that Versus and HNiC were broadcasting the Pens game, and neither of them broadcasting the Stars/Sharks game. I had to watch on Yahoo.com.


I really bring the Pens good luck, lol. The last game I started watching 1/2 way through it was 3-0 and they came back and won. Tonight I went out to dinner and came back 1/2 way through just to see the Rangers tie it at 3. Then they won this one. If only I had the same effect on my boys in blue and gold. Ahhhhhh. The Penguins are my regular season "other woman". It's nice to show my love for my hockey mistress this time of year, but we all know where my heart belongs.


And:


WOOOOOOOO!! Go Stars! YO, SHARKS! Do NOT mess up StUUUUUuuuuuUUUUU BARNES. Norstrom will eff you up by scoring a goal, which he's never done in the playoffs before this series. HA! He's got Nabby's number.


I haven't missed a Pens game thus far and they've won them all. The Stars have won every game that I've watched at least part of...iiiiiiinteresting.


Montreal has let down Sabres fans across the board. Most Sabres fans have been pulling for Montreal, which makes sense to me (they don't constantly wipe the floor with us, they for the most part aren't dirty players, etc.) and if the Pens weren't in this, I'd probably be pulling for them too. Yo, Montreal, what is the DEAL? You were so scary and good in the last part of the season and now you're falling apart....wait, are you secretly San Jose?


Oh yeah, the Avs lost to the Red Wings. I'm only disappointed because I thought the Avs might do it, based on how much Detroit struggled in the first round.....apparently not.


It was like I forgot Peter Forsberg played for the Avalanche. He was out for the first 2 games and I couldn't remember why I disliked the Avs so much. Then they showed him on the bench last night and I shuddered. I definitely should've picked the Red Wings. If for no other reason than I might get to hear more interviews with Zetterberg.


Thank goodness Ryan Miller was named to the NHLPA Goalie Equipment Working Group so I have something mildly Sabres related and relevant to discuss. I'm enjoying reading about Team USA, but mostly I'm grasping at straws over here.

On a related note: Here's a nice article about Kaner over in Camp USA. My favorite quote:

“Growing up my favorite player was Joe Sakic, and the game I scored my first goal, I was named first star and he was named second star,” Kane said. “Things like that hit you, and after that you’re like, ‘Wow, is this happening?’ ”

Yes Kaner, it is.

Anyhoot, does the name of this committee Millsey's on sound like a category in some sort of bizarre ice hockey themed dog show to anyone else?


Basically its 3 goaltenders (Brodeur, Pretty Ricky and Millsey) and 2 forwards (Heatley and Cammalleri) plus 3 people who aren't players including Brett Hull (ugh). They'll yammer on about the size of goaltender equipment being scaled back or being made out of tashcan lids or whatevs. They really should have J.S. Giguere on this committee. It looks like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is in net for the Mightily Mighty Ducks that are Mightily of Anaheim.


See?:

I am proud to announce that Iggy was nominated for the Hart Trophy.

This is his 3rd nomination. He came in 2nd in his previous at bats. There ain't no way Iggy's gonna win. Naming a 3rd nominee was almost a formality it seems. Most commentators have basically gift-wrapped the Hart and handed it to Ovie already, with a couple tossing it Malkin's way. It's ok, they had excellent seasons, but then again, Iggy did too, just not in the same explosive way. 50 goals ain't nothin' to sneeze at. It's ok, Iggy, you'll win my Heart! (Ha, see what I did there?)


If Bruce Boudreau isn't nominated for the Jack Adams Award, I will be irate.

Do I need to elaborate all the statbit-istical reasons he needs to be nominated? Look at his little face! He's so cute! He is without a doubt the most adorable coach in the NHL. Er, um, no offense Lindy.

: None taken, I know you think I'm tops.

: It's true, Lind-o, I do. You're still my main man.

: Thanks...is that you as a South Park character?

: Why yes, yes it is. Thank you for noticing.

: Any time. What are you holding?

: It's a Sabre....duh.

: Wow.

Caption this

by Anne

We're going to play 10th grade English class.

Please write a dialogue for the conversation taking place in this picture:

Aaaaaaaand go.

There is no hockey to watch tonight, ACK!

by Anne

Here's a question: Does ANY team really HATE the Buffalo Sabres?

I mean, honestly, most teams that we hate don't feel that strongly about us. Apparently, Carolina hates us, according to a broadcast heard by Matt at Life is like a Bowl of Porkchops, but I don't really see why. They eliminated us in 2006.

I think there's some mutual dislike between the Senators and the Sabres post-lockout, but I believe their rivalry with the Leafs is more prevalent for their fans as they're in the same province. Honestly, every team in the League...ok well maybe not every team, but most teams that have been around for almost 40 years, have that 1 rivalry in which they mutually hate each other's guts. I'm thinking the closest one we have this season is the Flyers or the Rangers, but I'd say Flyers and Penguins, once again because they're in the same state and/or province, is a much more heated rivalry. I mean, yes, we're 1 of 3 teams in New York State, but the Islanders, Rangers and Devils are much closer geographically and I think most people forget we're not in Ontario too because HSBC Arena is within spitting distance of Canada. Not that I'd spit on Canada, I like Canada and Canadians, except for that one douche bag who I met on Allen St. a few months ago who called me fat because he thought I was insulting Canada, but I was talking about how the Canadian national anthem is easier to sing than the American.... translation: Clearly, I think Canada should be blown up. That's what he heard anyway. Oh, and except for those morons who go to the outlet mall in Niagara Falls, buy tons of stuff and then leave all their empty packages and discarded tags and wrappings in the parking lot. I don't like those Canadians, but they don't represent you all. Besides, 1/2 our team is Canadian... and Canada has universal health care... and hockey comes from Canada.

I just Googled "I hate the Buffalo Sabres". The closest thing I got to actual hate for the team is 1 Leafs fan was mad about Saturday's game. And someone who posted that they didn't like the Sabres on a Newsies' discussion board in June of 2006. Without the quotation marks, you get 1 Senators fan who doesn't like Sabres fans, but doesn't hate the team. Wow, we're like the Switzerland of the NHL. No one really cares about us. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, people SHOULD be indifferent about teams like the Nashville Predators or the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Florida Panthers but I thought Buffalo would draw a little more attention being that we were the boss of (almost) everybody last year.

Ok, here we go: "I hate the Sabres" brings us Gus Katsaros who hated the team a year ago because we were so good, and he's a Leafs' fan. Ok, the next several are Heather B. and other frustrated Sabres fans. Yeah, apparently the odd Leafs fan or Senators fan hates us, but that's about it. Who knew we were so palatable by the reast of the League?

I'll close this post with another picture show, because I really like them.

Anne's NHL Divisional Boyfriends

2007-2008 Edition

Enjoy:

Western Conference

Pacific Division

Ryan Getzlaf

I'm sorry, but after finding this photo:



J.S. Giguere is my new Pacific Division boyfriend....I hope his wife is ok with that...

Central Division

Jay McKee (um, duh?)

Northwest Division

Jarome Iginla

There's really no reason for this, I just like the guy. I don't really follow the Flames, but he's the kind of team captain I like: scores goals, gives entertaining interviews, has a great smile and drops the gloves as needed.

Eastern Conference

South East

Ilya Kovalchuk

HA! No, seriously read back to the last post, its Vinny.

Atlantic Dvision

This was a TOUGH call. I cannot lie.

After MUCH debate and deliberation, I hand the Atlantic Division of my heart to:

Pretty Ricky.

North East Division

At first, I thought I'd never be able to choose just one North East Division boyfriend. I mean, do I choose a Sabre, just because it seems right? But how could I choose? Do I give the nod to Chris "Slumpy" Higgins, just because I think he's hot? That's more or less why I gave the nod to Rick DiPietro. That Marc Savard is kind of adorable... Patrick Eaves is now in the South East... It seemed an insurmountable task But, wait! How could I forget? What single man (no, its not Sabretooth) has been there through it all? Hahahahaha, foolish, foolish girl:

Lindy Ruff

Lastly, according to Google Analytics, someone found our blog by searching for:

"cca652debbbaa20c2c5a0d6ce7415e425f42f79360922ac785f39d3e3824647e14919543bdc37e2ae6498eb637a964394bc8cebfd82f30ea7d1804b486db2aa7"

Well, welcome aboard, 1 random person on March 10th.