Mats Who?

by Anne

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tuned in for tonight's Canucks v. Oilers game to watch Mr. Sundin, of course. Mats had 15:02 in ice time but 0 shots, 0 points, 0 anything. Its ok, it was his first game. In the third period he knocked an Oiler straight to the ground with one hand. The rest of the Canucks are so young that he did look a little elderly out there, but he'll get more spry as the season goes along. Aw, Mats. Hahahaha.

Mats, I've hated you for so long, it's going to take some time for me to embrace you on my Western team.
But I will try.
Promise.

HOWEVER. The story of the game was not Mr. Sundin, it was Mr. Bernier & his scrappy little fourth linemates. Steven scored 2 goals in the 2nd period, 12 seconds apart. Both goals were the results of Big Bear being the recipient of some amazing passes from his linemates. Burrows scored the first goal, assisted by Kesler and Big Bear. Then Big Bear scored the other two, one assisted by both Burr and Kes, and then the game-winning goal on an assist from just Burr. Yay!! He was THIS freakin' close to a hat trick, I almost had a heart attack. It hit the inside of the post before being squeezed out. Grrr!

I had hoped playing with Big Baldy (as Alix calls him) would help Big Bear, and it did, sort of. They didn't play on the same line, but Big Bear's play certainly improved tonight. Woo!

YAHHHH!
WHO'S THE FIRST STAR TONIGHT?!?
YOU ARE, BIG BEAR!

Yay!

Healin' Up

by Anne

Cap'n Craigory will be returning to the line-up Tuesday!!!

However, Teppo is under the weather. Therefore, Chris Butler will probably stay up for at least until Teppo is healthy again. I think a Butler/Rivet tandem would work just fine or perhaps a Rivet/Tallinder and a Lydman/Butler quartet. Spacek and Sekera seem to be our most consistent pairing so I don't forsee Lindy breaking up the duo.

Timmy (Connolly, remember him?) might actually be back for a game or two by this weekend. Is it wrong that I just don't care? I mean, Timmy is an extremely talented player, but we all know he's going to last in the neighborhood of 2-5 games before something else happens to him and we find ourselves once again without his services. Its good to see him getting better but its just more of the same.

In "The Biggest Story To Ever Happen To The World Since Sidney Crosby Sprained His Ankle" news, Mats Sundin will probably be joining the Canucks to play the Oilers on Wednesday or possibly on Friday against the Blues. There's no word yet as to who his linemates will be, but for my own selfish love of Big Bear, I hope Bernier gets a shot with him centering his line. Its been documented by many that players who play with Sundin simply play better. Big Bear needs a boost. He's on pace for a career high in points, but that career high isn't phenomnal.

Speaking of Steve Bernier, thank you to all of you who sent me the link to this feature. I perused it several times and enjoyed it immensely. My favorite part is that throughout the feature its mentioned multiple times that he's kind of chubby and slow... and he's a professional athlete. Those do not generally seem to be character traits that go to other very often.

His little helmet says "Steve" and not "Big Bear"
What?!


Check out that mascot.
Good thing Stevie is all the way on the left in the 2nd row.
What a cutie.

Jingle *squeak* Jingle Bells Jing*squeak* All The Way

by Anne

Ok so on the advice of many, I've calmed the hell down, hahaha. All I have left to say about what was stressing me out is some boys are stupid and some boys are not.

The last 2 mornings I've dragged my sorry behind out of bed to head to my cousins' concerts at their respective schools.

Elizabeth (age 10, 5th grade) plays the flute and is in the chorus and her school is in the school district where I live so it took me, oh, 4 minutes to get there.

James on the other hand (age 11, 6th grade) goes to a school waaaaaaaaaayy over on the East side and I almost missed him play because the concert started early. But I heard his little beginner band play a few songs and he played a little duet in one of the songs and it was so adorable. Then his teacher took a picture with me and him and his mom and I will probably frame it because he looks so freakin' cute in his little tie. His goofy sister refused to smile for me when I was taking her picture. Booo!

They're so freakin' cute. Jimmy is especially funny, as I was about to leave he was like "When will I see you again?" He thinks I'm pretty much the coolest person ever. Please don't ruin this for him people. In a few years he'll realize what a dork I am and it'll all be over.

I have been Christmas shopping up a STORM over here, peeps. Yet I am still not finished. Boooooo.

WOW. MATS SUNDIN IS STILL NOT MAKING A DECISION. If anyone REALLY thought he was going to make an announcement today, I'm sorry for you. It was always possible but possible in the way that its possible that one day a man could give birth or someone could receive a facial transplant... wait, what? Both of those things already happened? Anyway, Mats is still unemployed. He just likes keep us on our toes and gets desperate when his name is not featured in the top stories on TSN. He's one panty-less getting out of a car shot away from being Paris Hilton. They guarantee in that article that he'll make a decision pre-Christmas but I'll believe it when I see it. $20 says he's back in Toronto after all this Canucks/Rangers blather. I like losing money.

I've been slowly writing this post all freakin' day long. Shopping and mailing and chatting is very distracting. I'm bored so I've decided to start closing posts with the latest Facebook status craze: Find the nearest book, flip to page 56, read sentence #5. I have a bazillion books so I will close my eyes and grab one off the shelf.

"David Petrakis is never, ever in trouble."

Yessss. What a great sentence. Hahaha. Um, so I have to see a play tonight and didn't realize until this morning that I never really asked anyone to go with me. Hmmmmmm. Well if anyone wants to see The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Theatreloft tonight, send me a message! Haha.

More Shenanigans While I Should be Reading and Writing Papers

by Anne

Now the Lightning are interested in Mats' services. There is like no way the 'Bolts are under the cap. There have to be at least like 27 forwards and 12 defenseman, and probably like 5 or 6 goalies with NHL contracts by now.

This could spell disaster. It seems that his return hinges on Halpie being unable to come back from the knee injury he sustained during the World Championships. Ok, so that's well and good, but I can't imagine the problems it would create if Halpie becomes healthy btu can't come back because too much of the cap is eaten up by the Swede and there's no room for his salary. This could create issues. Are they implying that Montreal is a new team that's interested? Because they only named Tampa Bay as a new team. Montreal's been interested for a while. Oh please God, don't let the Sabres get mixed up in these shenanigans in ANYWAY. Do not agree to deal with a team that has to get rid of players to make room for Mats. I don't want the Buffalo Sabres to help Mats Sundin in ANY WAY, DARCY.

I can't imagine Mats Sundin would go to Tampa Bay. If Mats comes back I see him heading to the Rangers or the Habs. Not Toronto and most certainly not Tampa Bay. He wants a legitimate contender, and the 'Bolts are too much of a wild card at this point. They could completely dominate or completely fall apart. There's a lot of talent, but talent is no substitute for chemistry and a strong system (thank you, Jason Pominville) and with Barry Melrose just returning to the bench for the first time in the "new" NHL, this could be a huge disaster. He's been analyzing the new NHL, but talking and doing are two completely different things.

Wait, didn't I say I wasn't going to talk about Mats Sundin anymore? SHOOT.

Let's talk about something a little more pleasant, like this hilariously awkward-not-remotely-hot-shirtless picture of Ryan Malone:

Is this posed?
Is this a look someone was going for?
Does he know he's making that face?
Personally I love the "Cram the white man fro into a baseball cap and ignore the way it muffin tops out the sides" look.

I've been increasingly distracted by dreamy pictures of Trent Edwards, leading me to wonder...

Is Trent Edwards the athlete in Buffalo whose bones I would jump on sight?

For the last, let's say... 2 years-ish, its alternated between Drew Stafford and (mostly) Paul Gaustad.

Let's compare:



v.





Sabres' Advantage: Goose

Now, let's compare Trent and Paul:



v.



Ok, maybe that picture of Paul Gaustad wasn't the best choice, let's try that again:




He he he

I'm still torn, but whatever Goose was drinking and/or taking when that picture was taken, I would like some for those gloomy post-loss days.

I guess the only thing left to do is stalk both of them for the duration of the Bills' season and see how things pan out for our "relationships".

Can Trent Edwards be my #5 favorite Sabre? And can Jason Pominville also be my favorite Buffalo Bill? Let's throw things at the wall of Buffalo Sports teams and see what sticks.

FYI, please search for "Paul Gaustad" "camp good days" (with quotations) and like 80% of the image results are from this blog, hahaha.

Boo-Ya. Someone's Employed. I Hate Mats Sundin.

by Anne

So its officially official, I must've passed my drug test.... seeing as how I haven't snorted coke, smoked up or shot myself up with various substances since.... never, I was pretty confident I'd pass. Ok the smoking thing isn't true, I have done that before. In college of course. WHAT A REBEL. But I digress, I was officially hired to work at DNC (ETA: DNC does not stand for Democratic National Convention... well, ok, it does, but in this case it does not) Sportservice at HSBC Arena as a food vendor. There's about a 90% chance that its going to suck, but I'll actually get to be in the rink and I may get to actually watch a few seconds of the games. That'll be sweet. Oh yeah, and I work on commission, so buy food from me. Wooooo!

There's an article on NHL.com about a bunch of players who invaded Manhattan to do promo work for the coming season.

One of the more interesting (and hilarious) sites was seeing each player having makeup applied and choosing through various wardrobes for photo shoots with NHL Images.

I bet Derek Roy came with Millsey as a fashion consultant, strictly pro bono. He dresses his fellow NHLers out of the kindness of his tiny little heart.

Soooooooo Martin Brodeur was there but didn't participate in the goalie talk? Interesting. If I were Millsey or Ricky I'd be like "Uhhhh, yeah we're excellent goaltenders and all but uh, Martin Brodeur is sitting over there, maybe we should defer to him... Now we're going to compete in the balloon shaving portion of the day's events."

Maybe its like the student teaching part of being an All-Star goaltender. Now Brodeur just sits back and watches them lead the world as he prepares to play in the final stretch of his career. Will the teacher become the student? Did Ricky and Millsey have new, profound insights on the world of the goaltender? Has Martin Brodeur's world been ROCKED?! I'm gonna go with NO on that one, but I'm sure Millsey and Ricky tried.

---

Dear Mats Sundin,

I straight up hate you. Like, I don't feel bad for your "difficult" decision you have to make, I don't feel bad that you have to warm up for 30 minutes before a game. I don't care that you're uncertain if you can play at your usual level again I DON'T CARE. In case your manager has neglected to inform you, YOU ARE A DOUCHEBAG. MAKE UP YOUR GODDAMN MIND AND STOP BEING SO DAMN FULL OF YOURSELF. THIS IS NOT A DIFFICULT DECISION. CHOOSING AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL IS A MORE DIFFICULT DECISION. JOHN KERRY WAFFLES LESS THAN YOU DO. DECIDE! CHOOSE HOCKEY. PLAY HOCKEY. HOCKEY HOCKEY.

The Canucks, Rangers and Canadiens organizations have got to be royally pissed off. Of course, on paper, to the media pre-Sundin's decision they'll talk about how they understand his dilemma and such a storied NHL veteran deserves the time he needs to make the best decision for himself. But you know the second he puts pen to paper or retires, the other teams will be lashing out at him like the scorned ladies he lead on for months and then took Julie to the prom instead. He's left them all hanging, and for what? To dick around for the summer and not decide anything? Now he's not even sure if he'll decide before the season starts! He wants to pull a Niedermayer/Selanne. GARY BETTMAN, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. I don't mean about Mats Sundin, because with my current level of annoyance with him, I'd just as soon cover him in honey and tie him to an anthill, but about this "retirement" thing. Don't let players un-retire after, say November. If it causes some players to retire early then SO BE IT. They can un-retire later if they really want to.

And on the "WAH WAH WAH I HAVE TO WARM UP FOR A LONG TIME" front, Mario Lemieux (who is the vastly superior hockey player) had so much back pain at the end of this career that someone else had to tie his skates for him, but HE STILL FREAKIN' PLAYED. Did he un-retire for the right reasons? Who cares, he still played and with his crappy team he helped bring Sid the Kid to Pittsburgh. He helped keep the Pens in Pittsburgh and helped keep fan interest and it has paid of TENFOLD in the last 2 years. When Mario retired, he retired, when he played, he played. END OF STORY.

MAKE UP YOUR MIND.

I think as punishment, Mats Sundin should be forced to play for the Thrashers.

I have never liked Mats Sundin as he as played the majority of his career with our division rivals, but now I flat out hate him. Joe Sakic made up his mind in plenty of time for training camp. He's a CAPTAIN and he acts like one. You, Mr. Sundin are a great big bald Swedish baby. How could you possibly not know if you can play? Talk to a therapist and a trainer. What else is there to figure out? Are you like the 4th grader who's unsure about transferring to a new school? Well just have Mom buy you that shiny new Camp Rock pencil box and you'll be the talk of the town! Everyone will want to be your friend. CASE CLOSED.

Please choose Vancouver so you'll be far away BUT DON'T YOU CORRUPT MY BIG BEAR. I DON'T WANT TO GO THROUGH THIS WITH HIM IN 15 YEARS.

I'm not sure who this is, but I love them

Screw you,
Anne

Sakic To Me

by Anne

Welcome back, Joe.

FINALLY ONE OF THEM MADE A DECISION!!!

Joe Sakic will be returning for a 20th NHL season and back with the Avs. I'm sure that the Avs are relieved, however, are we just going to go through all this next summer?!?

Hopefully Mats will learn by example and come up with an answer for us all by Labor Day. He said he'd give an answer in August. Well, first he said August 1st and THAT date clearly has come and gone with no word from the bald Swede.

Mats, we appreciate you loaning out your guns as advertising space, but could you please decide if you want to play in the NHL anymore? Thanks, loveyabye.

F to the YI I'm currently in my Special Needs Kids or whatever its really called class and it took me like half an hour to figure out that I needed to change some security settings to be able to log in to the interwebs.

I'm also not getting that 2000 Grand Prix I mentioned the other day. It turns out it needs almost $2000 in work and its just not worth it. So I'm getting a decidedly less flashy but newer and lower mileage 2003 Kia Spectra. Its a little more expensive but it'll be waaaayyyy less than the long term repairs and cost of gas and longevity of the Grand Prix. Word up. Gotta get the loan straightened out and I will be ridin' in budget-friendly style. Woo. Hoo.

Yo, I have a lot of homework. I have to read a lot. Booooo. I'm already over it. When one leaves their home at 7:00 am and decides that 6:45 am is a good time to pack up their bag, they forget things. For example, I forgot my notebook for my 2nd class but remembered the textbook. I'm a CHAMP. I don't like the class, but I'd at least like to be prepared to hate it. Alack and fie. Look at that, already over it again.

Peace out.

Hey, I Have a BLOG?!

by Anne

Yo.

Soooooo I've been busy. Show, Olympics, students, friends coming in and out of town, etc. etc. AND there hasn't really been much to report from the world of hockey.

Ryan Whitney had foot surgery and will be out until mid-January. This is probably a good thing for us because he, clearly, does not play for the Sabres, and therefore his absence will be to our benefit. As long as his playoff beard won't be affected, I'm ok with that.

Mats might go to the Rangers? Yick. That's annoying. Why? Because then he'll be with a team that he can probably help out. Gross. At least he won't be in our division, but I HATE the Rangers. Apparently the Flyers are his #2 choice? GROSS. Mats Sundin has clearly taken my list of least favorite teams and opted to choose one. He's clearly not going to go to Ottawa or Atlanta so he might as well choose from New York and Philly if he's not heading back to Toronto, which is all but guaranteed.

Oscar had a veterinary appointment today and i'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear that he is in "very good" health and will still be bothering his mommy and cheering for Danny Paille for many years to come. He's only like 1 1/2. He is currently passed the eff out on my bed with me because he's TUCKERED OUT from this mornings happenings. Poor little man.

I feel so detached from hockey lately. Never fear, I'll be at the Arena this afternoon so things will be better. I may rub myself against the larger than life portrait of Thomas Vanek in the entry way, just to feel reconnected. Or maybe I won't do that because then I might be kicked out forever. Whatevs.

I think my iPod was either lost or stolen the other day :(

Um that's all I can think of to report. Classes start in 1 week. I should probably, like, figure out where my classes are and such. Eh. I'll do that later. I might need to start panicking about Pommer soon. I saw a labradoodle last night and had a mini-panic attack about it. I'm giving myself a week until classes started.

How's everyone's life? I have SERIOUS blog reading and commenting to catch up on. Phew. Lots to do, lots to do.


OH YEAH AND WHO ELSE JUMPED UP AND DOWN AND COULDN'T STOP SCREAMING WHEN PHELPSY WON HIS MEDAL #8?!?! THIS GIRL DID!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!

I Only Got 4 Minutes to... Update This Blog

by Anne

I've been so FREAKIN busy this week. I barely have enough time to cheer on my OBF in the All-Around! What a terrible fate.

I'm still teaching and the show is on Friday so things are that much more ramped up, and THEN on top of that, I'm working at the shows at night at the membership table, so its a long day, from like 1:30-10:45.

That leaves precious little time for the IMPORTANT things in life, such as trying to get myself to hold off on panicking about my #1 man's contract, Mats and Joe (they should think about a buddy cop movie), Michael Phelps, men's gymnastics and how much I love almond M&Ms.

However, yesterday Jimmy, my now ELEVEN YEAR OLD (OMG WHEN DID HE GET SO OLD??!) cousin came over. Jimmy is the cousin who accompanied me to the Richard Zednick game. GREAT. He loves Ryan Miller and is convinced that Ovechkin plays for the Sabres. I never claimed he was "with it".

Anyway, I have my NHL standings tracker hanging up in my room, and Jimmy and I were reviewing NHL logos and team stars. He thought it was hysterical to constantly answer with "Pominville" or "Ovechkin" if he didn't know a players name. He also considered it hysterical to refuse to refer to Nicklas Lidstrom as anything other than Nicklas Flamel. Most importantly was the moment he couldn't remember the Vancouver "Canucks" so the word he pulled out of his 11 year old brain was the Vancouver "Cankles". In case you're wondering, I don't think Jimmy knows what "cankles" are, but I nearly wet myself laughing about a bunch of really self conscious men taking up hockey because the skates would mask their chunky ankles.

I DID purchase the Jonas Brothers album, which I'm sure you were ALL wondering about. Its pretty fun and rather enjoyable, and, yes I do occasionally feel like a creeper while listening to it. The only comfort I take is that two of them are at least 18 and the oldest one is only like 2 years younger than I am, and I don't feel quite as creeped out any more. FORTUNATELY they're all about being sexually pure or something like that until they're married so there's no risk of stumbling upon any kind of freaky sexually suggestive song being sung by a 16 year old boy who has curls that most of his female fans would kill for.

When did this become a Jonas Brothers blog? Does such a thing exist? I'm sure it does, why do I doubt that for a second? I have absolutely no interest in looking for them. I think they're going to be in Buffalo on Friday. I have to work, but I wouldn't go even if I didn't have to. I'm sure that all you hear through 90% of the concert is 14 year old girls screaming and carrying on like if they scream loud enough Nick (the 16 year old with the curls of a deity) will leap out of the audience and marry them on the spot. I can see the joint bank accounts now.

HOCKEY. WOOOOO!!!

Bryan McCabe's future is up in the air. WOW. WHAT A SHOCK, ANOTHER PLAYER WHO MAY OR MAY NOT MAKE A DECISION THAT WILL AFFECT WHERE HE'LL BE PLAYING NEXT SEASON. He Mats and Joe should just form their own band called the Indecisives and tour the world. They can visit Jagsie in Russia.

Yes Bryan, you can play the tambourine

Someone broke into Beth's (the head teacher of my classes) car last night and stole half of our costumes and stuff for our show so now I have to go find towels and bedsheets to act as weapons (yes, weapons) for our battle and some other stuff because we now are down 5 of our 10. Awesome.

Check ya later.

Welcome Aboar--- eh who cares

by Anne

Ok so the Sabres signed those two UFAs. I've moved on with my life.

Nothing too new on the Favre Front. There's just a lot of speculation today because the news conference that was supposed to go down yesterday was postponed when Brett and head coach Mike McCarthy sat down for a very long (like 3+ hours) meeting Monday night. Sigh.

Who doesn't love that former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is giving talks and advice to the Green Bay Packers on how to address the media? Brilliant. He runs a sports communications firm so he knows what he's talking about both with the media at large and the sports' media. The talks with Fleischer were scheduled before Brett decided to come back, but they couldn't have come at a better time.

However, we sit and wait to hear what happens next with good ol' Brett.

I'm trying not to let this situation sour my love for him, but its starting to tax my love. Hopefully this will reach a conclusion in which all parties are happy.

Sundin STILL hasn't made a decision yet. Almost every comment on these articles I've been reading have people feeling the same way about it: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST MAKE A DECISION. Just sign with Vancouver and call it a day.

What a crabby day this is. I'm mostly annoyed with everyone around me, so things do not bode well for anyone I may encounter today.

My Two Cents

by Anne

I suppose after being so sad about Brett retiring in March, I should probably offer my meaningless thoughts on his re-instatement.

I'm glad he's playing again as long as he plays for Green Bay. He shouldn't and couldn't play for any other team. It'd be like watching Jim Kelly play for the Dolphins, especially if Brett goes to Minnesota as was a rumor I heard the other day. What a disaster. All in all I'm mostly glad, and I'm sure I'll be even more glad once the season starts that Brett is back, but I can't help but feel bad for Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers was a first round pick in 2005 and has been declared the heir apparent to the starting job in Green Bay once Brett hangs it up. Entering his 4th season, it seemed like finally Rodgers was going to get his chance.... until Brett decided that it wasn't Rodgers time yet and he'd like to come back. I don't know enough about Aaron Rodgers to make any kind of bold statement about his ability as a quarterback, but if the team that's worked with Brett Favre for 16 years declares you're the one to take over, you're probably doing ok for yourself. This probably means that Rodgers could be a starter somewhere else. Does he play that game? Does he look for a trade to get his shot? Can he even do that? I don't know the rules about that stuff. Look at Buffalo. In a lot of other cities Trent Edwards would be a back up, but because of the way things shook down last season, he's our #1 guy. As I said, I don' t know how Edwards and Rodgers match up, but I'm guessing Rodgers wouldn't make Edwards look like Jim Kelly in a side by side comparison. I can't imagine Rodgers is really excited that he's going to be riding the pine for ANOTHER season when he was this close to getting his shot. Anyone have thoughts on Rodgers as a player? Is he any good? Is Green Bay dodging a bullet with this one? Should or could Rodgers request a move to another team?

Anyway, these were my vastly uneducated observations: Glad that Brett (at least for now) will be back in Green Bay and not somewhere else, and I feel bad for Aaron Rodgers. Hell, Rodgers could end up being the next Rob Johnson and then won't everyone (who's a Packers fan) be extra super glad Brett came back.

I got black stuff on my white dress today and my nail polish is chipping. I'm not good at having a manicure, or wearing white. Awesome.

Any word on Sundin? Sakic? Anything? Steve Yzerman's bit of advice to these boys is that if there's any waffling, they should be playing. Perhaps all athletes (cough Brett Favre cough) could take a lesson from everyone's favorite captain: unless you HAVE to retire before your brain falls out your ear or your right knee explodes, DON'T. You will regret sitting it out if you can still handle both the physical and mental parts of the game. SO, take some advice from Unkie Steve, JUST PLAY MATS AND JOE! JUST MAKE A FREAKIN DECISION ALREADY!

Have a lovely Monday everyone!

Back in Buffalo

by Anne

Thank hey-soos I'm back in Buffalo, the land of wireless internet, only 75% humidity, and no central air.

That's ok, though, I'll take what I can get.

Oscar is none to happy with his mommy for leaving for a few days.

Ron Wilson is about to become the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Its well documented that Mr. Wilson and BIG BEAR didn't get a long to well in San Jose. Hopefully he won't use his krazee mind powers to affect Big Bear for 6 games next season. Booooo. It won't be official until like Tuesday though. Whatevs.

Whatev, I kind of enjoyed watching Toronto just miss the playoffs and be worse than us for the last several seasons. It was pretty awesome. I'm not interested in this possible resurgence of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Although, it would be nice for Cap'n Mats to even taste the Cup Finals. Not at our expense, of course.

I don't even want to talk about the tomfoolery with Chelios' restaurant and the Cup. All I have to say is: Hahahahahahahahahahaha D-Troit is totes CURSED now. Hahahaha. Hope you enjoyed these last few Cup wins.

And:

Hhaahahaha, I love when crap like this happens.

Nice going.

In tragic, tragic news, the Tampa Bay Rays have fallen to 2nd place in the AL East, 1.5 games behind Boston. Not. Cool.

Ummm, no major off-season re-signings that have drastically affected my HockeyLife as of yet.

However, tis widely expected that the Dominator is about to hang up his blocker this off-season. Considering the average hockey career is about 6 years, I'd say he's had his fair share.

There's going to be a presser this morning about it.

Awwww, Dom. Now will start the "He was probably the best individual player in franchise history... sooooooo.... about that #39 thing.... about that being a big jerkface thing......." YESSSSS. Bring it ON. I, personally, do not have a strong opinion about the ordeal, because I'm not 100% sure what went down when Dom left town. That rhymed, ha.

For serious though, peeps. Leaving Buffalo is a great way for me to be reminded of why its so great. The town I was in is just so small and small minded. To most people there, there's nothing going on outside of their county. It just doesn't affect them, in their minds. I SAW A BUNCH OF MENNONITES PLAYING SOFTBALL.

It's just a weird town, the accent is weird, the people are weird, the number of radio stations that's main airplay is NOT country or Christian rock is like barely countable. Gas is cheaper there, so that's a plus. It's not technically in the South, but it sure do feel like it is. Not the BAD South, but not the good South like Nashville or Atlanta.

Whatev, I'm just glad I don't live thar where thar's no hockey and whar thar's lots o' scrunchies and Aquanet's still in bizness.

NHL Awards on Thursday! Woo!