He Likes Us! Hey Mikey!

by Anne

Mike Grier and the Sabres have reached an agreement for him to stick around next year.

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Hooray!

Good news!

Ok, I never doubted that they'd re-sign him, but it's good to see it made official. He gets a slight raise from $1.2 million to $1.4 million. $200K well spent, Darcy.

2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Forwards

by Anne

Continuing where we left off yesterday: the forwards.

#9 Derek Roy

80gm, 26G, 43A, +9, 19:22

All in all a somewhat typical season for Royzie. He took FOREVER to get his first goal of the season and he didn't amass as many points as he has in previous seasons. However, those previous seasons he and only a small number of other forwards were contributing and this scoring by committee style has knocked his goal totals down a touch. He was good more often than he was awful. He tied for first in GWG and had 3 OT winners.

Grade: B

 #13 Tim Kennedy

78gm, 10G, 16A, -3, 12:57

This being his first full season in the NHL, I'm going to go easy on Lil' Timmers. He was ok. He has signs of being better in years to come. Pommer, Royzie and Vanek all had just "meh" rookie seasons. He'll be better next season.

Grade: B-

#19 Tim Connolly

73G, 17G, 48A, +10, 18:37

Aside from his recent injury, Timmah was an iron man this season. He had an epic point-streak in December/January and lead the team in assists. There were several nights when he was the best player on the ice and was frequently the best forward. Remember how we said a healthy Timmah makes the Sabres better? True dat.

Grade: A-

#21 Drew Stafford

71gm, 14G, 20A, +4, 14:28

I think the thing about his stats I found most surprising was that he finished the season a + player. He's been better, he should be better and he's just not. I'm glad to see, though, that we stopped relying on him as a consistently top-6 player because he's not one. He's had a few solid games but not enough.

Grade: C-

 #22 Adam Mair

69gm, 6G, 8A, -2, 9:14

Remember when he was put on waivers? Yikes. I'm glad Mairsy is still here. He works hard, he took the waiver wire with professionalism and the Sabres are the better for it. He knows his role and he does it well. As a whole, the team fought less this season and tried to limit penalties as a whole. He did his job.

Grade: B

 #25 Mike Grier

73gm, 10G, 12A, -4, 15:47

Mikey had a very Mikey season. He has hands of stone and he's slower than molasses on a cold day but he's consistent! He was topnotch on the PK, a great veteran mentor for Tim Kennedy and just made everything better.

Grade: B+

#26 Thomas Vanek

71gm, 28G, 25A, +9, 16:45

Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. Yet another frustrating season in which you went bananas at the end. He should just always be told it's mid-March/early April. He seems to play really well then. However, his four-goal game could not make up for his endless stretches of goal-lessness. He was a + player, which has been a struggle for him since his +47 season.

Grade: B-

#28 Paul Gaustad

65gm, 12G, 10A, -7, 15:44

Tied a career-high in goals (set last season). His greatest contribution to the team has been faceoff wins, which he produced at 57.4% this season. Goose doesn't get much fanfare and got even less than usual this season. His +/- is a tad unsettling but bottom six players rarely have high +/-. I'm fairly confident that he, Miller, Grier and Rivs were responsible for keeping certain players in line and being held accountable. That topic didn't come up nearly as often this season as it has in the past two (non-playoff) seasons.

Grade: B+

 #29 Jason Pominville

82gm 24G, 38A, +13, 18:44

Pommer was the Sabres most consistent forward for most of the season. Once again, he played all 82 games this season. He hasn't missed a regular season game since he was a healthy scratch April 7, 2006. I really don't have much bad to say about his season. Like every other forward, his points total was lower than last season or the season before. It's the new system and I think we all have to accept that.

Grade: B+

#36 Patrick Kaleta

55gm, 10G, 5A, +2, 10:09

One of the only exceptions to the above statement about players scoring less is Pat Kaleta. He more than doubled his career high in goals and lead the team with 2 shorthanded goals. He had 148 hits in only 55 games. He was consistent and did his job as was expected of him. He even had a few fights and drew lots o' penalties.

Grade: A-

#37 Matt Ellis

72gm, 3G, 10A, -1, 9:03

Matty played a career-high in games and set a new career high in assists. Much like Mike Grier, he was consistent and has an incredible no-quit work ethic. I often describe his work ethic as "If I don't play well tonight, they'll feed me to the lions tomorrow." He was responsbile (12 PIM) and won some faceoffs. What more can you really ask?

Grade: B+

 #55 Jochen Hecht

79gm, 21G, 21A, +14, 17:11

Lead the team in +/-. Thank goodness he's back in his defensively-responsible mode. We definitely needed that from him this season. He was consistent and consistently solid. I liked seeing him and Pommer occasionally reunited this season. It made my heart all a-flutter. Same thing with Royzie and Vanek. Sometimes the old chemistry worked for them.

Grade: A-

These three players played only 10-20 games in a Sabres uniform (and are still with the team):

 #17 Raffi Torres

14gm, 0G, 5A, -3, 13:20

Go away. I don't like you.

Grade: D

 #42 Nathan Gerbe

10gm, 2G, 3A, +1, 14:38

I definitely like what I've seen. The 3G Network^TM (Gerbe-Gaustad-Grier) has been clicking. A huge sigh of relief to see him produce at the NHL level. Thank goodness.

Grade: B+

 #63 Tyler Ennis

10gm, 3G, 6A, +1, 15:20

He can score in the AHL and in the NHL. Gee, the 2009 AHL rookie of the year (Gerbe) and now the 2010 AHL rookie of the year (Tennis the Menace) actually playing well in their call-ups? Wa-hoo! Here's hoping things stay consistent and they don't suffer Chris Butler-like collapses when they inevitably make the club next season :)

Grade: A-

Overall this "scoring by committee" has diminished most players scoring. Having Ryan Miller in net still made it possible for us to win. Lots of players had scoring bursts at the end of the season which makes me feel little more optimistic about their ability to score in the post season.

Forwards overall grade: B+

Howdy from Nashville!

by Anne

Howdy, y'all!

I'm sitting in our hotel room while Moms takes a nap. We'll soon be heading out to explore some of what "Smashville" has to offer us this afternoon. The flight down was uneventful and the weather is gorgeous. It's a little cool but we Buffalo gals can handle it just fine. The hotel is really nice and very close to the Bridgesrone Arena and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

I don't have much nice to say about the Kings after last night's game other than to essentially BEG them to win because they never beat the Predators and Bernier needs the wins to earn him a roster spot.

Last night's Sabres game was far more pleasant and for once the Versus broadcast didn't really bother me. I have named the unlikely lone of Gerbe-Grier-Gaustad as the 3G Network. They responded to their new name by combining for a somewhat goofy but awesome Goose goal. A week or so ago I whined a bit about how it had been too long since Goose scored and he responded with his current three game scoring streak. Thank you, Paul.

It was nice but not altogether surprising to see the team's balanced scoring continue without Vanek and Connolly. Hopefully after seeing the zip in Ennis and Gerbe, those two will come back in fighting form.

Time to get ready to head out! Let's go Kings!!

Extra Innings, Extra points?

by Anne

I assume that one day the Sabres will not get a point out of  a game and will just lose in regulation like everyone else does. However, for the last nine games, that has not been the case. They're 7-0-3 in their last ten games. Their last regulation loss came to Washington on December 23! Isn't that bananas? I feel confident they will lose in regulation on this upcoming swing through the Pacific division with that one sidestep into the Northwest to play Big Bear.

Anyway, once again the Sabres were far too polite and kindly allowed the Islanders to score the first two goals before tying the game. They then went on to have yet another lengthy shootout that they lost. I never even think about Ales Kotalik until wer'e at shooter number seven and I think "if we had Big Czech Al, this would've been over by now..." but then I remember his other shortcomings and glance at his stats in New York and I don't miss him quite so much.

Mike Grier and Drew Stafford scored and the shootout went (I think) eight or so rounds. Pat Kaleta? Really, Lindy? Whatevs, we still got a point.

Why hello there, you foxy Captain-y gentlemen

;)

And Darryl Strawberry and that kid with Autism
They're no Darth Vader, right Craigory?

Mike Grier, your mouth is enormous, sir.

The afternoon prior to the Sabres game, the Los Angeles Kings played host to the Boston Bruins.  It would do both of my teams immense good if the Kings were to win Saturday afternoon's tilt in LA.  Unfortunately, things did not start out too spiffy as the Kings, once again were down by two headed into the third.

Then Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown said "yo, eff this losing in regulation business. Stolly started us off, let's finish this and get at least a point." They both scored in the third to tie the game at three. This was a welcome balm after the Bruins scored twice in eleven seconds in the second period. This blogger was about ready to turn the game off. But we all know I'm a pansy and won't really turn the game off until it's over.

Jarret Stoll is a close-talker

But he seems to be sharing some juicy gossip with Brownie

 Maybe they're checking out a hot chick in the stands

Then things went to overtime and nothing happened. Then it was time for a shootout. Kopi scored and neither of the Bruins did in the first two rounds so Brownie scored the clinching goal in the third round of the shootout and the Kings won 4-3!

Tim Tom was not happy about it.

LOOK OUT, BROWNIE!

Three out of a possible four points for those two teams on Saturday was pretty good.

Tonight the Sabres play in Phoenix at 7:00 which is nice because it's Martin Luther King Day. As I typed that I wrote "Kings" instead of "King." Whoops.

We are slowly reaching January 21; A day that has been circled on my calendar since the schedule was released. A day in which I will be tormented to no end watching these two teams play each other. Needless to say, I hope it will end in overtime at least.

Happy Birthday, Mike Grier!

by Anne

Today Mr. "I hate you guys, JK I'm totally back because my BFF Rivs conviced me" turns 35 which means in hockey land he's super old. No offense Michael but it's true. You have special contracts and everything.

I baked you the same cake I baked Rivs on his birthday since you're the same age and you came all the way to Buffalo so you could continue to be "bros"

Happy Birthday, Mikey!

Quick Hits

by Anne

• Why do I still write "by Anne" at the top? It's clearly only me who posts in here.
  

• Patrick Lalime played well! Woo!
  

• Timmy did too! He was so cocky and swaggery and baaaaadass on his shorthanded goal
  

• I want to make babies with Mike Grier, except our children would be PAINFULLY slow on their skates. Oh well, I still loves him.
  

• Umm We're like the only team in East with a winning record against the West. We might not be the only ones but I'm pretty sure we're the only ones undefeated against the West.
  

• I was only partially paying attention to the beginning of the game because my sleepiness won out.
  

• I could've lived a long life without looking at a hairy shirtless Tim Connolly in his post-game interview. Jussayin'
  

• One team is totally PWNING the other teams in our poll to the left. I won't say which team but if you're concerned about your favorite fictional team winning a meaningless medal, I'd step up the votage.
  

• Drew Stafford, I love you. I want to love you but this relationship is painful. You're always hurting me and I just don't know how much more I can take this abuse.
  

• I'm going to see Avatar tomorrow and I'm super stoked.
  

• Woo!
  

Hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ves-HA! Toskala

by Anne

Well looky there. The Sabres beat the 2nd worst team in the league again! Hooray!

That first period was downright terrifying, however. The Sabres didn't register their first shot on goal til something like 12 minutes into the first. Oh heavens, it was uncomfortable. The Sabres could NOT do anything right, it was awful to experience.

What changed, you might ask? What allowed the Sabres to come around to an eventual 5-2 victory? Was it something Lindy said? Well, I'm sure he had plenty to say. Did Mike Grier and Goose employ their Good Cop/ Bad Cop routine I've envisioned that they use? Perchance.

 But, nay friends, all the Sabres needed to really turn momentum in their favor was one really awful goaltender. Stepping up to the plate tonight was one Mr. Ves-HA! Toskala, mishandling the puck like nobodies' business. First Royzie scored a nice goal to get the Sabres on the board. Well done, Derek.  Then, the momentum changing GOAL OF THE DECADE was scored by none other than.... Toni Lydman? Yes, Toni Lydman's goal was completely awesome. After he scored I walked out into the concourse and said "Toskala for Vezina!" The Leafs fan walking past was not pleased. Just watch it again, or maybe for the very first time:

I love Toni Lydman, they need to interview him more, sidenote. Here's his commentary on how he scored his first of the season:

"Usually they're really pretty," joked Lydman, who has 30 goals in 612 career NHL games. "I can't remember scoring a goal like that before."

Grier and Lydman had two points, both 1+1 while Vanek, Ellis and Roy also scored.

Somehow Staffy was a -1. He's been pretty invisible lately, come to think of it. What's wrong with Staffy?

Oh yeah and Ryan Miller like stopped a lotta shots and junk. The Maple Leafs bring out the best in him.

I love his comments on Lydman's goal, though:

"As a goaltender you feel bad for Vesa on that play," he said. "You know what he's trying to do ... he's looking for an option. But playing against the Maple Leafs, I don't really care too much."

He hates them like we do, being all full of d-baggery and being in the division and whatnot. He know just what to say to make the fans happy.

Other things of note:

DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE ME AGAIN.

:)

No but really, don't leave again, like, to go to another team

YOU EITHER:

Srsly, don't get hurt anymore

Also, things that look bad, but aren't:

That doesn't look comfy

Also, some of the Minnesota Wild's equipment was destroyed in a fire in Ottawa. How crazy and that must've smelled TERRIBLE with all that fiberglass and plastic melting combined with the usual hockey-stink that sticks to equipment. GROSS. They play the Senaturds tomorrow night. Basically what I'm getting at is Ottawa is full of people who are out to sabotage opposing teams. First the Sabres get food poisoning and now the Wild's equipment is destroyed. Conspiracies abound! I'd blame the players but they were in New Jersey. EXCEPT FOR MAYBE JASON SPEZZA AND CHRIS NEIL AND PASCAL LECLAIRE! Guilty.

Sorry I kinda died for a few days

by Anne

Yeah so I had all these grandiose plans for the putting to bed of Sabretooth's House and the emergence of QCSB, but then a stomach bug had other plans for me and I was outta commission from Friday afternoon until, well, right now, 7:50am Sunday morning.

Must re-cap a few days:

Thursday:

• Baby Schenner did not impress too highly in his NHL debut, but other than Quickie, none of the Kings really did. They lost 4-1 to the Canucks. I didn't make it through the entire game.
  

• I ate lots of Thanksgiving yumminess and it rocked.

Friday:

• I did not realize the Sabres game was on at 1:00 until it was 1:40 so I missed all of the first, except for the Flyers scoring their second goal. Boooo.
  

• Fortunately, the Sabres managed to hold it together and win 4-2.
  

• Goose hipchecked himself into the boards and hurt his knee. Ummm, not good, Goosie.
  

• Then Craigory took an awkward tumble into the boards and injured himself. 
  

• Kaleta hit someone and got suspended for it. Lame.
  

• I got really sick around 6:00 and was sick all night. It was quite unpleasant.

Saturday:

• I ate some solid foods
  

• The Sabres, Canucks and Kings all played.
  

• The Sabres played two of the most boring periods of hockey of the season before waking up and remembering they were playing the HURRICANES and scored five unanswered goals in the third to win 5-1.
  

• That wouldn't be quite so bad if the Butter Snaps hadn't allowed five unanswered goals in the third to lose 6-4 the night before. Oh Butter Snaps.
  

• This is already the second time this season the Sabres have won back to back games, something they only managed to do once last season. Whee!

 Mikey opened the scoring.

I love him.

I didn't care too much about him when he was in Buffalo before.

Now I adore him.

• Miller played out of his ever-loving mind. I should've tossed him and his glove hand on my list of things I'm thankful for.

Rick was right.

We are not worthy

• Tyler Myers had a terrrrible giveaway that lead directly to the Butter Snaps only goal, but Lindy just left him on the ice to work out the kinks and he finished the night with four assists. Three for the Sabres and one for the 'Canes. Haha. ohhhh, too soon?
  

• The Canucks hosted the Oilers and trounced them 7-3. The Canucks PK was not good, going 1 for 3, but they scored 5 goals in the first and chased Deslauriers. Seven different Canucks scored and Kes had three assists. Wooo!
  

• The Kings played the Blackhawks last night in a tight game. Simmer opened the scoring and Tazer answered, but that was all the scoring they could muster in regulation and OT. It went to the shootout where both Kopi and JJ3 scored and Quickie stopped the first two Blackhawks shooters and the Kings won 2-1! Wooooo!
  

• I fell asleep before the 3rd period of the Kings game. It's always grand to wake up to a Kings victory, especially when I didn't bench Quickie for the Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters.
  

• Quickie played an outstanding game. A game like the ones he opened the season with, thank goodness.

Quickie says NO.

I'm not sure what that dude in plaid is doing, exactly.

Tonight the Canucks host the Sharks. I will probably not be watching as it is my Mama's birthday.

Happy Birthday to my Mama!!!

Lindy's Nashville Game Plan

by Anne

Lindy Ruff's patented "How to Suck the Life out of every game we play in Nashville" plan:

• Charge in to the offensive zone alone, Max Afinogenov style and then pass the puck to no one, allowing Nashville to clear
• Charge into offensive zone and take weak shot on net
• Fall down a lot
• Don't hit anyone
• Don't take any penalties
• Don't fight
• Fall down some more
• A few more weak shots on goal
• Eventually, when the whole crowd has been drained of all energy, Mike Grier will score a goal.

WHEN DID THE SABRES BECOME THE MINNESOTA WILD? Is Lindy Ruff just Jacques Lemaire in disguise?

That game was hella boring for the first 55 minutes, give or take a few scoring chances in the middle somewhere that kept us all from nodding off.

They still had a billion and ten shots on goal but only one went in. Poor Pekka Rinne stopped 41 shots and lost. Why do we get so many shots on goal and so few goals? Oh wait, because they shoot directly at the goaltender's mid-section. He will not suddenly become permeable, boys.

At least Miller got a shut out and was all cute scooping up the puck at the other end.

Tim Kennedy got his first NHL point tonight!!

Matt Greene got his first point of the season!

I took a gamble and benched a goalie I thought would lose and I was wrong. He won. Whoops. Oh well.

When does Lalime get his first start?

I vote for against the Islanders at home.

Feel the love.

Reggie is hurt :( It seems to be a mysterious nondescript pain down his left side pertaining to his muscles. Hell, if I didn't know they drank gatorade constantly I'd suggest he was really dehydrated as muscle pain is a symptom of dehydration.

Once again, Myers looked pretty decent. He's really solid on the point in the powerplay. His reach and size and his always surprising mobility is really a benefit to the PP.

I'm surprised that Royzie and Yoyo have the "A"s on the road. I thought Grier might have one.

Lindy: Ok, I want you to crush them like this.

Jochen, stop meditating and watch.

That "A" is velcro you know.

The Pens won, the Kings won, the Sabres won and my fantasy team continues to OWN this week's opponent.

Now begins a solid week where at least one of my teams is playing every night. The next night off is next Sunday. Yay!

THE SABRES WILL NEVER WIN AGAIN

by Anne

Calm down.

We lost a very close well-fought game. It was the FIRST GAME of the season. Think we all know that the Sabres are not going to win every single game. They got a point.

Wait! Hold on! Yes! Read that again: THEY GOT. A. POINT. BECAUSE IT'S A GAME THAT MEANT SOMETHING! Yay!!!

The pace of the first period was absolutely bananas. HSBC Arena was rockin'. People were so excited about the season, the energy was infectious.

It does stink that they lost. I would have, of course, loved it if they had won, but they didn't. They have almost a week to get ready for the next game. I'm not sure why there's such a large space of time between games 1 and 2, but that's the way the NHL sliced it.

As per usual, I can't comment too much on games at home but from what I saw, JBG had a few good moments. A few moments where he remembered that he's a giant and used his size to his advantage along the boards to get the puck out.

I'm glad that Tim Kennedy picked a new number. It makes him seem all grown up. :') He got the loudest cheer during the intros which were pretty sweet.

The Canucks lost and were shut-out. Ouch.

The Pens won! Sid scored, as did John Tavares with his first NHL goal. Woo!

I'm writing this while listening to the Kings game. They're losing 6-3. They scored all three goals on the powerplay. Therefore, the Kings just need to play the entire season with a man advantage and they'll have success. Good plan? Yes?

They lost.

Anyway, on to something you won't read anywhere else:

For those new to the blog, I work at HSBC Arena. I get to go to all the Sabres home games for free. In fact I get paid to be there. The downside is that i don't get to just sit and watch the entire game, I see only about half of the actual hockey that's played. The major perk is things like the story I'm about to tell.

FYI: When you enter the Arena from the security entrance you go left to head towards the SportService offices and the Zambonis. If you go right, which we are not permitted to do, you get to the locker rooms. Never the two shall meet.

I was running late to begin with, I'm supposed to be there at 5:30 but I rolled in about 5:35, dropped off my bag and headed to punch in. Unnnfortunately, my card was not there to punch in. I had to head down to the office to sign-in. On the way back I decided I would look for my card one more time.

So I head to where the cards are, right next to the elevator, and whom do I see, just chillin' in front of the time cards, looking all crazy tall and introspective listening to his iPod? Paul Gaustad. Completely random. I've never seen a player in that part of the Arena. The closest is around the bend behind a door where we can't see them, they play ping pong and we can hear them sometimes.

I actually had to move around him to get to the cards. I was like "Oh, do you need help punching in? Do you guys have to do that now? That's odd. My, you have skinny legs."

Anyway, that was random and funny.

World's most awkward high-five, FTW

And finally, we see the revelation of the evening. Mike Grier suddenly remembers why he left Buffalo in the first place:

Welcome Back, Mike Grier!

by Anne

Well look who came crawling back:

MIKEY!

Welcome back, Mikey! I'd do a welcome aboard post, but you were a Sabre just three years ago so most people should already know who you are. I adored that 2006 team and I'm glad to see Mikey back.

We saved your #25 for you. :)