omg i'm so surpised....

by Anne

The Sabres lost to the Senators in frustrating fashion, as per usual. In previous seasons, the Sabres made even the Senators bad goaltenders look passably mediocre and now they're making their mediocre goaltenders look like superstars. Same old, same old.

My old roommate whom I haven't seen in a long time was going to bring me as her date to the game last night but unfortunately (maybe fortunately?) I wimped out because I'm still sick. It is unfortunate that I didn't get to see her and I always love a trip to HSBC Arena, but fortunate that I did not go and become completely exhausted with all the booing I'd have been doing.

PLEASE don't let us meet them in the first round? or ANY round for that matter?

Tonight the Sabres will (hopefully) rebound against the Lightning. I shall be watching the game on DVR delay as I shall be at Chef's celebrating MK's birthday with my parents, her boyfriend and Paul, a friend of hers from Grad School that came up for the weekend. Random. He's from Columbus but I don't think is a Blue Jackets fan. Just to be on the safe side, I think I'll refrain from mentioning anything that sounds like "Meve Stason" when there are sharp objects nearby.

The Kings take on the Stars tonight. Greener will not be playing. I'm going to keep all my fingers and toes crossed that he goes on the upcoming roadtrip and PLAYS IN NASHVILLE, where I will be sitting behind the bench wearing my Greene jersey with my Mama who will be in my blank Kings jersey. I will still enjoy the game immensely even if he doesn't. There's still Dewey, OD, Simmer, Kopi and Terry Murray to swoon over. I'll have so much to do while yelling at Brad Richardfail that I might not have time to miss Greener if he's not playing. Oh let's not lie, I'll definitely be completely bummed out if he doesn't play.

There have only been two games this season that I really really wanted him to play in and he was injured JUST before both of them. He played in the game v. the Sabres, returning way ahead of schedule, maybe he can do it again? :)

If he doesn't play, Darcy Tucker is DEAD to me.

Not that Darcy Tucker meant anything to me before but STILL.

Oh hey

by Anne

I had every intention of blogging all this week. Unfortunately a bout of tonsillitis has left me bed-ridden and tired until today.

All I have to say is:

Sabres,

Please beat Ottawa tonight. If you win tonight you clinch something that rhymes with "mlayoff shmerth."

Just do it.

Love,
Anne

Kings,

More specifically Greener.

Get better and pleeeeeease play on Tuesday!!!

The rest of you: SHAPE UP.

Love,
Anne

Didn't happen

by Anne

There was a time when I had a normal person's work schedule: 9-5, weekends off, didn't take my work home with me. One of the top benefits to that lifestyle was that I had precious few things to interrupt my viewing of Sabres games. It became quite a routine.

I'd get annoyed if someone wanted to do something on a Wednesday night because I had pasta and wine and the Sabres game waiting for me.

Then it was back to college and all that that entails. Homework, reading and, this semester, night classes. I have three night classes, two of which are on Wednesdays. I initially thought that I would find this to be irritating, but after my first Wednesday night of missing the Sabres came and went, I don't feel too bad about missing that poopshow.

I checked the score on my phone so I'm relatively aware of how quickly the game went from 2-2 to 4-2. Having not watched the game, I don't feel I can comment on it. I could do what a lot of people do is pull from the recaps and other bloggers' writings but that's not fair. This isn't a news outlet, this is my personal ramblings.

When will the madness end?

I realized when I saw the final score that I don't hate the Senators. 

Don't misunderstand me, I certainly don't like them, but what I REALLY hate is the way the Sabres play against them. It's gotten to the point where I no longer hate the Senators because of Alfredsson, Spezza and Neil, to name those that are still around from the 2007 brawl game. I hate them because the Sabres can't play against them. Do they put too much pressure on themselves?

I submit to you all that I don't really care that they lost to the SENATORS, I care that they lost at all. They've lost two in a row by allowing 4+ goals. Maybe if we as fans stop caring so much about them playing the Senators, they will too.

Do we HAVE to play them again?

by Anne

Grad school blows. I read constantly. Except, this time it isn't novels and fun stuff and, oh yeah, I'm not even technically in grad school yet.

There's really not much to say except the Kings have more wins and both teams have 71 points. Grated, the Sabres have to games in hand over the Kings but STILL. 

The bloggers get togethers are now 0-3 after many of us convened on Casa di Pizza in Buffalo to witness the mayhem that was the Pittsburgh game. Maybe we should reconsider these get togethers...? haha. They're lots of fun but the Sabres just can't handle the pressure of us all together at one bar. Although, for the record, Casa di Pizza has delicious barbecue wings. Delicious. That was the highlight of my evening (well, #2 after having fun in-person blogger conversations that is).

I only made it through the first two periods of last night's Kings' game (which they won 2-1, btw). They're now a perfect 21-0-0 when leading after two. That stat is no joke. No Sabres 08-09 patented Epic Third Period Collapses for the Los Angeles Kings.... yet. (think I just undid the jinx?)

There have been countless rumors swirling around about Kovalchuck going to the Kings. It could happen, but I don't see Dean Lombardi giving up the future for one player that may or may not be a rental. Although I did salivate a little at the thought of Kopi centering a line with Kovalchuk as a winger. That could be badass.

Whatchu got up your sleeve, Dean-o?

 

You think I'm going to trade for Kovalchuk?

Maybe, we'll see.

Tonight the Sabres take on the Senators at home. Fortunately I have class until 10:00pm on Wednesday nights so I will be spared the devastation of watching the Sabres lose to the Senators on home ice once again. Aw shucks.

For the record, you all know that their logo is actually a Roman gladiator and not a Roman senator, right? Just making sure. Of course, out logo is a slug turd with a buffalo head, so we can't really complain about theirs, now can we?

 

See? 

They're not so scary!

Let's go Buff-a-lo!

No time for a pity party

by Anne

Sigh. Of course they lost to the Senators. It's their way. It's what. they. do.

How can you expect to win when you have ONE shot on goal in the ENTIRE first period. The cheer that went up from the crowd at HSBC Arena when the Full Monty got that shot on goal was hilarious. Good lord, that was bad.

Based on this team's record, I should probably love them, but I just hate them more and more every game.

If we didn't have Ryan Miller, we'd be the Maple Leafs. Disgusting.

The Kings lost in regulation to the Coyotes last night. Meh, they played ok. The worst part was Justin Williams breaking his leg early in the game. Wooo! We had our top line back for a whole shift! Ugh. Get better soon, Willy.

Then Greener had a "fight."

Dear Matt Greene,

Please don't fight. I understand that you'll be labeled poorly if you back down from a fight, but for the sake of your team, let Simmer and Crazy Face Ivananas do the fighting. OR maybe get tips from them? I love you and I don't like seeing you embarrassed like that. Please cease and desist.

Love,

All your fans

There's no time to feel bad about that disgusting display of a Sabres game last night because tonight they're in St. Louis. Please win? Royzie is hurt :/ I hate him but he occasionally makes good plays. Maybe Timmy will have to move back to center now and talk to Goose about how to win faceoffs?

I dyed my hair really dark brown the other day and then I noticed that my hair is the exact same color as Oscar's fur. Almost black, but actually just really dark brown. Whoops.

Don't forget to vote in the poll in the left sidebar, and here's the roster for reference!

Game night: Sens, gross.

by Anne

We should never take joy in the downfall of our opponents, however, I hate Jason Spezza so I'm ok with the happywarmfuzzies I feel hearing that he has a knee injury. If Spezza's injury was career or season threatening, I wouldn't feel such glee, but as it will sideline him for a few weeks, I feel the extra joy the holiday season brings.

Too bad the Senators and their fans don't give a crap about the Sabres. We don't have any really good rivals, and the bad blood from 2007 and 2006 has been mostly nullified by the fact that the Sabres and Senators combined for a total number of playoff wins of absolutely NADA in 2008 and 2009.

The Senators, no matter how bad they are, always have the Sabres figured out, and tonight will prove no exception, sadly. That article linked above shows that since 05-06 the Senators are 21-6-4 against the Sabres. WHAT? THAT IS COMPLETELY INSANE.

Alfie is all alone now that Dany Heatley is doing my fantasy team lots of favors in San Jose and Spezza will miss two months. Muahahaha.

I was about to write about how now that I said that, our big juggernaut-y offensive threat would get hurt but, we don't have one of those. Pat Kaleta? Ummm, maybe not.

Anyway, there isn't even any Chris Neil for Adam Mair to fight with in this, his 500th NHL game. Aw, Mairsy! How cute. I'm so proud.

Of course I want them to win but even last year when the Senators were flailing about in the bottom of the conference they managed to find ways to beat us. Now that they've graduated to "mediocre" and we're treading a very thin line between "bad-ass eliteness" and "what happened? things were going so well!" I don't forsee any change in the trends.

The last time we played the Sens I drunkenly ranted about how much I hated the Senators of days gone by, but with the exception of Neil, Spezza and Alfredsson, all of the Senators I hated SO. MUCH. back in 2006 and 2007 are gone. Heatley, Emery, Chara, Vermette, Redden, etc. All of those players have moved on to other teams, some I still hate (Emery, Redden) but some I'm ok with like Vermette and Heatley (because he's keeping my fantasy team afloat). At least the Sens did us a solid when they picked up Ruutu. Phew, I needed to fuel the hatred some more. I don't want to hate Nick Foligno, in fact, I can't hate Nick Foligno, I watched three interviews with him over the last few weeks and he mentioned the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in two of them. How can you hate that? Buffalo boy who looks like a weasel and loves the Ninja Turtles. I of course mean the cutest weasel around, ummm, right? Marcus may be worse at hockey but he's totally cuter.

I predict a Sens victory, 3-2. Goals by: Fisher, Alfredsson, Foligno, Kaleta and MacArthur.

Wheee!

by Anne

Thursday's Sabres game was totally awesome and just FLEW by. There were so few stoppages in play, that we were all to our cars by 9:30. I wasn't really complaining.

The Sabres won 6-2 to improve to 16-7-2 on the season. Wooo! Goals were scored by Grizz, Pommer, Royzie, Kennedy, Reggie and Mikey. Tim Kennedy needs a boss nickname, stat. Yes, boss.

I swear to you the entire first period was played in front of Jaroslav Halak. They just awarded the Habs three shots on goal out of pity.

All in all the game was pretty much all Sabres. It's kind of a miracle that the Habs even managed to score two goals.

On the downside, Sir Christopher sprained his ankle while stooping as a lady passed or something and might miss some time. Lindy implied that it didn't seem to be too bad, but that was just what he thought, there was no official word. We have 89 defensemen so I think we'll be ok. Also, this might give Sir Christopher a chance to sit down for a while and look at his game to see what he can improve upon.

Myers and Tallinder were both +3, Vanek had the most points with 3 (0+3) while playing on  a line with Kennedy and Grier which has shown some life as that line produced six points and was a +5. Pommer, Sekera and Grier each had a goal and an assist. Patty K fought his old BFF Paul Mara. I didn't see that one because if it happens in the last couple minutes of a period, I'm not going to see it, generally.

Teammate: Dude, I think they're underage

Monty: Yeah but HOW underage we talking? Like Dakota Fanning underage or like Miley Cyrus underage?

Reggie's face screams: "I LOVE YOU MAN."

The Kings beat the Senators to improve to 17-10-2. Anytime the Senators lose is a good time, especially when one of my teams beats them. The game was all-in-all in the Senators favor in every area except the scoreboard. The Kings never once gave up the lead and improve to 11-0-0 when leading after two. Dewey scored the game winner on an assist from Kopi who needs to start scoring, if only for my fantasy team.

Wayne Simmonds scored on the Kings' first penalty shot of the season and Brad Richardson, aka RichardFAIL, my least favorite member of the Los Angeles Kings, actually scored his second goal in as many games. Gross but good but mostly gross. Why isn't Oscar Moller up in Los Angeles yet this season? Bench Purcell, find a way to call up Moller!

Lovely jeté, Scooter

Dewey was the game's first star and he gave a stick to this kid.

I'm not sure what stick that is, but he sure looks happy about it.

Dewey uses Easton sticks, and that appears to be a souvenir stick.

Whatevs.

I'm not sure if Dewey or that kid is happier.

I didn't write about the Kings' game the other night, the first of the Freeway Faceoff because I was tired but they played a solid game and won 4-3. They played much better in Anaheim than they did against Ottawa but they won both and that's all that matters.

How we gonna paaaaaayyy...

by Anne

I didn't watch Saturday's Sabres' game. I was seeing a musical about people who have foreclosed on their homes called "mortgage." Or something like that. They all seemed to have AIDS and all the girls were in knee high boots with crazy curly hair. I'm not sure, but that sounds like me on a typical Saturday night. Wait, I don't have AIDS. Not that there's anything wrong with having... nevermind.

ANYWAY, the point is I didn't watch the game and henceto therefore happenstantially I can pretend it went anyway I want.

Here's my take:

The Sabres had a COMMANDING 3-0 lead CHARGING UNRELENTINGLY into the third period. Patrick Lalime had already stopped 34968734.4 shots, all by Jason Spezza with two somehow by Dany Heatley all the way in San Jose Theodore.

THEN, as if by BLACK MAGIC, Chris Neil and Jarkko "Chompy Times" Ruutu held Lalime hostage and locked Miller in a beer portable and the Sabres were forced to play the entire third period with NO GOALTENDER.

THEREFORE, Myers, Tallinder, Rivet, Lydman, Sekera, Perreault, Korab, Barnaby, McKee, Mogilny, and TSUJIMOTO combined to block an additional 5386723 and 2/3 shots. HOWEVER, those evil RAT BASTARD Ottawa Senators managed to fire off 5386728 and 2/3 shots and they won 5-0. Or wait, I guess it was 5-3 with the Sabres 3-0 lead EATEN ALIVE.

ANARCHY AND CHAOS AND PANDEMONIUM SHALL RAIN DOWN FROM THE STREETS OF BUFFALO.

This is how I choose to believe WHY WON'T MY V KEY WORK PROPERLY that game went.

In a related story, the Ottawa Senators have released their new uniform design:

I JUST REALIZED THAT MOST OF THE SENATORS I REALLY HATE ARE ON OTHER TEAMS.

Whatevs.

Good night.

The Kings lost too.

They suck.

MAYBE IT'S ME? Why do all my teams SUCK and then alternately ROCK sometimes? I can't take the swinging of the pendulum, BOYS. WIN MORE.

I wish the Sabres were more like my fantasy team. We are kicking ass and TAKING NAMES. What does that expression even mean V KEY START WORKING ALL THE TIME PLEASE VVVVVVVV.

Yes, I am intoxicated.

Oscar has some thoughts: lp.tjuvb jnhb

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Good night

Another Snoozer for the Sabres; Thriller for the Canucks

by Anne

Once again, no one stepped up and took control of the game. Well, someone did; Patrice Bergeron did. For those keeping score, Patrice Bergeron does NOT play for the Buffalo Sabres.

Whatever, I don't have much to say about that game. Good job, Goose. Cookies for Goose, and for Staffy. Staffy is hurt with a bone bruise. That sounds unbelievably unpleasant. Does this mean Tyler Ennis makes the return trip? Is Gerbe healthy yet? Here's hoping one of them is ready!

Tonight they play the Senators. I'll be at a show, so I won't see it. Too bad.

The Canucks won last night. The first period started out pretty darn rocky, with the Avs jumping out to an early two goal lead. After cutting the deficit to one in the second period, the Canucks scored four more unanswered goals in the third to take a 5-2 victory. Their last game, ten years ago it feels, was an 8-2 victory over the Avs. Wooo! Big Bear scored a PP goal on  a nifty little deflection:

They may have fallen to #3 in my heart but I still loves them.

Especially Big Bear.
Especially goals like that.
Please don't go six days between games again, I don't like that and neither does my fantasy team.

 Nothing to do with the game,

 but how adorable are Henrik Sedin and his son?

Other things:

• Danny Briere and M-E Vlasic fought last night. Yes, you read that right. I... I'm so confused. I wish I had seen it live. It's just so bizarre:

The best part is the looks of disbelief on their teammates' faces.
Also, I don't think any punches were thrown, but gloves were off.
hahahahahaha fantastic
Good job, Pickles!
You don't let Danny Briere attempt to put you in a headlock!

• Also in that game, Dany Heatley had his second hat trick of the season. This pleases me for two reasons: It was against the Flyers and he's a Sunny Hedgehog Enchanter. Yessss.
  

• Tonight the Sabres play in Ottawa (barf), the Kings host the Flames and the Pens are in Atlanta. Hopefully I'll be able to watch some bitchin' highlight reel goals scored by the Sabres and Pens during the intermissions of the Kings game tonight! They're all gonna win, right? Please, Sabres? I don't know what's in the kool-aid you drink before Senators games, but they're not freaky zombie people, out to eat your brains and such. Especially now that Heatley's gone. Please win? Thanks.
  

• ETA: The Kings game is at 4:00. Good thing I looked at the schedule again!
  

Bye Heater!

by Anne

Dany Heatley wants out of Ottawa. Woooooooooo!!!

The only way this could be bad is if he goes to Philly. Emery and Heatley back together again... ugh. The horror! The HORROR!

Regardless, watching the Senators slowly jettison the top players that defeated the Sabres in '07 is quite satisfactory. All we need now is the Sabres to get better, and Ottawa looks a little less scary than they have for the last three years.

Its going to be difficult for a team to take on his salary which is 5 years and a $7.5 million cap hit. As I always say, Tampa will take him. The Islanders probably would too. Just as long as its not LA... I know they need scoring wingers and... oh LORD what if he goes to LA?! Crap.

I See You've Finally Come Around

by Anne

NOW can we all accept that the Sabres are a genuinely bad hockey team that is not going to make the playoffs?

Life is so much simpler this way. I've been content for days, dear ones. Join me, won't you?

Just over five weeks away!

Congrats to Marty Brodeur for win #552. Quite an accomplishment, sir. Maybe only slightly more impressive than your stat as the only NHL goaltender to score a game winning goal. That is pretty darn awesome.

Also, since Mr. Brodeur beat the Blackhawks, the Canucks were able to move into a tie for fourth place in the West!

The Canucks won again on home ice! They beat Dallas 4-2 for their 10th consecutive win on home ice which sets a new record for the team. Psh, NHL.com doesn't seem to care about THAT record being broken, MARTY.

Kesler, Sundin, D. Sedin and BIG BEAR scored, but not in that order. Hooray!!

Ales Kotalik scored the game winning shoot out goal tonight! Too bad he plays for the Edmonton Oilers now.

Fundamentals time:
The game is best played with sticks on the ice


Is it possible for Danny Paille to have any other facial expression?
I hope not.

Good night.

WE'RE MOVING. Ok No, Not Really

by Anne

Just because Sabre Chaser and The Goose's Roost had to be all "abandon ship" to Blogger, doesn't mean we are too. Frankly, I don't think S(h)ara or I take this seriously enough to commit to the amount of time it seems to have taken to fully switch over to another hosting site. I prefer to mess with things in the confines of my easy little 1-2-3 step by step blogspot account.

I'd rather spend time customizing TweetDeck so it is purple and green. Its so much prettier this way.

So tonight the Sabres take on the Senators and Telly Monster gets the start.

How am I supposed to get us to the playoffs?

There's a whole lotta games going on tonight and of course some of them affect the Sabres playoff chances. However, none of them affect the Sabres' standings more than their own game, so that's what I'll be focusing on before tuning in for the Canucks' game against the Stars at 10:00.

I'm always Irish but Happy St. Patrick's Day anyway. St. Patty's Day is an Irish-American holiday. It isn't that big of a deal in Ireland. Frankly, if you look back over Irish-American history, its quite remarkable to think that today people actually pretend to be Irish. Weird how things change.

Anyway, hockey.

I'm actually enjoying all this speculation over Lindy and/or Darcy's jobs. As much as I adore Lindy Ruff and kind of like Darcy Regier. I LOVE the idea of winning more. If these two are holding us back from winning, I want them out. I don't know if that's the case, but if it is, peace out girl scouts, coaches and GMs have been fired for less. The status quo is missing the playoffs so I'd like to shake things up a bit. Even if the Sabres squeak into 8th place, I will still consider this season mostly a boring failure with almost every player underperforming and only a small handful playing consistently well.

This team is worse than last year's team, definitely. Why do I say that? This time last year was riddled with injuries and half our defensive corps was made of players that had been playing in Rochester for most of the season. And we're in the exact same place. I don't know about standings and points but we were in the same fight for our post season lives. This year our only major injuries recently have been Miller and Vanek. Now Mairsy is out with a sore knee :( Mairsy is another player that's been playing well by fourth line standards. He's quietly already set a career high in goals scored with seven. Good boy Mairsy! Feel better soon! Also Staffy has already set a (much younger) career high in goals, assists and points after starting the season out a little rocky. But he's not hurt so, hooray!

In spite of my bitching and complaining I do hope we win, I really want to make the playoffs and I really want Millsy to get better soon and come back to us.

Sabres and Senators at 7:30. See y'all later.

I'm a Bad Fan and Something Ottawa and Buffalo Fans Can Do Together

by Anne

The Sabres lost to the Senators as I knew they would. They have yet to walk away with four points from back to back weekend games this entire season. At least the two points went to Ottawa and not, like, Florida.

Fortunately, my secondary and tertiary teams managed to pull through and come up with victories against higher ranked opponents to salvage my Saturday. Granted, with the Kings, there are only two teams ranked lower in their conference.

The Kings took on the Wild in a matinee which they won 4-3. Greener had an assist, giving him 11 assists and 12 points this year. I'm a bad fan because he suddenly went from having 7 assists to having 11 and I did not notice. Last week the Sabres level of FAIL reached critical mass and I was running around with duct tape and ribbon trying to put things back together. I feel shame.

Sorry, Greener
Reader Amanda wants to encourage my odd love of Matt Greene and found this picture on Ebay
I could apparently own this card.
That would be hella weird
But thanks anyway Amanda!

The win gave the Kings a 4-0 season series sweep over the Wild. Woooo!! Its still a longshot for them to make the playoffs but everything is so close that you can't completely count them out just yet.

Saturday night after the Sabres fail of game, the Canucks hosted the Sharks and won 3-1. Yay! Big Bear had a decent game even though he was left off the score sheet. I wish he'd get a little scrappier though. Just start hitting some more things, Steve.

The Canucks have been rather less than successful against the Sharks in recent memory so this win was huge.

Ryan Kesler was on After Hours and I really really wanted to stay awake and watch it but considering it started at 1:00 am and I had been running around all day, I did not make it. Sorry Kes! Maybe the CBC video will be working tomorrow. It was out of commission when I attempted to watch it this afternoon.

Also, if you want to take a brief moment to find the positive side of Sens fans, read this letter to Derek Roy. I say we put aside our petty differences with Ottawa (what's a few Eastern Conference Finals between friends?) and join hands in proclaiming the downfall of the Montreal Canadiens. Because, frankly, don't we want them all to just shut up and go away?

"Ho-Hum" Is What I Say About That Loss

by Anne

I knew we were going to lose, but I guess if we had to lose, this was the best way to do it.

You'd think a team that just seven days ago was playing in Anaheim, and just last night was playing in Buffalo in the second of three games in four nights would be tired and roll over and die when down 2-0 on the road. Surprisingly, they did not. The game was up and down at times, and they allowed a LOT of shots to get through to Miller, but once again he stood tall in net and as usual gave them a chance to win it when down 2-0. They rallied but couldn't get it done in OT or the shootout.

The fatigue wasn't as apparent as the team seemed to really come alive as the game wore on. Unfortunately, it seemed the defense was showing its age when Weber was benched and Patches was back to playing on the blueline in the third after playing forward for the first two periods.

Adam Mair's goal was a hilariously easy tip-in, and really showed that the Sens have lost a lot on defense. Volchenkov was the only player who seemed to even notice Mairsy was on the ice, nevermind standing by himself in front of the goaltender. He could've done his and the coaching staff's taxes in the time it took the Sens to notice him standing there. And Ben Elliot was thinking about his picks for the Academy Awards and didn't notice him either.

Staffy's goal was more of what we've come to expect from him these days. Great passes by Pommer and Royzie and great hustle by Staffy to beat Elliot.

The shootout was meh, Al and Timmy scored, Staffy and Royzie did not. Miller allowed three goals, we only scored two, and that's all she wrote.

I'm more than a little nervous about Vanek's face. If he has a fractured bone in his face he'll have to miss some time or maybe wear one of those crazy cages.

It'll bring you back to your college days, TV

Hopefully its just a cut that required stitches and they were being extra cautious with our MVP.

I didn't appreciate Chris Neil wrenching Kaleta's neck around in an after the whistle goalmouth scrum, because he was more than likely aware that Kaleta had missed time for a neck injury. I challenge you to say that Chris Neil is not the kind of player who targets other players like that.

Although, he got his payback when he somehow got cut by Teppo's skate on a seemingly innocent hit. Teppo's skate got just high enough to catch Neil in the back of the leg and he rushed to the locker room as the second period was ending I don't like to celebrate a player being injured, but this does not seem to be a career threatening injury and his team doesn't have a snowball's chance in heck of making the playoffs so... HA!

After today, playoff spots 5-9 look like this:

5. Philly - 63
6. NYR - 63
7. Buffalo - 62
8. Carolina - 59
9. Florida - 58

Luke Schenn scored his first NHL goal! Hooray!

Nice face, Luke.
I couldn't one of him actually scoring or celebrating his goal, but hooray!! nevertheless

The Kings beat the Devils tonight and move into 11th place, only two points out of the 8th place playoff spot. Where did these Kings come from?

The Canucks beat the Blackhawks 7-3 and Big Bear scored his 12th of the season. He also had a team-high EIGHT shots on goal. The team as a whole only had 26 shots on goal, and the player with the 2nd most shots was Ryan Kesler who had two goals on three shots.

From Darcy Hordichuk's blog on the Canucks annual Dice and Ice night:

From what I hear, traditionally, rookies would have to do something on stage and this year was no different. Mason Raymond and Steve Bernier teamed up against Jannik Hansen and Alex Edler to re-enact a scene from Jerry Maguire - I don’t think I need to tell you which one… They each did the same scene and competed to see who would do the best.

The winner was decided by out had guest judges, Kevin Bieksa, Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows to critique kind of like Idol a little bit. For the most part, the judges were hard on those guys.

Bernier pulled it off even with his French accent, nobody understood but with Burrows being one of the judges, I’m sure there was some politics and favouritism. Mason came away with the Oscar performance, I think he kind of pulled it together for Bernier and they beat the other two.

I think these guys maybe stressed a little bit more than they had to over the six lines that they had to say and it just goes to show you that practice makes perfect. They practiced all afternoon and they pulled together at performance time.

Listen Darcy, don't knock Big Bear's Jerry Maguire performance! I'm sure it was BRILLIANT! HE'S NOT EVEN REALLY A ROOKIE, THEY PROBABLY JUST NEEDED A 4TH LIKE IN POKER.

Big Bear's Big Hair is back

All in all, earning five out of a possible six points is a great week. Can't really complain, especially because the two points are in Ottawa where they won't even be used.

Watching the Ottawa Senators Crash and Burn is Really Great

by Anne

As we are all aware by now, Craig Hartsburg has been fired as the head coach of the Ottawa Senators and some dude that kind of looks like him was brought up from the AHL to replace him. Hoping for a little of the Boudreau magic? Great. Why now? Its post All-Star break and the Senators have no chance of making the playoffs, save for the win streak of the century. Hey, if they win every single game for the rest of the season, they'd have 107 points!

Why fire him now after signing him to a three year contract? He's never taken an NHL team past the second round of the playoffs. Why did you sign him to a three year contract in the first place? He helped kill the Chicago Blackhawks in the late 1990s. It makes very little sense. So if Cory Clouston blows up, the season is already a wash anyway?. They're just waiting for Pat Quinn to sign on the dotted line. Clouston won't last past this season.

I watched last night's Senators/Kings game (which the Kings won 1-0) and I was amazed at how evenly mediocre and similar the teams are yet how different their roads to mediocrity have been.

Both teams have top players that can produce points, a continuously rotating turnstyle of goaltenders in net, new coaches (or two this season if you're the Sens) and have reached almost the same spot in the standings in their respective conferences. The teams have uneven defense and their own personal creepy douchebags in Denis "Sucker Punch to the Head" Gauthier and Jarkko "Taste of Human Flesh" Ruutu. However, rewind a year or two and no one ever would've thought that these two teams would find themselves in such similar places.

The Kings haven't made the playoffs since 2002 and the Sens haven't missed the playoffs in a decade. Yet here they are, 41 points in 49 games for the Sens and 49 in 49 for the Kings. Yes, the Los Angeles Kings have a better record than the 2007 Eastern Conference champtions. In the West, the Kings are four points out of a playoff spot but in the East, the Sens are 15 points out. The Kings finished in the basement of the league last season, and after dominating for the first half of the season, the Sens barely held on to make the playoffs, clutching onto eighth place by their fingernails, only to be swept out by the eventual Eastern Conference Champions.

I'm far from the first person to be like "YO, WTF, Sens?" Believe you me, as a Sabres fan, I find an inordinate amount of glee in watching the Sens implode and I'd really like it to continue.

They've followed the usual pattern of a team that's in a seemingly bottomless downward spiral: Sign the big names to big contracts, blame the starting goaltender for team failures and relegate him to back-up, get rid of newly relegated starting goaltender, acquire random new back-up, fire coach, hire new coach, get rid of new starter in favor of random back-up, call up schnookie from the AHL, fire recently hired coach, promote from within the floundering system. Next step is firing the GM and then firing the AHL guy when the Sens fail to improve at all. This off-season will see a new Sens GM and a bunch of roster changes. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

In my not so long life I only really remember two Buffalo Sabres head coaches, Ted Nolan and, of course, Lindy. I only remember one GM, Darcy Regier. There have been others, of course, but I just don't remember them. Therefore, watching these new coaches and GMs running in and out of organizations is hilariously entertaining because I've only really paid attention to one Buffalo coaching change and I was like 11 years old at the time. For those keeping track, I'm 23.

Also, in case we all don't know, Terry Murray, head coach of the Los Angeles Kings is the younger brother of Bryan Murray, General Manager of the Ottawa Senators.

Looking at how their teams have fared with new players and new coaches over the last several months, if I had to pick which one of them will still be employed by their respective team this time next season, I'd bet the farm on Terry. The Kings may be in 12th place, but at 21-21-7 only four points out of the playoffs, I'd say Terry wins the battle of the Murray brothers.

Now that I've said all this, I predict a 5-1 Ottawa victory over the Sabres on Saturday. That's just how the Sabres roll these days. They'll beat Montreal, a team ahead of us in the standings, but will lose to Ottawa, a team their fans LOVE to beat.

Finally! A Win!

by Anne

The Canucks picked a GREAT game to decide to win at home in regulation!

A seesaw of a game saw the Canucks up 2-0, then the 'Canes rally to quickly tie. Then it was 3-2 Canucks, then 3-3. Talk about hair-pulling. When Mattias Ohlund gets a penalty in the waning minutes of the game, you're sure this is a 'Canes power play goal.

Then what happens? Short handed, Kesler takes the puck in the Canucks zone and passes it to one Alexandre Burrows streaking up the middle all alone on Cam Ward and one back-hand top shelf shot later, the game is 4-3 Canucks and that's how it ends.

That was a really really exciting game, and doubly rewarding. Not only do the Canucks get two desperately needed points (at home, no less), but they also down the 'Canes in regulation, keeping them in 9th place, two points back of the Sabres. Phew.

I watched the 'Canes feed and it was really fun to listen how bummed out they were to leave those points in the Western Conference.

In the play off picture: Unfortunately the Panthers defeated Toronto tonight in OT and they're currently sitting in 8th, one point behind us. Pittsburgh lost... again. 

Unrelated to anything affecting the Sabres, the Kings won tonight 1-0 over Ottawa. And we got to watch Anze Kopitar make these crepe-like pancakes. Thanks?

Tomorrow's game against Toronto is that much more important.

Wooooo Canucks!

Thomas Vanek 31, Jason Pominville 23

by Anne

Woooooooooooo!!! To quote RJ "That was a wild and wooly one!"

Ahhhh, 3-0- in '09.

We all must admit that this season, whenever any preview of any kind breaks down a Sabres v. Whoevers game and it says anything like "The Whoevers have lost 48 of the last 50 on the road and couldn't put a puck on net if the life of their mother depended on it", it usually means the Whoevers will leave HSBC arena with a brighter future ahead. It already happened earlier this season against Ottawa in one of their only FOUR road victories to date. FOUR.

MIRACULOUSLY, that did not happen tonight and the Sabres won 4-2. Although for a few minutes when it all too quickly went from 3-0 to 3-2, all things were not feeling so great. However, Vanek came through with the empty netter and slammed the door on this one.

Who doesn't love a game in which your team scores 15 seconds in? and it was Matt Ellis (AGAIN) no less.

I put a lot of stock into tonight's game. For some reason I felt like this was a do or die game. I'm not really sure why, we're only halfway through the season and Ottawa isn't a threat to us in the standings, but I was more emotionally invested in this game than I anticipated I would be. I guess I can best sum it up by saying that I love watching the Sabres play and I love the feeling of winning and there's nothing more disappointing after a big win over a divisional opponent than a big loss to another divisional opponent. I like the glow of "the last time the Sabres played, they won." as I go about my day and I hate having that feeling taken away.

For those who might not have been in attendance, let me just say that the RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION chorus of "BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" that rained down when Ruutu decided to have a mid-game snack of Petey's "texting thumb" was unreal. The passion and rage flowing from the 300 level was oppressive and impressive.

I can't wait for the fallout from "ThumbGate 2009". Jarkko, WHO DOES THAT? WHO BITES AN OPPOSING PLAYER? That's just embarrassing. Its much easier to defend Mairsy marching down the hall than it is to defend a player deciding to cut his teeth on another man's digits. I love selling where I do because I'm across from the benches and I could watch the whole debacle of Petey shaking his hand and waving it at the officials and then getting penalized for whining or something.

Ladies, a bit of advice. If you work in the service industry and you get tipped, wear a thin white polo shirt and a leopard print bra. Watch your tips sky rocket. Thank me later.

I've now won the pool in our commissary 4 times this season. I am not popular in our commissary because of this record.

So the title refers to my daily "Anne needs something to do before the game sometimes" . I decided last game to count jerseys of players who still play in the NHL but no longer for the Sabres. That was only like 8. Tonight before the game I counted Vanek jerseys v. Pominville jerseys. I was expecting the outcome to be closer. My sampling was whoever walked by me before the game started and I could definitively see the number on their jersey. If I could only see a 6 or a 9 it didn't count as either because it could've been Peters or Kaleta or Roy or Connolly. In that 1/2 hour I saw 31 Vanek jerseys and 23 Pominville. Roughly half of the Vanek jerseys were the new third jerseys, interestingly enough. Next game I'm planning to count Miller v. Vanek. I'm positive Miller's total will blow Vanek's 31 out of the water. I might just count Miller v. everyone else and Miller might STILL win.

Hats off to Derek Roy for nearly face planting into Patrick Lalime during the 2nd period to avoid a too many men on the ice penalty. Royzie calmly dumped the puck in and then went off on a change through the door which is inside the blue line. However, the puck slid all the way back around to him and if he had touched it, or it had touched him, we would've been penalized. Watching him hop onto the boards (literally), startling Patty Lalime and his little yellow cap was highly amusing.

The Pens actually won tonight, but it was the Thrashers, that doesn't mean much. They're still a point behind us, out of a playoff spot. The 'Canes also won (thanks a LOT, New Jersey) which maintains their 2 point lead.

Should I not be thinking about playoff spots already?

The 'Hawks blanked the Coyotes in their own building tonight. Adam Burish, hetero life partner to potential hottie All-Star, Patrick Sharp, scored his first goal of the season tonight in a 4 goal 2nd period. Towes scored twice and Kaner is still sitting out with an ankle injury. :(

No game again until Friday at home against the Rangers. Can't wait for the boos for Dru. Oh yeah and Kalinin will be there too... remember him?

Feels good to finally be in the 20-win column.

Trade?

by Anne

In case you haven't noticed, we have a lot of forwards on board.

Until Saturday's game, there had been at least 1 or 2 healthy scratches at forward for the last 5 or 6 games (Kaleta, Stafford, Paille, Peters, Ellis). Last night we had two injured players (Timmy and Kotalik) sitting it out (they didn't even make the trip) so there were no healthy scratches at forward.

This next thought is really not a reaction to the recent misadventures by the boys in blue and gold, its a direct reaction to the "Boucher to Pittsburgh, Sydor to Dallas" trade. While perusing the TSN article about the moves, I ventured down the rest of their headlines and found an article that discussed the problems in Ottawa. I started reading it because it said "Capital Change" or something and I thought it meant something to do with Washington... wrong capital... they meant Ottawa.

At the end of said article, the author pointed out key healthy scratches this week around the NHL, most notably ours: Staffy and Pie. And the wheels started turning: Sydor and Boucher were both healthy scratches as the trade details were worked out. I seriously doubt that that's why Paille and Staffy were scratched, but the connection got me thinking.

If Darcy was orchestrating a trade, which he doesn't do that many of, what would the trade be? In my opinion, if we traded, it'd be for a top line centerman. We have a lot of forwards, but we're not the strongest down the middle.

Timmy is always hurt, Yoyo is not a natural center, Grizz is doing pretty well, Goose and Mairsy are solid in their roles, but Royzie has been sucking out loud early this season and his face off numbers aren't up where they should be. I put a fair amount of stock in faceoff wins. Why? because the team with the puck is the team that's most likely to score, and the best way to get the puck and start a shift in your favor: winning face offs. We also could use another right handed center. Lindy likes to use lefties in the left face off circle and righties in the right. At the moment only 2 of the 6 players that have played center this season are right handed.

What we have plenty of is wingers. Look at the players who have sat: Stafford (RW) and Paille (LW). Both of those guys would be quite tempting to teams looking to add depth, size and youth to their second or third lines.

This is just an idea that's been tossing around my brain for a few hours and I'm just putting it out there to see how it sounds when not just in my head.

Personally, the idea of losing Danny Paille makes my heart sink into my stomach and I just don't want to think about that anymore, so if one of them does go, I'd much rather it was Staffy. Lindy has expressed his favorable opinion of Pie for his 2 way strengths and at least once called Staffy out for not listening to him, but I haven't heard much since then. Ha, if you had called me in like March of 2007 and been like "Hey Anne, in about a year and a half, you'll be much happier to get rid of Staffy in favor of keeping Dan Paille." I never would have believed you. OH HOW TIMES CHANGE.

That article on TSN was basically about Ottawa potentially shipping out one of their "top three", mainly focusing on Jason Spezza. Of the "top three" I hate Jason Spezza the least, but I'm not suggesting that that is anywhere near the realm of possibility. Its fairly rare to make trades within a division during the season. I don't see the Senators being interested in acquiring a winger, either. They need depth at goalie and a puck moving defenseman. We've just recently gotten a defensive corps that doesn't make me sick to my stomach, so I'm confident we will not be moving any of our D. Clearly we will not be shipping out Miller and I'd MUCH rather have Lalime rather than take one of their rotating goalies.

Again, I'm sure none of these things are going to happen any time soon or at all, its just interesting to think about the possibilities.

5-2 Actually Sounds Better Than It Looked

by Anne

Things that are bad: Losing

Things that are worse: Losing to the Senators

You know, I saw Yo-yo after the game and he looked PERFECTLY FINE to me... and I am DEFINITELY a qualified medical practitioner, so, JOCHEN, GET OUT THERE. GOOSE, YOU TOO. TIMMY, STOP FAKING IT AND PUT ON YOUR DARN SKATES.

I still love you, Patty Lalime.

Petey did kick Chris Neil's booty in that fight. I don't care what anyone says, I love Petey.

HA! I just looked at the standings and even with the loss tonight to the Sens, they have 7 points and we have 14. Hahahahahaha. I don't feel quite as bad anymore, but 16 points to their 5 would've been even sweeter.

WCB Watch

Ducks at Blue Jackets

The Good: Getzy had 2 points (1+1) and was +2 with 4 hits!! Yay!!

Corey Perry is channeling my love and sending it to Getzy
Chris Kunitz is kind of uncomfortable

The Bad: Nasher was non-existent except for 2 shots on goal and 1 takeaway.

Rrrreeeeeaach!

Blackhawks at Wild

Sharpie had a goal, was +1 and his team lost.

ONo had 1 assist and 1 hit and was +1 and his team won.... making them the last team to lose in regulation. :( Although they've only played 7 games and we've played 9. So if they lose their next game, TECHNICALLY we were undefeated in regulation longer.

His stick broke because the pressure of being the stick of one of Anne's WCB's was too much for it to handle.
Remember, ONo's been out for a while, his equipment will need time to adjust to the awesome weight of my adoration

Bruins at Oilers
or
Zzzzzzzzzz....

Ok, the only kind of 1-0 victory that are usually entertaining is a 1-0 OT decision, and that's what this was.

However, there were no fights and only like 8 power plays all together. What a SNOOZE fest that probably was.

Ethan Moreau had 0 points because his team was shut out, 2 PIM, 3 hits, 1 giveaway and 1 takeaway. Woo. Hoo. I'm not even going to bother looking for a picture.

Red Wings at Kings

Greener got an assist!! yay!!!! 2 blocked shots! The Kings lost because Jason LaBarbera is not very good in shootouts. He allowed 2 goals on 2 shots and Osgood stopped both his attempts. In other news, I correctly guessed Detroits first two shooters and only 1 of LAs. I'm amazed I can name 3 LA Kings that aren't Matt Greene, Drew Doughty or Anze Kopitar. Ok, there's Dustin Brown and Jarett Stoll, but now you've REALLY tapped my resources. But, A+ for even getting to OT, Kings, the Red Wings are really good and last season you were... not good.

No pictures of Greener. :(

I need a new Detroit Red Wings WCB, Brett Lebda sucks and is not worthy of my love. Any suggestions? If your suggestion is "Pavel Datsyuk", I'll pass, because not a single on ice photo of him exists in which he does not look like he just descended from the Mother Ship.

Because no WCB Watch is truly complete without him, who was named first star of the week? WHO? Ok, no, not Thomas Vanek, he was last week, but IGGY!!

His eyes pierce the soul

Has anyone else noticed that the Chris Pronger and Dion Phaneuf "Is this Year?" banner ads on NHL.com are the same except for the color (and pictures of course).?They're both like "Some say the season only ends..... so his opponents can heal." Did they think no one would notice? I spend about .02 seconds a week thinking about Dion Phaneuf and Chris Pronger's NHL ads and I noticed, Flames or Ducks fans must've noticed.

If we lose to the Lightning on Thursday, we're breaking up and I'm keeping the ring.

I've been looking into the WCBs that will be heading to HSBC Arena this season.

Coming to see me and experience my love first hand: Rick Nash (11/14) J.P. Dumont (12/1) MATT GREENE (the prince of my Western Conference Heart, 12/19) Ryan Getzlaf (2/24), Peter Mueller (3/6), Whoever I pick from the Red Wings (4/6). Big Bear has already come and gone. AND SCORED ON MILLSY, JERK. JUST KIDDING, BIG BEAR, I LOVE YOU! I'm a little sad that Iggy won't be coming. :( But I shall soldier on!!!

OMG I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THE WORLD JUNIORS.

Just a head's up, be prepared to read some permutation of the previous sentence in every blog post.... ever... until it happens and then my head explodes.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night

by Anne

Today we bid farewell to those teams that have departed from the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round.


First, we say good-bye to the Minnesota Wild:

I have nothing against the Minnesota Wild, and in fact, was sort of pulling for them to win this series. I know Minnesotans are great hockey fans so it's too bad they were elimidated. The first three games were quite exciting. I tried really hard to get into them, but the allure of J-Rome pulled me towards the station playing his game. Sidenote: Gabby, um, where were you in this series? You need to earn back your superman roster photo stance.


Faretheewell, New Jersey Devils:

I may think your logo is kind of lame-tastic, and I still remain almost entirely indifferent to your existence, but I really really wanted you to beat the Rangers. Booooooo! Yuck! However, even though you lost, I shall not mock you or your logo. Let's face it, the Buffalo Sabres logo is pretty damn stupid and, inspite of their knack for schooling us in the shootout I like that Saucy Minx, and Zachy P.

Enjoy the golf course, Nashville Predators:

I was going to draw tears or something on your logo to make the tiger look really sad, but then I found your third jerseys and they're so heinously awful that there is no need to deface them further. Yick.

Sleep soundly and train hard (but not too hard) this off-season, Boston Bruins:

I'm torn about the Bruins, they stole our playoff spot, but I don't really hate them. My Grandpa is from Boston...they have Phil Kessel (blech) but they also have Marc Savard (eeee!). I'm not sorry they're out, but I'm not over the moon with excitement that Montreal is still in it.

If you see Jarome Iginla, tell him I'm no longer speaking to him.

I'm really mad at the Flames. JEREMY ROENICK?! Ugh when I opened NHL.com this morning Brian FREAKIN' Campbell's face was looking directly at me from my screen while patting JR on the head. EW! Thanks A LOT!

And also from last night:

:'-(

Bye bye Caps.....no, stay strong, Maloy.....don't let them see you when you're hurting.....hold it together.....aw hell:

WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHH(gasp)AHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Joffrey Lupul is a Stinky face Stinky head.

And lastly, we bring you last season's Conference Champions...both out in the first round. Yikes.

2007 Western Conference and Stanley Cup Champs:

The Mighty Anaheim Ducks of Mighty Anaheim were mightily elimidated by the Dallas Stars in a 4-1 victory decided by one Mr. Stuart Barnes. The Ducks used to be my favorite Western Conference team. Then they pulled lots of shenangians. Then I became fully apprised of Chris Pronger's douche-itude and then they made him Captain, which annoyed me, then Nieds came back, and then Teemu came back in like February. That's stupid and they didn't deserve to make it farther. There were those who thought they'd repeat as Cup champs....I entertained the thought for a time, but clearly am glad they are going home to golf.

2007 Eastern Conference Buttheads Champions

Everyone's trying to be all "Woe to the Ottawa Senators" wah wah wah, things were so hard, you had a new coach, Ray Emery is a stinky face! TOO BAD YOU HAD BASICALLY THE SAME TEAM AS LAST YEAR! What the HELL Ottawa? Are your ch'is so easily thrown out of wack that Ray Emery showing up late to practice twice has ruined your team? Whoa. That's pretty damn intense. I shouldn't take such glee in their losing but I do!

The only team I'm excited about anymore is Pittsburgh! Go Pens! Ugh, and they're facing the Rangers. Yick.

I really wanted Sid and Ovie to meet in the playoffs. :( There's always next year? I really hate that sentence.