What a weird game

by Anne

Often I fall asleep before Kings games are over because they usually start at 10 or 10:30. Last night was no exception.

It's easier to fall asleep when the Kings are winning 5-0 over the Columbus Blue Jackets. It's nice to wake up to see a 6-0 victory.

If you removed the team names and player names from this game it would've seemed like a Canada - Norway preliminary round tournament match-up. The Blue Jackets managed a grand total of eleven shots on goal in the entire game. If Quickie hadn't had a shutout his SV% would've been bad by even allowing only one goal. The Blue Jackets looked like an AHL team. They were terrible. Their penalty killing was pathetic. It saddens me that Nasher was the player in the box for a double minor when the Kings scored twice. Ouch.

I genuinely feel bad for Steve Mason. I want him to do well. I hate to see yet another Calder winning goalie become a joke (coughAndrewRaycroftcough).

Twelve different kings registered at least a point with all six goals coming from different players. Alexander Frolov had himself a four point night (1+3). He's really turned it around late in the season, particularly since the Olympic break. He's such a puzzlement. I want to keep Frolov but I'm not sure if it's going to happen. Dean Lombardi is no slouch and he didn't move Fro at the deadline for a reason. I predict that if they don't sign him, they'll trade his negotiating  rights for SOMETHING in return between draft day and June 30.

Sometimes weekends when you stay home and do work can be the best. Was it fun? No, not really but I'm not having a panic attack about all my work that was due today like friends of mine are. Ahhh it's so nice to be responsibility-free (no kids, no job - ok but no $-, no spouse). I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts which will not be much longer, I guarantee it.

These Games STILL Don't Count?/ Anne Succumbs to Fantasy Hockey

by Anne

By some cruel twist of fate, it is STILL pre-season. I'm not sure how but, trust me, it still is.

• The Canucks are 5-0 in the pre-season. On Monday night they jumped to an early 3-0 lead against the Flames only allow four unanswered Flames goals to trail 4-3 late in the third. Here's what happened: 10.2 seconds left - Six attackers for the Canucks. A Mason Raymond goal is disallowed because of an early whistle. Faceoff goes to the neutral zone. Game over, right?

• Daniel Sedin says NO:

He scored the tying goal with 0.2 seconds left
And THEN he scored the winning goal in the shootout



Curtis Glencross scored too.
Big Bear gets all emo with displeasure

• The Sabres sent 14 players to Portland. There were no surprises. Myers, Weber, Kennedy, Gerbe, Gragnani, Enroth all remain in camp.

• Speaking of the Sabres, they'll walk the red carpet tomorrow night before the game against the Maple Leafs where no one will buy anything and I'll have no money to show for my trouble.

• The Kings beat the Islanders in Kansas City on Tuesday night. Wayne Simmonds had a fantastic game. Two goals- one short-handed- and a nifty fight:

Simmer's intense fight-y face is obscured by some Ts
Trust me, it's intense and fight-y

• Sean O'Donnell earned himself a match penalty that will be reviewed by the league. Yeesh O'D.

• The Pens lost to the Maple Leafs. I didn't see much but I did see Gronk tangle with Mike Komisarek and lose. Two blonde giants that I enjoy, Gronk clearly more than Komi. Gronk had a lame-tastic shootout attempt. Eh, its ok. He was wearing an A though. :)

It wasn't pretty


Hi Jay!
I hope you're enjoying your time in Pittsburgh!

• I've joined my first fantasy hockey league. The reason I never joined before was because I couldn't come up with a good name. Problem solved! I decided that I needed someone to create it for me and if I laughed, I'd use it. Most of the team name generators are completely lame. Therefore I decided to go the anagram route and started tossing in combinations of my favorite players names. Behold:

+ + +

Greene+Schenn+Doughty+Nash=

Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters


Fear their wrath.

• I feel strongly that there were way too many pictures in this post.

The Good The Bad and The WTF

by Anne

Additonal roster photos have been released throughout the league. I will not, of course, be posting the 600+ photos that have been released.... OR WILL I?!

No, I won't.

I will, however, post those of my WCBs and Vice-WCBs (maybe) as they are revealed to me.

The Good (sorry about the watermarks):

Big Bear, looking all chizzled and ready to go


SO'B ready to charm his way into a roster spot
Fierce roster photo: check.

The Bad:

Thank goodness there's photoshop
He looks like he's 5'3"
You can see the bottom of the "canvas"
hahahaha

The WTF:

I appreciate growing the hair back
I appreciate the smile
I do NOT appreciate that gross landing strip of facial hair you have on your chin
Please remedy this situation posthaste

The Totally unrelated:

I came across this picture of the Schenn brothers at the draft
I take every oppotunity to see Luke Schenn in a suit
Brayden is not yet old enough for me to ogle him
But give it time.

Team Canada is more interesting than Team USA

by Anne

Clearly I am an American citizen, having been born in New York State. Therefore I will be cheering for Team USA come Olympics time.

Yet, Team Canada boasts so many more players that I hold near and dear to my heart.

Sure Team USA has Miller, Kesler.... uhhhh and... ummmm David Backes? But Team Canada boasts such beloved favorites as Jarome Iginla, Rick Nash and Jordan Staal.

Must. Look. Less. Doofy. Than. Brothers.


The man can do no wrong


Nooo, please don't become a mountain man again, Nasher!
I'll adore you regardless but, pleeeeease?

If the sight of Derek Roy's photo didn't make me dry-heave, I might have posted it. However, as I cannot bear to subject you all to the grotesque eye-roll inducing portrait, I will leave it out.

There are, however, three portraits that cannot go un-ridiculed noted:

Dan Boyle will defeat the enemy with his Stink-Eye of Death


Tazer is only allowed out of the bell-tower to play hockey and stare uncomfortably at his opponents.


Vinny looks like he's about to puke and topple head-first into the camera
It suits him...?


A mutiny a-brewin', Lindy?


Marty St. Louis is horrified. Simply horrified.
He's just seen who his linemates are...


And its not these guys. They're Sid's wingmen
I love it.


What are the odds they're speaking English?


Adorable.

Proof that Marc and Jordan don't like Eric:


Jordan chills while a trainer... does something with Marc's ankles


Jordan: I'm gonna break Eric's stick
Marc: Ok, just make sure its really his and not mine this time, bro.
Nope, there are no photos of Eric with either of his baby bros. He must be a jerk.

That concludes my foray into the enemy's orientation camp. Not surprisingly, Team USA's stuff is not as interesting.

Drunk on Goals

by Anne

10-2?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!

This was my favorite game ever. Shouldn't this count for like two wins?!

So to recap the scoring: Staffy 3 - Edmonton Oilers 2

Stafford, Roy and Vanek all had 3 points tonight. Timmy scores a shortie and a power play goal and adds an assist. That back pass by Connolly to Staffy for his hat trick was a thing of beauty. Oh Timmy, there are so many things I could say about your skill to injury ratio, but I'm too happy.

Derek Roy somehow managed to turn a turnover into a goal for Jochen Hecht. He lost the puck to Cole, took it back, passed it to Pommer, and Hecht put it in the net. Another classic Jochen "If I can't score a goal like that..." goal.

We're always whining about our lack of offensive production from the blue line and then Paetsch has two points (1+1), Spacek scored on a huge shot from the point and Rivet had two assists. Thank you, boys, we'll take some more of that any time you want to dish it out.

Gragnani was fine I imagine, I basically forgot he was there so I'll assume he did a fine job. He had at least one shot towards the net, so there's that.

Staffy brought the pigeon to his post-game interview with Gene Principe. Oh Staffy. Loves. He's such an unaffected person. Like, even though he clearly makes like $900,000 a season, he probably still gets his haircut at Supercuts and wears clothes until they fall apart.

Why can't we win these games against Eastern Conference teams? Whatevs, I don't care who these kinds of games are against, just as long as they're 10-2 wins in our favor.

My Sabres score text message was so full it couldn't fit the season goal totals in because there were so many players names to cram in.

Remember when this game was almost blacked out? You could've still watched it online, but I can't even imagine the outrage if this game hadn't been aired on MSG.

Thrilling love indeed.

Iggy and the Flames tomorrow!!

ETA: I forgot!! Nasher had a hat trick and the Blue Jackets beat the Red Wings. To recap: Rick Nash 3 - Detroit Red Wings 2.

I Like You a Lot Lot

by Anne

I watched the Skills Competition last night with a vodka tonic in hand. Sadly, the drinking game was not as successful this year, but the event was more entertaining.

I wish Vanek had done some more events, his goal in the Elimination Shootout was one of the highlights of the entire night. Being a Sabres fans, it seems logical I'd say that, but it was definitely one of the more creative attempts. Although, TV, I could really live without the fauxhawk. I love ya, but you deserve better than "The Royzie Special".

Marc Savard actually displayed a personality as he was mic'd up for the entire evening for Versus. I was shocked and awed, but plesantly surprised that he was actually more interesting than watching paint dry. I had anticipated he would not be a stimulating conversationalist. Zach Parise apparently decided to abandon ship on the mic and we were left with only Savvy. There was a moment after the fastest skater challenge when one of his teammates clearly thought Zach was talking to him and he had to gesture to his ear to be like "No, I'm talking to the voices in my head, er, ear, er, Doc." I wonder what Versus would have done if Savvy hadn't made it to the final round of shooters? Would he have had to hang out there until it was over? Most likely.

The Young Stars game was a hot mess. They kept showing replays while the game was going on and goals were being scored. I normally enjoy the Young Stars game so this was fairly disappointing.

The above title refers to one of those Young Stars, Luke Schenn. I know he's an icky Maple Leaf but I really think he's awesome. He's a great player, he seems to be a genuinely nice person and he's not too hard on the eyes. I cheered when he scored in the game and then laughed because he has yet to score in the NHL. Its ok, Luke! Give it time!

Schenn and Doughty
My new favorite defensemen.
(ETA: Except Matt Greene, of course.)
Why?
This is the first season I've given a hoot about defensemen and they're young and talented.



Work that -20 degree weather, boy


20?? Who's wearing #26?
psh! Marty St. Louis?!?!
That's BALONEY.
Thomas Kaberle won the "15"battle with Dany Heatley (#51)
Jay Boumeester (#3) lost the "4" battle with Vinny
Jeff Carter (#7) lost the "17" battle with Ilya Kovalchuk
Patrick Marleau (#10) lost the "12" battle with Iggy
Shane Doan lost the "19" battle with Jonathan Toews because Tazer is a starter
Joe Thornton also lost the "19" battle and went with "97"? Doan is wearing "18"


Soupy looks... really good.

These men have hockey sticks in their hands everyday, yet some of them look catastrophically awkward holding them while not in skates. I thought the stick was there to ease the awkwardness of the photo-takng experience?

Nasher, the only dual "Hottie" and "Skill" representative.



Yay!!


I love it.


Jeff: We gotta get that Stamkos kid to join. Then we'll get to Berglund.
Eric: Totally, we need all the blonde, nearly albino forwards together. We have to combat the Russian forwards some how. Kovalev can't join us.
Jeff: He's just not blonde enough.
Eric: I was talking to Vanek before. I think he's in.
Jeff: He's more strawberry than pure blonde like you and me.
Eric: I know, but we need to save him before the Europeans get him.
Jeff: Word. After this, want to go sit in dark corners and not get any sun?
Eric: Sure! Hey, what color was Keith Tkachuk's hair before he lost it all...

I will probably not watch the actual All-Star Game as I have class Monday morning. What's up with that? Anyway, if you watch the game, enjoy!

WCB Weekend Update

by Anne


*sniff sniff* It's really brought a tear to my eyes all of my WCBs who took up the cause to give me happy things to talk about on Saturday night. Here they are in no particular order:

Chicago: Patrick Sharp (12+8)

Sharpie scored 2 goals Saturday night! One a nice tip-in of a rebound and the other a straight skate in and shoot. He gave the Blackhawks their first two goals in an attempt to climb back from a 3-0 deficit. They went on to beat the Leafs 5-4 in OT. Yay!!!

Columbus: Rick Nash (10+9)

Nasher got his 10th of the season in a 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers, giving Steve Mason his first NHL shut out. The Thrashers didn't make him work very hard, they only offered him 15 shots to stop. Yay! This extends Nasher's 5 game goal streak. Yayyy!!!

rawr

Minnesota: Owen Nolan (1+5)

Nothing in the write up or box score indicates why, but ONo was named 3rd star of the night in the Wild's 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. But, who cares! Yay!!! ONo!!!

Anaheim: Ryan Getzlaf (8+18)

Saturday night Getzy scored in the shoot out and talked himself all smart and the like when he talked about how well he can read Marty Turco. Muahahaha. On the other side of that game, Brendan Morrow's season is over :( His necessary surgery will require several months of recovery time. :( HOWEVER! Marty Turco got an assist and I friggin' love when goalies get points, hahahaha.

Detroit: Nick Lidstrom

Ok, so this isn't exactly about Nick Lidstrom. Its about my former Red Wings WCB, Brett Leda.
Brett heard all the mean things I said about him being terrible so he scored a goal and was named first star of the night! Wooo! Toooo bad he's not my WCB anymore. Look, one goal does not reclaim my love so easily.

LA Kings: Matt Greene (0+2)

Greener was a +2 as the Kings fell to the Avs 4-3 in OT. Once again, Greener failed to put one home. I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP HOPE, MATTHEW! THERE'S STILL LIKE 63 GAMES LEFT! YOU CAN DO IT!

San Jose: Marc-Edouard Vlasic

PICKLES SCORED A GOAL!!!!! Yay!!! And he had an assist!! Hooray! I hope he had all those adorable rosy cheeks I've heard so much about!! Weeeee! I love when defensemen score!

Moving on:

Vancouver and Chicago had better watch their backs in this "Favorite Western team 08-09 race" I just discovered this on the Calgary Flames website and things are looking up for my 07-08 team to really get back in the mix here.

The Flames participated in a charity wheelchair hockey event and got their butts kicked 11-6. Hahaha.

I bet Iggy wishes he could use that purple stick ALL the time.


I might be in love with Mike Cammalleri

You Are All Enablers

by Anne

My love for the Buffalo Sabres is completely obvious based on nothing other than the fact that this blog exists. However, a few of my most beloved boys to don the blue and gold in recent years are imports or loaners. Most of my favorites (Pie, Pommer, Millsy) are Buffalo (hockey) born and bred, so chances are if there has been a widely available adorable youthful picture of them made available during their career, I've seen it.

HOWEVER. Current reigning #2, Anthony Craigory Rivet, is CLEARLY not a Buffalo Sabres original, therefore his past is foreign to me.

Therefore, I rely HEAVILY on fans of his former teams to enable my sick fascination with childhood and not-hockey related photos.

Honestly, my love for Craigory has never truly waned, but he was out for a few games and no one heard much about him because we were winning. In that awkward time my sad love affair with our new captain had cooled slightly. I needed SOMETHING to bring me back around to the light:

SOPH COMES THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH WITH AN ENTIRE PHOTO SPREAD OF AMAZING CRAIG RIVET PHOTOS!!!!

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

There are so many GEMS but I'll only post the ones that made me giggle uproariously and swoon the most.

Heeeeeeeeeeeee!!
Awwwwwwwww


Scott has the right idea here, PANIC
but A+ on the newsboy cap, Cap'n



Only the greatest smirk/mullet combination of ALL TIME


Since our blog is a hotbed for shirtless photo searches, here's another phrase to up the total:
Craig Rivet shirtless
...with a fish
....and a goatee
.... and that adorable dimple


BEST
HALLOWEEN
COSTUME
EVER.

Ok, I was in kind of a funk and then just as I was checking my email, I got Soph's comment enabling my obsession and it TOTALLY brightened my day. IMMEDIATELY. Because its Friday afternoon and I had time to kill, I IMMEDIATELY had to share this GLORY with the world. Soph and I should not be the only ones able to witness this magical magical photo gallery.

WEEEEE!

I would be remiss not to include this photo that Alix sent me a while ago but have not been able to use:

Aahhahahhahahaha look at his pudgy little chipmunk face!
LOVE

Good stuff, good stuff.

Another WCB vists us tonight:

When was he blonde?

Blue Jackets tonight, 7:30, Crossroads Marine Midland HSBC Arena. Be there.

I Must Choose Carefully

by Anne

Yesterday, I revealed to you all (ok, or you could've found it out almost anywhere else) the Buffalo Sabres' nominees for the 2009 NHL All-Star game. Today I continue my segment of "Things Only Anne Cares About, but Blogs About Anyway" and inform you which of my WCBs have made the ballot:

TRAGICALLY, of my 15 boys, only 4 have made the list :(

Ok, but who REALLY thought MATT GREENE with 1 goal in his entire NHL career was going to make the ballot? Me, I did. That's who. And Matt Greene's mama. We might be alone in this, she and I, but we shall stand strong together!

Ryan Getzlaf - F
Nicklas Lidstrom - D
Jarome Iginla - F
Rick Nash - F

Anyway, these boys get my vote, and I'll have to get creative for my other defenseman and goaltender choice. AT LEAST, I will not be forced to choose between boys for this, THAT would be tragic. I'm definitely going to write in Matt Greene, but which goaltender do I support?

I have a thing for captains, and in a rare turn of events, a captain is also a goaltender... and Luongo is on our sister team... I'll probably vote Lui. Hopefully his wife won't be having another baby and he can actually appear this year. Yay! I know he has't had a great start, but he seems to be settling in to things now and, as Alix tells us, posted his 3rd shutout of the season. I like shut outs.

Mirtle correctly points out that Sharpie and JP Dumont are not on the ballot, yet players who have yet to play a game this season made it. Booo. :( Where my Teemu at?

Why in the WORLD are Marty Turco, Marty Biron and Rick DiPietro on this ballot??

I suppose I also have to pick another Eastern defenseman and forward as well... I won't bother picking any of the shoo-ins, and my former Playoff Boyfriend, Mike Green was extremely NOT sexy the other night against us, so I don't know if I can support him. Sidney Crosby does not need my vote. I think I'll go hog wild and vote for Patrik Elias up front and Ryan Whitney on the blue line because he seems like a crotchety old man and he had a beautiful playoff beard. That's the basic criteria for selection, isn't it?

I slept through my first class and showed up only to discover my 2nd class was cancelled. Now its off to class #3. Let's see if this one actually happens.

Not to get all political, but yesterday made me happy. I hope, even if you voted for McCain, you can appreciate how energized the world is now. A friend of mine has friends in England who were literally crying they were so happy Obama was elected. That's a pretty big deal. WOO!!

Friday Night

by Anne

So I'm pretty much the coolest person you all have ever met... or not met but read a blog she writes... anyway, I opted to stay home and catch up on some reading... in between watching hockey games and harassing my cat.

WCB Watch:

Rangers at Blue Jackets

Soooo the Rangers won and Nasher had 0 pts, -2, 2 shots and 4 PIM. Yyyyyeah...

Rangers head coach, Tom Renney, was hit in the head by a stick when some players were mixing it up by the benches during the second. He went to the dressing room and did not return, but apparently did not leave the Arena. Yikes. I hope he's ok.

Nasher and Staal do a little bump and grind

Thrashers at Red Wings

Red Wings won 5-3. Brett appeared in the recap!... because he turned over the puck that basically gave the Thrashers their first goal. whoops.

Its ok, Bretters.

Ducks at Sens

Getzy netted his first goal of the season!!! The (eventual) game winner!! Word of my selection must've finally reached him in St. Louis!!! He was out with a "dental issue"? Root canal? Cavity? Whatever, he's back and he scored!! He had 4 shots, 3 hits and a 69% faceoff win. Woo!

The Ducks had a tidy little 4-0 lead heading into the 3rd until Jason Spezza probably screamed the word "shut out" in Jonas Hiller's face causing the team to have an almost total defensive collapse. They managed to hang on and beat those stupid old Senators 4-3. WOO!

Feel the love.

Sharks at Panthers

Sharks lost. :(

THEY LOST EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD 50 SHOTS ON GOAL. 50. AND THEY LOST. Over all, Pickles had 1 point (0+1), -3, but lead the team in ice time again with 24:34, and had 3 blocked shots.

The man who would've been my 'Yotes WCB before he was traded on draft day, Keith Ballard, had three assists! I mean, boooooooo.

Its ok, babes, you can't win 'em all

Fun fact about this game: the only Sharks without a shot on goal were Jeremy Roenick and Jody Shelley.

Kings at Blues

Kings won! 4-0! Yay!

Greener fought Barrett Jackman (one of 4 fights of the night), and he and the rest of the defense limited the Blues to just 15 shots. Yay Greener!! He was +1 and had 2 blocked shots! woo!

JKee was -2 with 1 shot and 4 blocked shots. The rest of his team should've, ya know, scored some goals. Well, its not their fault that the Palin-curse has now been shifted from the Flyers (who won tonight, ironically) to the Blues. Whoops.

Drew Doughty was +3 and the Kings STILL have a perfect PK.

Grrrr, take THAT, Simmonds

I know he's not a WCB and I'm supposed to hate him, but Danny Briere is out for 3-4 weeks with a torn abdominal muscle. All together now:

"Ouch"

He's having surgery to repair the injury tomorrow morning. :( Surgery apparently fixes everything that ails you in the NHL. Sinus infection? Nosebleed? Broken nail? Surgery.

Next week on the Sabres Show they're profiling Danny Paille!! I loves me some Danny Paille. I sponsor his Hockey-Reference.com page, after all!! I'm excited to learn more about my beloved Pie.

Speaking of learning more about our beloved players, here's a recent interview with Gerbe-Derby where no one seems to want to acknowledge that while he SHOULD have won the Hobey Baker, he was, in fact, a runner-up. Meh, he's awesome regardless:

The Pirates unveiled the pink jerseys they will wear Saturday night to support breast cancer awareness:

DOOOOOOOOOOF!


I really like the nod to the parent club with the "P" being stabbed by a Sabre, like our secondary stabbed "B" logo
Good job, Pirates.

Friday night, the Pirates beat the Sound Tigers in a last minute 4-3 regulation victory. Gerbe scored a goal and Tim Kennedy has hit game #5 of his point streak. Yay!!!

Tomorrow all 30 teams play! That should be exciting and will mean my WCB Watch will be seriously abridged because there isn't enough time to talk about all 15, I'll just hit the highest highs and the lowest lows.

I hope Millsy and JM Liles have hung out and done lots BFF-y things for the last couple of days! And I really hope Liles has given Millsy plenty of ribbing about his new role as "clutch goal scorer for the Minnesota Wild".

Woo!