Happy Thanksgiving!

by Anne

Hey y'all. I'm ridiculously tired from the good times last night, so here's a list.

Things I'm thankful for:

• The Buffalo Sabres, even if they can't score a goal to save their mother-effing lives.
  

• The Los Angeles Kings, who won last night 3-1 over Edmonton
  

• David Backes deciding to be David Backes last night and having an awesome night for my fantasy team. 1G, 1A +2, 10 FOW, 6 SOG, 2 Hits, 1 blocked shot. :)
  

• My girlfriends and guy friends who I went out with last night because I had a totally awesome drunk time.
  

• Matt Greene scoring his first of the season, the game-winner, on the road against his old team. I wish he'd waited until I was watching, but I'll take it.

• All that usual stuff, family and friends. I have both in abundance and it's fantastic
  

• The refs for ejecting Ovechkin for his hit on Patty. They're really touchy about Ovechkin v. the Sabres, huh? Not because I thought he really deserved it, but because maybe they're going to do something about hits to the head/from behind now. Maybe.
  

• This quote:

"For a guy like me, who scores once a year, to say that I was picking my spots, is way more than an overstatement.”

Excuse me Greener, you scored TWICE last year...

• And lastly, for all you people who read this blog and will read the new one (that starts being the only updated blog tomorrow. I hope your team wins, your favorites play well, your families are healthy and happy and you have all that you need in life.
  

• Happy Thanksgiving!!

:)

Taking a Bite Out of the Sadness

by Anne

My friend and fellow vendor Jill and I had this conversation before the game.

Me: I really hope they win tonight.
Jill: They will, the City needs it.

She was right.

I got more excited than usual for each goal. THREE POWER PLAY GOALS?! Yay! And more sad than usual after each Sharks goal.

That was the most profoundly quiet moment of silence I've ever heard.

I know its just a hockey game but this win and the looks on people's faces as they were leaving tonight felt like this:

Sometimes its not just a game.

I NEED TO COUNT THOMAS VANEK JERSEYS EVERY NIGHT

by Anne

I know its been like a little over a year since the Sabres last played at home, but, if you recall, starting back a few games ago, I began counting jerseys in head to head battles before the game. Without exception or exaggeration, every player that has won their head to head battle has gone on to have a great game. Tonight I counted Derek Roy v. Thomas Vanek. Vanek won 15-13 and had a natural hat trick.

WHO'S IN A SLUMP? WHOSE JERSEY NEEDS A-COUNTIN'?

That game was sweeeeeeeeeeeeet. Were there any Toronto fans there?? because I certainly didn't hear any.

There really isn't a whole lot to say about that game. It was an incredibly thorough beating from start to finish.

The Leafs are straight up terrible. Sweet Merciful Gretzky, they were AWFUL. AW. FUL. They had no forecheck, their play in the neutral zone was laughable, they were forced off the puck if Dan Paille breathed on them too hard and they didn't help poor Justin Pogge at all. I'm pretty sure each Sabre can tack about 6 takeaways onto his stats tonight. It was down right pathetic.

I could not get over the Leafs fans who cheered for Matt Stajan's "goal" I was almost as far away as I physically could've been and I heard the whistle before Matt Stajan even shot the puck, so the fans right next to the goal probably should've been able to hear it as well. Ryan Miller clearly did and made no attempt to stop an easy shot.

My new favorite phrase has been discovered. When Vanek scored his third goal, this drunk dude was lucid enough to realize it was a natural hat trick, stood up, beer in hand, waving his hat and screamed "NATTY HATTY BABY, NATTY HATTY." What a master of the English language.

Other interesting points of note:

The Toronto Maple Leafs have some damn fine looking fans. I'm pretty sure I would've just about melted into a puddle if this dude and I had smiled at each other for a second longer. To give you a frame of reference he looked a lot like J-M Liles.

(Like after I wrote those sentences I just zoned out and daydreamed a little about that dude. So pretty.)

This couple that made out a lot at the last Leafs game was there again, but they did not choose to fondle each other in front of me.

If you're going to stand outside the Women's bathroom and wait for your lady friend, please do not stand in front of my cart. I'm rather passive aggressive so I will just start screaming my product list at the back of your head until you get the hint and move.

Once again, fans were stingy and sales were poor. Whatevs, Montreal fans are better.

Maxim Afinogenov's shoes are really really loud when he's walking on concrete.

Thomas Vanek jerseys: 15
Derek Roy jerseys: 13
Red leopard print leggings: 1

The Pens won tonight, giving them 55 points, but leaving them in 10th as Carolina has a game in hand.

I'm a big fan of Steve Dangle's Leafs Fan Reactions and I was not surprised to turn on his video about tonight's game and see this as the opening shot:

I'm sorry, Steve.
But not that sorry.

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!

In Conclusion

by Anne

The road trip is over. We went 3-3-0, garnering six points as I predicted, except doing it in a different way.

I will summarize the road trip overall:

It could've been better. It could have been worse.

We got Kaleta but lost Hecht. We lost Mairsy, got him back but lost Sissy.

We have Weber as an option instead of resorting to someone REALLY untested.

We actually got to watch these games.

Thomas Vanek might be dead. Same for Jason Pominville. Tim Connolly might be alive. Same for Drew Stafford.

We're still in seventh place but we're still in seventh place.

They'll be back home on Wednesday to host new hockey crush Luke Schenn and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I would've stayed up this late anyway.

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.

Mats Who?

by Anne

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yay!

YO THAT GAME ROCKED

by Anne

See above title. It pretty much says it all.

The Sabres dug themselves into a tidy little 3-1 hole and had about 45 minutes or so of 5 on 3 penalty kill time and did almost as well as possible with them. Eddie Olczyk was right, who ever came out on the winning end of that 5 on 3 was going to have the momentum of the game in their favor and Eddie was right. Wow. Eddie Olczyk was right.

Anyway, it was an EXCELLENT showing by Ryan Miller. His desperation hail mary stop on Crosby's break away was insanity. Robbing Satan with the WEBBING of his glove and dislocating his shoulder to sweep it out of the way. Andrej Sekera diving in on the play to make a huuuuge save. See what happens when you crash the net Reggie? Ok, so maybe Lindy meant the other net but WOO! Good things happen.

We got scoring from both our primary and secondary groups. Royzie and Vanek and Pie and Al. Al and Pie's goals were classic "garbage" goals but "garbage" usually means a heads-up gobbling up of a rebound and that's exactly what they both did.

VANEK GETS HIS 20TH!! He scored goal #4 to break the tie and then the Sabres went into shut down mode. Vanek had an amazing sweep check on Petr Sykora who was skating in on Millsy basically alone, then he jumped up and fired the puck around the boards. THAT was what Lindy was talking about when he said he wanted to make Thomas Vanek one of the league's top 2 way players and he's heading down that path.

See?:

DIVE, THOMAS!

Its two in a row, but its only two, they have to re-group and get ready for a home game. Play the same way at home that you played these last two games and the fans will be plenty happy, no need to show off, thanks boys. Winning is the best showing off of all.

I know our PK is pretty wicked sweet and all, but I'd really like to see less of it next game.

Gerbster was a +1 but had almost 6 minutes shaved off of his ice time tonight :/ He seemed to be less effective tonight than the last game but this was a much tougher opponent, so he'll need to get used to it. He will.

Not a single Sabre had a multi-point game, but 10 players registered a point. Ice time was really spread out, Lindy kept the lines moving, the player with the least amount of ice time was MacArthur and he still had eight and a half minutes.

I would love to know what was said to the refs by someone on the Sabres bench (Lindy...) to get a bench penalty for abuse of officials. Whoops.

In case you were wondering we've now beaten Pittsburgh 2 more times than we did last season.

Sidney Crosby plays like 55 minutes a game and unforch he was a -2 tonight. But had a lame-ass smack to the face on Yoyo when the refs were between them and my SidLove plummeted.

I feel the looks on both Goose and Sissy's faces adequately sum up their roles on the team
Goose is Pollyanna, Sissy is frighteningly blunt


Adam Mair intense face
Grrrrr

I'm working on our All-Star Roster. After this week I'll compile a post for referencing when you vote. Currently the rosters will be a starting line up: 3 forwards, 2 defense 1 goalie. However, so far we've got 15 forwards from each conference, 6 defensemen and 3 goalies from the East and 3 from the West. We wanted to have more goalies but there frankly are not enough attractive goalies in the West. Sorry, its just true.

Wooooooo!!! I'm chipping away at the pile of finals on my desk, after tomorrow it'll be 2 papers and 2 tests!

Will This Scene Make it Into The Movie About His Life?

by Anne

Is anyone else loving every second of these Sean Avery shenanigans?

I wonder how this will play out in that movie they're writing?

Will this somehow turn into a conveniently timed ruse all so Sean-o can get back to NYC in time to prep the models for fashion week?

Will it be secret code to let on-screen Elisha know he still loves her and they'll have a romantic rendezvous at Bloomingdales and buy coordinating Gucci belts?

Will Dion Phaneuf be the "douche bag superstar"? I picture Phaneuf's character as if Sidney Crosby were an abusive boyfriend with a secret drinking problem. Elisha is the troubled starlet, fleeing home to Canada, drawn by the allure of Dion's slightly Frankenstein-eqsue forehead combined with Sid the Kid's scoring prowess and on-screen affability, only to realize that she left it all behind when Sean flew off to Dallas. Elisha will realize the error of her ways, leave abusive Dion Crosby and fly to Sean in his time of strife, organizing shoe racks and accessory tables at Bryant Park as he smiles inwardly, knowing he's fooled us all.

We hear "sloppy seconds", she hears "knight in shining armour".

This is the best thing to happen during finals.

That Was Pretty Much the Best Day Ever

by Anne

Wooooooo!!

I'M BACK IN BUFFALO BABY!

Thank goodness I'm home. That, like 38 hours I was gone was INTENSE. So much CHANGED while I was gone, new jerseys, the Sabres WON, turkey was eaten and I drank a lot of gin. Oh wait, that last thing is not so much "new" as it is "common".

I wish wish wish I could've watched that Boston game on Wednesday. It seemed as though it was quite a sexy time. It began the "Scored 1 goal tonight? Why not score another?" trend that's been carried on, more about that LATER.

So I took a totally BA nap in the car yesterday then got home in time to hit the bank, shower, do my hair (its a process, it takes TIME) and head off to the Arena, but not before my Dad told me he had filled the tank in my car and paid my parking ticket. Dads are awesome. Then I worked and went to a partay afterwards. Good times were had by all. Except the Pens, HA!

Then I made out like BANDIT in sales and THE SABRES WON!!! AND I WAS THERE!

GOOOOOOOSE!!! Staffy's two goals were a great example of "be in front of the net and good things will happen." How fitting that it was on a night that Dave Andreychuk (a guy who scored most of his NHL record powerplay goals by doing just what Staffy did, thank you for that info, Lindy Ruff) was honored and inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame. Good ol' Dave! Credit has to be given to Max for his "streaking in all alone and swervy turvying around until someone's at the net and BOOP! goal." Well done, Maxim, sometimes that actually works.

Goose's goals were just hard work. I know that being in front of the net is hard, but Goose muscled and fought and dug hard to get his goals so Double BAMF to them both. Yay!!

There was almost a shower of popcorn and Twizzlers as a certain vendor in section 322 was completely OUTRAGED when Brooks Orpik beaned Danny and knocked him over and made me... uh, I mean made HER have to watch him twitch in pain. NOT COOL, BROOKS, NOT COOL. I was seriously upset when it happened. DON'T YOU HURT PIE. Speaking of pie, my pecan pie was DELISH. I'll totally make you one. But don't hurt PIE. He should've gotten 2 extra minutes for upsetting a vendor. It may not be a penalty but it should be.

There was a random bunch of Flyers fans there. Who do they cheer for? I mean, they hate the Pens but are they really going to root for the Sabres? It seems unlikely.

All in all, an excellent game by the Sabres.

Quick WCB recap:

I've decided to just pick my top 3 WCBs for the night from now on rather than giving you all more to scroll through and skim, haha.

*Owen Nolan did his best Jochen Hecht impression and banked a goal in off of Tampa goaltender Mike Smith in a 4-2 home victory for the Wild.

**Ryan Getzlaf scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory for the Ducks over the Chicago Blackhawks. Jonas Hiller has been outstanding for the Ducks, going 4-0 in his last 6 games played. But WOO Getzy!

***He's not a WCB but the Coyotes' Enver Lisin who I first heard of the other day has a totally BA name.

Then today (Saturday) Moms, MK and I did some intense shopping. We hit several stores but didn't buy a whole lot. Today is Moms's birthday. She's 36 years young... wweelllll ok that might not be 100% accurate, but I'm just guestimating my Mommy's age for you all. MK (who is 25, for future reference in this story) just read Twilight and just saw the movie last night and said the movie was mostly disappointing except for the intense bangability factor of Robert Pattinson. All day she kept walking around saying "Oh my God he's so beautiful." "He's so hot" "Why is he so hot?"

This is the 500th post of Sabretooth's House. I can't even believe that. When this blog was started we figured we'd write in it a few times and forget about it. Well almost 11 months and 500 posts later, here we are! Still writing and still enjoying it. Thanks for reading our ramblings and commenting, its really been a lot of fun, especially the awesome comments from other bloggers who write awesome blogs that are funny and original. So, thanks everyone!

I actually type this blog on a typewriter from the mid 1920s

My Love For the Pens Gets to Shine for a Night

by Anne

Bored and avoiding writing an outline for a final paper, I decided to watch the Pens take on the Red Wings tonight, assuming the Wings would make short work of the injury-riddled Pens. They suffered more woes as Rob Scuderi went down after taking a Lidstrom slapper off the ankle and Kris Letang was unaware of the "you're trying to STOP the other team from scoring" fundamentals of the game. The Pens were behind most of the game until Jordan Staal said "You know what? Screw this." and scored a hat trick to send the game to OT.

WHOA. That game was INTENSE. I joined the Puck Daddy live chat and it was pretty awesome, not gonna lie. I needed some intense hockey to lift my spirits with this lengthy break between Sabres games.

Jordan Friggin' Staal. Earlier in the night some jokers were talking trash about him, saying how he's been awful this season and then, look at that- a hat trick to shut them all up.

Rarely do games like these live up to their hype, but this one did just that and more. It was like a perfect metaphor for last season's cup finals: The Pens were outplayed and generally lackluster to start, but turned it up and gave a good run at the end, only this time, they WON.

WOO!!! Its not often I can get that worked up about a game in November that does not feature the Buffalo Sabres, but I was back in the playoffs again, living and dying on Jordan Staal's goal production.

This was the kind of game we were expecting from these two teams in the Finals: intense, fast, passionate, and high-scoring. If you recall, the Pens were shut out in the first TWO games of the Finals last season, causing Gary Bettman to weep openly at the one-sidedness of it all.

For those who might not be aware, the Pens rank a distant (but still beloved) 2nd in my hierarchy of favorite hockey teams, so I greatly enjoy watching them play, except when they beat the Sabres.... which I think they did 4 out of 4 times last season. Booooooooooo. I try not to take it personally.

Anyway, that game was totally wacky and I loved it. NOW, if only the Sabres can deliver up as much moxie tomorrow, I'll be a happy camper.

Woooo!

Maybe Its Because We Were In a Bar

by Anne

But are we, the ladies of Sabretooth's House the only ones who thought the actual lighting of the torch was lame as all get-out? The rest of the ceremony was SWEET but I thought the Peter Pan fake running was lame.

WHERE'S MY BARCELONA ARCHER AT? My mom made me watch that in 1992 when I was 7 and its still the coolest lighting of an Olympic torch ever. Its totally nuts. I like it most because, just like the Olympics are, the lighting of that torch was pure human skill, not a LAME scrolling projection and flying wires.