Back.

by Anne

Hey!

I'm re-committing to daily blogging starting TODAY, Thursday April 5, 2011.

My first re-born post shall be to re-dub Christopher "Butts" Butler as "Sir Christopher."

By virtue of your re-emerging bodacious defensive play, and your

first goal of the season (took you long enough),

and specifically your totally sexy (and legal) manhandling of

one Mr. Vincent Lecavalier in the dying minutes of tonight's game.

I hereby re-dub you:

Sir Christopher

May you always be the gentleman and bad-ass defenseman we know you can be.

As I tweeted/posted: I will not count my sixth place eggs until they've hatched. However, in the interim I will go all Paas Easter egg dye happy on them.

Game plan for next year: adjust Vanek's visor so every team looks like they're the Tampa Bay Lightning.

LET'S GO BUFF-A-LO!

Best playoffs ever.

by Anne

I didn't watch the Sabes game on Saturday because of bridal shower festivities and missed much of the Kings' game while out at a bachelorette party in the evening.

The good and the bad:

• The Sabres blew a two goal lead and lost 5-3. Jerks.
• Thomas Vanek lost the lower half of his leg
• Johnny Boychuk is a d-bag
• The Kings decided to trail by 2 goals for about half of the game.
• Fortunately, Wayne Simmonds decided to tie it up and Kopi decided to win it in OT.
• I really think the Sabres will be ok without Vanek for the time being. He was a non-factor most of the season; they won several games when he was playing like garbage.
• Stafford is back. He skated with the team this morning after a doctor in Buffalo tightened the nuts and bolts that keep his head on his neck.
• Miller was named a finalist for the Vezina. Shocking.
• I hate this semester and all the writing I have to do over the next two weeks.
• The playoffs are bananas
• I love Dan Boyle
• I love the San Jose Sharks SO. MUCH.
• Where my playoff beards at? I know it's early but: bring 'em on!!

2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Forwards

by Anne

Continuing where we left off yesterday: the forwards.

#9 Derek Roy

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

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

Grade: B

 #13 Tim Kennedy

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

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

Grade: B-

#19 Tim Connolly

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

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

Grade: A-

#21 Drew Stafford

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

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

Grade: C-

 #22 Adam Mair

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

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

Grade: B

 #25 Mike Grier

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

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

Grade: B+

#26 Thomas Vanek

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

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

Grade: B-

#28 Paul Gaustad

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

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

Grade: B+

 #29 Jason Pominville

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

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

Grade: B+

#36 Patrick Kaleta

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

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

Grade: A-

#37 Matt Ellis

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

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

Grade: B+

 #55 Jochen Hecht

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

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

Grade: A-

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

 #17 Raffi Torres

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

Go away. I don't like you.

Grade: D

 #42 Nathan Gerbe

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

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

Grade: B+

 #63 Tyler Ennis

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

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

Grade: A-

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

Forwards overall grade: B+

Controversy time

by Anne

I want to write a whole write-up of our awesome trip to Nashville but I need a camera cord before I can upload the pictures and I want to edit some of the video before I upload some of them.

Tuesday and Wednesday were some pretty sweet days for hockey. The Sabres welcomed me back to Buffalo with a lovely victory over the Panthers. Pommer leads the team in goal scoring? Gerbe AND Ennis scored? Woooo! Welcome home to me!

However, not everything is coming up roses. There are some awesome "controversies" both my teams are dealing with. 

First for the Sabres there's: how do we send Gerbe and Ennis back to the AHL when they've been playing this well in the NHL? Connolly and Vanek weren't playing as well before they were injured, why should Gerbe and Ennis lose their spots just because they come back? Let's see, four players who have proven to be prolific goal-scorers vying for a limited number of roster spots, especially with the playoffs upcoming? Gosh, things are tough.

On the West Coast side of things, the "controversy" a-brewing is a good old fashioned goalie controversy. Jonathan Bernier was called up from Manchester when Erik Ersberg allegedly strained his back. He played the Nashville game I attended a recorded himself a shutout. I don't think it was a surprise to any Kings fan that Bernier is better than Ersberg, but could he be better than Quick?  Terry Murray was quick (hah) to put it out there that Quickie is still the #1 goalie, but Bernier is getting the start tonight against Vancouver.

Yeesh, times are tough.

:)

School is kicking my behind

by Anne

Since I'm sick of being busy all the time, I decided to stay home and celebrate Pi day/ Daylight Savings Time Day by myself while my family goes to my sister's boyfriend's musical. He is not in it, he directs the pit orchestra.

Anyway. I haven't updated since Tuesday and since then the Sabres have had three games and the Kings have had two. I didn't watch any of them. :(

Here are some random uninteresting thoughts

• Tyler Myers had himself a four point night against Dallas (1+3). Woooo!
• Then against Minnesota only Thomas Vanek decided to score (twice). Is it that time of year already, Thomas? The time when you suddenly decide you like scoring goals and do it? Can every month be March/April in ThomasVanekLand? He scores a lot in those months, it seems.
• Then on Saturday against the Red Wings, only Yoyo scored (twice). At least this time the game went to overtime and we still managed a point.
• I appreciate the multi-goal games, boys, but you can allow the rest of your teammates to score.
• This Torres trade is looking Moore-esque from my standpoint. Awesome.
• Then the Canucks beat the Sens pretty handily to keep the Senators off of our heels for the time being.
• Jonathan Quick became a daddy the other day so Jonathan Bernier (No relation to Big Bear) was recalled and started over Erik Ersberg. Can someone explain to me why Ersberg is even in Los Angeles?
• Bernier won a 2-1 shootout game. Winning an NHL game on  a call-up is always exciting but what made it extra exciting is that it was a shootout game. Bernier is winless in five shootout games in the AHL.
• Today the Kings play the Predators. Of course they will lose. I love these previews for the game there on the 30th. If they don't win another game all season, can they win that one, please?!?

Surprisingly, the bulk of my major projects for school will be over after Wednesday, so I'll have a little more time to become reacquainted with my sanity. 

Wooo! Thanks for still reading this thing! I promise this is all just a phase and my regularly scheduled hilarity will resume soon!

Yay!

What a relief!

by Anne

Seriously, thank goodness they won. The Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in oooooovertiiiime for their first win after the Olympicbreak.

Thank goodness Vanek scored.

Thank goodness Connolly not only scored but made up for a bad turnover as well. Both of them are guys who do not quickly bounce back from mistakes and like to be streaky.

Thank goodness Mairsy scored just because he's Mairsy.

Thank goodness Torres got his first point as a Sabre on Timmah's OT game-winner. He was out there at a crucial time and he majorly came through for his new teammates.

Miller looked almost refreshed in his post-game interview; even Kevin Sylvester commented on his clean-shaven face.

The only real downside from tonight's game aside from the few mental  lapses is that Little Foot pulled his groin and will likely miss some time. With Goose hurt and Ennis mildly concussed, does Gerbe get a shot? He's not hurt, is he? Unfortunately, these are the moments when a player like Paetsch who's a crazy genie and can magically play defense AND forward comes in handy. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Tonight's win puts them back into first place in the division by one point. Woo!

Here's hoping this is the start of something good and they can keep this going into Sunday's game against the Rangers.

Epic Game

by Anne

If you have ever glanced at this blog, you could proooobably figure out that while I am a Buffalo Sabres fan (the veil of mystery has been lifted) in addition to being a Los Angeles Kings fan (once again, big shockeroo). So last night, the game I circled on my calendar in July finally arrived after much anticipation.

It's easy to keep the Kings and Sabres successes and failures entirely separate on this blog and in my mind because, frankly, they almost never play each other. A Sabres victory rarely affects the Kings and vice versa. So when these two teams collide, I'm totally conflicted.

Last night's game was the first in which I didn't mind not having RJ doing the play by play. I've become accustomed to Bob Miller and Jim Fox and I knew they'd be even keeled, well-informed and respectful, no matter how the game unfolded, and they were.

Frankly, on a personal level, that game couldn't have been more perfect. And yes, I am including the final score in that. It was a close game, some nice hits, both teams scoring some big goals, huge saves, great chances and a pace that just didn't seem to quit. There were precious few moments where the crowd could sit back and relax. They were trading tough play in the offensive zone at both ends of the ice. It is true, as Bob Miller mentioned, that the Sabres are a much faster team, but the Kings stayed right with them the whole 65 minutes.

I wanted a Kings OT victory and I got a Kings SO victory. It's not that I love the Kings more. No, far from it, but the Kings just plainly needed that extra point more. The Sabres are not really being threatened by anyone else in the Northeast at the moment and the Kings are battling for a playoff spot. That extra point moved them from ninth to holding sole possession of seventh in the West.

It's such a downer when games that you've hyped up don't live up to your expectations, but that one definitely did.

They didn't hurt each other! Greener played! Woooo!

On an individual level, Myers and Tallinder were both -3. Umm, that is shameful, boys. You're supposed to be our top defesive tandem. What gives?

Sean O'Donnell and Craig Rivet scoring goals in the same game? What kind of wacky parallel universe did we find ourselves in? OD scored his first of the season December 15, 2009 but before that he hadn't scored since December 22, 2007! That's a span of 158 games, btw. Craigory hadn't scored since March 25, a paltry 56 game drought. Psh.

Vanek's power play goal was a beauty. It could not have been more textbook. He had a questionable cross-check of Dewey in front of the net, but he did what he needed to do.

Good old TIMMAH

It was a battle of the Team USA goalies as well, and Quickie came out on top. There is no secret in saying that Ryan Miller is the better goaltender, but Quickie is also five years younger than Millsy and this is only his first full season as a starting goaltender. They're very different goaltenders but I know that Quickie will only get better as he moves up, and he played very well last night.

He'll be out 4-6 weeks after twisting his knee off of his leg making this save.

Ok, no not really but hot damn.

Now I get to wait until next year to see them play again! :(

But that game was so great, I really didn't want it to end. I would've stayed up all night to watch them play.

Happy Birthday, Thomas Vanek!

by Anne

Today number 26 turns 26!

How about a win over the Anaheim Ducks to celebrate?!

Hows about you start a nice little goal-scoring streak? Points streak? Go streaking? Wait, what?

To encourage you in whichever of the above endeavors you choose to take upon yourself, I baked you this cake:

Eat this like you will um, eat the Ducks alive?

Yeah!

Rawr!

Scary rubber ducky cake!

Grrr!

Happy Birthday, Thomas!

Hero of the Game

by Anne

All Sabres fans are well aware that Ryan Miller is the hero of the Sabres roster. I don't need to go into anymore "night after night" platitudes and blah blah blah because we all know what he does.

However, on those nights when the Sabres find themselves down a goal or two heading into the third, who do they rely on to get them those clutch goals?

Uhhhh? Vanek? Not at this pace. Connolly? Maybe. Royzie? He's too busy losing clutch faceoffs. MacArthur or Stafford? Occasionally. Pominville? Not this season.

When you can go through your top 6 and confidently say that none of them are heroic, reliable goal scorers at this point in the game, you have a problem.

Last night at the Arena while I was changing to go home, the score was still 3-2. I found myself standing in the lockerroom thinking this sentence: "Ok _____ time for some magic." And it occurred to me that I have no idea who could fill in that blank.

Last season, Vanek offered heroics, and we've been able to rely on him a lot in the last few years to do that. This season has been slow going and no one else has stepped up to offer that boost, that feeling of "Don't worry, get him the puck and things will happen."

All of the boys in the top 6 can score goals, and they all have been (some later than others, ROYZIE). But none of them are are go-to goal scorer. That keeps the other team's defense guessing, they can never be 100% sure who's going to be that player with the quick trigger. Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Kopitar, Nash, Iginla, Zetterberg, Kovalchuk, all over the NHL there are teams with that one player or more than one sometimes. You keep that guy covered at all times. The balanced attack makes for a confused opponent, but it also leaves us without the game-saving goal scorer.

Miller can stop the pucks from going in (most of the time) but he can't score the goals for them. Someone needs to kick it up a notch or 10. Not just someone, but a lot of someones.

12-5-1 is still a good record through 17 games, let's not kid ourselves. This team isn't completely perfect. It's got a lot of really solid elements, but now that they've gone through their feeling things out phase, it'll be nice to see them kick it into that next gear they should be able to kick it into.

They need to push harder and drive harder and score more. Who's going to do it?

This feels a lot better

by Anne

Wheee!

Between Friday and Tuesday the Pens, Canucks, Kings and Sabres played eight games. In those games those four teams went a combined 0-8-0. WHAT? That's terrible. I was not too happy. Eight straight games of FAIL.

Tonight, my two favorite teams (Canucks, you'd better get your act together to try to reclaim this title from the Kings) played two splendid games.

Clearly, I saw the Sabres game, but I did not see the Kings game because they are in the midst of an East coast trip and their game was also at 7:00.

First my beloved Sabres won somewhat of a snoozer against Edmonton at HSBC Arena tonight.

Steve Montador scored his first as a Sabre and the line of Stafford - Connolly - Vanek, known (by me only) as the Should line (because it SHOULD work) contributed the first goal from Staffy and then provided some stifling offensive zone pressure to set up the Full Monty's goal. Yoyo added the empty netter to seal the 3-1 win.

The Sabres powerful is godawful terrible. Good LORD. They were 0 for 7 against the Bruins the other night and tonight they went 0 for 4. Maybe practice the power play in practice lots and lots? Thanks.

Clarke MacArthur accidentally pulverized Liam Reddox into the boards with only a few minutes left in the third period which drew a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. I didn't see the hit but me may be suspended. Dang. Although maybe Mairsy will play? Grier had a strained groin and if he misses time, Mair will definitely be back. Maybe Paetsch will be in at forward? I hope Grizz doesn't get suspended. I think it's clear that he had no intention of hitting him hard from behind; Maybe taking the body to knock him off the puck, but he seems to lose his footing at the last second.

Still scary, regardless of intent.

That five minute penalty was interesting. For the first two minutes of it, the crowd was holding its collective breath, as if we were willing the puck to stay out of the net. Then as the PKers started to really control the situation, a loud "Let's go Buff-a-lo!" chant energized the Arena and the penalty was killed and met by a standing ovation from the crowd.

Hey Should line.

Good job

Cookies for you.

Well, maybe not you, Tommy. You took lotsa penalties.

Next game IGGY COMES TO BUFFALO!

:) :) :)

Also on tap, and experienced by me via boxscore checks and LAKings.com highlights, was the Kings 5-2 win over the flailing Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight's loss brings the Butter Snaps losing streak to 13 games. I believe they are 0-10-3 in their last 13. Yeesh.

Erik Ersberg made his second start of the season and got his first win.  Anze Kopi-star had two assists upping his league-leading points total to 30 (14+16). Oh snap.

Randy Jones, the Kings 7th defenseman recently acquired from Philly, played in his first game as a King and recorded the game winning goal and an assist. Woo!

This line is also foxy.

This line contributed six points tonight (2+4)

Well done, boys.

I love you.

Lots.

Both teams are off tomorrow and then both teams play Friday. Then, of course, both teams play Saturday. Yeesh, schedulers!

Vanek and Ellis are Back, Pie still gone, Anne not coping well

by Anne

Britney and Matty are back...y. This pleases me as I find both of them to be important to our team and are two of the best at filling the roles that they have been brought on board to play.

The deadline is fast approaching on the "To demote or not to demote" debate on Tyler Myers. As I'm sure you all know, for JBG it's Kelowna or Buffalo; Portland is not an option as he's only 19 years old.

I had a bad dream that Dan Paille was traded to the Bruins. Thank goodness I'm awake now. Phew! In all seriousness, to those who claim that Paille was shipped for not playing to his potential last season: name me one Sabres forward that did play to his potential? Pommer and Royzie had declines in production as well. Vanek is exempt due to injury. But, name me one, I'd love to hear it.

Sergei Kostitsyn is a fucking moron. Honestly, what is wrong with this kid? He gets involved in some bizarre sex, drugs and hookers kind of scandal last season, he fails to report to the AHL once already, gets suspended and is abandoning the dog house AGAIN. I don't know who this kid thinks he is, but I don't think the Habs are THAT attached to him. Let him go to the KHL.

Alexander Frolov was benched the other night (and the Kings won). There have long been rumors that Fro is gonna go (ha!) but that was the clearest indication of the possibility of such a move. For those hoping the Sabres will get him: one of the main reasons the Sabres moved Pie was because we have a logjam at left wing and Alexander Frolov plays guess what position? Left wing. He's not coming here, sorry. Not unless we move at least one other LW in the next few days.

Sabres at Panthers! 7:30!

Bulleted Lists are easy to write

by Anne

Since I didn't watch the game :( here are a few observations from what I didn't see:

• We WON! WE SCORED LOTSA GOALS!
  

• Vanek is hurt. :(
  

• Goose, Little Foot and Patty all netted their first goals of the season;
  

• Mike Babcock can shove it about Ryan Miller. Especially after THAT performance by Ozzy;
  

• If this style of play is this "system" we've been hearing so much about, I totes have a crush on  him and I hope he stays so I can admire how pretty he is;
  

• I'm glad the Sunny Hedgehog Enchanters (who are currently PWNING the league... and I just cursed myself) benched Chris Osgood tonight;
  

• The Toronto Maple Leafs are god-damn AWFUL and it's AWESOME. I really thought they might be better this season. MAN was I wrong;
  

• Why do people keep using the word "truculence" when discussing the Leafs? I mean, it's true but people keep using it and I don't think they all really know what it means, they just think it sounds good;

• Georges Laraque is in trouuuuuuble This whole thing just screams of the reaction to the Avery "sloppy seconds" debacle. Yeah the ad was a little objectifying and in poor taste, but calm down, he said he was sorry;
  

• How much did Lindy enjoy that his team just pummeled Babcock's, his head coach for team Canada?
  

• I may be developing an inappropriate crush on Tyler Myers;

'

Hey Brad May

• I also might be ok with it.

Ohhh Patty. Nice dance

Weekend O' Pictures

by Anne

I worked about a gajillion hours this weekend so I was a negligent blogger. Here now is a recap in pictures:

NHL:

Sighs.The Canucks lost a bad one to the Blackhawks. They blew a two goal lead and dropped Game 2 by a score of 6-3. Ouch. That one stung. I wasn't watching too closely as I was working and/or at a bar in which the game was on a TV that was very far away and there was no sound. Le sigh. The series is tied 1-1. On the bright side, this was the first loss of the post-season for the Canucks, and no one thought that this series would be a sweep.

Also, we tragically learned that Big Bear has a neck beard:

I think I can get over it.
I think.
Just keep playing physically and I can get over it.
Maybe score a goal.

IIHF Worlds:

Team USA played Russia on Saturday and lost 4-1. Boooo. And Staffy cut his face in the game against France, it would seem (some of the pics from the game against France did not load when I wanted them to the other night):

Ouch.
But NOT a neckbeard.

But don't worry, Staffy and his uber-intense excited eyebrows were still available for Saturday's yicky loss to Russia:

Please don't grow a mustache Drew, those are gross.
Much like that game.

Team USA next faces Switzerland this afternoon at 2:15 ET. Woooo!

Team Austria has done quite well in the Relegation Round. They beat Hungary 6-0 on Friday and Sunday morning at 6:15 am ET they beat Yoyo and Germany 1-0. Vanek had the only assist on the only goal Sunday morning.

Britters is interviewed, probably in German.

Austria next plays Denmark today... oh wait, the game will have already started by the time this is posted. Whoops. I'll edit this to add the score, I'm sure. ETA: Austria lost 5-2 and will be demoted back to Division I. :(

Team Canada defeated Norway 5-1 Sunday afternoon. Team Canada remains undefeated thusfar in the tournament.

Royzie, dangerously close to being a dirty Swiss hooker



Dewey melts hearts internationally with this little Canadian fan
Look! He's holding a stuffed Cooly!
Where can I get a stuffed Cooly?

Team Canada next beats plays Finland at 2:15 today in the final day of Qualification round play. Team USA needs to win today to make it to the Quarterfinals.

USA Keeps Rollin'

by Anne

Team USA had the first game of the Qualification round today against France. The team started slow, a habit they seem quite comfortable with, but quickly dominated the scoreboard and won 6-2.

Truth be told, the two French goals were scored on the power play while Staffy was in the box Staffy.... no cookies for you.

Alvaro Montoya (my name is Alvaro Montoya, you killed my father...) made his first start for Team USA and ended up making 14 saves on only 16 shots. Team USA fired 41 shots on France's goaltender.

Fortunately Scott Clemmensen has hopped on board and will be a good third option (probably starting) for Team USA. Anything is better than the flaming disaster Craig Anderson was last year.

Never fear, Chris Higgins is here



Is that a chicken?
ARE THEY THE FRENCH HENS?!
Nice.

Thomas Vanek finally scored a point! Not only did he get an assist, he also scored a goal too! Yay! Team Austria defeated Hungary 6-0! Hooray!!

Austria plays Germany on Sunday. Yoyo v. Britney. Team USA plays Russia on Saturday at 2:15 ET.

Oh yeah and Boston and Detroit won. Wowwww?

Vanek Admits Helmet Affects His Play

by Anne

Thomas Vanek updated his blog on Monday.

He's obviously disappointed with the way the team has played, but another Austrian with NHL experience is joining the team, so he's optimistic.

The last few sentences of his entry:

My helmet also bothers me a bit. Especially when I try to stickhandle I tend to lose the puck more easily because my vision is hampered.

That's basically what we all thought, but no one really wanted to admit it in Buffalo.

Fortunately, he'll be able to ditch that thing by next season.

Wooooo!
The pride of Austria

In the Battle of Little Foot v. Britney, Little Foot Wins

by Anne

See glossary below for nickname references.

This morning, Teams USA and Austria met in Berne, Switzerland, with Team USA coming out on top.

The game started out fairly even with the teams each scoring once in the first, then the USA scoring once in the 2nd. However, Team USA exploded with four goals in the third period that did in the Austrians.

Team USA outshot Austria 38-26, but were actually outshot 12-7 in the 2nd frame by the Austrian team.

Three of the US goals were scored on the power play, two with the two man advantage.

Team USA's next game is Wednesday against Sweden (yikes). Austria must win its next game against Latvia to avoid the relegation round. The two teams meet Wednesday.

Staffy scored the game winning goal


Little Foot charges the net, but is denied


Brownie, yer doin' it wrong

From the recap from the IIHF website:

Austria cut the deficit to 2-1 at 14:26 thanks to a gaffe by Esche. The goalie came out of his net to clear the puck off the sideboards, but gave it away to Peinter, who shot it in from inside the blueline. The cheers from the drum-beating Austrian fans were as long and bold as Peinter's beard.

Long and bold, indeed

ETA: This picture of TV was not yet posted when I wrote this post originally:

Jackie boy, Brownie, it would've been OK if you had let Britney score

Vanek on the World Stage

by Anne

Today in my usual Monday-Wednesday-Friday routine at 10:00, I hopped on a computer in the school lab to kill some time between classes. However, its really nice out so I may not be back for hour #2 at 12:00.

This routine usually entails checking email and blogs and then hitting NHL.com or TSN or Sabres.com. Nowadays it entails IIHF.com. This morning I was greeted by an article about Austria's hottest export since Arnold Schwarzenegger, our very own Thomas Vanek.

There's a brief interview with TV about Team Austria playing in the big show and hoping to avoid relegation. Last year, Tommy Boy helped the team move back to the top division and he hopes to help keep them there. Unfortunately he's got a huge target on his head because he is the only NHL player on Team Austria and he, ya know, scores a lot, and has that crazy face shield. Basically he hasn't been productive because his opponents have been mainly focusing on containing him.

He (humbly) admits that the main reason he's playing is because he knows he's the best Austrian hockey player out there. He doesn't use those exact words, but he says that if there were 10 NHL players he'd probably sit it out, but he's the only one so he wants to help keep his country proud

I hope Team Austria can stay up in the top division, but I hope they have to fight to stay there without Thomas next year.

Team USA v. Team Austria is about to start. Drew, don't pick on Thomas too much, he seems to know about what you guys have been doing in Berne... ;)

Just Some Stuff

by Anne

I don't have much time to write because I have about 150 pages left to read before I head to this class which I might not go to because I feel like garbage.

I want to throttle Thomas Vanek for that turnover that gave Kovalchuk a breakaway. I want to wring Lindy's neck for having Teppo out there during OT.

However. I must pause and reflect.

Thomas Vanek may have handed out the biggest turnover of the season in OT, but he was also the only player that scored for the Sabres yesterday. Thomas Vanek's two goals gave us one point and his turnover cost us the other. Never has one player been so directly involved in the earning and losing of standings points.

Moving on:

• The Sabres signed Matt Generous and I read some really inaccurate article about him yesterday and Cari, Kim and S(h)ara had to set me straight last night at Tully's. People need to check their facts before they start righting blurbs for accredited news sites. That's all I'm sayin' about that.
  

• I should probably welcome Matt Generous aboard the FailShip as I do all incoming players but my lunch is ready and I have reading to do and an essay to type so that shall have to wait.
  

• Also, I organized the tags yesterday so they are a little more user friendly. I left the tags up there people are most likely to be searching for. If we only had one post tagged with something, that tag probably did not make it onto the list. It makes the the list much much shorter and, if nothing else, it irritates me a lot less.
  

• I also fail because we were going to do an April Fool's post last night but I forgot to write it so I'll have to save it for next year.
  

• The Kings are releasing new wallpaper for a different player every month, this month is Matt Greene. Hooray! It is not currently my background because I can't bring myself to take Dan Paille's open-mouthed, curiously wide-eyed look of wonder picture down as my wallpaper.
  

• Tonight the Canucks host the Ducks and the Kings are on the road in Phoenix, both at 10:00 p.m. Booo.

Thomas Vanek Doesn't Care About You, AUSTRIA

by Anne

Ok, so maybe my title isn't entirely accurate.

I have some kind of sixth sense when it comes to Thomas Vanek's diary on his website. I tend to check it exactly when he updates it. He and I should play charades. We might be a really good team.

TV wants us all to know that he is 100% gung-ho, no holds barred, committed, dedicated and focused on the NHL playoffs and not on Team Austria.

Tommy won't even acknowledge the possibility that the Sabres might not make the playoffs. To quote (emphasis mine):

"On the other hand it’s like any other year: If we should fail to make the playoffs, something I plainly refuse to accept or even think of, I’d be happy to help the national squad. Always assuming that I stay healthy and the team needs me, I’m always happy to help out."

I can understand why Austrians are concerned about Vanek not helping out the club in the top Division World Championships this summer. He is, without question, the best Austrian hockey player playing today.

Thomas is a BIG freakin' deal in Austria. A news crew came from Austria to Buffalo to cover his return to the ice from his fractured jaw last week.

I loosely followed as Team Austria played in the lower tier Division I World Championships last spring with Vanek. Every article included what he had or hadn't done in the game. He didn't score until the second, maybe third game of the tournament and the headline of the article covering the game was titled "Finally, He Scores." Referring to TV, of course.

Vanek helped his country move up to the top tier and without him, it will be difficult to avoid relegation back to Division I. Oh well, he's ours now Austria. I'm sorry, but you can't have him just yet.

Royzie is taunting you, Austria.

My Sabres Practice

by James

Tomorrow I am going to the Sabres practice. I hope Ryan Miller does well. We're going to get up at, believe this, 7:04. Then we're going to have yummy pancakes and sausage.

My favorite hockey player is still Ryan Miller. He is AWESOME. I wish I could be like him, only not with getting hit with slapshots. I wonder how much the pads weigh? I just found out they weigh 50 pounds! I hope Vanek is gonna come back soon. Without him we are hopeless. Absolutely hopeless. Drew Stafford has been playing pretty well... I still think we're hopeless.

Well I have to go to bed now so bye bloggers!

I'll be back soon about the practice.

This is James, signing off.

Short and tall
Just like me and Annie (my cousin)