Immediate reaction to Kings' draft pick

by Anne

The Kings traded up to 15th (giving up only two picks in this year's draft) and drafted American defenseman Derek Forbort.

Already Derek has the scales tipped in his favor as he's an American defenseman. Then you toss in that he's a giant at 6'5" and he plays for the USHL development team and I like him even more. But, these are all surface things, I now quest to find a bit of Mark Pysyk cuff link-style trivia to send him over the edge...

Interview on LA Kings Insider... Thanks his Dad, blah, blah, blah, talks about how he's always been really tall, blah, blah, blah, loved hearing all the fans in the Staples Center, blah, blah, blah, Jack Johnson is a USA hockey defensive demi-god (allegedly), blah, blah, blah, HOLD UP, he's going to North Dakota?! AAAAAND SOLD.

I don't follow college hockey AT ALL. However, I have a soft spot for North Dakota and the players they produce. For example, one Los Angeles Kings defenseman that shall remain nameless...

I'm just kind of "blah" about Kassian, especially after his assault arrest. Brayden Schenn doesn't really excite me all that much, so I'm much more pleased with this year's first round selections. Excellent.

Welcome to the Kings, Derek Forbort.

I find it strange that he was drafted in the throwback jersey but then put on a regular primary logo jersey for the pictures. Whatevs.

Sabres in New Joisey

by Anne

Tonight I have a show, so of course, tonight the Sabres are playing a game. This time, the season's first match-up with the New Jersey Devils.

I have no strong feelings about the Devils. I like Zach Parise, Marty Brodeur, Paul Martin Travis Zajac and PETEY!

Petey hasn't played since last Friday. Think Jacques will let him get in on this one, especially with Jay Pandolfo out?
 ETA: Petey's out for tonight according to Sabres' Edge. Guess this will have to wait:

Please don't try this tonight, Petey.

Goose and Mairsy would turn you inside out.

No one wants to see that :(

For some reason, I have noticed I have an affinity for (some, not all) players that went to UND. I have no particular affection for UND, but clearly I like the hockey players they turn out. If you're not sure who I mean, Parise and Zajac went to UND, along with Drew Stafford, Matt Greene, James Patrick, and Mike Commodore. T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews went there as well but I don't have strong feelings about either of them. I feel badly about Ryan Johnson's injury (UND alumni) but before that I didn't feel too strongly about him, so I won't pretend that because he's injured I've adored him all long. Current Sabres prospect Corey Fienhage attends UND so I'm sure it won't be long until I love him or am indifferent about him. Portland Pirates goalie JP Lamoureux wen there as well. Hot.

Back to the Devils: I'm deeply ambivalent about David Clarkson: he's pretty but he can be kind of a dbag. But mostly he's pretty, so I'm ok with it. He's a little Goose-like in that respect. They don't really have any players that I strongly dislike, now that Bobby Holik's NHL career has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

I hope Petey doesn't try to start anything if he's playing tonight. I love Petey and that would make me love him a little less. I do, however, hope that he messes with Royzie a little, and maybe messes with Millsy a little, just to ruffle his feathers and loosen him up.

Paulie Martin has broken his arm and will be out for a month. He's one of the Devils' top defencemen so: point in our favor.

The Devils are third in the Atlantic and are coming off of a three-game winning streak including one in MSG and one at the Igloo. The Sabres are undefeated on the road this season. The Devils are 6-3-0, the Sabres are 6-1-1. Marty Brodeur, that Saucy Minx^TM, is looking for his NHL record 100th shutout. I feel confident that the Sabres can help him out in that regard.

Puck drops at 7:00!

You too may have your very own Zach Parise UND Fighting Sioux bobblehead

Enjoy it, this is their last season as the Fighting Sioux. I vote they go back to "Flickertails"

In other news:

The Kings are playing in San Jose and the Pens are hosting the Habs. Sa-weeeet. The Kings host the Canucks tomorrow and I'm not ok with it. This is the first time this season any of my four teams are playing each other. Basically, when it's not the Sabres, my loyalties are confused :(

The University of North Dakota Something or Others

by Anne

The University of North Dakota has produced a lot of NHL players over the last few years, most notably to Sabres fans, Drew Stafford. Also other NHL players including Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, TJ Oshie, Ed Belfour, Matt Greene and Jonathan Toews.

The team has long been known as the Fighting Sioux, one in our country's seemingly endless list of logos and team names that uses human beings as a mascot. It seemed, as with the Blackhawks, Indians, Braves, etc. etc., that these teams would just continue to offend for generations to come. However, according to Fox News, in an effort to be more politically correct and less culturally and historically offensive, the University of North Dakota will no longer use the nickname the "Fighting Sioux," or the accompanying logo:

The name and logo will be retired after this coming school year, on August 1, 2010. I'm all for this decision. Its pretty ridiculous that we still have so many teams that have Native Americans as their mascot. I won't even touch on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. That's an entirely different blog post.

I applaud the University of North Dakota for their decision and hope that the next logo and mascot are not totally lame. Ok, technically it wasn't their decision, they'd have to get tribal permission to use the logo and the NCAA will bust a cap if they keep using the logo without tribal permission.

"Fighting Sioux" has been their nickname since 1930 which replaced the totally badass nickname of "Flickertails."