Welcome Aboard, Brad Boyes

by Anne

I hadn't planned on writing a "Welcome to Buffalo" post until after the deadline tomorrow, but seeing has how the Sabres have BLOWN THE LID off of the NHL late Sunday night, I feel compelled to welcome current newest Sabre, Bradley Boyes, to town.

Some pertinent facts on Bradd-o:

Full name: Bradley Keith Boyes

Born: April 17, 1982

Drafted: 24th overall in 2000 by the Toronto Maple Leafs

His goal scoring is... inconsistent. He scored 43 goals once. Just once. He seems to be more in the Pominville-esque 25 goal range.

He's a center.

He's from Mississauga.

Why, hello there.

WAIT. Is he a center like, filling in for Derek Roy or like replacing Tim Connolly after we trade him tomorrow? I hope it's the latter.

Remember two years ago when we all were like "CONNOLLY IS OOOOUUUUTTA HEEEERE!" and instead Darcy signed him to a new contract?

Here's hoping for there to be a new newest Sabre sometime tomorrow. :D

Welcome Aboard, Shaeonioenae Morrrrisonnenenannn

by Anne

Look, my name has superfluous letters. It is pronounced the same way if it's spelled "Ann" or "Anne," my beloved Greener has superfluous letters as well "Greene" or "Green." But Shenaynay Morrisonnnnn takes unnecessary letters to the MAX.

Let's welcome him anyway.

• He's from Vancouver, BC.
• He was drafted by the Bruins in 2001
• He's played most of his career in Washington.
• He's been bleeped out while saying it but he's on the record as hating Buffalo.
• His complicated name as well as his aversion to Buffalo will make him difficult to love.
• I don't like people who don't like Buffalo.
• He doesn't score very much. Wasn't defensive scoring something the Sabres hoped to address in this off-season? Hmm, guess not.
• He shall have to defend Ryan Miller's honor frequently or be as stellar with JBG as Hank the Tank was. Then maybe by, like, game 3 I'll start liking him. Maybe.

Welcome Aboard, Skippy. I wanted to make a Blingee for him but this computer is a pain the butt.

The dog I love, the man, my judgment is reserved.

Welcome Aboard, Rob Niedermayer!

by Anne

On Wednesday July 7, the Sabres signed free agent center Rob Niedermayer to a one-year contract worth $1.15 million plus playoff bonuses.

Let's welcome Robbie, shall we?

• He was born in Edmonton but grew up in BC
• Most famous for being Scott Niedermayer's little brother
• He's 35
• He won the Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007
• He once scored 26 goals in a season, but usually hovers in the 10-goals per season range
• It seems Edmonton, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo were the three teams who made him offers. Picking Buffalo over Edmonton is understandable, but picking Buffalo over Pittsburgh is surprising. Turns out Robbie has a history with Lindy when he played in Florida and Lindy was an assistant coach. I like it.

Let's welcome Rob to town.

         

Yes, we're paying Rob in orange slices, tasty, tasty orange slices.

Thus the Rob Niedermayer tag is born.

Welcome Aboard, Jordan Leopold!

by Anne

Today the Sabres welcomed free agent defenseman Jordan Leopold.

Here's some random facts:

• He's from Golden Valley, Minnesota
• He was born August 3, 1980
• He went to the University of Minnesota
• He doesn't score a whole lot, but he usually chips in about 5-9 goals a season.
• He's an American defenseman, so he's automatically in my good graces. Instead of him having to earn my favor, he'll have to worry about losing it.
• He was hurt a lot last season.

Whatevs, welcome to the FailShip, Jordan.

                       
Personalized Glitter Graphics

               
And thus the Jordan Leopold tag is born.

Welcome Back, Mike Grier!

by Anne

Well look who came crawling back:

MIKEY!

Welcome back, Mikey! I'd do a welcome aboard post, but you were a Sabre just three years ago so most people should already know who you are. I adored that 2006 team and I'm glad to see Mikey back.

We saved your #25 for you. :)

Welcome Aboard, Steve Montador

by Anne

Darcy Regier actually signed someone on July 1! Someone actually chose to sign in Buffalo! What a novel concept!

Anyway, his name is Steve Montador and here's what we know about him:

• Born December 21, 1979 in Vancouver, BC

• Plays Defense

• Not drafted, signed as a free agent with Calgary in 2000

• Has played with Calgary, Florida, Anaheim and Boston

• He's a right-handed shot which is handy to have back on the blueline

• He's played in 368 NHL games over the last nine years and has scored 18 goals and 50 assits, plus a whopping 604 PIM

• He seems like Craig Rivet pt. deux. I don't mean that as a criticism, its a good thing as far as I'm concerned. He's gritty and tough

• Played in the OHL with North Bay, Erie and Peterborough

• He played the same two years in Erie that Timmy played there.

• I hear he's also quite Timmy-like with his off-ice, um, business.

• His girlfriend board is boring and people just seem to whining and saying he'll play well in Buffalo. Boring

• He's involved with Right to Play and in Summer 2007 took a trip to Tanzania with (then future, now former) teammate Andrew Ference. Here are some pictures:

Andrew and Steve attract the ladies 'round the globe


The Full Monty talks strategy


Team Yellow


Awww, smiles all around

• Now is the birth of the Steve Montador tag and his official christening as the Full Monty. I'm sure I'm not the first person to call him this.

• I'm a few days late with my welcoming but whatevs. Welcome Aboard, Steve!

Welcome Aboard, Paul Byron

by Anne

Ok, so I've clearly reached critical mass of boredom, I'm finally welcoming Paul Byron aboard the SS Buffalo FailShip.

Here is all the pertinent information I could Google or Wikipedia or Youtube about Paul Byron:

• Born April 27, 1989 in Ottawa (Booo and/or he and Royzie can swap hometown stories)

• Drafted by the Sabres in the 6th round, 179th overall in 2007

• Center, shoots left

• Played in Junior hockey for the Gatineau Olympiques

• This season he finished 4th in the entire QMJHL with 99 points (33+66) in 64 games

• He's a tad on the wee side (great, another one) at his latest physical it appears Pauly was 5'9" 165 lbs. I think when he was drafted he was 5'8" 135 lbs. I don't know about you, but those stats just scream "NHL" to me

• I thought I'd never find him on Facebook but we have 6 mutual friends so he popped up first when I searched his name. Phew?

• I found some strange quote about his bacteria-ridden, smelly equipment. Here's the link I laughed fairly hard when I read it - first because its totally random and second because I'm really tired. Apparently Paul's gear no longer being bacteria-filled and smelly is what lead the Olympiques to win the Memorial Cup or something

• He was the Boston Pizza CHL player of the week for the week of January 27, 2009. I'm sure this was his proudest achievement and I hope he got a golden pizza for his troubles

• Seriously, I'm sure Paul Byron is a great hockey player, but I really could handle reading an article about how beastly and huge and muscular a Sabres prospect is. I could do without reading another article about our tiny prospects. Whatevs, good on, ya Paul.

• According to that article, he seems to have been cut from like every team he has tried out for before Gatineau. Uhhh...?

• I'm just going to pretend he's the next Royzie and call it a day.

• You can listen to him do a smack-talk style radio ad for something called Greco's here

Here's Paul in his peroxide phase, and
Welcome Aboard!

Welcome Aboard, Matt Generous!

by Anne

Last year when we started acquiring new players I started searching for information about them, especially for players we signed out of college and I had absolutely no idea who they were. Who knew there was so much information about Derek "Noodles" Whitmore out there on the internet? Not me. I'm pretty sure his welcoming post was the longest I've ever done.

Anyway, on April Fool's Day the Sabres signed Matt Generous to a one year entry-level contract. Here is all the pertinent information I found about Matthew on Google:

• Matt Generous was born May 4, 1985 in Connecticut or maybe Massachusetts? I love conflicting information
  
• His parents are Susan and Edward
• He's 6'3" 200 lbs
  
• He also played Lacrosse so if the Bandits are hurting, he can help them out, right?
• He plays defense
• He's a right-handed shot!
• He attended St. Lawrence University
  
• He was drafted by the Sabres in 2005, 7th round 208th overall (take THAT 200th overall, Paul Gaustad!)
• He was named to some All-Academic teams in college
• I just realized I couldn't find his major anywhere on the St. Lawrence website. Admittedly, I didn't look that hard.
  
• Based on his point totals he's more of a stay at home defenseman, he's set a college career high in goals scored this season with eight
• This year he was named the ECAC's Most Outstanding Defenseman (Eastern College Athletic Conference)
  
• If he makes it to the NHL it'll be because of intangibles, according to hockeysfuture.com I love intangibles
• He'll be playing in Portland on an ATO and his NHL contract will begin next season
• I'm pretty sure we signed him to a one year entry-level deal but I've seen more than one unofficial source say three years so I'm not sure but the Sabres site and USA Today say one so that's what I'm going with
• I of course found him on Facebook and added him. No response yet, but I trust we'll be fast friends on the internet, right Matt? I thought so.

Action shot. Woooo!


Lookin' snappy, Matt
(both pics from the St. Lawrence University website)

Congrats on your contract! Welcome to the Sabres!

ETA: According to the Maine Hockey Journal the Sabres have signed a player named Travis Turnbull and he's reporting to Portland today. Once its official I'll find some homework to avoid doing and find some time to look up stuff about him.

Welcome Aboard, Dominic Moore and Mikael Tellqvist

by Anne

I started doing "Welcome Aboard" posts when we signed new players last year so I figured I'd keep it going.

Today the Sabres traded for goaltender Mikael Tellqvist and Center Dominic Moore.

Here's the skinny on Moore:

• Born August 3, 1980 in Thornhill, Ontario
• He's 6'3", 230 lbs or maybe he's 6'0" 188 lbs? The 2nd seems more accurate and is from the Sabres roster.
  
• He went to Harvard and played there for four years
• He was drafted 95th overall in 2000 by the New York Rangers
• In his NHL debut on November 1, 2003 in which he tallied three assists
• He does not score a lot of goals (like 5 a season usually) but this season he already has 12
  
• He has at least two older brothers, and one of them is Steve Moore, yes THAT Steve Moore
  
• The Sabres are his fifth NHL team
• They haven't assigned him a number yet. He wore 18 in Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and New York and 19 in Toronto.
  
• He wins more faceoffs than he loses
• He will be a UFA on July 1, 2009 and Darcy has no plans yet to re-sign him for the obvious reason that he's probably never met him and he's never played for us
  

He reminds me of someone I went to high school with
I think that's who he reminds me of anyway

He also did this last week:

Mikael Tellqvist

• Born September 19, 1979 in Sundbyberg, Sweden
• He was drafted 70th overall by Toronto
• He is 5'11, 185 lbs
• He'll wear #32 as a Sabre
  
• He spent the majority of his career in the Toronto system and the last two seasons with Phoenix
• He was on Team Sweden that won gold at Turin in the 2006 Olympics
• He has great Euro hair:
  

Bye bye Big Czech Al! I'm sad to see him go because he's been a Sabre his whole career. He will wear 21 for Edmonton, FYI.

He was part of one of the moments in the running to be featured in the top moments of the season. The Vanek/Kotalik love tackle from earlier in the season:

Who would have thought he'd be GONE?!?!
:'(

Ok I'm really not too upset but I was fairly surprised and that's why I'm a little sad. Bye!

Now we mostly retire the "Ales Kotalik" tag, and bring about the "Dominic Moore" and "Mikael Tellqvist" tags. Don't get too attached to them, folks.

I wonder where we'll trade Moore to in order to get a defenseman this summer? Moore to Anaheim for Wisniewski?

And we won tonight too! I don't have the energy to recap so I'll just say: YAY!!! TOMMY'S BACK!

Hey There, Peeps

by Anne

This blog was linked to on Sabres Edge which BTW made me smile this afternoon.

Anyway, on the off chance any of y'all happen to be here because of that, let me tell you a little bit about the place.

We have nothing to do with the actual Sabretooth's House in the Arena. I cannot get Sabretooth to come to your child's party or one of those awesome foam sabres they sell (but those are pretty righteous, and IF YOU WANT TO SEND ME ONE I WOULD TOTALLY ACCEPT IT.).

Most of the blog posts come out of my (Anne's) brain but S(h)ara kicks in when she's driven to the brink of insanity (good and bad) by our boys in blue and gold.

Let me just start out by saying that, believe me, I know my hockey. Stats, analysis, rules, etc. I have a great memory so I can basically tell you any players stats from the last couple of years because they just stick in my brain like that. However, I don't find it interesting to read the facts and figures regurgitated over and over again. Other bloggers do it better, so I tend to write about how in love with Buffalo and the Buffalo Sabres I am. And I mean the Sabres as a whole, I'm not "crushin'" on any of them. I think they're perfectly nice boys who bring a lot to our community and that's that. The current love of my life is a guy in one of my classes. MORE DETAILS TO COME, REGULARS!!!!

I'm an English teacher to be and I make typos and spell words wrong, but its a blog, it ain't perfection. I highly HIGHLY recommend you check out the blogroll on the left for some of the blogs that might not have been mentioned in Sabres Edge, and to check out blogs from writers from other teams.

If you're here as per usual, my next series of posts will be about choosing players to worship and adore to help me become more emotionally invested in the Western Conference. Any suggestions?!?!!!

Oh and a nickname key:

Sissy= Jaroslav Spacek
Rosie= Craig Rivet
Soviet= Max Afinogenov
Britney= Thomas Vanek
Doof= Mike Weber

The rest of the nicknames are pretty self-explanatory and used by everyone (Millsy, Royzie, Goose, Pommer, Betty Boop). Oscar is my cat an our fearless mascot. S(h)ara's name is actually spelled Sara but pronounced Shara (its Hungarian) so that's why we write it S(h)ara.

Welcome aboard, and feel free to blogroll us and come on back!!!