On The Road Again

by Anne

A few quotes from Chris Bandura's blog on Sabres.com.

On the "Clarke MacArthur wearing a surgical mask" tidbit:

On the way down, Clarke MacArthur had to wear a surgical mask because he was a little under the weather and had missed practice earlier in the day. Steve Montador did as well, just to make him feel a little less alone.

Aw Full Monty, what a teammate.

Then he addresses Pie's trade :(

I spoke with Dan later that night and he said how surprised he was that all the guys were downstairs to say goodbye. We gave him our own locker room tribute later the next day by sharing all our infamous Paille moments over the past few years at the morning skate.

 Hahahaha I would love love love to hear those stories.

Then finally:

When the game was over, the guys were gathered together around a television that was showing highlights of the Bruins game. When we all saw Danny pick up his assist on the Bruins game-winning goal against Nashville, all the guys cheered and gave him a loud team chant.

Once a part of the family, you’re always a part of the family.

Aw Pie :') 

I enjoy that these features and blogs have allowed we fans to finally see that yes, the Buffalo Sabres have personalities and are actually, ya know, a team you can feel good about.

:)

Treat him well, Beantown.

Wanna Hear about my Wednesday?

by Anne

Wednesday was the Sabres final home game of the pre-season. Cheap tickets, Toronto game, decent weather? Should spell a decent house, right?

Oh how very very wrong you would be if you thought that.

I work up the 300 level. I'm estimating there were maybe 300 people in the ENTIRE 300 level; the upperbowl holds about 6,000 people (I'm totally estimating on that number). Every single vendor was called into work.

The grand total of attendance was officially 11,008. That doesn't even fill the 100s and 200s. Everyone could've fit in the 100 level.

It was a huge waste of time. Our supervisor, who did not make the schedule, came by at the beginning of the second period and told us we could go home. I sold a grand total of: 1 popcorn, 2 cotton candy, 6 pop, 1 peanut and 1 twizzler in about 2 hours. Normally I sell that in the first 20 minutes when people are just starting to show up.

So when I was told to go home I said "Eff that." I changed into my regular clothes and found two empty seats in 117 next to Cari, Kim, Clare and Kelsey whom I just met and I'm not sure if she writes a blog. I enjoyed being a spectator for the 3rd period immensely as its the first time I've sat and watched a Sabres game in person since... March or April of 2008 I think.

Random observation: In the pre-game warm-ups Roy was wearing the C and Pommer was wearing an A. Once the game started, Gaustad was wearing the C, Roy was demoted to an A and Pommer and Yoyo also had As. Did Derek not give it his all in the warm-ups, Lindy? Maybe he spilled gatorade on it? I'm covinced that they're all on by velcro so Lindy can switch leadership as he sees fit.

Who do you think will ultimately wear the letters? Craigory with the C. A's I'm thinking will go to Grier, Gaustad, Pominville and Timmy or Royzie.

John Vogl wrote on the Sabres Edge that the current projected top three lines for the Sabres are:

MacArthur - Connolly - Pominville
Stafford - Roy - Vanek
Hecht - Gaustad - Grier
xxx-xxx-xxx
(I'm thinking those xxxs will be Paille- Mair/Ellis - Kaleta)
(Although is there room for Kennedy or Gerbe?)

I'm feeling our third line. I like that combination a lot. It's lines 1 and 2 that give me pause.

I always have trouble when fans decide they know more than a headcoach when it comes to forming lines, but as we live in a free country, I'm taking leave to speculate.

I wonder about a top line of Vanek - Connolly - Pommer and a second line of Stafford - Roy - MacArthur. Maybe toss Gerbe in as a winger with one of those line combinations down the line... not on October 3rd, I don't think he's ready. I'm not of course guaranteeing that I have any idea what I'm talking about, but it's my blog and I'll speculate if I want to.

The Sabres are ramping up their number of blogs this season. Adam Mair is starting one "Mair's Office." Hey, the sign's there most games. Sabres PR guy Kevin Snow is starting up a fantasy hockey blog he's calling "Livin' the Dream." Of course KSlyv still has his blog, Erin Pollina (who has great fashion sense but really wears completely ridiculous shoes to games, at least she did to the Washington game, she looked like she couldn't walk. But she looked great so who cares? Do I have a girl crush on Erin Pollina? No, I think I'm just glad we've seen less Maria Genero this pre-season) is still writing Beyond the Boards. No sign of Pommer's blog yet but hopefully we will be blessed this season by his choppy sentences and over-simplification of the English language.

We're fast approaching the start of the regular season!! Woooo!

This post needs a picture, let's find one, shall we?

So he's not a Sabre
However, I believe we can all support Shane O'Brien encouraging literacy
Although, maybe not his supporting of the Detroit Tigers
BUT. He SCORED the tying goal in the last minute of regulation on Thursday.
SO'B scored only one goal in the playoffs, none in the regular season and now one in pre-season
Someday he'll have a regular season goal for Vancouver

Steve Mason: Blogger

by Anne

Steve Mason, the Columbus Blue Jackets wunderkind and Calder Trophy nominated goaltender is experiencing a lot of firsts this year. First NHL stint, first Blue Jackets playoff series, first trip to Vegas, first NHL awards show, and, most importantly to me, first time blogger.

You can read all of Steven's exploits over the last two days in Vegas here at the Blue Jacket's website. The highlights include him listing everyone traveling with him, which is how we learned his girlfriend has the rare and complicated name of Amberleigh, which sounds like a beer to me; the limo driver sort of locked the keys to the limo in the trunk; there was no movie on the five hour flight, Steven was rather indignant and passed the time reading his "girlfriend's" gossip magazines (whatev, Steve, we see your mailing address and name on the front. You can admit to reading Star magazine, its ok); also the usual "Vegas is crazy, yo." that first timers often experience. Steven just turned 21 on May 29 which is quite a relief because he wasn't sure they'd allow him into the Palms if he was only 20. I think they'd make an exception, Steve, but its cute that you were concerned.

I wasn't aiming to find a picture of Steve Mason shirtless but I found one
Our readers rejoice
Also, interesting tattoo, Steven.
He's from Oakville which you drive through/past to get to Toronto from Buffalo.
Sweet
The dude on the other table is Kyle Turris, btw

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

Was it MY Birthday?

by Anne

Yesterday, as we all know, was Steven Bernier's 24th Birthday. A joyous day I almost forgot to commemorate. However! Whilst perusing the Canucks website yesterday I discovered something amazing:

Big Bear wrote a blog.

Is it Christmas? My birthday? What have I done to earn such a wonderful gift? Is this kismet? Whatever it is, its amazing. SO amazing that even Cari texted me to make sure I'd read it. My love is known far and wide.

Here now is a breakdown of some of Steven's thoughts on the Canucks' recent road trip:

Despite all the places I’ve had to fly with my teams, I still get a little nervous on the plane. We have an awesome crew and everything but I don’t know why I still feel that way.

Steven is a nervous flyer. How cute! Yet he still manages to give props to the flight crew, for fear he has insulted them with his apprehensions. I am not a nervous flyer and basically feel totally at ease until the flight attendants start panicking. We do not have this in common but perhaps this is better than two people in a full tilt panic when we hit some turbulence?

This trip has been a long one and we’re playing a lot of game[sic] in a short amount of time but it’s a good feeling on the plane and in the room so I’m not complaining.

Note the keen way in which Steven disregards basic English written syntax and once again tries to assure us all he's not upset. What is this? A NON-plural where it should be plural? Big Bear has a lot of issues with plurals be it discussing his happiness to be a "Sabres" or apparently being unable to speak of multiple games. The letter "S" is his downfall. Perhaps this is because his name starts with the letter "s"? There maybe deeper issues at work here.

I always love going back East because my family is there and I get to see them, which is always good and it’s exciting whenever Canadian teams play each other anyway. I really miss all of them, so I make an effort to see them whenever I’m back in Eastern Canada.

Once again, what?Is he discussing missing his family in Eastern Canada or does he miss the Eastern Canada teams? Does he long for his Mama's home cooking or watching Alexei Kovalev play?

After almost nine months in Vancouver, I still can’t believe how beautiful this city is. I can’t stress enough how amazing everyone in this city is and how much they’re into the Vancouver Canucks.

Vancouver is probably the perfect balance between San Jose and Buffalo. In San Jose there were beautiful beaches but not as much fan involvement. In Buffalo there's lots of fan involvement but not so much beauty. Looks like Big Bear found a great place to play. Awwww!

Big Bear chills with Mama Bear on the plane

Thinking about tonight's game makes me so nervous. Both Florida and Montreal won last night which is putting the playoffs almost completely out of reach. If they lose this one, they're basically done. Not officially but they might as well be.

Also, if the Sabres don't make it, I will need to choose an Eastern team. I'm leaning towards the Devils right now. Thoughts?

Puck drops at 7:00 in Atlanta.

*I hate formatting posts on a PC, it never works right. Sorry if this is really smushed or crazily spaced out.

Award Times for the Sabres

by Anne

April means the end of the NHL regular season and starts the nominees for NHL Awards to be announced.

The first award to reveal some of its nominees is the NHL's Masterton Trophy which goes to the NHL player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

There should be no doubt about the Sabres' nominee this year: Teppo. The man had open heart surgery and is still a professional athlete in a sport that is among the least forgiving for the body.

Congrats Teppo! You deserve the nomination and I hope you earn the award!

Still a stone cold fox

Also! Down on the farm some more nominations!

Derek "Noodles" Whitmore has been named the Pirates' Man of the Year and is now a nominee for the AHL's Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. Noodles has done a lot of work this season in the Portland community you can read about them all here. He also writes a weekly blog for a local Portland newspaper and, if you read this blog, you must know is pretty much my favorite thing any hockey player can do besides win a game.

Seriously, remind me never to be photographed with Mike Kostka.
He is the most photogenic person on the planet


Noodles tells the kids what's what.

Finally, Gerbe Derby and TK are among the frontrunners for the AHL Rookie of the Year Award known as the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award. The AHL Insider e-mail I received featured a picutre of Nathan Gerbe so I'm pretty sure that means he's a lock for the award. Right?

Add Pommer to the "Loves Miley Cyrus" List

by Anne

First Nolan Pratt, then Craig Rivet, now Pommer.

As per usual, Jason Pominville has given us basically a meaningless update on his blog that says nothing interesting or new.

I love Pommer dearly but his blog is terrible. If he stopped updating it once every three months I probably wouldn't even notice.

All I really took away from it is that he clearly loves Miley Cyrus' new tune as its title as also the title of his latest post:

The Pens lost today. TO THE ISLANDERS. In the shootout. Give Dan Bylsma a few more weeks to see if he can fix it and when he can't, the Pens will have to acknowledge that Miro Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko are not Ryan Malone and Marian Hossa and they screwed up with Roberts and Malone last off-season. Bylsma has done great things in Wilkes-Barre this season in the AHL and its easy to see why the Pens moved him up to the big time. However, I have a feeling that the Pens season may already be lost and if they make it to the playoffs it won't be higher than 8th and they probably won't even deserve to be there and will probably be crushed by the Bruins.

I'm excited to be able to watch the Kings game tonight without having to worry about class in the morning. Wooooo! Gotta love random four day weekends.

In other exciting news, my phone decided today it was going to just continually shut off without warning and I'm fed up with it so I bought a new one:

i love green
you should see my room

Tomorrow I plan to read and chillax at my sister's house with her cat while she's in Vermont. Speaking of which at a bar in Vermont there was apparently a huge picture of JP Dumont with no explanation as to why he was being honored there.

Tertiary Team

by Anne

Ok, I lied.

I watched the entire Kings/B'Hawks game last night. This is an addiction, people.

However, I was up in time for class and made it just on time. I wish Buff State was better about clearing sidewalks. I hate when people bitch too much about this kind of stuff but when students are literally slipping and sliding around because they can't properly step onto pavement, its a problem. I use a back entrance to the building that houses my 9:00 am class and the last stretch of sidewalk looked like it hadn't been shoveled in days, I had to walk in the street which I absolutely hate doing.

Also, my class was cancelled and we all sat there until like 9:15 wondering where the professor was until one girl busted out her phone and checked her email. Splendid. I could've watch the whole game without guilt.

The Kings won and currently sit only FOUR points out of a playoff spot. Ok, sooooo they're in 12th with 47 points but spots 7 - 11 all have 51, so a few wins for the Kings and losses for the Oilers, Stars, BJ's and Wild, and the Kings are in the thick of it.

Until the Canucks get their act together and stop fighting during practice, I'm going to be cheering for the Kings. Unfortunately, we all know that I won't be able to look away and will still follow my dear sweet Canucks through good and bad, but I can still take a peek at those upstart Kings, right?! It seems too easy to love the Blackhawks, so I'm leaving them out of this race for now.

Drew Doughty and Matt Greene are always together
They have been photographed together and several events
I loves me a good bromance
Learn from the master, Drew
And they have the mascot with the least crazy name ever.. Bailey.
This may be the only time in my life I wish I was sick and in LA

Also, no Canuck has ever answered my questions on his blog, right Tom Preissing?! I've said it before, definitely check out Tom Preissing's blog. He's really funny and writes really well. Its definitely my favorite hockey player's blog. Millsy's is good but he just doesn't update it that often. Darcy Hordichuk's is my second favorite but I'm mad at his team right now.

Also, I forgot how much I hate blogging on a PC. I haven't done it since I left my old job. This is so much easier on a Mac. Or, well, maybe its Internet Explorer that is lame.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm sure I'll be back and rambling at some point this weekend.

Also, NHL.com chatted with the Sabres goaltending coach, Jim Corsi (among other goaltending coaches) about how the job of goaltending coach has expanded in the last 20+ years.
Woooo!

Why Must They All Be So Far Away?

by Anne

In this bleak time of Buffalo Sabres "hockey" I have been forced to seek new outlets for my HockeyLove. My WCB tracker has helped immensely, I must say.

Today I was perusing the LA Kings website (Why? I don't remember) When I discovered another edition of one of my favorite things of all time. Tom Preissing has a bi-weekly blog. I should've discovered this weeks ago but I must've perfectly timed it so that when I visited their site I just missed the window when his entries were on the rotating top 5 stories.

Anyway, Mr. Preissing writes an entertaining blog. Much more interesting and funny than Pommer's blog, Millsy's music blog and TV's diary on his site. Seriously, when will someone with a personality write a blog for the Sabres? Wow. That last sentence was uncalled for but they suck so SUCK IT, Sabres.

You might remember Tom Preissing from such touching moments as:

Anyway, TommyBoy has an entertaining reaction to Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg, his secret wish that his new baby is a boy (it is, don't worry), how much he hates jackhammers, how he feels about recently turning 30, how great the day after Thanksgiving is "Leftover Day", that the LA Kings training staff members smell nice and Jack Johnson enjoys homemade cards.

BUT. He weaves a darling tale that I must share with you all so hopefully you can feel a little bit of the love I have for one Mr. Matthew Greene:

"I hope I'm not blowing up his spot, but I have to say, far and away my vote for best costume was Greener [Matt Greene]. He was a bathroom attendant. He bought all the products: gel, mints, etc. had the tip jar out, turned the water on for you, and made sure your bathroom experience was a pleasant one. But the absolute best part was that he stayed in the bathroom (in character) for the entire night. Who even thinks like that (besides maybe Andy Kaufman)?"

Just amazing. He'll be here on December 19! Wooooooo!!!

2 weeks from today

Today Grandpa Sullivan turns 93. He's so old, when he enlisted for WWII, he was considered an "older" enlistee. Not exaggerating. Happy Birthday to him!

Ahhahahahahah Tim Connolly

by Anne

I'm done trying to decide if I love Tim Connolly or just want him to go away, therefore I will no longer address the subject.

However.

From Pommer's blog, answering the question about Halloween costumes:

As far as the best costume I’ve seen, I’d have to say was Tim Connolly’s a few years ago. He dressed as Chris Drury in the Little League World Series. He had the uniform and the hat and it was actually pretty funny, so I’ll have to go with that.

Hahahahahahhahaha. Oh Timmy. Timmy Timmy Timmy. TIMMY TIMMY TIMMY.

that's all I have to say about that.

Ok, just one more thing:

I Should Start LiveBlogging My Class -and- the Dallas Stars

by Anne

If you read this blog on Tuesday and Thursday, chances are good at least some of that post was written during my 8am class. I'm basically the poster child for academic integrity and attentive note-taking. I'm looking around the room and of the 400 or so people that are supposed to be here right now, there are probably 250 and about 50 of them are asleep.

I was perusing the Dallas Stars website this morning. Why, you ask? I dunno, just cuz, why not? Right?!

Anyway, APPARENTLY UNBEKNOWNST TO ME THE STARS HAVE BEEN BLOGGING!!!!!

I LOVE WHEN HOCKEY PLAYERS BLOG!!!

Ahem, the latest entry was done by defenseman Matt Niskanen. Thank the LORD his topic was "team building". Who doesn't love wacky stories about the boys participating in hours long workshops in self-esteem building where each player sits in the middle of a circle and his teammates sitting around him listing all the things they like about him. Then there are trust falls and light refreshments.

ANYWAY, here's the Dallas' Stars version of team building:

This trip out to Colorado is kind of our first real road trip. It’s a chance to do some different team bonding, stuff like the fishing and the golfing, to get guys together off the ice. We’re going to a ranch up in the mountains tonight, which should be fun. We’re going to shoot some old Western guns, do a little bit of horseback riding, stuff like that. We did this same thing last year, and it was a blast. Hopefully none of the new guys are nervous about getting on a horse! The weather’s awesome here – a little cooler at night, perfect weather for stuff like this. Last year we had a fire and a barbecue afterward, and it was a great way to spend the evening as a team.

WHHHHHHAAAAATTTTT??? A dude ranch, shooting guns, horseback riding? They've done this BEFORE? These are HOCKEY players, not FOOTBALL players. They're used to being inside where its COLD.

Hahahahahahahahaha. DO THEY ALL WEAR CHAPS AND SPURS?!?! I want y'all to just take a moment and envision Sean "I'm boning the former Mrs. Calvin Klein" Avery roughing it out on the range with the cattle, tendin' to the steaks on the grill and ropin' some steers. WHAT A GREAT SCENE IN THAT MOVIE ABOUT HIS LIFE THIS WILL BE.

There are a few choice moments from the other blogs, but as this is not a Dallas Stars blog, I'll just link ya to 'em. Loui Ericksson signing off his blog entry (Day 3) because Joel Lundqvist and he had to go play some table tennis, did make me chuckle. Nicklas Grossman (Day 4) made a steak and potatoes dinner for all the Swedes he could find in the greater Dallas area. AND NICKLAS GROSSMAN REVEALS THAT PRATTERS HAS BEEN RELOCATED TO DALLAS!!! Awwwww, I love Pratters!!!!!! Brad Richards (Day 9) is apparently on the verge of becoming BFFs with Sean Avery. Uhhhhh. STOP!! DALLAS FANS, DOOOOOOO SOMETHING!!! help them adjust to Dallas APART. If Brad Richards starts working at Cosmo and wearing jaunty little Ralph Lauren peacoats and having NHL rules modified because of his shenanigans, don't say I didn't warn you!!

So on the Nate Gerbe front. It was frankly waaaayyyyyy more entertaining when he refused to be my Facebook friend and I dedicated a great deal of energy attempting to remedy that situation. We're lifelong Facebook BFFs but only on PAPER. I can't see like anything on his profile. I'm considering ending our online fake/not real because he wouldn't know me if he fell over me relationship... is that rash? The persuit was really the fun part, now that its over, I feel kind of shortchanged, hahahaha.

We're watching a video in class and a girl straight up got a PONY for her 10th birthday. Anne= JEALOUS.

Well class is over, check ya laterrrrrrrrr

ETA: This was the first entry ever tagged "Nolan Pratt" weird.

AHHHHHHH So Much Bloggy Love

by Anne

OK. So first Pommer had a "blog" he updated like once every three months when someone from Sabres.com called him and asked him to.

Then Millsey had a blog for the playoffs which was AWESOME and we could actually comment on it, and he actually answered one of my questions because we're BFFL. Its TRUE.

Then Adam Burish kept us posted on the World Championships in May.

Then Tim Kennedy blogged about Development Camp, now about Rookie Camp, ok that was only once, hopefully he updates it again.

AND NOW Thomas McCollum, goaltender from Sanborn, NY drafted 30th overall this year by the Red Wings is posting a blog on fans.nhl.com. Wooohooo! Granted, he posted on Sunday but who ever said I was on top of things?

A few samples from another native son of WNY:

Hi everyone. First of all, thanks for reading.

No problem. I have homework to avoid doing, thanks for writing to help me avoid it.

And then, if I’m able to stop a couple of their forwards, I think I would be pretty happy.

Dear Thomas,

Please stop more pucks than you allow in. This is the basic job description of a goaltender. The higher percentage of shots you stop, the more likely you are to play in the NHL.

This has been "Hockey 101" with Anne. Thank you.

I’m actually really looking forward to meeting Chris Osgood. He’s a great goalie, he’s got tons of experience, and it will be really something to get a chance to talk to him.

Do be careful Tom, you ARE there to take his job one day. Don't get too attached to him.

He didn't have any good dirt on his teammates or amusing stories about half-man half-lobster creatures, but I suppose his next blog entry could hold more juicy details about his teammates. Someone's GOT to talk with their mouth full or never changes his underwear or steals other people's sock tape. (Ok I'm sure its not really called "sock tape." I don't know what its called but you all knew what I meant, didn't you?)

ALSO MOST IMPORTANTLY BECAUSE IT JUST STARTED TODAY AND I FOUND IT BY CHANCE:

Thomas Vanek has started keeping an online "Diary" they're calling it. But, its a blog. Just say it Thomas, say blog.

Of course there are no rude attacks during those little games

Does everyone remember the Power Play episode where Kaleta talks about how he hit Vanek a little too hard in a scrimmage once? HA. I bet that doesn't happen anymore, hahaha.

Rookie camp is already under way and I got to know a few of the young guys over the last days when they were practicing with the veterans: Gerbe, Kennedy, Butler – we’ll be hearing a lot about those guys in the future

Ha. Unlike McCollum's blog which is the rookie looking to the vets, this is a vet a little more hesitant about the fact that Gerb-dogg is hot on his heels. Wooooo!!! I loves me some vying for roster positions. Not that Vanek has to worry about his spot at all, but its still funny to think about:

Anyway, the club did a good job at the draft and everybody at training camp will have to fight for his roster spot, no matter what he achieved in the last years.

Ok Tom, we get it, you are your own worst critic. Please stop now. Start being badass and talking smack and all that stuff. Please? It could go a long way towards your petition for #5.

So many Tom's blogging about hockey, I'm confused.

GASP! If Gerbmeister makes the roster, does that make ANOTHER player in the running for #5? So far its: Rivet, Sekera, Mair, Vanek and POSSIBLY Gerbe. CHAOS. Mair is the front runner followed closely by Vanek and Rivet. Sekera's gotta come out of the gates FLYING to make strides towards #5.

Oh yeah, I was in the Arena yesterday and other than the fact that it was EFFING FREEZING as they put in the ice surface, it was pretty sweet. I get to feel all important with my security badge. I don't think my security clearance allows me to hangout in the locker room or take pictures of the players as they exit the showers, but no one said anything about that specifically so I'll just have to assume I can. SWEET.

I have to go back for more training tomorrow. Awesome. I have to wear a hat. a HAT. I look TERRIBLE in hats. I already have to rock what I'm SURE will be a supremely unflattering unisex polo shirt, and now I also have to wear a baseball cap. Gross.

Whatev, is it really only Wednesday? Booooo. Less than 2 days until training camp!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

Monday Mish Mash

by Anne


So the Sabres played some charity golf recently:

Hey Craig! Thanks for coming!

The whole team turned out, including Lindy, to play some golf before training camp starts on Friday. THAT'S RIGHT TRAINING CAMP STARTS FRIDAY!!!!!! Ahem.

Good to see that Staffy is in his usual preseason "I just got my annual haircut" mode:

Don't worry, by January he'll be back to his usual bulky hairy self

There were clips of Pommer and Sissy playing too, but I have to study so I didn't attempt to capture their images with my image capture software. Rosie the Riveter and Staffy were the only ones they interviewed so I had more options because they stood still longer.

Woooo!

In other news, Nathan Gerbe has finally accepted my Facebook friend request but has apparently discovered the sheer joy that is "Limited Profiles". All of my students view my profile on a limited basis, and apparently so too do I view Nathan Gerbe's profile, and probably Drew Stafford as well. Whatev, it makes me laugh that he finally accepted the inevitability of our friendship. We're BFFs in the making, Gerber Baby. I hate that nickname. Let's stop using it ok, Gerbmeister? Sweet. But, for serious, call me all the time, we'll watch movies and play Phase 10. CALL ME.

Prospect camp began today and Buffalo's own beloved "Mr. Awkard Interview" Tim Kennedy has started writing his blog again. YESSSSSSS!!! We've been so deprived since Millsey's Maxim blog ended in June and Pommer hasn't updated his with his thoughts other than answering questions in months and months. Not much happened at camp today it seems, so TK's entry was pretty short.

Even though we had to be up early, I actually got a lot of rest in and slept pretty well at the hotel.

Was he required to stay at a hotel? It is kind of LAME to be like "Hey guys, how were those commercial grade pancakes at the hotel? 150 thread count sheets? Yikes! My mom brought be freshly made belgian waffles and freshly squeezed orange juice to me in my Egyptian cotton sheet covered pillow top mattress king-sized bed. Hey, guys! Guys? Come on, guys! My mom made cookies! Yeah, that's what I thought, they come running back for the cookies. Pat Kaleta was right."

Hopefully tomorrow will be more of the "OMG EVERY MUSCLE IN MY BODY HURTS, HOCKEY IS HARD, YO."

I have so much reading to do. On that note, I'm going out to dinner, check ya later!

Whoop-Dee-QuarterFinals

by Anne

NHL:

I only watched the 3rd period which was exciting, especially the crazy scrum at the end with Ott and Holmstrom, yikes. I opted to watch Team USA v. Team Finland, more on that later.

Stars hang on to fight another day. Unlike San Jose, who boasts the red-headed Messiah on their team, no one seems to think that they can pull off a miracle, but they did, of course, mention the stats about coming back from being down 3 games to none, as is mandatory. I will say that it is quite a feat to limit the Red Wings to one goal. Well done, Dallas. I knew they were going to win this game, I knew they wouldn't be swept, just like the Rangers won their 2nd home game of the Pens series with them. Eh. Whatevs, GO PENS!


So the World Championship Quarter Finals were held yesterday. NOW the games are single-elimination.

We've already bid farewell to Andrej Sekera and Slovakia in this tourney, and now we bid farewell to Ales Kotalik whose Team Czech Republic was eliminated yesterday by Sweden in a 3-2 overtime game that was probably pretty exciting to watch. Sweden scored first, then the Czech Republic scored 2, then Sweden got the equalizer and the OT winner. Sorry Ales!

AL! DO NOT MOON THE SWEDES!

FYI: Sekera finished the Tournament playing in all 5 games, 1 pt (o+1), +3, 11 SOG, with 19:01 average ice time per game. Yay!

FYI: Kotalik finished the Tournament playing in all 7 games, 7 pts (5+2), 3 PPG, -1, 0 PIM. Awww no penalties, good boy, Ales!

Team Canada took on Norway yesterday afternoon and Heatley scored just 37 seconds in. Yeesh. The first shift hadn't even gotten their legs going and Heatley potted one. Whoops. Then they traded 5 on 3 opportunities and both scored, followed soon after by another Norwegian goal. It started out really really close....aaaaand then became the monstrous blowout I was expecting. Yay! Canada won 8-2! Yay! Derek Roy had himself a 4 point night (3+1)! Hat trick! Yay!!!!!

Next, Canada plays Sweden. Boooooo. I don't care that you have Nicklas Backstrom! You also have Henrik Lundqvist and while I have nothing against him personally, I don't like his team, so PHOOEY on YOU Sweden. I don't care HOW funny this picture is:

Swedish Indians?

Hey look! Someone once found my blog while searching for "Henrk and Joel Lundqvist shirtless"! Here ya go! I live to serve my readers, haha. I hope a large check or lots of booze was involved in the conceptualizing of this ad. I mean, look at Joel's shorts. I know, you it took me a while to notice them too, as I found myself lost in Henrik's pecs. 35 might just be my new favorite number. Sidenote: who doesn't love the classic "make yourself look bigger and more buff by crossing your arms and flexing every muscle in your upperbody" move. Good show, boys, good show.

Anyhoot, Russia defeated Switzerland yesterday 6-0. Afinogenov had 2 goals. Woohoo! Next, Russia takes on the winner of the USA v. Finland match up.

Speaking of which:

That game was painfully boring until the end of the 3rd period. It was 2-0 Finland until about 5 minutes left when Mr. Yick scored a goal. And then, oh JOY of JOYS! His first goal of the Tournament, Team USA's first shorthanded goal, 37 seconds apart... STAFFY!!!! YAY!!!!!! GOOD BOY, STAFFERS!! You're trying SO HARD to be my favorite again, and you just might do it.

Tooooooo bad they lost in OT, and are now eliminated from the tournament, finishing in 5th place. :( What the HELL am I supposed to do now?

Anyhoot, when it all comes down to it:

Pommer played in all 7 games, had 5 points (2+3), both goals were powerplay goals, was +1, 0 PIM and averaged 16:54 in ice time.

Staffy played in all 7 games, had 4 points (1+3), +4 (tied for the team lead), the only shorthanded goal for Team USA and averaged only 8:41 in ice time per game.

An excellent showing from the boys in blue and gold for Team USA. I guess it's all about Roysie, Max and Kalinin....ugh, ok it's all about Roysie:

Two of Roysie's three goal celebrations:

Typical happy smiley Roysie

Suddenly and inexplicably stony celebration by Roysie. Probably because at this point the score was like 7-2 and its just rude to overly celebrate when you're PWNING the other team

Sigh.

Well, Adam Burish heard my plea yesterday. On their day off:

Some guys took the opportunity to go fishing. For some, it didn’t go as planned. Kessel got pretty sea sick as he spent most of the time leaning over the end of the boat, so guys were joking with him about that the past couple days, and Mueller didn't fare so well at sea either. O'Sullivan and Backes came back with a pretty good tan, and I would say Greene did too but he had a bit more of a lobster red shade to him, ha! Over all they had a great experience catching a ton of cod. Other guys spent a lot of the day walking around the downtown Halifax area eating outside and shopping.

Ok, there was no specific mention of Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford, I'm going to go ahead and assume they were in the "walking around and shopping" group. Go ahead, try to picture Drew Stafford fishing... no, really, I'll wait...... doo dooo doo, done? Yeah, I couldn't really picture it either. I bet Derek Roy dragged Pommer to all the fancy euro-style boutiques and gave him a personalized Roysie-over while Staffy and Zach Parise threw water balloons at passing elderly ladies and capped off the day by eating their weight in Starbursts on a patio while Kaner and Tom Gilbert made clay flower pots for their mommies at the pottery cabin of Camp Morningwood.

And yes, I did snicker at the thought of Phil Kessel being a big wimp and reintroducing the contents of his stomach to the world, hahaha. I'm not very nice. Here's a question: what exactly did they do with all the cod they caught? I'm guessing you can't bring live or dead fish across international borders, fellas, so I'm gonna go ahead and assume they did a "catch and release" deal. I think Adam Burish has a crush on Matt Greene, not just a ManCrush, but like really thinks they'd make a great couple. Let's start that rumor....aaaaaand GO.

---

Private to Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford:

It's ok, you tried. Too bad you won't be back at the World Championships anytime soon because the Sabres will never miss the playoffs ever ever ever again. Right? RIGHT? That's what I thought.

Love,
Anne

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Private to all our boys that have been eliminated:

SMOOTHIE TIME! WOOOOOO! GOOSE IS DRIVING!! No Al, you can't have shotgun, Sabretooth always has shotgun, its the rules. WOOOOO!

Love,
Anne

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Will Ry-ry finish off the Flyers tonight?!?! FINGERS CROSSED! Tomorrow is my last day! As Sissy would say: "YAAAHHHHH!!!!"

Does Pommer Love Roysie More Than He Loves Goose?

by Anne


Pommer's blog this week is touted as being about the World Championship, but it's basically about how much he loves Roysie, Staffy and Kaner.


I'm glad to hear Pommers and Staffy can lean on each other when they need condoms or shave gel or whatever they could possibly need while in Nova Scotia. They make it sound like they're lost in Eastern Europe. Yo, you're in Halifax. It barely counts as a foreign country.


Maybe that's where Goose was headed when Amy at Shots Off the Crossbar's Dad saw him at the airport. He needs to go reclaim his place as Pommer's BFFL. They room in their own rooms now, so I'm sure Goose and Pommer are back to being nap buddies. Awwwww.

Team USA or Camp Morningwood? You Decide

by Anne

I was only kidding when I said Team USA Mini Camp was like Sleep Away Camp for NHLers. However, Adam Burish's recent blog post has done nothing to convince me that it's not. It's got such a "Dear Mom and Dad" feeling to it. Here's a sampling:

On Monday, we woke up and went to practice. Following practice the coaches informed us they set up an afternoon of paintballing for the team. So we all jumped on the bus and drove a half hour outside of Portland to a paintball field.

So the coaches are like the counselors, apparently. Are these kids so easily distracted and won't hang out with their teammates that they coaches have to create organized group outings for them? Did they have to pair off on the buddy system? They were the "old" (25+) guys v. the "young" guys (24 and younger). What is that like Halpie, Pommer and Tim Tom v. everyone else? Did Staffy and Zachy Poo use Gerb-dogg as a shield as part of their master plan of attack? Something tells me Tim Tom still fired at will. I bet Kaner was their Benedict Arnold. He totes chose new Big Brother Pommerdoodle over the Thrashmetal Zombie.

The funniest part of the experience was right when we showed up Matt Greene and Zach Parise went right to the middle of the field and on the count of three started shooting point blank at each other as we all looked on.

We've uncovered the secret to the downfall of the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils: Zachary "One smile and all is forgiven" Parise and Matt "Corner me and get me to tell you a story" Greene do not get that you aren't supposed to open fire on your own teammate. That is BAD for your team if your teammate is incapacitated. Way to alternately lead, Alternate Captain Zachy-poo.

Yes, ladies and gents, these fine young men represent our nation. Tears come to the eyes.

A group of lobstermen, who are men that catch lobsters for a living, hosted our whole team and staff for an unbelievable dinner of fresh caught lobsters, clams and mussels.

Thank you for clarifying, Adam Burish. Here I was, perpelxed that there was a host of gigantically-clawed half-men half-fish roaming Portland, Maine freely stuffing the faces of passing hockey players with seafood.

Although, yo, Team USA sounds like a BLAST. I bet Team Canada is all regimented and "DON CHERRY SAYS WE'RE THE BEST!" and don't have fun group outings. Even the massage therapist got in on the action and ate 3 lobsters. That's AWESOME. I would totally rather hang out with Team USA.

I hear Dmitri Kalinin is a funny guy. I bet he and Ovie are creating all sorts of glorious Soviet mischief and Afinogenov doesn't think its funny.

Team USA starts off the Tournament on Friday against Latvia at 7:15 EDT. You can watch the games here.

DID EVERYONE BUY THEIR KIDS DAY NEWSPAPER?

by Anne


I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before so I wasn't too emotionally invested in the Habs/Flyers game. I've resolved to only watch the 3rd period of hockey games that I don't give a hoot about. Had I watched ONLY the 3rd period of last night's game, it would've been waaaaaaaaay more exciting than watching the whole thing. Nice last ditch effort there, Montreal. Maaaaaayyybe you should've displayed some of that offensive ZIP earlier in the game? Maybe? No? Ok.


On to things more Sabres-related:


Pommerdoodle was NOT named Captain or Alternate Captain of Team USA. This saddens me. It doesn't surprise me that any of our other (Sabre and non-Sabre Buffalo) boyz were not tagged. I suppose the fact that Pommerdoodle is only pseudo-American could have contributed and Halpie is the oldest skater.


Zachy-poo is rocking an A. It's in place of his missing chompers. Probably by next season I'll stop mentioning his teeth everytime I mention him.


Staffy shouldn't be rewarded with a letter after his craptastical season. Who else was surprised that Staffy was on the PK for Team USA? How often so we use him in Buffalo on special teams? He's not the first player I think of when I think of "clutch special team performer". That title goes to Pat Kaleta, HA!


Anyhoot, Adam Burish is bloggin' it up about training camp. Having not yet perused it, I can only hope it is as "What I did on my Summer Vacation"-esque as Pommer's Blog is on Sabres.com.

Reading.....reading....reading...

Damn, he appears to be far more coherent and concise than Pommer, or, here's a THOUGHT, maybe there's someone who actually EDITS it for him? Sabres.com needs an editor like there's no tomorrow. There are so many typos and grammatical errors in that thing, it hurts my heart.


Apparently, what we can learn is that if you ever get chance to meet Matt Greene, ask him to tell you a story.

This man is very funny, Adam Burish wants you to corner him

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Private to Tim Tom:

You're 34 years old. In any other place in the world, you would still be considered young. However, in professional sports, particularly hockey, you're bordering on senility. And, on this extremely young Team USA, you're practically one foot in the grave. Please remember that, while you are still a young man, in the grand scheme of things, you are not, in fact, 23. Please do not act like you are. I much prefer you to be crotchety and old. Besides, I need you to keep Phil "Mr. Yick" Kessel in line. Apparently he and Gerb-O are tight. Please keep them apart when at all possible.

Love and Geritol,

Anne

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Private to Marty Biron:

I loved when you were laying down in the net and then the goal cam like zoomed in on your face. It was freaky and awesome. I really hope there's a picture of that up somewhere...I'll go investigate... poo, I can't find it, but it was totally great. One of my favorite sights in the world is when a goaltender just lays down on his back to cover the puck. It looks so weird, hahaha.

Ok I couldn't find it but I found your usual yammering wacky self on the Hockey Show. You're so insane and I love your purse and your attempts to justify everything in there . :'( I miss Marty.

You'd be the only reason I'd be happy if the Flyers won this series. Just you...and a little bit Danny, but only because he's never won the Cup and Slaggy over in New York has.

How's the new bambino?

Love and I'll totally babysits,

Anne