Another Snoozer for the Sabres; Thriller for the Canucks

by Anne

Once again, no one stepped up and took control of the game. Well, someone did; Patrice Bergeron did. For those keeping score, Patrice Bergeron does NOT play for the Buffalo Sabres.

Whatever, I don't have much to say about that game. Good job, Goose. Cookies for Goose, and for Staffy. Staffy is hurt with a bone bruise. That sounds unbelievably unpleasant. Does this mean Tyler Ennis makes the return trip? Is Gerbe healthy yet? Here's hoping one of them is ready!

Tonight they play the Senators. I'll be at a show, so I won't see it. Too bad.

The Canucks won last night. The first period started out pretty darn rocky, with the Avs jumping out to an early two goal lead. After cutting the deficit to one in the second period, the Canucks scored four more unanswered goals in the third to take a 5-2 victory. Their last game, ten years ago it feels, was an 8-2 victory over the Avs. Wooo! Big Bear scored a PP goal on  a nifty little deflection:

They may have fallen to #3 in my heart but I still loves them.

Especially Big Bear.
Especially goals like that.
Please don't go six days between games again, I don't like that and neither does my fantasy team.

 Nothing to do with the game,

 but how adorable are Henrik Sedin and his son?

Other things:

• Danny Briere and M-E Vlasic fought last night. Yes, you read that right. I... I'm so confused. I wish I had seen it live. It's just so bizarre:

The best part is the looks of disbelief on their teammates' faces.
Also, I don't think any punches were thrown, but gloves were off.
hahahahahaha fantastic
Good job, Pickles!
You don't let Danny Briere attempt to put you in a headlock!

• Also in that game, Dany Heatley had his second hat trick of the season. This pleases me for two reasons: It was against the Flyers and he's a Sunny Hedgehog Enchanter. Yessss.
  

• Tonight the Sabres play in Ottawa (barf), the Kings host the Flames and the Pens are in Atlanta. Hopefully I'll be able to watch some bitchin' highlight reel goals scored by the Sabres and Pens during the intermissions of the Kings game tonight! They're all gonna win, right? Please, Sabres? I don't know what's in the kool-aid you drink before Senators games, but they're not freaky zombie people, out to eat your brains and such. Especially now that Heatley's gone. Please win? Thanks.
  

• ETA: The Kings game is at 4:00. Good thing I looked at the schedule again!
  

Saturday Shenanigans

by Anne

I would really like the Bandits to score fewer goals, please. I'm glad that the Bandits are so successful and I hope they continue to be, but after a while the sound of the goal horn gives me a headache. And that friggin' announcer dude is so annoying and there are so many cheers and drums and I have to yell a lot and AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I was just trying to figure out if the Bandits have lost this season and yes, once. Never at home. They have 105 goals on the season, the next closest team has 85. So yes, they do score lots.

They also have a player named Brett Bucktooth. Words cannot describe what an awesome name that is.

I'm about 99% sure Chris Butler was at the game tonight, wandering about the 200 level. All I could think was "Aw, Buts, don't you have a lady to spend Valentine's Day with?" He probably does but I just felt sad at the possibility that he was just like alone in Buffalo where he probably doesn't know anyone. My mother of course was like "Why didn't you talk to him?" I had a hard time explaining that we're not supposed to bother players regardless of the event going on at the Arena.

I worked on the 200 level and I've never been there before but it was cool. I set up near where they film the post-game show. I can definitely see the perks to sitting in the 200 level. Except for the major perk that I'm on the 300 level. Speaking of which, I saw Kim on Friday! Hooray!

Around the league tonight, the only thing that interested me was I saw that WCBs Matt Greene and Ethan Moreau got five minute majors for fighting each other. Former teammates dropping the gloves. Ok, it wasn't really that much of a fight but if you had to pick a winner, I suppose Greener would have been it.

Sergei Gonchar is finally back for Pittsburgh!! Yay! So many people were hoping he was the shot in the arm the Pens needed ............... he was a -1 and the Pens lost 6-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ok, it was just his first game back, it'll take a few for him to get up to speed. I guess a Pens loss is good for us, but they're five points back so they become less of a threat all the time.

I saw The Reader today. It was quite good, recommend it. So far Slumdog is still my pick for winner, but The Reader is a very close 2nd. If you want to see a lot of Kate Winslet's boobs and a lot of love scenes and lots to do with Nazi war crimes, The Reader is for you.

Pirates Lose But it Was Fun Anyway

by Anne

S(h)ara and I were at the Pirates game, both rocking Kennedy t-shirts

Phew. I'm glad I left my tiny white shorts and knock-off Target uggs at home
Seriously, darling, its not that warm outside


Dougie serenaded us
Why was TK not in the starting line up?

This game is best told in fights:


First Parsley (Jimmy Bonneau) fought some Rat


...as Mike Ryan drifted by listlessly


Then these dudes fought
I think this was Mancari roughing up someone


Then there was a brawl
Someone sucker punched Gerbe and he just curled up into the fetal position
He's 5'5", he's allowed


Then Mike Ryan was a douchebag part 1


Ignore Colton Fretter
look at the super full penalty boxes behind him
There were four players in each box to start the 3rd


Then Mike Ryan (#21) scored a pretty slick goal
He's still a douchebag


Because he crosschecked Kyle Rank after Timmy tied the game at 2
We really liked heckling Mikey
Matt Ellis is better anyway


Salty Pete was there


TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE!

I've never been to an AHL game before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I will say this, I'll take the NHL. These guys were terrrible. I mean even when they were good, they were only so-so. You could easily pick out the NHLers (Kennedy, Ryan, Gerbe, etc.) Marc-Andre Gragnani showed some excellent puck handling ability on the power play. He might've been getting a little too showy but I certainly was impressed by how he moved the puck.

Although Kyle Rank might not be headed for the NHL anytime soon, his tying goal with 29 seconds left in regulation was a thriller. There was chorus after chorus of "SHOOOOOOOOOOOOT!" and Zach Takir did and Kyle Rank redirected it into the net. S(h)ara and I definitely started a few chants of "Peeeeeeeeeeters, Peeeeeeeeeeeters" to heckle the Rats goalie. Unfortunately not a single Pirate scored in OT or the shootout and the Rats walked away with two points.

I couldn't get a picture of it but Dylan Hunter's facial hair is amazing. From here on out he will be known as "Pornstache"

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's game even more now. NHL hockey > AHL hockey.

I thought Gerbe was hurt because I didn't realize that he didn't just get a misconduct penalty, he got a game misconduct for fighting off of the playing surface with some Rat. He was kicked out of the game according to AHL rule 47.7.

Just to emphasize further the crazy number of fights in this game, here's a screen capture of the penalties summary:

that's a lot of penalties
click to enlarge