Happy Brithday, Nate Gerbe!

by Anne

Molly notified on me on twitter (@mollymarts) that our sweet little GerbeDerby turns 23 today.

Therefore, I promise I won't make any short jokes when selecting your cake. So, please enjoy this awesome cake of a chick on a car:

It's a lady sitting on a Mini Coo-

Okay, bad choice of car. How about this for dessert?

Strawberries are in season right now so they're really tasty.

A nice strawberry shor-

Ummmm, okay, back to the drawing board...

ummm.....

I got nothin'...

Oh just forget it:

Nathan Gerbe, you rock.

Hope your birthday has been excellent.

I'M SO EXCITED

by Anne

My feelings are apt to change frequently over certain things about hockey and the NHL.

To fight or not to fight? No-touch icing? Moving the Phoenix Coyotes? Should Pierre McGuire and Mike Millbury be shot into the sun from a cannon or flung with a large sling-shot?

But there is one thing over which I never change my mind:

My favorite day of the hockey related year without competition, HANDS DOWN is the trade deadline.

Its so DRAMATIC. GMs lose their minds and deal elite wingers for bench warmers and top goalies for meaningless draft picks. ITS SO. MUCH. FUN.

Who doesn't love the quickly photoshopped roster photos in which the colors of one team are covered over by those of the new team.

Which player has to travel the farthest to turn around and play in the game for his new team that night? Do any of the players have to turn around and play their former team that same day? Do you boo these players or not?

The speculation begins in the summertime and doesn't stop until late February (this year, early March). Who will buy, who will sell? How much will a team that needs a top defenseman pay to get one who may or may not sign elsewhere on July 1?

Unlike last year, the Sabres appear to be buyers this year. What shall we buy? I can't freakin' wait.

Unfortunately the trade deadline is on a Wednesday this year which means I will have to keep up to date on my cell phone during classes and I expect grevious amounts of Twitter updates about the goings on around the NHL.

Will we get the defenseman we so desperately need? Who will we ship out to get him? Will Darcy construct yet another three team deal that doesn't fully play itself out until the summer?

Where will Jay Bouwmeester be? What about Alexei Kovalev? Will he be moved? What will happen with Sean Avery? Tampa will probably take him. They'll take anyone.

What will the biggest shockers be? Who will be traded that didn't know they were on the trading block? How many phones will Brian Burke be talking on at a time? How many players will cry? Which players will be royally pissed off?

Can my heart take another day of watching James Duthie list out these trades on TSN? Ok, the answer to that one is absofreakinlutely.

Which teams will make the biggest mistakes? Which team will make the smartest moves?

My second favorite day of the year is Free Agency Day. This day comes in #2 because of the nausea I usually feel over the size of the contracts being doled out. ::cough Brian Campbell $50+ million cough::

One week away!

Fo. Sho.

By Anne

I cannot recall a recent NHL game that went into overtime that did NOT go into a shootout. I'm sure there are some, but I have not watched any of them. I've seen them in the past, of course, but in recent games I feel as though they've ALL been shoot outs. I hate shootouts. Basically it's a "which ever team has the goaltender that's harder to trick wins". What a shocker- Luongo won it for the Canucks in the shootout. Should've picked Hasek for my Mr. Zero though. He lasted almost the entire game with no goals. CURSE YOU LUONGO! No! WAIT! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO CURSE PEOPLE! I mean: well done Roberto, trying to give the Blues some confidence by letting those 2 in. Good job. You're so great. I wish you nothing but health wealth and happiness with the new baby!

::Looks around shifty eyed for NHLPA reps....(I think I'm safe)::

Tonight 26 of the NHL's teams will be playing. It's like the All-Star weekend is the final exams and they're cramming in tons of last minute study sessions in the days leading up to it.

The Sabres face the Dallas Stars tonight. The Stars are #2 in the West. We're #13 in the East, only 1 point up on the Lightning who are in last place. I can't talk about it. I'm not optimistic. I'm probably not going to watch. There are 2 new episdoes of Chuck on tonight. Chuck never makes me want to punch a baby. But he also doesn't make me swoon or squeal like a piglet when I see him.

The freakin' Leafs won again. If I have to give up my "at least we're better than the Leafs" mantra, things will not be pretty.

I've managed to make it many hours without maiming or dismembering an NHL hockey player. (Sorry, Tyler Kennedy! Mono's a bitch! Stop kissing random hussies!) But I can report that, through no fault of my own, Mr. Hit-'Em-From-Behind, Ilya Kovalchuk has been suspended for 1 game following his hit on Rozsival. Tsk tsk tsk Ilya, temper, temper. I still hope that picture is you even though it really doesn't look like you.

There really doesn't seem to be too much to report from the world of hockey this morning. I didn't watch any games so I couldn't curse any teams. My bad voodoo has had the reverse effect on the Toronto Maple Leafs. I say like two nice things about Jason Blake and the Leafs find themselves on a winning streak with a new -old- GM. With all those things I just said about Luongo- look out, Vancouver! Here comes the winning streak of the millenium!

In a totally non-sports related moment, the IT guys whose office I sit outside of are super excited today. Why? A new server perhaps? A systems upgrade? Nay. They are thrilled beyond words about the new urinal being installed in the men's bathroom as I type. They're having a debate over which guy on the floor should be allowed to use it first. Excellent. It's the little things in life that bring you joy. For example:

The kid on the right is Brad(y)* Murray. He, Staffy and Staffy's BFFL, Zachy P., lead team USA to their first gold medal at the World Juniors in 2004 by defeating Danny Pie-YAY who was Captain of Team Canada - oh well! I don't know who Brad(y)* Murray is, but if Staffy is friends with him then he's probably an ok dude. I don't know if Drew Stafford is a good judge of character or not, but as he's my favorite Sabre, I choose to give him the benefit of the doubt.

*Update: Ok so the person who posted this photo incorrectly labeled Brady Murray as Brad Murray, which is why I couldn't find out anything about him. If I were a crazy stalker of Staffy's life I probably would've known that. But as I am not, I don't feel shame. Brady Murray is part of the LA Kings organization. Well done, Brady.

There really is very little in life that makes me laugh more than pictures of people from when they were younger, especially professional athletes. (See earlier post regarding Derek Roy). Except, Zach Parise looks basically the same in that picture boooooo.

Ok, this makes up for it:

Intense. That paper never knew what hit it.