Queen City Sabres: My Wishes and Hopes for 2010-2011

Monday, October 4, 2010

by Anne

I won't predict this outcomes of this season for any team, but I'll state my 5 wishes and hopes, in no particular order.

I don't think any Sabres fan would disagree that the continued successes of these two gentlemen are crucial to the Sabres' successes this coming season. I'm not really worried about Miller; he's put in years of work building himself into an elite player. He's combined talent with hard work and dedication to turn himself into an elite goalie. He has the tools to maintain his success with the potential for only slight deviations. Myers on the other hand is just a baby. He, like Miller, has worked hard to get where he is, but where he is is 20 years old with one year of NHL experience. It was one hell of a year, but he was flying high on rookie adrenaline and his (very few) mistakes were justified with "Well, he is a rookie after all." Without his steady partner of last year, he's going to be asked to continue his maturation by being asked to be adaptable to other situations. There's no question that it was Myers that made Tallinder better but the veteran partner consistency was huge for Myers, regardless of who his partner was. I've liked what I 've seen of a Shaonaynay/JBG tandem so far this pre-season.

Love.

I adore Sir Christopher. He was my favorite part of 2008-2009. He made me so sad last year. He's got the potential to be my new Drew Stafford. I loved him, then he made me sad, then he gave me false hope and now I mostly hate him. Don't do it to me, Sir Christopher! Don't be Staffy!

Don't go breaking my heart

The Kings didn't make too many big moves this off-season. Okay, let's be realistic, they didn't make any big moves this off-season. Therefore, most Kings fans are putting their hope for improvement on J. Bernier. I had the joy of watching him shut out the Predators in March and I more than a little bit fell in HockeyLove with him. I want him to kick ass this season and kick the Kings up a notch. Quickie was fine last year, he won a heckuva lot of games but he wasn't phenomenal, and he needed rest down the stretch that he didn't really get. Now that Bernier has been officially named the back-up (!) to Quick, he's poised for a takeover. I have nothing but love for Quickie, but Bernier has loads of potential left and I think we've seen the best of Jonathan Quick. If I'm wrong, I'll be happy to say I was wrong but, let the Bernier Era begin (soon)!

Do it up, Baby Bear

When the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009 it was pretty awesome. I have lots of family in Pittsburgh and from Pittsburgh. It was my could-have-been hometown team winning it all, the same year the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl. It was awesome. It was also great in 2008 when the Pens went all the way to the Finals. It was exciting but it wasn't really for me. If you only cheer for a team in the playoffs, you don't really have the right to be carried away with excitement like diehard fans do. I love two teams, one for much longer than the other. They both have the makings of success in the near future. I don't expect either of them to win it all but I have hopes that they'll both surpass last year's successes. Just for the LOVE OF GOD, don't BOTH go as far as possible. I think I'd stroke out.

I've only watched games in two NHL arenas: HSBC Arena and Bridgestone Arena (Nashville). I watched a game outside of Mellon Arena, but I'm not sure that that counts. This year I want to hit up Consol and another one. I have friends in New York, relatives in Philly, Denver, Atlanta, and Florida. Those are all possibilities. We shall see what the coming season brings with it.

I hope to see you soon

Even though last night's game was just pre-season it was SUPER AWESOME and I'm itching for the season to START!

Lets Go Buff-a-lo! Lets Go Kings!

Who writes this thing? Oh, Anne does.