March Madness

by Anne

While I wanted to dive back into blogging on a more regular basis, I could not have picked a worse time to do it.

I'm in the middle of directing a high school production of Cinderella that opens the last weekend in March. Therefore, the entire month of March has been dedicated to that.

Unfortunately, the entire month of March is also (at least over the last several years) dedicated to the Buffalo Sabres inching ever closer to 9th in the Eastern Conference. In years past they've been fighting for points to MAKE IT to 9th; this year they happen to be backsliding into the oh-so uncoveted out-of-the-playoffs spot of 9th place.

During most of the last several Sabres games, I have been watching my little darlings act and sing their hearts out... or just stand there and look bored (it depends on the student or the day, or whether or not there was enough pudding in the cafeteria that day or something). I have missed a couple of good ones and a couple of... forgettable attempts.

The Sabres most recent foray into their plan to reach 9th place was a 1-0 loss on home ice to the Carolina Hurricanes. Of course it was. A 1-0 loss on home ice sounds like the worst night of my life. I've been to several of those affairs, but most of the time I was working so I had something to occupy my mind rather than the many expletives I planned to hurl at the Sabres offense for being so impotent.

However, I heard rumblings on Twitter that the effort wasn't ALL bad on the Sabres end. Whatever, how good could it POSSIBLY have been if they managed to score not a single goal in an hour of ice time? I don't mind admiring effort if there's goal scoring to ice the cake of solid defensive play. Yes 40 shots is a lot, no question. Even though I didn't see a single one of these shots, I'd imagine many of them were of the "at the logo on the goalie's chest" type that count as shots but almost never turn into goals.

I need to focus my energies on the show, not on the Sabres. I'd appreciate it if you all could worry about them for me over the next 10 days.

Thanks.