It's only been 4 days

 4 days and I'm back to posting! This a new record (at least for the last 15 years or so!) The Blog is officially back! (Now will anyone read my rambles? Who knows.. but I'm writing anyway!)

Since my last post, the Sabres managed an OT comeback win over Toronto (Owen Power- this guy is for REAL!) and then another come from behind to force OT against Montreal on Saturday only to lose on a goal from everyone's favorite Cauliflower (Caufield, whateve). Man I hate that guy playing against that guy. 

So, 4/6 road points against division rivals, a SO loss, OT win and OT loss wasn't a terrible way to end last week. I'd prefer 3 straight wins to giving up a point in that OT win, but also scrapping back in each of those games shows resilience and I like that. I just wish we didn't *have* to keep scrapping back to a tie. It's getting a little old. The Sabres desperately need a tighter D (to be fair, Dahlin was out for those 3 games and he is a HUGE part of our Defence) BUT STILL- maybe our goaltending needs to improve a bit... we KNOW that UPL can get the job done, but for some reason, he doesn't seem to be remembering it! 

I really want Lyon back. I picked him last year as my favorite Sabre (with Jack Quinn as #2 and he is coming along swimmingly) and he has been out since the Sep 26 preseason game with an unspecified "upper body injury" because it's hockey and we don't talk about Bruno (and by Bruno, I mean injuries.) It could be a decapitation or a hangnail, we don't get to know. (It looked at the video from the day it happened-- looked like some sort of shoulder tweak? ribs? WHO KNOWS?!) All I know is I want my guy back and maybe, just maybe, he can keep the GAA to less than 4 per game. (Only MAYBE but I'll take a maybe at this point!)

As if that is not rough enough, I got my The Hockey News Goalie Issue in the mail today, and they had an article about Lyon! Now if we can just get to see the real deal, I would be much happier. 

I'm going to Wednesday's game against the Flyers- hoping for a better return than the first game I went to (4-1 loss to Utah, what a drag).

Let's Go Buffalo!  

Guess who's back? Back again... (maybe for real this time)

 Hockey is back my friends--  and so am I. At least for the moment. But I think I might actually mean it this time. Last spring was a lot of fun but then I couldn't find much to talk about, plus I had a really busy summer of family fun and travel so as usual, rando hockey babble went by the wayside. 

But a new season is upon us, the Sabres might be good, and my niece is on board so she wants to talk about hockey all the time- and who am I to say no? LOL

So far the Sabres are 3-3-1 which isn't stellar but it def could be worse. They have shown glimpses of being a really good team and also shades of the terrible times. Guess we'll see how it all settles in. I have some thoughts about players but I'll save those for another post. (gotta spread out the posting) 

I DO have a Hockey Separated at Birth (SAB) for you that I have been sitting on for 6 months. And they were usually Wednesdays but sometimes hit on Thurs so I'm just gonna throw it out there for today. (I have at least 2 more in the works so this is good)

Here, I present to you: Mr. Chuckles, from the NHSTA billboards- there was one right by my house that was recently replaced but I used to look at it ALL the time: 

Now, I think Mr. Chuckles is actually a pretty cute baby, but he bears an uncanny resemblance to a former Sabre (whom some might also call a "baby" but I'm going to refrain from any commentary about that)

    

The ubiquitous billboard baby AND....

Jack Eichel (currently of the Las Vegas Golden Knights), formerly of the Buffalo Sabres. I picked this pic on purpose since it's young Eichel. I wonder if he IS Mr. Chuckles? Either way, is he in the right seat? 

You be the judge! 

Back with more soon. 

<3 your resident lazy hockey blogger

But I have a Sad :'(

 Well, I tried to be more prolific in my writing, but then the Sabres had to go and lose Game 7 in Overtime and then I was sad and didn't want to write about hockey. 

But I have still been thinking about hockey a lot. And J has been tracking the scores of the conf finals series (she is not happy about Vegas winning cuz they have gross colors- she is not wrong), and obvs Montreal isn't allowed to win, so I guess we're going for Carolina?

Anyway, I have 2 hockey SABs lined up (I'll save those for Wednesdays since that was the old day for Separated at Birth), and I might even have a Hockey Freak of Nature to share with you as well. 

I also re-subscribed to The Hockey News. I really like that they still have print media; I find it much easier to partake of a magazine on paper rather than online. We'll see how that goes. The price is still very reasonable. 

Onward and upward?

P.S. The Sabres re-upped Lindy's contract for 2 more years. This is excellent news. Lindy forever!

Remember those guys?

 The Sabres are back! As in, back in the playoffs, back in Round 2 and back on my TV. 

It's been a rough few (14) years around here.. somewhere along the way the Sabres totally lost me. I stuck with them for a few years after that last playoff appearance, but life got busy, we ditched cable, and didn't have season tickets anymore and, and, and... it wasn't that I didn't like hockey anymore, it's just that I didn't care enough to put in the effort. And whenever I would watch a game, more likely than not, it was terrible and not worth watching. 

So here we are. 2026. The Sabres were actually good this season. They started off terrible as usual and were completely in the toilet at Thanksgiving. Then they had a serious "Come to Jesus" moment with Lindy and decided that maybe they actually should figure out how to win some hockey games. I think they ripped off a 10 game winning streak, and then kinda tore up the rest of the season after that. I heard rumors of this 'good' team but as usual, was afraid to believe it. We have been let down too many times. 

But here we are, halfway through May and still playing hockey. Game 7 of round 2 is tomorrow night. I have watched all of the games so far and it has been FUN. My niece Jaycie (age 13 and no previous interest in sports or hockey) has been getting into the games - she even asked to watch when I wasn't home. She's paying attention and learning about the game and bonding with me and it's so fun! I did this with her brothers but she wasn't interested/I wasn't interested for half the time so we never had a chance to share this before. 

I think it actually started with the Olympics. We watched game 7 of the last 2 Stanley Cup finals cuz I happened to be home when the games were on, but it was just something to do. We checked out a couple of the 4 Nations cup last year (precursor to the Olympics) and that was a lot of fun. 

Then in February when the Olympics were on I was ready to watch some hockey! I watched a couple of the round robin games, then the women's gold medal game (USA BABY!) and the Men's gold medal game (USA BABY!) and she was kinda into those with me. She liked the figure skating more but the hockey seed was planted. We also watched the paralympic sled hockey gold medal game (USA BABY!) which was extremely interesting and fun. 

And now it's the NHL playoffs, and the Sabres are in it (and winning, sometimes, when they feel like it) and it's like 2007 all over again and I don't know what to think about any of it. 

I want to write about hockey again. I care about hockey again. I feel like these guys have a real shot. They have played hard all year, come from behind a bunch of times (including last night, scoring 7 unanswered goals after being down 3-1) and could totally take this game 7 against Montreal and advance to the conference final. One game. Let's do this! 

The city's statutes are sprouting Sabres jerseys, flags are everywhere, people are packing the plaza for the parties for home games, and they had the arena practically sold out last night for a watch party. It's so fun! I love springtime hockey and it has been SO LONG since we have experienced it. I don't want it to end. I hope it doesn't have to. 

Let's Go Buffalo!