On the flipside

I'm trying to post more.. and I'm actually watching a hockey game- STL @ DET (2nd night in a row- go me!) so here we go..

I totally dig the commercials for the "NBC Sports Network".. they are well done.

And I may have already said this, but the Tim Thomas Discover commercial CRACKS ME UP.

Seriously, how is the team with the worst PP in the league in 3rd over in the Western Conf? And how did they just score a PP goal? Dude.

Tim Kennedy plays for Florida? Where have I been?

...........it's intermission so there's not much to talk about other than cheapo commercials.............

I think the Blues have some of the longest names in the league. Hmm.. this bears investigation. And they have 7 guys smaller than 6-feet tall... which is interesting when you notice how the VS dudes keep going ON and ON about how BIG the Blues are. Here is the list of all the teams' players under 6-feet. (yes I just looked at every team's site to find this info. Yes, I have no life.)

WHOA. The Blackhawks only have 1 player shorter than 6feet.
CBJ- 4 DET- 7 NSH- 4 CGY- 3 COL- 4 EDM- 3 MIN- 5 VAN- 2 ANA- 7 DAL- 6 LA- 6 PHX- 3
SJS- 4 NJ-3 NYI- 2 NYR- 4 PHI- 8 PIT- 8 BOS- 5 BUF- 6 MTL- 7 OTT- 1 TOR- 4 CAR- 4 FLA- 10! TB- 6 WSH- 1 WIN- 4

In case you wanted to know..

Ugh the Blues just scored again. 4-on-4 WHAT THE WHAT?

Then the Wings scored but I wasn't paying attention because I was reading this article, which I do want to talk about but it needs its own post. WOW. That is some heavy stuff and it hits close to home.

WHOA.. hold the phone. The Wings just tied it up with 8 and a half mins left., We got us a hockey game here, folks!

WHOA again.. now it's 3-2 Detroit. Way to get with it, Wings!

And the Red Wings win. YAY!

that is that

I haven't been posting about the Sabres much lately because I have been super busy and they just aren't interesting me much right now. Derek Roy is out, and he's not the only reason I watch the boys, but he helps. They haven't been playing very inspired hockey lately and I don't want to watch it.

Now I'm hardly throwing in the towel and giving up my hockey fandom (I've been through worse, believe me) but it's harder to fit the games in right now..

All that being said, I was AT the game today and I have a few thoughts:

-The game wasn't terrible but the Sabres just couldn't finish a play to save their lives. They had some looks (and a lot of funny bounces) but couldn't bury the biscuit. Ugh.
- I don't know how many times I have to say it but please, for the love of everything, GET THE HECK RID OF TIM CONNOLLY! He's worthless and frustrating and lazy and I am so sick of him I could just cry!
-I still love Nathan Gerbe. :) And the fact that he looks like somebody's kid brother who's just tagging along with the big boys.
-They were SO undisciplined in the first period. People were booing and jeering the calls but honestly, those were legit penalties. The refs were maybe calling the game a bit tighter than sometimes, but the Sabres were being careless and they got caught. Plain and simple. So shut your bellyaching and move along.
-Miller was pretty solid today. He made some stellar saves (especially on the 5-on-3) but his boys couldn't give him any help up front. Rough.
-It's SO WEIRD to go to hockey games at 12:30pm. Does. not. compute.

But by far the highlight of the day was seeing my boy Tyler Sloan playing for Washington. This is the fourth time I've seen him, and it's still amazing. I saw his first professional game in Dayton back in 2002. I knew him personally! I interviewed him on my radio show. I gave him a ride in my car. I have his game-worn jersey from Syracuse. (which I wore, of course.) He knows my name. And he's playing in the NHL. SO COOL. :) I got some good pics of him too, which I will post eventually. Too tired to deal with it tonight.

(and one of these days I will get to a game early enough that I can show my cheezy sign I made a year and a half ago and he will see it and know that I am at the game and maybe I'll get a smile or a wave or something. one day...I blame the schedulers, who contrive to make Caps games on bad days and at weird times so I can NEVER get there early. grumble.)

Happy Hockey Day Across America!

C'est fini.

Let's go Buffalo!

So I'm back to my proper Sabres-supporting self. I did wear my Devils shirt under the Sabres jersey, and flashed it to some folks behind us as a way of authenticating my Devils fan-ness but I was cheering for Buffalo tonight loudly and proudly. :)

I thought the game was fun. It had some frustrating and some slightly boring parts but overall it was an enjoyable experience. Royzie- ahem I mean Mair (I didn't see him touch it at all, must have been a deflection?) scored a beautiful goal that I saw from start to finish- as it happened right in front of me. I often miss the actual goals at the arena because there is so much going on that the goal itself is lost on me, but rather the sensation of scoring, and the puck in the net are all clear, where the logistics of the goal fade away. This one was clear as day- it looked like slow-motion going in. It was really cool to watch.

And that play in the 2nd period.. was it the 2nd? when the puck totally crossed the line but the Sabres swiped it out last minute and then played out about 2 more minutes of clock time before the whistle-- I swear that was a goal. And I thought that in days past the team could ask for a review by the next whistle but maybe that rule is dead or maybe they just didn't want to bother but it looked like it went over to me. Anyone who say the game on tv want to weigh in on this? Just curious.

The people sitting around us tonight were great. There was a cute guy next to me, a SUPER cute guy right behind my friend, so I could see him out of the corner of my eye by turning to see her, then another hottie (in a Devils jersey no less) down the row, and even one of the ice cleaner fellas was looking pretty fine. It was a nice night for some eye candy. Then there was a dude in the first row who kept banging on the glass like a crazy man any time the Devils were close- it was hilarious. He would stand up and dance and just act like a moron but in the funniest way possible. We were all laughing at him.. then the ghuy next to me stood up and clapped when Kaleta smashed a Devil right in front of us and I lost my mind laughing. It maybe was something you had to be there for but it just struck me as really funny in relation to the other dude and I laughed, and then I couldn't stop laughing. It was so random and just absurd.

And as usual, I got to enjoy the stylin hair of the Zamboni driver- this time I took some pics of him. We named him 'Twister', which is a tribute to his '80s hair and rockin style. We also named one of the ice cleaner guys 'The Boss' because well, he looks like he's in charge. Or at least he looks like he *thinks* he's in charge. Too much fun. I shall share pics eventually, but I'm tired.

All in all, a good night. Fun crowd (at least around us), decent game- some fine work by Mr. Miller tonight-, got to see MARTY- which is always grand-, and the Sabres got a WIN! I like it!

And then there were Sabres

Last night I watched the Sabres for the first time in weeks! I've been really busy lately so I've missed a bunch of games. I listened to the 2nd half of Monday's game on the way home from the airport but missed Tuesday's because I was.. doing something. Oh yeah I think I was playing Rock Band. Hahah that stupid game is so addictive! (Glad I don't actually own it, we're borrowing it from a friend so I can't play it all the time which is a good thing.. LOL)

But yeah last night's game being in LA and all made it a 10:30 start and since I wasn't doing much at 10:30 I decided to hit the basement and do my old time-honoured tradition of watching/listening to hockey while putting together a puzzle. It's great fun and the game was awesome! I'm really glad I stayed up.

It's always so weird listening to the other teams' broadcast crew. (and unlike many of my friends, I don't have Center Ice so I don't get to see anyone other than the Sabres.) I must admit though, and I'm hardly alone here, that RJ is the best of the best of the best, sir. he may get a little crazy at times but he is VERY good at describing what's happening ON THE ICE and not getting too sidetracked. That's one of the things that bugs me most- when the announcers forget there's a hockey game on (ahemVS!ahem) and spend the whole time blathering on about what Ryan Smyth did over the weekend or something. I can appreciate the occasional tidbit about the players, or stats or items of interest- possibly more than most folks (as I'd LOVE to be a color analyst one day) but I also appreciate the value of what's actually happening IN THE GAME and I want to know about it. I often do other things while hockey is on tv (this is not new, I used to do homework to hockey games in high school, as the margins of my notebooks can attest- I used to have all sorts of random hockey stats and tidbits written in there LOL) so I listen more than watch and if you aren't describing the play, I get very cranky.

Phew.. all that said, the Kings folks weren't too shabby. They were kinda fixated on Ryan Miller and his positioning and the way he handled time outs and random minutiae like that, and also were all about both teams activating the d-men from the backend, (which they did quite splendidly actually) but even with that, they gave the Sabres some mad love and called the game quite well. Even their token 'girl' reporter, Heidi Androl wasn't too bad. She wasn't dressed like a skank and seemed to almost have a clue what she was talking about! (major points there- and of course I'm mad jealous of her and want her job like whoa.)

On to the game- and it was a good one! The Sabres put a lot of pressure but couldn't seem to finish in the first (and Quick is a solid little "quick and thick" goalie. I like him.) and the scoring was back and forth. There was a lot of action all over the ice, but it seemed like both teams kept it pretty clean but didn't let up at all on each other. I can't comment much on the actual action, since I wasn't watching, just listening with an occasional glance at the tv, but it was a fast-paced and fun game. It's a shame the Sabres had to lose but the Kings certainly played well enough to win.

I hope the boys can bring it into San Jose tonight.

that was interesting

Boy Howdy, the Sabres took a while to show up tonight but when they finally did, it was pretty sweet, eh?

I turned the game on right as Miller was leaving in favor of Lalime. I was kind of amazed because Lindy almost NEVER pulls a goalie but I guess it worked!

I'm glad Staffy finally woke up and realized he's a goal-scorer. His penalty shot goal was just crazy! McFlurry barely even moved.. and then that 2nd goal was a beauty, not to mention that sick pass to Goose for the 3rd goal. Staffy had a great night.

I want to know when Royzie will return! I hate it when they don't say what's wrong with a player.. :(

But all that must be put aside for a while because tomorrow we leave for Chicago and the Blackhawks/Devils game which will happen on Thursday! WOOOOOO! Most excellent.

Wooohooooo

4 in a row!! :) Good job, Sabres. I only watched a bit of the game though. I missed the first because I was auditioning for a play.. came back to my car and it was 3-0 Sabres at the end of the 1st. Not too shabby. They scored the 4th goal while I was driving home.

Came home, turned the game on about halfway through the 2nd, and of course that nasty icky loser traitor bum Gomez scored while I was watching (and my boy Monty was on the ice too) in the 2nd. Gross. I folded laundry during intermission/the start of the 3rd and was sorta still checkin the game while visiting with my sis when the Habs scored goal #2. It was then that I turned the game off (as I told myself I would do when I got home if the boys started falling apart.) So I went off to check e-mail and such and then peeked at the score a few mins ago when there were 25 seconds on the clock and it was 5-2, then it was magically 6-2 and WOOO the Sabres won! :)

So I can't comment on the game itself but I like the score. Royzie scored again and added an assist and Pominville woke up!

C'est tout. :)

I need to catch up

I haven't posted in a week and a day.. EEK! In that time, I have been a game (Friday) and watched 2 others. I should get on with the writing. I also managed to catch a cold along the way, so I've been feeling a bit blah and haven't been internetting as much as usual. SO instead of some long-winded (me? long-winded? surely ye jest!) post, I think I'll throw some bullet points out there and do it the easy way.

Friday:
-The game was fun.
-I really liked the tribute to Marty Biron. It almost brought a tear to my eye. Well done, Buffalo. :)
-I think the applause when they announced Myers' goal was the loudest it was at any point the game. We love this kid!
-Myers is the real deal. He will make some rookie mistakes (see: his mis-read on Max's goal Saturday) but he has such skills that we have to keep him! I might say more on him later.
-woohoo for 6 goals! :) I like it when that happens.
-Sitting next to me for the game were 2 fellas from Los Angeles, who were on a hockey road trip. They were really neat to chat with and are blogging about it, so check 'em out! :)

Saturday:
-I missed most of the game and most of the goals BUT..
-DON'T LET KOVIE HAVE THE PUCK IN YOUR ZONE. HE WILL SCORE!
-Poor Max. It was clear that his time in Buffalo was up, and it's not like he skipped town to spite us, but he was very popular here so it was a bit rough for him to get such a reception. Of course scoring against us didn't help his case!
-Say what you will, but if you watched closely, Myers kinda misplayed Max on his goal. Not saying that he could have stopped it (Max can be super dangerous when he's ON), but Myers stayed with him, then kinda backed off. I don't think he was prepared for the speed that Max is capable of. Not a black mark on the Wunderkid's record or anything, but something that I noticed that a more seasoned d-man (or someone who had played with Afinogenov before may have done differently)
-The Sabres looked tired.
-WHY do we always play Lalime against Atlanta? This never ends well. I am always defending Lalime because he often gets thrown into difficult situations.. maybe next time can we play him on game 1 of a back-to-back when the boys have fresh legs? Dunno.. just a thought.

Wednesday:
-DUDE. 5-1 after the first? Sign me up for these Sabres! :)
-Darth Vader and storm troopers dropping the puck? 'Nuff Said. :)

I may scratch up a SAB for ya soon to make up for missing it yesterday but no promises..

And one other thing, to close:

Mike Grier: 2 GOALS
Tyler Myers: 2 GOALS
Patrick Kaleta: 2 GOALS

Derek Roy: 0 GOALS. Yes, you read that right.. ZERO GOALS.

What?

Welcome all welcome all welcome all my friends

Yippie, I went to my first (reg season) Sabres game tonight! :) It was grand.... oh how I love hockeytime!

Some thoughts on the game:

-I really liked Myers. He played pretty solidly- but he does occasionally get caught too deep in the zone- however, he was not bad for only his 2nd game. :) And his heads-up play to keep the puck in the zone for that first goal was REALLY GREAT. (and right in front of me) Good job!!

-The dudes behind me were raggin on Butler all night.. I didn't think he was that bad, but seriously, I was not happy with Hank. (sorry Heather!) He seemed lazy tonight, or slow. He shied away from contact and wasn't playing with much hustle. It was disappointing and I have no idea what is up with him but I want old Hank back.

-Royzie was decent. He made some really slick plays a few times and had some great chances.

-I really LOVED the pressure the Sabres managed to keep FOR THE WHOLE GAME. They really didn't let up the pace at all and it FINALLY paid off for them. That was really great to see because that is something they have certainly struggled with.

-Miller played very well tonight. He came up with some SICK saves and the right time to keep the boys in it. That is the Ryan Miller we all know and love and that's who we need to see night in and night out. I think his stellar play really kept the boys going.

-I liked Montador. He was good on the point during those power plays especially.

-Speaking of the power play, they have to got to get that in gear. They finally put one away after 29038098654 minutes of PP time. (which is not to say they didn't have chances galore, but it was grand for one to finally go in!) Gotta work on taking advantage of that opportunity.

-Go MacArthur. He had a rough pre-season but looked pretty great tonight with the goal (a really smart play to hold on to the puck like he did.) and an assist on Vanek's goal. Good on ya, Clarke.

-Kaleta was fantastic tonight- super feisty: fighting, hitting and drawing penalties left and right, just like he's supposed to. He's fun to watch. Goose was ready to go with Upshall too, but I think Scottie was afraid. Haha.

-Jason Labarbera. WHOA. This dude is not amazing (career stats-wise), but he sure played a good game tonight. I was somewhat surprised to see him in net after Bryz had the shutout against the Pens last night, but it worked out pretty well. The Sabres had 39 shots on goal, and he stopped all but 37. That is not too bad of a night, if I do say so. He should feel pretty okay about it, all things considered.

-I had so much fun being AT a Sabres game again.. ahhh hockey. :) I started a few "Let's Go Buffalo" cheers. (if you heard some from 116, that was me, and the dudes around me LOL) I love love love that!

-The guys next to me were hilarious. The guys behind me were fun too, and one of them was super hot. He plays hockey too, and spent all game pointing out little things the players were doing to the kids he was with. It was really neat to listen in.

-I took a few pics tonight, and they are on facebook, along with some other random ones from the day.. Link is HERE, and hey, add me as a fb friend if you haven't already! :)

-Ran into Clare, Frostee, Kim and Kelsi (who I was meeting for the first time) in the concourse. That was cool- great to see you ladies! :)

And I think that's about all I have. A great Sabres win tonight. Hopefully more to come! :)

well that was... interesting

So I was unable to scrap up a friend for tonights game- everybody had to work or was otherwise engaged.. grr. So I ended up selling my (frickin 100 level) ticket to a scalper for $10. Pathetic, I know but at least I got *something* for it, and I would have had a hard time selling a lone ticket to anyone myself.

I was expecting the seat to go empty, but a couple of dudes showed up right before gametime and one of them was the buyer of my ticket. They were fun to chat with so that was good. A little young for me or I mighta gotten some phone numbers or something.. LOL

Happy Mardi Gras! I wore my Mardi Gras beads to the game. One strand is.. 12 years old I think and actually came from Louisiana. The other ones are a few from the Dyngus Day parade in Buffalo last year and some randoms from the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival which is also in Louisiana. (they throw beads for everything, not just Mardi Gras LOL) but none of them were "earned" in the New Orleans way, thankyouverymuch. LOL My grandma used to send 'em to us every year when we were kids.. so Mardi Gras beads have always been a part of my life.

End random tangent. On to the game.

The Good-
*The Sabres started of being very physical, lots of hitting and scrappiness which was very good to see.
*They totally outshot Anaheim through the first half of the game (and overall, but the Duckies did catch up a bit later.) The shooting in general was good, there have been too many games this year when they refuse to shoot. You can't call lack of effort for the fact that they didn't score more- they were trying. Jiggly was just pretty on tonight.
*Goose. He was all over the place tonight.
*The line of Roy/Pominville/Kaleta. I liked that one.. they have potential to be a great energy line if Pommers can ever find his lost game and it spreads the sparks around, with Goose and Mair offering up some toughness/sparkiness on other lines
*The guys sitting next to me were cool. There was also an EXTREMELY hot dude a few rows up. yes, I notice these things LOL
*Carolina and Florida lost tonight too, so we didn't lose any ground. We also don't suffer in the standings from letting Anaheim have 2 pts

The Bad-
*The defence was pretty terrible tonight. Hello- don't leave Teemu effin Selanne alone in the slot!
*They tried to get a bit cute with the passing and it came to bite them on more than one occasion.
*The Boys looked tired tonight, especially Rivet. Maybe he has the flu. Our seats are 9 row up, next to the bench so I can see the players' faces when they are coming back from a shift and the boys all looked a bit worn down. Maybe it's just that time of year but they have to get it together
*I didn't win the 50/50 raffle. First time I ever played at a Sabres game.. the pots are HUGE! (HUGE, BUFFALO, HUUUUUUUUUGAAH)
*The people booing late in the 3rd. It wasn't THAT bad of a game!
*The people who left early. The Sabres scored with a minute left. NEVER leave a game early!

The Random:
*A dude a couple of rows up could have been Kotalik's twin bro
*The guy in front of me had teeth like Pat Kaleta. Don't ask, just accept
*A penalty for "shooting the stick"? I've been watching hockey for 14 years.. and seen hockey games at many different levels. Never heard of that penalty. From Sabres Edge:17:34 left: Sabres go on the PP as Corey Perry goes for shooting the stick. Yes, shooting the stick. Giguere had lost his and Perry shot it back to him from the faceoff circle. Seemed like an alert play. Didn't know that was against the rules. New one on me.
*The announcement of Michael (don't remember his last name)- PLease report to the security desk...your wife is in labor. We were cracking up at that one. The game was still pretty good at that point.

I think that's about it. Tomorrow I'll have an all-new Hockey Separated at Birth for you.. stay tuned!

P.S. I HATE THE STUPID DUCKS. (Except Bret Hedican. I don't hate him, I just really wish he didn't play for them because they are icky.)

I guess I should review

Ottawa is a really cool city. So I don't know if I mentioned it on here or not but the man reason for going was to participate in a triathlon. It was skating (8k), skiing (5k) and running (5k). You can do individual or relay teams and we (my sis Renee', her friend Brenda, and I) did a relay. I was the skater. Damn but 5 miles (8k) is a long way to skate outside on bumpy canal ice. But I made it and wasn't the last skater! (I was like 3rd to last but who cares.. it wasn't like I really trained for it.) And now I have participated in a triathlon. WOOHOO! :)

This was my 2nd trip to Canada's Capital. I went in 2007 with 'Nee and we skated the whole canal (7.8k) AND back. But it took a very long time and I was miserable by the end of it.

So.. the race was Sat morning. After the race was over we (and my sis Brett, who joined us for the weekend but not the race) went for lunch and chilled out (actually it was more like warming up, it was COLD out on Sat) for a while.. then it was off to dinner and THE GAME!

I really have to say that Scotiabank place is a killer arena.

Not as cool as our panoramic Sabres after practice hotness or the sweet winter classic mural, and full of icky Sens, but still a neat entranceway.

Plus they had these guys:


They were really gracious about taking a pic with me even though I was reppin for the enemy. LOL




There is a LOT of hockey history in Ottawa. Too bad all those Stanley Cup banners are OLD!

They also had super cool graphics and video being projected ONTO the ice pre-game. It was sweet.


I quite liked their into video and player videos, that was good. The place was loud (though not quite full) it holds 20k and there were over 18k in the "Sens Army" and a handful of Sabres fans too. We were passsing the "let's go Buffalo" back and forth a bit in the first, then the guys down by the ice dropped it. Wimps. There were some kids behind us cheering for Buffalo and they were awesome about yelling with me. Heh heh heh The promotions were fun and entertaining as well. The presentation was great all around.



Right after the opening faceoff. We had a great view of everything.

On to the game.. well we all know what happened to Vanek. (3-4 weeks? YEEK!) It was worrisome when he fled and did not return. That's when I said to my sis.. he is most likely broken cuz if he just needed stitches he would be back by now. And of course no commentators to help us out with word from the dressing room so we didn't know what was up, only that it was BAD. The boys definitely lost some life after that..

the 2nd period might as well have been non-existent. Miller played his butt off though to keep us in it. 18 shots? HOLY SMOKES....I was not surprised to see them score there. The first Ottawa goal was nasty and Butler lost his man in front. He's a rookie, it happens, we'll let it go.. but he needs to learn from it! (and I think he will) Frankly, the boys just looked tired. Totally understandable really, considering how many games they have played in the last week and traveling and whatnot.

The 3rd period was great. They finally got something flowing...Mair sneaks one in.. then it's Pommer to Roy to Staffy and suddenly it's 2-2. (Aside to Timmy Connolly- please carry on, my boy. I may not be your best supporter but you have been impressive of late and I. LIKE. IT.) There were several times on Saturday that I just screamed "I LOVE YOU RYAN MILLER" at the top of my lungs after some of those saves. Yeesh.

The 3rd period and OT were ridiculously intense, some really great hockey. It may not have been technically sound but damn was it exciting. The whole place was on edge and it was a fun game to be at. Of course I wish the boys coulda won in the shootout but really if we're going to give away a point or 2, at least it's to Ottawa who can't do a whole lot of damage (right now at least) instead of one of those teams who are nipping at our heels.

And then there was the shootout. Renee' had never been to a game that went to a shootout. I have been to a few, mostly in the minor leagues (including an epic 15 round battle in Dayton once) and while the hockey purists don't like them, there is no denying that they are rather exciting. I already made my plea to Lindy in the last post not to put Derek Roy in during the sudden death portion of a shootout in Ottawa.. LOL even though he scored to win a shootout against them last year. Miller was a bit shaky in the SO, but he had to be worn out after that game. Maybe next time the boys need to allow fewer shots so he is more rested, k? Thanks.



The 4 of us after the game. Fun times!



All in all, it was a good night and I would gladly attend another game there. :)



And in closing, haven't you always wanted a yard gnome sized Alfie bobblehead? I know I have. I had to really restrain myself from buying him! LOL

The rest of the trip was cool. Sunday included Mass said mostly in French (tres interresant, and hard to understand) and then a tour of the Parliament, which is worth the time and effort. The canal was too slushy to skate on so that did not happen again which was sad but my legs were happy. Heh.

And there you have it.

We like to party

and by party I mean allow soft goals to kill our lead. Ugh Sabres, STOP letting them come back dammit!

I thought Petey's fights were actually pretty good, especially for him, Koci is a nasty piece of work and I dont know much about Janssen but Petey definitely held his own and got some punches in, which is more than he usually does. Well done, lad.

ARGH Royzie just blasted one off the post. a little to the left, buddy.

Legace has a 33.96 GAA for this game and .571 save %. That is PAINFUL. He's on my fantasy team. I might as well just concede the goalie stats for the week. I'm currently tied for 1st place points wise in the echl league. I'm one win shy of #1 though so I come in at 2nd. I'm in 7th in the IPB Amazingleague. Not too terrible. (of course that's where I have Legace with those stellar stats so who knows where I'll end up after this week.)

Oh and Alexander Semin is incredible. He has 5 points tonight- 2 G 3 A- and he's on my team! WOOO!

Speaking of Caps, Tyler Sloan is back in Washington. He's trying to keep himself in the NHL and it's awesome!

I love it when Hank Tallinder scores, he looks SO HAPPY! Must be because he knew that Heather B was at the game. :)

WHY don't each of the NHL's teams do a sexytime photo shoot like the skanky Rangers did with Men's Journal? I mean that's just not fair to the rest of the hockey world who HATES the Rangers (even if some of them look pretty nice in a suit)?

Oh crap. Timmy is broken again. Or at least not on the bench. He did get a nasty hit earlier in the period. Boo.

That's all the rambles I have for the moment. Time to finish the game and then read my sweet good book. Oh shoot and find a SAB. Stay tuned..

I should get to the recap

Friday Night- I was all set to watch the game on the couch at home with a cold Mt. Dew and my nephews. Then my brother-in-law called and said he wasn't feeling well and would I like his tickets? Ha. Of COURSE I would! So I went with my 4 year old nephew. He wore his little Ryan Miller jersey and we had a blast.

The dude has some sick seats too. 8th row, near the bench. Good stuff. Ya kinda lose the near corner but other than that it was all good. And of course the game was fun. The Sabres were pretty decent and that was good- except the Power(less) Play. Miller was bustin all night and that was WOOO!

It felt like we were surrounded by Habs fans. And the most obnoxious people EVAR were behind us. These dudes were ripping on anything and everything about the game. It got to the point when the girl next to me (who was cool) and I were like SHUT UP! And they kept dropping the f-bomb. Seriously, I get that it's a hockey game and maybe you talk like that but for hell's sake I HAD A 4 YEAR OLD WITH ME! Could you please *TRY* to tone it down a little? Well the answer to that is.. no. They couldn't, they wouldn't whatever. It was really awful but at least they won't be back.

*Oh and when we got there, people were sitting IN our seats. I was like WTF mate? But they were in the middle of the row and I had a 4 year old with me so I went to get the usher and have him sort it out.. and magically when we re-appeared the ppl in our seats were... gone. Hm. Interesting, eh? (they were wearing Canadiens jerseys too....)

Some random disjointed thoughts about the game:
-Paille was a MACHINE! I know that everyone and his dog mentioned this already but I wanted to say it too. The kid was all over the place and his stiff arm hit on Kostitsyn (dont remember which one) at center ice was killer. Good job Pie! You da MAN!
-Miller was rock solid all game and just a beast in the shootout. I like it.
-Mair looked good.
-All the boys seemed super jittery for the first half of the first period. But things eventually settled down so that was good.
-WTF power play?
-Nathan Paetsch (who I prolly wouldn't recogize if I saw him on the street) looks really handsome in a suit.
-I loved Hank's little jump over the carpet. don't know if it was intentional or not but it was cool. I think he was just showing off for Heather B ;)

I think that's all I have about that game. It was fun. I am super happy that hockey is back. Can't wait to go again. Let's GO BUFFALO!

well that about does it

Gee guys, NO comments on my last entry? Was it that painful? LOL

I didn't listen to much of tonight's game but I did hear Gerbe's breakaway!! Good job man! :)

5-2 is not a bad score. Lalime was in net. I have yet to SEE him play but I like it so far. :)

Lots of rough stuff tonight- Petey fought Dorsett, Staffy (??) fought Toffelson and Rivet (in what seems to be a theme for him) fought Picard. Mike Weber got a 10 minute misconduct for... something.. in the middle of one of those scrums and at the end of the game Nathan Gerbe and Rick Nash got roughing penalties. LOL Gerbe, don't you know that Nash is like twice your size? Good job. Oh and Lalime earned a rouging penalty too, way to stand up for yourself my man.

I like these tough Sabres. Very good. Even with Mair and Gaustad out they are sticking up for each other and throwing it down. Excellent.

I want to WATCH SOME HOCKEY!

Sunday's game is on MSG. WOOOHOO!

Oh and my sister got to ride on the Zamboni at tonight's game! She lives in C-bus and works for a company that is doing some signage and such for the blue Jackets foundation.. so basically, "she knows people" and they set her up with tix and a Zam ride. How cool is that?! PLUS she got to see my boys up close and personal. I'm jealous. I wish I could have made it to the game, but Thursdays are really tough days around here, lots going on. She said there were a lot of Sabres jerseys in the crowd- in Columbus. REPRESENT! ;)

What the?

I was happy to have the game on tv- not even CBC, but MSG, strangely enough.. but WHO are the idiots who are announcing? I mean really. They have had maybe 2 minutes of play by play in the last 30. It's KILLING me Smalls! They are worse than VS.

Whoa when I started whining they actually started doing some play by play. OOh how I wish I could get WGR in my house! Maybe I can listen online. I need me some RJ!

Gerbe scored a goal. He really is tiny. It's awesome. :)

Ahhh yay I got WGR to work on the computer. So much better.

Did anyone else feel the burn on that Mike Comrie commercial? I guess it was MSG all over NY, not just us (hence the non RJ and Harry announcers) And he was all promoting a charity and such but man, did it have to be him scoring on Buffalo? OUCH.

Whoa they just did a closeup of Roy and it looked like he was missing a tooth? Maybe it was just a trick of the light or something.

I just noticed that Connolly has the "C". Ewww. I don't like that one. But Roy has an "A". That's good.

That last face off was just rude. I know it's just pre-season but still. Not cool. They just wanted to be sure the Canadiens won the game. Grr.

And hey I just heard that Royzie scored the first goal. Woohoo for the little guys!

I only saw part of the 3rd period but they looked okay for a preseason game. Staffy had a lazy penalty but that one on Lydman was a dive.

I don't have many other useful thoughts about the game since I didn't see much of it, but Dennis looked alright in the replays at the end of the game.

I was super happy to watch hockey again though!! :):):)

WHAT is Don CHerry wearing?

Watching on CBC tonight- I can't take the VS crew (even if it is on nbc or wherever.)

OH MY WORD that has the be the worst suit I have EVER seen! It literally hurts my eyes. yeeesh. And then there is Ron McLean who actually looks like a person. Whoa. THey showerd Zetterberg and I was like ahhhhhh he's SO LOVELY and then they cut to Grapes and my eyes just started to bleed!

He is such a windbag. I'm so tired of listening to Cherry blab about whatever. He is better than the VS loons but only because he actullay talks about hockey. He's still a bit of a buffoon.

Oh and just to note, Canadian SUBWAY commercials are weird!

THen again, I may have to check out the NBC broadcast just to compare. Just switched-that Love Guru movie looks stupid.

Oh yeah and Pittsburgh (finally) scored! It was a good goal, and Detroit just gave away the puck with the missed pass. BUt Osgood did have some bustin saves right there at the end. This may be a good game!

The Pens are flying early in the 2nd period. Oh Puke, Cros scored on a PP. That was a bullshit penalty, by the way. Osgood didn't have a chance on that one, Sid was sneakily posted right beside the net.

Wow, I forget who said this, but I agree, Andreas (what a great name) Lilja is LOVELY! Mmmmhmmm ANd he's 32! An older man. that doesn't happen often with me and hockey players these days. Word.

C'mon Pittsburgh, take some penalties. We like that.

Oooh Ovie, the suit with a plain white tshirt? That's so scrappy and a little hot. But that's Ovie for ya, scrappy and a little hot. and a damn fine goal scorer. ;)

Duuuude. Holmy is ready to go. He's gettin mauled out there. WOOOOOHHOOOOO WHat a nifty goal! Franzen just muscled his way through traffic and stuck with it until the puck was in the net. Sweeeeeet! 2-1. ;)

oooohhhhkkkaayy I don't know which is more disturbing, the sumo wrestler car wash commercial or Don CHerry's suit. And those Viagara commercials are bothering me.

Hellllo Trevor Linden- he is lookin fine! Dear sweet Trevor Linden was my first Captain- from the Canucks of 1994, my first hockey team love. Haven't seen 'im in a while and I like what I see. That is a mad hot jacket too.

I am completely loving the Hockey Hall of Fame commercials. So amazing!!

3rd period--- ooooh Malts and Cros mixing it up a bit. Don't even pretend Sid. Malts is so out of your league in scrappiness. Hoooooo good job Ozzie! nice grab on the line! Argh now it's 3-1 pitt. Missed the goal since I was doing laundry.

Woooo then the WIngs scored! We have a game after all. BUt it's actually okay if Pittsburgh wins because we need at least 6 games for 'Nee to be able to see a game (She thinks she'll be home Tuesday!!!!) so she can see some Red Wings hockey then!! It's all going according to plan.

Hmm Ray SHero looks like a cross between Jagr and Lemieux. Oh man after the Malkin call Michel looked like he had some mad indigestion going on. Poor guy. I'm sorry they keep saying your name wrong, homey. I FEEL YA!!!

So Pittsburgh gets the win. Just like we planned. It's okay Wings, y'all played well so there is nothing to be ashamed of. It's all good.

Now I need a shower and some sleep. Catch y'all on the flipside.