continuing the Blackhawks love..

Business first..

Are the Sabres ever playing again? Just wonderin.

I wrote up the stare-off the other day when I was bored out of my mind at work but I don't feel like typing it out right now so.. you will have to wait.

I am very tired because I've been working in my yard trying to create some ice so I can skate. It's working.. I think. But the process is a very long one so it will be next week before any skating can be done. But.. I think it might actually happen this year! *crosses fingers*

Anyway I do have a SAB for you this week. trying to stay on top of things, and in keeping with the latest trend of Blackhawks love, I present this week's entry:



-My lover Adam Burish from the 'Hawks

AND



-Actor Russell Crowe

Separated at Birth? YOU be the judge. I like it, personally. :)

Had to happen

The Sabres lost tonight in an 11-round shootout. Rats. I didn't watch the game at all but I listened to the 2nd half of OT and the shootout. Looks like the boys gave up an early 2-0 then 3-1 edge to Colorado and even though they managed to tie it, they didn't have quite enough to put it away in the shootout. Oh well. They had won 6 in a row... it was bound to happen at some point. At least we gave away the 1 pt to a Western Conference team rather than Eastern.

I had a really weird dream about Brent Seabrook last night. I think the Blackhawks are trying to invade my life! I mean.. yeah I bought the Sharp t-shirt and a bobblehead (which came in the mail yesterday, woohoo) and I've been (not so) secretly enjoying them for about a year now but still.. now I'm dreaming about them? I guess it's not quite the first time, since I had some really weird dreams last week (when I was in Chicago) about Kane and Toews- they weren't exactly dreams per se- more the weird non-awake, non-asleep wanderings of my subconsious mind. I only had a few hours to sleep and I kept waking up because one or both of them were telling me that it was time to wake up- almost like alarm clocks. Odd.

Anyway I will share the details of the Seabs dream later, along with some further extrapolation on the "Trifecta of Hotness" that I mentioned in last entry. I also have a ridiculous stare-off between Ryan Miller and Jonathon Toews written. I found the pics last week and wrote the dialogue today at work when I was bored out of my mind. I can only hope that my readers (all 2 of you) will find it half as amusing as I find it myself. I have this insane and slightly unhealthy obsession with Toews' eyes. Seriously though, LOOK at the kid. It's rather frightening, and once such an idea takes shape in my mind, there is nothing to do for it but let it happen. :)

So there's your presell. Hopefully you will all come back and read what's to come. One of my not-quite resolutions for the New Year was to be more active with my blog and to make it more interesting, so I am trying to do just that. I was pelted with inspiration on my trip to Chicago, and I apologize if my entries are a bit Blackhawks-centric for a while. It's not that I don't like the Sabres anymore, it's just that I've found a new and more interesting (I maintain that the Sabres might have personalities, but until their management/internet folks decide to share those personalities with us, we'll never know for sure) crew to play with.

Back on track

Hello Friends and Neighbo(u)rs.

GO USA! I'm happy they won the WJC, even though I don't really follow. (ahem, CAN'T watch the games even if I wanted to!)
*Side note, what is up with that? The WJC games are only available on TSN and the NHL Network? I don't live in Canada and I don't have the NHL Network. I do, however, get all ESPN channels, as well as VS and CBC but that's not enough. Nope. Boo on that!*

Meanwhile.. the young Americans showed some spunk and surprised Canada and everyone else by winning the tourney. As a fellow countryman (woman?), I say: well done, lads! And that's about all the commentary I have on the game as I was unable to watch it.

Moving right along. The Sabres won another game tonight. This time they were ahead 3-0 and almost lost it, but managed to recover enough to win the game 5-3. I halfway watched about half of the game. That is to say that the game was on, and I watched part of the 1st and 2nd period then read my stack of The Hockey News issues I'd been neglecting (and did the crosswords) while listening to/glancing at the 3rd period. I've seen worse but I've seen better too. But a W is a W and that's 5 in a row for the Sabres (first one of the 5 that I finally got to actually watch tonight, I've been away) and that is greatness. The boyos are also 2nd in the conf (tied with the Caps, who re-signed T-Sloan for 2 more years--SWEET!) and well in first for the division. Excellent. :)

I really must be getting some sleep, but with the new year I'm trying to get back on top of things like posting in this humble blog and re-upping on one of my favorite features of FFITB, which is, of course, the "Hockey Separated at Birth". I've been quite inspired lately so there should be a slew of them headed your way in the new few weeks. :) Enjoy tonight's issue: (major props to my dear friend Emmy for the suggestion of this one.... it's hilarious!) :)



-Brent Seabrook of the Blackhawks*

AND



-"Eddie Munster" played by Butch Patrick

C'mon.. tell me that's not a Separated at Birth? You be the judge. :) (if you can stop laughing long enough.)

*Seabs is one of the newly named "Blackhawks Trifecta of Hotness" (a.k.a. Patrick Sharp, Adam Burrish, and Brent Seabrook) that I am currently rather smitten with. I will elaborate on this in a later (but soon) post. In fact, I have another ridiculous post up my sleeve regarding Jonathon Toews' crazy eyes vs. Ryan Miller's eyebrow and all sorts of madness. Stay tuned, things are gonna get fun around here again! :)

a Treatise on hockey fandom- or Don't Question Me!

(this got a little rambly along the way, but bear with me, I do have a point. Somewhere.)

I call myself a hockey fan.
I would even go as far as to call myself a hardcore hockey fan.
I've been watching hockey for 15 of my 28 years.
The game wasn't born and bred into me, I came to it on my own. (with a little help from my sis and a boy named Lance Links)
I've been to hockey games in many exotic locales (Las Vegas, NV; Baton Rouge, LA to name a few).
I've cheered on teams at the ECHL, AHL, NHL, and college levels.
I own 12 hockey jerseys- 3 of which are game worn.
I have an entire shelf of hockey books and a wish list probably longer than my arm of the ones I still want to own.
Name me almost any city you want (of a certain size, or anywhere in Canada) and I can tell you if they have hockey and many times what the team name is and what league they are in.

I think you get the point- I. LOVE. HOCKEY.
There are many facets to this love, not the least of which is my well-documented enjoyment of the personality and attractiveness of players, which just keeps things interesting. (However, that is just gravy to the meat of hockey, which takes place on the ice.)

Hockey is a game of contrasts:
Brutality and grace
Cold surfaces and hot sweaty players
Tiny puck- big net/goalie
The speed of an up-ice rush and the almost slow-motion of a perfectly timed play
The physicality and anger exhibited by players on the ice versus their off-ice, charitable, kind, gentle selves. (this has been true for many of the players I've known personally and it is always the most striking.)
The heated rivalries of playoff series which end in handshakes and hugs

Why do I write all of this? What does it even mean? What's the point of throwing it out there? I guess it's a defence of sorts.. a way of saying that while I may be silly and flip and all fluff sometimes in this blog, hockey runs in my veins like fire and I'd be lost without it. (let's not talk about the 04-05 season that wasn't. I think I literally went through a hockeyless-related depression during part of that year.) With me, though you may not know it from the writings, it really is all about the game. THE GAME. Everything else is entertainment for sure, but The Game is where it all begins and ends.

Watching hockey (live or on tv), listening to games, and reading about past and present hockey stories from all walks of life and all levels of the pro game is one of the things that keeps me going. Something happened to me 15 and a half years ago; hockey sunk its hooks deep in my soul and hasn't let go. There have been times when I've tried to shake the NEED for the game, but it would not relinquish its hold. I've been to some awesome places because of hockey. I can't even tell you how many friends I have because of hockey fandom that I wouldn't know otherwise. Whatever IT is, I have IT, and I'm teaching the game to my nephews and will eventually (should I have any) teach it to my children. It's that important. It's a vital part of who I am.

With all of that said, I did not watch this year's Winter Classic.

I watched the first one, in 2008. It happened in Buffalo (which is near where i live and my current favorite team) but I wasn't at the game. I wasn't even in the state, as I went home to visit friends and fam in Ohio for a week after Christmas. However, I had some friends over and we watched the game in my parents' basement and had a wonderful time. It was the original "Sidney Crosby Day" and set the stage for a host of jokes that are still valid among the group and also was the formation of the "87 Club". The game itself, of course (who knew there was actually a game on?) looked absolutely perfect, with the Sabre faithful (and some Pens fans too) packed into The Ralph and the famous Buffalo snow falling quite heavily at times. It was unqualified success for the teams, the League, and the fans and it was a beautiful thing. I loved watching it and would have loved even more to be there.

Fast forward to December 25, 2008, when I learned that my sister had procured tickets for us to see (along with our dear friend Emmy) the Winter Classic Part II: Blackhawks v. Red Wings! Definitely one of the best Christmas Presents EVER! I have been a Red Wings fan since I started watching hockey, and by this time last year I was flirting with the idea of liking the Blackhawks so of course it was a brilliant idea. Plus, hockey in Chicago with great people on New Year's Day IN A BASEBALL STADIUM is just too cool to pass up, right? So of course we went. It was incredible and oh so much fun. The fans were amazing, the venue was fantastic, it was cold as anything but that didn't matter. It was glorious, definitely the coolest hockey game I have ever been to (and possibly ever will be to unless I see a Stanley Cup game 7 that ends in my team's favor or something). The atmosphere- everything, just can't be touched. It doesn't I can't go to games anymore but just that obviously this was special.

(side note, I watched the "making of" dvd the other night and it brought me to tears. Yes, I really am that sappy about hockey.)

Then they announced the 2 teams for the 2010 Winter Classic, and to be perfectly honest with all of you- I couldn't have been less excited about the choices. I really really really CANNOT STAND the Flyers. I rather despise them with pretty much all of my being. And I don't enjoy the Bruins much either. I don't hate them, per se, but I don't like them either. I feel like the Sabres have to play them a zillion times a year and the games are never interesting or exciting at all. So all in all, I was feeling an almost negative amount of enjoyment in that announcement. Really, the only way it could have been worse would be if it were the Rangers and Flyers. Suffice it to say that I had very little intention of even watching the game, and certainly no emotional attachment to it. I have often watched hockey just to watch it (particularly in the playoffs) even if it was teams I didn't care about. But I will rarely watch a game in which I dislike both teams, and don't even care about any individual players. (It doesn't happen often. I have dream lovers on almost every team and many fellas that I enjoy watching all around the League, but none of them happen to play for either of those teams.)

So in the end, here I was on New Year's day- having been to a Blackhawks/Devils (now there is a game I can care about!) game on New Year's Eve and out to a party till 5 am. I didn't even wake up till almost noon Chicago time (which was puck drop I believe) I woke up and enjoyed some warm (well cold in memory) rememberances of "a year ago at this time I was at Wrigley WATCHING HOCKEY!" and thought... maybe I should watch this game. Then I dismissed it and played on the internet till Emmy and 'Nee woke up and we ventured out to brunch at a friends' place.

Thus I did not watch one moment of the 2010 Winter Classic (though I did watch the clip of Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke just for fun and because I was reading a book about Bobby Orr) and I am totally okay with that. Part of me feels the need to justify that not watching so as not to be taken as less of a fan. But the rest of me just doesn't care. Anyone that knows me realizes that I am a serious hockey fan. (and if you didn't know before, and you actually read through all that rambling stream of consciousness up there then you sure as heck know now!) From what I heard and read about the game, it wasn't terribly striking or even all that exciting (aside from the novelty) until late in the game. I'll take last year over that any day.

No way you can top my experience in 2009. NO. WAY. However, should they schedule better teams for next year (ahemHabs/Leafsanyone?) - and really I already told you the only way it could get worse and that can't happen- then I will most likely check it out come 2011 and beyond.

When it's all said and done, I am truly, irrevocably and eternally, a hockey fan.

to update y'all

We did not get there early enough for warm-ups, thus I did not get to drool over my boy Sharpie all up close and personal. That will have to wait.

We did have a great time though, of course. The Blackhawks won the game 5-1 and there was much rejoicing. As I enjoy both teams, I was not dismayed by this score, and joined in the revelry. (and I was wearing my friend Emmy's Kyle Calder Blackhawks jersey so it would have looked a bit odd for me not to be cheering. I'm pretty sure it was the only #19 jersey in the place that didn't have Toews on the back. ;) )

So I did not manage to get any pictures of my boy, but the game was fun and I did acquire some souvenirs. I purchased a Sharp t-shirt and the Winter Classic dvd. I am very excited about both things, and already watched the dvd. It made me cry. yes, I'm a sap, but I WAS THERE! I am especially excited about the dvd because I had seen it advertised on the Blackhawks website (when I was there for illicit rendezvous with my secret lover team that's really not such a secret anymore) but it is not available online, only at the Blackhawks store or their kiosk at some mall. Well I was quite saddened my this, as I was not (at the time) planning a visit to Chicago any time soon and was considering placing an order with a friend and having it shipped. But then fate intervened in the form of Emmy inviting us up for what has sort of become an annual tradition- visit to Chicago for New Year's. And not only was it a visit, but it involved a Blackhawks game so I could procure said dvd myself and all is well.

I also purchased a Patrick Sharp bobblehead from ebay today. I've been wanting one for quite a while now and just decided to go ahead and buy it. :)

And, while we're having the SharpieLoveFest, I may have a plan. My sister Brett has invited the young nephews and I to a Blue Jackets game. We haven't picked a date yet but my brilliant self has decided that we need to see the Blackhawks- and lo- they play in Cbus on February 14- AND the kids have no school the following Monday. So it might actually work and I can think of a lot worse ways to spend Valentine's day than staring at one of my favorite non-Sabre hockey gentlemen. Sounds pretty great, eh? We'll see if we can pull it off. I'm rather excited about the idea though. :)

finallllly

I haven't done a SAB since November 17, but I finally have a new one! I'm so excited about that. So without further ado, I present you with



Patrik Berglund of the Blues

AND



Actor James Van Der Beek.

Separated at Birth? YOU be the judge!

And tonight will be the Blackhawks/Devils game. Expect a squee/spaz post soon about Sharpie and lots of lovely pictures. :) YAY!

Happy New Year!

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.

Busyness

I drove a long time today but I am now home. Woo.

The Sabres lost (again, go figure) to the Senators of DOOOM. GRR. At least they beat the Blues tonight. I heard the last few minutes.. all I was able to manage on the drive since WGR doesn't like to broadcast out too far. (Riddle me this: I was able to pick up the signal from OTTAWA a couple of years ago, but I can't get it in Bradford, PA? Nonsense!)

In a few days, I'm going to Chicago for a New Year's Eve Blackhawks/Devils game. It shall be most excellent and I'm super excited. Trying to think of some clever signage to catch Sharpie's eye.. hmmmm...

Speaking of my BlackhawksBoyfriend, today is his Birthday. Welcome to being 28, Sharpie! It's been good to me so far, hopefully 28 is a good year for you too. :)

Merry Christmas!

Hello Friends.. I have been a bit absent this week and I apologize for that.. I'm sure ya'll have missed my scintillating game recaps. ;)

In truth, I have been in the Outer Banks of North Carolina since Sunday evening, spending the week with my family at an amazing beach house. It's been interesting but great times, as always with my fam.

Thanks to Versus, I got to see the game against the Leafs, which was good (at least the end result was) but didn't see the absurdity of the Caps game. Oh well, c'est la vie.

In any case, MERRY CHRISTMAS from your intrepid crew here at Face First Into the Boards.

I hope you have a great day/holiday(s) with your friends and fam. I got some cool hockey themed presents and other great stuff, and will be going to Chicago for New Year's again this year for a Blackhawks/Devils game on New Year's Eve so there will certainly be hockey in my future.

Right now, my only Christmas wish, Sabres-wise, is for a WIN against those damnfool Senators.

a good read

For those of you who don't get The Hockey News' daily newsletter, Here is a sweet article about Ryan Miller. It's got some nice things to say about our #1 guy, all of it well-earned.(and nothing we didn't know already, as Sabres fans!) :)

Just wanted to share!