Shutouts Are Sexy

Wouldn't you agree? Very nice. Just a few thoughts on tonight...

I liked seeing Connolly's effort on the first goal and put the loose puck in the net like that. It wasn't a Connolly-esque goal, which is why it was nice to see him net one like that. Roy's pass to Paille for the second goal was...sick. Loved it. I also loved seeing #36 back in the lineup. Spacek is injured, not sure how severe and if he's going to miss some time...at least Weber is back playing in Portland, we could call him up. It would be nice to see the Sabres try and make a move to acquire a defenseman, who knows maybe they are and we just don't know it. I thought Chris Butler had a nice rebound from the Calgary game, which is pretty reassuring. Miller also had a nice response after a tough night in Calgary (as he usually does). He was great tonight. He had a huge save on a 2-on-1 while we were on the power play. I'm glad that he got a shutout, since he's been playing so great this month, it's definitely deserved. Our PK was great tonight, but the Sabres really need to stay out of the box. Some of the calls were a little questionable, but some of them were just textbook calls and it's unnecessary. Padding your PK stats, boys?

Speaking of Ryan, Amy over at Shots Off The Crossbar pointed me in the direction of a nice interview with Miller in what looks like his home, courtesy of The Buffalo News. He says a lot of nice things about Buffalo and our nice little community we have here. He really said everything that I think makes Buffalo special. The kindness that most people seem to have here (comparable to the friendly vibe that's usually found in the Midwest), the nice architecture, and the unique restaurants. He mentioned the great houses near Chapin Parkway and around Delaware...I always loved those huge mansions. When the weather is nice and I have time to kill between class, I always love strolling up Elmwood and making my way around Bidwell Park/Chapin Park just to admire all the neat houses. The restaurants here never disappoint. My friends and I love going out to eat and we always like switching it up and going to different places. I've mentioned on here before that Mother's is a great bar/restaurant. I've found great sushi bars and Indian food around here too. I loveee Indian food. Anyways, I know I've mentioned a few times on here that I'm going to school for photography, so I always found it extra awesome that it's a hobby of Ryan's. Pretty boss. It was neat seeing all the photos hanging up around his house. If that sunset photo behind him in the interview was taken by him, then I'm pretty impressed. Him being a photographer obviously makes him about ten times cooler than he already was. He knows what's up.

So it's a real nice interview and it's just nice to see how laid back and down to earth he is. He's arguably the most popular professional athlete in Buffalo, and in a sports town like Buffalo, that obviously means he's a huge name here and quite the celebrity. I don't need to remind anyone about that. It's just nice to see that he's just a down to earth guy when a lot of times a person in his situation can be pretty high on themselves and really cocky with a hot shot personality. I've noticed that a lot of hockey players are pretty genuine. I could just be biased because hockey is my favorite sport, but most of the times hockey players just seem a lot more genuine and down to earth than other professional athletes. Just something I've noticed over the years. Another bonus in Ryan's interview is that he's wearing a v-neck!!!!! Ahhh how I love me some v-necks. Work it, Ryan. Oh and when he's talking about Catwalk for Charity they show some pictures from last year's and they use one picture with me in the background hahaha. Love it.

I also want to mention that it's been neat listening to and watching the opposing team's broadcast. Don't get me wrong, I love Rick Jeanneret as much as the next Sabres fun, but it's nice to get an outside perspective on our team. I thought Phoenix's broadcast team was really good. I was impressed with them. I know a lot of the fans in the arena tonight were Sabres fans, but I was also impressed to see such a big crowd at the game tonight after hearing about their financial troubles and especially considering the Super Bowl is tomorrow. So while I've been missing RJ's enthusiasm, it's also been fun getting a different point of view from all the different broadcasters.