Going On Hiatus

Hello everyone! Recently I mentioned that I'm going to be interning for the 2011 IIHF U20 World Junior Championships, which means that I won't be posting on here during the duration of the Championships. Please make sure to check out the World Juniors official website, http://buffaloworldjuniors.com/ for updates. Also be sure to check out the official blog, http://buffaloworldjuniors.blogspot.com/, where I'll be posting about all the events and festivities going on in the city surrounding the Championships. We'll also be tweeting updates on @2011IIHFWorldJr, so be sure to follow us on Twitter as well!

Congratulations Are In Order

The Sabres are kind of depressing me at the moment, so I don't know if I have it in me to dedicate a whole post discussing them and their current state. Let's just say that I'm getting a tad more worried as each game passes, and I hope that the team can get themselves in order...

So let's move onto something more positive, shall we? I know I'm not the first to ~break~ the story and I'm sure if you're reading this you're already aware of the news, but my favorite goalie in the entire world got engaged this past weekend! It's funny, even though Ryan is older than me, it's almost as if I've watched him grow up. I remember when he was on the Amerks and got called up to the Sabres. And now he's all grown up and getting married... They grow up so fast. :')

I volunteered at the Carly's Club holiday party last night and Ryan and his now fiancée, Noureen DeWulf were there. It was there that I heard that they got engaged and I got a glimpse of the ring...which I didn't see up close but looked beautiful (and very large haha) from afar. There had to be over 400 people in attendance and Ryan made sure to meet with everyone who wanted an autograph and a picture.

The WNY community has embraced Ryan so much over the last several years, and he's done so much to show his appreciation. I'm glad that he's met someone who he loves and makes him happy, because he most definitely deserves it. I've met Noureen a handful of times at Catwalk for Charity, and she came up and said hi to me at the holiday party last night (I'm assuming she recognized me from Catwalk), and she's always been so nice and Ryan seems very happy when they're together.

So congratulations to Ryan and his lucky lady! Maybe the exciting news will inspire Ryan's teammates to want to play a better in front of him... (a fan can dream).

Here's a photo of Ryan and a fan (and Santa!) from the party last night:



You can see more photos from the event right here.

SIQ GAME

Ryan Miller has back-to-back shutouts! Everything is amazing! I said before the shootout how pissed I would be if I was a goalie and lost 1-0 in a shootout. Apparently Brian Elliot is still credited with a shutout, but lost the game... But Ryan Miller on the otherhand...



(I made that .gif a long time ago and I've been dying to use it)

Thoughts on Jim Kelley

I was saddened to hear last night that Jim Kelley had passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. If you grew up in the Buffalo area then you remember reading Kelley's columns in The Buffalo News. You remember the infamous Hasek incident. And anyone who follows hockey knows Jim as one of the most respected hockey writers in the league and a Hall of Famer.

I remember about a year or so ago reading one of Kelley's columns on Sportsnet.ca where he briefly mentioned that he was battling cancer and it was pretty serious, but he didn't want to elaborate much other than that. So hearing that he died last night was a painful reminder that he had been battling the disease and he unfortunately succumbed to it.

Being a columnist, especially in sports, can naturally be a controversial position to hold given you're interjecting your opinion in your writings, and even though Jim had his fair share of critics over the years (see Hasek, Dominik), he was always respected for his hockey insight even if everyone didn't always agree with him at times.

I'm not sure where I planned for this post to go, but I just felt like I should say few things about his death because I was so saddened and surprised to hear about it. If you haven't already checked it out, Mike Harrington posted some great columns written by Jim over the years, including a fascinating recollection of the controversial "No Goal" against Dallas in the Finals. He also posted various tribute columns written by others that are worth reading as well.

My thoughts go out to Jim's family and friends, and his hockey insight will be sorely missed by many hockey fans throughout the league.