Hockey Is Here!

Yes, I know it's hard to believe for some Sabres fans...but the NHL season is upon us. The home opener was such a tease; and it almost feels like it's the offseason all over again waiting for the next game. Luckily, Thursday is almost here... I'm anxiously awaiting to see how the players come out after a 5 day break. Let's hope they come out with as much fire as they did against the Habs, I have a feeling that they will.

The Sabres have a bit of a logjam now that Adam Mair has been cleared to play. Let's not forget about Toni Lydman who is still out with a hand injury, but he shouldn't be out for long. Mair returning would put the team over the roster limit, which means someone has to go, which has led to a lot of speculation amongst both the fans and the media. I've heard some people suggesting that we send Kennedy back down...while others are saying that Ellis might have to be waived. I honestly don't know what to think and it's times like this when I'm glad that I'm not in charge in making such decisions. I think having Kennedy up with the team will be more beneficial than having him sent back down to Portland, and I've always admired Ellis's work ethic and I truly think he's deserving of a spot with us... Lindy has recently both given Ellis and Kennedy praise to the media, so I really don't know what the decision is going to be. And once Lydman is ready to return, I think it's obvious that Myers isn't going anywhere yet. He played a hell of a game and got nothing but praise from both the coach and his teammates...I think they are just as eager to see how he does as us fans are.

Looking at the schedule, after tomorrow night's game, things will be in full swing again for the Sabres. Their schedule is pretty consistent for the first few months...they basically play every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday...I wonder if that consistency will be good for the team as they will develop some sort of rhythm. Maybe it will make them "gel" better, or maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Tuesday, the 13th is my first game of the season and it's against Detroit...I'm pretty excited. I just love going to the arena for the first time for a game... I've already been to the arena several times this season to watch the players practice, but obviously it's a completely different atmosphere when you're there for a game. It's sort of funny how you go there during the day, and the atrium is eerily empty, and the only thing you can hear is the player's skating and shooting pucks off in the distance. You then go and watch the players practice and the arena is pretty empty...it's odd how small the arena seems when there's no one in there. Then you go later that night and the atrium is full of fans and there's energy and excitement buzzing everywhere you look. People donned in hockey jerseys, hawkers shouting for you to purchase game night programs, the little ding sound that the ticket scanners make when the ushers scan your tickets... You get to your seat and the arena just seems so huge when it's packed with fans. It feels like you were in a completely different building a few hours ago when you were there in the morning to watch the players practice. It's like night and day...okay well it literally is.

There is also a cause for concern that I feel like I should mention...not sure if I'm looking too much into this, but I was on Ryan Miller's website the other day, and I noticed that there's no link to his blog anymore. If you follow the direct link to his blog, it's still up, but why is there no link from his website to his blog anymore? This makes me a little concerned...I don't know about the rest of you, but I love his blog. It's both funny and really insightful, and it's one of the better "celebrity blogs" that I have read. I always got so excited when he updated it! I hope Ryan hasn't decided to hang up the blogger skates and give it up for good...he seemed to have a knack for it, even when his web editor would make him go back and edit his entry to ensure that he wasn't pissing off some of his fans. If he doesn't update it by the time Catwalk for Charity rolls around (which is soon, yesss!), then I might have to address this problem to the big guy himself...and ask him what the hell is up. I understand that he's a professional athlete and he's very busy with the condensed NHL schedule and the Olympics coming up and blah blah blah...but hey, I need my dose of sass and wit and Ryan's blog was perfect for that. I wonder if him partcipating in the Olympics has anything to do with it... I know some sports leagues are pretty strict with social networking sites such as blogs, Facebooks, Twitter, etc...and they prohibit players from using them during certain times on game days. I remember during the Summer Olympics, I was browsing through some of the athlete's websites and a lot of their blogs were taken down because the Olympics prohibited the athletes from keeping a blog while they were competiting. Either way...I hope this isn't an end to his lovely blog. Do it for the fans, Ryan!

I think I had something else to say but I got too wrapped up in my spiel about Ryan's blog being in limbo...

Hells Yeah...

Solid, solid win tonight. Not quite the start we wanted, but they say that the first game home after a road trip can be hard. It was a nice physical game with some nice fights courtesy of Adam Mair and Paul Gaustad. Gerbe is a fiesty little guy and I'm loving him taking the hits and even dishing some out as well. Awesome. It seems I get more and more impressed with Thomas Vanek every time I see him play. He sure is a forced to be reckoned with and every goalie should fear that man. It's not even his goal scoring that's making me impressed with him. His hustle and his defensive effort really needs to be applauded. I'm loving him right now.

Miller again was great. Some real clutch saves to keep his team in the lead and a few nice stops on breakaways. Kudos to Ryan. What was up with that delay of game call though? I wasn't aware that a goalie could get called on a delay of game when he freezes the puck with his glove. I've never seen that before. Ryan said that the ref skated over to him afterwords and said that he "probably shouldn't have called that"...I guess that's better than the ref telling him to go fuck himself so I'll take it. I also didn't like how Kotalik was called for that hit on an icing when the Lightning got away with one earlier in the game. I guess the refs just wanted to make it interesting...or give Pominville the opportunity to score a shorthanded empty-netter goal. Either way.

Well it sure was a very satisfying win and I'm glad our boys have put up a very nice little win streak here. I've been really loving the way they have won these games and how they have battled back. Sure, you don't want your team to go down by a couple of goals but they battled and worked hard to dig themselves out of the holes that they dug and they picked up some nice victories. Good for them.

Sorry for the short update, but I have a final paper to write and I need to study for my mega hard and important music final exam tomorrow. I'll make it up to you by leaving you, my readers, with this lovely picture of former President Bill Clinton and Ryan Miller's skinny legs. Loves it.