Merry Christmas!

Or Happy Hanukkah for those who celebrate it (my dad's side of the family is Jewish, so when we go over to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Christmas there's a menorah hanging out near the Christmas tree...pretty cool). Any way how you celebrate your holiday, I hope you have a good one. This will be my last blog update until after Christmas, so I don't really want to harp on the controversial goal last night. I'd rather my last update be a little more positive and upbeat.

All I'll say about it is this: It was a close call. Some people are saying it was a blatant high-stick, while others are saying it was clear that it was a good goal. Honestly, I think I can say this with no bias that I think it was a high-stick and therefore it shouldn't have been ruled a goal. However, I do think it was a close call that could have gone either way. And let's be real here, Sidney Crosby hadn't scored a goal in 9 games prior to that, a career-long scorless streak. When Sidney Crosby is in question, things are going to go his way more times than not. It is what it is. Last night I was pretty angry about the call, but after I've let the emotions of watching a hockey game calm down, I do realize that it was a close call that really could have gone either way. Whatever the ruling would have been, there would no doubt be one side saying that they got the call wrong.

Moving on (that was a little more time that I planned on talking about it), let's both weigh the positives and the negatives. First of all, the Sabres are playing a lot better and I really do like what I'm seeing from this team at the moment. They aren't playing bad at all. I would say they're playing pretty good. Sure, they aren't perfect...which is why we have lost two straight in overtime. But you know what? I'm still liking what I'm seeing. Before when they were losing, they just looked pretty bad. They were very undisciplined, not smart, and they were making too many mistakes. Right now, they need to learn how to hold onto their leads better. With the way they have been playing lately, I think that they'll be able to get it done. It's reassuring to see the scoring being more spread out and having more players on the team contribute. Disicipline is still something that I think they'll always need to learn how to control. Last game they were very good at staying out of the box until Paille took a very undisciplined roughing penalty. And that's all the Pens would need, as they scored to tie it up and take it to overtime. Other than that, the team did a much better job at staying out of the box and playing smart.

So to wrap this up, the positive: The Sabres are playing much better hockey and I've been impressed for the most part with them.
The negative: They still need to learn how to control leads better, but seeing how they have been playing as of late, I believe that they'll learn how to do that and the wins will come easier. Oh wait, I thought of another positive: Ryan Miller still hasn't shaved. He's got some serious scruff going on and if he holds out shaving for a few more days it will no longer be considered scruff and it will be promoted to a beard. Clearly, this is a sign of good things to come.

Alright, enough hockey for me until after Christmas (literally, right after Christmas, seeing as our boys will be in DC on the 26th to take on the Caps). Like I said in the beginning of my entry, I hope everyone enjoys their holiday. For me, on Christmas Eve I go to my grandparents' house on my Dad's side in East Amherst for dinner. My aunt, step-uncle and his three daughters (step-cousins?) live there too so it's a lot of fun. After dinner we open presents and watch A Christmas Story. Then on Christmas Day after we open presents we'll head up to Niagara Falls to visit more family on my Dad's side. We eat a nice dinner and I see my family who I usually only see around Christmastime. Then after that we'll head home, but shortly we leave to visit my Mom's side of the family. This year it's going to be at my cousin's house in Derby. I'm pretty excited.

Right now I'm about to turn on some Christmas movies and eat the cookies that my mom is baking...Mexican Wedding cookies yum. So in the words of Clark Griswold... "Later, dudes!"

I have to vent.

So last night I had a real good time at my friend's Christmas party. Everything was really nice and relaxing and we were enjoying a good performance by the Sabres. Ryan Miller was standing tall once again. Andrej Sekera was playing great. Chris Butler was showing people that he's ready to be a defenseman in the NHL. Derek Roy was showing that he's continuing to roll by scoring a goal. Cool. Then I see Ryan Miller get interfered with and then we get scored on. How cute. I would mention all the rest of the shit show officiating I saw but I'm sure you remember. So after I saw a lights out peformance by Miller with another 40+ save night, along with the rest of the team working their asses off....I see Montreal win in overtime. So I'm pissed. I wasn't going to let the loss ruin my night and I decided to get my drink on and go downtown with my friends and have a good time. So that's what I did. Despite having a 4'11, 70 pound drunk Asian girl step on my foot (I can't believe how much that shit hurt, she was so tiny but I have the bruise to prove it), I did have a pretty good time.

But then I woke up this morning and I'm even more mad than I was last night. The officiating has become a joke. I know being an official in pro sports is often a thankless job and they can't always be perfect, but seriously. Are these clowns really being paid? They should be ashamed and embarrassed to call themselves NHL officials. I'm sick of it. And this isn't some homer crying over her hometown team getting screwed, I've seen it all over the league. What about that Smith shootout incident? How can 4 officials be watching a 1-on-1 play yet still get the call wrong? Unbelievable. I think everyone knows that there is a bias when a team is coming into Montreal to play a game. Especially if the officials are from Quebec. It should not be allowed, it's an obvious conflict of interest. Maybe if the officials can show that they aren't biased in favor of their hometown team, then there wouldn't be a problem. But they haven't showed that. It only took a 5-on-3, a 4-on-3, and goaltender interference for the Habs to take a win from us. I bet it's comforting for Habs fans to know that the officiating will help their team earn a win whenever they are playing in their building. Here's a quote that stuck out to me, it's from the ref that was honored at the beginning of the game...the one from Montreal:

“For all the times you miss something, I had a pretty good view of this one,” Jackson said. “I was in my hometown and Montreal scored in overtime, but you’re paid to do a job, so I did my job and disallowed the goal.”

Seriously? You're trying to get credit for disallowing a blatantly obvious no-goal? Yay? You did your job? Good for you. He also makes it no secret that he was rooting for Montreal. Surprise, surprise.

It's just frustrating knowing that your team deserved to win but the officiating helped take a point away. It pisses me off. I know teams have to play through the officiating, and the Sabres have (Pittsburgh Penguins games anyone?), but it's kind of hard to win a game when Montreal gets a 5-on-3, two 4-on-3's, and a goal scored due to our goalie being interfered with. Look, I know that the Sabres still need to learn how to be more disciplined, but I just want to see an evenly officiated game so the most deserving team can leave with a victory. Dare to dream, right?

SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD

Awww yeaaaaah, Ryan Miller with a 40-save shutout. That's our goalie. Goalies get a lot of shit after a loss, sometimes deservingly so, and sometimes not. What a response from Miller after a 5-3 loss. The hockey speaks for itself. I'm proud of him. And how cute is it to see Lalime congraluate Miller after a big win? Especially a shutout. He's all excited for him, it's adorable.

And I just loveeeee the fact that they play Sweet Caroline when it's a Sabres victory. My song. :')


I'm glad for Ellis for netting a goal during his first callup after being waived. Must feel good for him. I'm glad the Sabres finally won at home...in a big way. Hopefully it will spark the confidence they need to start winning at home and it's a sign of good things to come.


And...Ryan Miller had a 40-save shutout!! Oh, I already mentioned that? Oh well... Oh and might I add...homeboy was sporting some scruff again tonight, and I like it. A lot.


Zanggg baby boy, lookin' good.

That was a fangirl moment, okay? Don't judge me.

Getting Sassy...20s style

I have nothing to say for last night's shit show. As a fan there's only so much you can say. It's up to the team. They're better than that. I don't know why they are struggling to win at home. It's disappointing, but all I can say is bring on Los Angeles. If they can win against them then maybe it will spark some confidence and help them win at home. If not, well...there's only three home games in January. You're not supposed to look forward to the month where you're basically on the road the entire time, but maybe it's a plus for us. We shall see.

In other news, let's talk about Ryan Miller and the five goals he gave up last night. First off, he updated his blog. Don't you love that fans actually give him advice on how to stop pucks? I know I do. Really people? You know, if you're 10 years old then it's kind of cute, but if you're any older then you really need to stand back and realize what you're doing. An average fan telling a NHL goalie how to stop the pucks and be better. Right. I'm sure he appreciates the advice.

Secondly, Catwalk for Charity III....hells yeah. I sent in my order form for tickets a few days ago so hopefully I get an e-mail or something soon saying that they got my form and my tickets will come shortly. How awesome is it that it's 1920s themed this year? REAL AWESOME. That will be a lot of fun. I love the 1920s. I've always said that I wish that I lived through the 1920s-1960s because that's when all the cool stuff happened. My favorite fashion eras have always been the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. So maybe I just wanted to live in those eras strictly for the fashion, okay? And for my chance to meet my favorite person in the entire world, Marilyn Monroe. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, Catwalk for Charity. I can't wait to shop around and look for a cute outfit for the event. Peacock feathers may or may not be involved. I've made myself a cute hairclip from a peacock feather that I love and since it's 20s themed it will be a perfect opportunity to whip it out. It's a little more "earthy" than 1920s glamour, but I can spruce it up a tad. You can head over to Sabres TV and watch a snippet of the press conference...I don't know why they didn't post the whole thing, I want to see it. Maybe they'll post it later.

Anyways, hopefully some of you plan on going to the event...it really is a lot of fun. I think I've talked about it before on here. If you want to get an idea of it, I have some pictures that I took when I went last year. They're kind of grainy because I just had my point and shoot camera and the lighting was dark. But you get the idea. Funny thing is, after doing some searching on the internet I've found some pictures of the event with me in them haha.


This one was in the paper, I cut it out and I have it pinned up on my "Photo Wall" in my bedroom. That's how I roll.



It's like playing Where's Waldo Caroline!


Anyways. Hopefully the Sabres are getting sick and tired of getting pushed around and having their asses handed to them on home ice. Let's see how things go tomorrow night...

Pregaming

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to head downtown to the arena this morning to watch the boys practice. I haven't been to a morning skate in a long, long time and it was pretty chill. Going on weekdays is best because not that many people are there. It can be a little crazy on weekends because the people in attendence can be a little whacky. It was pretty quiet so you could hear everything on the ice. I wanted to shout, "HIT THE FREAKIN' NET" when they were doing shooting drills. Also, when Lindy gathered the team at center ice I couldn't hear anything so I wanted to shout, "HEY LINDY...SPEAK UP....I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" But no. I didn't want to be that person.

It's fun being there when the guys are just taking it easy and messing around with each other. The players were practicing their breakaways on Miller and he kept letting them in and they were giving him a hard time and he was like, "I stopped the second one!!" and then he stopped the next shot and he was like, "Woooohoooo!!!!" It was the first time I've ever heard emotion in his voice. Just kiddinggg. Max was messing around with Lalime but it was hard to understand what Max was saying.

Something interesting I noticed was that Peters was practicing with the defensemen for most of the time. And then when most of the players left the ice, he stayed on the ice with James Patrick and Rivet. It looked like Rivet was showing him how to skate backwards and giving him pointers. I wonder how Petey would be as a defenseman...food for thought.

After watching them practice I moseyed around the Sabres Store. Everything is 20% off until Christmas Eve, for those who are interested. I was browsing through the Sabres yearbook where it has all of that fun stuff; favorite food, favorite movie, etc. I found it amusing that Miller wrote that if he wasn't a hockey player he'd want to be an architect. The only thing I could think of was George Costanza's dreams of being an architect ("You're an architect?" "I'm not?"). Ahh gotta love it. I also saw most of the players afterwords eating their pregame meals. I'd say most of them were there, every so often another player would come in a little late and join a table. Good times.

My iTunes is acting all wonky and saying that it can't locate my songs, when CLEARLY all of my songs are in my iTunes folder. So I don't know what its deal is and why it can't find any of my songs when they're there. It's driving me crazy and it's really, really frustrating. I'm trying everything... Oh well. Go Sabres.

The Injury Bug bites, man.

So it appears that the Injury Bug has hit the Sabres yet again, but what else is new. Our little Nathan Gerbe took quite a hit against New Jersey that will have him sidelined for two weeks. Craig Rivet is also out for at least two weeks, which really sucks. But I really wasn't surprised when he said his knee wasn't 100%. You could tell he wasn't playing the way he likes to play, and I suspected it was because of his knee. Knee injuries suck and they usually take awhile to heal. I hope when he does return he's 100% and he can play his game again because I was very impressed with him and what he brought to the team. Poor Goose and Patches also took a beating in practice the other day. Hockey is such a rough and tumble sport, your teeth aren't even safe in practice. Let that be a lesson to all of you kids out there. In better news, Patrick Kaleta has been cleared to play, that'll be nice for the team to have him back again.

Isn't it strange how three days off seems like two weeks in hockey? I can't wait to see them play again. It seems like it's been so long since they played against New Jersey...good thing tomorrow night they'll be playing against....New Jersey. My question of whether or not Ryan Miller has shaved will finally be answered. I've been left hanging for three days! I'm guessing he has, but it would be pretty badass if he hadn't. These are the questions that keep me awake at night. Only kidding. But I love me some Jesus-looking goaltenders.

Um, so uh...speaking of Jesus, I decorated my Christmas tree last night! Here are some peekturessss:


The flash kind of ruins it, but the lighting was poor so without the flash made it pretty blurry...you get the idea though.


My Saves for Cancer ornament I bought when Ryan Miller was at Rotary Rink lighting the Christmas tree.



I strategically placed this ornament near the Ryan Miller one...oh yeah I'm clever.

So tomorrow I want to do some window shopping on Elmwood to get some ideas on what to get my friends and family. I'm thinking maybe I'll head on over to the arena beforehand to watch the boys practice at the morning skate. I haven't been to a morning skate in a long time and I figured it's probably best to go during the week because not that many people will be there. We'll see...

Holy Vanek!

Hey, we won! I admit that I wasn't feeling too good about our chances tonight. Saturday night. Back-to-back. Not the team's favorite conditions to play under, for some reason. It wasn't reassuring either that the Devils scored 8 goals last night compared to Buffalo's 1. But all of that garbage means nothing because we won!

Just some quick thoughts:

- Good for Patty Lalime getting another one in his W column. Looking at his stats, people can get down on him but I am confident in having him as our backup goalie.

- I was also very glad to see Stafford scoring on a wide open net! Atta boy, Staff. Seriously, last night was painful seeing those two wide open nets that he missed. Yikes. I'm sure it felt damn good for him to get that one tonight.

- This is probably the matronly part of me coming out, but poor little Gerbe. When those two Devils sandwiched him on the ice I couldn't help but feel bad for the little guy. He's what, 4'11? Cut the dude some slack.

- I just have to say something about Nathan Paetsch. I started thinking about this after he took that elbow to the face. He practices with the team, travels with the team, just to end up in the press box the majority of the time. The only time he gets the nod is if one of his fellow teammates is injured. It's got to be sort of a tough life, you know? I mean, in retrospect, he's in the NHL. How many hockey players can say that? But still. I just remember last season he was always taking a lot of hits and I believe he had a few hits to the head that resulted in a concussion. And then tonight he gets an elbow to the face. But you know as soon as Rivet is ready it'll be back up in the press box for Paetsch. That's just the nature of the game. But he'll keep trying. He'll keep practicing with the team and he'll keep traveling with them. It's not that I pity him, because I don't. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I respect him. I salute you, Nathan.

Now onto the real story. Thomas Vanek. How fitting is it that he scored our 10,000th goal in history? He just does so much for our team. I loved his hustle tonight and he's so great at backchecking. OH and not to mention that he's leading the league in goals...no biggie. You just gotta love him right now. Keep on keepin' on, Thomas.

Oh and one more thing. Has anyone noticed that Ryan Miller has been growing some scruff? He looks good. I'm liking the facial hair. He looks good when he's all clean shaven too, but I've always had a thing for dudes who know how to sport good facial hair. Which is why it was so awesome when Ryan had long hair and his playoff beard. Dude looked like Jesus. And really, is there anything cooler than your goalie looking like Jesus? Nothing that I can think of on the top of my head. So I've noticed that he hasn't shaved the past few days and when they showed him on the bench it looked like he was sporting a little bit of a beard. I'm sure he'll shave it soon. But for the time being, Ryan, you're looking mad earthy boo. Loves it.