How Embarrassing

Well it looks like we've got another candidate for the Worst Game of the Year category for the 2009 NHL Shit Show Awards. How lovely.

I can sit here and say how the Sabres missed a great opportunity to improve their position in the standings and to put a team whose been nipping at their heels away...blah blah blah... but I don't think this game really deserves to be summarized. So I took a picture of myself watching the game to show you guys what I thought of it because I don't really feel like expressing it in words:


You know what they say... A picture says a thousand words.

But I must say that I really want to give Patrick Lalime a kiss on the forehead for being such a precious jewel. I would say the same about Ryan, but he just looked too angry and to be frank, he kind of scares me when he's pissed off. Just imagining about being the receiptor of his "Ryan Miller Death Glare" (you know, the one where his eyebrow is extra wonky and he looks like he's about to whip out a machete and go all medieval on your ass) just sends a very cold shiver down my spine. So I think I'll just leave Ryan to his thoughts while I send Lalime a bouquet of flowers with a note that says, "Nice try, buddy. Keep up the good work."

So while watching my precious Sabres look like they're trying out for the Special Olympics brings me absolutely no pleasure, I do find a lot of enjoyment in watching other team's crash and burn. Last night watching the Pittsburgh Penguins get their asses handed to them by the pathetic Toronto Maple Leafs was a treat (it even got their coach canned!). But not to be outdone by the Rangers who gave up a shorthanded goal to the Philadelphia Flyers while they were on a 5-on-3 power play. It just warms my heart :')

So while tonight's "game" is something that I'm currently trying to erase from my memory, thinking about other team's who are close to us in the standings failing helps ease away the pain and embarrassment that many Sabres fans felt tonight. Oh, and the Panthers losing helps too. Enjoy your day off tomorrow, everyone! I owe you one, George & Abe.

Emotional Night

Ever since I found about flight 3407 crashing in Clarence I've been feeling a whirlwind of emotions. It goes without saying how devastated not only our community is, but everyone around the nation is of the events that unfolded. At the risk of sounding a little too sappy, I want to touch on the situation and what it feels like to be a Buffalonian during a time like this. Bear with me, this entry will probably be pretty lengthy. I was up until about 2 am last night watching the coverage and it was extremely surreal and saddening at the same time. Buffalo is such a tight-knit community and I'm sure we all know someone who is connected to this tragedy in some way. I already know that two of my good friends were friends with a young woman onboard the flight. I just want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who's been touched by this event, and I hope everyone finds the strength they need to get through this. I just have to say that I was real proud of Lindy Ruff tonight during his post-game press conference. He passed along his thoughts about the tragedy, and he touched a little bit on the game, but his press conference was very brief and he made it clear that tonight was only a hockey game and everyone's mind is elsewhere. It was very classy of him.

Now onto where I might come off as real sappy, but I was at the game tonight and it was heartwarming for me. Not the game itself, but as I was sitting waiting for the game to start, I was just absorbed into my fellow Sabres fans sitting around me and how kind everyone is. We all hear about how friendly everyone is here and how we all watch out for one another, and I was just noticing the little things tonight that was making me real proud. There was a little boy sitting next to me and we were sitting near the player's hallway but he wanted to get down a row so he would be able to reach his hand out and touch the player's hands. So he went down but then the people who were sitting in the seats got there but they let him sit there so he could touch the player's hands. We all know how annoying it is to have to stand up and let people get past you to get to their seats, and a guy and his kid did that only to realize they were in the wrong row. So they had to get the people next to them to stand up again just right after they sat down and I don't know the people were just really kind to him when a lot of times people just sigh and roll their eyes. I'm probably just looking into it too much but it really just makes me proud to see the overall kindness that most Buffalonians possess.

So for me and most people, sports is a nice outlet for us and it's a nice form of escapism. Whatever problems we may be having at home, at our jobs, or anything in general, going to a sporting event or watching a game is a real nice way to forget about your problems for a bit and get absorbed into something else. The game tonight was certainly no exception. I didn't know how crazy it was going to be! I started getting a good feeling during the pre-game warmups. Against Me!, The Raconteurs, and the Smashing Pumpkins all in a row...seems like Mr. Miller has taken control of what music is played during the warmups. So I was grooving on the great music selections and I had a nice feeling after seeing the kindness in the stands from the fans.

I certainly was not expecting the team to go up 3-0 on the Sharks, but I knew that it was a very early lead and no lead is safe in this league...especially against one of the best teams. So although I wasn't surprised that the Sharks battled back, I still was ticked. The crowd was very into the game the entire night, maybe it was because everyone's emotions were high due to the events, but I haven't heard the arena that loud in a long time when we scored the tying goal with 3 seconds left. Oh and apparently I was on TV right after they scored! I kept getting texts from my friends haha. I guess I was also shown when they had the moment of silence right before the game. It was real nice to see Pominville come up big tonight because he's been getting a lot of criticism. And of course, our captain...what can I say? He was there as our captain and he also showed up big against his former team. Great.

By the time the Sabres tied it up the emotions were so high. Everyone was on the edge of their seats during overtime and everyone was on their feet during the shootout. I hate shootouts just because they are so nerve-wracking. But it was great to see Miller come up huge especially after his last shootout performance in Ottawa coupled with the fact that he let in a few questionable goals during tonight's game (although the defense was just standing around doing nothing during a few of them). Leaving the arena was awesome. Everyone was so excited and cheering. For just a few hours our minds were off the terrible events, and we all came together to root for our boys. Going into tonight's game I said to myself that it didn't matter if we won or lost, because right now it just doesn't matter...but it was real great for everyone to leave the arena on such a positive note...even if it was just a minor distraction for a few hours. It still felt great.

Oh and everyone's favorite fedora wearing goalie updated his blog. How cute is he? He's so thoughtful when he's talking about how he analyzed getting some dogs. Poor Ryan. I own 3 dogs and I would love to dogsit for Ryan. At the fashion show he was loving that puppy and it was pretty adorable. I've got some real cute videos of him interacting with the little guy on my YouTube page. He also has me very intrigued in taking a tour of the Town Ballroom...the basement sounds awesome and creepy. I love creepy stuff like that. I also loved how he so nonchalantly said that he doesn't have a girlfriend. Let's see if I can come off as casual as Ryan did... Hey Ryan, I don't have a boyfriend. I'm ~single~ so I think we should ~mingle~. Come and get me before someone else scoops me up. Did it work? Did I come off as casual about my relationship status as Ryan did?

Alright, enough of those shenanigans. So even though in retrospect, tonight's game was just a hockey game...there are much more important things on hand to think about...but I'm glad that our boys gave us something to be happy about even if it was just for a few hours. Everyone in that arena was on such a high and it came at the right time. Of course it was the only game I went to this year where I didn't bring my camera...but I still had to capture the moment. So I did with my crappy cell phone camera. Here are the boys celebrating the win through the lens of my 1.3 megapixel camera phone:

Well That Wasn't Cool

You know, I was doing so well...out of this entire winter season I had not gotten sick at all, but then the drastic change in the weather made my immune system go all wonky and last night it felt like there was a tumor in my throat. I'm feeling a little better than I was in the middle of the night, but I still feel pretty run down. Thank god my class was cancelled today because Buff State's campus is really windy so I can only imagine what it's like today.

Anyways...onto last night's game. I'll keep it short and sweet. I've been to a lot of awesome games this season. The Vancouver, Pittsburgh, and Carolina games come to mind. I've also been to a lot of bad games this season. The Nashville, Washington, and last night's come to mind. Last night was really bad. Everytime we went on a power play I cringed a little. That's not what you're supposed to feel like when your team is given TWELVE power play opportunities. Patty Kaleta, bless his heart for drawing the penalties...sah sahry the team could not take advantage of your antics, Patrick. The team was sending a good message to the rest of the league last night. Feel free to run our goalies because we sure as hell aren't going to stop you. What was up with that? It was obvious Ottawa's coach told his team to run Miller...and it worked. They even got a goal out of it. Unbelievable. I guess the refs were too afraid to disallow two straight goals due to goaltender interference. Then finally Butler tried to stand up for Miller but of course he got a penalty for roughing. Cute. Why wasn't Rivet being the animal he usually is when players get too close to our goalie. You know what I think it might be? I think the Sabres are very intimidated by Ottawa. The Senators have had our number since the end of the lockout, and even when they suck this year the Sabres just seem to be afraid of them. It gives Ottawa some confidence and they exploit us. Just mi dos centavos. An exciting part of the game was when I almost took a puck to the face. It hit the person in front of me instead. Thank goodness for that. And there was this really adorable old man sitting two rows in front of me and he was so happy and cute and he was talking to everyone around him. He was adorable and I wanted to be his friend.

According to WGR 550, Ruff is adding Ellis to the power play in hopes that a grinder will spark something. He also said that it really frustrated him that the team was trying to be too cute and they aren't playing dirty like they were in January. Sekera is also ready to return for action and Weber has been sent back down to Portland. I really hope the team responds to what Ruff was saying and they stop trying to be cute and they start playing dirty, hard-working hockey again because it will win them games. Tomorrow night they'll have a real test as San Jose will be in town. I'm going to that game as well, so let's hope I can add that one to my "Awesome games I've been to this season" list and not my "Really bad games I've been to this season" list.

Oh and I'd like to welcome two new additions to my blogroll, NHL Snipers and Brochu is Hockey.

Catwalk for Charity III...the definition of SASSY.

Where do I begin...what a fun night! When I went to Catwalk last year I didn't think I could have had any more fun, but this year's was absolutely great. I really don't want to ramble on about every single detail because then this entry might turn out to be the longest blog entry known to man. Let's see...

Well everyone looked absolutely adorable. So many people dressed for the event in their 1920s attire and the Town Ballroom was all decked out. When I got there I saw Ryan pretty early and I decided that I should talk to him before it got too crazy. Even though there were a lot of people there who were dying to talk to him, he was extremely friendly and nice. I got to talk to him about photography which was really awesome...I meant to talk to him about it last year but I forgot. I told him that the photos I take of him at the hockey games get the most views on my Flickr and he thought that was funny. When I was talking to him his brother Bryce and sister Brynne came up to us and Ryan was so cute. He was like, "These are my siblings!" and he introduced them to me. They both looked so cute in their 20s outfits. I got my picture with them and Ryan and I also got a picture with just Ryan and me.

Later on I saw Ryan's dad hanging out and I went up to him and was like, "Um I just have to say that your son is a really good goalie." Haha. He laughed and we talked about Catwalk for a bit...I told him that I went last year as well and how it was such a great event and how I was real excited that it was 20s themed this year. We talked about Ryan for a little bit and Ryan sounds just like his dad haha. I saw Rick Jeanneret a little bit later and I had to get my picture taken with him. My dad used to work with the Sabres in broadcasting so he knows my dad and he was like, "Why isn't he here?!" Then Ryan's grandparents came up to us when we were talking to Rick and they introduced themselves to Rick...I got to talking to them and they were the sweetest people. They were so gracious and they kept thanking me for coming.

Sooo, there was really good food and the auction items as always were really great. Everyone was just walking around, eating & drinking and having a good time. I talked to Ryan again and I just told him how proud I was of him and how amazing he's been playing lately and that we're real lucky to have him. He was very gracious and I told him how it's real nice to see how well-rounded he is and he thanked me and he asked me if I was having fun.

So now onto the real fun stuff...the live auction and the fashion show. Ryan was hilarious when they were auctioning things off. When they were auctioning off the black lab puppy Ryan did his best Russian accent and asked how much Max had (he won the puppy last year). The puppy was won by Dan Paille's fiancée. Before they auctioned it off Ryan was coddling the little puppy and it was pretty damn cute. When they were auctioning off the bubble hockey set Rick Jeanneret was like, "I'll go to the winner's house and call the game for you." and Ryan was like, "WHUT I can't even get him to come to my house!" haha. When they were auctioning of a poster with a bunch of former Sabres' autographs, Ryan was trying to read the signatures and he was like, "Um...I can't read these...I don't know all of their numbers" and he had to get Rob Ray to read them and Rayzor read a few off and then was like, "Whatever...good enough." So during the fashion show Harry Neale & Rick Jeanneret were absolutely hilarious. They kept making cracks at the players and it was pretty funny. Tim Connolly did the worm on the catwalk and I was like, "OMG...don't get hurt!!" and when Gaustad was leaning down to touch people's hands, Ryan was like, "Woah, don't pull too hard on his arm!" in reference to Goose's "upper-body injury". I also had a little peek into backstage and I saw a shirtless Paul Gaustad running around. That was a treat. So the fashion show was great and they all looked so cute.

After the fashion show, Drew Stafford played some songs on the drums and Ryan played the guitar. Derek Roy did the vocals and it was pretty funny. Then someone gave Petey the microphone and he kept having the audience do chants. First he was like, "When I say 'PLAY' you say 'OFFS'!" and then he was like, "When I say 'TRADE' you say, 'RIVET!'" haha. What a jokester. So I found myself in the ~VIP Area~ by the end of the night where most of the Sabres were hanging out with their friends, girlfriends, wives, etc. And Pominville was our typical little Pommers...his fiancée (or wife? Hell I don't know...I avoid those hockey player gossip message boards like the plague so I have a very vague idea on who the player's girlfriends are for the most part) had her shoes off but when she wanted to put them back on our dear little Pominville put them on for her. What a nice boy. By that time I had a lot of glasses of wine so I went up to Ryan and gave him a big hug and I was like, "Zanggg I love your hat!" He was wearing one of those Irish caps...and then I was like, "I have to say that I think you're absolutely adorable!" and he smiled and said he appreciated that. Haha wow...I really hope he doesn't remember that encounter. But it was really, really neat to watch the Sabres off the ice and just goofing around with each other and having fun. It really was a lot of fun and you could tell they were all having a great time, especially Ryan. I caught him throwing stuff at someone and he was ducking by the bar to hide hahaha. Drew Stafford was hilarious trying to auction off the cutout boards of some of the players... someone shouted that they'd pay $50 dollars for one and he was like, "$50?! Come on, you know you can sell this on eBay for like $400." I saw that Andrew Peters' wife bought the cardboard cutout of Peters and they were taking pictures with it haha.

So all in all the night was fantastic. I had a blast. Ryan was a great host and he was a sweetheart to everyone. Great entertainment, great drinks, great food, great venue, great people...it's a perfect night for any Sabres fan and if you haven't been to one yet you're really missing out. I told Ryan that it was a real great thing that he has them and he was like, "Well we're going to keep having them!" So that's awesome. I met up with Rachael and Lucinda and Jill and Jay which was real awesome!

Alright...I know you all want to look at my pictures! I just have to say that they're pretty bad quality because I just had my point and shoot and not my nice camera, but oh well. You can see them on my Flickr page. Here's two of my favorites:


Ryan and myself of course!


Ryan looking cute with his Irish cap after the fashion show

I didn't take as many pictures as I planned on, but I did take a lot of videos! Check them out on my YouTube page. Make sure you watch the ones with Ryan and the puppy...they're precious. Ryan's Russian impression is in the one where they're auctioning off the puppy. The one of Harry Neale & Rick Jeanneret is pretty funny too. So enjoy the videos...they'll give you a nice perspective of what it was like all night.

Weekend of Hockey

Well it's going to be a jam-packed weekend for myself and the team...with last night's game, tonight's game in Ottawa, and Catwalk for Charity...it should make for a fun-filled hockey weekend.

So since I updated this thing, a few things have happened. Drew Stafford scored a SIQ GOAL, Ryan Miller made a whopping 15 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and then he subsequently improved his shutout streak to just around 157 minutes, Thomas Vanek realized that he needed some new hats so he decided the easiest way to get some was by getting a hat-trick, Nathan Paetsch decided that since he was playing forward that he might as well add some more offense to his game by scoring a goal, and Tim Connolly is apparently a self-centered dink. Whatever that means.

So all in all it was a pretty exciting few games, huh? Timmy is looking like the Timmy we've all known to love when he's healthy...and I know I keep reiterating this, but he's really going to be a key component to not only get this team to the playoffs but also to give us a chance at making a deep playoff run as well. I know when he's injured it's very frustrating for everyone and a lot of times people are calling for the Sabres to trade him, waive him, or do whatever possible to get him off our roster. But the truth is, when he is healthy he's one of the best players on the ice night in and night out. He's sparking trade rumors now, and I just have to say that this team needs to keep him for the entire season. I don't think we should deal him at the deadline to see what we can get in return. Not only is he extremely talented, but he's providing great chemistry, and why should we mess with a good thing? If he can stay healthy for the rest of the season, the Sabres should try and sign him to a contract extension. I think a 2-year deal would be ideal. It would give the Sabres a chance to see if he can really stay healthy for an entire season or if he's just going to continue to be injured year in and year out.

Don't look now, but the Sabres are closing in a few teams to move up in the standings. We are tied in points with Philly, but they have 3 games in hand on us. We're only 2 points behind the Rangers... While it's a good idea to see where the Sabres are in the standings, number crunching can make you go nuts. I remember last season I would watch the standings like a hawk and it wasn't fun. I'd be all, "Okay, so if this team wins tonight in regulation against that team, then we will be able to get 8th place, only if we win in regulation as well." I then decided to not look at the standings and just try and enjoy the games that I watched after that. This year I've done that most of the time, but ever since the new year rolled around, I've found myself peeking at the standings more frequently. So while I do pay attention to who's creeping behind us and which teams we can possibly pass in the standings, for the most part I'm just going to watch my team and root for a victory. If the Sabres keep performing like they have been, then things should be okay.

Speaking of teams that we can possibly pass, I don't know about you, but I loathe the Rangers... I don't really have a legitimate answer as to why I do, but I've always extremely disliked that team. I guess it's a combination of a bunch of little things, but anyways, I really enjoyed seeing them getting their asses handed to them by the Stars last night. I didn't necessarily watch it, but I went to NHL.com to see that after 2 periods Dallas was up against the Blueshirts 4-2. Then I checked back a little later to see that they were up 8-2. I thought that NHL.com screwed up the box score or something. But then it was 9-2, and then it was 10-2...and I could only laugh. I think I've mentioned this on here before, but they're a team that I can see just free-falling all the way out of playoff contention. They just haven't been the same team they were in the beginning of the season. We'll see.

And completely unrelated to hockey, I just have to say that you guys should remind me to skip class when it's bitter cold out. I don't know what I was thinking. It's been so cold out. I get out of class and I want to sprint to my car because it's just so damn cold out. Yesterday it was pretty nice out though. I am also really really proud of myself because I purchased a textbook that I needed for school online for only 8 bucks. It was orginally $93 at the bookstore, but I found it online for EIGHT DOLLARS thanks to a tip from one of my classmates. It's a little worn out, but the binding is still intact and there are no pages missing. I'm usually not one to find a good bargain, but hell yes did I hit the jackpot, so to speak.

So between the Hockey gods giving our team some extra loving, and me finding an amazing deal online, I'm pretty happy. Oh and isn't this picture adorable?




LOVE IT. If it didn't have the annoying watermark on it, I'd totally print it out and hang it up on my wall. It's precious.

Back to Buffalo

I know it's hard to imagine but the Sabres are actually the Buffalo Sabres and they even play some games in this city too. They will be reacquainted with this lovely city and the HSBC Arena this month, as they have 7 home games. Unfortunately the Sabres couldn't edge the Ducks after a long road trip...but I liked the physicality that the team possessed. Rivet was super fiesty and he did a good job protecting our goalie. Poor Gaustad was stuck in the penalty box for the first half of the third period and I could tell he was dying to get out of there so he could throw his weight around. I thought Lalime did a good job. Considering he only starts once or twice every several weeks, he made some pretty big saves for us. He seemed to get more confident as the game went on. He made 34 saves, and it would have been nice if our top 2 lines could have produced to help him out more. He's our backup goalie, not our starting goaltender, so we shouldn't expect him to steal games for us...but he did his best to try. I wish the team could have gotten a win for him.

All in all, I thought it was a pretty good effort by the team...maybe the affects of being on the road for 6 straight games were taking its toll, but it's not a loss that I'm going to get too hung up over. I thought it was pretty entertaining and I'm glad that I watched it even though I only got around 7 hours of sleep last night, which isn't too bad. The good thing about having class early in the morning is that it's my only class of the day so I can go home afterwords and take a nice nap.

I'm going to the mall today to spend my Sephora gift card that I got for Christmas. I'll probably buy some nice makeup for Catwalk for Charity on Sunday. I've got my outfit ready and I can't believe it's already almost here. It's going to be such a fun night. So if any of you are going (I know a few of you are!), make sure you grab me and say hi if you see me. I'll be the blonde girl wearing a black dress with an awesome peacock feather in my hair. It should be pretty sassy.

Oh, and ladies...there's a post-game interview with a shirtless Paul Gaustad from last night over at Sabres TV. Just a little FYI. So this past week I saw Ryan Miller being adorable on his couch talking about sushi and a shirtless Paul Gaustad? Have I mentioned how much I love being a hockey fan?

January Friend

Well the Sabres have completed the grueling January schedule in a convincing fashion. 13 games total, 3 home games, 10 away, with a 9-4 record. It was definitely an important stretch and I know a lot of fans were worried about how the team was going to stack up once everything was said and done. The road seems to be a friendly place for the Sabres, which is a real asset. The Sabres have had their troubles on home ice, but they did win all 3 of the home games in January. There are a lot of games at home in February, so we'll see if they've really turned things around at home. I have a feeling they have.

It's no coincidence that our top players have been really on their game during this nice stretch. Roy has really found himself and it looks like Stafford is coming around as well. It's not only our top players, but energy players like Gaustad and Ellis have really done their jobs well and have played with effort and passion which can drive a team to success. Our blueline continues to face injury problems but we are still winning regardless. Our young players like Chris Butler have really been solid for us when we've really needed them to step up. But I think the biggest story for us is Ryan Miller. A goalie is the most important player and when he's on his game he gives us a chance to win every single night. Luckily for us, he's been really on and he's been very consistent. I know a lot of times fans will complain about his consistency, but he's really been excellent over these past several weeks. I think goaltending can be a position where it can make goalies out to be really inconsistent, but that's neither here nor there... He's been named NHL's Third Star for January and he's earned the recognition.

While he's been extremely hot (zanggg baby boy) and he's just coming off a shutout, I'm glad that Lalime is getting the start tonight. If we want Miller to continue playing this well, then he's going to need to get some rest. Plus Lalime needs to playing time to ensure that he can be sharp enough to compete. While Lalime has let in some questionable goals, I also believe that the team has not been playing well enough in front of their backup goalie to win many games. Patrick Lalime isn't Ryan Miller. He's not a starting goalie anymore. He's our backup goalie and the team and fans can't expect him to steal any games for us. During the month of January, there were several games where Miller faced 40+ shots a night and we picked up victories in the process, but I just don't think we can or should expect that type of outcome with Lalime in net. It'd be nice to see them buckle down better when he's starting and try to help him out a little more. With a goalie like Miller, for the most part he can be there when the team has a breakdown and he will bail the team out, but I don't know if the same can be said when your backup goalie is in net. It would be great for Lalime to get another win for us tonight because he seems to be a great teammate to have in the locker room and he seems to be very supportive of Miller. It would just be nice to see him get a win. Obviously because we need the points but also because of the type of player he seems to be.

So all in all, I just wanted to make a post talking about what a great month January was for the Sabres and all the wins were well deserved and it came from strong effort and hard work. We picked up valuable points and hopefully the team has some more confidence and they can be proud of what they accomplished over the past month. Now let's hope they can finish the road trip on a positive note before we welcome them home...