I don't necessarily want to go there, but...

Quickly, before I run out the door to go to my Anatomy/Physiology Lab (which, by the way, is 2.5 hours, and the labs literally takes me less than 1; ridiculous), I just want to say a few things that I feel need to be said, some of which could be a bit controversial (I said a bit; that could be a stretch):

JOCHEN HECHT

There is absolutely nothing controversial about this gorgeous German.  Anyways, the Sabres really need to stop giving me bad news while driving at high speeds.  Last night, Kim and I drove up to the outlet mall in Niagara Falls, but then decided to go on a little adventure.  So, whilst driving down the 219 to Boston, I hear my phone vibrate in my door, so I grab it, and seeing "722737" on my screen, I say, "Oh God, what did the Sabres do now?".  Then, while holding the wheel, at about 70 mph, I read:

"BREAKING NEWS--Buffalo Sabres GM Dary Regier announced that Jochen Hecht underwent surgery today on his finger and will miss a couple of weeks.  Txt End 2 quit."

Wow.  Enough said, pretty much.  No, really, though, I'm extremely upset.  Then Kim goes, "Well, just think:  This could mean a call-up for Gerbe!"  And then I thought rationally (why do I always have to do that?), "No, because we have Ellis, and besides, Ruff always calls up whoever had been hot down there, and that's MARK MANCARI!!!"  Which is kinda funny because Ruff said he would be the guy if they do, indeed, decide a filler guy is in order.  But then he'd have to clear waivers again, and I'd be a basketcase for the entire 24-hour waiver period.  

Jochen, ich liebe dich.  That's "I love you" in German, if you can't remember my story about him hearing me say that to him during practice one day.  He literally turned around and looked at me.  Who was mortified?  This girl.

MICHAEL PECA

I'll be the first to admit that when this guy was a free agent, I wanted the Sabres to pick him up again.  I love Mike Peca.

True, his game is a fine line between gritty and dirty, but the guy's smart.  He didn't win the Selke purely by chance, and there was a reason for his being named Captain during his tenure here.  And the guy's just not stupid.

That being said, I don't think whatever happened here (WARNING:  Really bad fan video) is worth a 10-game suspension.  He admittedly grabbed the ref's arm, but there is no way in hell you can convince me that he hit a linesman with his stick, as was perceived.

Now I realize that there's this thing in the NHL where you're not supposed to touch the sacred officials, but (1) they often ignore player's pleas, especially if the person they're coming from has a negative reputation of any sort, and (2) how were they supposed to hear anything remotely sounding like a voice when, HELLO! Dallas just scored and 18,532 people are screaming their heads off because, HEY! the Stars just scored on a 2-man advantage!  So he grabbed your arm.  Big deal.  Give him the three games mandated by the automatic contact clause or whatever it's called and be done with it.  Peca is not so stupid as to use excessive force with an official.

There was something else I had to say too, but I can't remember what it was, and I really need to get going to lab...

Anyways, since I can't provide you with anything good to read, go read THN's article about Nathan Gerbe that appears in the issue my household received yesterday.  Actually, I can't find it, so I'll post about it later, or tomorrow, or something.  But I love it, because the Sabres list him as 5'6", as do the Pirates, by they (THN) say he's 5'5".  WHICH MEANS I AM TALLER THAN HIM!  That's exciting shit right there!

And speaking of the Pirates, they do Bobblehead Nights, so go vote for the guy to have his very own Bobblehead.

Okay, 'til later.  Have a nice day, everyone!  And, oh yeah, Go Sabes!