SHOULD I LOOK ON THE SPORTS PAGE? OR IN THE OBITUARIES?

Wow. What a Buffalo sports weekend Thursday and Friday (You can't tell me yesterday didn't feel like a Saturday. No? Well it did to me, but then again, I'm used to four-day weekends.).

Let me first touch on the Sabres/Stars game.

I kid you not, I was seriously going to turn the game off when it became 3-0, Dallas. I mean, my brother had already vacated the room, my father had fallen asleep in his recliner, and my mother had picked up her Stephen King novel. At that point, what's a girl to do? Her family has "abandoned" her, and the only love(s) in her life weren't measuring up.

And don't even get me started on how angry I was with Drew Stafford. Seriously? How do you get in the box twice in one period and then how do the Sabres allow them to score twice?? Honestly, I didn't think there would be a doghouse big enough to fit Drew in at that moment. And I really did not envy the ensuing brunt of Lindy's anger, either.

But then Paul Gaustad came along.

Kim, I know that Paul is your favorite and all, but I love him. I've definitely fallen for him (at least until tonight's game).

So it was all good during our little comeback. We came within one goal, thanks to Jochen Hecht, but then we allowed the Stars to pull ahead a bit more, which was extremely disconcerting to my feeble heart.

But, then again, cue Paul Gaustad!! Seriously, this guy knows how to make a girl's heart flutter.

And I could barely contain myself when I thought Jaro Spacek had scored, but then was even more excited to find out that it was, in fact, Clarke MacArthur! There we had it, folks. A tie game, headed to overtime.

But you all know how much I hate overtime. And I hate the shootout even more. Don't get me wrong; it's entertaining as hell. I just don't have the patience/strength to endure it.

I really thought Tim Connolly would help a girl out and win the game for us, but no. Anyways, what can I expect from a guy who had all but concluded his 10th game of the season? And can I just say that when Jere Lehtinen beat Ryan Miller in the shootout, I feared all hope was lost? But then Derek Roy rescued me from the depths of despair (yes, I'm being dramatic), and Jason Pominville (who I've taken to calling JPom for some reason...) put the nail in the coffin.

I have a flair for the dramatic. That's why I love games like these. And wasn't it just adorable to see the guys pushing, shoving, and punching each other at the end? They were just so happy!

Note to the Sabres: See how happy you are when you win? And when you're happy, your body produces more serotonin. And when you're producing more serotonin, you'll probably play better. Which means you'll win more. See where I'm going with this??

Oh, and congratulations goes to Craig Rivet, who put up his 200th career point with his assist on Gaustad's first goal of the game.

So guys, let's keep the serotonin flowing tonight, eh?

But on to the Bandits game, where there was an overabundance of serotonin.

23 goals??? Seriously???

For those of you who don't know, last night was my first Bandits game. I'm a big lacrosse fan, and when they used to show the games on Empire back in the day, I'd watch them. But now they're not televised (that I know of), so I never get to see them.

But the Bandits sure know how to instill false expectations in a girl.

So we all know that Derek Roy is my favorite Sabre, and that Trent Edwards is my favorite Bill (sort of by default). But I needed a favorite Bandit. So, who do I choose? Mark Steenhuis. The reason, you may ask? Well, there's a few. He has ridiculously hair, which is basically the reason I fell for Tim Connolly during his Sabres introductory press conference. He also was born in Niagara Falls (Ontario), so he's basically a hometown boy. And he has bright orange sneakers, which is just fabulous. It doesn't hurt that his adorable son has his hair.

Little did I know that I'd walk away with my adopted favorite Bandit scoring 13 points. Eight goals and five assists. Um... What??

Yeah. Pretty much the best first Bandits game. Ever. Maureen (Kim's mom) probably hates me now, because whenever she can't go to a sporting event, I take her ticket. And whenever I take her ticket, they (usually the Sabres) win. And in spectacular fashion. So last night fit the mold perfectly.

Kim just looked up some factoids on her phone as I was writing this:

That game (in which the final score was 23-6) now holds the Rochester Knighthawk's records for most goals against and most lopsided loss. Pretty sweet, right?

But at one point during the game, the guy who sits next to Kim just looked at us, dumbfounded, and said, "So, tomorrow, when I want to read about this game, should I look on the sports page, or in the obituaries?"

Damn good question, Aaron. I think the latter would be more appropriate.

Well anyways, Kim and I are finally getting to a game-day skate today, barring any unforeseen occurrences in the next half hour. I'll put up some pictures before I go fulfill my duties to the work-world.