WHERE TO BEGIN?

Okay, so I realize that I've become very neglectful of my dear blog. And I apologize for that.

But I'm trying this new thing for me, where I'm actually going to study regularly on my own time, and not just pay attention in class. That worked out well for me in high school, but I can't say it's doing much the same in college. So, in order to not waste my $354.50 that I had to pay in tuition this semester, I'm actually taking the time to do my reading and take my own notes.

Sad, right?

But school also messed up my blogging schedule. Last semester, my earliest class was at 10, which still left me plenty of time to wake up early, blog, get ready, and then be on my way. This time around? No. I decided that I wanted to get all of my school out of the way so I could have all afternoon and evening to myself. So, being the genius that I am, I made my Tuesday/Thursday schedule so that I go in at 8, and I'm done at 12:15. Wednesdays are a bit tedious, in that my lab starts at 9, but my last class lets out at 3:50.

For that reason, I'm not blogging nearly as much as I used to. I just have too many things on my plate once I get home from school, or I go somewhere... You know how it is. And it's not like I can even blog in between classes, because T/Th, I only have 15 minutes breaks, and Wednesday I have an hour and a half, but that's my lunch time (I only have two classes that day).

And then there's the whole work issue.

I used to be able to blog at work. The past few games I was going to, but out of the 12 patients I have, eight of them decided to come down with the stomach flu this week. Yeah, so I didn't really have time to blog, much less eat my dinner, because they all decided to get violently ill during my down time. Thankfully that wasn't during the Sabres game. Well, no, I actually did miss the first period of the Phoenix game. Kim and my mom were blowing up my phone about Paetsch and ridiculous calls, and I had no clue what they were talking about.

Shame.

So.

I'm back... At least, for the time being.

Thus far, I can't really complain about the west coast trip. Yes, we lost to Calgary, but we also walked all over Edmonton, and won a tough game against Phoenix. I can't really comment on the meat of the games, though, because I was in a stupor during the Oilers game, and at work for the 'yotes. The Flames game, though.. I don't even remember where I was. Well, it was Wednesday, so I guess I was home. But, again, in a stupor.

But what I can say is DAY-YUM.

Don't even get me started on Tim Connolly. I FREAKING LOVE THIS MAN, STD's included. If they've helped to make him the hockey star that he is, I'll take it. He's been absolutely phenomenal the past couple weeks, and I will be absolutely devastated if anything happened to him now. But I did freak out when they were stitching up his lip. All in all, though, he just won't be able to kiss any of the puckbunnies, or anything along those lines.

This, though, was my cousin's Facebook status, in regards to Timmy C:


(Sorry, Shelby... I wasn't knocking Tommy, you know I love him. I just love Timmy more.)

So basically, enough said. Thanks, Todd.

And Nathan Paetsch??

Dang, when did he get so feisty??


I'm not going to lie; I like it.

And Ryan Miller has been so foxy in net, and foxy on his living room couch, and just foxy in general.

Watch this, and you'll see what I mean. It's basically everything that was in the TBN on Sunday, but I just like how cute he looks in the video.

Yeahhh, and Derek's assist one Drew's goal was pretty sexy as well. Just like Drew's play as of late.

Oh, and Patty K, Patty K, PATTY K!!!! Way to cause a ruckus in your first game back! That's why I love you. Oh, and not to mention how adorable you were in your interview:


Who could punch this face??

Oh, wait... Denis Gauthier could. Funny thing, though, is that he's being told to report to a disciplinary hearing with Gary Bettman. Aww, shucks, Denis. Looks like you can't get away with being an asshole forever!

And in other NHL news, Ottawa has *finally* fired their coach. I mean, when did the rumors start for real? I know I wrote about it back in... Oh, wait, nevermind. I can't find it, but I believe it was back in the beginning of January when we doubled up on them, 4-2. Sucks to be you, Craig Hartsburg. But I find sick enjoyment in Ottawa's struggles, myself. I think I'm getting to the point where I hate the Sens more than the Leafs...

Alright, so my plan for this evening is to do some Psychology reading, watch the St. Louis/Detroit game tonight, and then the Sabres game at 10. It might kill me, but I might have to go to bed before the end of the game. I'm not sure if I can run on four hours of sleep again...

I will most definitely be back tomorrow, though. I promise. Even if it is at four in the afternoon. xoxo.

I'M CONVINCED

Seriously. Maria Genero has totally won my heart over...

...for Henrik Tallinder. (Don't even get me started on Genero. I've said it before, I want her job, and I'd stop at nothing short of lumping her up to get it. That is, if I weren't afraid of the ensuing arrest.)

Really, though, I've always liked Hank and thought he was a decent enough defenseman. And it didn't hurt that during practices or whatever he always, always is smiling, and you can often her him shouting in celebration or just because they're having fun. And that's what I want from the Sabres. I want them to play well, but I want them to have fun.

Everyone knows that when you're having fun and you're getting satisfaction from your job or task at hand, than you'll perform better while doing it. So if the Sabres are having fun, then they'll most likely be playing a hell of a lot better than we've seen out of them this season.

Anyways, I just thought it was adorable during the Sabres Show, when Henrik was talking about sledding with this wife Ann(e) and their children Nathan and Amelie. He smiled and went all cute and sentimental on us when he said he loves to hear the kids giggle.


Come on, now. Big collective AWWW. =]

But that's only the first part of my conviction.

The rest has to do with the long-term injuries suffered by Teppo Numminen (fractured jaw) and Andrej Sekera (ankle).

I've been saying it for weeks: The Sabres somehow needed to devise a defensemen rotation of sorts. Yes, before you even say it, I know it would screw up the pairings and the chemistry, blah blah blah, but we all know that our defense corps tend to break down and fall apart (i.e. every single one gets hurt) from the middle of the season, down through the stretch, and into the playoffs.

(I honestly believe that, had Jay McKee not contracted a ridiculous staph infection in his leg, due to a laceration from his pads, we would have a Stanley Cup banner in the rafters at the HSBC Arena.)

But now Chris Butler is really going to know what it's like to be a regular NHL player. Teppo Numminen is not going to be there to show him the ropes now, and he's going to have to step up even more than he has already to carry this team. Yes, I said carry this team. Out of the six defensemen that are going to be dressing now, I believe that Butler is the most consistent and most reliable. At least he has been since he was called up before Christmas.

And Nathan Paetsch?

I've been saying all along that Lindy Ruff needs to change the ways he deals with his seventh defenseman and his back-up goalies. If they have one bad game, they never again see playing time. You can't expect a guy who sits about 10 games or more to come back to the lineup and play better than your starter(s). It just won't happen. They either have to be played more often, or given a string of two, maybe three, games, depending on who it is (i.e. position).

Lindy did it last year with Thibault, and he's doing it this year with Lalime.

The sad thing is, this thinking and method has seeped it's way up to the press box, which has become much like a prison for Paetsch, I'm sure.

No matter how many bag skates this guy does, no matter how many extra minutes he logs with James Patrick, no matter how many times he hits the stationary bikes, he is not going to be used to game-play. It just won't happen.

I can only hope that Nathan has a good game tonight. Well, actually, whether he does or not is slightly irrelevant, because no one is going to be getting a flight from Portland to Buffalo any time soon. Not a defenseman, at least. Mike Weber has been injured for some time now, and Mike Funk is recuperating in his hometown of Abbotsford, BC while he recovers from his second concussion since training camp of this year. (The first was suffered during camp, I believe the opening day. He returned from that on November 7, 2008, which just so happened to be the night I was there. The second concussion was suffered from a vicious hit from behind into the boards (which I still can't find video of), mid-December. Funk has only played in 13 of Portland's 37 games.) Out of the other d-men there, only two have seen any time up in Buffalo (Mike Card and Marc-Andre Gragnani, the latter used to play as a winger).

So like I said, hopefully Paetsch will have been worked in practice hard enough to be near game speed. I really hope he does well, because I'd hate to see him go. And the likely scenario is that he will if he doesn't play well.

Die By The Blade has already furthered the trade rumor that could be bringing in veteran Mathieu Schneider to bolster the blue line in exchange for the mostly unwanted Maxim Afinogenov.

Could something along these lines happen? It will be interesting to see which rumors turn out to be actual moves once the trade deadline passes. But if this one does go through, the Sabres will be in a rut as far as bodies go. We've got too many defensemen, but most of them are very young. I'm anxious to see what Darcy and the management will do, come February and March.

Anyways, Go Sabres! (And Derek? Remember what I said about no friends on the ice. You shouldn't even be friends with Greg Campbell off the ice, so definitely no niceties on the ice.)

Oh, and I just feel the need to tell you that Thomas Vanek giggles like a girl, and he and Drew Stafford stuck Butler with the bill at Chef's on Saturday. He laughed it off when asked about it, but still. Way to treat the rookies like that.

RANDOM RAMBLINGS

The Sabres haven't played since Saturday and because of this there are some pretty slim pickings when it comes to news to report to the masses. Or in reality the twenty or so people who read this blog on a regular basis. So because of this I had to scour the sports news sites for even the smallest entertaining and/or new information about the Sabres or other teams that I actually care about.


For those of you who have ever set foot in the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport you're aware of what a happy, fun-filled place it is especially the lost luggage counter. Well tell that to Zenon Konopka the AHL player who got called up by Tampa for Wednesday's game. He arrived in Buffalo 30 minutes before the game started to discover that the bag containing his pads and skates didn't arrive with him. So what's a hockey player to do when his skates and pads don't arrive? He has to borrow these essential items. So he borrowed shoulder pads from Ryan Malone, shin guards from Gary Roberts and a pair of skates from Jeff Halpern. But trying to wear someone else's skates proved to be too uncomfortable so after 47 seconds of ice time and a fight Zenon, after the day he had, sat out the rest of the game. Let's hope he at least wore his own jock strap.


I was babysitting yesterday when Cari called me with news about my poor Paul's beautiful face. I almost cried even though scars serve to make a man, in my opinion, more rugged and handsome. But still this was Paul and I don't want my Paul with scars. Paul is my own personal David with the fig leaf for modesty's sake.

My David

Now I'm hearing the Derby Gerbe is hurt and is out for 10 days to 2 weeks with an upper body injury stemming from him being hit by Jamie Langenbrunner in Saturday night's game agains the Devils, my poor Speedy. But on an upbeat note, it looks as if everyone's favorite Boom Boy is going to be back for Wednesday's game, Kaleta's been cleared to play after missing the last few weeks with a neck injury.



So now we have Rivet out for at least two weeks with a shoulder injury, Gerbe out for 10 days to 2 weeks with an upper body injury, Timmy out for who knows how long, Paetsch with a missing tooth after being hit with a puck in the mouth and poor Paul being hit in the chin with a puck at the same practice. Ugh...and the injuries start piling up.

Turkey?? Pfft.... I WANT GOOSE.

Cari: Danny, I missed you tonight.

Dan: Yeah, I wish I could've played, but you know how it goes...

Cari: So, why did I see you all sad and lonely up in the press box this evening?

Dan: Well, you know, I got sick somehow. I think Drew might've given me some candy off the floor or something... Adam's always telling me and Clarke not to take stuff from Drew because he's a weirdo. But Drew always has the best candy and stuff, so I didn't think it would be a problem...

Cari: Okay, you're sick... That makes sense, I guess. But why were you all by yourself? How come you weren't sitting with Timmy?

Dan: First of all, I'm not allowed to hang out with Timmy. Adam says he plays Doctor too much, and that I can't play with him if he does. Second of all, I was in Time Out.

Cari: Time Out?!? How come?

Dan: Because I threw up in Nathan's skates...

Cari: So that's why he wasn't playing tonight... But why all alone, though?

Dan: Adam said it was punishment for not throwing up in "that little puke Lucic's" skates. I kinda wish I had after he tried to kill all my friends tonight. I'm going to get him one day for that. And that's a promise. But Pat already told me that Lucic had better watch out if they're ever on the ice at the same time.

Cari: Yeah, I don't care for him much, either, especially after he went after Princess D.

Dan: Yeah. Oh hey! I like that jersey on you, by the way. I'll tell Derek that you look good in his name. Hey, and maybe that's why he played so well tonight!!

Cari: Danny, my friend, I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK. And also, tell him that I honestly believe in my heart that he should have had four goals tonight, the last coming on a penalty shot? Thanks much.

Dan: Sure thing.

Cari: And make sure everyone knows that Kim and I, next time we're in Boston, are going to track Milan Lucic down and beat his ass. Because I hate him.

Dan: I know. Hey, I have to go. It's past my bedtime.

Cari: Okay, Danny. I'll talk to you later. Good night, precious.


----------------------------------------------


So, beyond that, I'm soooooo incredibly happy about tonight's game. But here are the things I'm thankful for:

- The guy behind us at the game tonight who said "I want to call up Gerbe just to see if he could skate through Chara's legs."

- The group of four 11-year-old boys who told a Bruins fan that they'd "never seen a girl look hotter in a Boston jersey."

- The fact that no Sabres died in the making of this victory.

- Derek Roy's inability to stop finding ways to make me love him, and make fun of him, all at the same time.

- Paul Gaustad and Ryan Miller's inability to stop raising my expectations of men.

- Thomas Vanek's ability to continuously light the lamp.

- Patrick Kaleta, Andrew Peters, and Adam Mair's willingness to beat the crap out of people and sacrifice their bodies for the sake of the game.

- Tim Connolly's strength of character, combined with his entertaining sex-capades.

- Drew Stafford's Facebook pictures.

- Henrik Tallinder's dancing.

- Jaroslav Spacek's interviews.

- Nathan Paetsch's smile.

- Mark Mancari's voice.

- Daniel Paille's inability to take a normal-looking picture.

- Patrick Lalime's adoration of his daughters.

- Craig Rivet's adoration of Buffalo.

- Jason Pominville's loyalty to The (dreaded) System.

- Maxim Afinogenov's best game in a long time.

- Jochen Hecht's shortie, as well as the look on his face when he heard me say "I love you."

- Ales Kotalik's admission that he designed a line of hats.

- Clarke MacArthur's curly hair.

- Toni Lydman's choice in women.

- Teppo Numminen's picture from 1985.

- Andrej Sekera's polo player sweater.

- Lindy Ruff's ability to inspire these guys, year after year, after year.

- All of the Sabres Bloggers, because they're all foxy and incredibly intelligent, and probably some of the funniest writers I've ever come across.

- The city of Buffalo for being amazing.

- My cat Delilah for being the cutest fat cat around.

- And, lastly, my beautifully sexy friends, especially my dear Kimberly, as well as my mostly awesome family. Without them, I'd be completely lost in life.



So, everyone, have a beautiful holiday with your respective loved ones, and Kim and I will resume posting on Friday. I'm sure I forgot stuff about the game tonight, and I'm equally as sure Kim will let me know about it. So those things will make it up here eventually. But, until then, be safe, eat turkey, and love those Sabres!!

RUMORS OF MY DEMISE...

So looking back I realize that I haven't post in about a week and a half and I realized that many of you, that is if you care, might be wondering where the hell I am, or maybe you didn't notice, well if you did I thank you for caring. Let's put it this way, I am the bug on the windshield of life, I'm feeling all good and happy and then all of a sudden it's not so good and happy.

But anyway I have the rest of the week off so yay to vacation and sleep, which is what again? oh that's right something I haven't had a lot of in the past 3 weeks, unlike my wonderful counter part who has class tomorrow (sorry Cari, you know I love you). But that means I've also had time to update my profile information here, which previously looked like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard, as well as catch up on some reading which involved books not composed of really long complicated words that I don't know the meaning of.

But in other good news Cari and I shall be attending tomorrow night's game against Boston and I feel I must remind you of what happened the last time we attended a Boston game together...oh that's right they LOST, something new and different for them (complete sarcasm there). We'll have played Boston three times in the last three weeks tomorrow night having lost two of those contest, so needless to say our track record against Boston has been less than stellar this season.
But, hopefully we can turn that all around tomorrow night with the return of Hank and Max to the line up, oh hockey gods let's hope.

The question remains, however, who sits out? The most obvious bench warmer for defense would be Nathan because he's been the odd man out all year, but well, I happen to think he played pretty damn well for someone who's had a pretty good view of the ice from the press box for most of the season. Offense is trickier, Boston is a pretty physical team which means we're going to need the enforcers patrolling the ice so that rules out Peters and Kaleta most likely. Paille is another player who could take a seat but seeing as it was his line that scored the first goal, YAY MARK, in Saturday night's game I'm thinking he's probably going to be playing. That leaves us with everyone's favorite rockstar, Drew Stafford, who, and it pains me to say this, has been really sucky lately, so he has my vote for bench warmer tomorrow night. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Lindy decides is best for the team.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving, I'll be going to my brother's in Rochester, gorging myself on turkey, stuffing and potato puff, staying over and then going shopping with my sister-in-law early on Friday. Which means I probably won't be posting until after Friday night's game unless something drastic happens betwen now and then, let's hope not, unless it's of the good variety.

So until then, LET'S GO BUFFALO.

Housekeeping.

The Sabres need to learn how to do it, so they should take a lesson from me.


(1) As I'm sure you've noticed, I got bored with our layout/template/thing, so I freshened it up. And can I please tell you how obnoxious it is to mess around with Blogger's templates? They're all kinda ugly, or already being used, and since I like to be all cutesy with my stuff, and I don't like to copy people, I get really annoyed when you're only given a handful of options. Whatever, though.


(2) MARK MANCARI SCORED HIS FIRST NHL GOAL LAST NIGHT!!!!! I was soooo proud. We (the nurse I work with and myself) were watching the game at work, and she was laughing her ass off when he scored because I was awing, and saying "Aw, Mark, I love you! I'm so proud of you!" She said I looked like a doting mother watching her only daughter get married. BEST ANALOGY EVER.


I LOVE YOU.


(3) Derek scored again, finally. And he couldn't have done it at a better time, as far as I'm concerned, because, while I was driving to work yesterday, a guy from the Sabres Store called me, and left a message saying that my NEW THIRD JERSEY CAN BE PICKED UP ON WEDNESDAY. YAYYYYYY!! So now I take back saying that I wasn't too sure if I wanted his jersey anymore, because Princess D is starting to play better.


(4) When D scored yesterday, Kim texted me and said "he doesn't skinny dip, he chunky dunks." This is why I love her.


(5) Awesome reader Katie told me that she saw D eating spaghetti at Chef's yesterday, and that he eats like a pig. Now, I don't know about you, but I tend to view all the Sabres as perfect people, kinda like every girl's expectations of Mr. Right. So I never expect any one of them to shovel pasta into their mouth and let the mozzarella cheese that was melted all over it to stick to the plate as they chew a mouthful. So, Katie, as fantastic as that was, I'm going to forget you ever told me that, and go on living in my blissful, delusional world. No offense though. I still love you.


(6) I decided that I'm not going to comment on actual game-play until the Sabres start winning again.


(7) If the playoffs were to start today, we'd be out. That's depressing, considering the start we had.


(8) I totally called Timmy C's injury--BROKEN RIB. Called it. And I'm not one to say I told you so... Actually, who the hell am I kidding. I TOLD YOU SO!! =]


(9) I never commented on Paul's fish story. A-FREAKING-DORABLE. I hate worms too, but that's mostly because when I was little, my friend Kevin used to (AND I'M NOT KIDDING YOU. I SWEAR.) squirt chocolate syrup on them and eat them like spaghetti. At least Derek doesn't do that... But I don't like fish, either. My friend Kristle's dad used to fish all the time and he'd gut them in the backyard while we were laying out in the sun. Gross.


I leave you with my last comment of this Sunday, as I'm currently watching the Bills, leading the Chiefs. *crossing fingers* ...maybe??


(10) My dad made these up last night and sent them to me; they're absolutely hilarious, and you really should take the time to watch them all: Dance 1, Dance 2, Dance 3, Dance 4

That was AWESOME.

And I'm not talking about the Sabres game, because that was terrible.

And I felt terrible, because it was Jason's first Sabres game, and the only exciting thing that happened was Peters' fight, which wasn't even that good to begin with.

I mean, it was obvious that they were trying, because things worked pretty well, at times. But there is absolutely no excuse that we get shut out when we miss at least four wide-open nets. It's just not right.

There are only a few guys that I think played decently enough: Mark Mancari (who got the third star YAYYYYY), Nathan Paetsch, and Paul Gaustad. You can argue others, and I'd probably agree and apologize for omitting them in hindsight, but that's what I've got.

I seriously think that the only way to get through to these guys would be to place Timmy and Al on IR, and call up Gerbe and Kennedy, and let some guys who have something to fight for play. If the regular guys' jobs are in limbo, they'll show up. They will. Nobody likes being benched so a guy from the minors can show them up. That's like you being at your job for five years, and you're being told by your boss that the guy who just got promoted from the mail room is more efficient than you.

Another couple things about them: Craig, as much as I love him, hasn't been the same since he sat out with his knee injury, and we need a game from Ryan that's a win from the goalie. And there are others, as well. Drew needs to stop gripping the stick so tightly, and get angry for being benched. He just seems to go with the flow, and it kills me. I'm too angry to go on.

On another note, I saw dear Timmy at the game last night. He was sitting up in the press box. And funny story... I never usually look in that area of the press box, because I didn't think the players sat there, but for some reason my eyes sort of gravitated to him. AND I STILL DON'T GET IT. HE'S NOT THAT ATTRACTIVE. idk. He just has a really powerful aura, I guess.

Shannon and I were going to flash him, but we couldn't really see him, mostly because he was sitting down, so we decided that possibly getting his attention wasn't worth her boyfriend Mark and my friend Jason getting all sorts of angry and the most-likely public indecency charge. But, in hindsight, I'm sure Timmy's got a sensor for that sort of thing, and he probably would have noticed... Yet again, another missed opportunity.


BUT I HAVE SOMETHING AMAZING TO SHARE.

Are you ready???

Are you sure? Because I'm not so sure that you are.

Well, alright. So, remember how last year, Derek was playing fantastic, and this year, he kinda sucks? And remember how we've been saying it's because he's a chunky monkey???

WELL I WANT THIS DEREK BACK:



Thanks much to awesome reader Katie for this gem. She's my new best friend (Sorry, Kim).

And I think MJ put it best, by saying, "UM BRB clawing my eyes out because I never want to see another pic again because this one is the winner. We as a society can stop taking pictures now."

Amen, sister. Amen.

If only that picture could help the Sabres play better...

Tampa Bay? Seriously? and no this is not Grey's Anatomy

So I originally wasn't going to go to tonight's game because my mom and I share season tickets with my uncle and he had tonight's game. But a guy my mom works with said he couldn't go and asked my mom if she and I wanted to. Of course she said yes and now I'm wishing she'd said no. Because not only was I depressed as hell that the Sabres lost to Ottawa, I'm even more depressed that they lost to TAMPA BAY????? How the hell does this happen? How the hell do we lose to Tampa Bay a team that, for all intents and purposes, was the worst team in the NHL two years ago and last year near the very bottom if I'm not mistaken. Okay now that my rant is out of the way.

Two bright rays of sunshine made the day marginally better, Paul played tonight for the first time since the preseason and Hank played after having his leg slashed by an errant skate last week. So our injured team is slowly making progress back to full health, the only players missing are Rivet, who skated today and said that his leg was feeling good, and Timmy, who knows or cares when he's going to be back. Let's all hope that no one else gets hurt in the interim, especially defensemen, because we really can't afford not to have a completely healthy team.

What I wondered about tonight was why Mike Weber played instead of Nathan Paetsch, considering Paetsch is technically on the team and Weber is a call up. Why pay to have Weber up here when we have a perfectly good defenseman waiting in the wings for a chance to play another game?

In other news the Sabres' coaches and broadcasters all wore ties to support Hockey Fights Cancer tonight. The players wore small stickers on their helmets because as obvious they couldn't wear ties because they were too busy LOSING to TAMPA BAY. Also they sold pink hats signed by the players tonight with proceeds going to benefit the Sabres foundation and Roswell Park. Mine this year was signed by Nathan Paetsch, which was another reason I was disappointed he didn't play.

But what can you do besides look to Saturday's game and hope that Craig starts playing really soon, because without him we seem a little lost wait...no.....REALLY LOST, as in lost to OTTAWA and TAMPA BAY, without him.

I'm going to go cry now.

I Apologize, But OH. MY. GOODNESS.

FINAL SCORE

Sabres 4

Wild 3

Yikes...

So last night, at the end of overtime, I was trying desperately to post my thoughts at the end of my half-hearted attempt to liveblog, but I was thwarted by three things:  (1) My MacBook had about two minutes of battery life left, (2) Blogger was being impossible and wouldn't provide me with a "Publish Post" button, and (3) I was exhausted, from doing basically nothing all day.  Whatevs.

SO YAY!!!  I just love Drew Stafford, Ryan Miller, Nathan Paetsch, Adam Mair, Thomas Vanek, and Derek Roy!!!!

Okay, so before I get to my little recap/awards for the game, I want to share this ridiculous story with you, just to show your how messed up my actual Sabres-watching life is.

A while back I was decorating the planners that Kim and I bought for this semester.  They're fairly large in size, and I did the front with song lyrics, stars, and flowers, ya know, made it all girly.  But then I wanted to do the back all Sabres.  So I ripped apart the calendar I bought last season, which, mind you, still counts until December of this year, and cut out Paul and glued him to the back of hers.  Well, that just about ruined the entire calendar, and it all fell apart.  To make this long part of the story short, Derek ended up on the refrigerator.  Tuesday night I was complaining that he hadn't scored yet, and my mother points to the picture, and says, "Do you know what I'm going to call Derek now?  Dreck."  So I had to find out what dreck means, and this is what Google reports:

"schlock; merchandise that is shoddy of inferior; trash, junk; worthless merchandise; crap"

Can I just tell you how mad I was at my mother?  (Because, of course, my brother and father just had to overhear, and now Derek will forever be Dreck to them.  These are the guys that, for years, taunted me with Gay Jay McKee.  Not even funny.)  But now whenever the Sabres are playing bad hockey, I call it schlocky hockey.

But then somehow, for some reason, my mother thought it would be funny to turn Derek's name around, so when he scored in OT last night, she goes, "Cari!  Backstrum just got Yorkered!!"  Hahahahahahahah.  He got yorkered.  That's special.

BUT ANYWAYS.

My Three Stars would have to be as such:

(1)  Thomas Vanek.

Yet again, Tommy's a beast.  Coming through in the clutch is what true leaders do (and I'm not going to name names here, but you know exactly to whom I am referring.), and Tommy is definitely our team leader, on the score sheet, at least.  Actually, make that the undisputed league leader.

OH, BY THE WAY, WE'RE FIRST IN THE LEAGUE OVERALL.  YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I SAID.

(2)  Derek Roy.

I have to give him props for scoring the winner.  And while he hasn't been turning up on the score sheet, he must have been doing something right because he's playing with Tommy and D-Money.  Plus he's been putting forth consistent high-energy performances.

(3)  Adam Mair.

Scoring the goal to jump-start our comeback is always a good choice.

MY HONORARY FAVORITE SABRE:

Nathan Paetsch.  He stepped up big-time to fill the skates of Craig.  And while he wasn't perfect, and he didn't quite hit the mark that Craig probably would, he still had a great game.  He had a couple of offensive opportunities himself, and gave Mair the feed for our second goal.  Keep it up, Nate, and they'll be hard-pressed to knock you out when Craig returns.

But Ryan, come on, man...  I don't even have anything to say about that goal you scored, except for that you pulled a Mike Ryan...  At least you've got a decent sense of humor.

OOOH and for those of you who'd like to get a glimpse at the Portland Pirates, but aren't psychotic enough as Kim and I to drive all the way to Maine, check this out.  Can I please just tell you how excited I am???  (That's channel 13 for those of you in the city of Buffalo and the closer 'burbs.  I'm not sure as to the digits when you get farther out...)  And don't let me forget to mention that the Pirates are wearing and auctioning off pink jerseys in tomorrow night's game, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Aw, thanks guys!!

Oh, and speaking of that, has anyone been to Boston or Portland recently?  Have any ideas as to what Kim and I can do while we're up there?  I'd appreciate any tips.  (And I think we might make a stop in Mike Ryan's stomping grounds for MJ and see if he's there at all, which is totally plausible.)

And before I forget, Dave and Adam's Card World posted new signing information:

Andrej Sekera  :  Tuesday, November 25, Sheridan location

Thomas Vanek  :  Date and Location TBA, but sometime in December.

I have a feeling that Tommy's will be at their Transit location, since he lives out that way.

Remember, too, that next week they're having Rivet (Tuesday) and Pominville (Wednesday).

And if you go to Craig's signing, bring him some milk and cookies.  I wanted to bake cookies for Paul and leave them on his doorstep, but Kim thought that that would be crossing the line.  But Paul, just say the word, and I'll break all of my plans to bake you some cookies, and I'll be at your house in 5 minutes flat.  I promise!

Derek Roy is Missing (and a Stalker), and Who is Nathan Paetsch?

First of all, I have to say that, thus far this morning, I'm highly disappointed in Kiss 98.5.  WHERE THE HELL IS THIS WEEK'S INSTALLMENT OF THE DEREK ROY REPORT?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?  Hmph.  I'm going to pout for the rest of the day.

I was really looking forward to telling Derek that because of all of our common ground, I'm not stalking him, he's in fact stalking me.  Because stalking, by definition, means that a person willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows or harasses another.  Willful?  Yes, most definitely.  Maliciously?  Hell to the no.  I am by no means spiteful to Derek, and I would never, ever, ever want to hurt him.  Do I follow him?  No.  Well...  No, we'll just leave it at no.  Do I harass him?  I've never spoken to him, so, again, no.  But does he tell me that we have all sorts of stuff in common?  Yes; that makes him willing.  Is he malicious?  Yes, because he knows it's going to hurt me.  Does he repeatedly follow me?  No, but he presents situations for me to follow him regularly.  Does he harass me?  No, I have to let him off there, too.  But trust me when I say he is (borderline) stalking me.  Yeah, I said it.

Second, I'm not going to talk about Craig Rivet's knee injury, because it makes me want to cry.  But, I did find some silver lining, at least for those of us who adore Nathan Paetsch, because he gets to play!!!!!!

But then I started to think, I don't remember much about him, because I haven't seen him in so long!  So, here we go...

Mr. Nathan Paetsch, hailing from Leroy, Saskatchewan, is 25 years old (3.25.83), and wears the same hoodie all the time.

Maybe the rest of the team took pity,

and they're letting Nathan have the hoodie from the BotTH.

Or maybe it's because it looks better on him than Petey...

But you have to like the deer-in-the-headlights facial expression.

And some more useless information about Nate:  He has a sister named Vanessa, his father, Rick, is an electrician in a Potash mine, and his mother, Brenda, is a financial advisor.  (I think I should call Brenda.  Maybe she can help me sort out my debt and actually have some money in my bank account once in a while.)

Also, according to that terribly addicting forum, which I always swear is trashy, but it's still fun to read, Nathan is engaged to a chiropractor, but he's also not engaged to her, but instead he's dating a doctor from Rochester.  I don't know what to believe...  I'm so lost.

(You know what?  It's really hard to find good information about dear Nathan.  I can't find any more.)

Moving on.

DEREK!!  I NEED YOU TO SCORE THIS EVENING!!  But please score after 9 pm, because I won't be home until then, and I'd prefer to see you score.  So TOMMY!!  I need you to keep us up over the Wild in the 1st, okay?  And Nathan?  Good luck, toots!  Um, and Ryan, please be the status quo brick wall.  Patty K, please hold off from doing anything crazy until I get home, too.  Power play and penalty kill, stay strong!  Okay????  Thanks.  I appreciate it.  Oh, and hockey gods?  I never said this.  Ever.  As far as you're concerned, I want...  No, I'm not even going to say it because it would probably back-fire on me.

Go Sabes!!

Words Cannot Describe My Glee

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Hockey finally starts tonight!!!!!!!!!  FOR REAL!!!  Ohmigosh I feel bad for my neighbors.  Since I cannot get to the game tonight, I'm having a little Sabres Soiree by myself, since all of my friends are either working, going to the game, or are out of town.  Well, actually, my friend Jason texted me last night and asked if I wanted to go see Quarantine with himself and some guys we used to work with, but I obviously declined, for both obvious and not-so-obvious reasons.  I HAVE HOCKEY TO WATCH, PEOPLE!!

Um, so basically I have no words to say, because I cannot even think straight.  I feel that the only thing I can come up with right now is along the lines of Lindy Ruff's words:

"Every year it's special.  I can just tell you that [the] last two mornings there you usually get in at 7:30-8 and it's been 6:30-7 because you can't wait to get it started.  And it's almost a nervous anxiety, even for coaches.  It's like, 'Do we have everything covered?  Have we gone through everything we can possibly go through?'  And when you've done that you ask that question again.  It doesn't change."

Basically, that's me.  I woke up at 9, instantly shot out of bed and ran downstairs to get my newspaper.  (Actually, my mother held up the Home & Style section to show me a picture, but sunlight was shining through and my eyes weren't completely focused due to being shut for 8 hours, so I at first thought Nathan Paetsch (model version) was Lance Bass.  Sorry, Nate.  ilu)  This is me everyday, but now every mention of the Sabres is making me squeel with joy.

I CANNOT WAIT.  I'm going shopping for Soiree Supplies shortly.  I have to decide what I want to snack on during the game.  Any suggestions?  Hmm, maybe some taco pizza, since it's all Derek Roy's rage.

Guys, if you can get to watch the game on MSG, they're showing the first episode of The Sabres Show at 7 pm before the game.  If you can't watch MSG, it's also premiering on SabresTV on the website at 6:30 pm this evening.  Read about it here.

There was an article about Clint Malarchuk's accident that I mentioned yesterday in the TBN today; read that here.

Also in the TBN, as I mentioned early, was Nathan Paetsch modeling.  That's because, as I'm sure you've all heard, SabreStyle debuts today.  I have to call the Sabres Store and find out if it'll be out all day today, or if they're just putting it out for the game.  Because if it's the former, I'm going down there proto.  But anyways, Nathan and Adam look damn good in these pictures, although I'm partial to Danny on the website.

The Gusto today also highlights the best places to watch the game locally if you can't make it to the game:

-  Dave & Buster's, Eastern Hills Mall

-  Old Falls Sports Bar & Grill, 300 Third St, Niagara Falls

-  Buffalo Wild Wings, 2017 Elmwood Ave, 3035 Niagara Falls Blvd, or 5431 Transit Rd

-  Duff's, 3090 Orchard Park Rd, Orchard Park, or the Amherst location at Sheridan Dr. and Millersport Hwy

-  Tully's, 1459 Niagara Falls Blvd, or the location near the Eastern Hills Mall

-  The Warehouse, 4360 Milestrip Rd, Blasdell

-  Buffalo Sports Garden, 2945 Southwestern Blvd, Orchard Park

That's about all I can give you right now, because like I said, my brain is like this:

SABRESSABRESSABRESSABRESSABRES

so I really can't focus on doing anything.

I'm going to go shopping and hope for interesting Sabres news from some other people today, since I'm behaving like a kid would if it were Christmas Day but they had to wait until 7 pm to open their present.  NOT GOOD.

Go Sabres!!

YAY WE WON, But There's No Channel 4..

Okay, so I'm full of mixed emotions today.  SO EXCITED BECAUSE WE COULD FINISH THE PRESEASON ABOVE .500!!!  But totally bummed because Channel 4 has been replaced with CBS College Sports and The CW is MIA.  On that subject, tonight I'm going to be missing the season premier of a show that I sometimes watch (because for some odd reason math intrigues me), Numb3rs, and that also means Sunday afternoon I'll be missing the first 45 minutes of the Bills game, and I'll be sad, because I love the Bills.  And on Monday, I'll be without my teenage angst-driven dramas, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill; Tuesday evening I'll be missing my dear Anthony DiNozzo on NCIS.  Guys, I'm really upset about this.  Like... well, not nearly as upset as I am when the Sabres lose, but close enough.

On to happier subjects.  Can I PLEASE just express my love for Craig Rivet and Patrick Lalime right now?  They are pretty much two of my favorite people now.  At first I wasn't so sure I liked that Rivet had The C, but hell, he can have it.  I like any guy who sticks up for his teammates and can actually fight (coughcoughandrewpeters).  And Lalime, you can stop pucks AND you fight?  I love you.  This brings me back to the days of my childhood in which basically every other game I can remember, either Steve Shields, Dwayne Roloson, or Marty Biron were fighting.  LOVE.  Goalie fights are the absolute best.

OH and I basically love Matt Ellis now too.  Watch this and you will appreciate him as well.  First of all, HAHAHAHA because they're blasting "Promiscuous Girl,"  and then someone came in and turned it down.  But back to Matt:  I mean, how can you not love someone who grew up playing with Danny Paille???  He's a member of the Man-Child crew now, as far as I'm concerned.  And he was so excited when he got the call saying we claimed him...  Normally, these guys are pissed when they get waived and claimed by a new team, but he was all smiles and giggles.  How cute is he?

And before I talk at all about the game (and by at all, I mean not really at all since I couldn't see it and therefore don't really have anything constructive to say), let me get my Derek Roy fix.  Janet and Nick on Kiss 98.5 I believe have the Derek Roy Report, or whatever it's called, on Thursday mornings, but it could be Friday.  I'm not usually up that early, but if I am, I'm usually listening to my iPod because I LOATHE Janet and Nick.  But whatever.  So they had some snippet of an interview with Derek yesterday which went like this:

Janet:  So what exciting stuff did you do this summer?

Derek:  Uhhh, I went to Cabo for a week.

Janet:  Nice!

Nick:  Didn't you skates get stuck in the sand?

Derek:  [Chuckles, followed by a dramatic pause, then seriously,]  Um, no.

HAHAA.  Ask Kim; I DO THE SAME THING.  Now, I have to take a page out of MJ's book right here, because I swear this is fate.  I DESIRE MORE THAN ANYTHING TO GO TO CABO.  That is, if you bump going back to Germany off of the top of my list.  But whatever.  Derek, how could you go to Cabo without me???  And then not take me to your lake house up in Muskoka?  You know I love the ocean, and I love lakes.  That's just mean.  But, in your favor, our favorite shows do include Entourage, and you can't go skydiving due to contractual stipulations, and I won't go skydiving due to a fear of heights, so I mean, look!  It's totally fate.  And now I'm kind of creeping myself out...

And this video of certain players just BEGS for commentary:

Mark Mancari  :  Yay!  I'm so excited you cut your hair.  Kim probably won't be too thrilled, but I am, and since I won you in our lame little draft thing we had last year, that's all that matters.  And honestly,  I'm so glad your parents moved from Italy to Canada, and that you have random family in Buffalo, because then I have a better chance to see you than, say, if you lived in Italy.  Plus, you're a beast, so play your heart out, and if you don't make the Sabres, I'll see you November 7th in Portland.

Mike Weber  :  Is staying out of the penalty box a part of your plan?  Because it should be.

Nathan Paetsch  :  (1) You're adorable.  (2) That's the Brotherhood of the Traveling Hoodie hoodie!  Don't you own any other clothing?  Every time I see you, you're wearing that hoodie.  It doesn't look bad or anything, I'm just curious as to if I took it away, if you'd just be walking around with nothing on.  Now THAT'S a win-win situation.  (3) You were injured?  That's why you weren't playing?  I wish I knew...  I can't wait to have complete injury/ailment updates when the regular season starts.  This not knowing is bull.

Sparky Clarkey  :  Your hair's getting long...  I like the curly poofy thing you had; kinda like old-school Timmy C.

OH!!! I am SO excited that the game will be on TV on SUNDAYYY!!!  That means I'll actually have something to watch since the Bills game (probably) won't be on.  But I will have to sync up the radio so I can listen to Rick and Harry.  Hopefully there won't be too much of a delay.  Whatever though.

Now I'm going to go pamper myself a bit; I'm getting my hair done today which is SO exciting because I haven't gone in, like, 4 months, and my highlights are so grown out it isn't even funny, and my ends are so split.  But I'm definitely having Kim (my hairdresser, not the Kim on this thing) thin it, dye it back to my natural dark red, and some sweepy bangs might be in order.  But then because my hair won't be so strawberry blonde, I definitely have to go tanning, or else my pale, pale skin that's COVERED in freckles would look freakish.  I'd be a female version of Brian Campbell.  Yuck.  (I think I'm the girliest legit hockey fan ever...)  So I think I'd better go do that.  Then work yet another double.  So I probably won't be back until Sunday, unless I find something good in the meantime.

Have a nice weekend, loves!

Sadness

So after spending the last hour talking to Cari on the phone because we haven't seen each other in 2 days, seriously I don't know how I survive without her, we read something that depressed us both. According to LetsGoSabres.com if Mark Mancari and Clarke MacArthur don't make the team out of training camp we could be bidding them both a long farewell as they would have to clear waivers in order to be sent back to Portland. This is also true for Nathan Paetsch if he loses his spot on the blueline to Mike Weber he would have to clear waivers also.

After learning this information we then proceeded to talk to each other like we were five years old and our favorite pet had just died. Which speaking of pets I feel the need to mention that Cari named her first three fish who died after, you guessed it, these three . I'm noticing a disturbing trend here. Cari, no more naming your fish after hockey players anymore...

The aforemention fish were named Mr. Muscles, Sparky and Mohawk because Cari couldn't just give them normal names. Instead she decided to use the affectionate nicknames for the aforementioned player. So children now comes story time...

If any of you watched the AHL All-Stars Skills Competition you probably have noticed that Mark broke an AHL record for fastest slapshot at 102.8mph. In the interview that followed this feat of strength the interviewer decided to refer to Mark as Mr. Muscles and Cari being Cari decided to henceforth refer to Mark as such. So Cari once again being Cari named her first fish Mr. Muscles.

The name Sparky which refers to Clarke MacArthur comes from the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation which Cari decided to watch before partaking in a Sabres game. In a stroke of genius when Clarke was mentioned Cari thought of Ellen's nickname for Clark in the movie, Sparky, and now refers to Clarke as such, which she once again decided to name her fish.

Mohawk is Nathan Paetsch because for a short period of time Nathan could be seen sporting a mohawk which made Cari love him even more so she just HAD to name her last fish Mohawk. FYI: Derek Roy has been sporting a fauxhawk hence one of the reason why Cari has a SMALL obsession with him.

So now you know something about our pathetic lives which we spend making up equally pathetic nicknames for our favorite players:

• Maxim Afinogenov is Maxi when he's doing good, and Maxi Pad when he's doing bad.
• Tim Connolly we refer to as Timmy-Ho because he's a confirmed man-whore or T-Con.
• Paul Gaustad is Goose for more obvious reasons.
• Jochen Hecht is Yoyo.
• Patrick Lalime and Craig Rivet are both Newbie.
• Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder together are known as Nickel and Dime, apart we don't have a nickname for Lydman but Henrik is Hank the Tank.
• Adam Mair is The Pacifier because he has to make sure the 'little ones' stay in line.
• Ryan Miller we just call Ryan because we're suddenly on a first name basis.
• Daniel Paille is the Man Child (thanks MJ) because he looks like he's 12.
• Andrew Peters is Twinkle Toes because he seems to like to dance during fights instead of actually hitting something.
• Jason Pominville is refered to as JT because he bears a scary resemblance, when sporting his aviator sunglasses, to Justin Timberlake.
• Derek Roy is Shawty for obvious reasons.
• Andrej Sekera is Reggie because that's what the rest of the team calls him.
• Jaroslav Spacek is the Caveman because I think we'd all be afraid to trust him around small animals and children for fear he'd eat them.
• Drew Stafford is Rockstar because he's in a band.
• Thomas Vanek is Tommy because for some reason we think it's cute.

So as you can see we neither have lives nor want them deal with it.

Training Camp Worries

So while the Sabres were at the Pepsi Center or the arena until late afternoon, and then I presume a bunch went out to celebrate Pommer's extention, Kim and I were at my house starting production of our 2008-09 homemade Sabres shirts.  (BTW, if anyone wants one, let me know.  I actually got complements on the Amerks ones I made last year buy a woman who worked in their merch store.  I'll put pictures up.)

But then I was thinking, honestly, if you go out and get trashed the night before you're supposed to report for your yearly physicals, I don't think that would turn out too well.  I mean, seriously, who likes having a physical done anyways?  Drinking might make you a little bit more loose, but then you run the possibility of throwing up, or getting a migrane, both of which present as symptoms of a concussion.  So boys, let's not end up like Timmy C and end up sitting out the entire season.  And if you do have a concussion, don't be stupid and lie about it like Drew did.  Please?  Because as much as I hate to see my guys sidelined and in the press box, I'd rather have them there than in a pine box, which is where you'd probably end up if you got checked by, oh, let's say Pat Kaleta.

This is what happens to you when you get concussions.

You make stupid decisions in regards to your appearance,

yet you still get an ample amount of ass.  Go figure.

In other news, I think we've got a few too many players...  I'm kind of hoping that youngins like Clarke MacArthur (who I affectionately call Sparky), Pat Kaleta, Mark Mancari, and Andrej Sekera give a good push for the team, but so many roster spots are filled by my loves, it makes it so difficult for me to comprehend that my boys like Nathan Paetsch and Tim Connolly are sort of on the bubble this year.  Well, I suppose we'll see in a couple weeks whether or not my loves will be in Buffalo or Portland.

They finally did something right...

I'm so excited about this...

The broadcast team this year definitely has more potential, now.  Not that I don't like Rob Ray, but I was sick of hearing him say the same things, night after night, especially when he defended the Sabres after a terrible game.  While I liked having a recent-former-player doing commentary, I don't think a fighter is the one to have; if the Sabres were angling for that, then I feel they should've gone with a guy more along the lines of...  Oh, I don't know, but somebody who was a better all-around player than Ray.  I'm all for team spirit, but Rob needs to listen to Robitaille once in a while.  Hopefully Maria Genero will help me out and give me something other than repetitive interviews about The System, and lighten the mood up a little bit.

And Rick Jeanneret???  Hell Yes!!  This man is a God Among Men, and I could not be happier that he's sticking around a couple more years.  I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when he retires...

But I'm not so sure I like Nathan Paetsch being the odd man out of the defense core this season, as impressed as I was with Andrej Sekera's performance last year.

In other news, Drew and Ryan busted out the guitar and drum sticks this weekend at the Music Is Art festival.  I had to work so I missed them yet again, but all I can say is that Ryan Miller has no stage presence.  It's a good thing he's a damn good goalie, because (whether or not he's a good musician) I wouldn't enjoy a concert from a band that had his presence.  Only the stage presence, that is.  I'd just stare at him, and enjoy that.