I'VE MISSED MAKING FUN OF DEREK ROY

So, as you can tell, I (meaning we, of course) moved back. Well, technically *I* never moved, I just moved SC. But you get the gist.

This summer has been pretty crummy by Buffalo standards thus far, hasn't it? I mean, weather-wise. Well, my summer hasn't been exactly crummy, just laid-back. Which is alright. A couple concerts here and there, some fireworks, some shopping, a lot of lunch dates, and the usual work. Throw in the wedding of one of my very good friends, a few barbecues and a couple parties, and you've got my summer.

Anyways, I feel like I'm at the point in the season where my missing hockey has hit its peak. Don't get me wrong; I've missed it a lot all along, but I think I'm starting to miss it most right now. Probably, in large part, because I'm starting to integrate the schedules into my life, map them out, and decide what home games of the Sabres I absolutely must go to, what ones I would like to go to, what road games are potentially on the radar, and, of course, I want to make a trip to Chicago this year as well. (I started drafting this post almost a month ago, and since then have planned my trip to Chicago! I'm spending my 21st Birthday with the Blackhawks! Anyways...) It doesn't hurt that all I talk about (still) is hockey, and I've seen enough of Patrick Kane to (almost) get my hockey player (in the Blackhawks sense, at least) fix this summer. Although, I still haven't seen any Sabres of particular interest.

Wait, that's a lie.

As I mentioned, my friend got married in June. I did see Derek on my drive to the wedding. His car isn't hard to miss, even if we were driving in opposite directions on the 190 along the Niagara River.

That's about it, though, besides a Craigory sighting here and there. Pat Kaleta did follow Clare and I around the parking lot at the Galleria the other day, and I almost ran over Adam Mair while Patty was following me. I've never seen anyone walk more slowly across a parking lot before. No others, unfortunately.

But while I'm telling you about my summer, and how I saw our favorite chunky monkey, let's take a look at what he has been up to this summer, shall we?

Oh! We shall! (I should tell you that some crazy, crazy girl sent these lovely pictures to me, claiming to be Derek's girlfriend. She also asked me to ask him why it is that he never returns his calls... Could it be because you steal private(?) pictures of himself and his friends and family off of their Facebook accounts? Hahaa... Actually, a lovely, lovely friend did the detective work, and I owe her my life! But, as usual, I don't reveal my sources, like any good reporter.)

First, a while back, Derek did one of those Q&A's on the Sabres website, and in it said that he spends a good part of his summer at his new lake house, up in Muskoka. (Don't mind me: Dearest Derek, Honey, please, just let me marry you, if only to act as your beard. Your house is beautiful. I don't even need to live in the "cottage;" just give me the keys to the boat house and I'll be just fine. Love always, Cari.)

And so, without further ado (and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves)...

(Oh, and I wasn't lying when I referred to him as my favorite chunky monkey...)













So these are mostly of Derek, his brother, and Kyle... Actually, I can't remember if Kyle is in these pictures... I can't look at them while I'm writing, and I'm too lazy to go to my desktop and figure out which had them in them. Oh, wait, he is in at least one of them...

Anyways, now that school starts for me on Wednesday, and my schedule is comprised completely of internet courses this semester, I'm going to be spending A LOT of time on my MacBook, so I think it would be safe to assume that SC will be updated quite frequently, if nothing else but to serve as a distraction and means of procrastination. Yesss, my favorite things!!

Now I will bid you adieu, and hope that either your last couple days of Summer Vacation or one of your first few days back to school are just peachy.



Oh, Derek says "bye" too! xoxo

WE'VE MOVED

As I mentioned, we've headed over to WordPress!


Read our latest posts here: http://sabrechaser.wordpress.com

PLEASE EXCUSE OUR MESS

I've been considering moving the blog over to WordPress for a while now, but I just never said anything to Kim, because I figured she was comfortable on Blogger and wouldn't want to move.

I should've mentioned it earlier.

WordPress is just so much cuter, with their variety of fancy layouts and all.

So while I'm in the process of getting that whole mess straightened out, I'm not going to be posting. Kim may, but I won't. It's really frustrating me to no end trying to get the whole blog situated the way I like it, because WP isn't nearly as simple as Blogger, and I appreciate simplicity.

Whatever, though. It'll be a match made in Heaven, me thinks, kinda like myself and Kris Versteeg.

Yeah, that's right, I didn't say Derek Roy. We're fighting. And in the meantime, I've found solace in the goal scoring of my Western Conference Boyfriend, none other than the Chicago Blackhawk's candidate for Rookie of the Year.

Clare and I agree that Derek's jealous. He'll just have to deal, I suppose.

See you again soon!!

WOW THAT WAS BAD AND MY NEW PROJECT

Okay so we all know how bad last night's game was well until the third period at least which is why I'm grateful that my mom and I were in Rochester for the Bandits' game. Who by the way lost in overtime, hey sound familiar? Now not to rag on Buffalo sports, but seriously it's like they don't want me to be happy. On a side note: MAXXX you make me happy and Paul and Pie and that's about it at this point.

Because I was at the Bandit's game last night Cari and S(h)ara were texting me updates the whole night to the never ending glee of the guy sitting next to me, who also happened to be a rabid Sabres fan. At one point, when Max scored, I got so excited that my phone flew out of my hands and into his lap where he saw the text I was sending S(h)ara something like "Max my heart my soul thrives only for you" or something equally ridiculous. Needless to say he made fun of me the rest of the night for obsessively checking my cell phone asking me if "my heart" had scored anymore goals. Max score two goals in one night? Perish the thought.

Now I'm not sure how many of you have any idea how much of a rivalry there is between the Bandits and the Rochester Knighthawks, lets just say that it pretty much equals the rivalry between Ottawa and the Sabres. Unfortunately, and much to my disappointment, Brandon Francis our new go to fighter got scratched so things weren't getting nearly as interesting as usual. The Bandits' lost mainly because we couldn't seem to keep the ball out of our end and the Knighthawks defense kept shutting down the Bandits' best goal scorer, and Cari's Bandits sweetie, Mark (Whose House?) Steenhuis. It was a heartbreaking loss especially against a team who we had no problem beating the last time we played them, it ended up being 23 to 6 in favor of the Bandits. I do however have a new shirt idea for the next time we play Rochester a guy walking up the stairs had a Fuck The Knighthawks t-shirt on. Well in an effort to keep everything PG I figure I'll make a T-Shirt that says Pluck the Hawks, it both gets the point across and won't offend anyone, well except maybe Knighthawks fans.

Oh and thanks to the lovely Clare from All Hawks Hockey I have my new summer project. I try to undertake at least one large project over the summer, last year it was scrapbooking all my pictures from my family's trip to California. This year it'll be to create a wall of pictures mounted on plaks (and as Clare pointed out no this isn't spelled wrong) to hang on my bedroom wall at home. These pictures are going to be hockey related and I'm going to need some help because, if you don't know it already, I have dial up at home so therefore to search for pictures takes an unbelievably long time. I'm asking any of our readers to send me their favorite pictures of hockey players regardless of the team the player might come from, I'm trying to broaden my horizons, and I'll pick the best ones to put on my wall. The pictures can be anything action shots, stylized, posed, ones you've personally taken, 'borrowed' from other people, gotten off google whatever the point is that I'd appreciate any help you guys could give me in the picture department. My email address is km.sabrechaser@gmail.com. Thanks guys (in the generic sense).

I need a few days to recover from the two losses so I'm going to go watch the first two periods of last nights game that we DVRed basically forgetting that hockey has a third period and that the Sabres used it to fall apart.

THAT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED

So last night, Kim and I attended the game with the lovely S(h)ara from Sabretooth's House.

And it was bad. No, it was really, really fun, but it was bad. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard. We must do it again.

You all know how the game went, and let me tell you how excited I was! Except, I never stood up when we scored, even when we won, because we were in the first row of the 300-level, and I don't do well with heights. Anywhere else in the 300's and I'm fine, but in the first row? Eehhhhh, not really my thing to have about two feet of concrete and ten inches of glass separating me and the space between myself and the people in the 100-level.

BUT! I seriously think I had a good omen yesterday morning. Whilst driving to school down Elmwood, I was flipping through the radio (which I don't normally do; I usually listen to a CD), still upset that the Sabres have been sucking so badly. But then Star was playing a good song, so I left it on. Then the DJ was talking about the weather and traffic, and I almost turned it off, but then he said something about the 33 and I paid attention.

Good thing, because the next song was "Don't Stop Believin'."

How's that for fate?

(What's also fate, is that at the arena, they played "Glamorous," which didn't help my cause for not cheating on Derek Roy at all. Damn you, Kris Versteeg! Why must you be so Fergalicious? Also, this video of Toews, Burish, and Wiz is pretty great as well. They're so funny. I love those Blackhawks. NO. I need to stop. Clare, look what you've done to me!)

So the game was really, really successful at making me happy. The guys played great, but the company makes it even better. Especially the commentary:

- Me, on Thomas Vanek (?) missing a wide-open net in the first: "If Tim Connolly were there, that would've been a goal!" S(h)ara's response: "Tim Connolly is good at putting things in holes." (That was bad. I'm sorry.)

- Throughout the night, we kept shouting "troglodyte," "Greg Campbell, you suck," "hit him with your purse," and "Princess D."

- The guys behind us were getting very upset with people screaming "shoot" on the power play. Well sorry, sir, but if the Sabres would shoot a little more on the power play, we wouldn't have to tell them how to do their jobs.

- Kim said that we needed to "euthanize the Panthers." I said she was being too kind.

(Now I got a bit lost because I kept watching Kris Versteeg videos. Those Blackhawks are killing me.)

- Every time we saw Anne, S(h)ara and I screamed "foxy lady!" She never heard us.

- When Tallinder took a penalty (and this is really bad guys; I apologize), I said quietly to the girls, "Tallinder's not a hooker; he's a rapist." It was hysterical at the time, and I even tweeted it, but I feel kinda bad about it now because the charges were dropped.

- Kim said Derek Roy needed to go after the puck like it was a Hostess cupcake. She tweeted it too. Which prompted Jill to respond about Ho Ho's, and Jay to suggest ding dongs. That's just wrong, on all accounts. I need to make him a batch of tofu brownies now.

S(h)ara said a whole bunch of funnier things too, but I don't remember them.

Anyways, after the game we met up with Anne at Cobblestone, hoping some of the Sabres would show up, but by 11 o'clock we were all getting pretty tired, and booked. None of them came. We even sat by the back entrance, hoping that they might, but no. Oh well. Anyways, that was pretty much Brian Campbell's place to go, and he's with the Blackhawks now, obviously. (I just can't get away from them, can I?)

Also, Mary tweeted about Lalime singing "Poker Face," (two things: I seem to be obsessed with Twitter, and Patty didn't sing it [to my knowledge, at least]), and now every time I hear that song and/or Lady Gaga, I totally think of him. Especially when they played "Just Dance" during the game.

The only thing that would've made that night better is if MJ could've made it up in time, but her job didn't allow for us to have that much fun. Another time, I suppose.

And my signal that I should stop writing now is the fact that I have no idea if this post is even coherent.

I'll be back later, possibly, as I have absolutely NO PLANS today, which is so, so strange and new to me.

WELL THIS JUST FITS PERFECTLY

Let's not talk about last night's game, because it will just upset me some more.

I think I've pretty much come to the point in the Sabres season where I have realized that they're toast, finished, finito, done. You name it.

Usually, I don't like to give up any shred of hope until the fat lady has sung and Elvis has left the building. I'm the one girl who will walk around town, the day after the Sabres are done playing, in her Sabres shirt, telling everyone off for being pessimistic about the season that just ended and the one beginning in a few months.

What should people call me? A diehard optimistic Sabres fan. We're pretty much a rare breed. In fact, I think we're on the top of the endangered species list, which makes the odds terrible for me since I have red hair. (My friend Andy likes to remind me all the time that redheads are dying out. This is also why he said I need to marry Brian Campbell and procreate with him, just so that we can repopulate the planet with little freckled, redheads with ringlets. I'm down.)

So when Thomas Vanek broke his jaw, I'll admit that I overreacted even by my standards. Miller and the rest of the guys were playing good hockey at that point in time, so I figured we'd be alright.

But then Miller got hurt, and my optimism took another shot.

And then Lalime's kids brought the flu home from daycare.

Score.

And now who has the flu?

TIM CONNOLLY.

Yes, the same Tim Connolly who just played 27 games in a row, which just so happens to be a really long string comparable to the past few seasons. So of course he would be one of the three guys sitting out of practice today (the other two were Hecht and Afinogenov). I'm just oh, so thrilled.

Whatever though, because I'm going to the game with Kim and S(h)ara tomorrow night!! And M.J. is coming to town tomorrow!!!!!!!!! Weeee so excited!!

I can't wait. =]

In Defense of Derek Roy

No, I'm not going to ramble on and on about how I truly, 100% in my heart believe that he's straight, because, well, let's look at Exhibit A:


(For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I just got Weezer stunk in my head: If you want to destroy my sweater, hold this thread as I walk away... Yes, Derek, I would like to destroy that sweater.)

So clearly, I cannot win in that argument, because that is the mildest of evidence against him, and I know far too many of the prosecution's points. But just know, I do believe he's straight, just very, very metrosexual, and very, very friendly when he's drunk. That's it. A lot of guys are like that.

What I am going to defend is him as a player.

True, he did have a very bad showing Saturday, and I'm not defending that game. I wasn't paying complete attention because we girls were having some very stimulating discussions, but if Lindy said he was bad, then he was bad.

What annoys me though, is when people get all over his case for being a "whiner" and a "diver."

Okay, so yeah, he has a reputation for doing so. But, if you've watched him since he signed his big contract and has become one of the Sabres most important players, he's smartened up. He only mouths off if he really feels like an injustice has been done, and rarely do you see him dive anymore. Sometimes, it blatantly obvious that he did, but more so now, you see him skating full-force, and if he's taken down, he's truly going down. Either that, or he just became a better actor.

But I'm not to keen to jump on that bandwagon just yet.

Just think about Derek's commercials for Celino and Barnes. Seriously? You think this guy can act? (I would totally link them up, but believe it or not, these gems aren't even on YouTube yet. I know, right?)

I mean, what's with the ridiculous hand motions? Does he think he's ghetto? No, he just doesn't know how to appear natural in front of the camera with two lawyers on either side of him.

And in the other one? He doesn't even know who he's pointing to. "These are my friends Ross Celino and St-(points to Celino)-eve (points to Barnes) Barnes."

Seriously? The guy does not have what it takes.

So yeah, he may run his mouth a bit. And true, he does sometimes go down too easily. But, then again, so do Daniel Briere, Sidney Crosby, and quite a few others in the league. I'll take Derek Roy over them.

And that's not just because I think he's a classy lady.

What happened to me?

Friends, I honestly don't know where I disappeared to. Actually, I do. School, work, and the mall. But for all intents and purposes, I don't know, and neither do you.

But I'm back, for today, at least.

So the trading deadline has come and gone, and I thought the Sabres made out pretty well.

Except I'll really miss Al. Like, I totally almost started to cry when I heard the news and was leaving Kim a voicemail. Side note: WHY DO I ALWAYS FIND OUT ABOUT TRADES EITHER IN CLASS OR WHILE I'M DRIVING?? Not cool. Anyways, I liked Al. I mean, he's a damn good hockey player, but mostly, I thought he had a beautiful back. Not backside, but back. And if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for a good back and arms. So Al really did the trick for me. But now he's gone, and Derek will have to suffice.

And don't even get me started on how much I already love my Canadian Harvard Grad Dominic Moore, and the new Euro Chic love Mikael Tellqvist!! So much love right there!! Although, this could be lust. Not sure yet. I'm trying not to get too attached or impressed because we all know how Steve Bernier worked out for myself and Anne.

ANYWAYS.

Then Harvard (that's what I've been calling Moore, FYI) had work visa issues. Funny thing is that I was totally pondering this situation Wednesday while I was sitting in my car listening to WGR 550 during my break. But I'm glad they got cleared up.

OH!!! And how could I have forgotten to mention Timmy's new contract??!!??!

Okay, we all know how devoted I feel to Tim Connolly, but even I think $4.5 million a year is too much for him. Do you know what I liken that to? Well, if you follow me on Twitter you'd know. Anyways, I liken it to buying a Coach bag. It's really expensive, and kinda scary when you do it, but in the end, it feels oh, so good.

And also, I just feel I need to say that Anne texted me with the news of his signing WHILE I WAS DISSECTING A CAT IN LAB. I definitely had a scalpel in my hand when I told my partner to read my text message to me. BAD IDEA. I could've lost a finger instead of slicing the diaphragm of Tabitha (that's what we named our... um... patient).

Now to touch on the games.

Wednesday's I don't remember too much (because I kept nodding off during the third period), except for Derek had two goals (including the game-winner), Paul had two goals (including a bad-ass shortie), and Patty L played his heart out. Oh, and Tommy came back. Yayyyy!!

Friday's, I was working during, so I didn't see all of it, and I missed Max getting murdered. I was giving an old man a bath at the time (ew, by the way), and I got him in there as soon as the first period ended. I didn't finish with him until half way through the second, so needless to say I had about 25 texts from Kim, my mother, and my cousin at that point in time. Awesome. But that too, was a fantastic game.

(You like my recaps, don't you? I need more Derek Roy gossip to blog about. I don't go over the games too well. You know why? Because you can read it in the TBN, and I don't want to be a journalist.)

But last night's game was a major disappointment.

All the beautiful blogger girls got together at Tully's to chit chat and watch the game. It was very fun even though the boys let us down. (Although Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg showed up for Clare and I, Matt Greene got an assist for Anne, Ovie is coming back for Frostee, and we even got to see Big Bear for a moment!!) Derek Roy really disappointed me in getting benched, though. Remember when I led the Bench-Derek-Roy-Bandwagon? Yeah, I never actually wanted that to happen. I was just angry. And when I saw Lindy's press conference, I was distraught. I think a batch of tofu brownies and peppermint hot chocolate is in order. Either that, or a bottle of SoCo. I'll take them all, actually....

Okay, dears, I just didn't want you to think that I had fallen off the face of the planet.

More will come tomorrow!! I promise. xoxo

INTRODUCING...

So now that the trades have officially ended, unless there's something waiting in the wings, I took the opportunity to find pictures of our recent aquisitions.

Dominic Moore with his wifey, sorry girls he's married.

Tellqvist is on the left, not bad, not sure if he's single. Funny how my last

post was about puck bunnies.

WHAT IS A PUCK BUNNY?

Okay so this post is completely unrelated to the trade deadline because I needed something to do besides frantically hitting the refresh button every 3 seconds waiting for more trade news. (Side note: I'm glad we got another goalie but at the same time I have to wonder if this is the Sabres way of telling us that Miller's going to be out for a longer time than most of us anticipated. At least now they can send Enroth back to Portland in favor of someone who's had some NHL experience. Okay that's the last of the trade talk for this post anyway).

I was cruising around TSN.com and stumbled on these pictures which I happened to find hilarious. I think every girl blogger has at one time been accused of being a puck bunny, I however have gotten over the fact and actually find it funny.

A puck with bunny ears? Why did I never think of this?

This one pretty much speaks for itself.

Then me in my infinite wisdom decided to go to urbandictionary.com to see what their definition of a puck bunny was, it came up with these.

1. a woman who goes to hockey games for the sole purpose of fucking one of the players (the classic definition which doesn't really apply to me).

2. A female, typically in her late teens to early 30s (but it can go lower) who attends hockey games, not to see a well fought game, or to see 2 goons duke it out, but just to look at the studly hockey players in the hoping that one night they'll roll over and see them in their bed, or in his bed, and has little or no interest in the sport or the score, and when a hockey player is brought up in coversation, will commonly use the words "tight, cute, sexy, ass, arms, shoulders" at any point in 1 sentence. (Okay well...this one I won't even get into because the last part most definitely applies to me and most of the conversations I have about hockey players. DON'T JUDGE ME, DON'T YOU DARE)

Sabres game tonight, there's talk that Tellqvist could start on Friday against his former team, could be interesting, I'm sure he'd be quite fired up in net if he did.

TOMMY'S BACK!!!!!

T-MINUS 2 DAYS...

The trade deadline is Wednesday and for now it all comes down to who stays and who goes. Now I'm not going to get into any great theories about who we should get and who should go because, let's face it, I'm not managment for the Sabres and they probably know a whole hell of a lot more than I can ever hope to about what they're looking for.

However, there is one thing that I do know for certain, Max needs to go. Now I love Max don't get me wrong but the man has been nothing but a waste of roster space for the last two seasons, performing well below average. In an interview Max claimed that he has been ready to play since the middle of February but Ruff hasn't put him in the line up, well needless to say it's the beginning of March and Max hasn't set foot out on the ice in a playing capacity. I'll be sad to see Max go, he was my first Sabres love and you never forget your first love, but it's time that he was put out to greener pastures or at least given to another team for a bag of pucks or maybe a pretty new pair of gloves or some skates.

It would have killed me a few years ago to admit that Max needs to go but right now he's using up valuble roster space that could go to a player who's actually going to play and who's going to play well. Instead of trading for another player how about we get some draft picks and we bring up one of the guys from Portland to fill Max's skates?

I get the text updates from the Sabres and if you do too you know the sinking feeling you get when a new text pops up on the screen. The texts can mean just about anything ranging from someone's hurt, someone's been called up from the minors, that the new mini pucks are on sale and come tomorrow or Wednesday who's been put up on the chopping block.

Now yesterday, because the new mini pucks go on sale on Sundays, I saw I had a text message as I was sitting in the upper room in my church. Now let's just say that I forgot about the whole mini puck thing and I was ready to scream when I saw the text because I thought for sure it was going to bring me bad news that I was not prepared to handle, such as the trading of beloved Pie or Staffy or someone equally as precious to my heart.

Now I'm in school all day tomorrow and I have a feeling if something's going to happen it's going to go down tomorrow and I will inevitably be sitting in class when the news of a trade breaks. Let's just put it this way there are going to be a lot of inquisitive stares directed my way if I'm in class when it happens. They're going to be wondering why all of a sudden I have a death grip on my phone, why I'm making high keening noises and I'm screaming why, why, over and over again. I'm sure they're going to suspect that I've experienced some kind of psychotic breakdown.

Whatever happens in the next two days it's inevitable that someone's going to go. However, how many people get traded is still up in the air and who we're going to get for said tradees remains to be seen. But one thing is for certain things are going to change but whether it's for the better or for the worse I guess we'll figure that out Wednesday night.

The Blackhawks Make Me Smile

Okay. You really, really, really need to watch this video.

It's great, I promise.

I love the fact that the guys are ripping on Burish for being a ladies' man. (But I wonder if the Sabres rip on Connolly and Roy the same way?)

But really, the best part of the video is at the 2:10 mark, while Burish is being interviewed. Just look behind him and you'll know what I mean.



Oh, my, how I adore Jonathan Toews! Oh, and the rest of those crazy Blackhawks... This is what the Sabres Show should be like, for at least a couple minutes.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I think it's a little bit redundant, but this time of year is absolutely crazy.

Not just in my life, but in the lives of all hockey loving, college (or high school) students who may or may not have a job.

My life though is just nuts. Not to mention going to class and having a social life, and trying to find time to do my taxes, I'm working all sorts of crazy hours and shifts, studying and doing homework in between (or just laying on the couch with a migraine), and attempting to watch the Sabres games while I'm at work, which usually means everyone (well, except for a few people) are in bed by 7:30, 8 pm, and then I come home and try to decipher the standings and the games ahead, and figure out who we need to win their own games, who we need to lose theirs, and where we could end up if A happens, or if B happens, and also keeping an eye on my favorites Western Conference teams, the Blackhawks and Canucks (in alphabetical order so as to not wrinkle any feathers).

(Phew. And just from that run-on sentence, you can get a glimpse inside of my head.)

So anyways, I owe a big thank you to my partner in crime and dear Frostee for keeping me in the loop last night, or at least until 8:30 when my stupid battery decided to die. I then had to resort to using my mother's cell phone, which is actually more like a child's play toy. Whatever, though, it did the trick.

Therefore, I really can't comment too, too much on the game, seeing as I only listened/watched from the time Jaro got hurt. That's when we got in the car, at least.

But between the fact that we did manage a point, and the fact that Lalime played wonderfully despite having the flu, I'm content. Yes, it sucks that Jaro is hurt, but I'll start worrying when we hear the news.

In the meantime, this is making me the happiest girl in Buffalo (aside from Shelby, of course):

Musical Goal Crease, Anyone?

So I'm absolutely sure that, by now, you've all heard about the trials and tribulations of the Sabres in net, which are absolutely atrocious at the moment.

Here's our depth chart for netminders:

Ryan Miller (ankle sprain)
Patrick Lalime (flu)
Adam Dennis (hip, surgery)
Jhonas Enroth
John DeCaro (broken collarbone)

Oh, and there are two others (Bradley Eidsness, who is playing for the University of North Dakota, and Nick Eno, who plays for Bowling Green), but since neither of the two have pro contracts, I don't know what it would take to get the co-eds up here (Eno just turned 20, by the way, and Eidsness is only 19).

But that provides us with quite the quandary of who might end up in net this evening, if Lalime cannot play, and if (God, please, no) should Enroth go down.

There are three situations that would happen to the Sabres tonight if I were Lindy Ruff:

(1) Lalime is miraculously better, and suits up, 100%, and Enroth backs him up. (Best possible scenario.)

(2) Since Lalime is good enough to play, but not 100%, start Enroth, but have Lalime assume his usual position on the bench as team cheerleader.

(3) If Lalime is a no-go, put Enroth in net.

Who would play second-string in Number 3, you ask?? No one.

That's right; I said no one.

Think about this for a minute: Each team is allowed to dress 20 players, goalies included, right? Well, what if we only dressed one goalie? Then we could dress 19 skaters.

I specifically remember asking questions about this scenario to my parents many, many times when I was younger. In fact, I can hear myself up in Section 325, looking down at Dominik Hasek in net, Martin Biron on the bench, turning to my father and asking, "What happens if Dom and Marty get hurt in the same game?"

His answer? "One of the other guys would have to play goalie."

So that's why I say that. Hey, for all we know, Enroth could steal the show. I honestly think that could be the most interesting thing to happen in a hockey game in a while. I mean, who plays with only one goalie?

Because I don't necessarily trust any of our defensemen to play goal all that well, so why waste them as a benchwarmer?

Seriously, would you want Lydman, Tallinder, Paetsch, or anyone, for that matter, between the pipes with the way they've been playing lately? I sure as Hell wouldn't.

But if it came down to it, I say put the biggest body in the net, if necessary. None of these guys really have experience playing goal, let alone against Eric Staal and the Hurricanes. (Is Mike Ryan still with them? I'm too lazy to look right now...) So put the guy with the most meat in there and more net is covered.

My, my, my, this could become quite comical. I think I'm kind of glad I won't be home to see anything until the third period...

I'm Back [Slash] Let's Have A Movie Night

What has become of me, friends? Have I seriously dropped off the face of the blogosphere, because it certainly feels like it. I can't promise that I'll be back everyday, even every other day, because I would hate to lie to you. And, because my work schedule is absolutely crazy now, I know I won't be able to blog like I once had. And I really, really mean it when I say that next year I'm making my school schedule differently, because I want to be able to go to the gym before class like I did last year. Actually, if nothing else, to stay in bed a little longer and write about my favorite guys.

But honestly, if they keep playing like they did last night, I'm just going to opt for the extra sleep, or a trip to the gym.

And, in all truthfulness, I feel like I'm watching Titanic over, and over, and over again.

Remember how that charming, handsome young man named Jack saves a lost and forlorn spirit in Rose? Well, over the summer, when I'm hockey-deprived, I'm extremely bored. I'm not a really big fan of baseball; I'll watch it occasionally, and I'll go to Bisons games, but it doesn't affect me one way or another. So I've basically got nothing to attach the sports portion of my heart to. In many ways, then, I am much like Rose, clinging to the railing of the ship, only air separating myself and the icy water below. But then Craig Rivet, Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, and the rest come along and tell me they'll jump with me, and eventually pull me back over the railing.

Then there's the wild love affair, where I become completely infatuated with everything the Sabres do, and we can do no wrong. I mean, we're on the grandest ship in the world, just a girl in love with her team, and her team playing pretty good hockey. Everything is just peachy. And even though Calsome teams may be better, I prefer the Sabres.

And I even tell them that I plan on getting off of the boat with them. Now that's commitment.

But now we're at the point in the movie when the ship has split in two, and again, the Sabres and I are clinging to the railing as the Titanic bobs in the water and begins to go down, down, down into the depths of ninth place, or worse.

I can only hope that they're going to rewrite the ending so that I don't have to go through the whole "I'll never let go Sabres, I'll never let go." I'd like them to be on the lifeboat with me in the end, and then we can stick it to Cal the rest of the league once we're really safe on that other ship. (I just love the part where she says her name is Rose Dawson. Wouldn't it be so wonderful to finally say that we are the best???)

But hey, Kate Winslet got what she wanted eventually, right? I mean, she got her Oscar. And if I'm Kate Winslet...

Yeah, I know. Wishful thinking.

Any who, have a nice Wednesday, friends.

RUNNING HIGH

This is the kind of team I like to see out on the ice. That team out on the ice wasn't afraid to be in your face and wasn't afraid to crash the crease.

And here's a new one, it actually worked, the Sabres won, the Leafs lost...

Go Figure.

THE END OF AN ERA ALMOST HERE...

So last night while driving on the 190 by the Aud I was greeted with this sight...






Until I saw this I guess the whole thing just didn't seem real yeah sure they were taking down the Aud, I guess I always thought I'll believe it when I see it, well I've seen it and I'm definitely believing it. This sight probably depresses me more than last night's game mainly because now you can see the bowl of the arena. How weird will it be to look off the right side of the 190 when traveling south and not see the Aud standing there? Instead we'll be treated with an unobstructed view of the arena, not that that won't be cool but it still won't make up for the fact that they are knocking down a part of my childhood. It's like when the Disney Store went out of business, they are slowly stealing all my childhood haunts one spot at a time, what will it be next shutting down Disney World?

In other news Tim Connolly has been demoted to the third line with Clarke MacArthur getting the free pass to left wing on the second and all I can say is thank god, last night I wanted to shake him, but not too hard for fear of breaking him again, because he was the worst offender of bad passing. I don't think I saw one solid pass from him the whole night, he either gave it away or shot it so wide of a player that the player had to go chasing it into the corner. I kept telling my mom that they needed to get him off the ice and sit him because he just didn't seem like his usual good passing, good stick handling self. Hopefully these lines will stick for tomorrow nights game because if Timmy gets a lot of ice time...well let's just say I don't want a repeat of last night.

WORD OF THE DAY

Apathetic.

a-pa-thet-ic adj. 1. having or showing little or no emotion. 2. not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive: an apathetic audience.

Or, in this case, an apathetic hockey team.

Also, the little dictionary widget on my computer provides the origin of the word: apathy, which is on the pattern of pathetic.

Fitting, eh?

But let's take a look at exactly how the Sabres were apathetic last night:


A is for another game that is going to come back to bite them in the ass.

P is for Patrick Lalime giving them every chance to win, yet he apparently was the only Sabre who gave a damn.

A is for aggression, or a lack thereof.

T is for tenacity, or, again, a lack thereof.

H is for hockey game, because I'm pretty sure they forgot there was one scheduled last night.

E is for even-strength goals, of which they allowed two.

T is for time spent in their own zone, which was definitely too much, and time Tim Connolly was on the ice for one shift (over 2 minutes).

I is for increased scoring in the absence of Thomas Vanek, of which there was none.

C is for careless penalties, which is what most of them were, and careless play, in general.


So, while my love for the Sabres is undying, I too am becoming slightly apathetic after last night's debacle. I'm going to go back to baking, cleaning, and running errands... Hmmm, sounds like I'm well on my way to becoming Susie Homemaker.

UM, WELL, UH, YEAH...

That was pitiful, I asked my mom if I could gnaw off my arm and use the bloody stump to beat myself over the head with, she said no because all the blood might scare the kids who were sitting behind us. Needless to say I was very disappointed with the way the Sabres played tonight, we should have had this game and should have come in with guns blazing. But instead of machine guns and bazookas we were forced to play with water guns or hell those cap guns my brother and I used to play with as kids.

I'm not sure what went wrong because mistakes seemed to come from everywhere, but Patrick Lalime, where have you been all my life. Honestly if it wasn't for him standing on his head for two periods the score would have been at least 5 to 0. Miller was mad that he got pulled, you want to know how I could tell? Maybe the fact that coming in from the first intermission when he saw Lalime in net he took his goalie stick and chucked it down the walkway from the locker room.

I wanted to tell Sekera that he's playing hockey not leap frog with the way he did that tuck and roll over Miller's head in the first period. Well he can look at it this way, if hockey doesn't work out he always has a future as an acrobat in the circus.

I wanted the Sabres to get angry but they sure as hell weren't playing like they were, I wanted to punch someone and I wasn't even one of the players on the ice getting my ass handed to me by a team we should have beaten blind folded and with our collective hands tied behind our backs. We were all over the place, passing was bad because the players refused to watch where they were shooting, for some reason they couldn't seem to keep the puck (when they managed to have possession) on their sticks, they kept hitting the 'Canes defense in the shins with the puck which caused a bunch of unfortunate bouncings allowing the 'Canes offense to regain possession.

One funny part of the game was when Justin Williams from the Hurricanes got hit and stuggled to make it to the bench with what looked like an arm injury. At the same time he was trying to make it to the bench the rest of his teammates on the same line where changing and other player were coming out the door that he was tryin to get through. I sit in the 300 level directly across from the opposing player's bench so that I can look down the hallway that leads to the locker room. Williams' teammates were blocking his way into the bench so that the 'Canes risked a too many men call, Williams yelled at one of these offending teammates "GET THE FUCK OFF THE ICE" which I and I'm sure just about everyone else in the arean could heard loud and clear. After Williams made it onto the bench he took his stick when he was in the hallway and swung it against the floor effectively breaking it in half, yeah he's got some anger issues.

Anyway Happy 30th Birthday Adam Mair, MJ I hope you're baking your future ex-hubby some tofu brownies because after the way the Sabres played tonight, that's about all he and the rest of the team deserve.

ETA: Forgot to mention the guy behind me in the concession stand line was saying that if he were Lindy Ruff he would be throwing and breaking things in the locker room. I turned around and told him that Lindy likes to throw the dry erase markers across the room. He asked me if I was serious and I said yeah because in last years 'What would you get Lindy Ruff for Christmas?' video Tony Lydman said he'd get Ruff some more dry erase markers because Ruff likes to cap and recap them repeatedly when he's talking (usually breaking the caps while doing so) and when he's really angry he throws the markers against the walls. I wish I could find that video somewhere but they never posted it on the Sabres website, it was hysterical some of the answers that the guys gave.

TAKING A BITE OUT OF THE SHARKS

(Anne, that title is for you, by the way.)

So I had this whole big spiel I was going to go through about how much a Sabres' win would mean to this city, but right now, I'm ecstatic.

My emotions have been running on low for the past 24 hours, and to be honest, I didn't think I could feel much worse after learning about the crash of Flight 3407.

But, wow. Just, wow.

This game was absolutely fantastic!!!

I don't really have a ton of coherant thoughts for the game, but, rather, just some quips:

- Derek Roy is incredibly attractive when he's being all feisty and starting trouble with the other players and mouthing off. idk why, but he is.

- Derek also scored his 100th career goal, on the same goal that Drew Stafford notched his 100th career point. Who gets to keep the puck? I think Roy should get it... Goals are cooler than points.

- It's about time Jason Pominville nets a goal! I really think this is where he'll turn it around... And that shootout goal he had was mighty fine.

- Nathan Gerbe's play has been nothing short of foxy since he stepped foot on the ice at HSBC Arena, the Portland game included. I'm so glad he's in the blue and gold. I can't tell you how many times tonight I was wowed by his effort, his determination, and his heart. And when he had that knee-on-knee scare in overtime, I think I almost died a bit.

- Craig Rivet is my new hero. I don't care what Derek says, and I don't care about the age difference; I love him. He was just way too cute when he and the other guys were jumping around after Pommer's goal. I just love him.

- Roy had an adorable little fist pump... thing... after his shootout goal.

- I honestly thought Danny Paille scored Spacek's goal, and I really wish that he had. He did play very well, though, in his first game back, in my opinion at least.

- Did I mention that we beat the San Jose Sharks, arguably the best team in the league?

- Did I also mention that we, who are in 8th place in the East, are 2 points behind the Rangers, who are in 4th place in the East? Oh, and also that we've played them twice thus far this season, and we won both of those games?

- Looks like Lindy's method of working the power play all practice long yesterday payed off, as we went 3-for-6? As in 50%?? Let's do that more often, okay boys?

- I seem to like to refer to the Sabres as "we." Like I'm part of the team. Sweet.

- I saw Caroline (of Hockey Night in Buffalo) on TV after Pominville's game-tying goal!!

- I'm really, really, really happy about this win.

Okay. I'm going to watch Friday Night Lights (don't judge me), and go to bed, as I'm working alllll day tomorrow, 7 am to 11:30 pm. Woo. Exciting stuff.

Happy Valentine's Day friends, and same to the Sabres. =]

xoxo