I knew it wasn’t going to be a good game when Sean Blessed Avery scored :10 into the game. Sean Avery of all people. Probably the only way that would have been worse is if Drury would have scored. Besides, Harry Neale was singing Miller’s praises in the pre-game, saying his GAA was 1.53 in the past 10 games, and he hasn’t let in a stupid, give-away-the-game goal lately. I’m a big believer in tempting fate, so of course as Harry Neale said that, the tiny voice in the back of my brain starting crying that Miller would do exactly what Neale said he hasn’t done.
Anyways, I’d promised myself that I’d be nice regarding Soupy for the foreseeable future, if only because last week I became the owner of a Soupy autographed stick. I promised that being nice about Soupy would be some sort of karmic thank-you to my uncle who bought and gave me the stick. Well, that idea lasted until today’s game. The Soupster was on the ice for four of the five Rangers goals, and for most of them, he stood around on the ice with his thumb up his bum, not even trying to bail out Miller.
Speaking of Miller, I wonder if he was shaken from that first quick goal and never got his head screwed back on straight. Giving up 4 goals in 12:25 is completely unlike Crunchy. On the other hand, its not like he was getting support from his teammates or anything.
If the team didn’t have a game tomorrow, I would really advocate a bag skate. There was little to no effort shown by the team today. Sure, they responded with a quick burst of energy after the first Rangers goal, but after that, its like they decided to phone this game in and focus on Pittsburgh tomorrow.
For all the bagging on Pratt and Kalinin lately, they finished the game at +/- 0. Soupy and Spacek were the aforementioned -4 and Hank and Toni a -1. I also still like the little bit of feistiness I see coming out of Pratt. Its more than any of his teammates exhibited, save Kaleta, who almost ended up in the third row of seats racing to get the puck on an icing call.
Since a “sign Soupy to a 6 million dollar deal” column would go over like a popcorn fart right now, will Bucky fall back on his old standard of “this team needs Briere and Drury” for his column tomorrow? (For those of you that care, Drury finished with 17:07 TOI, 1 assist and 3 SOG.)
I need a nap. And a cookie. Or a drink. I’m not picky.
Updated: Looks like the classless away fan debate has reached the MSM. As someone who’s lived in Buffalo her entire life, I should probably be keeping my mouth shut about this issue, lest I be accused of not knowing what I’m talking about.
But then again, it fills me – as a lifelong Buffalonian – with a sense of pride hearing “Lets Go Buffalo!” chants loud and clear during away games. I love seeing crowd shots featuring the blue and gold (or red and black, if your a jersey behind) mixed in amongst the home team crowd. Do some of these fans get carried away? Absolutely, but then again, the home team’s fans probably shouldn’t stoop down to their levels.
Its also aggravating how the media can put forth the idea that people are proud to be from the area but not moving mountains to move back here. I know what the Buffalo economy is like. It sucks, quite frankly, and the area’s political situation is nothing to write home about. But who am I to begrudge people from following their hearts and job opportunities to outside the area? I’m one of the few lucky ones that got a job right out of college in her field. I knew that if I wasn’t lucky, I’d probably leave and become one of those “classless away fans.”
