Roundup.

- Who says Bucky Gleason isn’t inspirational? After reading his column regarding the NHLPA follies, I was inspired with a name for my fantasy hockey team. The Two-Eyed Pea Brains will be striving for their third consecutive 5th place finish in the IPB Super/Amazing League.

Since house rules limit me to Western Conference players only, I have to decide whether to again pick Luongo for the third consecutive year. Lui has been a solid performer for me, but I can’t help but think he’ll fall prey to DiPietro Syndrome and be injured a lot now that he’s signed a super-long term deal. At least this year, the battle over Pronger and his Elbows of Fury moves over to those picking from the Eastern Conference.

- With the current labor situations in both the NHL and the NFL, is it possible that both leagues could be on a lockout during the same year? Whatever the heck will Buffalo fans have to bitch about if this is the case? There’s only so many “those greedy players/owners/fans/mascots/bastards” posts that one can write.

- Speaking of the NFL, they are apparently cracking down on live-blogging during games from in-stadium locations. Bad NFL. At least the NHL hasn’t stooped to this level, but the NHL has been more receptive of social media venues than other sports.

- I’m glad to see that Sabres Edge is doing well, but do they realize that in the world of interweb advertising, a “hit” is often referred to as “how idiots [measure] traffic.” Just saying…

- Yay! Darcy’s alive! I’m willing to give our motley crew of Sabres ANOTHER chance, but if I start seeing half-assedness on a repeated basis – Roy, Hecht, Tallinder, et.al, I’m looking at you – I will not be a happy camper. Here’s to hoping that the “leaders” in the locker room can help lead some of the younger, more impressionable Sabres along the right path. Oh, who the hell am I kidding, you can lead horses to water, but you can’t make them drink.

- Alright, I read about Adam Mair’s potential hip issues at least a month ago on a message board. Just saying.

- Gauntlet…thrown. Gerbe is reporting that he is NOT going back down (east?) to Portland this year. Good to see a little bit of spunk out of Gerbe, but at the same time, he has to play [ahem] within the system and not try to do it all. He worked hard last year, but whether it was rookie jitters or being overwhelmed by NHL defense, he didn’t do well with the Sabres. The little button has to step it up this year with the glut at forward.

This Is All Completely Random

- I’d love to know how long it took to turn around this ESPN commercial regarding Brett Farve?

- Sabres.com posted a Q&A with Adam Mair where he answered questions posted by Facebook users. While the cartoon question is something new and different, I do have to wonder why people even choose to ask whether players like what management has done in the offseason. Do we really think the players are going to answer that with anything but a positive answer? They value their jobs and their happy homes here in Buffalo. No matter if they think they’re heading out on a voyage of the SS Minnow, starring Darcy as the Skipper and Lindy as Gilligan, they’re not going to say that. It’s always going to be sunshine, kittens, puppies and rainbows. Let’s move on already and find a new question.

- Today’s Jerry Sullivan’s column discussed letting Trent call the plays, rather than relying on the press box or the sidelines to determine the play. After reading the following text, you get the feeling that Trent’s ready to kick ass and take some names of members of the media.

“You’ve watched the games just like I have. I don’t know if you’ve seen any throws I could have made down the field. If you want to call the plays and throw the ball down the field, that’s fine. I’m taking what the defense is giving me and continuing to go through my reads, and that’s the way I’m coached.”

However, after seeing the video with this quote on the news last night, Trent has to be exhibiting the classiest and most polite bit of pissiness I’ve seen out of a professional athlete in a long while.

- Wonder what the NHL thinks about the DirecTV potentially dropping Versus at the end of the month?

Sabres vs. Kings – 12.19.08

I’m quite happy to be sitting on my couch right now. I survived the move of my workplace during the middle of a snowstorm, the intensely high pucker factor of the ride home, and getting stuck at the foot of my driveway. There’s never a dull moment in my life, let me tell you.

So without further adieu, here’s tonight’s live(ish) game blog.

Sabres Show

- We’re treated to a brief feature on Pommers and his blog. Pommers is quite the Two Fingered Louie when it comes to typing. He’s not going to be setting any typing records with the keyboard. He would not do well if he had to do a live game blog. Or type a term paper. I wonder if Crunchy’s a Two Fingered Louie typer as well and that’s one of the reasons for the delays in his blog entries?

- Doc Emrick is quite the funny guy. During a conversation about the Winter Classic, Doc mentions that he half expected all the biblical plagues to descend on Ralph Wilson Stadium during last January’s game, that’s how crazy the weather was. He shared that the broadcast crew is going to be on a scaffold in the second base area for this year’s Classic at Wrigley Field. That’s going to be quite the adventure for the broadcasters, as they’re going to be stuck out in the elements. At least at the Ralph, they had a semi-warm(ish) press box to retreat to.

- According to my Sabres Insider e-mail, Drew Stafford will once again be joining the BPO for their concert with Ronan Tynan. I will be attending that concert again this year. No, my tickets weren’t bought because of this announcement. Yes, I am a dork, but my mother wanted to go to the concert, and who am I to say no to my mother?

- I love that Mike Robitaille keeps insisting that Derek Roy is 5′6 or 5′7. My question is: on what day and in what shoes?

- During the “You Asked For It” segment, Nathan Gerbe settles the score on the pronunciation of his last name. Its Ger-Bee, not Ger-bay. While Gerbe was explaning the proper pronunciation, Sabretooth was completely hamming it up for the camera in the background, and was completely unnoticed by either Maria Genero and Gerbe. I’m sure the camera dude was chuckling, though.

First Period

- Lineup changes for tonight include Matt Ellis and Chris Butler in, Paul Gaustad (upper body injury) and Nathan Paetsch / Max Afinogenov (crappy play) out.

-Seriously!? Pommers just got nailed with a viscious check to the side long after he got rid of the puck. No penalty called, however. Which sucks, considering even my couch surfing rear knew that was penalty worthy.

- 10 minutes left in the first period and there’s still no score, but the Kings are the slightly more dominant team at this point.

- Roy breaks into the Kings zone with Stafford trailing, but Roy shoots the puck wide. I swear, the boys are going to need some practice on hitting things other than the broad side of the barn.

- On a completely whackadoodle play, Derek Roy centers the puck from behind the net, flings it through the goaltender’s legs, and off of LA Defenseman Kyle Quincy. Score: 1-0, Sabres.

- And in some other whackadoodle news, Firefox recognizes whackadoodle as an actual word. Will wonders never cease?

- Miller is credited with an assist on Roy-Z’s goal. I like when goalies make the scoresheet for something other than goalie stats.

- Kaleta and Ivanans are sent to the penalty box for roughing after Kaleta gets facewashed and doesn’t take too kindly to it and retaliates. Kaleta’s reaction is completely justified. Who wants a stanky hockey glove shoved in their face, anyway?

- Checking the TOI stats on Yahoo!, it looks like Paille has had his ass nailed to the bench, as he’s only played just over a minute-and-a-half this period.

First Intermission

- Snack time. Ben and Jerry’s Cake Batter Ice Cream. Yes, it’s 19 below with snow on the ground and I’m eating ice cream. I needed something sweet.

- I really get a kick out of the Molson Canadian commercials focusing on Molson as an honest brew. Every time I see the commercial, I notice something different in it. This time, it was the curling on the TV in the background.

Second Period

- The  period starts off with the announcement that the Miller and Lydman assists on Roy-Z’s goal have been removed.

- Pommers and Mair break into the zone, and Mair just can’t reach the rebound from Pommers shot. If he could have, it totally would have been 2-0 in favor of the Sabres, as Mair was facing a wide open net.

- Adam Mair atones for missing that rebound and pokes in a Chris Butler shot. That’s Butler’s first NHL point.

- We’re being treated to a bit of a goaltending clinic by Miller tonight. So far, he is playing a very strong and consistent game.

- Clarke MacArthur picks up Stafford’s rebound and taps it past LaBarbara. 3-0 Sabres.

- Kaleta takes a run at Gauthier, which we hear moreso than we see, and as the camera follows the puck up ice, Kaleta gets sucker punched by Gauthier in retaliation. It was a completely shitty move by Gauthier, as Kaleta came nowhere close to hitting him. As a result, the Sabres are granted a four-minute power play as Gauthier is in the box feeling some shame.

- That four minute power play kind of sucked. The Sabres had absolutely no momentum to get plays set up in the Kings zone.

- We’re doomed. As the period comes to a close, Harry Neale mentions that the Sabres have a stranglehold on this game. We’re so doomed.

Third Period

- The Sabres are back on the power play as Greene is sent to the box for hauling down one of the guys wearing blue and gold. Let’s see if the power play can improve on it’s lackluster showing in the second period.

- And they do! Staffy backhands the puck past LaBarbara. That goal allowed Staffy’s five game point streak to continue.

- LaBarbara is pulled and replaced by Johnathan Quick. LA responds by promptly commiting a slashing penalty.

- While waxing poetic about Dustin Brown’s smarts, Harry Neale mentions that he was once a high school teacher. I wonder what subject he taught?

- Either Miller is sweating like a pig, or he’s spent a lot of time on his back this game. The back of his sweater is completely soaked.

- Neale mentions that getting shots through to the goaltender is half the battle. I thought knowing was half the battle?

- Miller continues to put on a goaltending clinic, with two spectacular saves in a row.

- RJ intones that Kaleta has not been seen on the ice in quite awhile, and is not on the bench? Could he have reaggravated that neck injury that keptQ&A him out for a couple weeks?

- Matt Ellis shoots, Peters misses the rebound, and Ellis gets the second chance as he recovers Peters missed shot and performs a nifty bouncing wraparound. While I’m happy that Ellis got his first goal, I kind of wanted Peters to get his first. His goal celebrations are the best.

-While it looks like there are a fair number of empty seats in the arena tonight, the crowd is still pretty loud.I just heard the “we want six” chant. Love that chant. It’s so uniquely Buffalo.

- It’s not Sabres related, but it’s still an interesting  Q&A with Sean Avery.

- And Miller gets the shutout. 40 saves to earn his third shutout this year and 10th of his career. Good job Crunchy!

Never a Dull Moment In Sabreland

- Goose is back! Celebratory honks all the way around. He seems ready and raring to go, if his interview on Sabres.com is any indication. He can pretty much do everything on the ice, except take his glove off. The cast that he’s still wearing kind of prohibits that. He’s not sure what line he’s going to be playing on, but he was practicing with Kaleta and Peters. That’s….an interesting combination to say the least. On the positive side at least, it means that there’s the potential to have another warm body (besides Vanek) to stand in front of the net on the power play. And holy heck Adam Begnini, could you ask any more questions of Goose? Let some of the rest of the reporters have a turn!

- I loved Adam Mair’s comments regarding his little dustup after Monday night’s game. He did a nice job of diffusing the tension in the situation. Then again, he really can’t come out and say that Ruutu and Neil are bleepin’ arseholes, now can he? I mean, he could, but Colin Campbell probably wouldn’t appreciate it too much.

Props though, to Greg W. for finding this awesome picture of Mair to include in his writeup of the situation.

- Today’s Buffalo News contains a great article about what exactly the World Junior Championships mean to the players involved with them. You can really tell that these guys were honored (and still are honored) to have been selected to play for their country, and for the lot of them, only a Cup win would top success in the WJCs.

- Ryan Miller and Santa are going to help open Rotary Rink in Fountain Plaza in a couple of weeks. After the rink is open and the Christmas Tree lit, he will be participating in a meet-and-greet with members of the Rockettes, who are in town for their performance of the Radio City Christmas Show. The first time I read the article, I was skimming it quickly and thought that it said he would be performing with the Rockettes. While that could be great fun, we don’t need the poor dear pulling a groin trying to do a high kick in the kickline.

- Brian Burke shares a little bit about the Team USA 2010 selection process. Burke and his four assistant GM’s are playing with preliminary rosters right now. If a guy shows up on all five faux rosters, there’s a good shot that he would make the team. Other than that, they plan to have a selection camp sometime in the summer of 2009, where 30-35 guys would compete to make the squad. They’re shooting for a younger, rougher, tumbler team than what Team USA has put forth in the past. What exactly does this have to do with the Sabres? Well, Ryan Miller is currently leading the fan poll (objective, I know) to be the team’s starting goalie. Then again, when you’re other choices are Pretty Ricky and Tim Thomas, its a no brainer.

- From the “do not watch if you are squeamish or eating dinner” category, a wide receiver for Houston (college) broke his leg while colliding with a band cart parked outside the endzone.

The human body is not supposed to bend that way! I hurt just watching that clip.

I’m Baaaaaaa-ck

Question: what do Jochen Hecht, Paul Gaustad, Tim Connolly and your adorably adorkable blogger have in common?

Answer: we’ve all been placed on some form of injured reserve recently.

However, unlike the three gentlemen, I’ve been tentatively removed from the IR. After a 13-hour emergency room visit, three days in the hospital and tomorrow to recuperate, I can go back to work Monday. Who knew one simple intestinal blockage could cause so much darn drama? I’m better now, but do have some medicinal help in keeping me so. But in all seriousness, the staff at MF Suburban Hospital are some of the nicest people out there who do a lot while caring for a lot of patients. (As a sidebar, if you ever have to go to the ER in the Buffalo area, I really reccommend the new ER at Suburban. Each patient exam area has a TV in it, which is great for killing time while you’re waiting for a cat scan to be read. Wednesday night, I watched the hockey game, the debate, the post-mortem on the debate, the post-mortem on the post-mortem, and who-knows-what else on ESPN while waiting for a radiologist to read a result. If there was no TV, I might have cut a bitch.)

While I was in the hospital, I left management of The Little Honkers in the capable hands of my parents. Do you know how difficult it is to explain the ins and outs of the Yahoo Fantasy Hockey game to someone over the phone? I’m tied in my game this week (even though I’m DFL in the league so far), so they didn’t do too bad of a job.

- Now that the personal drama is out of the way, I’m really impressed by the Sabres this year. Even though this team is comprised of 80% of the same guys that were here last year, they’re not playing like the same guys that were here last year. Its like the switch has been flipped, the memo has been read and comprehended (and acted out with sock puppets for those that can’t understand big words), and the team is playing with some spunk and vigor. Did the return of Teppo and the addition of Rivet bring some much needed veteran leadership to the team? Did the longer offseason give the guys more time to think about what they wanted to accomplish this season? Were there some secret off-ice sessions conducted at training camp regarding playing a tighter, more defensive style while not letting go of the run-and-gun? Who knows? I know it’s only four games in, but they’ve been four fun games to watch.

- I don’t remember much of the Rangers game, but I did get a chuckle out of hearing Kaleta’s comments to Mara about whether his face was alright after last year’s hit. I realize that eventually Kaleta is going to have to drop the gloves at some point, but right now, he’s playing a key role as a professional pest. If you make your opponent’s white board (as Vigneault pointed out after last night’s game) and the opposition completely ignores their coach’s instructions and runs you, then you’re doing your job.

- Sidebar, I think it’s completely cool that the Canucks are letting little kids compete to design the team’s holiday card. I really am interested to see what results.

- Double sidebar. How cool is it that the kid from Clarence was named SI Kid of the Year?

- How in sam hill did Derek Roy end up under the Vancouver bench? That was a definite W.T.F moment.

- The Stafford/Sanford thing on the ice last night was a bit much to handle. I kept waiting for RJ to slip up and say that Staffy was in net for the Canucks.That could have been comical for many reasons. But seriously though, how many different times did Staffy have a shot on net and missed or couldn’t get the stick down or whatever? I don’t think its for lack of trying, but boy needs to score soon or he’s going to get into a funk.

- I know its been on the air for a bit now, but holy-new-Goose-save-the-planet-PSA. While it lacks some of the warmth and cheesiness of the original (nothing will beat the tin can tied to the cartoon-y looking TV set), I do like that the team is continuing the save-the-planet message. If I may be shallow for a moment, Goose was rocking the heck out of that grey coat in the PSA.

- Thomas Vanek, great to see you again. Are you getting regular nookie now that you’re married? If so, as Tim Gunn would say, please carry on. Anything to help you continue the great pace that you’re on.

- I’m really amused that the hug-turned-tackle between Thomas Vanek and Ales Kotalik turned into the Carubba Collision last night.

- The look of intense concentration on Adam Mair’s face in this photo is kind of endearing.

And that’s all for now. More after the Atlanta game (or tomorrow).

I know I said I was signing out here, but seriously, if you haven’t already, please go and read Miller’s latest blog entry at millertime30.com. In addition to the game analysis, there’s some very beautiful and touching words from Miller regarding his cousin Matt, and the one year anniversary of his passing. I really think this entry shows us a heck of a lot about what makes our goalie tick. We’ve read the professional writers takes on Miller’s relationship with his cousin, but to really hear it out of Miller’s own mouth (keyboard, whatever), takes it to a new level. If you’ll excuse me, its a little dusty in here.

We Want Ten!

And by god, we got them! I haven’t had so much fun watching a hockey game in a long time. Where to start?

- Stafford and Roy’s dueling hat tricks. All of Stafford’s goals were beautiful. He was such a beast last night, and his first star announcement was well deserved. I was really amused that during his post-game interview he had a Sabres Santa hat hanging in his locker. While I know that was thrown on the ice during the hat trick celebration and he probably didn’t know where it came from, I really was hoping he would have put it on during the interview. He could have been Staffy Claus!

- Eric Boulton is such a thug. His sucker punch of Pommerdoodle was uncalled for. I do like that Pratt and Hecht stepped in to defend Pommers immediately. How can you sucker punch Pommers? Its the equivalent of hitting a puppy with a newspaper just for trying to cuddle up with you. I did find it funny that Pommers just crumpled to the ice and put his hands over his head, very turtle-like.

- I mentioned Nolan Pratt in the last comment. After last night’s display of physicality, remind me again why he’s been up in the press box? In addition to being a noted Miller defender, he stood up twice last night, getting into a fight with Thorburn (who made a controversial move in coming off the bench to take on Pratt, when Pratt really wanted Exelby. And seriously, who the heck names a boy Garnet? I feel like with that name he should be one of Miss Scarlett’s suitors or something.) When Spacek comes back this week, if Pratt sits over Patches, I may have to have words with someone.

- I had to laugh at Roy during his post-game interview. The padding he had over his shoulder made him look like he was auditioning for a role as Pancho Villa (“goals, we don’t need no stinking goals).

- The Sabres penalty kill continues to be fantastic. They killed off 8 penalties, including an almost 2 minute long 5-on-3 situation. And the power play finally kicked into gear last night, with four power play goals on 16 power play opportunities.

- I was really amused at Adam Mair’s repeated requests for gum during the game. And then the trainer pulls out this giant tupperware tub of Dubble Bubble and other pure-sugar-rot-your-teeth type gum. I’m still amazed that these guys can chew gum during a game, and no one’s ended up choking yet.

- Its unrelated to this game, but it will also be really interesting to see how the Pens handle Sid’s absence for the next month. Will they continue to be in the playoff hunt, or will they fall faster than a body with cement shoes?