Sabres vs. Islanders – 11.4.09

Pregame

-  The Sabres have recalled Jhonas Enroth from Portland as Patrick Lalime is battling a groin injury.

- Ralph Lauren is starting to reveal the US Olympic Team attire for the Vancouver games. What’s pictured in the below screen capture from my e-mail is the closing ceremony attire. Please try and imagine a certain goalie in said apparel.

The sweater looks like something my high school English teacher lived in.

- Marty Biron is back in town, and he reveals that he and his wife are expecting a little girl. There’s a joke about getting slipping one past the goalie here. I just can’t find it.

- Today is the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. All together now…

Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away

On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

First Period

- Whee! Bradley Whitford is going to be back on my television again. I f’love Bradley Whitford. Even with that unfortunate dye job he had in Billy Madison.

-It’s still early in the game, but so far it’s miles better than Saturday night’s fiasco. There’s an energy about the guys that wasn’t there on Saturday. Saturday felt like they were just doing a piss poor imitation of going through the motions.

- Gaustad apparently is feeling much better, as he’s back to his regular role as a dancing bear in front of the opponent’s net.

- Roy-Z finally scores…in the hockey arena that is. Roy fires a shot from the top of the faceoff circle while Vanek is playing dancing bear in front of Marty. In the celebration, the Sabres played Chelsea Dagger. Is every team going to be ripping off the Blackhawks now? 1-0, Sabres.

- Kaleta is the victim of a very nice hip check so he “retaliates” by shoving the Islanders defenseman into Marty who then comes out of his crease after Kaleta and tries to love him, hug him and call him George. When all is said and done, the Islanders are on the power play. Kaleta and Stafford are sitting in the penalty box, the latter looking very bumfuzzled as to why he is there. I wonder if he is the Sabres designated penalty bitch?

- The Islanders again send the Sabres to the power play, as Sim was a very bad boy and held, hooked or grabbed a Sabre. That vague description of the penalty was brought to you by our astute color commentator Harry Neale.

- Who peed in Marty Biron’s cornflakes tonight? He’s been a feisty little devil, going after Kaleta and then Rivet. Not sure what caused him to go after Rivet, as the camera was focused on MacArthur slowly getting up after he was clobbered from behind and into the goal post.

- The Sabres spent a heck of a long time on the power play. I almost became one of those people yelling “Shoot” while the Sabres put on a passing clinic during the power play.

- Random Sesame Street video to end the period with…

Second Period

- Both teams appear to be exceptionally chatty tonight as there’s a lot of chatter coming from the ice. Most of it isn’t fit for mixed company.

- So I think I left my iPod playing at my desk when I left for the day. I pray that it doesn’t shuffle to “Put It in My Mouth” or anything else controversial while the cleaning guy is in the area.

- The Sabres get a giggle out of me for playing the Miami Vice theme song during a stoppage in play. Miami Vice was such a good, cheesy show. They generally don’t make shows like that any more.

- Sekera gets out of the penalty box and tries to jam the puck past Marty on a mini-breakaway. Marty stops him cold. Meanwhile, Tyler Myers limps over to the bench after taking a shot off the foot in the Islanders end of the rink. It must have just been a stinger, as Myers is back out for his next shift.

- Oh eff me. I just read that Sandra Lee is looking forward to bringing great garnishes to the Governor’s mansion in 2010 once her sweet baboo wins election. As if NY isn’t in enough of a mess as it is, we now have to worry about her Semi-Ho’ing her way through Albany.

- Vanek feeds an absolutely gorgeous pass to a wide open Stafford, who then sadly misses the wide open net.

- Can we please stop with the live action Cellino & Barnes pop-up ads already?

- As Harry Neale is rattling off Enroth’s stats from Portland, the camera pans to the young Swede sitting on the bench. Maybe I’m just used to the jolly Lalime or the cranky Miller sitting on the bench, but Enroth looks like an overgrown five year old in full goalie gear.

- Witt is sent to the penalty box for hitting Grier from behind, sending Grier face first into the glass. Grier takes quite a long time to get up, collect his gear that went flying and make it to the bench. Even so, he doesn’t look like all his eggs are unbroken in the basket, if you know what I mean.Vanek manages to score on this power play, as he pokes the puck past Marty, who’s diving in the opposite direction.2-0, Sabres.

- That may be Vanek’s fifth goal of the year, but why does it seem like it’s his first? It feels like its been awhile since he last lit the lamp.

- Marty heads all the way out to the face off circle to stop the puck and gets badly, badly caught out of the net. The Sabres aren’t able to put the puck into the empty net. Though they sure did try hard.

Random Sesame Street YouTube to end the second period…

Third Period

- Roy is 8-0 on face offs tonight. I’d like to see that kind of consistency from him throughout the remainder of the season. It would be nice to have a second face off guru besides Gaustad (and his young padawan, Kennedy).

- Vanek gets a breakaway on Marty, but he gets slashed from behind and isn’t able to complete a solid shot, as he only has one hand on the stick. He does at least get an Academy Award nomination for trying to sell the slash to the refs (they didn’t think much of it).

- You can tell how exciting this third period is by how much I have to say about it. The Sabres have had several good chances, but Marty appears to have found his game again.

- A play is under review as the puck is in the net thanks to Gaustad’s stubbornness well before the whistle blows. The ref is taking his sweet time on the phone, which makes me wonder if he’s talking to the home office or ordering a pizza for after the game. It’s ruled a goal after the ridiculously long review, so HONHONKHONK for the Goose. 3-0, Sabres.

- Have I mentioned how much I love the Goooooooooooooooose chant after he scores a goal or whomps on someone?

- Who developed the schedule this year? The Sabres have already played 3 of their 4 games against the Islanders and by the end of the month they will have played 3 of 4 against the Flyers. Also, who is the genius that decided that the game on the day after Thanksgiving should be played at 1pm in the afternoon?

- The final 15 seconds feature Kaleta being a pest and half the Islanders on the ice chasing him around.

- RJ and Harry are getting slightly loopy and referring to the runway portion of the Catwalk for Charity as “walking the plank.” RJ informs us all that he would like to be referred to as a buccaneer and not a pirate or a privateer.

- The game is over, so I can say it now….SHUTOUT! I love when Miller gets a shutout. It’s such a confidence booster.

- Random YouTube for the end of the game…

Hitting Him Over the Head…Hard

- Why do I have the feeling that Lindy has done everything short of beat Derek Roy over the head with a goalie paddle to emphasize that he needs to stick to the system and not turn everything into a fancy-schmancy pretty play clinic? And judging from this quote, it sounds like Roy-Z may be ready to run in the opposite direction whenever he sees Lindy coming.

We’ve talked about it in Zurich, we talked about it in Bern, we talked about it in Calgary, I’ve had a lot of time with Derek.

Lindy’s like that bad cold that Roy just can’t shake.

I also like that Paul Hamilton elaborates on Roy’s (ahem) maturity and how he needs to grow into a leader. I can’t help but wonder if Roy was taken to the woodshed by the organization after those photos hit Deadspin last year. It also probably doesn’t help matters that the second item on Google’s helpful list of potential search queries is “Derek Roy drunk.”

Time will tell if Young Grasshopper Roy-Z (oh hell, now he’s Old Grasshopper Roy-Z) will rise to the level at which he needs to perform both on-and-off the ice.

- I didn’t watch the game last night (bad feed + headache + gymnastics needed to run earbuds to laptop = chaos), but judging by the presence of the “Free Goose” tags on Twitter, it sounds like Mr. Gaustad was unjustly punished while some other dudes got away with things. Also, I did like the fact that it sounds like he stood up for a teammate. If that carries over to the regular season, I’ll be happy. We can argue that toughness and stick-up-for-your-teammate-ness was decidedly missing from the team these past two years.

- And I just ordered the NHL Network. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a semi-live blog(ish) of tomorrow night’s Sabres/Leafs game. I’ll catch up on ANTM and Top Chef afterward.

Look! It’s Real Hockey(ish) Played By Real Hockey Players

I went to Puck Drop today, and this wordy, photo filled post summarizes my day. Carry on at your own risk.

Since When…

- When did Hamilton become the latest new place to move a hockey team to? Couple years ago, the Predators were all but packed and on their way. Now, Balsillie wants to move the Coyotes there and a group out of Vancouver wants to move the Thrashers to H-town. There’s no way in hell that Bettman lets either team move. He’s bound and determined that hockey remain ensconced in the southern part of the US. It would be admitting failure if he let a team leave the south. The recent success of the Caps and Hurricanes is proving that hockey can succeed south of the Mason Dixon line. But then again, for every Washington and Carolina, you have an Atlanta or a Florida. It’s not good for the league as a whole when reports constantly surface that rich people want to move less successful teams to any area that waves a bright and shiny arena at them. (And that’s not even taking into account the rumors of Wang moving the Islanders to Kansas City if he doesn’t get his new arena on Long Island.)

- The photo accompanying TSN’s article about Gonchar’s injury is absolutely stunning. It completely shows the pain, anguish and heartbreak running through Gonchar as the trainer tends to him. I’m constantly in awe of the high quality of photos put out by NHL related photographers.

- Puck Daddy has a scathing indictment from Gonchar’s agent of the double standard potentially exhibited by the league in regards to the Gonchar/Ovechkin contact. Good read, as JP Barry has the balls to actually say what a lot of us have thought occasionally regarding the behavior of Crosby, Ovechkin and other “stars.”

- I’ve had Indy 500 qualifying on in the background while doing some work for a presentation, and the network is doing a pretty good job of promoting its hockey schedule. However, I do want to give Indy announcer Bob Jenkins a brief  pronunciation guide to the word “Canucks.” It’s pronounced “Ca-Nucks.” Not “Ca-Nooks.” Please work on this before I throw something at my TV set.

- We know that the NHL is one of the more savvier leagues when it comes to the use of the internet and electronic communications. However, I bet most of us had no idea just how in-depth the NHL’s email efforts are. Mediapost reports that the NHL has an email database of nearly 1 million names and sends 62 e-newsletter versions per week. That’s pretty darn impressive, but the media geek in me wishes there were some stats in there like open rates and click throughs.

- While poking around on the internets, I discovered that Derek Roy was a participant in Buffalo Spree’s bachelor auction that was held in February. I’m dying to know just how much our little Roy-Z was auctioned off for.

- And speaking of Roy-Z, here’s wishing him and Lindy the best of luck in the Gold Medal game at the World Championships. And best of luck to Stafford and Team USA in the bronze medal game. I just hope that when they come back to town, they don’t show off their medals in the locker room. Otherwise, they may have to keep sharp implements away from Vanek. Dude sounds extremely down about what happened at the WC’s, that it was just the icing on the crappy cake that was his past season.

- I really kind of want this USA Hockey T-Shirt.

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!

Honk! Honk! Honk!

- So he didn’t score a goal last night, but one could argue that Paul Gaustad made just as important a contribution last night as Vanek and Stafford did. That fight with Tampa’s Ryan Craig was a key turning point of the game. It re-energized the crowd (I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a prolonged Gooooooooose! before) and put the Sabres on the power play that led to Stafford’s goal. It wasn’t until the replay on the jumbotron that you really got the full impression that Gaustad kicked Craig’s ass in that fight. I think I counted Goose landing at least 8 punches before Craig got one in.

I was really struck by a couple of quotes in Mike Harrington’s article in this morning’s paper. First, we hear from the Goose regarding his fight.

“It’s probably not the best thing for my hand,” he said, looking at his wrapped appendage. “It’s still pretty sore but it’s my job and sometime you have to go through pain.”

Talk about putting the team/job over oneself.

Also, does anyone else think that while Lindy gave Goose a public  “atta-boy” during his post-game press conference,  that in private he’s giving Goose the old “what the hell were you thinking?” Sabretooth’s House has  a photo from the fight posted and you can clearly see Goose’s hand is wrapped up pretty well. While it’s good that he stepped up and took one for the team, I don’t want Goose to mess himself up further by fighting. Although, again, it was a pretty kick ass fight. Seriously,  kick ass.

And the second quote from Harrington’s article comes from our beloved Crunchy:

“I’m glad to see him back swinging,” goalie Ryan Miller said. “He’s been waiting for the right moment with his thumb. .‚.‚. He’s a big animal. I wouldn’t want to tussle with him.”

The mental image of a Goose and Crunchy fight is giving me the giggles. It would be like the class jock taking on the class emo dude. It would not end well for the emo dude.

- I thought the refeering was a little off again last night, especially in the third period. Crunchy’s delay of game penalty was a joke, considering he was waving his glove and indicating that the puck was in it. If I, who am blind as a bat on a good day, can see from the 300 level that the puck is in the glove, why couldn’t the ref?  Crunchy wasn’t just waiving his glove around for shits and giggles. The next time Crunchy made a glove save, the guys in the row behind me yelled that it should be a 2-minute penalty for use of the glove.

Crunchy was very vocal with the refs in the immediate time after the penalty was called. I hope he was still being respectful towards the refs, though I would laugh if he was told again to go eff himself.

The Kotalik penalty at the end of the game was also a bunch of mularkey, considering that a similar play was a non-call a couple of minutes before. As my dad put it, towards the end of the game, you really had to wonder if Rick Tocchet had any money down on Tampa, the game was that skewed. (Bad joke, I know. But relevant.)

- Interesting to see former POTUS Clinton at the game and the crowd give him a nice round of applause.

- During the starting lineup introductions, Staffy’s “photo” was giggling, like he just heard the world’s dirtiest joke. On the other hand, Roy-Z’s “photo” was working some serious bedroom eyes. One more minute of him on the Jumbotron, and I think he would have been having eye sex with half the arena.

- The kids doing the Timbits skills competition during the first intermission were absolutely adorable. They could not have been more than five years old, and the vast majority of them were still using the stick for balance. Sabretooth was a good goalie, letting each kid score. The final kid was having difficulty skating and moving the puck at the same time, so ‘Tooth picked him up, dropped him in front of the net, and let him shoot. Then carried him off the ice so no one would get runover by the Zamboni. This was the first game that I’ve been to in I don’t know how long that had the little kids playing during the intermission. More little kids and less high schoolers, please!

- And speaking of little kids, Gerbe looks like a little kid when he’s out on the ice. He makes Roy-Z look gigantic.

- Wacky observation: when the jumbotron lists what players are on the ice of each team and includes that cut-off headshot, Pommers’ picture makes him look like a young Wallace Shawn. (You know, Cyrus on Gossip Girl or Vizzini from the Princess Bride.) It’s not a good look for Pommers.

- About the only downside of the game was that there could have been more ice in my pop. My Sprite was warm by the end of the first period.

From the Crowd

Dear Mr. Bettman,

I’m not upset that you suspended Sean Avery for six games and sent him for anger management analysis. Nope, not upset about that at all. What does bother me is that you invoked the sacred “what about the children?!?!?!?” line in your rationale for suspending Mr. Avery. Seriously? Of all the things you could have used as rationale (and the above link does detail some very nice and well thought out reasons), you have to go all cliche and invoke the children? I’m sure the children you’re so concerned about would be able to tell you what sloppy seconds are, as kids are more aware of things than even kids were when I was growing up.

Regards,

SOtC

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Lindy and Ryan,

Can I please be a fly on the wall when you two hash out your differences over last night’s loss?

Pretty please? I’ll even bring enough snacks for you two as well. I’m nice like that.

Regards,

SOtC

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Mike,

I hope you at least get the airline miles credit for your voyage from Portland to Miami and back again.

Regards,

SOtC

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Derek,

I’m going to regret asking this, but is letting someone else operate your joystick in public a normal activity for you?I would think that invades about 19 kinds of personal space and some public decency laws.

Seriously confused,

SOtC

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Ryan.

I hope you channel some of the pissiness you’re undoubtedly feeling right now into tomorrow night’s game. I’m feeling a one goal game from you. Maybe, you could even channel some of your anger towards your teammates. They need to score more goals than you let in. Go ahead and review basic math with them if you have to.

I’m getting tired of writing pissy and whiny post and in-between game posts.

Regards,

SOtC

They’re All Fired

After last night’s loss, I want to fire the entire team with the exception of the following:

Ryan Miller – not his fault that he stepped into a pile of shit last night and had to play 14 minutes of semi-cleanup duty. Though I did notice during the goalie transition that Miller was sporting an unfortunate case of flat hat hair, received from wearing his yellow trimmed beanie during the game.

Drew Stafford – can’t punish him for this. Emphasis on the word this. There’s still plenty of things left to blame Staffy for.

Pat Kaleta – the kid was playing good until Lindy made him ride the pine. Not sure what the rationale is behind that one.

Nathan Paetsch – can’t blame him for being the seventh man in a six man band.

- With the news that Kotalik has a hamstring owie and may be out for a while, do you play Stafford or Kaleta? Stafford’s been in a slump, but the benching might have made him find his mojo again. Kaleta was playing well before his benching and he brings some oomph and chutzpah to the lineup. As much as I like Staffy, I’d vote for Kaleta.

Or, Lindy could do something radical and bench Derek Roy’s Juicy Couture wearing ass for a game. Since yelling before / during / after games doesn’t seem to sink in with young Roy-Z, maybe a night in the press box with some popcorn and sports writers would deliver Lindy’s message loud and clear.

- Did anyone else pick up on the “man on the prowl” vibe that Adam Mair was giving off during his sit down with Maria Genero on “The Sabres Show?” It was most notable during the part where Mair was trying to convince Genero that 40 is the new 30, which is the new 20. Then again, maybe it was the shit eating grin on Mair’s face, coupled with the undone by one too many buttons shirt with the bit of chest hair popping out at the top, that made it seem like that vibe was present.

- I did like hearing the explanation behind the decorations on Lalime’s mask. How sweet that he has something special for each of his daughters. And his daughters’ names are beautiful (Rosemary, Lilliana and Evangeline), not that my opinion matters.

- After almost being declared dead by much of the free world (including yours truly), I was surprised to see Timmy playing last night. At times, it seemed like he was the only player for the Sabres trying to do something. He played almost 19 minutes of the game, which is a pretty fair showing. Granted, a good chunk of it was power play time, but its still a decent amount of time.

Hopefully a different team shows up against the Pens tonight. Otherwise, its going to be a long, ugly Saturday night.

Semi-Live: Thrashers v. Sabres

Check in occasionally for semi-live thoughts from tonight’s Sabres/Thrashers game.

Pre-Game

- I was listening to the Pominville Report on Z101 on my way to the doctor this afternoon. Pommers shared that Tuesday night was the team’s belated Halloween party. He went as Darth Vader. Or would that be Darth Pommer?  He also admitted that they were keeping tabs on the election results while enjoying each other’s company and the libations and such. I can just imagine the boys gathered round the TV watching the election results in all their costumed glory. Wouldn’t that be a sight to behold? After reading his comments on Wednesday, can’t you just picture Miller making like Leo McGarry and telling everyone to shut the hell up so he could hear what Wolf Blitzer was talking about, while Kaleta would be confused about what kind of degrees the electoral college gives out.

(By the way, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a massive West Wing fan.)

- Janet and Nick were talking this morning about Derek Roy showing up at the Juicy Couture party at the Tony Walker store last night. Seriously, Derek? Juicy Couture? I thought better of you.

- The Erin and Andrew Peters interview during the Sabres show was pretty cute. I like seeing these behind the scenes features about the guys. You could tell from this interview that Peters kind of struggles with the perception of the fans that he’s just a meathead who’s only role is to beat up the opposition. He wants to be seen as a hockey player not a lunkhead. And also, Augie Peters…completely adorable. Even if he does have an expensive shoe fetish.

- With Hecht coming back from his thumb injury, Stafford is a healthy scratch tonight. Hopefully, the benching will serve as a reminder for Staffy to remove his head from his sphincter, then play hockey. For every absolutely brilliant play he’s had these past couple of games, there’s been a boneheaded play to offset it. While its been a consistent pattern, that’s not the kind of consistency you want in a hockey player.

Getting To Know You

- The Hockey News posted a “Getting to Know Him” interview with Patrick Kane. I am speechless at the fact that he drives an aquamarine Hummer. Alright, I’m speechless that he called it aquamarine instead of blue.

- Be extra kind to your neighborhood Devils fans for the next couple of days. Marty Brodeur is going to be out for the next 3-4 months after having surgery to repair a torn biceps muscle. Does this mean that the NHL is going to have to take its tasteful, yet Blingy Bob-esque, Marty record breaking tracker down?

- Aren’t the Portland Pirates just the best bunch of team builders you ever saw? I did like that Dineen went through the course with the guys as well. I would expect Lindy to do the same thing, too.

- And congrats to Teppo, Vanek, Roy and Miller for making the All-Star ballot. When the ballot goes live, remember to vote for these guys, plus your favorite write-in candidates. Those write-in votes for Goose or Paille have to come from somewhere.