H-H-H-Hockeyville

So, I just started looking on Getty Images at the pictures from Sabre adventures in Dundas, and it kinda just crossed my mind that this was actually such an awesome thing for the little town.

Last night, we were discussing how it was good that we didn't go, because it was really important for the town (they probably would have sniffed us out) to have their own thing.

I live ten minutes from the arena, and can decide at 6 pm if I'm going to a game, and obviously not everyone can do that with a team. Dundas is close to both us and Toronto, but its not the same luxury.

Seeing those little kids standing in the rain waiting for players, and seeing the players stand there getting wet to sign for them, and handing out pucks, and going to their schools really tug at the heart strings. You know it's a good time when Lindy gets involved. Lindy interacting with little children is like watching a walrus juggling: you don't expect it, you don't know what to do when it happens, and it's so cute to watch.

Even the little things like this!

All the players that were spoken to commented on how they were once in the little kids positions (even Lindy, though he was never a little kid). I can only begin to imagine the thrill for them. I spent the first four years of my life living in a town outside Montreal that was so small, you didn't know it was there unless you were almost out of gas on the 40, I'm sure something like that there would have been tremendous (and they would have all been rooting for the Sabres).

And, and even bigger treat, we beat the friggin Senators! Without Thomas Vanek scoring! Granted, it was their B-team (Chris Neil doesn't count, hes lucky he's not on the Y team), but we're desperate, we'll take it!

Though I must say, the high point of the evening was Shelby yelling six stories down (she was in my apartment, I was walking into the building) that Thomas had the A. I love that weirdo.

Not to mention, I could have scored the first goal, but it's something we can hold in our defense when they're kicking our ass in the coming months.

I must say, I am very fond of Mr. Niedermayer (can't imagine many who aren't). I was so excited when we signed a Niedermayer, I didn't care which one it was. Even if his signing bliss only lasted mere hours until Patty signed, it's still awesome.

I was annoyed when Tyler got more of a cheer on the red carpet when they were together. Nothing against Tyler, I know he had a great year and everyone is excited, but it's a friggin Niedermayer!

He has the bushiest beard EVER, his gray hair indicates wisdom, HE KNOWS WHAT THE FRIGGIN CUP LOOKS LIKE!

What he's doing here, I don't know. I just hope no one makes him wonder that....

Necessary mommy picture, classssssy

Fancy, Boys!

Maybe there's something about the off season that just deflates me of all hockey decency (Darcy Syndrome) because the first preseason game always reminds me of the tactics of attending a hockey game. Especially when going with Shelby.

Saturday, as we know, embarked as the last team to start their pre-season. Once again, it was against the Leafs, once again, we won (I feel like we're not allowed to lose in pre-season, or against the Leafs), and once again the Sabres arrived in style.

Or so I'm told, to be perfectly honest, a certain event at the red carpet wiped my mind clean of basically everything but my social security number.

Shut up, you adore it! Jordan Leopold, you get credit for trying (and for naming your daughter Jordyn), but no.

Nice try getting me to learn to appreciate you, bonus points there.

Anyways, on to the game portion of the night.

We were early, of course, because of the red carpet event. Shelby and I are rarely early to the game unless it's San Jose or for some reason I miscalculated. Our typical routine is arrive, buy raffle tickets/poster, head to 100 levels for warm ups. But I was so busy running around the arena to find our one friend who works the concession stand to show her the adorableness above, that didn't happen.

Come to think of it, when I saw them coming out for warm ups on the screen, I was kind of like ' oh, right, they do that.' None the less, very excited to see that Mr. Timmy was wearing an A, and not even that shocked that Robbie had one too. I have a feeling that is going to stick.


Shelby and I sat in the 200 section, as you can see my the clear cups (I'm sure she's glad I didn't use the other picture of our drinks that night). I would save up to sit there during the season, at least for one game. I'm all for situations where you don't have to stand up (except for peanut butter pie, totally worth it!).

Pre-Season is always interesting in the sense that you watch the games and, even on the other team, are you puzzled by numbers and names that you've never seen before and, in a few days, won't see until next pre-season.

Never the less, it was nice to see new guys, Robbie and Shaoooone, play for the first time. One thing that irked me on the red carpet is that people cheered louder for big Tyler than Robbie when they were near each other. Yes, he won the Calder, but for crying out loud we have a NIEDER BROTHER!

Sigh, hopefully over time. He did score, so, bonus points.

I don't know, I never see the point of re-capping the jist of the game- if you didn't see it, you already know. Robbie scored, Nate broke half his bones taking out a Leaf, somehow we won with a rookie goalie in net. All impressive, yes, but why should I bore you repeating it?

Instead, I shall leave you with this:

She was pointing to the mean fans who are mean to her daddy!

Lets see how the big guy does tonight!

Poke...Poke...Jab

Oh, hello there blog.

I swear I usually great ideas for blogs (or mildly good)...but then there isn't much capacity left after I have to remember my email and password to log in. Ugh.

Anywho, I motivated myself for this one. I was in the shower this morning and had a realization, other than the fact that I need a new razor. Puck Drop is two, count them TWO, weeks away! Crazy things happen when September first comes around and you realize hockey events are happening THIS MONTH.

Two weeks is nothing, and then we can actually see living, breathing HOCKEY PLAYERS. And new jerseys (bleh) and what not.

And what comes after Puck Drop? TRAINING CAMP

After training camp? PRESEASON

After PRESEASON? A small break and then...

Well, you know.

It's going to happen so quickly, so I will go through my usual stressed out rants about getting home opener tickets. This is on top of paying for Catwalk and a new passport. That's the order of my priorities sadly. The passport is not necessary until December when we head to Ottawa for possible death.

Thankfully, everyone is signed -glares at Drew Stafford- so my own irresponsibility-ness is all I have to be stressed about.

Oh, and starting school on Tuesday. Bleh.

Tamara and Caroline vs. AAC

My class got out early, and I have to stick around for my radio show at 10, so I thought why not update! Another good reason would be that Caroline and I had a rather successful adventure to Toronto on Sunday, and aren't blogs for sharing? Yes, they are!

So, we left Buffalo around 4:30 (we aimed for four because we knew it was probably going to be late) and had smooth sailing to Toronto, except of course until you hit downtown. And since the Air Canada Centre blends in with other downtown buildings (unlike the Rogers Centre, which you can almost see from Buffalo) we drove up and down random streets winging it.

Everytime we saw Leafs fans, we assumed we were in the right general area. We pulled over on one street for Caroline- already in her Miller jersey- to ask for directions. How many people live in Toronto? And we ask the only non-English speaking couple on that street who went ' uhhhh' and pointed in a random direction. Fantastic.

We parked on a random street since it was Sunday and thus, free and headed off- Caroline in Ryans jersey, and me in Patty Cakes (goalies represent!). We were walking targets and felt like it. We kept trying to follow Leafs fans and had to ask for directions in a subway station when the Leafs fans mislead us. We did see a few Sabres fans on the way, so I started feeling a bit better.

Finally, we made it! Ten minutes before puck drop, we were in the security line. Somehow, in those ten minutes, we managed to make it from the underground entrance, up to our seats, and got Caroline beer along the way (she was far too excited to be drinking, haha). Our seats were row 18, which is NOT the row 18 it is at HSBC. It's the last row, right below the standing section, and we were so high up that we were BEHIND the press box, and had a little TV because you might not have been able to see the top of the scoreboard. Don't get me wrong, they had a great view, and you take what you can get when you buy tickets that afternoon.

It was already such a culture shock. They announced the Leafs starting line up with names and numbers we were not use to hearing, and Caroline and I had to scream extra loud for our starting line up.

One of the downfalls to the AAC being bigger than HSBC is that when the Leafs score, coma patients know about it. They arena was definatley not sold out, especially since it was preseason, but you still heard it (I actually got a video of one of the Leafs goals while TRYING to film something else!).

The first time we were actually heckled, other than people yelling ' BUFFALO SUCKS!' as we walked around, was during the first intermission. We were down by 2, as we all know, and when passing by other people in our row to go get something to eat, an old man said " oh, are you coming back?" I guess it looked like we were bailing, but it was an intermission! Not to mention the first period. But Caroline was like ' oh yeah, we're coming back!'

Along with Caroline and I returning to our seats for the second period, the Sabres came back. Similar to the Montreal game the night before, Gerbe and Clarkie scored a little over a minute apart. A few minutes later, Thomas scored...right after Caroline asked " have the Sabres scored on the power play this pre-season?" He was kind enough to answer her question.

Then the Leafs scored two blah blah blah, we never went down after that! I must say, it was very weird cheering when they scored. I know we weren't the only Sabres fans there, we weren't even the only ones in the section. But when you're so use to 17,000+ people cheering with you, sometimes it took a second to realize it was a goal (kind of like when you think they score at HSBC, then realize they didn't, but you're thrilled for that small period of time). Even in the Wachovia Center, there's more people cheering when the Sabres score. Odd.

Despite not admitting it, the Leafs fans loved when we cheered for the little guy, and Kennedy scoring, just because we had the tendency to sound like we hated the Sabres more than they did for a moment. The woman a few seats over from us was laughing so hard when Caroline yelled ' THE LITTLE BITCH DID SOMETHING RIGHT!' when we thought Roy scored (but it was really Vanek).

But, that game was intense! If they scored, we scored, and so on. And I'm very upset that so many are dissing Patty and his performance that night. I'm not saying he was stellar, I'm sure there were some soft goals in there, but there were also amazing saves. Half the people bashing him, didn't even watch the game! I understand he let in six goals, but Toskala- a starter- let in seven. In high scoring, and close scoring not to mention, games I rarely blame either goaltender. Patty was on his A-game, unlike our defensemen. I love Hank, I love Craig...I don't love them together. However, everyone killed that 6 on 4 at the end of the third, so shove it haters (sorry)!

...by the way, HAD the Leafs scored on that 6 on 4, it wouldn't have been Goose's fault. Somehow, we would have made it Dereks.

So, the game ended, Caroline and I were screaming (I finally got her to work WITH the Sabres, haha) and what not. People yelled ' Buffalo sucks!' but we were oh-so-lame and yelled ' WE WON!' We had to make a pit stop at the bathroom, and I felt SO awkward standing there in my jersey when waiting for Caroline. But, women usually aren't as nasty. One woman even rubbed my shoulder and said ' you're a brave girl.'

While leaving the AAC- not even being off the property- we saw two MAJOR fan fights. One was actually inside, and we didn't see anything more than shoving, but when we walked away from it, a lot of security guys were running that way. And outside, we saw a guy get jumped (well, he didn't seem to be doing anything) and shoved around by some angry/drunk Leafs fans. He was kicked in the face, poor guy. If I hadn't been a girl, I probably would have jumped in to help him.

We wandered off in search of the car. On our way (in the wrong direction) a guy on a corner stopped us. He was maybe in his 50's or so, and immediatley started raving Buffalo, saying how his first game was in the Aud when he was about 9 (or six?). He went on about the French Connection, and how the fans were great, and the Leafs fans were not. He was so sweet, Caroline just adored him, and got my picture with him haha. Definatley a nice way to end the last walk through the city.

...actually, it really ended when a homeless guy had to point us in the right direction. For that, we gave him some money (he tried to woo us by saying he loved Buffalo, haha).

All in all, very awesome trip. It was Caroline's first away game, and first time seeing a game this (pre)season. I LOVE the AAC, I think its a gorgeous building...and that's about it. We survived a night of rivarly (during the game, they talked about a DVD that was going on sale of the Leafs greatest games, to which I yelled " SHORTEST DVD EVER!" so I was going a little outside of the somewhat safety zone).

I would like to personally thank the Sabres for winning, and making the trip back to the car a little less dangerous (at one point, I thought my car died, and was ready to run after their bus).

I have a good amount of pictures from that night. I'll do a picture post with a few of them later today, but my radio show starts in about 13 minutes.

Be cool and listen in. www.medaille.edu/wmcb <--- click on the lizard and listen, folks!

Pre-Game: Pray for Us!

So, after much confusion and waiting until (almost) the last minute. 

Myself and Caroline from Hockey Night in Buffalo are 45 minutes away from heading to Toronto for the final pre-season game for ours boys. Our seats are bad, but lets hope the Leafs are worse!

I've been to the Air Canada Centre before for a Leafs game, but they weren't playing the Sabres. This should account for some fun times!

Patty should be in net, too! I'm glad he gets the last game before heading to the bench. 

Side Note: 

Jeff Cowam, Joe Dipenta, Felix Schutz, Philip Gogulla, and Marc-Andre Gragnani are joining Jhonas in Portland. And Mark Mancari signed? Well, he tried to put up a fight. 

It's go time, folks!

I'm So Neglecting.

Sorry folks, but yesterday I was death with a Sabres shirt on. I don't have swine flu like poor Jill, but something finally brought me down. Luckily, the worse only lasted a day, now i'm just sore and congested. Oh, and like my grandpa, whenever I laugh, it leads to a coughing fit. 

Anyways!

Shelby and I had loads of fun at the pre-season game. The red carpet was spiffy, except for the lack of Craig Rivet, and Derek Roy still being allowed to dress himself. I think his suit is why GOOSE was Captain, and he was not. But other than that, everyone looked sharp and seemed to be more comfortable with the concept in comparison to last year. Joe Dipenta, who finally came out of the wood work, seemed to be a little confused...which is weird because he played in California, land of this kind of crap. He also had Tim Hortons in hand, very adorable. 

Some things from that evening. 

- Patty didn't bring his daughters, but he had a pink tie (like Hank!). I think Patty K was most hardcore into the signings, and Drew just wanted to make fun of Derek (he said what we were all thinking). 

- I loved that Adam went. But I'm sure he has a lot of time to waste, this along with his new blog. However, I bet he will be right back at the 6 week mark. Afterall, according to Jim Corsi, he's a ' hip guy.' (insert awkward laughing).

- The ONE autograph I wanted was Patty on a Penguins card I recently got. But this skank next to me (not Shelby) pushed me aside to get him to sign her Winter Classic banner. The game HE WASN'T EVEN ON OUR TEAM FOR!

- Security was suspicious of my bag. I love having to say  ' uh, a bobblehead' when he felt it. Thank god he didn't ask me to take out Toni's card, even though it was occupying the most room in that little bag. 

- Shelby and I attempted to get to the 200 level to FINALLY get a picture with Patty and Patty, but apparently even during the preseason they check tickets before you go up. And not until I just read Shelby's blog did I realize we also forgot to do it after the game (darn you, Toni Lydman!). We have time to keep forgetting...

- Goose being captain was the greatest thing since...Craig Rivet being captain. Also, his goal was totally called by Shelby and I...including Mike Grier's assist. 

- Jason Pominville looks ridiculous with the camera on his head. More so, that is. 

- Yelling at Leafs fans will never get old. I never have issues with other opposing fans, so I save it all for them. 

- I called Shelby a 'cunt-nugget' because she filmed me backing up my car in our oh-so-cheap parking lot. 

- Toni loved the bloopers video. Drewseph didn't even budge when they did the air guitar thing.

- Speaking of Drew, they finally put that man in a cage...and denied him his burrito. 

- There's probably some stuff I'm forgetting.

- Toni's mom should be proud with that woman he married. I've always thought Mrs. Lydman was a funny girl, like when she translated my Finnish sign. Wednesday night, Shelby and I gave Toni an early birthday card explaining why his present would be late (hehe). You know those ones that play music? Imagine that 6 times bigger, and thats what we had. He did stop, but we were acting too chicken shit to give it to him. But we figured we had to for it all to fall into place. So, we handed it to him and said blah blah blah it's for your birthday. He smiled and said...something, but the his wife grabbed it from him and said ' oh good, because I was going to forget it!' That's a solid hockey marriage right there!

Also!

- Timmy is going to be on the second line with Clarke opening night, and an unnamed winger. Roy, Thomas, and Drewseph are going to be the starters. I like some parts, but not others, we'll have to wait and see. 

- According to Jhonas's Facebook, he's going to Portland tomorrow. Obviously, we all knew, but still. I wonder who is next...

- Adam Mair was skating today. He had Timmys red jersey on, but he was pretty active, until he fell over. 

- Home opener is 8 days away! 8 days! Goodness gracious, that means 6 days until Shelby explodes. 

Pictures from Wednesday? Of course....    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2222470&id=90400158&l=362c670fdc

We Pre-Game Harder Than You Party

Tomorrow is the day HSBC, Buffalo PD, and Paul Gaustad have been fearing for ages. 

It's Shelby and Tamara attending their first Sabres game together. And sadly, it's just a warm up before the home opener a week from Saturday...when we actually decorate my car. Tomorrow we just might do the flag, but it's all in preparation, folks. 

We should be there in time for the Red Carpet, so if anyone is out and about looking to meet some new people, look for the home made Craig Rivet shirts and a Finnish flag. 

Tomorrow should be good stuff game wise though...Toronto is always a fun game to watch. And our boys have been doing really well, so lets hope that keeps up tomorrow. 

Speaking of talent, Kevin Sylvester posted a blog today in which he praises Patty. 

Without being bias, he has a very good point. Given the right amount of time and preparation, Patty will be just fine when Ryans all rawr Team USA. And it's not just the preseason for the goalies. Hopefully Patty Cake will keep up his good work...he should be playing in Montreal if this rotation keeps up.

Not tomorrow, but I'll live. I'm sure come Olympic time, I'll be dragging Shelby to a game just because Patty is playing. Afterall, I drove through the bad part of Buffalo at midnight to get tickets to the Anaheim game from some guy off Craigs List (edited for the parental story). 

Tomorrow will be interesting. Hopefully the boys show up with their A-game and stylin suites...classy stylin, not Derek Roy stylin. 

However, I would LOVE a repeat of this:

-dreamy sigh-

Goosey, Goosey, Goosey!

I didn't watch this preseason game as much as the first one...obviously, I don't live in Detroit. Shelby had the feed on her computer in my living room while we were watching Dirty Dancing. I have never seen the movie all the way through, sadly. 

But that is not why we're here!

Craigory was the captain tonight, which makes sense because when isn't he the captain? Other than games he doesn't play in. POMINVILLE, not Roy, had the A, which I don't like, but it's a nice step down from what could have been captain.

And who had the other A?

This fine boy...

( missing from picture: letter A)

Fine work done there. And what else, he scored an empty netter! The title of this blog actually comes from Shelby and I chanting that as we bounced around my living room after his goal (trying oh so hard to avoid the wet paint of our shirts).  See our encore this coming Wednesday.

Did Derek also score? Yes. Did he score a goal that was actually necessary rather than an empty-netter? Probably. But that doesn't matter! Goose plants trees, Goose plays with sick children, Goose plays with YOUR children, Goose delivers babies (not yet, but we have a theory...)

Special shout-out to Tommy boy. I will never get tired of your butt screening goalies and scoring goals. 

I leave you with our work in progress:

We're going to start copyrighting them....if that's even legal. 

Until Monday...or tomorrow with some babbling nonsense. 

Pregame! Woo!

Alright, folks. Preseason continues tonight!

Our boys are in Detroit, hopefully ready to bounce back against the Red Wings. 

Maybe we should all take a moment to remember what happened last time we played them...

Luckily, Drewseph is not playing tonight. Craigory, however, is. So, in case someone feels like getting out of hand, he shall be there.

Also playing from Thursday night are Vanek, Roy (gah!), Butler, Gerbe, Myers, Pominville (gah!), Weber, Mac, and Kennedy...probably because of his Michigan relations.

SPEAKING OF MICHIGAN! Ryan is playing tonight, the WHOLE game with Jhonas backing him up. Patty didn't get to play the whole game...

...anywho, other new guys in the mix are Goose, TC, Matty Ellis, Patty K, Mike Grier, Peaches, and Toni Bear. I'm excited some ' seasoned' defensemen are going in tonight. They can help out the little ones, even if it's only to kiss the boo boos better.

Shelby and I will be listening to the game at the same time of watching Dirty Dancing...not even kidding.

After tonight, the boys head to Washington to hopefully not re-create Thursday night. Then, they are back here for the second (and final) home preseason game against the Leafs.

It's also going to be Shelby and I's first game together...

...I wonder if they let you blog from a holding cell.

Re-Cap...Get it? Cap? Anyone?

I'm so excited, this is my first post game blog! I've been blogging for months, but started in June so it makes sense. 

Anyways, hockey is back! It almost felt like it never left. Unfortunately, I have to open with a losing game, but they didn't go down without a fight...literally Mike Weber almost killing a guy. 

A few of my observations: 

- The girls behind me were so close to being a scene in a bad horror movie. I saw them at training camp all week, and of course they end up behind me. They screamed at EVERYTHING (including calling Ennis Tennis?) and it really took away from the game. Ugh.

- A few Caps ganged up on Nate. How do you get them off? Why, you put Tyler Myers out there.

- Patty was sans banana hat. Hopefully he's just keeping it fresh until the home opener, but he can't just not do it anymore.

- Shelby, who did not actually view the game, had to tell me what that was on the top of Patty's mask. Apparently, it was a camera. For what? We don't yet know. The refs had one, too, but Jhonas didn't? This could be the beginning of something awesome...or weird. 

-  Derek Roy bugged me. I mean, when doesn't he? But here we are, a fresh new start in the PRE SEASON, and what's he doing? Diving. Not to mention, diving to the point where he almost took out Drew. There are a huge amount of rookies willing to kill the other to make this team, and this jerk, who is having his spot handed to him on a silver platter is still jerking around. As Shelby put it, this was so four years ago!

- He was also captain, I didn't like that. I bet Craigory was in the press box banging his head on the wall/table/Hanks arm. But, TV had one of the A's and that was great. I think he would be good in that role, as long as it doesn't stress him out more. Also, I didn't notice until the second period or so, and proceeded to text STOP THE PRESSES! to Shelby. 

- Jhonas and Patty both did excellent, excellent jobs and are the reasons that game wasn't burying us alive. I don't care that Jhonas got a penalty, it was an innocent one. Both were on their game, and should be proud of themselves. Also, I will take out a bitch who knocked that poor boy down. Even if he did get in the way by standing on the bench.

- At one point towards the end of the game, Tyler Myers dove in front of the net. I think Jhonas is still trying to figure that one out. 

- Two rookies collided when one was leaving the bench and the other was going back. It was kind of cute, but very silly to think they were so into it they didn't see it coming. I hope Lindy doesn't take off points for that.

- I totally forgot Mike Knuble plays for the Caps now. I kind of like him, but not tonight.

- Why does Drew always look so scared during a shift? Is it Thomas? Is it Derek? Does Lindy have a battery secretly hooked up to his nipples. Sorry about the imagery. 

- I should be able to pay more attention at Wednesdays game, because I won't be texting Shelby...because she'll be sitting next to me.