Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires

Harry Neale may have won the quote of the night for his "pregnant fox in a forest fire" quote, but I'm sorry to say we've been walking in ashes for quite a while now. Local media has been gloating this game as a "changing" point in the season, but the season has been long gone. If I remember correctly at the trade deadline the Sabres had to go just two games over .500 to make the playoffs. I told Ryan and fully believed that they could at least pull that off. I was obviously mistaken. Let us take a look at what the Niagara Gazette is saying about last night.

If you missed the third period of Buffalo’s 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers, call your buddies to find out who DVR’d it and pop on by with a pizza tonight. This was straight therapy for fans who’ve been put through a painful ringer the past two seasons — a time when goals and guts have seemed absent at inopportune times.

"Straight therapy"? This was just another build-up for another let down, that is if you actually believe this team is going to make the playoffs. "Past two seasons"? Try 5 of 7. "A time when goals and guts have seemed absent at inopportune times" That's a riot. A laugh riot.

You assumed Maxim Afinogenov’s empty-netter ended it. Case closed. After trailing 3-1 in the third with their slim playoff chances hanging in the balance, the Sabres rallied with an incredible stretch of four goals that left the Panthers in equally rough shape.

But while the goals were vital, it might have been a late melee that finally brought this team together.

Right. Because standing up for Max on a meaningless goal, in a meaningless game is the answer this team needed. Continue.

That’s when it happened — a group that hasn’t protected each other all season did so just when you assumed they’d already pulled the wedges out of the closet.

Um, yeah you do know there's nine games left in the season. Sorry this may help out a bit.

1. y-Boston 102
2. x-New Jersey 97
3. x-Washington 97
4. Philadelphia 90
5. Carolina 89
6. Pittsburgh 88
7. NY Rangers 86
8. Montreal 83
9. Florida 81
10. Buffalo 78
11. Toronto 75
12. Ottawa 73

“It was awesome,” Ruff said of the team’s surprising toughness.


“We’ve got to be desperate like that every game,” MacArthur said. “If we play like we did there in the third, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Really? Where the hell was this 10 games ago? 20? All season?

NHL Conspiracy? Noooooo......

Day-to-day (flu-like symptoms)

I haven't left my bed all week except for free pancake day at IHOP and to go to the game Tuesday night. I missed the first period tonight due to me sleeping 19 hours a day, but I woke up to some great news, I honestly think it was Vanek's voice that woke me up. Intermission report said that his return may come as soon as March 4th, which is great news. Sabres played a decent game tonight against the Canes', dominating the first two periods but getting into a bit of penalty and long shift trouble in the third which led to the tying goal.

Pens and Ducks make a deal earlier today, sending Chris Kunitz for Ryan Whitney and Eric Tangradi. Good deal for both sides, Kunitz who is signed until 2011-2012, a decent 50-60 point winger and still developing, should be a nice complement to either Crosby or Malkin. They also get young prospect Eric Tangradi. Tangradi is a solid prospect playing in the OHL, hes got size 6'3-215 and can make plays, 2nd in the OHL in scoring behind Tavares. Ducks receive Whitney who is the big puck moving defencemen the Ducks were looking for.

Brodeur came back tonight for the Devils and in Brodeur fashion records the shutout regardless of not playing in 4 months. Zach Parise scored a really nice goal by roofing it over Raycroft, he now has 36 on the year which ties him with Jeff Carter in 2nd in goals scored.

A look at the standings now, Philly sits now in 4th with 75 points, it is very unlikely the Sabres will catch them, Habs are at 71 and a game at hand in 5th, Florida beat the Rangers whom have lost 4 straight, they are both at 70, Rangers have played 63 games so they are in 7th, Buffalo sits at the 8th spot with Carolina also with 69 points. According to Mirtle the Sabres have to finish 11-9 now to make the playoffs.

I'd write more but my Nyquil PM is kicking in pretty strong now...I'll post more when I'm not dying I swear.

Oh God.

Yeah.... boy that game was awful to watch last night. I have the flu, going back to bed forever.

Pog?Pogge?Gerb?Gerbe?

Oh I'm sorry you meant Pogge, man are those Versus guys bad or what. Calling Gerbe, Gerb almost all night, though someone must have told him the correct pronunciation sometime throughout the night. Maybe it was Chris Simpson climbing around the bench in her heels to ask Nathan, seriously how annoying must it be to have her around, its one thing to have Ray between the benches, but to have those love bags prancing around the bench, come on Versus leave the coaches and players alone they have better things to worry about, keep the interviews for intermissions and post game. Third hit on Google for "Christine Simpson"Christine Simpson's Cleavage.

On a hockey note, Sabres didn't play that good in my opinion, they got completely out worked in the first before that power play, good goal by Staffy putting a puck to the net out front. Pogge really should have had that save short side but all night he was covering the pipes like the rookie he is. Paille on the second goal looks good for once by going to the net hard and getting a sick pass from Timmy, Pogge had no chance at all on this one. I have always been against rule 78.5 that Pominville got his goal disallowed by, honestly I feel that you should be allowed to score a goal by "directing" your body to move the puck, as long as you don't grab the puck with your hands. Really I mean even kicking the puck is pretty hard to do, why not allow that as long as you do it in a relatively safe manner. Why were the announcers praising Macarthur's play? In his 14 minutes of ice time I can't recall anything that stands out.

Good news is along with the Sabres win, Boston knocked off Carolina 5-1 which really hurts the Canes' chances of slipping into the playoffs. Florida won at home against the Devils which puts them also at 66 points with the Habs,Rangers and Sabres. Panthers and Habs have a game at hand over New York and Buffalo. Rangers play the Islanders tomorrow and Montreal heads to the Capital to face off against Ovie. Buffalo plays Philly on Thursday and expect Goose and Hank to return to the line up.

Also, the boys over at First Time Long Time did an intro post about my blog, make sure you check them out.

Bengals Supporting Bengals

Well I'm about to the hit the 90 with Ryan from the Roost as we go to Syracuse for the Orange-Hoyas game. If you're not too busy today head over to Buffalo State Ice Arena for a Womens Ice Hockey game. It should be a great game as most of the girls will be playing for Maddy.Womens at 4, Mens at 7. Go Bengals.

Gerbe the Winged Monkey

Game started with a moment of silence as expected for the loss of the friends and families of flight 3407.



1st Period-Woo baby, the boys came out to play tonight, Mairsy scoring on a tipped shot from a great Rivet point shot just 7 minutes in. Nearly two minutes later Spacek takes advantage of a Rob Blake holding penalty by blasting one from the point with a great Drew Stafford Jesus screen. They're doing a great job getting pucks deep and working from there. Guess that whole system thing works. Pavelski takes a penalty and San Jose nearly kills the penalty but Thornton gets his pocket picked at centre ice and Derek Roy buries one top corner for his 100th career goal. Teppo takes a hooking call and Patrick Marleau fires a wrist shot just above the circle and below the blue line, Miller doesn't have a chance on it with a great screen by Thornton. 3-1 Buffalo, great game so far.

Rangers up 1-0 on the Panthers. Can't they just both lose?

I've seen this HSBC commercial 600 times... I still don't get it. But I suppose its better than Veins,Veins, Veins...::Shudder::

2nd Period-Great first minute so far,exciting end to end chances. Turns out that Clowe and Boyle are playing despite the flu. Rob Ray still can't read... Crowd seems into it tonight, where were they against the Sens? Gerbe has about 8 minutes of ice time already and its 5 minutes into the 2nd, good for him. Florida tied it up on the Rangers. Timmy needs to get those clears in deep, that could have been deadly. Blake trips up Paille, here we go boys. Kotalik rips one right off the face off. 4-1. Yeah, those scrums after every play need to go, they are fine once in a while not after every play. Marleau camping out front puts one in past Miller, D-man needs to tie him up right out in front. Sharks come right back and take a penalty, guess momentum isn't in their system. Grier gets a shorthanded breakaway, Miller stands tall. Good pressure from the Sharks, Sabres ice it. Not looking good. Lindy calls time out. Good Call. Another power play for the Sabres. Sharks kill it, and Dan Boyle scores with 50 seconds left. Come on Finland.

Rangers still tied after 2.

I can't wait to play in the pond hockey tourney next year.

3rd Period-Let's hope Buffalo keeps the pressure on. Lazy icing by Roy, Sabres finally change, Kaleta is everywhere... I'd hate to play that kid. Garbage call on Rivet, Thornton gets a high stick by his own man in the corner. Balls loses his stick, Sharks cycle and blast one from the point past Miller. 4-4. Crowds back into it, lets see if the boys feed off it. Why does MSG want us to think Rob Ray knows how to play hockey? Mmm commercial for Papa Johns on the Rangers game... I'm hungry... Ugh San Jose scores, awful d, play the body not the puck! Rangers have a PP with 4 min left, still tied at 1. One min left in the Rangers game, lets hope they don't go to OT. Well they're going to OT, that's not good for Buffalo who are losing. Gerbe is a feisty flying monkey. Habs are up 2-0 also... not a good night for the Sabres. Minute left..lets see what they can do..RIVET SCORES! WITH 3.9 LEFT! It seems like most of the goals tonight have been from the point. Crowd is really into it now. Pommers gets the credit, hopefully this breaks him out of his slump.

Gerbe gets hit knee to knee at centre ice, hopefully hes okay, Dr.Z wins it in Florida in a shootout against the Rangers.


Ales up first--Nabby gloves it.
Boyle up--Miller saves it glove side.
Stafford Jesus--Nabby with the pad save.
Pavelski--Miller save.
Timmy--Pad save low glove side.
Setoguchi--Miller save.
Pommers-Scores, off the post high glove side.
Marleau-Scores over Millers arm.
Roy-Deke backhand lifts it up stairs goal.

What a game. That was a big point to steal.




Sorry but why does Gerbe look like a winged monkey from Wizard of Oz?

Bears And Bulls

So the trade dead line is just 19 days away, I guess I'll do a break down on a few teams a day I suppose.


East-

Boston-Sitting on top of the East with a healthy 12 point lead the Bruins are obviously trying to make the long run for the Cup. Marc Savard and Phil Kessel are having strong years at centre, as well as 2nd year player David Krejci. A note of concern comes from the winger position, where Michael Ryder is sidelined for a few weeks with a fractured bone similar to Vaneks injury, and centre Patrice Bergeron whom suffered a concussion in late December which may come back to haunt him. They have a solid defence led by the giant Zedeno Chara, and former Buffalo draftee Dennis Wideman. Andrew Ferance is coming back off a leg injury that's kept him out of the line up for two months. They may try and look for a veteran who can offer the team some decent grit and experence, Keith Tkachuk who seems to be on the block every year might be a solid choice for a deep run come April.

New Jersey-Honestly I'm terrified of this team, this is a Devils team sitting in 2nd in the East with out the legendary Marty Brodeur, Scotty Clemmensen has stepped up as a notable goaltender and the usual defencive powerhouse Devils have found offencive gems in North Dakota products Travis Zajac and Zach Parise. They have a solid line up of veterans consisting of Elias,Langenbrunner,Gionta,Zubrus,Rolston,Holik and Pandolfo. It seems they already have found their rental player in Brendan Shanahan and are getting solid defence from David Oduya and Bryce Salvador. I really don't see the Devils making any major moves come deadline, maybe another D to help out in the run?

Washington-Sitting at 3rd, Ovie has his Caps looking for a decent run, that 2004 draft is really shining in the light over in Washington, with other first round pick Mike Green lighting the lamp nightly on the blue line, another excellent season for Semin, and its looking like youngster Nicklas Backstrom is getting comfortable in the NHL. They have good veteran leaders such a Kozlov,Nylander and Fedorov. Problems with this team is Mike Green is the only notable defenceman, well there's Tom Poti... and Jose Theodore is still their starting goaltender. Wouldn't Bouwmeester make a nice fit playing with Green and Ovie, or even Chris Pronger.

Philadelphia-Boy how has this team gone down the drain, Jeff Carter somehow with his wonderful skating style is among the league leaders in goals, Briere has played in a whopping 9 games this year, and there is a goaltender controversy starting between Biron and Niittymaki, both whom are free agents this coming summer so I wouldn't doubt one of them finding a new home. Also on the block is Lupul and according to TSN so is Scottie Upshall. I really wouldn't be surprised if the Flyers miss the playoffs all together.

Oh God...

Pretty much the same face I made all night.

Inaugural Post

So this is my first post as a blogger, I'm quite excited to actually start writing again...it's been way too long. Well, I suppose an introduction is in order, my names Dave, I attended Buffalo State College and currently live in Niagara Falls. Hockey and the Sabres will forever be my number one, but the Bills are a close second. I played lacrosse so I tend to follow up on our NLL Champion Bandits although not as much as I'd like to. I have a growing passion with watching college basketball which started just a few years ago by filling out my first bracket.

On the note of college hoops I'm watching Syracuse take on number 1 UConn before the Sabres game, 'Cuse with two products out of Niagara, Jonny Flynn argueably the best point guard in the nation, and Paul Harris who the more I watch him play the more I understand why he wasn't in class in highschool.

The Sabres are hosting Ottawa tonight at HSBC on the back end of a home-and-home where the Sens took the first game in a rare Ryan Miller shootout fail. The Sabres need to come out flying, Ottawa is a desperate team who really would love to try and play spoiler against a divisional rival although most of the forum buzz is about Ottawa fans hoping for Tavares.

Well I totally got distracted and the games on...maybe a recap post or a nice photoshop later...