Hockey Fight

On Wed. night, the Sabres played Boston (and beat them!). During the game, one of the bigger Sabres guys (Andrew Peters) got into a fight with a big guy on Boston's team. The Sabres color analyst (Harry Neale) said "the last time two things that big tangled, the result was Secretariat." Just struck us funny. We hate when Peters fights (or plays actually). He sucks. He always gets his ass kicked.

GOOOOAL! (Revisited) and some donuts

First, I got a second goal tonight at hockey! As Phollower pointed out, that means I have more goals than Max Afinogenov of the Sabres this season.

Second, after hockey we went to BadunkaDunkin Donuts. The people who work there are so amazingly stupid. They always get our order wrong. We were in the drive-thru today, and we asked what donuts they had left. The guy started listing things, very slowly. We asked if there were any white cream donuts. He said no. He also told us there was only one chocolate frosted one. When we ordered two cups of coffee (one large with 2 sugar and 1 cream and one medium with 2 cream and 1 sugar), he kept thinking we were changing the coffee order, not ordering two cups of coffee. Finally, we decided to go in since he seemed so confused. There were a whole tray of white cream donuts and another one of chocolate frosted. These are kids who were supposedly educated in a very nice suburb, supposedly great schools.

I thought Zoe or I had posted about the last time we went there, but I could not find it. So, sorry if this is a repeat. Zoe, BP, Phollower, and I stopped there for coffee and donuts one evening. We asked at the drive-thru what donuts they had left. We told them we wanted a dozen donuts and to make sure to include a list of 4 donuts, but they could add any of the other donuts except 2 specific kinds. I can't recall the exact kinds we wanted or didn't but the basic request was to make a dozen with 4 kinds to include for sure, 2 to not include. As we drove away, we opened the box. It was full of the 2 kinds we did not want and none of the 4 we did. We went back, told them the problem, and pulled around. They handed us more donuts. Guess what? Same problem. So we tried to explain again. We ended up yelling into the window what we wanted as they pulled them off the shelf. Then we asked if we could have some napkins. Keep in mind, we had 4 people in the car. The kid at the window gave us 2 napkins. By the end, we were laughing our asses off.

Opening Night for the NHL

Before the first game last night for the NHL, Versus showed had footage of a "party" the NHL was throwing for Red Wings fans in Detroit. The feature artists were Def Leppard (and yes, that is the correct spelling). You read correctly, Def Leppard. There are tons, dare I say hundreds, of great bands who are currently making music, and the NHL gets Def Leppard. I heard they have a new album, but I mean bands making good music right now. I really don't think the NHL officials get it.

Since Versus had the only games on at 7 and 10, we had to watch Versus. That is usually an unpleasant experience, but tonight it was especially unpleasant. I would post some footage from youtube from the "performance" but it was so terrible I'd hate to put anyone through watching it. Don't get me wrong. I liked Def Leppard back in the late 80s, but now I am more into music with more complex melodies and with more than 3 lines of lyrics. The lead singer looked horrible. I think he has been eating and doing drugs nonstop since Def Leppard stopped being popular (actually that may have been what he was doing when they were popular). He sounded horrible.

At one point, two of the Red Wings players showed up on stage with the Stanley Cup, riding on a motorcycle. One of them lifted the Cup up, kissed it, and handed it to the lead singer of Def Leppard, Joe Elliott. He took the Cup, kissed it, and placed on a table upside down. The NHL player ran over and righted it. What an ASS Joe Elliott is. Why should his fat ass get to kiss (or touch) the Cup? Could he not even found out how to handle the Cup ahead of time? I am pretty sure it was not a surprise visit.

All in all, it was a black mark on what should have been one of the best days of the hockey season.

The NHL hockey season has started

....insert happy dance here....

I am way overly excited about the start of the season, as usual.

That is all.

GOOOOAL!

I scored a goal during my hockey game tonight! I average about 1 per year, so it is a big deal. And this is the first one during a regular game I think (rather than during a scrimmage). Everyone on both teams was cheering for me.

Marty! Again!

Martin Biron (and the rest of the Philadelphia Flyers) moved on to the Eastern Conference championship! Cheers of "Let's go Flyers!" were heard throughout the living room, much to Phollower's dismay.

Marty Moves On!

And I don't mean the fish Marty. Martin Biron, my favorite hockey player and goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers, is now in the second round of the playoffs. He played awesome - which is more than I can say for their defense. But all is forgiven since he is moving on.

Guess I am a Sabres fan

The Sabres played Philadelphia. My favorite goalie (and hockey player in general) is the Flyer's goalie, Martin Biron. I had been considering picking up a second team to root for since the Sabres make such bone-headed choices, like not signing Briere and Drury and Campbell and Biron. Side note: hopefully they make a better choice by tomorrow about Campbell! Either way, I always root for Biron to do well. His eyes are so blue.....Anyway, I cheered just as loud when the Sabres scored on him, so I guess I like the Sabres even better than Biron. Oh well. Too bad the Sabres traded him. Too bad for me I am a Sabres fan for real. Stupid home teams!

The Monkey - because you know secretly you love it

Here are the monkey's picks for the hockey fantasy league Phollower and I run, as chosen by he and I. I love the Osgood choice personally. And the Lehtonen choice sends a "shout out" to MrsOz and Trapper John.

Sharp (CHIC)	Those incisors are quite sharp!
Nash (CBJ)	As a result of losing another week in the hockey pool, there was much wailing and nashing of teeth at Karrrlll's house.
Jagr (NYR)	Jagrs tear flesh from their prey.
Erat (NSH)	Eeeek erat!
Datsyuk (DET)	My tooth got caught on dats yuk.
Modano (DAL)	(a.k.a. "Teeth" in our house) Have you seen the gleam off those front teeth? They could blind you.
Pronger (ANA)	Watch it. You don't want to pronger!
Streit (MTL)	Braces will make your teeth streit.
R. Blake (LA)	I'm gonna punch you in the mouth and blake your front tooth!
Gerber (OTT)	If you don't brush, all your food may be made by gerber.
Osgood (DET)	Your breath is not osgood as I had hoped.
Lehtonen (ATL)	The space between his two front teeth is lehtonen air.

What It's Like Watching the Hockey Game with No Sound

Phollower and I TiVo'ed the Sabres game last night since we were playing hockey during it. When we got home, we realized that the sounds had not been TiVo'ed along with the video. This is a problem the Buffalo feed seems to be having with there HD feed. I think it is a conspiracy by NYC against Buffalo (since Buffalo is broadcast on the NYC affiliate, Madison Square Garden Network, and is always on the "alternate" channel to make room for the NYC teams! :). Anyway, toward the start of the 3rd period, Florida scored a goal, and it looked like Horton was the scorer. But there was no sound on the TV to hear and often it can be hard to tell at first look, with deflections, etc. who touched the puck last. So while I was getting my toothbrush to brush my teeth, I said, "Did Horton score that goal?" thinking that when the replays would make it clear. Phollower responded, "Everyone is hitting him on the head so either he scored a goal or heard a Hoo. I am not sure which." Cracked me up!

On a less funny note, the injury to Zednik was really scary. Just a note - that link does not show the blood, so it's safe if that upsets you. It seems he will be ok now, but it was really hard to see that happen to someone.

But the Sabres post-game added some levity to story. The sound on the game came on shortly after that incident, so we were able to catch the entire Sabres post-game show. Mike Robitaille is one of the announcers. He was an NHL player years ago, but without even knowing what Robitaille you are thinking of, I am sure you are not thinking of him. Anyway, he was trying to be reassuring about Zednik's injury, but he does not great people skills. So he said, "If any of Zednik's family are watching, we don't know if he has a wife or kids, there are no guarantees in life, but it seems he is doing ok at the moment." Later he went on to explain that since hockey players' heart rates are elevated when they are playing, the blood will come out faster when their neck is cut. I believe he said, "it shoots out of his neck" and the hand motion that went with it was really a great visual. It was like watching a train wreck. The announcer next to him, kept looking like he wanted to say "Stop! Stop!"

In the end, I am sure I speak for everyone, we hope Zednik is ok and can play again.

I'm no puck tease!

Phollower (and my hockey coach) are always telling me to go right at the defenseman with the puck and show it to the defenseman like I am about to shoot. This is often called "offering the defenseman the puck" although truly I am not going to give it to him/her. For those of you who do not play hockey, it is like offering your piece of bacon to your dog - you are not really going to give it to him, but he thinks so. This theoretically gets the defenseman to commit to the puck - try to block the shot or get the puck away from me. The idea is that when the defenseman commits, I can, supposedly, pull the puck back around the defenseman and shoot, using the defenseman to screen the goalie. Or I can, again theoretically, pull the puck back and go around the defenseman to the net. One problem...if I offer the puck to the defenseman, I'll never be able to pull it back. Really, it's not a problem of scruples, more of poor stick handling skills.

Is that lube?!?

Here's a little story Phollower told me about a guy in our co-ed hockey league. We'll call this guy ND. And before I start, I am going to say that ND seems like a really nice guy, not skeevy at all. Well, it seems ND came in to the locker room and told Phollower he just saw some of the girls coming into the rink. And he saw something hanging off one of the girl's hockey bags that looked like lube. He told Phollower that he knew it could not be lube, but it just looked so much like it. And that he was thinking he needed to stop by the women's locker room more often. Upon further inspection, he saw that it was hand sanitizer. Phollower said "That was my wife." In truth, I think both Zoe and I have hand sanitizer hanging off our bags, but Phollower did not know that. When I see ND again, I am going to tell him that I don't know what goes on in the guys locker room, but I heard he may be in need of some lube and that he should know we don't have any in the women's locker room.

Technically Speaking,

We were at a hockey game last night and the referee called an infraction. Zoe turned to Jack and I and said "what was the call?" I raised my hand in the air and began to open and close my fist in response. Zoe looked at me like - how does that help? Jack, always the verbal one, said "hand pass." Always the one with the technical definitions (or the one with word finding problems), all I could think of was "touched with hand and gave to someone else."

Why watching the Sabres-Rangers game was so painful.

1. I hate the Rangers.

2. It was clearly amateur A/V night. For starters, the video was so fuzzy that I thought maybe I was watching a replay of a 1970s game. The person running the main camera clearly had never shot video for a hockey game before, and I am pretty sure had not watched much hockey. The camera was behind the play almost as much as it was on the play. For approximately 5 minutes of the second period, there was almost no sound - just an odd rushing sound with a hint of the play call in the background. Then they began to broadcast the radio call, with the label "audio difficulties" over the poor video of the game. I would have thought the real "audio difficulties" would have come when there was no sound. And I really did not need the label to know they were having "audio difficulties." I would have preferred to have full-view of the crappy video.

3. For the Sabres ONLY goal, both of the guys I chose in the pick em league from the Rangers were on the ice. There's -20 points. I guess that is my punishment for picking Rangers.

4. At one point, Pominville got hit and sent to the ice. The camera zoomed in on his face, showing him laying there with his mouth gaping open like a fish and looking surprised that he was hit. Apparently, he forgot he played in the NHL. From the way the rest of the team played the game, I'd say they all forgot they played in the NHL.

5. Vanek SUCKS! Watching him play for 8 million or whatever it is the Sabres are paying him is so frustrating.

6. The Sabres, of late, seem to not understand two fundamentals of hockey. Fancy passes mean nothing if you NEVER get a shot on net. And a power play means you have one more guy on the ice than the other team - you should be playing in their offense zone.

7. The Sabres lost.

8. Did I mention that I HATE the Rangers?

Would you take this trade?

In my fantasy hockey league, one of the guys offered me the following trade:

His players:
Mike Ribeiro (Center, DALLAS) who has 22 goals, 27 assists, 229 face-off wins, and a +/- of 10
Erik Cole (CAROLINA, Left/Right Wing) who has 11 goals, 19 assists, and a +/- of 3

FOR

My players:
Alexander Ovechkin (WASHINGTON, Left Wing) who has 34 goals, 21 assists, and a +/- of 7
Mikko Koivu (MINNESOTA, Center) who has 5 goals, 12 assists, 178 face-off wins, and a +/- of 4 but who has just come back from injury (was out 2 months of the season).

Ovechkin is almost too good to trade. And I think Koivu will perform now that he's back. Feel free to discuss....

So Close to a Goal, but Alas, Not a Goal

I had a hockey tournament this weekend out of town. Our team did pretty well, considering how good the competition was - one win, one tie, two losses. Most importantly, it was very fun. However, I am aggravated that I missed an open net in our last game (the tie). Here's how it went. I made a shot on goal. The goalie popped the rebound back out to me, and had sprawled on the ice in making the save. I picked up the puck and worked it around her stick (behind her). Now keep in mind - the goalie is on the ice, I have the puck behind her - hence the open net. I was on my backhand though and very close to the side of the net. I am not sure how to explain the angle of the shot, but basically, I was facing the boards on the other side of the rink, rather than the back of the net since I had to skate past the goalie to get past her stick. If I could reliably lift the puck, this would not have been a problem, but I am not even close to lifting it on my backhand. Anywho - I missed the shot. I sent it right through the crease. Then I said a bad word. How do I remember all of these details? It was like in slow motion. Even my wingmate said it was in slow motion for her. It sucked. If I had made that goal, we would have won instead of tied. But they say if I keep shooting, the puck is likely to go in someday. Since I know my goal scoring keeps all of you up at night, I'll keep you posted.

We have a game today with our other team. I feel pretty good, for having played 3 games yesterday, except for my skate bites. For those who do not wear skates regularly, skate bites are exceedingly bad brush burn sores you get from wearing skates for long periods of time. I usually don't get them, except on the back of my leg just above my Achilles tendon, unless I have my skates on for a long time and my socks and skates are wet. We had two games in a row, so I had wet socks on for 2+ hours in my skates. I have bad skate bites. Wearing socks hurts. I am not looking forward to skates later today. I am going to look into "bunga pads" as recommended by a teammate for next time.

Just like the Tragically Hip, but not as good

Ok truth be told, hockey is pretty much my favorite sport. I imagine there will be a fair number of hockey posts here. Sorry - I can't help myself - I love me some ice. I run a pick em hockey league with my husband, Phollower, and my friend Zoe. Both have mentioned this league in their blogs before. The basic gist of it is that everyone chooses one player from a fixed set of lists (4 wingers, 2 centers, 3 defensemen, and 3 goalies). We got the idea from a now defunct fantasy hockey game we used to play at nhl.com. This year we added a "monkey" mostly so we can talk crap about the people who the monkey beat. Sometimes we roll a 20-sided die to make the monkey's choices. Lately, we have been doing themes.

This week's theme was Bands and Musicians. Here are the picks:
Winger 1: Stillman (Carolina) - Part of the Crosby, Stillman, and Nash trio
Winger 2: Nash (Columbus) - Also part of the Crosby, Stillman, and Nash trio
Winger 3: Smyth (Colorado) - All I could find was one of the Smyths.
Winger 4: Cole (Carolina) - Something for the older set
Center 1: Crosby (Pittsburgh) - You knew this one was coming
Center 2: B. Richards (Tampa Bay) - We have 2 Richards in our Center lines (M. Richards from Philadelphia is the other one). The Rolling Stones only had one. I am not sure who was better off.
Defense 1: Chara (Boston) - "Cuchi! Cuchi!"
Defense 2: Ryan Whitney (Pittsburgh) - "And IIIIII eeee IIIII will always love hockeyyyyyy!"
Defense 3: Schubert (Ottawa) - Something a little more classical
Goalie 1: Ward (Carolina) - Lots of talent in Carolina, this time of the metallic kind (Black Sabbath).
Goalie 2: Miller (Buffalo) - I love that song "Abracadabra"
Goalie 3: Mason (Nashville) - Is he in Pink Floyd on the side?

If you liked that, here is a link to two more themes we created which Phollower posted on his blog.

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the Tragically Hip, they are a great Canadian band with some awesome hockey-themed songs. Shocking....with them being from Canada and all! I love the line from Fireworks, "You said you did not give a fuck about hockey and I never saw someone say that before."