Birthday Shenanigans.

LindyRuffsTie on Twitter last night decided that for Terry Pegula's birthday, a bunch of Sabres would go to the arena to sing happy birthday. Now all of us figured Terry wouldn't be there but the thought of it was still cool. Tamara and I had went and there were maybe about fifteen to twenty people present at the event. Tamara even mentioned to me when we were leaving that the sort of power Twitter has on the media and everyone else goes a long way. I think everyone at this thing was on Twitter. Scott has a picture and a nice writeup on what went down today so I hope everyone goes to check that out. Everyone should also keep an eye out on WIVB, WGRZ and YNN to see clips and interviews from today. Being a Sabres fan in this day and age are exciting times. I really wish more people had came but hey, if you think that we're taking the love too far...than you are welcome to continue being a party pooper. Myself, I'm just going to enjoy this time with being a Sabres fan.

Terry was also shown clips of it by his daughter Jessie so I consider this to be a successful event. I really hope we can do some more crazy stuff. Maybe if the Sabres win the Cup...but until then, my fellow fans. Go Sabres.

The Little Train That Could: Sabres Win 2-0.

Nathan Gerbe is a man on a mission these past few weeks. He scored both goals yesterday as the Sabres shutout the Habs, 2-0. His first goal had been a beautiful tip-in by a Tyler Myers shot. The second goal was all hard work as he dove to get the puck out of the zone, then won a battle versus a Habs player to ultimately shoot it into the empty net at the other end. A lot of Sabres fans have been getting on his case that he's too small and tries to act like he's a tougher player even though he tends to lose some battles no thanks to his size. Tyler Ennis is the same way but both of these guys have shown a lot of heart for the Sabres in the past few games. The two smallest players are certainly getting a lot done for the team, in a good way.

You can't say that the stellar play of Ryan Miller had nothing to do with this. He stood tall and made about three HUGE saves from what I remember. He kept the fort secure during the last minutes of play and it didn't turn into another Nashville fiasco even though the Sabres were pinned in their zone for a long time at the end of the second period. I personally thought Montreal would tie it up at some point but Miller stopped that from happening. Carey Price was great as well, and I can see why he is a candidate for the Vezina this season. Minus the almost goal he gave up, but he appeared calm and collected during that ordeal. Harry Neale mentioned Price tends to 'daydream' when he does moves like that. He clearly wasn't thinking when he gave the puck away. Good thing the Sabres sometimes forget they have an offense!

The next time the boys play is on Friday and I'll be missing it because of work. Florida isn't really a threat to us for a playoff spot but I hope that we won't treat them as a lowly team. Those always come back to bite us...

Crowd Control: Taking the trash out of games.

This is going to simply be a post about respect in arenas. After witnessing some really stupid antics last night, it got the wheels in my head turning and I wondered really how often this happens. More than likely a lot more than it should.

Last night at the Sabres/Predators game, there were four people sitting in our section that were pretending to be Predators fans. Now at first I thought one girl was truly a fan, until I saw her shirt ripped to shreds - as if she were thinking about attending a strip club after the game was over - with it saying on the back 'Buffalo Sucks'. Classing it up. It turns out the four of them were from the tri-county area since as we were leaving the game, three of the four people were fans of the different teams in that location. Now not only are they giving Predators fans a bad name, but their own team's name as well. It was an absolute joke. It's different if you're jokingly jabbing at fans of the other team but yelling at them and making asinine comments should not be allowed when visiting an away arena.

It all goes back to the World Juniors from this past December. Several Sabres portraits were pushed in and/or broken from fans. I don't care if you were American, Canadian or even Swedish - you do not DO that in an opposing arena. Respect it as if it's your own. No one can prove exactly who had done all that damage and it doesn't really matter. Sporting events are meant to be good times, not times where you ridicule other fans or just wreak havoc on an arena that you've never been to.

I have been to three away arenas in the past few years and I treated everyone with respect. I wanted to see this girl, hooting and hollering about the Predators to go to Montreal and yell how much their players suck. Then we would see who would survive.

My general point is, again, respect for the arena and the opposing fans. I don't care if you crack jokes but threatening another person's life or acting like an idiot gives someone the right to kick you out. There are so many joke fans in this league, it's ridiculous. Yes, this goes for you too Sabre fans.

The Invigorated HSBC Arena.

That carpet cost $20,000.

You cannot say enough about Terry's idea to change how the arena looks and other things that have to do with the Sabres as a team. That carpet adds a lot more to the character of the team than you can imagine. The locker room was incredibly bland before that carpet was placed there. It's the symbol of the team and it wasn't shown enough in that locker room. It was definitely a great investment by Terry to have it furnished in there.

Some other things that will be changing:
-The 'slug' logo will soon disappear from the arena all together. The logos on the Jumbotron will be gone over the summer.
-A new pregame show for the Sabres will be starting before the game on March 19th. It will be a half hour long.
-Dominik Hasek is making an appearance at the beginning of the game that takes place against the Atlanta Thrashers. I think it's known to all of us that his jersey number will more than likely be retired.
-Miscellaneous arena renovations will be performed as well over the summer.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely ecstatic for these changes. I'm attending the game on Sunday and I already want to see if there's any changes that the fans can see. The pregame show is something I've been wanting for awhile and I'm already wondering if it will include segments of seeing the Sabres actually having personalities. Sort of like BHTV (Blackhawks TV), where they have a show every once and awhile and it has funny segments with the players. If we can't have Drew Stafford on Twitter, then I will accept this as an alternative.

My biggest hope is that these changes will bring a new atmosphere to every Sabres game. The fans really haven't been into the games for the past few years; even when the team is doing well. My favorite thing about attending games was the people. I hope this shoots some immense excitement into everyone.

As a personal side note not relating to hockey at all, please pray or those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. The world has been literally turning upside down and we need to stand united. Take a moment and count your blessings. Don't take anything for granted. Live your life.

Huge Win In Minny, postgame 3-6-11.

I didn't see any of the game yesterday but of course, I missed a good one. That's why I didn't have a recap of that. I'm pretty sure I would've died by the time it was over anyways.

Tonight, I was able to sit and watch tonight's game that took place between the boys in blue and gold and the Minnesota Wild. There was a beautiful tic-tac-toe play between Vanek, Pominville, and Montador that led to Jason getting his 17th goal of the season. If you haven't seen the highlights then I suggest that you do for that goal. The second Sabre to score? Rob Niedermayer. I shit you not! Rob Niedermayer does exist ladies and gentlemen, and he scored after a nice feed from Reggie. Before we know it, he'll have two on the season! Bank on it.

In all honesty, I was glad to see that he scored. It was getting ridiculous and now Sir Christopher is the last to score for this season. All is right within the world. Funny story with Rob scoring tonight...once I upload my photos from the Bandits game from last night against the Rochester Knighthawks, I will explain further. It's amusing to me, at least.

The pooper play continued to be just that - poop. The Wild had two great shorthanded chances that Jhonas easily kicked away. Speaking of the baby Swede, how confident is he looking now? I'm happy for him. I want Patty to play but at the same time, I'm glad that he is looking better and better in the net. I mean this game didn't go to a shootout SO this is clearly a sign of progress. You go, baby Swede.

The Sabres did squander another 2-0 lead though so that is sort of a dilemma. At least it was against a team that's in the other conference. Two points is huge for this team right now and with that, they moved into eighth. Hey Rangers - we're coming for you.

He does exist!

Tamara was doing some searching this morning to see if our beloved Rob Niedermayer has actually done something in his career, and here you go. He scored in the Stanley Cup clinching game and actually did work in the playoffs. Let's hope that if the Sabres actually make it then he'll score big goals then. Maybe that's his plan all along! Not scoring at all during this season just so that he can explode with 50 goals in the playoffs. Yes, he will have multi-hat tricks in every game. Watch out for Niedermayer. He's coming for you.

Playing Like You Want It, Postgame 3-3-11.

It's too bad that this postgame is actually going to be the opposite of what my title says.

The Sabres came out playing well in the first and for the beginning part of the second. There were a lot of Sabres fans in the crowd and I'm sure it made the Sabres feel right at home. There were plenty of hits and some good, missed chances. For instance, Thomas had a great chance that he just missed to put in the net since it went behind Cam Ward and across the crease. There were huge saves at each end of the ice but the first period turned out scoreless. You go to the second period, and Steve Montador scores the first goal of the game. Then the Canes came right back on a horrible, defensive breakdown. Brad Boyes managed to get his second in as many games as a Sabre to make it 2-1 again and then - you guessed it! - the Canes came back after Ryan Miller mishandled the puck and got stuck spun around in his net and facing the other way. If you look at both of those goals, they were terrible reads by Miller himself but the defense gave him no help at all, either. I just wonder how Ryan reacted to this on the postgame...I never listen to the WGR postgame after away games but perhaps I should start to hear what the players have to say. I'm sure it wasn't at all pleasant.

The game unfortunately went to overtime and it wasn't even a minute in when McBain scored the game winner for the Hurricanes. The shot easily went through his pads (five hole) and into the net. People saw my Twitter reaction to that goal...let's just say, that damn five hole needs to stay closed, Ryan. Seriously.

I am significantly less angry than I was as soon as the game had ended just so I could write this blog post with some logic. I realize, you Miller apologists out there that Ryan has played 38 of the Sabres last 39 games. You know how crazy that is? I bet his body is fatigued. It isn't his fault that Lindy is making him play, but maybe he should step up and say 'hey, maybe this is taking a toll on my body. I believe that my backup can win a game or two for us.' ...Or he's a hockey player, and a lot of fans don't believe that they're human in the slightest.

The Leafs won tonight so they're one point behind us, while we are now two points behind the Rangers. Looks like it's time to catch the blue shirts if anything. Also, just read on Alex's Facebook status that Ryan had indeed admitted to playing the puck badly. You sir are starting to realize that you can indeed make mistakes. Hopefully your fans start to realize the same.

Glasscast #4: Let's Hear It For The Boyes.

Boyes Boyes Boyes, postgame 3-1-11.

After the lack of exciting trades in the NHL yesterday (seriously, the Sabres had one of the biggest ones), the Sabres came to the Big Apple to scrounge two huge points against the Rangers. Carolina won their game against Florida so they are still two behind, but continue to have two games in hand on the Hurricanes. They play against them Thursday so this should be a good game we have in our sights. At least, I hope so. I'm going to assume that it'll be a pretty tight affair with a lot of hitting and chances. At the same time, I don't think a lot of scoring will happen. Both teams aren't going to want to give up much...there's much at stake for this game.

Brad Boyes scored his first as a Sabre tonight and I'm pretty excited. Yes, we've seen this happened with Steve Bernier when he came here and scored two goals in his debut. At the same time, Boyes has been productive even in St. Louis so I certainly hope that this isn't just a flash of something that won't exist in the future as well. He had a number of hits during the game and made some pretty good plays. I say that this was an excellent debut for him. Tim Connolly got an assist tonight so I think that him and Boyes together is a good combination.

So Thomas Vanek likes to scare people (not just with his intense sniffling action) and when he limped off the ice, I was mildly concerned that it was extremely bad. So I didn't see him come back because I was searching for some things in my basement with Tamara, then I came back up to see that - BOOM - number twenty-six was back out there and being a boss. He had a great backcheck on Dubinsky I think, and overall had another great game. I think that A does something to him. Whatever it is, I like it. Lindy says he shouldn't be out at all but he was still limping when he got off the ice. I can't imagine if it's painful or just uncomfortable but I admire him either way for deciding to play through it. I just hope it doesn't hinder his game too much.

I'm thinking about making a new blog that combines both the Sabres and Canucks since I rarely talk about my second favorite team here...I've been trying to come up with a name but I lack in creativity. Also, I would switch to Wordpress if anything. I just feel like a need a change to spark my ability to write more here. I use school as an excuse too frequently. I miss blogging, you guys.