Bye-Bye Pie

How can this be? Now who is going to tuck Danny in at night and read him his bedtime story? Most certainly not Chara...

I'm very concerned about who is going to look after him now. After going over Boston's roster, Recchi is the oldest but he's such a clod. I guess it's going to have to be Sturm. He seems to be the most responsible, and you know we need someone to make sure Danny doesn't loose his blankie!!

It's a sad day for me.

And to top it off, Vanek broke Danny's stick during his last-ever practice with Buffalo! I hope it wasn't Danny who hit Vanek, or he may be off to Boston in tears... :(

I SAW GOOSE!!

So I realize that I haven't written a lot lately. But I felt the need to tell you all about one of the greatest moments-slash-missed opportunities ever.

A little while ago I was working [at a popular, unnamed supermarket] on a Saturday, which equates shitty day. Super busy, people being asses, etc. So I was having a crappy day and my supervisor came over to me and asked if I cared to go home a little early [5-10 min] and I told him I absolutely would love it. So a lady came on to take over my shift and I went up front to request some days off. As I was standing at the podium, I saw, with my very own eyes, my GOOSE!! YES, PAUL GAUSTAD!!! He was standing with his cart, flipping through a magazine. Apparently he was waiting for his [girl?]friend to get some ginger ale. I proceeded to stare at him for a bit, until he looked up and we made eye contact, then I looked down and I'm sure my face turned a billion shades of red.

Just then his [girl?]friend came over to him and they got in line. Here's the kicker-- THEY GOT IN THE LINE I WAS JUST WORKING AT ALL DAY!!!! Had I not left early, I would have checked him out [wait, what??]!!! I was so pissed. The ONE day I get to leave just a little early, I missed the greatest opportunity to talk to Goose.

Story of my life. However, my dad pointed out later that at least I got to see him at all. Which is true, but I wasn't in the glass-half-full mood at that time.  I mean, I have been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time. I had the speech all prepared- I would ask him how he became Superman, thank him for being the most reliable person to put on a jersey all year, explain my great love for him, how he is the namesake for my blog, you know all the basics.

I haven't seen him since that day. I knew when I started working at this store I'd prolly see a lot of the guys because of where it's located [I have had the opportunity to see Lydman and Pominville]. Apparently I've JUST missed Numminen and Vanek on a few occasions.

But honestly, I was surprised Goose was there. It's a well-known fact that him and Miller live downtown [or at least in the city I mean]. This particular store is out in the 'burbs. I wonder if maybe his [girl?]friend lives nearby? I donno. Again, another question I would have asked him given the opportunity.

[Although, truth be told, I'm sure I would have completely clammed right up and not said a single word to him. It would have been amazingly awkward I'm sure of it.]

Ah, Goose. Someday my friend, someday.

Yes, yes, yes

Oh how I love Toronto games. I remember growing up and getting so excited to see the Sabres vs. the Leafs, knowing that Domi and Ray were going to have it out at least once during the night. Yes-lately it's a far bigger event when we play Ottawa-but c'mon, if you're true Blue and Gold, you know there is something inside you that jumps up and down when we play TO.

Which is why I was very upset when I realized that I was going to have to miss the game. My friend got free Suite tickets for the Amerks so we went up to Rochester for the game. I was freaking out so much that we had another friend tape the game so we could watch it upon our return home. And boy, am I glad we did! I would have been very, very disappointed if I had missed that game. [Besides the fact that the Amerks seriously suck. Really bad. I believe there were, oh, maybe 500 people there. And people only clapped 3 times. Once at the fight 2 seconds in, once when we got it in the offensive zone after 3 offsides in a row on a 5-on-3, and once when we scored a goal. I was embarrassed for them.]

-My boy TV got a hatty!!!! He scores with such ease. It amazes me. Like he doesn't even try. And afterwards, he's all, 'oh did I score? I guess that's alright.' Even after his hat trick he played it cool!!! As opposed to Stafford's little dance. Which, by the way, was perhaps one of the prettiest goals I've ever seen. For real. Later he said that he knew he needed to score, cuz if he didn't, when he went back to the bench Lindy would rip him a new one for trying to be fancy.

-And way to go Miller! I'm happy he's playing so well right now. He deserves it. Find me a better goalie at the moment. Hopefully we can keep riding this into our next few games. He hasn't given up a goal since the hatty to Cammalleri. Hopefully he keeps it up.

-Where, when, and who came up with that crazy sweet trick play on the power play? The first time it happened, I'm like-what just happened? Then when it happened again, I was freaking out yelling, "We're the Mighty Ducks! Look!" It seriously was so sweet. And if I'm Toronto... ok if you get it by me the first couple times. But after the bazilionth power play Buffalo had... don't you think they would have expected Pommers to skate with the puck up to the line, drop it back, and Royzie would carry it in? If me-the viewer from home-sees this unfold time and time again, how can the Toronto coaching staff not? And an even better question-why did RJ and Neale not mention it? Did I miss them talking about it? I couldn't believe they didn't point it out.

-Show me someone with more heart [besides the obvious Goose] than Patty K. We're up 5-0 in the dying minutes of the game and he's diving in front of shots!! We're obviously going to win it... he doesn't need to sacrifice like that. But he does. Because that's who he is, and at that point in the game he's just playing to give Miller the shutout. Man did I miss him when he was gone. I know some people aren't big fans of his. But how could you not be? He plays hard every second Lindy gives him out there.

At the end of the day, we played hard and got Miller the shutout and us 2 important points. Next up: Montreal. The past 3 games vs. them have all been decided by 1 goal, so we need to play tight D and score early.

Why do you play with my heart, Buffalo?

So about that game. It was bound to happen, in my opinion. When you kill a team like we did the night before, it's about time for the boys to come out a lay an egg.

My game notes:

-you know it's bad when Lydman has the most shots and Hecht is tied for the most hits. 

-Butler, Butler, Butler. It's a miracle he was only -1 when all said and done, considering he was one the ice for 4, count em, 4 of Calgary goals [directly causing 2].

-Oh Cory Sarich. I forgot he plays for Calgary. He was one of my first hockey crushes. For some reason I always pick the bad players/underachievers [aka Geoff Sanderson, Sarich, Paetsch, etc. to love]. I miss him.

-did anyone else's MSG channel freeze after the 2nd period? I was pissed I couldn't finish watching the game and had to listen to it. Little did I know, there's this site.

-what the crap happened to Vanek's lip?

-oh TimBits. I forget how amazing he is when he only plays 2 games a year. Seriously, he's almost worth 3.5 million even if he only plays 1/4 of the games. Almost.

-I hate that when we play Canadian teams we always get shafted when it comes to penalties. What the crap kinda calls and noncalls were those?

I think that is all. Oh, I'll leave you with these, and maybe you'll understand. He saves puppies and kicks ass. :)

Royzie, I'm trying here man...

Good God, I swear if Florida makes the playoffs by 1 point and we don't, I'm totally blaming Roy. He bought and gift-wrapped a point for them when he gave them the puck in front of poor Millsey and they cranked it home in the dying minutes of the 3rd. I know that's completely and utterly ridiculous to blame an entire year on Fat Boy, but I don't feel bad.

Now, before you judge me, understand that I love My Boys. They're all like my children... I love every single one of them, but get pissed off when they act stupid (unless your TimBits, then I LOVE when you get drunk and fall off bar stools in public places where we can all see). Fat Boy has been like my red-haired step-child all year long. I want to love him, but sometimes I really, really wanna slap him upside his head and ask why he CONSISTENTLY thinks it's a good idea to:

A) play the half-wall on the PP and always throw it through the box right when they collapse it so they can then proceed to take it on Millsey for a scoring chance,

B) skate sooooo close to the blue line that all's it takes is a gentle flap of a butterfly's wing to send the puck in the wrong direction to make our boys tag up, and

C) try to do a fancy move and get the puck robbed, then fall down and cry about it while your teammates flip into defense mode and man-up.

Derek, I want to love you. I really do. You do enough really, really sweet things to make up for the bone-headed stuff. I loved it when you dove and flipped the puck out of the zone during the PK, and c'mon let's be honest about your shootout goal-did you mean to have it slip off your stick into the 5-hole? Cuz I'd like to think so, and if so, it was SWEET. If not, just lie to me and I'll never know.

On another note, TV did not get a hat trick for his 25th. However, he did get one goal, so that's pretty good. And also, I just want to say that I love him and TimBits playing on the same line. They compliment each other perfectly. Like Goose and Ellis used to... until Lindy split them up (have you noticed since then Goose has scored like TimBits at 4am after a night on the ChipStrip and Ellis has been left empty-handed like TimBits' wingman Fat Boy on said night?)

When it's all said and done we got shit done and got 2 points. It's just too bad Florida got 1 too. Oh well, call it a night boys and get ready for Tampa on Weds.

A Special Day

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY TO THIS STUNNA'

I promise that if you score a hat trick for me tonight that I'll personally find this hat and throw it on the ice for you, even if I have to drive down to Florida myself: