SERIOUSLY?

Okay, so in reviewing all of my posts since Kim and I started this wonderful little blog, I must say I am quite surprised at myself. I really prided myself on knowing all sorts of stuff about hockey, and really truly say that I am not a puck bunny, but in all honesty, I’ve done nothing to convince you of the sort since, probably, mid-October.

So my New Year’s Resolution for SC is to return to smart and intuitive hockey blogging. I’m still going to gush on my love for the guys, but I’m going to make an earnest effort to supply much more clever blogging.

And I’m hoping that begins now, and continues.

I had no idea that when I turned on the game, not only would I almost miss Matt Ellis’ fourth goal of the season, but I hadn’t a clue that I would be watching Jarkko Ruutu’s best imitation of Tyson v. Holyfield.

(I enjoyed Andrew Peters’ comments on that, as he spouted cliche after cliche. True, he has to hold himself accountable for his own actions, and no doubt knows that if he said something stupid, he’d be in deep, but still. Who didn’t want to hear Petey call out Ruutu and just say, “Yeah, I’m aware we play them again on Saturday, February 7th, and don’t worry, I know Jarkko’s number.” Hopefully the NHL will step in and hold Ruutu accountable for that action, which was not only embarrassing to himself and the Senators, but also the league, and the game in general. And if the NHL doesn’t step in, I’ll be angry, but it wouldn’t surprise me since they all but ignored Denis Gauthier’s sucker punch to Patrick Kaleta, who is still out, mind you, due to that cheap shot.)

But it was nice to see Ellis continue on his little goal streak. Four goals in three games ain’t to shabby if you ask me.

I was slightly disappointed the game lost a lot of it’s intensity after the first period. I know the coaches probably harped on the players to get their heads in the game, cool their tempers, get a grip, blah, blah, blah, but seriously, I had planned on watching a highly spirited game with loads of fisticuffs and all that jazz, you know, seeing as how high emotions were running the last time we faced off against the Sens. But Captain Craig didn’t disappoint in his return, that’s for sure. He all but took on every guy in red and black on the ice, and bloodied up one of them, just because they got too close to Ryan Miller. It’s nice to see someone standing up for Miller and immediately and instinctively jumping the culprit. That’s the leadership this Sabres team has been missing for the past season and a half, give or take the games Rivet was healthy for.

And thankfully that puck tipped by Derek Roy bounced into the net off of Carrie Underwood’s boyfriend Mike Fisher’s skate, or else Miller probably would’ve been kicking himself tonight.

Oh, and anyone else notice how similar Drew Stafford’s little move in front of the Sens’ net was to Jason Pominville’s playoff game winner, way back when? If Roy hadn’t been in the corner and had fed the puck to Staffy, and instead he had broken in all alone, those two goals could possibly have been identical.

There’s one other thing I want to point out: Thomas Vanek’s 27th goal was scored with 26 seconds left. The only thing that could have made it better would be #26 scoring his 26th with 0:26 left. How weird would that be?

So, my stars, for the game, since I haven’t done that since October:

(1) Derek Roy. (Not just because he’s my guy, but because he had a solid night, with one goal and two assists, that goal being the game winner.)

(2) Jason Spezza. (Yes, he’s a Senator, but still, a two goal game is quite impressive, especially when the only guy who scores is one of three who make up half of the scoring for the entire team.)

(3) Ryan Miller. (True, he single-handedly allowed the Senators a chance at a comeback, but if he hadn’t snapped out of whatever funk he had gotten himself into after that second goal, the Sabres would have been in real big trouble.)

Overall, very good game, boys. I’m very impressed at the little streak you’ve put together for yourself, but I’m not holding my breath. We’ll see how it goes on Friday, and we’ll see how happy I am with the NHL in the next couple days.

WELCOME TO THE SQUIDNEY CROTCHBY SHOW

Once again the NHL got the picture perfect ending to a nationally televised hockey game, Sidney Crosby scoring the game winner in overtime. Does that remind anyone of a certain Ice Bowl where said golden boy scored a shootout goal successfully clinching the game for Pittsburgh also on national television? Even better then Crosby scoring the game winner was that, most likely, the guys on Versus, I was at the game so I didn’t hear what they were saying, turned tonights broadcast into ‘How many times can we say how great Crosby is? All I can say is that I’m grateful to Cari, who bought my ticket for tonight’s game for my birthday, that I was able to miss that because usually the Versus broadcasters make me want to projectile vomit all over my TV, successfully covering Squidney’s reasonably handsome, stupid face. Oh Versus, where the commentators know even less about the game then the nearest puck bunny and that’s saying something.
When Buffalo scored less then a minute in the game I got nervous because usually that translates into a quick goal for the other team. However, when we ended the first period still up by a goal my spirits were temporarily lifted, then when Kotalik scored making it 2-0 I was flying high. But my dreams of conquest slowly started to dissipate and the cartoon cloud of doom started to hover when Pittsburgh scored twice tying the score at 2. But Sparky Clarky who has been on fire lately scored on the power play allowing the Sabres to pull ahead 3-2 at the end of the second. Why do you build me up Buffalo Sabres just to let me down? Then everyone knows what happens next Pittsburgh scores sending the game into overtime, which against Pittsburgh usually never bodes well for us, and Squidney gets the game winner with a VERY questionable goal. I still say that the stick was higher then the crossbar as did all the other Sabres’ fans left in the arena who still had hope that the goal would be disallowed. But once again we were all disappointed which to Buffalo is really nothing new I swear we’re getting battered wife syndrome, they keep beating us down yet we keep coming back for more. Go figure.

And how about Petey’s ‘fight’? Or as I like to call it Bromance on Ice because they were literally hugging each other for a good half a minute before the first punch was thrown which got them both 5 minute majors for fighting. How about 2 minutes for unnecessary hugging? I think that would have been a much more appropriatepenalty. Sorry I’m just a little bitter. Okay, well that was a huge understatement a lot bitter but that’s besides the point. Once again Happy Birthday to the best PIC ever and I guess it’s better luck next time we go to a game together which is Saturday actually. Until then Happy Holidays everyone.

RUMORS OF MY DEMISE…

So looking back I realize that I haven’t post in about a week and a half and I realized that many of you, that is if you care, might be wondering where the hell I am, or maybe you didn’t notice, well if you did I thank you for caring. Let’s put it this way, I am the bug on the windshield of life, I’m feeling all good and happy and then all of a sudden it’s not so good and happy.

But anyway I have the rest of the week off so yay to vacation and sleep, which is what again? oh that’s right something I haven’t had a lot of in the past 3 weeks, unlike my wonderful counter part who has class tomorrow (sorry Cari, you know I love you). But that means I’ve also had time to update my profile information here, which previously looked like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, as well as catch up on some reading which involved books not composed of really long complicated words that I don’t know the meaning of.

But in other good news Cari and I shall be attending tomorrow night’s game against Boston and I feel I must remind you of what happened the last time we attended a Boston game together…oh that’s right they LOST, something new and different for them (complete sarcasm there). We’ll have played Boston three times in the last three weeks tomorrow night having lost two of those contest, so needless to say our track record against Boston has been less than stellar this season.
But, hopefully we can turn that all around tomorrow night with the return of Hank and Max to the line up, oh hockey gods let’s hope.

The question remains, however, who sits out? The most obvious bench warmer for defense would be Nathan because he’s been the odd man out all year, but well, I happen to think he played pretty damn well for someone who’s had a pretty good view of the ice from the press box for most of the season. Offense is trickier, Boston is a pretty physical team which means we’re going to need the enforcers patrolling the ice so that rules out Peters and Kaleta most likely. Paille is another player who could take a seat but seeing as it was his line that scored the first goal, YAY MARK, in Saturday night’s game I’m thinking he’s probably going to be playing. That leaves us with everyone’s favorite rockstar, Drew Stafford, who, and it pains me to say this, has been really sucky lately, so he has my vote for bench warmer tomorrow night. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what Lindy decides is best for the team.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving, I’ll be going to my brother’s in Rochester, gorging myself on turkey, stuffing and potato puff, staying over and then going shopping with my sister-in-law early on Friday. Which means I probably won’t be posting until after Friday night’s game unless something drastic happens betwen now and then, let’s hope not, unless it’s of the good variety.

So until then, LET’S GO BUFFALO.

KYLE, GO GET DEREK. And who are these Sabres?

Okay, so I’m totally excited about the win last night.  Like, completely.  But I’ll talk about that later since it’s Cari + Derek = Fate time.  And since I couldn’t really get over the shock that my question was picked last week, and being exhausted from exploring Boston, I didn’t really have the time to post about it last week in detail, but this week I do!!  That is, if I don’t cram some more for my anatomy exam…

OH, BUT WAIT:  HE’S OVERSLEPT.  Story of my life.  (Derek, get your ass out of bed and call Kiss 98.5 right now…  Nick and Janet are contemplating calling “Derek’s best friend” Kyle to wake him up…  HAHAHAHAHAHA Kyle.)

And lovelies?  I apologize for how ADD-ish this post is…  I’m half paying attention to what I’m writing, and half concentrating on the radio to see hear Derek…  Because what would a post of mine on Thursday be without the Derek Roy Report?  Just another post.  And frankly, I think my Thursday posts are absolutely ridiculous, and I love being absolutely ridiculous.

Alright, so maybe I will discuss the game for a bit…

WTF was up with that game, though, honestly?  ADAM SCORES, TIMMMAAY SCORES, AND HANK SCORES??!!  AND PETEY FIGHTS…  TWICE IN 12:01?????

Um, can this happen every night?  But switch up the scorers every once in a while so Derek and the rest have a job in blue and gold come September 2009?  Adam’s seemed to excel this year, a little bit.  He’s now got 4 points (3-1) in 15 games, when his career highs were in 2003-04, with 6-14 for 20 points.  Yeah, I think he’ll have no problem hitting those marks if the team keeps in up.  And Timmy???  6 points in 5 games?  Okay.  Just, stay out of Keith Tkachuk’s way, alright??  AND HANK!!!  ily…  I really do.  You’re just too cute with your little celebratory shimmy and your gigantic grin while you really punched every guy on the bench, and then this:

“That’s the first time I ever got the first star, I just have to enjoy it right now.”

And Petey?  You’re equally as adorable because of this:

“If we’re going by points it’s not fair because I’m never going to get [a pigeon].”

Well now you’ve got one.  =]

Moving on.  Really, though, I told my dad when it was 3-0 that I’d be okay with St. Louis scoring IF AND ONLY IF it were Jay McKee that buried the biscuit.  But when Perron scored, I actually yelled at the TV, saying, “You’re not Jay!  I didn’t say you could fuck with Miller’s goals against!!”  Ohhh, what fun.

OOOH let’s talk about Timmy for a bit.  Did anyone else feel like saying “KEITH TKACHUK JUST DESTROYED TIM CONNOLLY????”  I thought it warranted it, at least.  If Tim had been hit like that last year, I honestly believe in my heart that he would have been on the ice for a good 10 minutes, motionless.  BUT THIS JUST PROVES THAT THE REAL TIM CONNOLLY IS NOT PLAYING THIS YEAR.  Because there is no way in hell that Tim bounced up off the ice like that and kept playing.  And the coaches realized they effed up because he left the game not much longer than that.  NOTICE IT???  Yes you did.  DON’T LIE.  You’re only fooling yourself.  Jill knows my theory that Marek Zagrapan is filling in for TC, but I’m not so sure about that anymore, because Marek is pretty much adorable in person, and Tim is kinda repulsive, actually…  I’m not too sure who’s filling in for him anymore…

And now Derek is 15 minutes late.  I don’t think he’s going to be calling Janet and Nick, but I don’t want to leave my radio in case he does…  I’m pretty much disappointed in him, kinda like someone would be upset if their boyfriend didn’t pick her up for their date, and they only get to go out once a week.  OH, WAIT, because I feel like the Derek Roy Report is like my weekly date with Derek.  Yeah, I know, I’m delusional, but I live with it alright, so I guess you can too.

During the game I kept voting for the All-Star game, which took forever.  There’s too much traffic on too low of a bandwidth for that to go smoothly.  A webpage that would take about a second to load on my computer took 5 mintues.  So then I discovered the text message voting.  All you have to do is send the player’s last name to 81812.  Standard rates apply.  AND I HAVE UNLIMITED, so you know that I’m going to be voting allllll day long.  I believe you get a confirmation text after every 10 votes.  (But if you send “Roy,” you get a response that says “2 or more players match that name.  Reply 1 for Andre Roy, 2 for Derek Roy.”  Well, duh, who do you think I want??  Stupid phone.)  But I got really annoyed when Derek cranked one off the post last night because I had just hit vote on my ballot.  I really said this, too:  ”Derek, you idiot, I spend all night voting for you and that’s what you give me?!?!?!”

Derek’s turning out to be a terrible Sabres Boyfriend…  Kyle aside.

And I really think that maybe he’s not going to be on the radio today.  Kinda upsetting because I set my alarm for 7:30 to ensure that I was going to have an acceptable attention span.  So I got up early for nothing.  THANKS, DEREK.  THANKS A LOT.

Well, he’s now 45 minutes late, so I’m giving up.  Stupid Royzie.

It’s Drew’s Birthday.

First thing’s first:  Happy Birthday, Drew!!

Again, I told Kim that I wanted to bake you a cake for your 23rd Birthday, but she is still of the opinion that baked goods are too stalker-ish, so I caved.  But Drew, understand that if I knew where your doorstep was, there’d have been a cake waiting for you this morning.  I could have even made it paste-flavored.  But anyways, I hope you get lots of ass for your birthday, because that’s all any guy wants, oh, and a goal and a win would be nice, too, I suppose.

I still haven’t completely forgiven you for the whole “mouse potato” thing yet, though…

But let’s get down to business:

THE ANDREW PETERS SHOW, Star 102.5

(1)  Andrew seems to have a bit of a stuttering problem, which is really cute.  I don’t really think he does, though; it’s early.  I stutter in the morning, too.

(2)  Andrew lets his wife buy the Halloween candy, but she hides it from him.

(3)  Brian Campbell used to plan the Halloween parties for the team.  Petey says they probably aren’t having one this year because of their schedule; he doesn’t know the plan.  (We’ll see what Derek says.)

(4)  Andrew insulted the guy on the radio.  He suggested that he wore a lot of drag for Halloween in his childhood.

(5)  He likes Entourage.  Big surprise.

THE DEREK ROY REPORT. Kiss 98.5

(1)  He was told that Adam Mair was trick-or-treating.

(2)  He refuses to go to HSBC Arena at sunrise.  He admits it probably is nice, but no.

(3)  Derek got the pigeon for his OT goal.

(4)  Would be a golfer if not a hockey player.

(5)  Thinks Petey is the funniest person on the team.  They try not to laugh at his first joke, otherwise he just keeps going, and going, and going…

(6)  He dresses from the left side up.  Crazy.

(7)  He likes brunettes more than blondes.  I have red hair…  Where do I fit in?

I got gipped…  Both shows were only 5 minutes.  Lame.

Oh, and the TBN reports that Timmmmmaaay could be back next week.  Kim and I were talking the other night and we decided that it would be fun to start a pool amongst the Sabres Blogosphere in regards to the next game Tim gets hurt during.  Seriously, that would be amazing.

My mother insists that he needs to have his own hospital wing, with his own little bed, and own private nursing staff.  WAITT!!  That could be a bad idea…  Well, they’re all in the hospital, so I guess they could stock up on the needed vaccinations and antibiotics and what not…

And tell me why, every time I watch the Pirates play online they lose?  Granted, yesterday’s loss was in overtime, but still.  I fell asleep during the first period (at a 0-0 tie), only to wake up about halfway through the second and find the score to the 2-1 Hartford.  Note to self:  Stay Awake.  But Gerbe tied it up at the end of the third, but they obvs blew that.  Whatever.  As long as they win next Friday while I’m there, that’s alright.

Oh, and someone please try to deny the fact that Paul Gaustad is the most adorable grown man in the history of mankind.  Please.  Because I give you Exhibit A for the defense:

From today’s Buffalo News:  

Paul Gaustad took a one-timer at the end of practice Wednesday, and it was a rocket.  The puck glanced off the goaltender’s arm and continued into the net.

Gaustad raised his stick, smiled broadly and shouted, “I’m back!”

Cute!  You can’t deny it.  I dare you to try.  And I’ll win because MJ will be my lawyer, and we all know how she feels about Paul.

OH MY GOODNESS, I FORGOT AGAIN.  Two new-ish signings at Dave and Adam’s have been posted.  I say new-ish because one is new, the other just got a date.

Tommy will be at their Transit location Tuesday, December 2nd.

DEREK WILL BE AT THEIR SHERIDAN LOCATION TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16th.

Is it fate that he’s going to be there exactly 6 days before my birthday?  Probably not.  It’s probably just coincidence, but seeing as how Thursdays are usually Cari + Derek = Fate Day, and all I could garnish from his interview this morning was that we both prefer brunettes, I’ll take this.  It’s his birthday present to me.  Yay!

That’s it for coherent thoughts, so I’m off to Anatomy.  I’ll post after the game, while I watch the replay of the Pirates playing in their pink jerseys.  And they’re not just pink; they’re HOT pink, which makes it even better, but they had to throw the black in there to man them up a bit, I guess…  Anyways, I’m taping it.  For those of you who care, it’s on channel 13 at 8:30.

Ugh, and unfortunately, I’m going to miss the first two period of the Sabres game.  I hate having plans during Sabres games.  It does no good for my relationship with them…

HOW COULD I POSSIBLY HAVE FORGOTTEN?

Oh yeah… That’s right. I didn’t. Kim wouldn’t let me set the alarm to wake us up that early yesterday.

THE THIRD DEREK ROY REPORT OF THE SEASON WAS YESTERDAY MORNING!!!

Oh, and I have to throw this out there: If any Sabre catches wind of this because of a certain someone’s sister who reads the blogs–hi, by the way–I am not really that obsessed with Derek Roy (actually, who the hell do I think I’m kidding?). BUT, you do have to admit, it’s pretty bizaar that I’ve found out we have so much in common.  Me, and my favorite Sabre, with all this in common.  And I owe all this to Kiss 98.5, and their replacing of Daniel Briere with Derek Roy.  Without them, I’d just be blissfully ignorant of our basically kindred spirits.

(1) Our friends.

We don’t have the same friends, unfortunately, but we have a group of longtime good friends. He considers Andrew Peters to be his best friend on the team, and he’s played with him since juniors. He also is very, very close to Paul Gaustad, Jason Pominville, Ryan Miller, and the rest of the Rochester crew. Me? I met individuals of my group of best friends in kindergarten, first grade, third grade, sixth grade, and high school. But the ones I met in elementary school are all close. The rest came along the way, and while they’re not all the best of friends, they’re all very, very close to me. Same difference.

(2) Choice of cereal.

Janet questioned Derek as to what his cereal of choice is. His answer? LUCKY CHARMS. Now, mind you, I grew out of Lucky Charms a while ago, when I learned that the oat part of it wasn’t quite so “magically delicious.” Don’t get me wrong, though; the marshmellows are great! But Derek eats them in the same manner that I do! Pour the cereal in the bowl, then whatever marshmellows can be seen on the top layer of cereal in the box gets picked out and tossed either in the bowl or in my mouth. Kind of creepy, actually.

(3) What to do with free time in NYC?

When the guys had a few days off in the City, what did Derek do?  Go shopping in the SoHo district.  Now, first of all, that’s my favorite area of New York.  Second, what did he purchase?  ”Shirts, sweaters, and a couple pairs of shoes.”  Shirts?  Okay.  Sweaters?  Cool, I love sweaters.  Shoes?  I couldn’t have too many shoes.  But Derek, why didn’t you give me anything you bought for me yet?  And if you didn’t want to drop a period’s worth of your salary on a purse for me, you could’ve ventured a few blocks south and hit up Canal Street.  I would gladly take a knock-off.  Even more things now, areas of NYC and shopping habits.

(4) Who does he trust enough to let them drive his car?

He said he’d let Petey drive his car.  Is it coincidence that he’s been friends with Andrew since juniors, and he’s the first that Derek would agree to?  Hardly.  Likewise, I probably wouldn’t let many of my friends from elementary school drive my car, but Kim, who I’ve known since 6th grade, she can drive my car.  I mean, I’d hope I’d let her drive my car because I wouldn’t want to drive all the way to Boston myself…

(5) Halloween costumes.

Mind you I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in years, but if I did, it’d be something adorably outrageous.  (Like this year, I totally want to dress up as a flapper.  I found the perfect fake flower, bright purple headband at Forever 21 yesterday that’s my complete inspiration.)  And no one used to know what I’d be until I showed up at the party, or whatever, because I like to surprise people.  And do you think Derek will show up in something disappointing, or let people in on the secret?  Absolutely not.

I think that’s enough progress for this week.  It’s a tad bit overwhelming.

GAME TONIGHT!!!!  No liveblogging this time, either, as Kim and I will be at the game.  And the only thing I really have to say about the game is that Tim Connolly still won’t be playing.  Big surprise there.  The nebulous one-week period Lindy gave us is up, and Timmy still hasn’t hit the ice.  I’ve lost pretty much all of my faith in TC, and that really upsets me.  Whatever.  I have Derek and the rest of the boys still.

WHY DO YOU BUILD ME UP, BUFFALO SABRES, JUST TO LET ME DOWN?

By Cari and Kim

Why do you build us up, Buffalo Sabres, just to let us down, and mess us around?  And then worst of all, you never score, baby, when you say you will, but we love you still.  We need you more than anyone darlings, you know that we have from the start.  So build us up, buttercups, and don’t break our hearts.

Anyways, back to real blogging; THAT GAME BLEW.

(1)  We couldn’t listen to Rick and Harry because they were delayed about ten seconds and I have ADD, so I made Kim suffer through the FSN Detroit guys.

(2)  Derek Roy totally scored and because THAY DON’T USE VIDEO REPLAY IN THE PRESEASON they couldn’t review it.  What the hell kind of policy is that?

(3)  The FNS Detroit guys are idiots:  (a) they claimed that one of the Detroit players was “humping that a guy a little bit,” (b) they couldn’t pronounce Rivet correctly, and (c) they couldn’t pronounce Sekera either.

(4)  Ty Conklin sucks.  End of story.

(5)  Our power play sucks.  10 man-advantages and no conversions.  Pathetic.

(6)  Andrew Peters didn’t fight.  Oh, wait, that was good because he drew a penalty.  But then again, our power play sucked, so that didn’t matter.

(7)  Derek Roy got elbowed in the face and I almost died.

(8)  Ryan Miller almost died when his mask came off, and the refs almost didn’t notice.

(9)  We lost.

And to top it all off, the Bills got KILLED, and Trent Edwards should shack up with Tim Connolly.

Let’s take a look at what went right tonight:

(1)  Maxim Afinogenov laid someone out–INTENTIONALLY–and didn’t hurt himself in the process.

(2)  Lindy Ruff swore.  That’s always good for entertainment.

(3)  Derek Roy somehow managed to get the Third Star.  Probably something to do with that goal he didn’t score.

(4)  No one got seriously hurt.

(5)  Oh, wait, that’s it.

So we’re really glad the Sabres ended up with a preseason record of 1-3-1.  That’s pretty spectacular.  And by that, I mean spectacularly atrocious.

Hopefully, this won’t be a sign of things to come, and that there will be good news in the next few days.

Oh, and by the way, we’re now watching Ryan Miller’s favorite movie, the classic Super Troopers.

Fights, waivers and stupid tests…

So because I was doing my duty as a dutiful college student and studying for my test last night, I made a promise to myself that I was not going to listen to the game so that I could concentrate. Needless to say that promise lasted all of 20 minutes and because the draw of the Sabres, damn you Rick Jeanneret why must your voice be like crack, was too great I broke down and listened. But never fear, I was getting updates from Cari the whole time I wasn’t listening so that I could be kept up to date on all the goal scoring our boys were doing last night.

How funny was it that Andrew Peters was named alternate captain last night? That’s the only time that guy is going to have letters on his jersey that aren’t his name. But, nonetheless I have to say that the fight he was involved in was impressive as far as I could tell from the news report last night. HE WAS ACTUALLY HITTING THE OTHER GUY!!! I didn’t feel like I was watching a bad rendition of Swan Lake like I used to everytime Petey would spend two minutes dancing around the other guy before pathetically throwing punches and inevitably dragging the other guy to the ice and then being broken up by the officials. We all remember last year’s preseason against Columbus with the huge brawl in front of the players’ bench and Peters saluting the crowd well if you don’t you can watch the video. So here you go Petey, you get cookies today because somehow over the offseason you actually learned how to fight, I’m sure your Bobo the clown punching bag really appreciates all the use he’s been getting.

In other news Sabres.com is reporting that the Sabres have sent more players to their AHL affiliate the Portland Pirates. Forwards Mathieu Darche (pending waivers), Mark Mancari (pending waivers), Nathan Gerbe, Tim Kennedy, Dylan Hunter and Marek Zagrapan; and defensemen Chris Butler and Michael Funk were all sent back. As previously reported Cari and I have an unhealthy attachment to Mark Mancari and if he were to be claimed you must be informed that this blog will be shutting down for at least a week while Cari and I mourn the loss of a most beloved hockey player. So faithful readers keep your fingers crossed while Cari and I wait with bated breath for any news regarding our dear Mark.