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Okay.
I seriously feel terrible calling myself a blogger when I only write meaningless run-on, swooning sentences about the Sabres, or hockey in general, but even more so when I do it on the random occasion.
But this evening (or this past evening… whatever, it was Friday night) I had a bunch of the blogger girls over to my house for a little dinner party, which was quite lovely.
And boy, oh boy, do we have some good stuff in store for you this summer.
That’s all I’m going to say about that now, but just wait. Sabre Chaser will be back with a vengeance soon enough.
The playoffs are intriguing me greatly, however.
I honestly cannot believe that we’ve already seen three–COUNT ‘EM, THREE–sweeps thus far. That’s pretty amazing.
Also, the Chicago-Calgary series is quite feisty and intense. It’s really killing me. The odd part of it is, though, that whichever team scores first in the game has lost the game, without fail. So I’m just hoping that the Hawks hold off and wait for the (F)Lames to score first, and then pile the goals on. Hopefully, though, Iggy and Co. will decide to net their first sometime during the first, and not with 0.2 seconds on the clock in the third.
Because if they make the second round, I’m driving to Chicago for a game. For serious. Kim, Clare, and I are going. No lie. I’ve been trying desperately to win tickets to any game, any way that I can.
It obviously hasn’t worked.
But really people, as I was explaining to Kim and Anne earlier, I truly feel terrible that I’ve neglected my little baby of a blog recently. So if you miss my updates and pointless posts and whining about the Sabres and gushing about Derek Roy, follow me on Twitter, because I’ve picked it up there.
Although, I haven’t been tweeting so much in the past few days because I’m still trying to get the hang of my new phone. I’ll tell you, as pretty as it is, the BlackBerry Storm definitely takes some getting used to.
So anyways, my Twitter can be found here.
Be back soon! (I hope.)
PS: On a sad note, my poor Portland Pirates have been eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs in the first round by the Providence Bruins, four games to one. :(
Like I said over on Blogger, Kim and I have grown sick of the boring layouts and the simplicity of that site. So, we’ve packed up and moved to WordPress! All of the old posts have been moved over as well, but some of the comments wouldn’t transfer, and the embedded videos didn’t either. Therefore, we decided to keep the old Sabre Chaser up and running; we’ll just be posting over here from now on.
Moving on, I feel really bad… Kinda like I’ve abandoned Derek Roy. But, in my defense, he hasn’t been playing too well as of late. At least not as well as I feel he should be, and not nearly as well as the Sabres need for someone to carry the team into the playoffs.
But Clare had Kim and I over at her house on Friday, which just about did me in. You see, Clare is a ridiculously big Blackhawks fan, which is wonderful. Since they and the Canucks are my favorite Western Conference teams, I obviously have no problem with that.
So anyways, we were watching the Hawks play the Blue Jackets, and Kris Versteeg scored. It should be nothing new to you, my friends, that I’ve fallen for this incredibly adorable blonde. But it gets better…
Clare came over to my house Saturday and watched the Sabres game with my family and I. Before the game even started, I said to her, “You watch, Derek will score just because I’ve been fawning all over Verbeauty and how well he’s been playing lately.” But really, I never expected that D truly was the jealous type!
But, then again, if the girl who was supposedly hopelessly and completely devoted to me (if I were Princess D) suddenly ditched me for a (shudder) Blackhawk, I’d probably be a little peeved too.
Especially if I looked the way Derek does, and then I went for a guy who looked like this:

Wow, this is getting confusing now… Even to me. And that’s saying something.
Anyways, some of the blogger girls and I may or may not be getting together tonight to watch the Sabres on one TV and the Hawks on another. I don’t know if that will happen or not.
Either way, MJ is getting the Sabres Tour tomorrow!!! <3
So, if you have anywhere that our dear friend needs to see, either comment or send me an email and we’ll include it!
And, as always, Go Sabres! (I’m a little bit skeptical about the game tonight because it’s the Senators, but there’s no reason the Sabres shouldn’t play well. And who knows? If Derek has a good night, I may take him back. It all depends on how he stacks up to Verstud.)
So last night, Kim and I attended the game with the lovely S(h)ara from Sabretooth’s House.
And it was bad. No, it was really, really fun, but it was bad. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. We must do it again.
You all know how the game went, and let me tell you how excited I was! Except, I never stood up when we scored, even when we won, because we were in the first row of the 300-level, and I don’t do well with heights. Anywhere else in the 300′s and I’m fine, but in the first row? Eehhhhh, not really my thing to have about two feet of concrete and ten inches of glass separating me and the space between myself and the people in the 100-level.
BUT! I seriously think I had a good omen yesterday morning. Whilst driving to school down Elmwood, I was flipping through the radio (which I don’t normally do; I usually listen to a CD), still upset that the Sabres have been sucking so badly. But then Star was playing a good song, so I left it on. Then the DJ was talking about the weather and traffic, and I almost turned it off, but then he said something about the 33 and I paid attention.
Good thing, because the next song was “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
How’s that for fate?
(What’s also fate, is that at the arena, they played “Glamorous,” which didn’t help my cause for not cheating on Derek Roy at all. Damn you, Kris Versteeg! Why must you be so Fergalicious? Also, this video of Toews, Burish, and Wiz is pretty great as well. They’re so funny. I love those Blackhawks. NO. I need to stop. Clare, look what you’ve done to me!)
So the game was really, really successful at making me happy. The guys played great, but the company makes it even better. Especially the commentary:
- Me, on Thomas Vanek (?) missing a wide-open net in the first: “If Tim Connolly were there, that would’ve been a goal!” S(h)ara’s response: “Tim Connolly is good at putting things in holes.” (That was bad. I’m sorry.)
- Throughout the night, we kept shouting “troglodyte,” “Greg Campbell, you suck,” “hit him with your purse,” and “Princess D.”
- The guys behind us were getting very upset with people screaming “shoot” on the power play. Well sorry, sir, but if the Sabres would shoot a little more on the power play, we wouldn’t have to tell them how to do their jobs.
- Kim said that we needed to “euthanize the Panthers.” I said she was being too kind.
(Now I got a bit lost because I kept watching Kris Versteeg videos. Those Blackhawks are killing me.)
- Every time we saw Anne, S(h)ara and I screamed “foxy lady!” She never heard us.
- When Tallinder took a penalty (and this is really bad guys; I apologize), I said quietly to the girls, “Tallinder’s not a hooker; he’s a rapist.” It was hysterical at the time, and I even tweeted it, but I feel kinda bad about it now because the charges were dropped.
- Kim said Derek Roy needed to go after the puck like it was a Hostess cupcake. She tweeted it too. Which prompted Jill to respond about Ho Ho’s, and Jay to suggest ding dongs. That’s just wrong, on all accounts. I need to make him a batch of tofu brownies now.
S(h)ara said a whole bunch of funnier things too, but I don’t remember them.
Anyways, after the game we met up with Anne at Cobblestone, hoping some of the Sabres would show up, but by 11 o’clock we were all getting pretty tired, and booked. None of them came. We even sat by the back entrance, hoping that they might, but no. Oh well. Anyways, that was pretty much Brian Campbell’s place to go, and he’s with the Blackhawks now, obviously. (I just can’t get away from them, can I?)
Also, Mary tweeted about Lalime singing “Poker Face,” (two things: I seem to be obsessed with Twitter, and Patty didn’t sing it [to my knowledge, at least]), and now every time I hear that song and/or Lady Gaga, I totally think of him. Especially when they played “Just Dance” during the game.
The only thing that would’ve made that night better is if MJ could’ve made it up in time, but her job didn’t allow for us to have that much fun. Another time, I suppose.
And my signal that I should stop writing now is the fact that I have no idea if this post is even coherent.
I’ll be back later, possibly, as I have absolutely NO PLANS today, which is so, so strange and new to me.
Okay. You really, really, really need to watch this video.
It’s great, I promise.
I love the fact that the guys are ripping on Burish for being a ladies’ man. (But I wonder if the Sabres rip on Connolly and Roy the same way?)
But really, the best part of the video is at the 2:10 mark, while Burish is being interviewed. Just look behind him and you’ll know what I mean.
Oh, my, how I adore Jonathan Toews! Oh, and the rest of those crazy Blackhawks… This is what the Sabres Show should be like, for at least a couple minutes.
Remember how I said I didn’t want to know anything about last night’s game until it was over, and I was at home, peacefully watching the game from the initial puckdrop, only after I enjoyed my evening being serenaded by Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal?
Yeah, well… That didn’t happen.
Yes, I did have a wonderful evening at Shea’s, watching my favorite musical ever (RENT! Go see it!), but I couldn’t stay away from the Sabres. I couldn’t resist.
During intermission, no matter how much Kim protested, because I made her promise to not let me, I pulled out my cell phone and checked the score.
“Ehh… Not bad.” It was 0-0.
A moment later, Kim nudges me: “Al scored!” Cool deal.
But then, a few minutes later, 2-1 Chicago. Um, what? Excuse me?
Cue “Seasons of Love,” and the powering-down of the phone.
So then, once the play was over and we were crossing a slush-covered Main Street (Sorry, Britt, but your boots have salt marks on them now. I’m trying my best to get them off!), I again, couldn’t resist, so I checked the damage. And damage is right. It was 4-1 at that point.
Needless to say, after listening to the third period on the radio on the way home, and then my brother admitting to me that we blew a six-minute power play, I was less than thrilled.
The only part of the game I watched were the last few minutes that I caught upon entering the house, and I watched Stafford’s hit on Keith this morning, just to see if it really was all that bad. And it wasn’t. Unfortunate that he struggled after the hit, but it was clean, and the way Ben Eager reacted was absolutely ridiculous. I understand sticking up for your teammate, but do it, and then let it go. The hit was clean.
And Ben Eager is going to get himself a reputation if he keeps behaving and talking trash like that… Well, not that he doesn’t already, or anything.
I only hope that the game I will actually see will be better.
But can someone seriously explain to me what is going through Lindy Ruff’s mind right now/last night? Why on Earth was Butler sitting in the press box? He’s been one of the best defensemen on this team since he arrived in Buffalo, and there is no reason good enough to satisfy me as to why he shouldn’t be in the lineup.
Okay. Now that I sort of got my ranting out of the way (seriously, though–go see Rent), I can just say Go Sabres, and hopefully we’ll beat the Stars play well this evening.

I’m going to be completely honest with you, friends. I love Brian Campbell. No lie. I’ve told you that before. And it’s not just because he’s a redhead, but I’m not going to go into the depths of my attachment to him, so just know it’s there. Oh, and it’s been there for a very, very long time.
What I am willing to divulge to you, though, is my behavior last year on February 26, 2008. (And I can almost guarantee that I will act in basically the same manner if another of my favorites gets sent packing on March 4th.) I woke up that morning just like any other morning and packed my bag for school, triple checking the battery level on my MacBook. I had TSN’s TradeCenter set to my homepage on Safari, ensuring that I wouldn’t miss a thing.
I drove the 15 minutes to UB’s north campus, and was sitting in Chemistry (one of the few times I actually went before I just stopped going because I had already failed), not paying too much attention to Professor (“Winston”) Churchill, only hitting refresh continuously on my browser. Oh, and all the while, IM-ing Kim, discussing the trades and how I wasn’t too sure if I’d be able to deal if Brian left.
At 11:27 am, my heart dropped and shattered on the lecture hall floor. Literally, this is what I said to Kim: “HE’S GONE. KIMMY, HE’S GONE.”
From then on, I’m not entirely too sure what I did. I know I almost felt like crying, and thankfully I was in one of the last rows of the biggest hall on campus, and it was dark, because Winston likes to use Powerpoint.
But then I discovered Steve Bernier, and I was willing to accept him with open arms, especially with his debut in blue and gold.
Really, though? I miss them both terribly.
The one story I will always remember about Brian Campbell is highly entertaining. Well, at least it was to the 15-year-old me, before I heard about his galavanting ways.
It was late March or early April 2003, and the Dairy Queen in Kenmore had just reopened for the season. My friend and I wanted to go get some ice cream, so we walked the, oh I don’t know, maybe seven blocks down Elmwood to get some.
The topic on everyone’s mind was the SARS pandemic. But it was hitting home for Sabres fans, with roommates Rhett Warrener and Brian Campbell under house arrest/quarantine, because Campbell’s sister-in-law was showing symptoms after coming into contact with SARS patients at the Toronto hospital she worked at. They were shacked up in Warrener’s Kenmore home, not all that far from my friend’s house.
Anyways, while we were standing in line to get our ice cream, who should get in the line opposite ours? Brian Campbell and Rhett Warrener. I’m pretty sure Campbell got a twist in a dish with chocolate sprinkles.
Basically, they could have killed me. Except, neither one of them actually contracted SARS, so I guess that’s alright.
(ETA: In retrospect, I guess I didn’t really do the story justice. I just think it’s funny that, when they might have had SARS, Brian and Rhett are sneaking out of the house, disregarding regulations from the World Health Organization, to go to Dairy Queen and get their ice cream fix. Hmm.)
Even so, Brian, I’ll never boo you. Well, at least not baring unforeseen occurrences. I’m impressed at how you and your Blackhawks have done this season, and I’ll always cheer for you, as long as you’re not playing the Sabres. Hey, I drove my family nuts on New Years Day because all I wanted was for it to be 1 o’clock so that I could watch you in the Winter Classic (even though it was better when you were wearing blue and gold).
Now if we could get Steve Bernier back, I’d be a happy girl.
There is a positively awesome article about Derek Roy in the TBN today, surprisingly written by Bucky Gleason. I knew there was a reason I loved Derek. I mean, for his hockey skills, not his ridiculous off-ice behavior.
*****
About tonight’s game? Well, I’m not going to be watching. I know, I know, that’s outrageous since it’s my one legit change to really watch Brian Campbell and not want him to win this season. But Kim and I are going to see Rent tonight at Shea’s. Totally worth it. So excited.
But I am taping the game, and I’ve already told all of my hockey-obsessed friends and my family not to breathe a word of a score or anything related to this game to me until I finish watching it. Yeah. We’ll see if that actually happens. Not counting on it.
Happy New Year everyone, I hope you have all sufficiently recovered from your post party hangovers and if you haven’t well at least you have a fun time last night I’m assuming. If you’re like me, as in under 21, I’m going to go out on a limb here that you at least had champagne at midnight so therefore do not have a hangover and didn’t wake up this morning wishing that you hadn’t, woken up that is.
I of course watched the Winter Classic like every other self respecting hockey fan and no matter how much you try to convince me I still believe the one in Buffalo was better. I know I’m probably biased but come on what can beat 80,000 people screaming their heads off in the freezing cold while it snowed and snowed and snowed? And it wasn’t just that sleet-snow it was that snow-globe snow the big fluffy flakes that made me want to lie down in the aisle making my best snow angel.
It was an overall good game both teams played well and the game wasn’t interrupted ten times by the zamboni which meant that the game didn’t last 4 hours. I for one wasn’t surprised by the outcome because overall Detroit is the better team better defense (sorry Soupy), better offense (sorry Patrick) and as much as it pains me to say this better goaltending by Ty.
The game play I thought was more interesting this year more goals (9), one bone crushing hit with Dan Cleary ending up in the Chicago bench in retaliation for his hit Tuesday night on Patrick Kane and a dog pile? with most of the players on the ice ending up on top of each other. However, I’m more inclined to believe that the closer a game is the more interesting it is, then there’s also the fact that our game went to overtime and then to a shoot out which is sure to get the fans’ blood going.
I liked our jerseys for the Ice Bowl better, I thought Chicago’s were too dark and that the numbers on the back were hard to see especially when the players were skating I also thought they were ugly with the big white stripe through the middle. Detroit’s were cool with the Old English D on the front a throwback to their first year in the NHL the numbers on the back were at least easy to see. If they’re going to have an outdoor game where the fans aren’t going to be that close to the players they need to make the jerseys and the numbers contrasting colors so that people can see who they’re looking at.
I can understand the significance of having the game in Wrigley field I actually think it’s cool but it stands to reason that when having the game in a baseball stadium half the fans aren’t going to be able to see the puck or the players very well as was the case today. The people who got seats in the outfield probably had no clue what was going on because let’s see a small piece of galvanized rubber viewed from approximately 50 yards away…yeah that’s not going to happen unless you happen to have the eyesight of a hawk or really really strong binoculars. At least at Ralph Wilson even the people who had the 10 dollar seats or those in the 300 deck could see the puck because they were sitting right on top of the ice almost. The people at Wrigley were in what could be considered the 200 deck and were at least 50 yards offering them little or no chance to follow the game except to look at the large video screens that were set up just for them.
But anyways I still think ours was better no bones about it and I don’t care if I’m biased I will always believe that.
But let’s get down to business:



