More trade stuffs.

So we now have Robyn Regehr as a Sabre and Ales Kotalik BACK as a Sabre. Weirdness ok, just weird to me. We lost Chris Butler (darn??) and Paul Byron (double darn??)to Calgary and yeah, that was it for now. This doesn't really excite me much, was it supposed to? Same old trade junk as with any other trade time. We take some ehhh player and give up some ehh player and see if that will shake things up and sometimes it does a little and sometimes it does nothing, and in the long run it really does nothing. Woooot. I'm forever the optimist, this I know.

In other news, Brian Campbell went to the Panthers (oh come ONN, I just bought his Blackhawks shirt not that long ago dammit!) and one of my favorite other Hawks, Troy Brouwer, went to the Capitals. That makes me sad because I love the Hawks as a big happy family, and I really like those guys. Granted, Campbell's salary is beyond nutty and Chicago is probably having a fun time with cap space again this year, but blahh. That's how it has to work out though. I would have gladly taken Brouwer as a Sabre :)

Development camp starts on July 5th, and I really want to attend this year again like I did last year. It's cool to see what guys will be up and coming in the system and all that, and I just like to keep up with Sabres stuff in the summer seeing as there are no games and that sucks...haha. A few of the guys were at the draft party last night and it's cool to see who could be on the team in the future and see what they're all about. I watched Kev Slyvester interview Marcus Foligno, and I really want him to be on the team like now, right now...haha. I can't wait until he can actually play here, it will be awesome. I'm pretty sure they interviewed Corey Tropp as well.

I also liked the draft picks Buffalo got, Joel Armia has an awesome Finnish mullet (haha yeahhh) and Daniel Catenacci is handsome, and everyone seems excited to be part of the Sabres and everything feels new and fun! Woooo! :D

Sabres vs. NY Islanders

Hmmmm.

-Ryan Miller needs to rest, we all know this. Lalime is not a great backup, and it is pretty much a risk each and every time to put him in to play a game. Miller has played so many in a row and he is cranky and tired. This needs a solution. Hopefully when our new owner is in, he can help management fix our situation, because the people there now are obviously now sure how to fix it.

-Drew Stafford and his awesome amount of hat tricks, I love it. That was the high point of the game, regardless of the fact we didn't win. I am glad he is having a good year.

-I still think Sekera and Butler are useless as d-men, and I really hope they both go sometime soon.

-Paul Gaustad did a few things wrong this game, and I guess pointing them out is half the battle because he can do a lot and I still will not be angry with him, so yeah.

-Patrick Kaleta came back and he was stirring it up a little out there. Glad he's back, hopefully he can stay healthy for longer than like 2 games...lol.

-Our captain is still MIA and it is pretty laughable at this point, and just crazy. He will either retire it seems, or at least not be here next year. It just can't happen.

I still have faith in this team, I do. This was a crazy game, the number of goals were high and we still couldn't capitalize, but this isn't the first time. I can't just stand here and say one thing will make me not want to root for them anymore. When you are a real, true fan you stand behind your team 100% no matter what, and the people of Buffalo know that. This isn't a song that hasn't been sung before. In saying that, the new ownership knows what is in front of them. They know that we have had a lot of these guys for a long time, and things need to probably be shaken up for next season if we want to get somewhere. This man wants to win a cup, and he seems like hockey man, not just a money man. If he is all that he says he is, I'm sure he can get us going in the right direction and help us get closer to winning. Game on!!

Let's back this up a bit shall we?

So, I'm going to go back a little bit here and go over the game I went to which was Sabres vs. Blackhawks on Oct. 11th. It was the first game I went to this season excluding the Toronto pre-season game (which as it turns out, was a lot better then any other game that has been played so far), because I did not attend the home opener. Not like it matters, we have lost all of them at home. I don't really know what's going on. -shrug-

In true creep fashion, I wore a Jonathan Toews shirt to HSBC (yeah, you can yell at me later, I love the man, whaddya want?) and yeah, maybe it was a bad omen. Not only did we NOT win, but I was almost in tears at the whole Pominville thing. I have never seen anything like that happen at a game I was actually in attendance for, and it scared the living crap out of me. Then I felt bad wearing the other teams colors, then it was all downhill for me from there. There were a ton of Blackhawks fans in attendance as it was, which was kind of weird, and then Patrick Kane scored a goal on top of it. I was waiting for Patrick Kaleta to come out of somewhere, anywhere, and kill him right then and there. Oh boy. My dad was just pissed off we lost again, and I was just kind of shaken up by the whole thing, and pissed that Pominville's streak of consecutive games was taken away. Non-intentional and all, doesn't matter, he won't be able to get that back. Total bummer if you ask me.

I do however like the new video opening on the jumbotron for the 40th anniversary, it makes me all smiley and just...yeah, I really like it. Makes me cheese out like crazy and I love it, sue me. Going back over all the decades is really cool and I'm sure has a nostalgic feel for a lot of fans.

So let's go over this:

-Pre-season was pretty ok, not too bad.

-Regular season has been eh, won against Ottawa (which was WEIRD) and have lost since (which would also be really weird seeing as we may never win again???!)

-People that did eh last year are still doing eh, while some are a lot better, while some who were pretty good are doing eh.

-Still too early to say really, I'm sure things will pick up soon, but of course we are all antsy and want to win just one to make sure it can still happen. We also want to make sure that this team isn't full of hockey game losing zombies.

-Jason Pominville being out has put Nathan Gerbe back in the lineup for sure which is awesome, but Shaone Morrisonn being out with a groin injury has also but Chris Butler back in the lineup. Pros and cons people, you figure out which is which.

Ok, guess that's it.

Will we ever win again?

This will just be a short entry to get some things down, and I will go back and recap some other things over the weekend maybe, because I did go to the Blackhawks game and all that, but yeah. I'm not sure if we will ever win again, so yeah, wow. A couple things:

I see at times they are trying, I mean really trying to do something out there. Stafford is putting in more energy and effort in the last couple games then he did all last season it seems, good to see him come back like that.

Tyler Ennis is just being his fast little self and trying to set things up, as is Nathan Gerbe. I'm glad Gerbe is getting to play because I think he is really good, he's fast, and his height has nothing on the fact he will go in and try to kick ass. Derek Roy is also doing extremely well, the most goals in the NHL eh? Nice Roy, nice.

Guys we could do without at this point: Connolly, Butler and probably Sekera. Connolly is just EHHHH all the time to me anyway, and I don't know why Butler is still on the team to be honest. If Morrisonn wouldn't have gotten injured he would still have his butt on the bench, so...yeah.

The whole goal drought thing to me was crazy, 118 some mins. without a goal, really guys, REALLY?? At least Roy got one, so we don't look like complete losers. Oh boy.

But, as it is the Toronto Maple Leafs are the top team in the league as it stands, so maybe hell is about to freeze over or more likely it's too early for anything really major to happen. Not time to panic, but it's as good a time as any to start complaining in true Buffalo style.

Because hey, the Sabres are better than the Bills....right?!

Paul Gaustad is a faceoff wizard.

He also got Lexus leader because of it. He is ranked 5th overall in the NHL in faceoffs won, and he won almost all of them tonight. Man was on fire tonight, and it was quite awesome. He can also grow facial hair faster than Tim Kennedy can get that thing above his lip to grow that looks like a chocolate milk moustache. Awesome!

Derek Roy scored, as did Steve Montador, but that's where it stops. We tied it up twice, but never led, and the game just might have been a confidence thing. Getting too cocky to the point "how could we NOT beat these crappy Leafs?" ughh, yeah, didn't happen.

A lot of scrambling around, guys couldn't get their feet moving, and Miller seemed to be out of it for a bit of it. Toronto just looked really strong tonight too, they didn't let Buffalo get puck possesion for most of the game, and well, that lead to the win for them for the most part. Empty net goals do not help either. Penalties galore also do not help. Someone was in that box for most of the 2nd and 3rd periods, and they were pretty much useless ones. Ackk.

Random notes:

-Chris Butler was a healthy scratch tonight. Haha, finally someone took into account that he is awful. The +/- doesn't lie people.

-It was kind of scary to see Myers almost get into some kind of fight. We need him very much, no need to try to hurt him, please leave him alone thanks.

-What was that Carubba Collision? Two trucks or some crap? Oh geez PK, come back already. Tape up that thumb and let's roll...haha.

Ok, so we did not win this one. It was kind of crappy to watch and most of the fans I'm sure are just ehhhh about this. It is a known fact that the Sabres often have inconsistency problems. It is something that could hurt them in the playoffs because there is no "next game we will do better". Once the games are lost, it's done for good. Come on guys, a loss to a team like this just should not have happened. Maybe it was back to back games to blame, travel, being tired, who knows what Lindy, the players, etc, could come up with. Someone like Gaustad will say something like "there are no excuses" or "it's unexceptable", because he is right on both accounts it would seem. It's on to Montreal next, and they are not as crappy as Toronto was supposed to potentially be. Let's get it done hmmm? Game on!!