This, That and The Other

Wow, so it turns out going to work all day is really, really hard. It's been two days now but I feel like I've worked two weeks in that 16 hours. I figured it would take me some time to get back in the swing of things but man, I'm beat. I collapsed before the late games even started last night (which turned out to be okay since I woke up this morning and discovered that the gross team won every game).

Random thoughts:

- I need to punch Pierre McGuire in the head. He's dreadful. He talks way too much for a guy standing between the benches (I miss you, Rob!). He's practically a second color man which is the last thing Versus/NBC needs since they barely do any play-by-play as it is. He talks like the players are Timbits he's coaching and his sentences get increasingly shrill and screechy until he's screaming about nothing. "Arnott isn't hustling after the puck, he can't do that, HE CAN'T DO THAT, WHY IS HE DOOOOOOOIIIIING THAAAAAT?!" He's also a creepy close talker as can be seen in this video. Dude, back up off of that guy. You're making me uncomfortable and I'm just a bystander. Also, the exchange from the 1:45 mark to 2:00 is... awkward.



- I think McGuire and Mike Milbury make for a dreadful intermission - I want my Ray Ferraro! - but I don't really have a problem with Milbury calling the Capitals the "Crapitals." First of all, these guys are getting paid to stay stupid stuff that winds people up. Mission accomplished. Second of all, it's kind of true. If you don't want people implying that you're crap, maybe you should play better. If they hadn't played well in the third period of the first game, this series could easily be 3-0 instead of 2-1. I certainly don't see why Milbury needed to apologize to Ted Leonsis. If these guys had to apologize for every stupid insulting thing they've ever said, we could be here forever.

- Despite my big talk about wishing postseason ill on all former Sabres except JP Dumont, I'm discovering a lot of residual affection for Danny Briere. Don't get me wrong, I don't want the Flyers to win it all or anything. They're the Flyers. But I would be perfectly fine with them beating the Caps before getting destroyed in the next round and I'm not going to lie, the Caps refuser in me is enjoying that Danny has been hands-down more noticeable and dynamic than Alexander Ovechkin in this series (so far). I was really not anticipating this but it's undeniable. When the Flyers advance largely because of Danny, I'll just block out Bucky Gleason. I can't let him control the way I feel anyway :P (But this will never, ever carry over to Chris Drury or Brian Campbell.)

- Speaking of Brian Campbell... Campbell Says Something Stupid Part 1,018. I'll let Kevin Sylvester handle this one.

I was surprised to read this quote from former Sabres captain Brian Campbell in the Toronto Globe and Mail on the difference between the Sabres and Sharks.

"The accountability inside the dressing room. It's probably the first team I've been on where guys will speak up and say something and you take it to heart. It's a big change that way, probably the biggest thing." -- Brian Campbell

Huh?

I can't imagine there wasn't accountability and guys speaking up with the two teams he played on in Buffalo that reached the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons.

And as for this past season, wasn't he one of the leaders who's job it was to hold others accountable?

I don't mean to go hard at Brian, but I'm surprised these comments came from a classy guy such as him. I think his former teammates would be surprised too.

A few weeks ago I might have been surprised. Now? I am not surprised in the slightest.

(This is from Kevin's blog on Sabres.com but I'm posting it here because you can't read it without an Insider account and I didn't want to give people a link they might not be able to access. I hate how everything on Sabres.com is Sabres Insider only. It's not that hard to plug in my email address but I haven't noticed this on any other team's website. I don't want emails and text messages and I don't want your stupid prizes. I just want to read the website.)

- I kept meaning to respond to this comment from Vanek's Hair - in fact, I thought I did but I can't find it so I think I just wrote it in my head - so I'm going to do it here. He said, "May I confess I would probably like him (Sean Avery) on the Sabres?"

Well, Van, you may confess it but I'm going to have to give that a big fat negatory. I have no problem with pests. One of the first Sabres I really liked was Matt Barnaby. I would take Darcy Tucker. I would take Corey Perry and Steve Ott (and especially Steve Ott's kickin' playoff facial hair). On a very weak day, I might even take Chris Neil. (Very weak.) Avery has too much of a history of causing problems in his locker room for me to think it would be a good idea to ever bring him to Buffalo. His poor behavior on the ice is bad enough but it seems to follow him around off the ice too and I'm not into that.

That said, IF the Rangers can handle his personality they should absolutely make re-signing him this summer a priority. He changed that team the second he showed up there and from what I've seen of the Devils series (which is admittedly not a lot), he's been one of their most effective players. Better them than us.

- I picked Detroit to win it all in two pools so I'm pretty screwed if they lose. But I'm finding the Nashville team that I thought I hated kind of endearing. I appreciate them battling even though everyone thinks they're going to lose. And let's face it, the world is a better place with a fully blossoming JP Dumont playoff beard. For that beautiful sight, I might be willing to take a playoff pool hit. Go Preds go!

- I love, love, love Kelly Hrudey. He's not spectacularly handsome but there's something very pleasant about the looks of him. And even if I don't agree with him, he's just very soothing. He has opinions and he expresses them but he never yells, he never talks over the other people with him, and he seems to realize at all times that he's talking about hockey. Yes, it's awesome. No, it's not life and death. Now that I think about it, I think that's why I really liked - and miss - Ray Ferraro too. I like my sports guys chill, yo.

- Forget the Caps, people. The feel good story of the year is the Ottawa Senators. Charging off to a 15-2 start, completely blowing up around New Year's, plummeting for the remainder of the season, squeaking into the playoffs and then getting swept in the first round by a spunky little Pens team? That's so beautiful I could cry.

That Was an Awesome Game

I was supposed to be at that game! Jean-Pierre Dumont! The debut of Big Bear! In which he scored two goals and had one assist! Fights! Scraps! Dmitri Kalinin roughing people up! Four goalies! All getting scored on! Andrew Peters scoring a goal! I repeat, Andrew Peters scoring a goal! I can't believe I missed this game!

Okay, let me come back down to earth a little. The biggest knock on Steve Bernier that I've come across when peeking in on San Jose boards and blogs and talking to the few Sharks fans I know is that he's very inconsistent. He'll play the way he did last night for a few games and then go invisible for a while and then suddenly start playing well again. But a lot of people also thought that Ron Wilson was not really a very good coach for him, punishing him at the slightest sign of a drop in play even though that seemed to affect him even worse. I noticed that during both his pregame and postgame interviews (and what an adorable interview he is), Bernier said the word "confidence" a lot, giving the impression that that's been a problem for him in the past, something that he's maybe a little worried about. So I'm optimistic. He's so young - he's younger than most of our babies - so maybe the change of scenery and being in a more open system will help. It definitely sounds like Lindy Ruff will be good for him because if there's one thing Lindy has shown this year it's that he can coach young players. Maybe he'll be able to get Bernier through those rough spots better than Wilson did, protecting him and his confidence a little.

You know what though? I don't even care if Bernier scores as long as he plays as hard as he did last night. I mean, I was really into him scoring but this is the moment I really fell in love with him:




And it was contagious! Sabres were sticking up for each other all over the ice, in a way I've never seen from this particular group. There's no denying that mixing in guys like Bernier, Nolan Pratt, and Patrick Kaleta has changed the team attitude a little. Interesting to see the team slowly get a little bigger and a little tougher. Tim Connolly was flying into scrums! Dmitri Kalinin was jumping on people's backs! There was an adorable shot of Kalinin and Kaleta fist-bumping in the penalty box. That cracked us up at our house because those are not the two guys you expect to see celebrating a dust-up while sitting side-by-side in the box. (Anyone who has a screencap of that is my hero.)

I've heard a little criticism of the Sabres for almost giving up a three goal lead but I'll give them some slack there. The first goal was clearly helped along by the goalie lying in a heap on the ice. (I'm glad he's okay of course but that slow-motion replay of Ryan Miller faaaalllling over was hilarious.) The next two were on T-Bo and even one of them was just a beautiful shot (Arnott's, I think). When Ryan wasn't bleeding from the face he looked much better than he's looked during the last few games. And unlike against Philly, they never quite let go of the game. They put the foot back down on the pedal and took charge.

So while it's one game, it was a good one. But man, am I glad we don't have to face the Predators all the time. What a bunch of jackholes! Does Scott Nichol ever punch someone from the front? JP Dumont is too good for them!

And speaking of JP, I'm glad he was cheered last night. Why am I glad he got cheered when I was perfectly fine with Chris Drury and Daniel Briere being booed? Because I like him more. While I would argue that the circumstances of his departure were different than Drury and Briere's, it really is that simple. I liked him and I miss having him around. Of all the players we've lost over the last couple of years, the only one I miss more than JP is Jay McKee. He's the reason I bought tickets to last night's game in the first place.

I can't really think of a way to naturally work this into the rest of the game recap, but I do want to give a Top Shelf glove-tap to Henrik Tallinder for making the decision to wear a neck piece. They mentioned it on Versus but since they're sometimes stupid, I didn't entirely believe it. But Rob Ray talked about it on the broadcast last night (although he kept referring to Hank's underwear which made me giggle) so now I know it's correct and seriously, I think he should be applauded. Every single guy at the arena that day talked about how devastating and frightening it was but only one guy has actually done anything to guard against it? (On our side. I don't know what's going on in Florida.) I know it's only happened a couple of times in the last twenty years, but I don't think I'd take the chance - and I know I wouldn't want my husband taking the chance. So good for you, Hank. Just another reason you're my favorite player.