Another Day, Another Practice

First up, I hear Teppo's surgery went well so yay Teppo! (The guy next to me at practice this morning: "I'm assuming Teppo didn't die on the table since they're still having practice.")

Second of all, I learned via Sabre Rattling that the defensive pairing of Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman is breaking up. Mark and I had noticed that Hank and Toni hadn't worked together at all in the preseason practices/scrimmages we'd attended and people have been talking about the need to do this all off-season. It makes perfect sense. With Teppo out, we're down a reliable d-man and if Lindy keeps Hank and Toni together he's leaving himself some pairings that could be quite adventurous to watch. And I totally agree that allowing Brian Campbell and Jaroslav Spacek to play to their strengths really requires them being paired with a more defensive-minded guy. Soupy can chase the puck to his heart's content and know that Hank, his new partner, is taking care of things at home. I can't argue with this decision at all. But I'm really very sad about the split. Hank and Toni are so steady and dependable. They belong together. They're peanut butter and jelly, peas and carrots, and every other traditional, comforting pairing you can think of. They're a warm, fuzzy blanket on a cold winter night. They belong! I feel like I need Lindy to sit down with me and assure me, "This has nothing to do with you. Hank and Toni still love you and they're still going to be great teammates."

Mark and I blew off work today and went to practice - a tradition we started last season that I fully intend to do for the rest of our lives - and while I will make some hockey oriented comments in a second, I have to get a couple of things of my chest because two things almost ruined my day.

1. PUCK BUNNIES
I decided I was going to sit as closely to the ice as I could today and I ended up in the second row behind a group of college girls. Practice started late and one of them spent the entire time bitching about the very large group of teenagers there - it was some kind of field trip - and while there were a ton of them and they were extremely noisy, they were clearly enjoying themselves and extremely well behaved. She kept complaining that she couldn't "deal with these $@!@$$ people and all their *$&&@@! noise" and went on and on about how they needed to "just go the #$@! home already." Hey, girlie, you're at a hockey rink not a library so unless you rented the place out for you and your party shut up and let everyone else enjoy themselves.

And THEN as the players started trickling in the whole group started taping signs to the glass ("Jason Pominville" with little hearts around it etc.) Are you freakin' kidding me? You have the gall to complain about other people ruining your precious experience and you're going to clutter up the glass with ugly, inane signs?! And they totally knew what they were doing because the girl in front of me turned around and looked right at me while she was taping up her sign to see if I'd say anything which is when I told her (oh-so-politely of course) that this was not going to work for me because I couldn't see through her sign which is when she moved it up even more which is when I reminded her that there were people behind me as well which is when I'm pretty sure the Complainer called me a bitch under her breath. I probably should've complained to security about them just to be a witch but I ended up moving since Hank was on the other bench. Even after I moved though these girls were totally bugging me. All they did through the entire scrimmage was yell things like, "Kaleta, baby, over here!" and "You're hot, Kotalik!" When Derek Roy came on the bench and then did that stretch where the player lifts one leg up on the wall they were all giggling and taking pictures of his butt and yelling comments that made it clear what exactly they were looking at (and I was annoyed with Derek for seeming to enjoy the attention a little too much) and it was just totally gross. Listen, I certainly notice when a player is attractive (and seriously, Kaleta and Kotalik?) but I also know how said player performs on the ice. I'm extremely confident that if I'd asked these girls what they thought about Pominville's potential linemates they wouldn't have understood the question. They were super excited when Lindy Ruff read their signs. Girls, he read your signs and then VISIBLY GRIMACED (which was awesome). You're idiots. I know it and Lindy knows it. You're exactly the reason the NHL feels like it has to cater to its female fans with pink jerseys, "I Heart Crosby" shirts, and crap with butterflies on it.

2.

Kate said during practice on Sunday, "Well, our socks are still cool" so I noticed these abominations right away. They're solid blue except for that strip of white down the back. Why? Why is the only color/design on the BACK OF THE SOCKS? I suppose for the same reason most of the color/design on the jerseys is IN THE ARMPIT AREA. Some of the boys evidently didn't get the memo on how to wear them because they had them on backwards and they looked, if possible, even uglier. People, horizontal stripes! What's so hard about them? I'll give it to Larry Quinn. Last year when he claimed the slug jerseys were designed with Reebok's re-design in mind, I thought he was blowing smoke up our collective ass. But now we totally blend in with the rest of the league's ugly. These are tragic.

I know I promised actual hockey content but I need to get to bed. I'll leave you with a few photos from today:

Hank on the bench right in front of me. He was very smiley and talked a lot more than I expected him to. He and T-Bone were having a grand time.

Timmy gets a lesson on tightening his chinstrap.

Part of the new mural. I'm totally digging the bloodied Adam Mair but I can't believe they used the picture of Timmy with that ridiculous facial hair. Timmy, this is what happens when you do stupid things - they get immortalized on the wall of a pro sports arena.

A little perspective on just how honking big the mural is.

Hockey! The Connolly line looked good again today.

The puck bunnies clearly didn't read the Sabres Squee-View since the three best-looking Sabres were sitting on the other bench, completely ignored. Hank, Jochen, and Goose.

I don't know what happened, but Jochen got traded during the second intermission of today's scrimmage. One minute he was wearing his own number on Team Yellow, the next minute he was wearing Max's number on Team Blue.

At the end of practice a few of the boys stayed and played around for a few minutes. Goose flipped a backhand down the ice to Toni and then told him to flip it back "from there." This went on for a while and they were getting the puck pretty high up in the air. I've never posted a video before so we'll see if this works. It's only a few seconds long and it's not the greatest quality but hey, it's fun. Goose and Derek are on one end (Derek was stretching until they started playing and then he immediately popped up and skated over). I can't remember who was on the other end with Toni. Oh, actually it was Stafford. I think.

It looked like so much fun that even Ryan couldn't help but get in on it. You can't really see the puck traveling but Ryan suddenly jumped up and knocked it right out of the air.



Mark has a couple more pictures at his blog.

Whatever Pops Into My Brain (Pretty Boys Ahead!)

I just realized it's been a pretty quiet month here at Top Shelf. Summer malaise is setting in, I think. The last couple weeks of summer school are chaos and trying to balance the two jobs with some terrible allergy attacks has sucked me of all energy. I've been spending most of my time at home sleeping. I'm now on vacation from the day job however for two weeks and will soon have a week off from both jobs while my mom and one of my brothers come up to visit from Alabama. So maybe I'll get a much needed energy boost. For now, here's a hodge-podge of things:

Much of Buffalo is currently talking about the price increases for the upcoming Sabres season. I'm not really sure what the big deal is. First of all, we all knew a price hike was coming. It's not like the team has been hiding that fact. And while there are certainly a number of bronze games that could be value games, silver games that could be bronze etc. I just can't get that up in arms about this. A seat at a Sabres game is still much more affordable than a seat at many - if not most - pro sporting events. Mark and I spent a nice little chunk more on our mini-pack than we did last season, but what we spent on five games would still barely get us into a couple of games in Toronto. I'm the first to forget this sometimes or whine about it when it doesn't suit me, but this is a business. There are people involved who would like to make some profit. If you're going to complain that management isn't throwing enough money at players to keep them around, I don't know if you can complain about them picking up some money in an area that, let's face it, they've probably been underpricing the last few seasons. It's all about supply and demand. The Sabres are hot right now and if you want to see them in person, you're going to have to compete with fans who are willing to pay more money. That's the way it works. Of course Drury and Briere's returns are going to be be gold games - lots of people want to see them. The truth is, management could've raised prices much more than they did. Pony up and go to the games or don't. But take a look at what other fans are paying to see lesser quality teams play before you complain too loudly.

These new jerseys are largely frightening. Columbus's new design is much improved and the Bruins did a great job of making their classic look fit the new streamlined look, but everyone else? Ugh. What is up with all the weird piping and color blocking on these designs? And a lot of them suffer from the same thing the Sabres re-design does - very plain chests with an explosion of color and design under the arms. Why would you put that much of the design in the most useless place on the jersey? I can appreciate the new jerseys being made of better material and providing improved performance, but I don't understand why it's proving so hard for teams to make something decent of them. And if the Bruins can design the jersey they did, why exactly was it impossible for the Sabres to use the vintage logo on their re-design? The shapes of the logo and the striping are almost exactly the same.

My husband Mark (check out his new blog, SabresDance) has spent his summer trying to select a new favorite player so he can purchase a jersey replacement for his now useless Drury jersey (although we did decided that we can tape LYNCH over DRURY, making it somewhat wearable). Right now it seems Drew Stafford is in the lead with Ryan Miller trailing in second.

My buddy Kate recently started up a new blog called The Willful Caboose which everyone should, of course, check out. Kate is also in the process of selecting a new favorite player - darn you, Chris Drury! - but unlike Mark, she is factoring physical appearance into the equation. This led to us turning a comment thread on the otherwise respectable Bfloblog into a debate on whether or not Teppo Numminen is hot (yes, he is). I'm genuinely gob smacked at the idea of someone not finding Teppo attractive, slicked back hair and all, so just so everyone knows where I stand, here's Heather B's list of the three best looking Sabres, in order of preference. Aw, heck... Let's just call this next section:

Why I Love Hockey #21 - Good-Looking Boys
1. Henrik Tallinder - Hair the color of burnished gold, bright blue eyes, sweet smile, and dimples. The long, lean frame seals the deal. Very pointy chin but that can be avoided by not looking at him in profile too much.


2. Paul Gaustad - Really hot especially when he's throwing punches at people.


3. Jochen Hecht - He's got the whole shy boy vibe working for him. I don't know that I'd say he's hot, but he's totally adorable. Especially cute when you can get a little bit of a smile out of him.


Honorable mention to Teppo Numminen. Eternal favorite status to Jay McKee and Marty Biron.

As for the puck bunny favorites...

Ryan Miller is not cute. He's interesting looking - I have a lot of affection for his perpetually cocked eyebrow - and he seems like a cool guy, but he's not good-looking at all. Plus he's so darn scrawny. I am not a small woman. I have a hard time being attracted to a guy who I'm mostly convinced I could break in half with my bare hands.

Jason Pominville is not cute. He looks like a puppy dog (thus the nickname "Pommerdoodle") and I want to pat him on the head and say, "Good boy" when I see him with that frizz of hair.

Derek Roy is very cute so I'll give the puck bunnies that one. He's so tiny though. Not really his fault but I have a hard time getting past it.

All right, I'm done. Maybe I'll be more organized and coherent tomorrow.

Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You

Since we have a few days off, I figured I'd take this opportunity to answer some questions about myself and my feelings about hockey and the Sabres so anyone who stumbles across this knows what they're dealing with.

Should the Sabres keep Daniel Briere or Chris Drury?
I'm so not having this discussion right now. We're still playing! We're heading into the playoffs! This team is awesome, totally capable of bringing Buffalo its first professional sports championship! I'm not interested in discussing the best way to break up the team right now. Can we please, please just enjoy le petit Briere AND Drury while we definitely have them both? Please?


No thoughts on the matter at all?
No!


Okay, fine. Who are your favorite Sabres?
I'm happy to say that there's no one on the team I really dislike. There are a few guys I'm a little indifferent to - I don't mind them being around, I wouldn't be heart-broken if they weren't - but there's no one player I wish was elsewhere. (But you're on probation, Mair.) That said, I do have my favorites. I'll spare you a breakdown of the entire team and give you my personal top 5. Please keep in mind that I'm not saying these guys are the most talented or the most valuable. They're just my favorites.

1. Henrik Tallinder - I simply adore Hank. He's so steady and so dependable. He never panics and almost always does exactly the right thing with the puck. He goes one-on-one with the league's best offensive players as well as anyone in the NHL. And in addition to that, he's just a beautiful skater. I could watch that long, lean frame move effortlessly up and down the ice all night.

2. Tim Connolly - Watching Tim Connolly blossom last season was one of the most fun things I've seen since becoming a hockey fan. I'm afraid some fans are going a little overboard with the "Timmy will fix everything about our special teams!" stuff, but I'll take what he can give us, that's for sure. I've missed watching him this year and hope he comes back with a vengeance.

3. Brian Campbell - I just like him, plain and simple. There doesn't really seem to be any divas on the team, but Soupy comes across as particularly good-humored and down to earth. He's another guy I love to watch skate even in warm-ups and he always looks like he's having fun out there. Almost every game there's atleast one shot of him with a huge "Holy crap I can't get believe I get PAID for this" grin on his face.

4. Derek Roy - Little D, as he's known in my house, isn't perfect. While I'm glad to see he's cut down on the diving, I could do without the whining after every non-call. He's also prone to taking bad penalties when frustrated. That said, the kid is a dynamo. He plays as hard as anyone on the ice and he's turned into a really solid 2-way player. I love watching him kill 20 seconds off a penalty all by himself and I really love watching him mix it up with guys twice his size. Some fans are disappointed with his offensive output, but he has centered the most consistent line all season, even when his wings changed. Gotta give him some credit for that.

5. Chris Drury - Heart and soul of the team, no doubt in my mind. I think his value to the team was perfectly demonstrated by the response to Chris Neil's hit on him a couple weeks ago. Chris does all the little things night in and night out. You might have to watch him regularly to really appreciate how much he means in a game, but trust me, he means a ton.

Wait a second. Chris Drury is on your list of favorite players and Daniel Briere isn't. So you'd keep Chris, right?
Again with this?

What do you think of the Sabres' new unis?
They're godawful ugly. They were ugly when they were introduced, they're ugly now. The fact that the Sabres have sold a bajillion dollars of merchandise with that logo on it doesn't make it any less ugly. When the logo first started showing up on merchandise I half joked that I was boycotting it, but I still haven't bought anything with it for myself and now I'm going to see how long I can hold out. I did buy my husband the new blue Drury jersey he wanted but the only things I've purchased for myself this season are a t-shirt with the vintage logo and a vintage 3rd Tallinder jersey. After getting an up-close view of my husband's jersey, I don't hate the colors although I do think the bright vintage blue is much more distinctive. Half the teams in pro sports wear some variation of navy blue now it seems. But I don't like the design and the logo... well, it is just not pretty. And to the idiot who tried to tell me that my lack of support for the logo means I'm not a true fan, hey, you can bite me.


Dmitri Kalinin sucks, doesn't he?
Honestly, I think 'Tri has been one of the most consistent d-men this season. He does have the occasional horrible turn-over but he's hardly alone there. And chances are good that if a puck deflected off of someone and into our own net, it probably went off 'Tri but what are you gonna do? It happens. He's mostly solid and he's definitely been the best thing about our power play lately. He does still seem to struggle with his confidence, something that isn't new, but maybe it has something to do with every single game resulting in a "Kalinin SUCKS" thread on Sabres' message boards. I admit, I've developed a bit of a maternal protectiveness toward him. Ignore the haters, 'Tri and keep plugging away.

What are some of your favorite things about being a Sabres fan?
- sitting in a sold out arena even on a Wednesday night
- 18,000 fans yelling, "Chris! DRUUUUUUUUURYYYYYYYYY!" along with the PA announcer
- getting to watch a team grow up and mature together
- cheering for a team whose ownership appears to really understand and appreciate its fanbase
- Rick Jeanneret and the way he can make a pretty dull game seem a little more exciting
- all the great calls Paul Gaustad's nickname of Goose has led to, namely, "The Goose is really honking now" and "If you're out and about, give a honk for the Goose!"
- seeing one of the best young goalies in the league develop
- looking at the team and organization now, realizing how close Buffalo came to losing the Sabres as recently as three years ago, and feeling overwhelming relief and amazement
- screaming "LET'S GO BUFF-A-LO!" It has a good flow and it even rhymes for crying out loud! Seriously, try it. It's fun.

I hate Sabres fans! They're obnoxious and they probably eat babies.
Some of us might but I assure you that most of us are normal, excited, enthusiastic fans. I know many of you have had very poor experiences with Sabres fans in your cities and buildings over the past year and a half but try not to paint us all with the same brush. Trust me, it bothers me to hear stories of obnoxious behavior as much as it bothers you. Probably more since I'm the one getting lumped in with these losers. My devotion is to my team first and foremost but I love watching a lot of other teams and players as well.

Yeah? Like who?
Just to name a few, Dany Heatley, Vincent Lecavalier, Jarome Iginla, and while I don't see him as much as I'd like because he's in the Western Conference/not on a Candadian team, Scott Niedermayer.

You're a girl, you write for HLoG, and you're starting your own hockey blog. You're a puck bunny, aren't you?
Oh, yay, the one question I hate more than the Drury vs. Briere debate. Listen, I'm a red-blooded female and I'm not going to pretend I don't notice when a guy is good-looking. But I also understand what's going on the ice and appreciate the athletic ability and dedication required to play professional hockey. As a former athlete of decent talent, I'm in awe of the variety of skills necessary to play in the NHL. (Of course, it also helps that I don't really see the appeal of any of the Buffalo puck bunny favorites. Miller? No, sorry. Pominville? Eh. Totally average. Roy? Well, we're getting a little closer atleast. Henrik Tallinder and Paul Gaustad are the only Sabres I would consider above average, especially now that Jay and Marty are elsewhere.)

As for HLoG... If you've never checked it out, you should. You might be surprised.

Okay, you're not a puck bunny. But you MUST have an opinion on the Drury/Briere issue.
Okay, fine! Sign me up for Team Drury. Geez.