Bills, Sabres and Goats

Here are the worst players from the following week in Buffalo sports.

Trent Edwards. His first “bad” game in a while. He could do nothing right, but didn’t get much help from…Jason Peters. Apparently he’s cool enough to hold out, and wear an earring, but not hold his blocks. While the Offensive line struggled, what has happened to Marshawn Lynch? He doesn’t seem to be hitting holes well at all this year, outside of the 20, that is.

Ryan Miller gave up 5 goals in his last outing, four of them should have been stopped. Adam Mair likes to call out people after the game, which is cool. The 5 minor penalties he’s taken in the last 6 games, not so much. At least he’s on the scoring sheet, can someone tell me where I can find Jason Pominville and Derek Roy? The underperfoming kids skating in their jersey’s look bad.

Luckily, both teams are still solid. I’m just nit picking here. As far as The Bills go, they need this one on Sunday.

Go Buffalo!

The Goose, The Mair and The Dirt bag

Interesting developments today in Sabre land. First off, Adam Mair has been fined 2,500 for his postgame tirade against some Ottawa Senators after Monday’s 5-2 loss.

If you don’t know the story, I can sum it up. Chris Neil (Dirt bag) sucks at life. He was busy doing his usual punk routine during the game. Apparently, late in the third, Neil told Mair that “I’ve used you as a punching bag before” Mair then went to confront him in the dressing room after the game.

Instead of getting Neil, Mair got other losers, Jarko Ruutu and Luke Richardson. Richardson is heard telling Mair to “leave it on the ice” Mair then flips out and says “Luke, you have to protect him all year, he’s a f*cking joke” The “f*cking joke” reference was used at least three times to describe Neil.

Speaking of punching bags, it’s quite ironic that Neil chose that term for Mair after Neil got finished eating some solid right hands courtesy of Andrew Peters early in the third.

As for The Goose, he was back skating fully today. Paul Gaustad was centering the 4th line along with Peters and Patrick Kaleta. This 4th line can be even more exciting with Goose in the middle.

6-1-2, don’t jump off the bandwagon yet!

PLAYOFFS!?!?

Fucking Miami? Really? If you are still happy to be 5-2, you are stupid. New England is now tied for first, and we just lost to the worst team in the division. The defense is soft, and just got carved up by CHAD FUCKING PENNINGTON.

Jason Peters is a fat pig, and if he ever made a big block, maybe he’d deserve the pay day.
Robert Royal should be waived. He is pile of fail. Royal is just absolute trash who never has his head in the game. Whether its keeping feet in bounds, or keeping hands on the ball…please, keep Royal off the field.

%$^%&

(Edit: This was a postgame rant. I am not saying the Bills will not make the playoffs. However, it’s going to be more difficult than most people think)

Cardiac Kids do it again

Don’t bother telling the Sabres that a rash of injuries makes losing acceptable. Why not? Because they STILL haven’t lost in regulation. They moved to 6-0-1 on the year (without the services of Craig Rivet for the first time.) Once again, Buffalo came back from a two goal deficit, this time late in the third, to win it in Overtime.

Adam Mair tipped a Nathan Paetsch shot past Niklas Backstrom with 4 minutes left and Thomas Vanek beat him 46 seconds later to tie the game at three.

Just 44 seconds into OT, Hank Tallinder legged the puck in, and slid it out in front. Roy and Vanek were on the doorstep, game over. The Sabres now claim first place in the NHL early on, with 13 points in 7 games.

Thomas Vanek still leads the league with 8 goals, and Ryan Miller leads goaltenders with 5 wins.

Here comes the Boogeyman

Nathan Paetsch makes his first appearance of the Season tonight. Paetsch is kind of outcast by Buffalo fans, as he does have some defensive shortcomings.

Another storyline entering into tonight’s match up, are the possibilities between Andrew Peters and Derek Boogaard. Boogaard is not a fighter to mess with, he can throw down with the best of ‘em. Next to Georges Laraque, Boogaard is certainly #2 in the heavyweight category. Standing at 6 feet 7 inches and 260 lbs, Boogaard is the king of the Western Conference.

For example, ask Todd Fedoruk:
http://www.youtube.com/v/rfl75-WaV6A&hl=en&fs=1

-Tim

Rivet has Knee Surgery

In another amazing injury note (sarcasm), Captain Rivet is expected to miss at least two weeks after having surgery this morning.

Nathan Paetsch will be the new face in the lineup. That now makes Peters, Kaleta, Ellis, MacArthur and Paetsch all playing on a regular basis.

The D will look like this Thursday night:

Henrik Tallinder-Toni Lydman, and Jaroslav Spacek-Andrej Sekera, Nathan Paetsch-Teppo Numminen.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Hot:

Thomas Vanek: Hot is an understatement for this guy. Not only is he the league leader in goals with 7, he is also tied for third in the league in scoring with 9 points. With the added responsibility of being a penalty killer Thomas has really stepped up to the plate, this very well could be the year Vanek breaks 50 goals.

Ales Kotalik: Well it is a contract year for Alko, and so far he’s taking it to the bank with 4 goals and 3 assists, putting him in the top 10 for points in this young season. He has been a factor each game both defensively and offensively and is finally living up to all his potential.

Sabres Goaltending: Miller and Lalime are both 1 and 2 for both Save Percentage ( Lalime .95, Miller 9.45 ) and Goals Against ( Miller 1.30, Lalime 1.44 ). So far, so good for this tandem.

Sabres Defense: So far Buffalo has the league low on goals against with a 1.40 goals a game, and have only given up 7 in 5 games games played, tying them with the Minnesota Wild.

Sabres Penalty Kill: Perfect is the word here. Through 5 games the Sabres have not given up a shortie in 24 penalty kills. Great goaltending and defense along with great penalty killers like Vanek, Paille, Kaleta, Ellis have made our special teams truly special.

Who’s Not:

Derek Roy: Led the Sabres with 81 points last year, and so far in 5 games he only has 2 assists. Sure Vanek has been the monster on that line but i think we all expect a little more from the little guy. I still expect him to come around, but for now he’s a not.

Drew Stafford: Much like Roy he has been quiet and overshadowed by Vanek on the top line. So far in 5 games he has no points, but has been great in the shootouts. This is a big year for Stafford, 3rd in the big league and expectations are high, if his goals/points don’t come around i would expect him to be trade bait.

Hank Tallinder: The defense is hands down better than last year, but Hank hasn’t this year. He is arguably the weakest link on our D. He gives it up too much in our zone, and hasn’t dont too much offensively. He is another player i could see being moved for an upgrade on D or for Weber finally being called up.

-Tim

Fight Filled First Five

If you thought that was hard to say, it’s with good reason. The Sabres showed early on this year that they won’t exactly back down when troubles arise.

Hopefully Darcy Hordichuk isn’t reading this while drinking through a straw. In fairness, Hordichuk wasn’t the only NHL’er to experience defeat (literally) at the hands of a Sabre.

Game 2: Sabres @ Islanders- With the Sabres going up 4-0 early in the second, Adam Mair draws attention off the ensuing faceoff. Newly Captained Craig Rivet took exception, and jumped in. He became the 3rd Man In All hell breaks loose.

Craig Rivet (6 ft 2 in, 210 lbs) vs. Sean Bergenheim (5 ft 10 in, 205 lbs)

Mair draws a crowd off the face-off. Rivet jumps in, Bergenheim is after Rivet.

Rivet throws at least ten punches, connecting on some. Bergenheim gets nothing in, and is overmatched. They hug and fall to the ice with Rivet on top.

Better/More Punches: Rivet

Winner: Craig Rivet (Decisive)

Adam Mair (6 ft 1 in, 208 lbs) vs. Nate Thompson (6 ft, 207 lbs)

Same scrum…Mair and Thompson just grapple until Mair throws a punch. Thompson comes back with one of his own. They slip and fall but then get back up. Thompson throws three, landing two. They grapple some more and Thompson grazes Mair with a right. Mair then throws a left as the linesmen step in.

More Punches: Thompson, Better Punches: Mair

Winner: Draw

Patrick Kaleta and Brendan Witt also each got fighting majors in this scrum. However, punches were not thrown until they hit the ice. This is not a fight warranting a score.

Winner: Draw.

Game 3: Andrew Peters (6 ft 4 in, 242 lbs) vs. Colton Orr (6 ft 3 in, 220 lbs)

Peters and Orr come on to the ice at the same time for their first shifts. Peters skates into his own zone and says something to Orr, they drop the gloves. The two square off and Peters gets Orr off balance. Peters throws 3 quick rights, landing two. Orr throws a wild right off the mark, and Peters does the same. Peters slips and falls. Orr lets Peters get back up, and they grapple. Orr throws three short lefts, landing one. They both miss successive rights and fall to the ice.

More Punches: Tie. Better Punches: Andrew Peters

Winner: Draw

Game 4: Darcy Hordichuk (6ft 2in, 215 lbs) vs. Andrew Peters (6ft 4in, 242 lbs)

As his first shift is coming to an end, Andrew Peters bumps a Canuck along the boards. Darcy Hordichuk comes streaking over, taking offense. The two Heavyweights decide they will have a go. They grapple along the boards and Peters and Hordichuk both land their first right. Hordichuk misses with a right, and Peters unleashes a bomb that sends Hordichuk to his knees. Hordichuk makes it back to his feet and misses a weak right. Peters throws a flurry of four more rights, landing two. Hordichuk misses a right, and Peters falls. Peters gets up and they grapple more. Peters misses a short right and then blocks two punches. They grapple some more and then hold each other at arm’s length. Hordichuk misses a right, and Peters connects with a small left. Peters throws three more lefts, landing two on the button. Hordichuk then gets in a right followed by a solid right. They are dead tired and the linesmen step in.

More/Better Punches: Andrew Peters

Winner: Andrew Peters (Decisive)

Game 5: Patrick Kaleta (5ft 11in, 195 lbs) vs. Chris Thorburn (6ft 3in, 225 lbs)

After a first period scrum, the two break away and grapple…Thorburn looks anxious and Kaleta not so much. Thorburn throws five punches in a row, landing two solid. Kaleta throws two, landing one. Short fight.

More/Better punches: Chris Thorburn

Winner: Chris Thorburn (Decisive)

Through 5 games: Peters (1-0-1) Rivet (1-0-0) Mair (0-0-1) Kaleta (0-1-1)

The Bills are for real

The Bills are legit. They handed the Chargers a 24-13 defeat today.

The power was on, the power was off, the San Diego Super Chargers faced the electrical storm that was Kawika Mitchell. Lee Evans was solid as per usual, with an incredible TD catch. Trent Edwards was a general out there, and he stayed on his feet all game long.

5-1 for the first time since 1995. Fantastic.

Channel 4 SUCKS.

Everyone can blame Time Warner, that’s easy. But if Channel 4 was really “4 Buffalo”, I’d be watching the fuckin’ Bills game in my own house. Screw you, WIVB. I wish all the bad things in life to happen to you and you alone.

Disgusted