Sunday, December 31, 2006

How 'Tweet It Is!

My team finally beat those little brown birds! What a relief -- I thought we'd never do it -- the boys were giving away pucks in their own zone, Lindy was yelling on the bench, Ryan Miller was better than good.

But now I can hold my head up and say to Atlanta ---- :P you skaters from a state without snow!

Saturday, December 30, 2006

I'm not dead and gone, just injured

I've been AWOL for awhile. I've been suffering from a back injury, so sitting at a desk has been torturous. Blogging has been last on the list, since bill paying and other nasty little computer jobs have to come first. But I'm still watching the Wild and knitting up a storm.

The game last night was a crazy one, with an eventual overtime win against the Blue Jackets. I've never heard of a hockey player carrying the puck into the net in his breezers but we'll take 'em however we get 'em. What a finish!

Now that Christmas knitting is over, I'm back to charity knitting again, as well. I just need to get well enough to deliver the goods. Send some prayers/warm thoughts for my back healing soon, since watching my own DS play hockey isn't possible until I'm better.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Can we do it?

Can we make it SEVEN in a row tonight when the Rangers play the Senators?

News at 11.

Get the Brooms!

We swept the regular season series with the 'Canes. Just goes to show you how a little 'B can withstand hurricane force winds. Take that, Brind'Amour, you chimpanzee-minkee! Sorry Angelrae and Celia, but after the play-offs last season, this mini-victory is as sweet as the Christmas cookie dough still in my refrigerator waiting to be baked.

And the game before? The Capitals? Did we show Ovenchik or what? The bruiser.

Well, my charity knitting has stalled, as I recover from my pre-Christmas over-knitting -- yes, I wrapped one sock for my son-in-law. *sigh* But starting the first of the year, I'm back to chemo caps for the local cancer center.

Anyone have new suggestions for charities?

Saturday, December 23, 2006

NYR - Florida

Rangers lose, but Isbister scores - buuuhuhh! *breaks down crying* *wipes tears from her face*
Really, it's too frustrating - not necessarily the loss, these guys will win again big time - but the fact that Izzy's come out from hiding (aka the farm team) and scores - how could he ever come back to Innsbruck when he scores for the Rangers? Buuuuhhhuuuh!
GO IZZY! GO RANGERS!

Friday, December 22, 2006

Bzzzzz

The 'Bees pummeled Nashville. Serves 'em right for having a hockey team in Memphis. Memphis? Should have named the team "The Skating Elvises" and they could all wear fringe!

Anyone else going out Xmas shopping today?

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Avalanche game cancelled

My Avalanche game tonight was canceled due to not just snow, but SNOW. I keep asking myself wouldn't an Avalanche want to play in the snow?

Yes, I'm hanging up now.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

No knitting news here just hockey

The Maple Leafs game last night was like watching one of your favorite teams getting their arses kicked. Oh yeah, they did get their arses kicked.

The Avalanche game was of course more to my liking. The game was up and down put they pulled off the win over the Oilers. Whew.

The husband has been asked to do some fill in play by play for Notre Dame Fighting Irish Ice Hockey for a couple weekends after Christmas. They're a NCAA D1 team and they're currently ranked third in the nation. He's pretty excited about the opportunity and I can't say as I blame him. It means he'll be away over the New Years weekend and the weekend after. This could be filed under "why my life is full of surprises".

I'm not sure if my work schedule will allow me to go along with him yet as I have a road trip arranged with some of my favorite hockey travel girlfriends to Scranton PA and Newark DE a couple weekends later and am dreaming about a trip to Arizona in Feb to visit my family.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The Holy Grail

It truly is the Holy Grail of Hockey.

So there we were, two Buffalo hockey 'hos, celebrating my sister's birthday, decked out in jerseys and antlers. Did anyone look at us strangely? Crap no! We were in Toronto, land of Caribou and Moose. Land of .... hockey!

So off we went, first thing Thursday morning, fueled on Tim Horton's coffee and donuts. (Trivia question: What is Tim Horton's real name? -- answer below)

The Hockey Hall of Fame is in an old Toronto Bank, which you enter through the basement. There’s exhibit after exhibit of player and team memorabilia, a chance to play virtual hockey – goalie and forward, a replica of a locker room, where you can try on the goalie leg pads
(damn are they heavy!),

and then … up two flights of stairs to a vaulted room with a stained glass dome,











past the Vezina trophy, the Calder Cup, the Lady Bing ..., to ...

The Cup!!!!




sigh








My sister and I did not touch it. We could have. We were, in fact, encouraged to. We didn’t even get our pictures taken with it. No sir, not us. No way are we going to be the two fans who jinx it for Buffalo this year. Nope. Told the guy we’d be back after Buffalo wins, and then would rub ourselves ALL over the Cup. Nekkid. (kidding)

Bottom line: It exceeded my expectations, which were pretty high to begin with. Lots of good exhibits, a movie about the history of the Cup, friendly staff, nice layout, reasonable price ($10).

And just to prove that knitting and hockey do co-exist, and have for a long time, here’s a shot of an old cardigan hand knit for some lucky member of the Canadiens in the ‘20s.











Bonus shot: For Twig, who I know must be crushed about last night’s game, here’s a close up of the Rangers on the Cup. Oh, and Twig -- one of the virtual players who was shooting goals at me? Messier. Yup.

We also did yarn stores, including Lettuce Knit, the next day, and the Bata Shoe Museum, which I'll post about on my regular blog.

All in all, a great trip. And next year ???? Let's Go Buffalo!

Answer: T'Ho's real name is Miles Gilbert Horton. Who knew? The "Tim" was in quotes.

Did you see that?

Nine to Two? For the Leafs? Against the Rangers? Holy c&@% and we missed it as we were at a party. I don't want to see that it's tough being a Rangers fan or anything, but wow it's good to be a Leafs fan for a change.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Oh.My.G-d.

'nuff said.

Friday, December 15, 2006

New Forward!

Innsbrucks team's management finally got out of their ignorance and reacted to the HCI's losing streak - they kicked forward Christian Sbrocca, our "singing hockey player". This guy's obviously released 3 CDs in Canada so far - good for him, and after seeing him on the ice I'd say he'd better stick to singing, hockey is so NOT for him...
Now, who to get to replace him? Let's see: #1 is still in Sweden, though they want to kick him there. #2 and #3 were stolen by Twig - or the Rangers - or Twig and the Rangers, grrrrr ;), and #4 and #5 are unfortunately out of the rink by now. Duh.

So we got him: Pierre Dagenais, ex-Montreal Canadiens, though the "ex" is really ex as that's quite a while ago. He played in Helsinki this season and didn't do well there... Well, they don't have a lot of good things to say about him on that page, but he's told to be a sniper and an enforcer, shooting from every angle and usually hitting the goal - and that's exactly what we need - who needs skating skills as long as they can score? Looking forward to that guy, we needed some new blood here, so to say ;)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Finally

Finally MFB's Leafs broke their losing streak Tuesday night against Tampa Bay and right after that my Avalanche won one against the Hurricanes. They really poured it on in the third and so I HAD to watch to the end. The game ended after midnight, why do I do that to myself? Oh yeah, I'm a hockey fan.

Last night the Av's downed St Louis, as well they should. So finally they've won the first two games of a 3 game home stand. The standings in the Northwest are really tight and when last I looked my Av's were at the bottom. But we all know they're a better team than that, right? And we all want them to do better, right? Anyone want to help me cheer them on if they aren't playing against your team? Pretty please? LOL

I finally finished two hats for our local charity that our knitting group was knitting for. We had a pot luck tonight where we left them with our organizer and she will deliver them this week. We were having so much fun tonight I forgot to take pictures of everything being donated and of our party.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

A present

Hi everyone,

I know I haven't posted here much, but it seems like I haven't had much time to watch hockey or do much in the way of charity knitting. I hope to remedy the later after the holidays, but the former got fixed tonight while I watched the Sabres beat my Dad's Devils!! What a game!! It was so tight during most of the first two periods, but once the Sabres blew it open, it was all over. Jonsey and I will sleep with smiles tonight. :)

So as I just mentioned, my Dad is a Devils fan and I got him a special present for Christmas this year:

That's right! I managed to get Devils vs. the Rangers tickets (that thud you just heard was probably Twig hitting the floor ;) )! While neither of them are *my* team, I really can't wait to go to this game. The best part? We're also taking an 70+ year old friend of ours to the game. She's a total Rangers fan and has never been to a professional hockey game. I think I'll sit between them to keep the fighting to a minimum. ;) Happy Holidays to all and may your team always score the last goal.... unless they're playing my Sabres, of course! ;)

Not again!

Another Sabres game on the Versus network, which I don't get. Arghhh. I know there's only a few this year, but it really bugs me. So I'll be on the computer .... rooting against Carissa's Devils!

But I do have some good news: A field trip!!!! My sister (also a hockey fan) and I are leaving for Toronto tomorrow -- taking the train from Niagara Falls, staying 2 nights and 3 fun-filled days. First on the agenda -- why a visit to the HOCKEY HALL OF FAME!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you fellow bloggers are green with envy and so you should be! I'll be taking photos, and will post them. Of course, we will be all decked out in our Sabres regalia, and will be take on any Leafs fan that dares cross our paths! (note: sister and I are both about 5 feet tall, but wiry!)

We're also going to hit some yarn stores. I'm taking an empty backpack for just that purpose.

I'll update after I'm back; sooner if I'm in the penalty box and need bail money.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Disappointment

DU Pioneers have canceled the game they invited the Icers to play in October 2007. They just found out that the game had to count toward their regular season and could not be an exhibition game. DU's regular season schedule for 2007-2008 was already set.

A lot of us here will be disappointed for different reasons.

Nous sommes victorious!!!

Another shoot out, but boy was it a good game on Saturday. Les Habitants put up an amazing fight, skating fast and shooting hard. But the BISON ( not Bumblebee, Twig) was victorious.

And speaking of Ms. Twig, she sent the warmest hat as a result of our wager, along with a bonus hand-made Lavendar soap! Even my daughter told me I smelled good, with no prompting. (not that I generally smell bad, at least I don't think so!).

The Devils tomorrow. grrrrrrrrrrrr says Sabretooth.

Cap Done!


Oy - we're knitting here too, don't we? ;)) Here you go, a lil' Noro-cap for the chemo-charity - it's a bit rough in its texture, perhaps a tad too rough for someone with no hair, but I'll do my best and soak it in a bit of conditioner - should do the trick, no?

Zero Tolerance? Grrrr...

After a lil' break in which I seriously thought about quitting hockey-watching for good and becoming a... what? Golf-fan perhaps (no excitement, no emotions as I see it), I'm back with a question - what do you gals think about the Zero Tolerance Rules?

I don't know when refs started it over there in the NHL - here it was a change that began, like, in December of last year. Before that, Austria's league was pretty hard, and with getting foreign players, especially defensemen, our teams tried to get at least one or two of these heavily built enforcers that know how to swoosh the enemy away in front of the goal. Of course they didn't kill each other and of course there were enough penalties back then too, just not *that* much.

Then Zero Tolerance started right in the middle of last season, and the teams found themselves with enforcers that already had a lot of penalty minutes, but now basically sat in the penalty box all the time - defensemen who used to be good players didn't have a chance to play anymore, as soon as they stepped on the ice, they got their 2 mins, whether they had done something or not. Yeah, great.

This year things got even worse, refs have the order to penalize "every foul". And yes, I'm all for that, real fouls have to be penalized. I hate these high-sticking-actions that are really dangerous, and the holding and grabbing and whatever sucks too. But: Our refs are so stupid that they penalize fouls that aren't even there! When I watch NHL-games, I see that it happens over there as well, but definitely not to the amount as over here - is that correct?

For ex, last night HC Innsbruck played against the Red Bulls Salzburg, our best team here so far - and that &%$§§§%%&%! ref managed 82 penalty minutes in the first period! For heaven's sake - I read our forum today and found out that not only I didn't see a hard game or a foul game or bad fouls or such - there weren't any! 2 guys battle for the puck at the edge of the rink - woosh, 2 mins each. A stupid look on one of the players faces - 10 mins. For heaven's sake, could there be a hockey game without 2 guys fighting for the puck at the edge? They didn't even hold each other!

That show was continued throughout the game, in the end we had seen dozens and dozens of powerplays - don't these refs (or the ones that introduced the Zero Tolerance rules to us) realize that they completely damage the game? How could a game start to flow as it should when there's no playing 5:5? You could see it so well, as soon as there were 5 guys of each team on the ice, a really fast, but clean hockey game would have started - until 1 second later that ref swallowed his whistle-thing again. I mean, come on - if we want to see hockey without any check whatsoever, shouldn't we go to watch a swimming competition instead? Even the girl's teams here are allowed to play harder! Brrrr... That's not my hockey anymore, and definitely not a hockey that I'd enjoy to see!

How's that overseas, how does the NHL handle this Zero-Tolerance-idiocy?

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Some College Hockey News

My Penn State Icers split their two game series this weekend against Windsor/St Clair Saints. The Saints are in the OHA Senior AAA Major League while the Icers are an ACHA D1 team. Friday night we lost 4-0. But if my memory serves we rang the cross bar/post 4 times. I'm starting to hate that sound. Saints are a big team and they are TOUGH. Their league is very different from the ACHA and they even have someone on their roster who is 32 years old! Grad Student???

Do they ever like to mix it up and for those of you who follow college hockey you know you don't just get 5 for fighting, you get tossed. The Icers are tough as well and generally dominate the ACHA teams but compared to the Saints I think Penn State has more finesse. A player on each team got tossed on Friday and things were a bit chippy.

On Saturday the Icers won 5-3. It was a battle of skill and it was a tough fight. I'm pretty sure this puts the record between the teams over the last two years at 5-5-1. From the record I would say this is definitely two well matched teams.

OK for the big news that has me totally JAZZED. Penn State has accepted an invitation to play Denver University Pioneers. This is the team that has won the Frozen Four the last two out of three years. gulp ..ahem GULP. True they have a D2 and a D1 team. We're playing the D1 team in October '07. I'm from Colorado living in PA. MFB does not go on this trip and think I'm not going. No sir. Saving pennies. ACHA team playing Frozen Four National Champs - if my team wins it will be one of the biggest upsets ever. Simms Landing here I come.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Overactive Knitting

Well this has nothing really to do with hockey. Still. It is something that you do ot see everyday in knitting. My Clown Brigaide {troop} is making a long scarf. We are making it with a braided pattern and figure that it will be 102 feet long. The really neat thing about it is that it can be knit by more than one person at a time. In this picture there are three people knitting on it at once.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice. Oh and go Pens.

Life just ain't fair


Nothing fancy, but it should help keep a head warm. It's waiting outside for the mailman to pick it up.

Tonight we take on the Penguins. Hopefully, we'll kill 'em.
My Rangers lost to that evil team yet again. The payoff? A hat for Jonesy's charity.

Monday, December 04, 2006

What a Ride ...

From the shoot out victory over the Rangers, to that game with the Caps ...up and down just like my stomach this weekend. The boys need a rest, that's all (she says, with fingers crossed).

Believe it or not, no knitting to report. Anyone else getting attacked by flu bugs out there? The worst part is the dizziness. And the feeling that my body has somehow betrayed me. It's not that I don't wash my hands (especially after going to family court and dealing with the masses of humanity), or stay away from the obviously sick ... sometimes I feel like we need to go back to the Victorian style of wearing gloves and veils.

Oh well, I'll just try to keep my stick on the ice today and not let any pucks through the crease.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

What's with my NHL teams?

Our Penn State Icers won their two game series over Delaware this weekend but the first game wasn't pretty. Friday nights game we could tell that the team had off over Thanksgiving. Sluggish and at times it seemed like they were tripping over the puck and the blue line. Dangerous thing that blue line. *heh* Saturday was certainly more like our team with a final score of 10-3. Two of the players Moms are knitters. One was at the games this weekend and we were admiring each others projects. I see more knitters knitting at the games too. We're taking over ladies.

We were home in time to catch the Leafs against Montreal and the Avs against Vancouver. The Leafs lost in a shootout and my Avalanche just lost. Sigh.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Dum-Dee-Dum-Dum ...

It's over. The Sabres-Rangers series, that is. Jessica and I know which team won...ahem...SWEPT the series 4-0.

Upstate NY rules!

PS I must confess, these shoot-out wins are extremely nerve-wracking. Is it just my team or something about the new rules that causes more OTs and shoot-outs?

And, do we like the new rules? I'm all for a faster game (not as many off-sides calls and endless face-offs), but to have two great teams, with great players, really duke it out and give it their all for 60 minutes and have it all be decided by a shoot-out ... well, it seems somehow anti-climatic. And maybe unfair? I mean, hockey is all about skill and speed, passing and team work. Shoot-outs are 1 on 1, all or nothing.

What do the rest of you think?