The Epic Adventures of Tamara and Shelby: In which Dany Heatley did not score.

Dany Heatley did not score last night, which is a tragedy for all of us. All of us being Tamara and I. I called him scoring in maybe the last two seconds of the game, but no. Ryan doesn't let the other Ryan score and then he doesn't let Dany score. Come on! Unfair. Then again, Dany scored IN San Jose when the Sabres played them so I GUESS it's okay. Sort of.

It was nice to be at the arena again after about two weeks. Also nice to see them win again, because the last time I saw them in person was the last time they won a game. Good for them to go into this Olympic break without being on a losing streak. It would have sucked and they probably would've kept thinking about it if they had lost so I'm glad they go into the break on a high note.

No offense to Ryan, but I was surprised at the amount of signs that lacked saying good luck to the other Olympians on this team. I know that this is the United States and Ryan is the only one playing for the US, but the other Olympians need some love as well. I was very disappointed. If I had known there was going to be a ceremony, I would have made a sign for all of the guys. At least we get to see some of the boys on our television screens. It's going to be strange without Sabres hockey for a few weeks but it's also nice to get a breather.

Best of luck to all of the Sabres Olympians. Let's hope some guys come back with a medal!

Postgame: 2-11-10.

Two points out of twelve. That's how many the Sabres have gotten throughout the month of February, and boy, is that number a whole lot of ugly. Friends of ours said that they want the Sabres to at least get three points this month. It'll be a miracle if they can get to OT with San Jose the way they've been playing so I feel like three is a reach. It's hard to be optimistic when unlucky bounces, not enough saves, no heart from the offense, and the defense not showing up contributes to the six losses the Sabres have had in a row.

No thanks to the number one penalty kill in the league breaking down last night. I believe Carolina scored on two out of four or something like that. They scored the tying goal with .1 seconds left to go. .1! How often does that happen in hockey?! They scored their go ahead goal after Ryan Miller made a huge save on a three on nothing, and gave it up on a two on one. I'm sorry, but if you can stop a three on nothing you should be able to stop a two on one.

In OT, what can you do? Steven falls on the ice which happens to everyone, he's really the only one back and the Canes put the game away for good. An unlucky bounce as usual. They got a point again, but that's not good enough right now.

The Olympic freeze for trades comes up in about twenty minutes. Will Darcy do anything? Probably not, but you can't help but hope that MAYBE he changes something in this team before the break starts.

I'll be posting again like usual shortly.

Sorry for me not posting lately. The college life has been getting to me and lately, I just haven't had time to come up with anything worthwhile really. Besides, who really wants to read what I have to say about the Sabres depressing streak at the moment?

Puck drops at 7:00 tonight at the RBC Center. Go Sabres.

TCT Does Columbus (I think).

Some weeks ago, sitting in an Ottawa hotel room with a broken headboard after a tragic loss, we received an offer to take part in a bus trip to Columbus. It took a bit, but I considered it to be a good idea because, we should be able to beat Columbus.

Score on Columbus?

Not even. 

We, myself and two friends (Shelby manned Buffalo in our absence, and seemed to do a good job at such, seeing as city hall is still there...I think), departed the Buff at about 8:30 in the morning. We were on a bus with 50 people we didn't know for the six hour drive. We got there, had lunch, realized it was a horribly boring city, and then napped in Starbucks until Nationwide Arena opened. 

It's actually a very nice arena, the expansion teams got the nice ones. It's about 500 seats plus smaller than HSBC, but had a nice structure and seemed a lot cleaner. There were more shops and such, and had a lot more going on which was nice. 

We were right against the glass for warm ups, which I haven't done in ages. All the players saw our sign (as did getty images, see above) and we even saw another pro- Patty sign across the way. Luckily, when heading to our seats, we found the gentlemen and were excited to see one another. 

Evidence that other Patty Lalime fans do exist.

The game of course tragic, but we tried to make the best of it. Mr. Drew's fight was certainly the highlight, it's the only thing that got us on our feet. We were surrounded by Sabres fans, and a few Jackets fans (nice to know they exist!) and one goal would have been ice to hear how loud it would have been. The guy in front of us was constantly angry about Patty and texting people about trading him. Honestly, if you're in a Paille jersey, it doesn't mean you're an expert on people getting traded off this team. 

Now I know people think I'm bias, and sometimes I am. But, even if one or two goals were Patty's doing, we still would have lost. Our offense took the night off, simple as that. The sooner people start seeing this team more clear, the better.

After what was apparently a hockey game, we returned to Starbucks to avoid the cold and wait for our bus. It appeared as though people on our bus were kicked out of the game for not only being obnoxious, but for hitting another Sabres fan. Even if it was a Jackets fan, that is entirely unacceptable. Is it so difficult to act like human beings? This is why Buffalo fans get a bad reputation, because people like that do things like that. Put down the beer and represent your team and city in a respectable manner, I promise you it isn't hard!

Being the three only sober people on the bus wasn't as bad as we were worried about, the loss probably helped in that amount. We did math homework, watched movies, and tried to sleep. It was rather uncomfortable, as you can imagine. We returned to Buffalo around four in the morning, exhausted, and still hearing people bragging about getting kicked out. I did a half ass job at scraping snow off my car, and we were asleep by 5 until 1pm. 

However, a picture of our sign on getty images and Dany scoring two goals somehow balanced things out. 

Word on the street is Patty will start against San Jose, much to the expense of Tamara's nervous system. Though, when he has one bad game he doesn't play again for weeks, unlike Ryan who plays the next night. Regardless, Shelby and I are going, and can be together for what could be the 200th win. 

He just wants to do it at home, clearly.

 I wouldn't do a bus trip again, I don't think. You know it's a bad time when you can already decide that the Montreal trip coming up in April is going to be better...

Meeting!

Members of The Coldffalo Train will be at HSBC Arena this Saturday, February 13th following th Sabres and San Jose game from roughly 9:30 to 10 in the pavilion.

Feel free to come by and be a little punk in person, if you dare ;)

Postgame: 2-6-10.

Let me tell you about a stat I saw last night. Mike Harrington from the Buffalo News put in his postgame article from last night that Nationwide Arena is the only arena where the Sabres have NEVER WON A GAME. The streak continued last night when the offense failed to show up and thanks to the game winning goal being fluky as hell, the Sabres lost 4-0. 4-0! Steve Mason was AWFUL so far this season, and I know the Blue Jackets have a new coach but...SERIOUSLY!

Okay fans, let's breathe in and out...the Sabres staff had at least a twenty-three minute meeting after the game (which hopefully included people getting their heads knocked together because it's hilarious in my mind). This is far from what the ten game losing streak had been. I'm not dumping them again unless that happens, which it will not. The Sabres will get back on track again, we just all have to be extremely positive, right? Send that energy to the team.

It starts on Tuesday versus the Bruins. Depending on the circumstances today since they are currently going to play the Habs, they might be a desperate team...but so are we.

Postgame: 2-5-10.

The Sabres lost to one of the worst teams in the league last night. Regardless of stats and how well we are doing in the standings, we have indeed hit rock bottom. If I were you Sabres fans, I would be extremely scared of what this team has at this moment. I'm pretty sure that the west coast road trip killed the Sabres in one way or another and this part of the season is always the rocky part. Will Darcy do something on Trade Deadline Day? I don't know. He says something will change 'internally' on this team and at the rate they are currently playing, I hope it shakes things up. It's not going to get any easier after the Olympics, I hope they know this.

Last night was just bad all over the place. While I think that the boys did play very well for the game, the defense looked to be out of place on a few goals and the game winning goal...it shows that Ryan is tired. Yes Miller fans, Ryan is TIRED. It doesn't help that Lindy does not know how to play back up goaltenders. Patty plays one game where he lets in four goals and then he has not played since until tonight. It's not going to get any easier after the Olympics. If an excuse for this team if they don't make the playoffs is 'Miller was tired' then it's complete bullshit. A ton of people are like 'trade Lalime, get a better backup'. Guess what people? Have you NOT seen how this team plays in front of a backup goaltender? They suck, simple as that. They do this sometimes to Ryan as well, but even moreso in front of the backup goaltender. This is not about getting a backup, this about knocking some sense into this team and they need to do it fast.

Tamara has gone to Columbus with friends of ours to watch the boys play the Blue Jackets tonight so expect a recap (maybe) of her trip. Should be an interesting one.