The Epic Adventures of Tamara and Shelby: Did I mention how much I hate shootouts?

I would have inserted a picture of Thomas scoring in the shootout, but alas, Yahoo! fails me in that department of awesome HQ pictures. Whatever.

Tamara and I somehow arrived forty minutes before warmups started at the arena last night. I am pretty sure that's a record for the both of us. We both bought our posters that had Tim Connolly on them, and headed up to my brother's seats to go hang up our sign. Unfortunately we had no idea how light the yellow was on the sign until we hung it up, but it looked pretty good from the 300s and the 100s as we watched warmups.

As soon as the game started (or right before it) we ended up on the Jumbotron. I had to poke Tamara a few times to go 'there we are!' It was pretty cool but as far as we saw, we weren't on the Jumbotron for the rest of the night.

When the game got to the shootout, we just hugged each other pretty much the entire time. It was comforting to do that, haha, especially when it went to sudden death shootout. When Thomas went out to shoot, I at first wasn't going to watch but I'm glad I did. I softly whispered a prayer to myself; hoping he would indeed score - and he did! I actually think I legit cried after he scored. It's been a long time since I've cried at a hockey game. It was no better after the Sabres lost the game, and Patty wasn't able to win his 200th game. We know that he will get that 200th win though!

The Sabres now embark on their annual west coast road trip on Thursday. They'll be at Atlanta and New York before heading out west. Last night was the first time they lost to a Western Conference opponent (which is really good) so let's hope they can rack up a few wins out west!

Postgame: 1-8-10

I almost had a heart attack at the end of the game when the score was 3-2 and the Leafs nearly tied the game. It happened before in the first meeting between these two and I was sure that it would happen again. Thank goodness that didn't happen to be the case this time around. Despite being outshot 25 to whatever in the third period, the Sabres managed to not let the game go to overtime.

Tyler Myers is making a case for himself since he had three points last night. Most people are now saying he could be up for the Calder Trophy? It would be a cool honor if he got it but I'm not expecting too much from just rumors being spread around. If it happens, then it happens, and I will see it during the NHL Awards in June.

It seems like forever since Thomas has had a point and he got one last night on Tyler's second goal. Thank God. He has been doing the little things but it was sure nice to see him be awarded for once on the scoresheet. I'm pretty sure he has more assists now than goals. Who would've thought THAT would happen? Maybe he's going to score thirty something goals for the rest of the season, but we will see.

Thanks to my awesome brother Jason (as Tamara mentioned in her last post), her and I are going to the game tonight! Make sure to look for our sign in 318 if you're going or if you're watching on television.

Something Old, Something New, Something Ryan Doesn't Have.

While Googling Mr. Lalime for confirmation that he is playing tomorrow (and thanks to Shelby's wonderful brother, Jason, we will be in attendance after all!) I found out an interesting tidbit:

The next time Patty wins (wink) will be his 200th win of his career, something that only he and 65 (64?) other goalies have done. I think that's pretty freaking awesome! Special enough to maybe, lets say, get a sign on the wall tomorrow night? Yeahhhh, that sounds good.

No, it's not 104 shutouts, but it's something that will draw some nice attention to him...especially since it's not something Mr. Miller has done. 

Hehe. 

Ain't no thanggggg.

Bonus Tidbit: Patty also holds the record for best start to a career with 14-0-2.

Someone eats his wheaties!

 

You know, this is the best segment on Sabres.com ever.

Now you have to wonder what your name means...my name means 'a farm on the hills' in French. Not like that's as cute as 'Tallen' meaning 'pine tree', but you know. Also, Henrik Tallinder is bigger in my world than Nicklas Lidstrom. Just saying.

Postgame: 1-6-10

I would like to thank the Sabres last night for putting on a show within the first five minutes of the game. Three goals on what I think were three shots, literally. I have no idea why Rick Tocchet didn't pull Mike Smith after the third goal because of how quickly they went in but at the same time, I'm pretty sure he realizes how much his defense sucks. Boy, do they SUCK.

It was all fine and dandy until Harry Neale mentioned how the Sabres had come back from 3-0 deficits to win games so the Lightning could do the same. Cue Tampa scoring twice to make it a 3-2 game. Let me just say that this isn't the first time Harry Neale has jinxed the team. I say that the Sabres fire him to prevent any other jinxes by him, yes? No?

Rob and Robi were freaking out after the game last night because they can't play these types of Honestly, I said this after the Atlanta game - no matter how they win a game, I am okay with it. Yes, the situation last night makes it a little more nerve wracking but they still WON. Those two points are all that matter

We face Toronto on Friday. Let's keep both streaks alive, boys.

The World Juniors!

Last night, an epic game went down. The United States (after Canada having won five straight gold medals at the World Juniors) beat the Canadians last night 6-5 in overtime on their turf. It was an incredible game. If you weren't able to watch it and aren't a fan of either teams, please, at least watch some of the highlights. I'm still getting all tingly just thinking about it. It was an incredibly tight game back and forth the whole time until John Carlson put one behind the Canadians net minder and then was bombarded by his teammates. There is nothing more I love to see than players get so excited for winning something. My favorite part was the anthems, though. I began crying when all of the American players were singing along with the national anthem. A few of them were completely off with the beat...fail America.

The last time the United States won gold was when Drew Stafford was a part of the team in 2004. :) It's weird to think that it was that long ago that he played in the World Juniors...and after watching last night, it makes me that much more excited to possibly go sometime next year and watch the games right here in Buffalo!

Here's video of their winning chant:

So about that biography...

This is a little snippet of the biography that is coming out about Thomas on the 18th of this month. As you can see, it's in German and who knows how long it's going to be until an English translation of this comes out. I hope soon because I would like to be able to read it...As weird as it is, for the past year or so I was thinking about someone possibly writing a biography on him eventually. I didn't expect it to be THIS soon but maybe after he retired. I mean, Sidney Crosby has a biography based on his play in midgets and juniors, so I'm guessing that's what's mainly going to be discussed in this biography for Thomas.

Here is a snippet from his website on what is in the book. It's roughly translated so it may not sound right.

"Curtain call for Thomas Vanek. Born on January 19th 1984 as the son of a Czeck refugee family near Vienna, raised in Zell am See and Graz he has the courage to leave his home for North America only 14 years old to pursue his dream. The game of his life was taught to him by his father: Hockey.

After seven years in the juniors and minors finally a dream comes true: 2005 Vanek takes to the ice for the Buffalo Sabres for his first NHL game ever, surrounded by the greatest hockey-talent in the world. Following in the footsteps of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr he’s been breaking records ever since. Already in his sophomore season Vanek scores 43 goals and 41 assists.23 years old Vanek over night becomes the highest paid hockey player in the world. 50 million dollars for 7 years.January 2009 sees Vanek becomes the first Austrian ever to take part in the NHL All Star Game. On February 4th he scores his fourth consecutive natural hattrick, matching an NHL record from the year 1924."

When I told my mom about this, she said 'it's probably going to be a pamphlet'. It better not be! As soon as it comes out, I may spend money on getting it imported here just so that I can have the original version as well, as a collectible.