King Henrik Does Not Like Attractive Women

Henrik Lunqvist got himself in a little hubbub with some Long Island women...don't you know a goalie's got to defend his crease? Especially after the Simon incident, King Henrik was probably fearing his life when someone in Islanders garb came somewhere near him.

"[T]eams of three Ice Girls clean loose ice known as "snow" in the goal and the blue-painted goaltender's crease in front of the goal line. But Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist declined to move and used his stick to whack the squeegee Kelli Higgins, 23, was using to push the snow into a pile during the first TV timeout, knocking the butt end of the squeegee stick into her stomach. "I said 'Excuse me' maybe two or three times," Higgins said Wednesday. "He didn't move and didn't say anything, so I gave up and went around him. "The tip of my squeegee kind of hit the tip of his stick. I don't know if he thought I did that on purpose or whatever, but he took a big windup and slashed the squeegee pretty good. "

Emphasis by me. Damn, the jokes just keep writing themselves.

Sabres >>> Everyone Else.

http://www.buffalonews.com/101/story/40716.html

ESPN the Magazine has just rated the Sabres at the top of all 122 major pro sports franchises in North America. This is the 5th year they've rolled out the "Ultimate Standings", and it's something I've always paid attention to, mainly because the Packers were always in the top 5.

The Sabres finished in the top 10 in four of those eight categories: first in “Bang for the Buck” (converting fan dollars into wins), second in “Affordability” and fourth in both “Fan Relations” and “Coaching.”The team’s other rankings were 11th in “Players,” 13th in “Ownership,” 25th in “Stadium Experience” and 53rd in “Title Track” (championship prospects). “I would say thank you to the fans,” owner B. Thomas Golisano said Monday, after learning about the rankings and the methodology. “Obviously, if they did the survey and rated us No. 1, we say thank you. “And we’ll keep trying.”

The man, the myth, the legend.

The bottom teams?

122. Detroit Lions

121. Oakland Raiders

120. NY Knicks

119. Minnesota Vikings

118. Chicago Blackhawks

117. Boston Bruins

Other top teams? Anaheim ranked 6th and Nashville 8th. I refuse to acknowledge the NBA as a sport, so their teams don't count, especially the one that rated 2nd overall. The Indy Colts were 4th, the highest NFL team, and the LA Angels of Anaheim, the Pacific Ocean, and Japan were 7th, highest for MLB. Odd that Anaheim places two teams in the top 7.

Can't say I disagree one bit. Oh, and the Canes are 10th. Just thought I'd throw that out there so CG doesn't hurt me.

It's all good in the "Land of the Wings".

An Effortless Wrap-Up for an Effortless Game

So...really great game last night, boys.


(This may or may not have been me)

- It was such a solid effort, that I fell asleep during the 3rd period. That’s right, ASLEEP! Which is pretty much the way you guys played last night. You know what? I don’t even blame Colorado trapping for a boring game (I’ll save that for this weekend when we play Minnesota and Jersey), even though it was pointed out on the telecast that it was an obvious trap.

- But maybe I shouldn’t complain. The AHL’ers played like AHL’ers (all of them), and Teppo played like he really is (old). This has probably been a few games coming.

- It wasn’t all bad though, the first ten minutes were solid, and then Jochen Hecht turned into the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man after he tried to defend Briere. After that, it was all downhill. The Sabres got scared once the Avalanche started playing them physically, and their game went south. They skated around wondering what this newfangled “trap” was, and mailed the game in.

- Vanek, Roy, and Stafford? That line played last night?? Completely honest, I did not even hear Vanek’s name until late in the second period. I hadn’t noticed that he was even dressed and playing before then.

- I couldn’t even be happy about Sakic scoring the game-winning goal…they took it away from him and gave it to Wolski!

- The Stastny family has been killing Buffalo for the last 25 years. The tradition continues…

- Two points wasted, plain and simple. I know a team can’t give 110% effort every night, but they can at least try, damnit! That being said, we still only lost by one goal. But now we have two weekend snoozefests, of which Ty Conklin will be playing one of them. Give Minnesota or Jersey the two points now and save me 2 ½ hours of boredom. I might live blog one of them just to keep me awake.

Some ramblings on an off day....

Some general NHL ramblings while both our teams are enjoying some needed time off to rest injuries….and well, I’m bored.

- The Pittsburgh situation sucks, and there’s no other way to describe it. There is no other city in the US or Canada that will be able to support a team the way Pittsburgh has. Period. Not Kansas City, not Las Vegas (God help us if they go there), not Winnipeg, not Houston, not Portland. Although if they have to go SOMEWHERE, put the team in Canada where the fans will actually give a crap about them. It will be a sad day if and when the Penguins leave Pittsburgh, that much is certain. Even if they get the “Cleveland Browns deal” and are promised an expansion franchise with the Penguins name if the NHL ever decides to expand again, it still wouldn’t be right.

- Rick DiPietro earned 80,000 and change per save (all 56 of them) last night. Too bad he couldn’t stop one more. But he did play an excellent game in a playoff-like atmosphere. I bet it makes the Islanders wish they signed him long term. Oh wait…….

- I watched the Ryan Smyth farewell conference yesterday. By God, he’s the ugliest man in the NHL. A lot of other (read: more important) people have said this too, but things need to be done to curb this rent-a-player deal at the deadline. It’s a joke for a team to give up multiple players and picks for 2 months of a guy, and then see them sign long-term with their original team. See Doug Weight last year….

- Speaking of Weight, I wonder if he still doesn’t know who Jason Pominville is.

You know, the guy with 26 goals and 53 points (40 in even strength situations) and a +25 rating (that's 10th in the NHL) for the top team in the league.

Some playoff race-related notes….

- Is anyone scared that the Rangers or Boston will take the 8th spot in the East with all their games in hand on Montreal and Carolina? (Okay, other than CG…) The Sabres have owned New York and Boston since the lockout, and I believe the Sabres are 4-0-0 against NYR and 4-1-2 against Boston this year after going 7-1 last year. Yeah, I’m not worried.

- Has anyone noticed Florida suddenly is 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and are only SIX points out of a spot themselves?? In the immortal words of Vince Lombardi, “What the hell is going on out there??”

- According to James Mirtle, the Sabres have already clinched a playoff spot…. http://mirtle.blogspot.com/2007/02/playoff-push-95-points-or-bust.html#comments

Forbes ranks the best GM's....

http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/02/sports-greatest-gms-biz-cz_jg_0302gms_2.html

......and the best NHL GM??

Let's just say there's not a lot of people who agree. Not even fans of his own team would agree.

Darcy Regier ranks 63rd among 98 pro sports GM's. Jim Rutherford, 17th.

Ken Holland ranks dead last among NHL GM's and 90th overall.....this list has absolutely no credibility.

The list was based on years as the GM, winning "improvement" (whatever that means), and "payroll containment"....

Sheldon Souray is an idiot....

And here's photographic proof. No Sheldon, it's not okay to two-hand someone while he's on an empty-net breakaway. I'm so glad I found this picture.

Cam Janssen's Upcoming Vacation.....

Absolutely despicable. As bad as the Neil on Drury hit was, this was 20 times worse than that. I hope you spend a long time on the sidelines, Cam. But knowing Colin Campbell, you won't be, and it's a god damn shame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Mx_x8g7y0

(sorry, I can't embed that video, it won't let me)


Watch all the Leafs go after Janssen like the Sabres did with Drury......

Oh, what? They didn't go after him??

For once, I don't hate Darcy Tucker....watch him mouth off to Janssen even though he didn't dress tonight. I bet he would have kicked Cam's ass, and for once I would have enjoyed watching Tucker do that. Too bad he was the only one who stood up and did SOMETHING.

Here's to a quick recovery by Kaberle. This crap has NO place in the NHL.

Update! (3/3/07 4:15pm): Cam Janssen gets a 3-game suspension. Well, at least they did something.