The problem with this blog

The reason I don’t write more on this blog is I don’t feel I know about hockey well enough to write intelligently about it.

Hockey is fun and exciting to watch, I know what the team needs to do to win, but as I’m watching and listening to the commentators talk about this player and that and what makes one good and what this one needs to do, I realize I don’t know jack shit about hockey.

Certainly not enough to write about it, to actually have an opinion about hockey.

So I’m left with a dilemma, to keep this blog and continue to ramble on or delete it and leave the hockey writing to people who know more about it. The educated amateurs, the long-time hockey fans, and the pros.

The thing is, even though I don’t know much, I love writing, and I am convinced the more I do it, the better I’ll get at it. So for now, let the rambling continue.

This fell under my seat.

Last night I went to Sabres versus Devils in New Jersey. I was there for warm-ups and as I was watching I heard this big clunk, this guy ran up saying something about ‘right under your seat’. I got up, he looked around under the row of seats and pulled this out, then handed it to me. Which he didn’t have to and I don’t know why he did, but I’m glad to have it.

The Sabres lost in a shoot-out but overall it was a good game, I thought both teams played well. Two other reasons it was a good game were I got a puck and I didn’t strangle the twerpy little Devil’s fan who kept screaming: “YOU SUCK” at my new cutie-pie netminder Neuvirth. No offense to Tuukka who is my one true love, he understands I can’t resist the cute.

Who to root for?

Tonight Buffalo plays Vancouver and I’m conflicted. Buffalo is my team, I am doing my best to stick with them. But the goalie for Vancouver is Miller, who used to be on the Sabres and is my second favorite goalie.

Paul wants Buffalo to lose, they are not going to the post-season and the more they lose the better position they are in for the draft. I don’t think that way, I want my team to win. It sucks when they don’t.

Buffalo got a couple of high stick calls and then Vancouver got a ‘too many men on ice’ penalty leading to a power play for the Sabres, and they scored. Not getting too excited, after all it’s just the first period.

There’s no crying in fantasy hockey

In one weekend in Fantasy Hockey I dropped 66 points. I went from second place to last place. That’s in a league of 20 teams. I freaked out, and was THIS close to crying. My nephew was laughing at me. My friend who got me in the league tired to calm me down. It didn’t work, this is no one’s fault but my own. I tend to obsess and I take this as a personal failing.

Sabres are in last place, or they were, in their last game they got 2 points so there is one team below them. The team they played last night. They were the only two teams who hadn’t won any games yet, the game ended with a tie and the win was in a shoot-out, so Buffalo only got 2 points. Currently Buffalo has two points and the Bruins have 2 points. In the game currently being played, Boston is tied with Detroit, with 7:10 to go.

My case of the stupids has extended to ticket buying. I was on a ticket resale site that I had a coupon for and didn’t pay attention to where the game was, I am used to buying tickets for baseball games, with baseball games the location is indicated by the time listed last. I wasn’t paying attention. I ended up with a ticket to First Niagara Center instead of Madison Square Garden. You know what that means. ROAD TRIP!! It also means that until March 2015, I have to save every penny. Sometimes I suck at life.

On the plus side, I have made arrangements to get tickets to two Devils vs Sabres games in New Jersey. A Path train ride away. I only have to put up with the “You Suck” chant.

Season Opener

Today is the first day of hockey for the 2014-2015 season. The Sabres didn’t start tonight but my other team the Bruins did and they won. For those of you who say, I can’t root for two teams I say, Yes I can. In fact I have it on good authority that only team you can’t be a fan of along with the Bruins is the Canadiens. And I’m not a Canadiens fan.

This is just a quick post before I check the line-ups for my fantasy teams. Since the Bruins won, I’m a little looped right now since I drink Fireball whiskey for each goal and then one for the win.

Now I am listening to Vancouver vs. Calgary. I got this cool app for listening, that is it would be cool if all the team feeds worked. Maybe they will get all sorted out as the season goes along. I have also noticed, that the more I watch hockey, the more I can follow the play on the radio. All this means is, I need to watch more hockey.

Ice Dreams Round 2

Or perhaps I should say, 2nd period.

As you can see, I didn’t do so well blogging about hockey. Actually I have not been doing well with any of my blogs this year. Last week I made a resolution, I am calling it my, end of baseball season/beginning of hockey season resolution to write in each of my blogs at least once a week. That is 4 posts a week which I think is pretty reasonable.

This year I have again signed up for Fantasy Hockey, two leagues one in ESPN and the other in Yahoo. My friend Mary starts them and encourages me to stay active. I am hoping that maintaining this blog will help me to remember to stay in tune with what is happening with my teams. Tonight was the draft for the ESPN league, which I forgot about and also didn’t get my favorite goalie. Thursday is Yahoo, and I hope to remember and maybe get him in that team.

Also, I am trying to decide if I should get a package to watch the games since my team is not local. Right now I would have to wait until I get paid again but it might be worth it.

This weeks player profile is Jhonas Enroth.

There’s no hockey, sort of

That’s because the Olympics are happening right now so the hockey players have gone to play for their respective countries. A far cry from the Olympics I grew up with when everyone had to be an amateur. The Miracle on Ice was made up of college students from Montana against the state subsidized athletes from the Soviet Bloc.

Anyway, so there is not NHL hockey, just Olympic Hockey, which is being played a continent away, meaning the live feeds are at odd hours. Like 3:00 a.m. Only an obsessed fan would get up at 3:00 a.m. to watch hockey when she has to go to work and a snowstorm is coming which means it will be a rough commute.

Yes I was up at 3:00 a.m. this morning, and do you know it is 30°F warmer in Russia than it is here? The skiers are having a hell of a time. Meanwhile it is a white-out in Queens and I am sitting here thinking, why did I come to work instead of staying home to watch more Olympic hockey?

So this is hockey

When baseball was done for the year I sat and stared at my T.V. I was bereft without baseball and looking at a long cold winter with nothing to watch. Did I really want to spend another winter staring out the window looking at the snow and waiting for spring training? Counting the days until baseball was back? For me baseball isn’t really back when spring training starts since I can’t watch the games.

So I started looking for another sport, and my choices were football, basketball, football (European style) and hockey. Football, stupid; basketball, BORING; the other football (eh maybe, but hard to find) and hockey. My friend took me to an AHL game during the lockout last season. We sat two rows back from the ice since it was my first game. She thought I might get scared when someone got checked if we sat in the first row. So we’re watching and the players came around and BANG! The plexi wobbled, the people sitting in the first row jumped.

I was hooked.

The final step in obsession is starting a blog, so even though I know jack-shit about hockey I am writing about it. I know how to write and I know how to make a blog look good. The rest will fall into place I hope.

Devils vs Sabres

Devils won in OT. Here’s a picture from my seat.

Ryan Miller

Catwalk for Charity