I'm...Just a bit numb right now.

I have nothing really to say about trade day. I did my crying earlier.

My biggest distress was Ryan Smyth. ...I can't even talk about it. Steph did an amazing job here though. Appy, you made me cry. Again. T_T

I just...

God, today killed my brain.

That's all from me for now.

Oh yeah. The Jackets lost. Again. At least it wasn't a shutout. Mom changed the channel with two minutes left in the game, and they scored. Twice. ...I'm such bad luck for my boys. *sigh*

THE DAY FROM HELL. (Wherein Skye proves that she is a moron.)

Aka: Trade Deadline Day.

My day started out pretty good. IE: I slept on the couch until mom left for work, and I could jump online and check what all was going on in the trading world.

And then I got this news.

Ty Conklin traded to Buffalo.

I AM SO DISTRESSED ABOUT THIS. Yes, Conks kind of sucked like horribly for us, whenever he played, but still! I had grown retardedly attached to him, and I am so distressed that he's gone.

In return, I'm hearing rumors of getting a fifth-rounder.

The Jackets also claimed goalie Boucher (his first name is escaping me, and I'm too distressed to go worry about it) off of Waivers from Chicago.

Now, let's talk about the other distressing news of the day.

The Sabres traded Marty Biron. I don't even know WHY I'm so distressed about this. Drea might have something to do with it. Actually, I think I'm so distressed because of really retarded reasons that I won't divulge here.

Now. My biggest point of distress.

The Oilers Trade Ryan Smyth

NONONONONONONONONO. GIVE HIM BACK. NOW. NOW. NOW. GIVE. HIM. BACK. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS. GIVE HIM BACK. HOW?! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?! *scream*

...I'm going to go SOB in a corner now and hate hockey for a little bit.

CBJ @ NYR: 3-2 WIN.

I missed the first five minutes or so of the game, and when we turned it on, we were already down 2-0. (And I couldn't tell you who scored for the Rangers. Was Jagr one? I'm not sure, and I'm a little too lazy at the moment to go check.)

...Wow, did I have flashbacks to Thursday. It was like reliving a nightmare.

So here I am, all ready to lose. And then, what's this? An Anders Erikkson goal? You mean there is such a thing?

At this point, I'm still pretty sure we're gonna lose, 'cause...You know...It's kind of what we seem to do best, anymore. [/jaded] Not to mention we started playing our "LET'S ALL GET STUPID PENALTIES!" game again. Well, at least this obviously won't be as bad as a loss as Thursday's. Because, you know, we've actually scored in this one.

And then, what? A shorthanded goal by Jason Chimera? Really? Are you serious? It's tied? ...You're joking right? You're not? Wow! We may have a chance!

A few more penalties...Then...

Another shorthanded goal? This time by Rick Nash? Come on, this has to be a joke. Or a really good dream. Either way, it can't be real. What? It is? We're winning? ...Wow.

We managed to hold them off during the whole third period, during which, Fredrik Norrena made a wonderful showing of why he is being called Steady Freddy by Jeff Rimer and Danny Gare.

Lemme just state for the record that this totally didn't make up for Thursday's disgusting showing. Or non-showing, is more like it.

But. It did restore a little bit of my faith in humanity. Just a little however. Because we've still got a long way to go.

Final Score: 3-2
BLUE JACKETS WIN.

The trade bug has finally bitten us.

Anson Carter to the Hurricanes for a 2008 fifth round draft pick.

I'm curiously...uncaring about finding out about this trade. My only thing is: why couldn't it have been a pick for this year?

EDM @ CBJ: 0-4 LOSS

Voice Post from after the game.

I am disgusted. With every member of the god damn team, except Norrena, becasue it was NOT his fault. That is all.

BLUE JACKETS LOSS
0-4 SHUTOUT.

In other news:



I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF A NIKOLAI ZHERDEV JERSEY. My life is complete.

I'm so pround of my mouthy little french goalie

It's good to be a sabres fan tonight

...or a sens one for that matter.

Another man down.

Paille broke his finger and is on my shitlist! God this is five games in a row that we've sustained injuries! (Though as I told Skye, Lindy's response to this one was something along the lines of "What? We're actually getting this one back in time? That's awesome!") I have nothing more to say except to offer this:

Signage.

Proof that I am a moron.



...Yep. And sparklies are going to be acquired, hopefully.

OMG TOMORROW IS GAME DAY. *flails*

CBJ @ STL: 4-5 SO LOSS.

So, most of this was written during the end of the second period/second intermission/throughout the third. Hi spazzy-all-over-the-place-me.

Manny after Ronnie Hainsey's goal kind of melted my heart a little. He looked back in the net, then looked at his glove like, "Wait, what? It's not in my glove? ..." And then shook his head, and I wanted to cuddle the little 5'9" goalie. And then I remembered, "Oh wait. RONNIE JUST GAVE US THE LEAD AGAIN! I HEART YOU HAINSEY!"

And Manny saying ON TV to the GM or president or something of the Blues, "I want to re-sign with the Blues!" ...That's so cute. ;-;

Ok, so I have to wank about the fucking officiating some. The non-call of the hook that sent Nikky into the boards? That Nikky laid on the ice after for so long? That caused my heart to jump into my throat? That caused bile to rise when they DIDN'T CALL IT. That led to a goal from St. Louis. Ugh, fucking officials.

Also: "Backman&Jackman: Attorneys at Law"? wtf? ...There are times I really love my announcers. Like the comment about the Chimmer Choo-Choo, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Jordan TooToo the other night against San Jose. That was just amazing. This however. Is not. And the "I can see Cleary now that the rain is gone." crack from a game against Detroit definitely goes down in my books as one of the worst plays on words ever. NOT A WORD FROM YOU, APPY, YOU DON'T COUNT IN THIS MATTER.

Oh, and how thrilled am I that I get to watch the Atlanta/Boston game on Monday night? OH SO FUCKING THRILLED. I GET TO SEE KARPPA PLAY. ...And if Boston plays Hannu, I think my brain just may fizzle and die a little. Finnish-goalie-overload and whatnot.

So I definitely just yelled at the tv when they said something about "Hope to see you there at Nationwide for the Oilers game!". I definitely just yelled "YOU WILL! ♥!" ...Well, as much as you can yell a ♥!. XD

So Mom and I went to the Ameristop to get me sweets (because hockey = sweets need to be consumed), and by the time we got back, the Blues had scored two more times. wtf, guys? Although that Backman goal was really actually kind of good. Freddy left that rebound out there, and Backman jumped on it.

THIS IS ME HATING THE FUCKING OFFICIATING MORE. We could have just tied it up. BUT NO THE REF HAS TO BLOW HIS FUCKING WHISTLE MOTHER FUCKER.

OMG RICK NASH I LOVE YOU I OWE YOU A CHILD FOR THAT FUCKING GOAL. A goal with 13 seconds left to tie it up? I FUCKING LOVE YOU.

Sergei on the blueline in OT? Apparently, this is not so odd, as he was on the blueline in Detroit sometimes, but it's still sort of boggling to me.

Ewwww, shootout. I do not likey shootouts. Especially when they involve my boys.

FUCK.

...Manny Legace, you are small and cute, but I severely dislike you right now. Give me twenty four hours.

Dear Blue Jackets,

Please stop going to shootouts against the St. Louis Blues. WE ARE HORRIBLE IN SHOOTOUTS AGAINST MANNY. LEARN THIS AND LEARN TO BEAT THEM IN REGULATION. kthxbai.

Love,
Skye

However, this is me loving on my boys, no matter the outcome. ♥ They played well tonight. omg, can't wait for Thursday. ;-;

Game Day!

NHL Preview

Game Day Scorecard

So tonight, we play the Blues again. It'll be game six of the eight game series, with the Blues leading the series 3-2. Every game has been won by the visiting team.

The Jackets are saying, "Playoffs? What're those? Ohhh, those things we're not gonna make." at this point. Which is depressing, but not really surprising.
--------
In other news, the Oil are playing the Sens tonight, and Boston is playing Toronto. (Maybe Boston will start Hannu Toivonen, my favorite Finnish goalie? Probably not, but I can hope, yeah? Because the idea of him going up against Andrew Raycroft kind of makes me squee and giggle for reasons it should not. Right. Shutting up now.)

The Sabres are playing the Flyers on Versus, and I was going to watch that game until I remembered that there was a Jackets game tonight. Oh well. Sigh.

Also, Rick Nash has a website now. This mildly frightens me. I don't know if it's the terrifying header picture, or what. But I'm mildly frightened.

So I think that's it for me for now. There may be an attempted live!blog from me (aka I keep a running tab in a Word document, then post it when I get online.)

GO JACKETS.

Uh...False alarm?

...So apparently, I will still be able to be around.

...Sorry for the false alarm. *head desk*

Oh yeah.

Oh, and before I go:

A Zherdev goal against Montreal? OMG YES PLEASE KTHXBAI.

...Yep, that's it from me for a while, I'm thinking. There will probably be a voice post on LJ after the game on Thursday, so if you want to know what I thought of the game/if I had fun/all that fun stuff, head over to Hockey Is Life (my LJ) on Thursday night/early Friday morning, and it'll be there.

A bit of a hiatus from me, I'm afraid.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm gonna be on a bit of a hiatus. I got caught on the internet when I wasn't supposed to be (I know. I know.). The hours that followed weren't fun at all. I came back home yesterday at about 2 PM after having left the night before, and Mom and I sort-of-kind-of talked it out. IE: We both apologized, we established that I could start working up my level of trust with her again, the fact that we ARE still going to the game was established (she had threatened to sell our tickets, and then later said we weren't going at all) and it would probably be a while until I could work up the trust for the computer again.

So. This is me letting you all know. She thinks she deleted the way I get on the net, but she didn't, but I'm not gonna push it, because if I'm caught again, I'm pretty sure I'll be kicked out for good. I hope to be able to talk to you all again soon. I'm gonna miss you! T_T

So, this is Skye, signing out for a while. I hope to be back soon. T_T ♥'s for everyone!

Wake up call.

This works better than an alarm clock it seems ;-; I'm glad I got to see him play now even if I did poke fun of him a little at that game~ He did actually show up to that one.

Wishes for hockey today (besides the Sabres not sustaining anymore injuries oh they can do it I'm sure) pretty much revolve around the Pens winning with a side note of hoping Sidvechkin is special enough to provoke a lot of hurt from Mario :D

It's so good I had to write something.

Hockey is seriously an uplifter right now just when I thought I might have to lament a really pathetic loss.

I have not heard or seen Buffalo this riled up in quite some time and with good reason. Setting the scene it is 3-2 Boston. Buffalo recently scored on on a two man advantage with five foreward in a fashion I feel like I should be upset to see anyone but the Oilers do! Buffalo is still on the power play with less than a minute left in the period when little Briere is set up for a gorgeous clear shot. Thomas however made a save that was as ridiculous as one made by us in the last Boston game. Right off the fat end of the stick. It was kind of surreal but rather dissapointing too.

However play continued to the end of the period and the teams started to head out but because there was no stopping after that save they only just started reviewing it then. Replays show that the puck was clearly over the line when it was deflected. Cue Danny slowly meandering over to the refs who are on the phone and waiting like a little kid who's just been promised a boat load of candy. I can't get through this without saying it was all kinds of adorable. I think before the call was even made Lindy had the whole team back out on the bench to support Briere. After the fact it must have taken Boston at least five minutes to do the same. The refs were getting pissed and purportedly threatened a delay of game. I mean I'm sure no would want to have to come back after being informed that their game had in fact been tied up when they thought they were safe but seriously? Just get it over with! It's not like it was end of game which would really suck. But you could see how upset they were in the short replay that ensued playing so halfhearted. Still I'm happy to see how interesting this game is shaping up to be.

As a slight downer Kotalik is now out for the rest of this game and that could have serious repercussions if he ends up going the way of so many other Sabres, being a strong player for us and potential trade fodder. The less we can use other people the more trading Marty will be a possibility and I don't think I could stand for that this season. Stafford also took a nasty fall and I think you could hear my swearing throughout the western half of the state because he only just started again (after getting a goal in the first too! The kid's a tank) and that's not only bad for Buffalo but Rochester too! While I'm happy that Rochester has so many good players for Buffalo to rely on when they need them it's stuff like this that really hurt Rochester in their own endeavours for the Calder cup. Of course I'd like to see both teams do as well as possible.

So now Boston seems to be agitated about that call and it's showing~ Maybe another scruff or two is in order.

And as if the game wasn't good enough already. MARTY ON MIC TONIGHT! Oh it's better than Christmas!

Edit: Peters shoulder injury too? Fucking hell.

SJS @ CBJ: 3-0 SHUTOUT WIN.

omg, what do I say? FLAIL.

The boys seemed to start off kind of cold, giving up a lot of turnovers and the like. But then, they exploded.

And what can I say about Norrena's play tonight? omg, he was amazing. That's the only way to describe it. Steady Freddy indeed. First star was well deserved and earned.

Gilbert and Sergei with goals? omg yes please. And a Nikky assist. ♥

Nikky started to pass more after the first period, so I was proud of him for that.

And Rick, going after that guy, and the guy just curling up and covering his head? Priceless. Not as good as the turtle fight, but damn close.

And Footer laughing with the guy he was holding onto was cute and I don't know why.

...Oh God, guys, please play like you did tonight next Thursday. Please.

*so much love to her boys*

Goals for Modin, Brule, and Fedorov.
NO GOALS FOR SAN JOSE.

Final Score: 3-0
BLUE JACKETS WIN.

Prepare for a flailing, spaztastic post.

I AM GOING TO MY FIRST HOCKEY GAME ON THURSDAY. THE OILERS VERSUS THE JACKETS. *FLAIL*

...Is it Thursday yet?

In other news, the Flyers traded Foppa to the Preds. God, anywhere but there. ANYWHERE but there. Ugh.

...I'M GONNA SEE MY BOYS.

What was that I said about injuries?

I do believe Buffalo's count is now six or something. Oh the game yesterday was fun enough though I thought both teams seemed a little sluggish but at the same time they both played well too if that makes sense. The skating and players were clean but what happened to scoring goals or at least shots on goal? I was surprised to see the later was as high as it was at the end of the game. There were a few good Roli saves that even happened down in my end that I was happy for though and I swear half the time I was watching him instead of the guys playing at the other end of the ice. And seeing him and Jussi play in succession during warm up really makes their difference in goal style obvious as if it already wasn't before but it's enough to prove a point. Also Hemmer during the anthems? Really adorable because he would not stop fidgeting! Like drifting back and forth between the bench and the line of players. It was great getting to see them once and I only wish I could see them again... but I have a feeling attempting to go anywhere next week would be a world of not intelligent after the trouble I had this week. That and I'm sure tickets to a Detroit game are about as easy to come by as those to Toronto at the begining of the season. But alas it would be really nice.

But all this is not what I came here to talk about! Because there is a crisis at hand. Yesterday Jiri Novotny went down right near us and purportedly injured his ankle though I haven't seen a specific time frame for how long he's expected to be out. I've also seen reports that Maxim is out for six weeks too though I can't for the life of me figure out when that one happened with him. He actually showed up for the game yesterday and then he has to go out like this! Connolly was also slated to start again but he relapsed so we really are suffering play off syndrome with forewards instead of defense now though it might as well be reminded that defense is still suffering too! I would like to be the first to salute Mr. Stafford and co as they ship out on the USSBuffaslug sooner or later.

Randomly... has anyone else noticed that when looking up players on yahoo they are stuck about a decade or two in the past? Czechoslovakia? Really?

This is a long time coming.

So over the past week I had a lot to say but due to the fact that certain other organizations known as school are trying to rape me I have been hard pressed to actually sit down and try to write anything intelligent and now it's pretty much way after the fact on anything I might have said so here have so tasteful bullets (but not tasty god I'm hungry and lacking rice crispies -_-)

• The Pens are on a roll (or they were last time I was a part of this good earth) and have since over taken the cheese-eaters (see: French) and are now seated nicely at fourth in the conference. While it would be nice to say that put them in a good position for the play-offs they are only separated from the other teams by mere fractions of points. Still I'm happy for them because if they are forced out by their parents to find work in greener plains (actually I think Kansas is pretty brown right?) it'd be nice to say fuck you with a good cup run before that happens. Taking top of the division next? I can dream and lately dreams have been coming true!

• Trade rumours in Buffalo. The majority of what I've heard that seem to have any weight are for Kotalik and Biron. The former would make me sad but he's just in the right place for some good trade leverage so he could be used in a lot of smart ways without losing too much sadly. And anyone who's actually reading this knows how I feel about Marty and his freakishly ice blue eyes and his neverending strings of hilarity. However the bigger issue of this trade is not who wants him or where he'd go but whether or not Darcy is gonna let him go. On one hand he's too expensive as a back up and there's no doubt in my mind that after this season he will go even if free agency weren't happening but for now he's provided good issurance and for a goalie that isn't starting he is damn good when he does get on the ice even after so much time. The whole team knows that and the whole team knows that he's saved their ass from falling a few steps on the ladder more than a few times. Miller has even stated he knows it's okay to let Lindy know when he's not feeling right enough to play because they have someone else who is just as good to rely on. The whole team benefits from knowing that while their defense may be in shoddy shape and sometimes they forget how to shoot the puck at least their goal situation will always be in top form and that's a confidence that can go a long way in a deep cup run. For now I think he stays. When he leaves I'll be sad but I will follow him where ever he goes because how can you not after almost ten great years of quality benchside talk. As another plus I think instead of shopping around for a back up the sabres also have a pretty good shot with Dennis down in the Amerks and I'll be glad to see him wearing blue and gold.

• Short bullet but St. Louis has also been doing fairly well for themselves and I'm quite happy for them though there was a scare during the Wings game were Legace got kneed in the head and ended up pulling himself from the game but he's back in the game now thankfully. Steph did real good recap at NPI (God that was like a week ago -_-) but it's safe to say that we stand far away and on opposite sides of the fence over the outcome. They also came out on top of the Jackets and Skye was telling me about how no one from their defense saw it fit to cover Guerin. You'd think a guy who scores a hat trick on San Jose might be someone you should watch for but maybe that's just me.
  

• On the topic of injuries the Sabres just can't seem to get enough of them! It's like the play-offs all over again (though hopefully like Lindy says, they're getting them out of the way now) But I swear Spacek seriously can't step out onto the ice for more than two minutes without breaking something else and Gaustad! Back in the Sens game during collision, he caught Heatleys skate with his leg. Though the initial diagnosis said it wasn't serious a follow up revealed that tendons had been severed in his leg and that he would likely be out for the rest of the season unless the Sabres make deep into the play offs. And he's really really lucky. Here's hoping for the best for the guy because while he may not have been one to put major points up he was a strong presense and good at making plays for the team and I'm sure they're feeling the loss.

• The Blue Jackets sent ickle Ty back down to Syracuse. Oh! I would live little more than an hour away from that fair (dump) of a city. I can't wait! Expect AHL spam from time to time! (Yes noting that was worth a bullet)
  

So that's all I can come up with for today but it is important to note that in an hour I will be heading out to the fair (dump) of a city of Buffalo (for the record I reside in Rochester and actually enjoy the city itself... just not the living here instead of Toronto... but at least I can actually stand a chance to see a hockey game here!). It is there that I will catch their one and only game against the Edmonton Oilers. The inner turmoil of who to cheer for is far to great but I'm sure a cry go GOILERSLUGS might happen once or twice. Now to go locate that jersey.

STL @ CBJ: 2-4 LOSS

Ok, first of all, that empty netter shouldn't have happened. Whoever passed that puck STRAIGHT TO THE ST. LOUIS PLAYER NEEDS TO BE SMACKED. HI THANKS FOR LOSING THE GAME FOR US. -_-

Second, the guys seemed to be lacking a lot in the energy department tonight. They weren't playing urgently. Nikky, however, was playing very nicely, and I'm not just saying that because I ♥ him. Sergei was playing rather well tonight as well. They both had several shots on goal, and I know that both of them had at least one go off the pipes each. *sigh*

Speaking of Nikky, that shot of him on the bench, smiling, laughing, and talking to Malhotra? Adorable. I'd like more shots of him like that, kthxbai.

Rick's opening goal against Manny was so pretty. That was a beautiful goal. He played that perfectly, and Vybes just gave Rick an amazing pass.

Normally, I would be unbelievably pissed about the unallowed goal for the Jackets, but this time, they actually made the right call. You couldn't see where the puck was. It was under Manny's pad, but you couldn't tell if it was over the line or not, so this time, they actually made the right call.

Svits' goal was equally as pretty as Rick's.

Hainsey being all pissed and grumpy at the end was mildly amusing.

Speaking of mildly amusing; the huge dog-pile fight with Manny Legace standing in net, staring at the dog pile like, "...You're all morons." was amazing. XD He's so little...*flails* ...I like the 5'9"ers, leeme alone.

All in all, I'm not really all that upset about the game. It wasn't a win, by any means, but it wasn't a bad game. ...And Manny got the win...

So I just figured out why they didn't win. I wasn't wearing my Rick bracelets. ...Yes, I believe that the bracelets bring the team luck, leave me alone. ...

...Sigh.

Game Day!

I’m pressed for time today, so I’ll just throw up the NHL Preview, and some basic facts.

NHL Preview

St. Louis is visiting Columbus tonight for their fifth meeting of the season. The series so far is tied, with both teams having won twice. The away team has won all four meetings so far in the series this season, and both of the St. Louis wins have been in shootouts.

The Jackets haven’t been doing all that well lately (…Ahaha, understatement of the year much?), and are quickly losing ground in the standings. A win would do their confidence some good at this point, I believe.
---------
In other news, the Wings are playing Dallas tonight. Let's hope that their performance is a hell of a lot better than it was the other night in the game-that-we-will-all-pretend-didn't-happen.

*has apparently given up and just admits she's a Red Wings fan...* Sigh. I'm such a bad Ohio girl. At least I don't root for Pittsburgh. My daddy would never forgive me.

Welcome to the post where Skye rants and raves.

...Wherein Skye fumes, rants, raves, and curses. Intelligent posting? What's that?

Zherdev kicked off ice during practice

In fairness, Zherdev hasn’t been the only goat on the Blue Jackets recently, but he’s the easiest and most obvious target.

No, REALLY? I mean, you only blame him for how bad the team is doing at LEAST once a week. *twitch*

Ok, I admit. I am very partial to Nikolai Zherdev. I can't help it. I don't even know why I like him so much. (...Being cute helps, but that's not the reason I like him.) The first Blue Jackets game I watched was the first game he was back from Russia this season, and he just tore up the ice, and I fell in love right then.

So words cannot express how much I HATE how they constantly pin the Jackets' failing on HIM. ONE PLAYER DOES NOT A TEAM MAKE. Nikky is NOT the only player that is not performing on the damn team. There are other players on the fucking team who are playing as badly, OR WORSE, than Nikky has been, and Nikky's had a fucking excuse! He's been SICK FOR A GOD DAMN MONTH, and didn't tell anyone! He's still not totally healthy!

And THEN, there's the rumor that I heard that Maclean may be looking to trade Nikky to Pittsburgh. After he SAID HE WOULDN'T TRADE HIM. If Doug Maclean trades Nikolai Zherdev after being quoted as saying he would not trade him, Doug Maclean will be on my shitlist until the day he dies. I'm pretty sure if that happens, 'hate' will not accurate describe how I will feel about that man.

Urrrrrrrgggggh.

...This has been Skye, being completely and totally partial, and recognizing this fact. Feel free to ignore this post. *sighs*

Head? Meet my desk. I think you two will be GREAT friends.

CHI @ CBJ: 4-5 LOSS

Don't really have much to say on this one, as I didn't get to see the game, because NBC hates me.

Dear Columbus,

Hi. This is Skye speaking. You know that phrase...Oh what was it...Oh yeah! Be consistent? Let's try to do that more. kthxbai.

Love,
Skye.

Goals for Chicago were Sharp, Smolinski, Havlat, Lapointe, and Bondra.
Goals for Columbus were Hainsey, Carter, Svitov, and Vyborny.

Final score: 4-5
Columbus loss.

I am sort of torn...

Blue Jackets Activate Leclaire Off IR; Assign Conklin, Konopka to Syracuse (AHL)

I'm happy that Leclaire is gonna be playing again, but I'll miss seeing Conks...

I'm not so unhappy about Konopka getting sent down, because that means that Nikky is gonna be playing more, and that's always a good thing.

S'all from me for now.

He's like, Ricci ugly.

"Brind'Amour is beefing."

You know, Carolina Hurricane announcers, I don't even know what that means (supposedly you think it is a synonym for "arguing with the ref"), but I am 99% certain I do not want to think about Brind'Amour doing it. Feel free to discuss.

I talked about real hockey here, tonight.

CGY @ CBJ: 2-1 WIN!

Right, so there wasn't a pregame report from me, but I did watch the game! ...Well, sort of. I watched the first period, and then my mother decided that Survivor and CSI > watching our team NOT SUCK for once.

My biggest happy point of the night: NIKOLAI ZHERDEV WAS BACK. And he was playing GOOD. <3 He got an assist on the night, which makes me so many kinds of happy, I can't even begin to say. AND, he was playing on a line with Sergei Fedorov, who also had an assist. (Hint, hint, Hitch. Apparently, these two play WELL together. ...Remember this, yes?) Nikky had more ice time tonight than he has had in a LONG time. At least, that's what it seemed like to me.

My second happy point: WE WON. ...Yep, that's all I got to say on that one.

My third happy point: The boys seemed to have a lot more energy tonight, then in the last couple of games. They were playing like they really wanted to win (which, I'm sure thay always want to win, but tonight, they actually played like it).

My unhappy points:

The officiating. Ok, of what I saw of the game, the officiating SUCKED. Like, hard core. I don't know if it got any better after the first period, but the first period's officiating was just terrible.

Dion Phaneuf. I don't like you. Don't touch my boys again. kthxbai.

Other than that, I'm so proud and happy for my boys tonight!

Final Score:
2-1
BLUE JACKETS WIN. <3333

Somtimes I post too...

So I got tagged for some reason and I wreaked my brain to get through it. I can't do one of those awesome hanging pictures though and it would've just been of the duck anyway (which I really should change or people might start to get the wrong idea about the kind of fan that I am)

Team: Buffalo Sabres
Uniform Number: Pi is a real number.. and thus good enough in my book.
Position: Maybe defense even though I love goalies I would hide in the back of the net when things fly at me and this way I could disguse a flying glom as a defensive tactic XD;
Nickname: Satori? Maybe
Dream Blueline Pair: Dion Phaneuf in hopes that it would lead to more of this.
Rounding Out the Power Play: Jarkko Ruutu because sometimes I love flightless bird types (and see above), Daniel Briere who is so french it's almost cute and Fernando Pisani just so I could be amused EVERY TIME announcer guys... every time.
Job: Taking up space for the salary cap. My contract is for $2.15 and a ball of lint a year. It's a pretty substantial ball.
Signature Move: Tripping (myself... and getting the minutes for it too)
Strengths: Bitching at players to do their job on the ice and deftly dodging pucks aimed at my head in response and getting more bench time than Ty Conklin in the last six games of the cup finals.
Weaknesses: Turnovers, tripping and chances are if I tried to check anyone I'd end up falling over myself (for another tripping call somehow)
Equipment: I do like CCM because it's classic.
Nemeses: Apparently fandom dictacts I hate Toronto (wtf happen to the Flyers guys? Just because they suck this year doesn't excuse going soft) but that could never be true ;-; but Sheldon Souray always seems to be a name associated when teams I like fail >> eveniftheyrenotplayingthehabsyessrsly
Scandal Involvement: My gleeming attempts to play for Team Canada as an immigrant.
Who I’d Face in the Stanley Cup Finals: The Ducks or the Wings with my luck.
What I’d do with the Stanley Cup After Our Victory: What else but direct the latest edition of lets get stupidly drunk and disprove that if we drop the cup (that has previously been set on fire for the occassion) from my private jet into the ocean IT'LL FLOAT GUYS REALLY.
Would the Media Love Me or Hate Me: They'd probably label me as a really desperate puck bunny. Which would be FULL OF IRONY.
Next up: There is no one else I could poke XD;

In other news, Buffalo won the other night (against Atlanta yes shhh I'm a game behind, I don't get in early enough on Wednesdays) but this is me STILL NOT THRILLED. I'd rather see them play that game that was invented a while ago in Canada that involves sticks and pucks and and ice... and the occassional figure skating frog... than winning games. Because one usually begets the other XD PS: AFINOGENOV SHOWED UP TO THE GAME TODAY OMGEOW.

Sometimes I like to moonlight as a Pens fan too and I would like to state I'm very happy to see where they're going. Dare I hope but they could surpass Montreal at this rate. Which would be most welcome in distracting from the move rumours. I won't go into huge details though because that's a job better left to 'Ly but I needed to say SOMETHING positive XD;

NHL Draft

NHL Draft To Be Over Two Days

As some of you might already know, this year's NHL Draft is going to take place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus (Can we say, squee?!). Appy and I are planning on going. Pictures galore, I'm sure. XD

...This has been Skye-chan, with a completely useless post. *whistles innocently*

This isn't going to sound even remotely intelligent...PHX @ CBJ: 0-3 LOSS

But I'm sort of pissed.

...I feel like a broken record, but that was disgusting. Just plain out disgusting.

I literally slept through the last ten minutes of the game, and didn't MISS ANYTHING. Ugh.

Good news is Nikky doesn't have mono or anything bad like that. Just a bad cold. He should be back by this weekend, so thank God for that. *sigh*

The fight was amusing. *snuggles Shelley* I'm not sure what I think of Konopka. I don't know if we need someone who tries to pick a fight EVERY SINGLE FUCKING SHIFT HE HAS ON THE ICE. *twitch*

Right. Let's hope Hitch kicks them in the asses and tells them to get their shit together before next game. Otherwise, this season just went to hell (...not that it wasn't already there, but yeah.).

Game Day!

Well, tonight is the Jackets first game since their disgusting loss to Calgary almost a week ago.

Phoenix Coyotes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
7 P.M.
NHL Preview Of The Game

Ron Hainsey and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen are both questionable for tonight, after both sustained injuries in Friday's game. Hainsey has a head injury, and Tollefsen has a rib injury. Let's hope they both heal quickly, because we can't lose anymore defensemen. We're already down Duvie Westcott (...again. Sigh.) because of a concussion.

...Scratch that.

". . . Defensemen Ron Hainsey (head) and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (rib) went through a long practice yesterday and are expected to play tonight. . . ." -Taken from the article linked below.

Hitchcock Searches for Winning Combos

Seems that Hitch is switching around the lines again. As much as I hate the idea of Rick Nash and Sergei Fedorov not being on the same line together, they haven't exactly been shining together lately, either, so maybe this will do the both of them some good.

Winger Nikolai Zherdev, dogged by a flu-type illness, hasn’t skated in a week. But he did manage a 50-minute ride on the stationary bicycle yesterday. "He’s not ready to get back on the ice," Hitchcock said. "If he feels OK (today), he’ll ride the bike and skate. We’re bringing him back slowly. The best-case scenario is he’ll play on the weekend."

A little bit of an update on Nikolai Zherdev, which makes me a little happy. Still nothing on what exactly it is he has, however. Maybe they'll clue us in tonight during the broadcast.

A few days ago, Tomas Popperle was sent back down to Syracuse, but no word was given on whether or not it was because of the possibility of Fredrik Norrena being back in the line-up or not. Can we hope?

There may be the possibility of a liveblog from me tonight, or at the very least, I'll keep a running log of my reactions in a Word document and then post it after the game or something. Who knows.

I do believe that's all from me for now. GO BLUE JACKETS.

I felt the need...

To show off pictures of the little Czech who scored tonight. *giggles* Yay for Jiri Hudler! It wasn't pretty, and it was lucky, but it was still a goal!








Seriously. Someone tell the kid to not be cute, so I can stop flailing over him and making a total idiot of myself.

...I feel dirty now.

I am a good Ohio girl, I am a good Ohio girl, I am a good Ohio girl.

Right. So I watched the Wings game, and enjoyed it immensely. Even more so when Jiri Hudler and Robert Lang got goals back to back. (My brain wants me to make a dirty joke, but I'll refrain.) As horrible as Jiri's goal was, it was still a goal. And he gets cute points, so yay Jiri!

Appy and I talked throughout the entire game, and there was much yelling at Dom Hasek to just STAY IN FRONT OF THE NET, KTHXBAI.

Right, so in summary, Shanahan, Nylander, and Hossa with goals for the Rangers. Datsyuk, Hudler, Lang, and Zetterberg goals for the Wings.

4-3 Final, Wings win!

omgwhut?

Go Red Wings.

...I will go back to being a Blue Jackets fan now, kthxbai.

...Oh who am I kidding. *sigh*

Doug Maclean: .....Why exactly did we get rid of Pascal Leclaire and Fredrik Norrena for her? Seriously. Why didn't someone stop me?

Team: Columbus Blue Jackets (Yeah, yeah. Shush. I love my team.)
Uniform Number: 43 (The year my dad was born.)
Position: Goalie, baby!
Nickname: Skye-chan. Though, ‘sieve’ would probably be the opposing team’s nickname for me.
Dream Blueline Pair: Rostislav Klesla and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen
Rounding Out the Power Play: Sergei Fedorov, Sidney Crosby, and Alexander Ovechkin. Shush, Sergei or Sidney can learn to play right winger.
Job: Acting like I’m a good goalie, but in reality, pretty much sucking.
Signature Move: Spinning in place during commercial breaks. Because I like to twirl.
Strengths: Being female, which can catch some players off guard, because who wants to plow over the poor little short girl goalie?
Weaknesses: Not being able to handle the puck well enough to pass it to the right teammate. Oh, and that whole letting-in-the-puck thing.
Equipment: I‘m a CCM girl! (I totally agree with Appy. Martin Brodeur’s voice is totally a good reason to be a CCM player.)
Nemeses: Dion Phaneuf, or anyone else that messes with Nikolai Zherdev. Rod Brind'amour, because he's scary looking.
Scandal Involvement: Well, see, there was this time that people accused me of kidnapping Nikolai Zherdev for a few games, and hiding him in my apartment, but it was never proven.
Who I’d Face in the Stanley Cup Finals: The Boston Bruins. With Hannu Toivonen in net for them. ...Though I'm pretty sure I'd stare at him more than I would actually do my job.
What I’d do with the Stanley Cup After Our Victory: ...What exactly can you do with the Stanley Cup? Other than let it sit and be admired.
Would the Media Love Me or Hate Me: They're mixed. Some love me, because I never give them a lack of entertaining stories and screw-ups for them to write about. And some hate me (see: The Columbus Dispatch), because I suck. And it gives them a chance to make a scapegoat out of someone other than Nikolai Zherdev.
Next up: Drea!

Ahaha, 'cause I'm lazy.

So I meant to post the rest of last night's scores, but I'm lazy, and didn't. Sorry! Not to mention that I had so many tabs in Firefox up that I think if I'd opened another, my browser would have spontaneously combusted.

So, here we go with the scores.

From last night:

Toronto beat Ottawa, score: 3-2. I'm still kind of boggling over why Emery got first star? ...Oh well.

New Jersey defeated Buffalo (._.), 3-2. Drea made a lovely post about that game. Go check it out.

Tampa Bay over the Rangers, 3-2, with Vincent Lecavalier getting the game winner, and first star.

Los Angeles over the Panthers, 7-0. I'm still saying, "wtf?" to this one.

St. Louis with a shutout against the Stars, 2-0. Way to go for Manny Legace for another good game, as well as getting first star.

Nashville with a shutout against Anaheim, 3-0. I was wishing that both teams could lose, but alas, hockey doesn't work that way.

Boston defeated Carolina in overtime with a score of 4-3, with Zdeno Chara getting the game winner. Woo Boston!

Minnesota shutout Phoenix, 1-0.

Calgary defeated Vancouver, 4-3.
--------------
Now for today's scores, both of which went into extra rounds.

The Capitals beat the Islanders in a shootout, the final score being 2-1.

Montréal defeated Pittsburgh in overtime, 4-3. Sidney Crosby got 2nd star (Hahah, surprise? ...Not really.) to go along with his two assists.

I do believe that's all from me for now. Possibly that hockey meme that's going around will get posted later, if I get the inspiration to do it.

All you need to know about me...

...you can learn from the sentence, "Deep down inside, I have this little swelling inkling of love for Ty Conklin."

So I'm not sure what I'm doing over here, honestly, when I've got No Pun Intended already but I'm sure I'll find something. Mostly I just don't know how to say no. (I'll see you soon over on HLOG too maybe?) In fact I'm sure I'll end up wasting even more peoples' time here than there, how about that! So anyway since all the serious blogging I'll be doing will probably happen there I'll more often than not just throw a bunch of links to anything important like game recaps and whatnot. But hey someone has to represent the West out here, considering almost everyone else around is an East fan or at least lingering around the Central division.

Maybe I'll go on about trades (oh wait I already did that)! Did you hear? Every team in the league wants Foppa. How about that?

Or maybe I'll ramble about my fantasy team! That'll be fun times for everyone, HAY DARCY TUCKER REMEMBER WHEN YOU PLAYED HOCKEY?

More than likely I'll just wander in, throw out some adorable pictures of Jussi Markkanen being silly, and go back to refreshing Spector's every five minutes for trade updates. As a general rule I will probably not be in this good of a mood, though, as I do not imagine another day anything soon when five out of my six top team play and five out of my six top teams win - and my #1 goalie gets a beautiful shutout. Just wait until the trade deadline gets closer.

In closing, the Devils still play boring hockey and the Senators (minus Antoine Vermette) still suck.

I would like to take this moment to state...

...that I could practically live off crisped rice cereal. It has possibly supplanted beer as standard hockey sustenance.

Now on to the game. I would be the resident fan of fearsome mollusks (Hi, you will find I tend toward lame puns and overused clichés at times to mask shortcomings in the veritable knowledge department~ Enjoy! ) so I would be the one to take it upon myself to post about this disgusting example of disappointment. To preface, I actually like New Jersey in spite of everyone else's claims (which are not without base to be sure) that the Devil's play boring hockey. This game still seemed like one to look forward to though because thus far this season the Sabres-Devils match up has proved to be quite a good one.

And, in an objective sense, it was a good game. Both teams played fast and well (though I'll bite my tongue here in a few minutes). It started with a nice Drury goal in the first in spite of not being at their best. But they had just come off of two wins against Boston (granted it's only Boston but confidence can in fact do great things) and seemed to be playing a better game than they had for weeks now and I couldn't have been happier. Even Miller was back on his game after the abysmal last couple (Side note: Much as any fan would want their team to stay on top, I can't help being a little happy when Miller gets chewed up enough to cause Biron to start a few. I justify that cannibalism wasn’t always frowned upon in this continent.) They continued to step it up in the second and while they weren't scoring they actually kept to defense for once like the miracle that never seemed likely to happen.

Then in a stunning display of 'lolpingpong!' for a half period Jersey made quick work (two minutes and thirty one seconds to be exact) of three goals at the start of the third. The first two, unfortunately, were out of Miller's control. In fact the first one was kind of ridiculous with Madden just about digging it out from under the glove. He was clearly pissed and taking another a mere 20 seconds later didn't seem to help his mentality at all. I'll spare the Miller vs Biron debate though since he was still in better form for most of the game. And the rest of the team was surely not without blame because stepping up the defense also seemed to lead to "hey guys lets not play offense this time and keep the puck in our zone it'll be fun!" This is rather typical heart attack inducing play however which has been known to lead to really nice OT wins but that doesn't make the tactic any less stupid!

To finish Numminen got one more goal but victoly was not to be had though it was a good fight right up till the end and still enjoyable to watch (enjoy to keep me from damaging the tv and killing that possibility). Furthermore in case anyone is wondering why I just recapped all this when you could probably find something much more informative and witty at the Sabre's blog, which I have conveniently forgotten the name, of it's because 65% of the time I feel the need to bitch about hockey while only 5% is devoted to smiling and nodding when a team does well. And HEY! Briere got a whole vocal 'awwwww' out of me when he fell over! I hated myself just a little for that.

Oh that other 35%? Staring blankly as the season passes me by. Hey look, there goes Foppa. (On that note I may take a stab at the trade thing later but I don't follow them religiously like a certain other two members here. Eh, c'est la vie.)

Another author!

We have another author! I'll let Drea, who is our resident Buffalo Sabres fan (Though she's slowly converting me to the 'dark side', and I am doing the same to her with the Jackets...Bahaha.) introduce herself.

In actual hockey news, the Sharks won over the Blackhawks with a score of 4-2, with the goalie, Vesa Toskala getting not one, but TWO assists on the night. Way to go Vesa!

The Flyers beat the Thrashers with a score of 5-2 (omgwhut?). ...That's kind of all I have to say about that one. I'm still trying to figure out how the FLYERS beat the Thrashers. *boggle*

Look for another post later tonight with the rest of the scores from tonight!

Nikolai Zherdev, this is me smacking you for being retarded.

So, we've finally gotten a clue on why Nikolai Zherdev has been playing so badly for the Jackets.
---------------------------
Flagging Zherdev to undergo tests.

"Is it (mononucleosis)? Is it a virus? I’m not a doctor, but something is wrong here," MacLean said.

Part of the problem is that Zherdev did not fully divulge his symptoms to Blue Jackets coaches or the training staff.

Hitchcock made him a healthy scratch Jan. 19 against Detroit, saying he wasn’t pleased with Zherdev’s effort in recent games.

Turns out, Zherdev has had no energy.
-------------------------------------

Nikolai, I love you to death, but this is me smacking you for not telling anyone. How stupid can one person be? If it really is mono, things could have gotten so much worse than him just not having any energy. His spleen could have ruptured, and any number of other things.

My brain is telling me to make a retarded joke here, but I'm going to resist.

What in God's name posessed him to not TELL anyone? If he was having trouble not being able to articulate it (we all know he's still having trouble with English), he's got Sergei Fedorov, Alexandre Svitov, and now assistant coach Gary Agnew, who's leanring a little bit of Russian, that he could have told in Russian.

Just ugh.

In other news, the Penguins won (I am not proud of Jordan Staal's goal, oh no I'm not.) over the Capitals with a score of 2-0, and the Oil won over Avs with a score of 3-2. Props to Ales Hemsky and Ryan Smyth for their goals. And major props to Dwayne Roloson for getting first star. The Islanders beat the Habs with a score of 4-2.

There's still several games left to be played tonight, and I'm hoping Appy will provide a review of the Oil game, as she watched it.

So, I think that's it for me for now! Go Jackets! ♥

Welcome to OMWORAO.

Wow, is that a mouthful.

Anyways. Welcome! I'm Skye, and this is "Of Magic Wands, Oil Rigs, and Octopi", a hockey blog. This was started because I apparently posted too much about hockey in my LiveJournal, so I decided to get my LiveJournal friends-list a break, and start this. I tend to be a little spazzy when it comes to hockey, but I'll try to keep that in check here.

A little about me. I'm a 18 year old, first-year hockey fan from a little hick town in Ohio, and I follow the Columbus Blue Jackets. I live, breathe, eat, and dream them. I also follow the Edmonton Oilers and the Boston Bruins. ...And the Detroit Red Wings, but you never heard me say that, because I'm a good Ohio girl, and don't root for any team from Michigan. . . .

So far, there's two other authors, and they are: Steph, though I call her Appy, and then there's Nyne, who says she'll post after the Super Bowl to introduce herself. XD

I'd start off with a post about last night's Columbus/Calgary game, but as I'm still rather disgusted with my team, I don't want to ruin the brand new blog with me ranting and raving about how crappy they played. Let's just say that I'm not pleased with a score of 6-2.

And I really hope Nikolai Zherdev gets well enough so that he can play consistently again, because jeeze, after all that sickening talk about trading him that was FINALLY squashed by MacLean, the kid needs to get back out on the ice, and wow everybody. He really needs it. Here's to hoping he's better by Tuesday and can start.

So, I think I'll leave you with that. And again, welcome!