Mmmmm Fingers

Just when you thought hockey couldn't get any violenter, (is that a word?) along comes Jarkko Ruutu of the Ottawa Senators.

Tuesday night during the Sens vs. Sabres game, Ruutu and Sabres tough guy Andrew Peters were roughing it up along the boards when Ruutu reached a whole new level of craziness.

As Andrew Peters was giving the Sens goon a face wash with his glove, Ruutu proceeded to bite down hard on Peters' glove. So hard that Peters could feel it through the glove and was in a considerable amount of pain.

After the game when asked about the biting incident, Peters seemed just as surprised as I would have been in the same situation. Except I would've used a lot more swear words.

"I've never experienced that before," said Peters, "I've been in a few altercations before, and I've never had anyone bite me before. I didn't even know that happened, for real."

This is a pretty bizarre situation, and here's the thing. I know times have been tough for the Ottawa Senators as of late, what with only winning two games in their last ten. But are they so bad that head coach Craig Hartsburg is with holding food from the team and Ruutu was just so hungry and couldn't take it anymore so all of a sudden Andrew Peters started to look especially delicious? Because if that's the case, then I think we have an even bigger issue on our hands. (Pun intended)

Check out the video of the incident and post game reactions from seemingly everybody. I'm even pretty sure I saw Barack Obama in there somewhere. Which is surprising because you'd think he has bigger things to deal with these days.

Obvious Disciplinary Update (3:27pm): Ruutu has been suspended for two games. I guess you could say the NHL has bit back! Oooooh, burn!

Alex The Amazing

Alex Ovechkin scored an amazing goal against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. But you know what, it was Boxing Day and you might have missed it. Because instead of being a good hockey fan and watching the game, you were probably out waiting in line to get a great deal on that toaster you've had your eye on. And you know what, I don't blame you. It toasts 8 slices of bread at once! Technology is a beautiful thing.

So for those of you who did miss it, or for those of you who want to see it again, I bring you Ovie's goal of the year candidate against the Sabres.

Let me tee it up for you. Ovechkin intercepts a pass in the Caps defensive zone and then rushes up the ice where he pulls off a sweet deke on Henrik Tallinder. Then while Ovechkin is falling to the ice, he still manages to find a way to put the puck past Sabres netminder Patrick Lalime. Followed closely by himself as he too slides into the back of the net, past Lalime.

When asked about how the goal came together, Ovechkin said, "I was tired and I just fell, and I shoot. It was in, so that's pretty cool ... You always want to do some crazy things."

Notable Quotable of the Day

"From time to time reports surface quoting anonymous sources claiming a club is for sale, or that Jim is doing this or that with respect to a particular club. These reports have generally been inaccurate. More importantly, these reports unfairly put the incumbent owners (or club management) in the uncomfortable and potentially destabilizing situation of having to comment on these inaccurate reports. Very unfairly. As such we have no comment..."

- RIM co-founder Jim Balsillie's lawyer Richard Rodier denying yet another 'Balsillie buying a team' rumour in regards to the Buffalo Sabres possibly being for sale.

Morning After Meltdown: Buffalo Sabres

Going into Monday night's game between the Sabres and the Sens, it looked like it would be a cake walk for Buffalo. They were only one of two teams left yet to lose in regulation, had the best defensive stats in the league, and were facing an Ottawa team that was mired in a four game losing streak.

Once things were all said and done though, it was not the Sabres who looked like the better team but rather it was Ottawa, who walked out of HSBC Arena with a 5-2 victory.

All game long the Sabres looked completely out matched. The Sens seemed to pass and skate circles around the entire Buffalo roster. At one point I could have sworn that Ottawa was playing against a team of pylons wearing Sabres uni's.

Maybe Buffalo wasn't focused from partying too hard earlier in the day after being awarded the 2011 World Junior tournament. Then again, that's probably not it at all.

So for turning in an unexpected disapointing performance in what should have been another game to go in the win column, the Buffalo Sabres are awarded the Morning After Meltdown.

World Juniors Shuffle Off To Buffalo

On Monday, USA Hockey announced that Buffalo will host the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Sabres owner Thomas Golisano attended the afternoon news conference.

"We are honored that USA Hockey has chosen the Buffalo Sabres and HSBC Arena as the host for the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Tournament," said Tom Golisano, owner of the Buffalo Sabres. "All of Western New York will benefit greatly from this world-class event being staged right here in Buffalo."

Other finalists for the tournament were Grand Forks, N.D., and Minneapolis-St. Paul, each of which previously hosted the event.

The tournament will run from Dec. 26, 2010 to Jan. 6, 2011. The Sabres-backed bid for the tournament includes games at both HSBC Arena and Niagara University, about a half-hour drive north of the city.

This year's tournament is being held in Ottawa, 2009 will take place in Regina-Saskatoon, then of course Buffalo in 2011, and then fast forward to 2012 when the province of Alberta will host. Hey rest of the world, sorry about North America hogging up the World Juniors.

I do think that Buffalo is a good choice. It's a great hockey town and I'm sure all the young kids who come from all around the world will just love all the sights (and smells, oh how there are smells) that Buffalo has to offer. And imagine when some of the European kids go sightseeing and try to pronounce nearby cities name's like Tonawonda and Cheektowaga. Good times all around!


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A Night to Remember in Hockeyville

For the residents of Roberval Quebec, it was truly a night to remember as the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens came into town to do battle in front of newly crowned Hockeyville.

The whole town shut down for the day as this was a once in a lifetime moment. Something that everyone in the village of just over 11,000 will remember for the rest of their lives and tell their grandkids about.

The people of Roberval spent months preparing for Kraft Hockeyville 2008, trying to show every hockey fan in Canada that they deserved those 2,198,665 votes the small town received some six months ago in the CBC contest. But the more than $300,000 went towards improving Benoit Levesque Arena (capacity 1200) was all worth it once the NHL came to town.

It was worth every penny and every sacrifice. Three years ago, such a contest didn’t even exist. Three years ago, the idea that the Montreal Canadiens could play a game in such an atmosphere would have secured you a one way trip to the crazy house.

Fast forward to Tuesday night, when everyone in Robervale came together to witness the once in a lifetime event. Fathers held their sons and pointed out some of today’s brightest stars. Youppi! and Sabretooth walked around the arena to deliver high-fives to children who thought they’d never see their favorite mascots in the flesh. After all, Montreal is about six hours south of here. Yes, Roberval is that far north.

Even if Montreal had lost (the Canadiens didn’t disappoint their rabid fans with a 3-2 victory), Roberval still won.

“This is better than Christmas!” one woman in the crowd said.

Here are the highlights from the very special game. They're in french though so you'll have to make up your own commentary. I even do that for english highlights but that's because I like to hear the sound of my own voice.

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Buffalo's New Threads

That picture up top could quite possibly but not 100% for sure be of the Buffalo Sabres new third jersey.

It harkens back to the good ol' days when Buffalo's logo didn't look like Donald Trump's hair.

The new jersey isn't quite exactly like the old one from the glory days of the 80's though. It's a bit of a darker blue and the retro sweater didn't have strings at the top.

I really think they look great. It's just too bad that such nice jerseys will be on such a terrible team. Maybe one way to improve things in Buffalo is when they were those retro inspired jerseys to bring back some of the retro players like Pat Lafontaine or Rob May and have them play a shift or two. They couldn't do any worse than the current roster. And wouldn't you love to hear Sabres' play by play man Rick Jeanneret say "LalalalalaLafontaine" a few more times, or hear him yell out "May Day, May Day, May Day" at the top of his lungs? Yeah, me neither now that I think about it.

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