Welcome this amazing Goalie!

This is my nephew Nash!
He was born last Sunday morning. Congratulations to proud parents, Tina and Dave.

Yes, they are hockey fans. In fact, Dave has the inside track to win the London Drugs Hockey Pool that I participate in too. He has been in first place for 100 straight days - thanks to Sabre Jason Pominville among others. I was doing well through the All-Star break and then the injury bug reared it's ugly head. Three of my ten guys have only played in 50 or so games: Brad Richards, Robert Lang and Tomas Kaberle.

Ryan Miller returns between the pipes tonight for the Sabres. He missed 13 games recovering from a sprained left ankle. So, he had a bit more time to blog:) Earlier this week, he paid tribute to Martin Brodeur.

Rather ironic that tonight Ryan Miller will face the goalie he looked up to growing up: Curtis Joseph, going for his 454th career win. This Top 10 clip, Goalies Gone Wild, features Cujo at #6. Lots of Buffalo Sabres (past and present) too: Dominick Hasek (389 career wins), Martin Biron and Steve Shields.

I prefer this "offensive" Top 10 list:
Top 10 Buffalo Sabres Goals Of All-Time.
Assist to John Bigl, New Hampshire voice talent and BIG Boston Bruins fan. I let John know earlier it was the 27th today. 27 still causes nightmares for Bruins fans! That was the number of Darryl Sittler, legendary Toronto Maple Leaf. 33 years ago he had 10 points in one game against Boston. That is one record that may never be broken...

Hockey IS French fries & French goalies!

This week on the show - Patrick Lalime is in the limelight. Here is the opener, with yours truly jumping in at the :31 second mark.

The highlight of the week in the NHL was Martin Brodeur of New Jersey winning a record 552nd game as a goalie. He is a Goliath among goalies to say the least and here was Marty interviewed on the ice.

Hockey media coverage in my neck of the woods includes the Stanley Cup in Vernon as seen on CHBC-TV and on the front page of Friday's Capital News: Greasy french fries just too hard to resist. Some food for thought there AND some real funny food for thought here on the Voice Talent Productions Blog. Scroll down to see the two winning pictures. Water for thought here from Stephanie at Voices.com
We say it for you *That is their catchy new slogan.

Finally, I am taking you to some new heights with my voiceover
for the Skywall - an innovative and exciting new form of exercise.
You can hear me at the :24 second mark.

Thank you for your support in my sporting ventures!

1, 2, 3 on Friday the 13th

Just two games in the NHL tonight: Columbus in Chicago and LA in Vancouver, where #13, Mats Sundin, snapped a one goal in 13-games slump with one in the first period. Buffalo boy, Patrick Kane, got his 22nd in the third period for Chicago. Columbus coach, Ken Hitchcock, became the 13th NHL coach to win 500 games recently. He won again tonight, 5-3, against the Black Hawks.

My openers for MSG-TV are here from recent games against the aforementioned Columbus and Chicago teams. Columbus is above from Friday the 14th last November in Buffalo. The Blue Jackets won the game, 6-1. On January 14th two months ago, Chicago beat Buffalo, 4-1, in the Windy City. Here is the opener on MSG!

Buffalo has done better on thirteens than fourteens:

1. October 13 - 7-1 whipping of the NY Islanders
2. December 13 - 4-2 win in New Jersey
3. February 13 - 6-5 shootout win against San Jose

Three themes from the NHL

Tonight there were three games on the NHL Monday menu.
The home team won in each game:

• Los Angeles Kings 3, Vancouver Canucks 2
• Ottawa 2, Toronto 1
• Carolina 3, New York Rangers 0 - Carolina jumped one point ahead of the Rangers into a tie for fifth place in the East with Montreal. The Rangers are tied for eighth place with Pittsburgh - 3 points up on the Buffalo Sabres. It is a log jam!

Yesterday's theme among the 7 Sunday NHL games had at least one team score 3 or 5 goals in each game.

On Saturday in the NHL, winning teams scored either 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 goals. Games with the winning goal totals reaching 6-9 on the SAME night is rather strange! Thomas Vanek got his 33rd in the Sabres' loss to Ottawa. The Sabres got their 33rd win on Friday, 5-1, over Phoenix.

• TERRific news on Saturday night:

TERRace, BC won the Kraft Hockeyville 2009 title!

• TERRific news for Buffalo Bills football fans:

TERRell Owens is coming to town! Welcome...for now:)

Number 32 is NOT welcome!

No, I am NOT superstitious.
But Friday the 13th is a week away!

It was a busy trade deadline day for the Sabres as they made a few moves. This included Tim Connolly agreeing to a new two-year contract.

Mikael Tellqvist (Photo: Getty Images) came over from Phoenix as a backup goalie - and that is who the Sabres host tonight. But Patrick Lalime will start in net after his spectacular 5-1 win over Montreal two nights ago. Anyway, Tellqvist will be wearing #32. I don't like that number! #32 belonged to O. J. Simpson when he was a Buffalo Bill - and now he is a jailbird!

The Sabres have 32 wins right now. After tonight's game against Phoenix, I expect that total to be 33. Thomas Vanek has 32 goals and let's hope he gets #33 tonight. He has been stuck on 32 since a hat trick against Toronto on February 4th. Vanek has not been in a slump; he broke his jaw against Ottawa February 7th.

In case you were wondering, Buffalo has NO 32 year old players on the roster. The closest would be Jochen Hecht and Toni Lydman , who are each 31, but won't be celebrating their birthdays until June and September, respectively.

I have another birthday on March 14. 32 is in my rear view mirror BUT I am a LOT younger than O. J. Simpson! And I think I could outrun him too...

Debt Monkey / Montreal

Wow! Jarome Iginla shattered Theo Fleury's team record for points on Sunday. "Iggy pop"ped in two goals and had three assists but the Flames failed against Tampa, 8-6. Calgary scored another 6 tonight and that was enough to beat Ottawa, 6-3. "Iggy pop"ped in two more goals for a season total of 28. Nice followup to my last post, which ended with a shot at Don Cherry by Gary Kriebel. Gary and I were chatting earlier and he threw out this great line:
"My 1 year old may whine more than Cherry,

but certainly NOT more than Crosby."

I recently had the chance to put my "monkey" where my mouth is. I provided voiceover services for a long narration for Debt Monkey – the program designed to shake the debt monkey by teaching you how to manage your debt, improve your credit and save you money!

Have a listen to our first podcast too, titled Top 5 Tips to Good Credit.

Tomorrow is one of the most exciting days in the NHL season! The trading deadline is Wednesday at Noon PST. There are only two games taking place and in the national spotlight are the Sabres and Canadiens from Buffalo. I think Montreal is going to be trading some guys so hopefully that will mean they will be shorthanded in Buffalo. I don't see the Sabres monkeying around too much. At this moment they are trying to sign Tim Connolly to a new deal.

What goes better with monkeys than bananas? Here is an article by my voiceover friend, Kara Edwards, going bananas - in a good way!

Hockey History Being Made in Calgary

Tonight, Jarome Iginla could pass Theoren Fleury as the all-time points leader in Calgary history when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit. The two teams met in the Stanley Cup Final in 2004 as Tampa Bay won the series in seven games.

The Kelowna Rockets played in Calgary last night and beat the top team in the WHL, 2-1. The game was the 1, 000th called by Kelowna play-by-play announcer, Regan Bartel. Here are his thoughts on the milestone. Two nights ago, the Rockets hit 1, 000 games as a franchise. While Regan started his career in Swift Current, the Rockets got rolling in Tacoma, Washington. Here is Regan remembering those roots. Listening to the broadcast yesterday, I heard Regan mention the Calgary Buffaloes. The Tri City Americans (in Kennewick, Washington) are an original Western Hockey League franchise. Their origins go back to the year 1966 when they were founded under the name of the Calgary Buffaloes. They are owned by former Buffalo Sabre Stu Barnes (1, 136 games played) and current Tampa Bay Lightning goalie, Olaf Kolzig.

New Jersey Devils' goalie, Martin Brodeur, is amazing! Today's game against Philadelphia (his 100th career shutout!) was his 981st, so he could hit 1, 000 career games played if he plays in the Devils remaining 19 regular season games.

Linesman Brad Lazarowich worked his 1, 500th NHL game two nights ago in Vancouver. His very first game was between Buffalo and Winnipeg on a cold Canadian night in late 1986.

Canadian icon Don Cherry gave the cold shoulder to one of the NHL's superstars last night. It got quite a reaction in Washington as my voiceover friend, Gary Kriebel, wrote The Canadian Way?