#i need to know if the sabres stream is always that quality or is it just the behind the net cam bc it's a sick angle but... she's a lil wac

[adamfanti11i]

between the legs to go between two sets of legs. just kirill marchenko things. // cbj @ buf, 12.19.2023

[hoodoo12]

And So It Begins (3/?)

SFW, with a minor mature scene. Orc/Human.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

When Grar returned, he carried not only his axe, but a rolled bundle of fur.

“This is better quality than what you have now,” he told you without bragging.

You were getting used to his straightforward manner, but protested the gift. He refused to take back the heavy elk hide, however, and eventually you thanked him for it.

You spent another day of hard labor chopping wood. For a meal your mother also asked if you would check the fish traps; Grar accompanied you to the stream again as you harvested the trout that had swum into the wooden traps but couldn’t get back out.

As you killed and cleaned them on the rocks streamside he asked if you ever had salmon in this stream. You told him no, it wasn’t one that salmon ran, but there was a pond a little further away with bass and mudcrabs. He told you there was a river near his cabin wear he had seen bears take salmon, although he wasn’t much of a fisherman. You nodded, thinking it might be nice to have some of the fatty fish occasionally.

Your mother wrapped the fish with herbs and cooked them while you and the Orc stacked the logs. The amount you’d chopped exceeded what you’d usually set aside by this time of year, and you thanked him. Having so much so early would give the wood time to dry, which meant it would burn longer and produce less smoke in the colder months.

Once again you shared a pleasant meal.

At the end, as he collected his things to go, he mentioned that he was expanding the firepit he had in his cabin. Although it was functional, like what you and your mother had, he decided to make it a real fireplace with a chimney and hearth. He’d already collected the stones for the chimney, but if you’d like to see the slate he was considering for the interior of the cabin, he wouldn’t mind showing you.

Thinking that if you could help him collect the slate it would be a nice way to help repay him for what he’d done for you and your mother, you agreed.

Another twitch that could possibly be the beginning of a smile danced around his lips. He gave you a real nod this time, and was gone again.

You watched until he was out of sight, when your mother shuffled up beside you.

“He’s very nice,” she commented. 

“Yes. I don’t want him to neglect his own work, though,” you fretted. “It’s getting later in the year and he should be focusing on making sure his traps are ready and he has enough supplies for hunting.”

“I’m sure he’s taking all that into consideration,” your mother replied. You murmured your continued concern, and she went on, “Orcs can be temperamental, which is why so many choose a warrior’s path, but they also have a strong work ethic too. No lazing about.”

Your thoughts were on him for a moment more, before your mother’s words made an impression.

“You knew he was an Orc?”

“Of course!” she chided slightly, with a smile. “Well, I can’t tell if he is full-blooded or half-Orc. He mentioned his Clan. And his hands are so large, plus when he speaks I can tell he is so tall compared to us! He also has a very faint lisp. He has tusks, doesn’t he?”

You shouldn’t underestimate your mother’s observational skills. “Yes, he does.” Then you paused, and told her, “He’s full Orc.”

“Ah,” your mother said, nodding. She took your hand. “Then I am sure he isn’t forgoing whatever it is he needs to do for the season’s hunting, no matter how much time he spends with you.”

Your eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. Your mother couldn’t see the expression, but you were sure she could hear your confusion when you asked, “What do you mean by that?”

She laughed, but not unkindly. “He’s courting you, silly!”

It felt like the air had been sucked out of your lungs. “Courting me?!” you croaked.

“Yes, of course he is.”

You tried to make everything you just heard fit into your world. It didn’t make sense, and you said so. You told her that he was just helpful; that he was generous; that he thought he owed you since you shot the archer when he was being attacked; that he was friendly, or lonely; that what she said couldn’t be true--

“Don’t you think what he’s done eclipses the assistance you gave him?” your mother asked quietly. “And people from the village know our situation. When was the last time any man volunteered to lend a hand with the work that needs done?”

With that, she squeezed your hand and left you again, still staring at the forest Grar had disappeared into, a whirlwind of thoughts and questions in your head. You couldn’t deny the warm feeling that blossomed in your belly, however, when you thought about him.

⁂

Mid-summer, when you hadn’t seen Grar for several weeks, you decided that you would try and find the river he told you about, with the salmon. Bidding your mother farewell, telling her you hoped to be back before nightfall, you took some bread and berries, your bow and the dagger Grar had sharpened for you, and set off. You only had a general idea where Grar’s cabin may be, but if the stream near your hut branched off from a larger river, that may be the exact one he was talking about.

The wilderness was unbroken, and you realized you were heading uphill. That was fine; you didn’t expect the land to be flat and covered in the same forest you’d lived your life. It was nice to have some elevation when the trees weren’t so thick, and you could see the surrounding area. As a matter of fact, you found a sturdy tree to climb to survey everything.

Making sure to hold tightly, you could see the smoke from the fires in your village, although the structures themselves weren’t visible. Turning, you saw that the hill became part of a larger chain, and further away, they became mountains. You also caught sight of a river--the river, you hoped!--and mapped where it was so you could head than direction after you ascended.

After the bandit attack you witnessed, you tried to keep more aware of your surroundings. You tried to be quiet. You tried to keep an eye out for any plants that could be helpful to your mother. You only carried a satchel today, over your back; it wasn’t large but could hold a squirrel or two if you were quick enough to shoot them or handfuls of different plants if needed.

You heard the river before you saw it. It was louder than your stream; you’d seen that it had boulders in it and if the waters came from higher up it could be fast. You were still cautious, because wild animals would use it too and you had no desire to startle a bear or sabre cat.

Luckily the way to the river was relatively even; although it continued slightly uphill and you did have to skirt boulders and climb occasional crags of rock, you didn’t have to climb. It seemed like there was a flatter bit of land up ahead. That was your goal, although you had to watch you where you put your feet to not slip in the gravel.

With your head down, you caught sight of movement out of the corner of your eye.

Automatically you stepped behind the boulder you had one hand on for balance, breaking the direct line of sight between you and whatever you’d seen. You also froze and listened hard to try and determine what it was.

The sound of the tumbling water was too much to hear anything. Carefully, carefully, you crouched down and peeped around the rock.

It was Grar. You saw a natural pool had formed to the side of the swifter water, and it looked as though he’d dammed some of it up for depth and ease of access. He was nude, crouched to scoop water to drink. You could see the scar where the arrow had pierced his shoulder, as well as other minor scars down his back to his buttocks. His clothes and weapons were piled neatly far enough away they didn’t get splashed.

As you spied on him, he loosened his hair out of its plait and shook it free. Then, without testing the temperature or easing into it, he stepped into the pool.

You had no way of knowing how deep it was, or if he simply submerged himself, but he was out of sight the next moment. You blinked and waited. You had no idea Orcs could swim, and had always been told they had an aversion to water. Like so many other things you’d learned, this was another lie. Your thoughts then moved to wondering how long an Orc could stay underwater--

Grar stood up. His gasp for air and the fact you could see gooseflesh erupt all over his skin told how cold the water happened to be. The Orc rubbed his upper arms and chest vigorously. He grabbed a cloth you hadn’t noticed from the bank of the pool and washed. It dawned on you that you recognized the fabric; it was the same you’d wrapped a loaf of bread for him. Your old dress! Then he climbed back out of the pool, streaming water as he went.

You knew he was large; Orcs towered over men and were broader and heavier too. But seeing him naked made your heart catch in your throat. The cold water made his skin color bright. His chest and waist were wide, but proportionate. His hair, looking flat black after being drenched plastered to his neck and shoulders, was in stark contrast to the color of his body. There was no hair on his chest. A thin line of it marked the way from his navel to his pubic area, where it became fuller at the base of his cock.

You didn’t mean to look, but your eyes didn’t listen to your manners. His cock was darker colored and thick. It should surprise you, it should scare you, but it didn’t; instead, that warm sensation you felt in your gut when he was around flared. Your thoughts took a naughty turn, an unladylike turn, and your cheeks burned too.

Grar had another cloth to dry himself with, which he did, squeezing the water from his hair. You watched him in secret a while longer. He used a blade to shave the sides of his head, and didn’t immediately re-braid it. It was the first time you’d seen it flowing down his back. Part of you wanted to call out to him, but another part reminded you that you were spying and rude, no matter how aroused you were.

Finally, you quietly crept away.

You told your mother you didn’t have any luck, but maybe you’d try again another day. She couldn’t see how flushed your face remained. 

tbc . . .

[jtcrosalinda-blog]

Res Audio 2019 7 Myths About HD Music

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Should you lurk around sufficient audiophile-associated sites, you might stumble upon writers claiming a difference in sound between the same music played again in FLAC or WAV format. This article on The Effectively-Tempered Laptop does a pleasant job of exploring this concept, each from the attitude of those who do not imagine such a thing is feasible and from those who assume there is a distinction. I too was disappointed that by playingflac information on iTunes" really means changing toalac. This is not the identical thing at all. That's like saying you may play VHS cassettes in your DVD participant! Yeah, all you'll want to do is transfer the VHS cassettes from your VCR to your DVD-R. (You will have that tools, right?) I believe you might need to change the title and keywords in order that your article is a match for the appropriate query. Run Free FLAC to MP3 Converter firstly, simply click the "Add Media Information" button to select audio recordsdata out of your hard drive. You can even add batch audio recordsdata by clicking menu "File -> Batch Add Media Files". For those who've been looking at hi-res music and have been instructed that iTunes isn't able to hi-res audio, that's simply not true. With Bitperfect, you can load up your music library with a lot of great hello-res music. Can folks hear the difference between lossy MP3 digital music files and lossless ones? Opinions differ strongly, with much obfuscation round audio cables, mastering and hi-fi componentry muddying the waters.

On this article, I'll take converting FLAC to MP3 for iTunes for instance. By the way, the quality of MP3 shouldn't be good as FLAC, however the greatest advantage is MP3 might be played on most enjoying gadgets, comparable to Android telephone, iPhone, iPad, iPod, laptop and MP3 player. Those who handle their music library with iTunes nonetheless cannot use Ogg Vorbis or FLAC in that software; ditto for Algoriddim Djay. Pioneer Rekordbox didn't listing support for Ogg both. Supports more than 20 Audio Information codecs similar to AAC, OGG, MP3, WMA, APE, AC3, M4A, FLAC and many others.

[scrollingkingfisher]

Be Sure to Check the Price Tag Before You Accept an Offering

For the November prompt of the Gabriel monthly challenge! 'Too many impostors claiming the title of Trickster these days. Some of us had to work for that name. Some of us created it. Our names only spoken in hushed whispers for fear of us hearing'

Tagging; @lacqueluster, @revwinchester, @archangel-with-a-shotgun, @ashiewesker and @gabriel-monthly-challenge

(ps. i’m thinking of starting a tagging list, if you want me to tag you in my stuff in the future, hit me up!)

Thanks again to @theriverscribe, you’re the best!

Rating; T

Words; 1951

Tags; Tricksters, Attempted human sacrifice

AO3

A trickster attends a human sacrifice. A trickster decides to accept a certain pair of hunters.

A trickster makes a Very Big Mistake.

The trickster felt a call.

It hadn't been a trickster for very long. It didn’t even have a proper name yet. It had been many things in its (admittedly quite short) lifetime, but so far being a trickster was its favourite; sun, sex and all the virgins you could eat. There was barely any work to it, everyone seemed terrified of tricksters for some reason, but that was working out to its advantage. It just came when it was called.

Why shouldn’t the humans worship them? Tricksters were gods. It was right that they acknowledged something superior to themselves.

So when it felt the twinge of a summoning, it responded eagerly, teleporting itself to a small clearing in a forest in Wyoming. It hoped that there were at least some decent human sacrifices. None of that ‘food gifts’ business, either; it had eaten the group of worshippers who had tried to summon it with a roast dinner.

It peeked in without manifesting first, making sure that there was nothing bigger and scarier responding to the summoning. There was a little stream running through the clearing, and a quaint little cottage on one side. It would have been very pleasant if not for the two naked men chained to the bloody altars.

The trickster relaxed, fully manifesting and letting a savage smile spread across its face. Now this was it’s kind of party.

The pagans, stupid greedy little things, turned as they saw him appear. They bowed in front of him. Grovelling like they should be.

“My lord! We bring you gifts.”

The trickster made a show of walking over and inspecting the sacrifices, bound tightly but still struggling. No virginity left in those two unfortunately, but they hummed with supernatural power. Especially the taller one. Mmm, it was going to enjoy this meal.

The trickster put on its most regal-sounding voice. “You want a boon?” It made sure not to sound too interested in their offerings. It always haggled when it had the option.

The pagans nodded eagerly. The man at the front, who seemed to be the leader of the group, walked forwards with a piece of paper. The trickster took it and inspected the list. Nothing on there that would take more than a trickle of energy. Good.

“I accept,” it said, snapping its fingers and vanishing the list. There were a few ooohs from the crowd. So easily impressed. “I am pleased with your sacrifices; you have done well. You can go.”

They filed out eagerly. Typical humans; always willing to sacrifice one of their own for a few party tricks, never wanting to stick around and watch the blood-letting. They didn't need to know that it had taken a little of each of their life-forces into the bargain. That was what you got for dealing with a trickster.

It turned back to the sacrifices, casually strolling over, revelling in the helpless anger in their eyes. It pulled out its knife, brandishing it a little so that the blade deliberately caught the light. The shorter one grunted behind his gag, trying to escape the bindings. The taller one just watched attentively, not taking his eyes off the blade. He wasn't looking nearly frightened enough. The trickster decide it was going to kill him first.

It raised its arm to strike, then something caught its eye. It paused. There was something… stuck to the man’s soul. Some kind of mark, maybe? The trickster shrugged to itself. It couldn’t be too important.

The man flinched away, and the trickster relished the grimace on his face, the sound of his heart beating hard where he was trapped against the cold stone. It raised the knife.

Out in the forest, a branch cracked.

Instinctively, the trickster turned towards the noise.

Nothing there.

Of course there wasn't anything there. They were in the middle of nowhere. Irritated with itself, the trickster turned back and raised the knife again.

From behind it, a breathless wind stirred the branches. Rustling the leaves.

It suddenly occurred to the trickster that the forest was silent. Disturbingly, unnaturally silent. The hair on the back of its neck rose, prickling. Something wasn't right here. Turning its back to the sacrifices, it stared out into the darkness where the sounds were coming from.

“Don't you know better than to mess with a trickster?” It's voice echoed back, small and pathetic amongst the vastness of the forest.  

The branches rustled again, the leaves lifting and stirring, a ripple running around the clearing like a great forest beast wakening. “A trickster?” He heard a whisper, carried on the wind. “A weak little thing like you calling itself a trickster?”

So there was something out there, hiding in the darkness. Or more than one. It sounded like there was more than one. For the first time in a long time, the trickster felt a flicker of fear. It raised its knife. “What are you? Show yourself!”

There was no reply. Just another hushed rustle.

The trickster snarled, trying to hide the fear behind anger, but the point of its knife was shaking. “These are my sacrifices! Mine! You're not going to scare me away with your cheap tricks!”

The trickster sent a bolt of magic into the rustling darkness, but there wasn't anything to hit. It heard laughter, high snickers echoing around the clearing. Then the voices spoke again.

“Your sacrifices, you say?” they murmured into the trickster’s ear, smooth, amused. Dangerous. “What gave the impression that they’re yours when they're both clearly marked by other people?” It tutted. “You really should check the price tag before you accept sacrifices. If you had, you would have seen that these particular humans are spoken for. And then I wouldn't have to kill you!”

The trickster spun on the spot, but the voice was coming from nowhere. That feeling was back. The feeling of a presence . There was something huge out there, something massive, looming over the clearing, surrounding it...

“ Are you frightened yet?” The disembodied voices hissed next to the trickster’s ear. The trickster flinched, but there was no escaping them. “You should be. Too many impostors claiming the title of Trickster these days. Some of us had to work for that name. Some of us created it. Our names only spoken in hushed whispers for fear of us hearing…”

The rustling was growing, gaining power and volume, the darkness hiding the creature but doing nothing to mask the noises. The trickster’s head flicked back and forth, following the sounds coming from every direction, breath coming fast and panicked. A slithering. Just the hint of an enormous scaled hide as it slid past, rasping against the forest floor, just out of the torches. The scales glimmering dully, strong as tank armour, smooth as glass. Stories of great sea serpents came to mind, thick coils closing in on a helpless vessel, wrapping tighter and tighter until the beast closed in for the kill.

“You should be scared,” the voices hissed again through a hundred mouths, a thousand, “you should be terrified!”

The smell was stronger now, seeping into the trickster’s lungs. Something musky and wild, an animal smell mixed with earth and blood and oncoming thunderstorms. An eye opened between the trees, then another, and another, irises throwing back the torchlight in eerie gold and red. The night outside the clearing stirred, churned, heaving with limbs and bodies. The chitinous clicking grew louder, whispers muttering just out of hearing

The trickster was starting to realise that it was badly outgunned. “I… there seems to have been a mistake,” it stuttered placatingly, backing towards the centre of the clearing. “I'm sure we can come to some agreement-”

“Nope. Sorry, bucko. Out of patience now.”

The trickster kept backing away. But it was too late to run. The clearing was surrounded.

A growl rumbled out of the trees, so deep that the ground shook. The manacles rattled against the altars adding to the cacophony. It could have sworn that it heard laughter, like this thing, whatever it was, was enjoying the trickster’s panic.

“Please! I’m sorry! You can have them! I’m sorry!”

Out of the gloom a face appeared, scarred scales and fur and too many eyes. But the worst part was the mouth. Gums pulled back in a savage smile, exposing sabre teeth as long as the trickster’s arm. Strings of saliva rippled as the growl grew to a roar, a warm wave of fetid breath washing over them. The trickster was paralysed with terror, a deer in the headlights, unable to move as the thing slithered closer. The maw opened, wider and wider, and it lunged forwards and then-

                                                        .o0o.

Dean shrugged into his jacket, grimacing at the holes in it where the worshippers had gotten a little too enthusiastic with the ceremonial knives. “Did you really have to eat him, Gabe?”

“‘Thank you, Gabriel. You saved us from those mean humans and the trickster that was totally going to eat us, we’re forever in your debt!’” Gabriel mimicked in a disturbingly accurate impression before his voice returned to normal. “Although, I'm not sure if I'd even class that cheap knockoff as a trickster. What kind of supernatural being can't recognise an angelic claim when they see it? Kids these days, with their texting and murder.” Gabriel sighed. “Everything out there with more than an iota of power is calling themselves a trickster! The quality’s definitely going down. Just call me sooner next time, yeah? Before they start carving you up like a thanksgiving turkey.”

Sam chuckled at Gabriel’s expression of exasperation. “Don’t worry, we will. Thanks for saving us, Gabe,” Sam said sincerely as Gabriel casually broke the ropes tying him to the altar and snapped him up some clothes, healing the cuts that the worshippers had inflicted as he went.

“Yeah, yeah, thank you for saving our asses, I guess.” Dean’s voice was muffled from where he was bent over lacing up his boots “Just, I dunno, smite it next time. Eating those things is just gross. You don’t know where they’ve been.”

Gabriel laughed. “Five second rule. And look at it this way; I've saved you from having to bury any bodies. And I'm full now, so I won't try and steal any of your pizza later!”  Dean visibly shuddered, making a dramatic gagging noise. Gabriel grinned, turning to Sam. “Is he always this squeamish?”

“Oh yeah,” Sam said, at the same time as Dean objected “am not!” “You should see him every time we have to go into ghoul tunnels.”

Dean harrumphed and flipped them both the bird when they started laughing. “Are you two done? ‘Cos I want to get out of this creepy forest sometime tonight.”

“What was that thing, by the way?” Sam asked.

“What thing?” Gabriel asked, busy dismantling the altars.

“You know, the massive thing you conjured up with all the teeth and scales. Pretty badass.”

Gabriel paused before admitting, “That was me.” Sam and Dean looked at him in confusion, so Gabriel rolled his eyes and elaborated. “Loki wasn't just a disguise, numbnuts. I really was him. That was a hundred percent genuine Norse god true form you got an eyeful of!”

There was a momentary silence while they digested that and Gabriel finished cleaning up the clearing.

Dean turned to his brother. “Well, you sure know how to pick ‘em, Sam. Gotta say, he’s not much of a looker.”

Sam punched him in the arm.

Gabriel laughed. “Do you want to wake up with your bed full of snakes, Deano? Because you’re asking for a bed full of snakes.”

“Try shifter slime, that’s be much more effective,” Sam suggested.

“Sam! Don’t give him ideas!”

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 8 - LAK - Stats Class

How much would you give for the Sabres to win a Stanley Cup? The list goes pretty far for me stopping only once you get to some basic human needs and fundamental decency. I’d trade the Buffalo Bills for four of them. I think that’s a fair price for giving up an NFL team, that league sucks ass mightily. The Kings sold it all away for their two Stanley Cups. It’s hard to imagine the City of Los Angeles being a snake-bitten hockey market but before 2012 they were one of those first wave expansion teams who had come close again and again to never actually do the thing. It changed quickly and for most of the early years of this decade they were right up there with Chicago as the class of this league. That whole arrangement is no more. The players that won those Cups are eroding off the roster save for an unmovable few. If you win the Cup, even once, you did it. You’re allowed to be terrible for what… ten years afterward? They sank a lot of assets into those runs and it paid off. And though the dynasty team maybe eroding away that “killer instinct”, that never-say-die attitude, still echoes off the ice. It did last night against the Buffalo Sabres. We might look back on this game as just a record 47-save shutout for Carter Hutton or a record back-to-back plus forty save shutout for him; but this game was not what the score shows. LA never fighting in this game and the Sabres got some luck from the posts. Maybe this team learned something last night. In a tired win against a rested squad perhaps they learned you have to keep coming back, you got to cash in your opportunities or even games you should win will not go your way. The Sabres were not punished for their mistakes last night and they take two points from this one, but they have to be thinking about how the massive Kings counterattack nearly ruined it on multiple occasions. The frequency of occasions this game could’ve gotten away from them was a relative stats class on how to not protect a lead. Nonetheless they did. This was a silly shutout but those count all the same. We’ll talk about some advanced stats that show our Sabres lost their hold on it but at the end of the day the only stat that matters is the score and Buffalo won in that category 3-0.

Casey Mittelstadt was snake-bitten, at least in the goal scoring department. The eternal child looked absolutely elated to get the no goals monkey off his back. Jimmy Greasy Vesey similarly finally got on the scoresheet with an assist on the first goal of this game. The two were streaming into the zone… I don’t know… medium speed (?) and Vesey got the puck to Mittelstadt who sniped it home through a defender and Kings goalie Jake Campbell. You could see the relief both of them had with the outcome of that play. That goal came 2:36 into the game while a little over two minutes late at 5:20 into the first the visitors got their second goal of the game. This time Conor Sheary is getting Casey Mittelstadt into the zone at a faster rate of speed and receives the puck from the boy wonder to quick-fire a puck past Campbell. Campbell must have thought Mittelstadt was going to take the shot. 2-0 Sabres and we’re not even ten minutes into this game yet. As awesome as that was I may regret staying up for this game. The Kings are like if Jurassic Park was real. Yes, they have the killer instinct and the never-say-die attitude still that I mentioned earlier, but like a lot of dinosaurs they’re kind of slow and unwieldy. I’m not kidding when I say that 1-0 goal looked like it was in slow motion. Such a speed-of-smell team is then the perfect foil for a very hot Buffalo Sabres powerplay. After we were already up 2-0 the PP opportunity just absolutely grinded to a halt. There was not a shot on the Kings goal during the full two minutes. That first period powerplay was something microcosm of this game: the Sabres getting only non-dangerous token chances but the Kings just not being able to convert when they got the chance. In this whole first period the Sabres managed only 7 shots scoring on two of them while the Kings shot 11 times.

If you were watching this game as a fan of neither team for some reason the second period was probably the most interesting. As the period goes on the Buffalo Sabres are just caved in in terms of corsi by the LA Kings. I am not smart guy either, so I have been training myself in the ways of this sensei called Corsi for a couple years now. Corsi is an attempt to make a stat about shot differential that makes sense. The guy who invented it, Tim Barnes, was actually inspired to do so after listening to former Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier talk so much about shots. Barnes wanted to name it the Regier number or the Ruff number for then-Sabres Coach Lindy Ruff, but both didn’t sound right to him. If he hadn’t been going by a fake name himself he should’ve called the stat Cellino because what combination of names would pay better homage to Western New York than Cellino and Barnes? *Ba dum tis* See what I did there? Anyway, Corsi includes shots on goal, missed shots on goal and blocked shot attempts. In effect it’s how much your team is actually getting puck to the opposition net to put it another way. That also why it breaks down to several sub-categories like 5 on 5 corsi or corsi for and against but I’m already starting to confuse myself here. Feel free to correct me on that description, Chad. By the time the second period is nearing an end the Kings’ corsi is +25 to Buffalo’s -25. The statistical lopsidedness of this game only grew as the game went on. And here’s the thing: the Kings were getting chances galore. Marco Scandella is having a bounce back season so far, but he delivered a goal on a silver platter Ilya Kovalchuk in the second when he squirts the puck (#SabresAfterDark) out from a puck battle behind the Buffalo net to nobody on his team. Kovalchuk was right there, got the puck one-on-one with Carter Hutton at just about point blank with no Sabres defender nearby and fired it wide. They call Alex Ovechkin the Russian machine that never breaks, Ilya Kovalchuk is the Russian machine that broke before the last lockout. Anze Kopitar got a chance earlier where he out-maneuvered Hutton in front but the Sabres’ goaltender’s skate stopped the goal. It’s more or less miraculous the Kings didn’t score through the middle period. You know who did? Yea, Casey Mittelstadt again. LOL.

Our favorite broken Russian machine cross-checked Rasmus Ristolainen and sent the visitors off to a powerplay. Ristolainen then collected a rebound and shot it in Casey’s direction where he was parked in front of the net. Campbell once again failed to track the puck and it ended up in the net behind him. At first it wasn’t clear if Mittelstadt touched the puck at all or if it went in off Kings defender Alec Martinez, but it was credited to Casey. Y’all have two Cups this decade, you don’t get to be upset. And so Mittelstadt was on the Hat trick hunt but because of the aforementioned growing statistical lopsidedness of this game that third Casey goal never came. The third period was wild. I’m told it was at least because admittedly I was in and out of consciousness. I’m no party boy and am no good after midnight. There was only one powerplay and no goals or other big game events in the final frame other than Buffalo holding on for dear life so let’s talk about another advanced stat. This one is a bit easier to wrap your head around then corsi: Expected Goals (xG). Think of expected goals as a combination of various danger-levels of shots on net plus goalie stats mixed in for some flavor. The name is almost self-explanatory, but this stat is literally how many goals should be scored if there was no luck and randomness in the game. Imagine only robots played hockey. If they were flawless robots who didn’t get malfunctions of any kind they would always meet the expected goals statistic. This game is played by humans though, so this stat often shows just how much a team overcomes to get a result. This stat is also often the base stat for all those fun heat maps the nerdiest of stats nerds feel the need to post without any explanation what we’re looking at. The software Chad DeDominicis uses plots it out rather well if you ask me. He tweeted a map of the expected goals and scoring chances for the third period and let me just say Wow. There are a lot of big, scary Kings circles representing high-danger chances right in front of the Sabres net while not so many large circles for Buffalo in front of the Kings net. Though the Sabres won this game 3-0 they were outshot… wait for it… 47 to 24. That’s a record-breaking shutout for Carter Hutton and an opposition outshooting us more than 2 to 1. But hey, we won.

Jimmy Vesey had a pretty decent game for once. I heard his voice for the first time in that interview with Rob Ray in the first intermission. Speaking of people who had a good game, Rob Ray was 100% Rob Ray for this game. He had funny walk up skit in the pregame and fumbled through the aforementioned interview like a champ. We should all have a conversation about Rob Ray at some point about whether we’ve turned him into a self-referential joke about hockey culture but that’s for another day. I brought this postgame to Stats Class, the class I hated the most in undergrad mind you, because this game is pulled straight from the Sabres win streak of last season. They were jobbed statistically and apart from coming back from behind late in the game they exhibited every quality of our fun but ill-fated Fall folly last year. I don’t want to think this is what undergirds the Sabres torrid start and statistically speaking the other wins so far this season show progress and sustainability. I’m all for my club getting shutouts but not like this. I don’t think I can do New Look Sabres reply guy tweet of the game today. By the time Sabres twitter was engaged in this game it was a little too late for quippy tweets, maybe Sunday night when I postgame the Sharks game. For now like, share and comment on this blog to help out. I’ll admit I was totally wrong that they would powerbomb the Kings from lower-earth orbit. I’ll be honest I just like saying that phrase. Here’s a question you could answer in your comment on this blog: What do we think of our first back-to-back of the season? Did it actually effect either game or was it not notable in any meaningful way? Now it’s Evander Kane and the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night to wrap up #SabresInCali. I suspect I’ll be #AndrewInBed before the final horn sounds on that one.

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. I’m fully out of steam on the #SabresAfterDark front. I think I peaked with challenge the goal, daddy.

[henrytcasey]

What Is EVOLVE?

EVOLVE (commonly-styled with all-caps, but here-to-fore as Evolve) is a Super-Indie pro wrestling promotion. While headquartered out of Philadelphia, PA, Evolve puts on a majority of its events in venues in other north-east cities (primarily Joppa, MD and Queens, NY).

Combining top-level independent talent (such as Zack Sabre Jr. and Matt Riddle) and a focus on the athleticism and technical wrestling, Evolve has seemingly taken Ring of Honor's place in the world of pro wrestling.

In terms of format, Evolve has no tv shows, but instead airs two PPV events on back-to-back nights. They name these shows numerically, and August will see Evolve 90 and 91 happen on August 11 and 12.

Why do people like Evolve?

Simply put, Evolve puts on very good pro wrestling matches, and it manages to allow talent to develop characters while still going light on the sports entertainment theatrics. While the quality of booker Gabe Sapolsky is an on-again-off-again meme amongst fans, 2017 has been a banner year for the promotion.

Most of the year, including WrestleMania weekend, saw Evolve putting on top-to-bottom barn-burners. Unfortunately, the most recent shows have seen a dip in quality, as the promotion's seen more talent move up to WWE, in a continuing trend.

Also, Evolve features the best talent who works a manager position in the industry right now –- and that includes Paul Heyman -- in the phenomenal Stokely Hathaway. Why is Stokely so good? Not only can he jaw with the best of them, but his Twitter account is filled with excellent photoshops working Evolve talent into famous album art. Hathaway represents Timothy Thatcher, as well as the Catch Point faction, which is currently made up of "Hot Sauce" Tracey Williams, Chris Dickinson and Jaka.

So Evolve works with WWE?

I wouldn't go so far as to call Evolve a farm-system for WWE, but Drew McIntryre, Johnny Gargano, Cedric Alexander and more all wrestled for Evolve before they made it to the houses that the McMahons are building.

Further, talents expected to join the team down in NXT — Donovan Dijak, Lio Rush, and Kyle O'Reilly — all appeared once or more recently in Evolve.

If you want to go back a little bit in time, WWE held Cruiserweight Championship Tournament spotlight matches at Evolve events. Eagle-eyed fans at Evolve 67 spotted Cesaro, Daniel Bryan and William Regal walking out of the show, which featured Chris Hero (nka Kassius Ohno) among many of the above names.

What are the divisions & championships in ROH, and who holds those belts currently?

Evolve features three championships, and one isn't strictly its own. Its primary title is the (simply titled) Evolve Championship, which is currently held by Zack Sabre Jr.. He won the title from Timothy Thatcher at Evolve 79 on February 25, 2017, ending a 596-day reign.

As the LCD Soundsystem lyrics go, "I was there." It was one of my favorite matches I’ve seen live.

Its other title is the Evolve Tag Team Championship, which is currently held by The Workhorsemen, Anthony Henry and James Drake. The duo won the titles on July 8, 2017, in surprise fashion, as the two weren't signed with the company at the time. They were working in a single-day contract (at the time) capacity, as local talent there to fight then-champs Chris Dickinson and Jaka.

The third title in Evolve is the WWN Championship, which made its debut on April 1, 2017. It was the prize of a six-way elimination match featuring Matt Riddle, Fred Yehi, Jon Davis, Parrow, Timothy Thatcher, and Tracy Williams. Riddle won the title, and is going to defend on August 12 in a match against "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams, Keith Lee, and WALTER.

Wait, what's WWN?

The World Wrestling Network (WWN) is the parent promotion of Evolve, Shine, and lesser-known promotions including Full Impact Pro Wrestling (which isn't watchable) and Styles Battle.

You don't really need to know that WWN is a thing, unless you're cursed with needing to access video-on-demand (VOD) content. That was the case when wwnlive.com was the only way to stream the Progress Orlando show.

What's Evolve missing?

Evolve does not feature any women wrestlers. Sure, Priscilla Kelly shows up to be the American version of Paige and manage Austin Theory, but she's the only woman outside of ring announcer Joanna Rose who appears in Evolve.

If you asked Evolve, they'd likely say that you can find it in WWN sister promotion Shine. Critics might combat them by saying that this doesn't stop other indie promotions, such as the U.K.'s Progress.

What about the announcers?

Lenny Leonard does the thankless chores of all the play-by-play and the color commentary. He does it very well, and I don't think he gets enough credit.

How do you watch Evolve?

So, if you can attend an Evolve show, do it. The tickets are affordable (general admission costs around $20), and it's always a fun time.

If you can't, here's where I talk about the catch to all that goodness.

FloSlam is not a great streaming service, but it's the only place to stream Evolve PPVs. The biggest flaw of FloSlam is that events take around a whole day — often longer — to hit video-on-demand. So if you're not watching live, you're waiting.

And while FloSlam started at $20 per month, new subscribers need to pay $30 per month. so, to explain that, it appears they flip-flopped on new subscription pricing. 

So, while that's two-times the price of the WWE Network (whose low price is arguably a move to make it impossible for smaller promotions to compete), that's still less than it costs to stream one ROH PPV, and it includes two Evolve PPVs per month.

Fortunately, Evolve isn't the only wrestling you get on FloSlam, as Shine, wXw (Westside Xtreme Wrestling in Germany) and International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW:UK) also stream there. It's not hard to argue that Evolve is the best of those three.