Regier and Ruff are back - Reporting from the Sabres press conference

I got down to HSBC Arena this morning to take part in the news conference where Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier were formally designated as the returning Head Coach and General Manager of the Buffalo Sabres. For Ruff it is a three year contract with an option for a fourth, whle Regier gets a two year deal. 'We got these guys for substantially below what they would earn in the open market" said Managing Partner Larry Quinn, while not revealing the specific dollar amounts of the deals.

Both men admitted that leaving Buffalo was never really an option or a consideration. Quinn stated that discussions on a new deal had taken place before the season ended, and everyone needed time to decompress after the disappointing finish to the year. Said Ruff, "Buffalo has become one of the best hockey cities. It's a great place to play; It's a great place to coach."

Of course, the questions turned towards the signing of the teams' marquee players, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere, as well as speculation over the status of restricted free agent Thomas Vanek. Quinn stated that the team budget next year will be higher than this year's. Regier also indicated that inquiries have been made to both co-captains through their agents, but admitted that if these discussions go beyond July 1, they will most likely be gone. As for Vanek, Regier offered some reassuring words. "I'm not a believer in operating out of fear. We'll be fine with Thomas at the end of the day."

A number of media members pressed the trio on the team's negotiating policy, and Quinn was quick to defend their approach. 'We've evolved with our contract policy. We used to work under one year contracts. When you do this negotiating during the course of a season, you subtract elsewhere on the team and everybody on the team knows it." Talking to some of the reporters afterwards, most of us saw this line as a bunch of hoo-ey and weren't buying it.

Quinn also stressed this point and asked us to report it. "We are offering mini packs!" Quinn stated that the team's season ticket base of just under 15,000 remains intact, the Sabres will offer mini packs and variable pricing on games, and recommended that fans wishing to attend games consider mini packs, warning that "we speculate that there will be few single seats available once tickets go on sale." Quinn also said there would be a slight price increase for single ticket costs. The Sabres had previously announced an 8% increase on average for season tickets.

One parting comment --- guess which moron forgot to turn his cell phone on to vibrate? Sure enough, my pocket goes off, and rings and rings... prompting Darcy to comment on the noise and jokingly suggest a $50 fine for the infraction. I slunk in my chair, tried not to call attention to myself, but those sitting around me, including Jim Fink from Business First and Janet Schultz from WNY Hockey...had me pegged. I was busted!

Today's Bucky Gleason - how a good column ends in mush

I am not crazy about critiquing or picking apart the work of other journalists in the Buffalo sports media. For the most past everyone here does a solid job, and Buffalo News columnist Bucky Gleason falls in that category, even if he is a trifle cold and aloof to people (like us) who he does not deem as his contemporaries. We're fine with that.

In today's Buffalo News, Bucky presents this commentary offering some unique insight on Maxim Afinogenov's mindset about the Sabres playoff run, more or less stating that Max was perfectly fine with the outcome of the season and what the team did achieve. Hmmmm. Interesting.

He then goes on to take jabs at Assistant Coach Brian McCutcheon and players Jaroslav Spacek and Dmitri Kalinin. OK.

Now time to put a wrap on the column, end it with a bang. Here goes...
"If they give half-hearted efforts next season like they did against Ottawa, they’ll have 10,000 people inside HSBC Arena rather than 10,000 people outside."

Huh???

The Sabres capped their season ticket sales at 14,800 this year, and have a waiting list in excess of 6,000 more requests. Most current season ticket holders have already renewed for next year.

Or didn't Bucky know that?

Furthermore, I've been told by sources that the team will most likely scrap the mini pack product next season, because it is too unwieldy to manage and the tickets just aren't there. The team will leave between 2500-3000 tickets per game for single sales, and my bet is they get snapped up as soon as they become available.

Will it ever go back to the days where the season ticket base falters and there are yawning gaps of empty seats in the corners and end zones game after game? Sure it can, but with the season ticket price structure being so attractive, and the variable pricing policy for quality of opponent, it would take years of dreary and depressing play for the ticket base to erode. I'm confident that we're looking at years of continuous sellouts.

It would be nice if Bucky could focus on some of the good days and great moments that have come from the Sabres these past two seasons, yet he seems to only want to dwell on the negative, almost hoping that the future brings misery and hard luck. Perhaps there's something gooey in the water cooler at One News Plaza, because I flip the page, and there's Donny Osmond, ripping once again on Canalside... "Big Box!" "Abomination!" UGH!

GAME 5: Senators 3, Sabres 2, OT

The dream died tonight.

From the very moment the Sabres lost game 7 in Carolina last June, everything was geared towards this season - the perfect storm of keeping this team largely intact, a year of maturity, of seasoning, a mantra of "One Team. One Goal." The energy began early on... the winning streak in October set the tone, fans snapped up every remaining available ticket and for the first time since the 70s there is a "waiting list" for season tickets.

In February adversity hit the team with injury after injury, yet the team worked through their troubles, and by March the run for the division banner and the President's Trophy was on.

By playoff time there came that queasy feeling - the stumbles against the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers, and somehow just the feeling that this was not the same as last year.

Then came the Ottawa Senators.

Said Daniel Alfredsson, "I think they ran into us at the wrong time."

Alfredsson was right on the money. His team played like they were possessed through the last two months of the regular season. That epic brawl in Buffalo on February 22 set the tone for the coming playoff matchup. Was anyone in Buffalo really looking forward to seeing Ottawa in the playoffs?

After the game, a dejected Lindy Ruff looked like he was fighting back tears as he saluted the fans. "The positive was how energized this city was. How much fun this whole area and city had. We had a lot to be proud of." Then choked up he added "We let the fans down. The expectations were so high. That room was as quiet as quiet can be."

Chris Drury's comments sounded more ominous. Sporting eight stitches below his lip and three more inside his mouth from a puck to the face he took in the third period, Drury remarked "great chance we're not going to be a group anymore. We know there will be changes made. Ultimately that's what we do."

Uh boy.

Our guy Mike Harrington from the Buffalo News broke up the room when he asked Ray Emery this question: "Greektown or Disneyland?" Emery replied, "I got into a lot of trouble last time I talked about this so I don't think I should answer." Harrington pressed on, and Emery cracked back "I'll be in the hotel either way."

Pete missed this game as he worked his USPS shift plus overtime so I was furiously sending him text messages throughout the game to keep him updated. I'm sure he will have his own thoughts to post here, but for now I will post mine.

This was another amazing season. It's been an amazing two years and I can wrap myself in the great memories of the post lockout era and how much being a Sabres fan means to me. We have every reason to be proud of this city and I am prouder than ever of my community and how they have embraced this team. Yeah, we're going to lose players. But so are other teams. This organization is positioned to compete next year and beyond for the Cup.

Thank you Sabres. I am looking forward to next year already. Can't wait!

And yeah, Ottawa is now our bitter rival, and next season I will start hating them again. But for me, right here and right now? "Go Sens Go!"

More "love" from across the Peace Bridge

So tonight I'm flipping through sites and articles and checking out Anything Sabres, and I come across this attempt at a clever piece in the Welland Tribune. (For anyone not from these parts, Welland Ontario is about 25 miles west of Buffalo just across the border.)

The salient points? We lost our NBA team, never won a Super Bowl, never won a Stanley Cup, thousands of jobs gone and more leaving by the day. And we pathetic WNY'ers are just sooooooo desperate for any sort of championship so we could feel good about ourselves again.

Then the kicker... ain't happenin! The writer, some beady eyed, flapping headed Canuck named "Bernd" goes on to gloat how his (suddenly beloved) Senators will be fine, wraps himself in his maple leaf flag, and concludes the piece by saying "Buffalo, better keep those Stanley Cup parade plans on hold."

I have no problem with Canadians from Nepean and Kemptville and Cornwall and Hull, QC supporting the Senators. I do have a problem with any Canadians who can easily catch 2, 4 and 7 with a set of cheap rabbit ears doing likewise.

Wayne Redshaw is a long time hockey writer from the Welland Tribune.. . Heck I remember reading his articles in Sabres programs when I was 12 years old and the top row in the Aud was colored grey. Wayne still covers the Sabres, and I'm going to make a point of giving him an earful in the pressbox tomorrow about his colleague "Bernd".

As an aside... too bad this wasn't a Bruce Garrioch piece... the 'tee-hees" would have been off the charts!

Sens fans show their ugly side

Kevin at Bfloblog shares this story about a female fan wearing Sabres garb who got punched in the face at Scotiabank Place last night following the Sabres 3-2 victory. This brought back memories of my first visit there.

It was 1997, and Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs, and my brother Taras and I made the journey up there; he had gotten some awesome club tickets thanks to a contact he had at the Sabres.

As we walked towards the arena, we got the typical hoots and jeers from the tailgaters in the parking lot... all good fun and we dished out the trash right back. But one particular group of knuckleheads were especially vile and condescending, sitting on the gate of their pickup and drinking their beers. We ignored them.

Gratefully, sitting in the pricey seats we didn't take any crap and were in fact surrounded by other Sabres folks like Jay McKee's mom and Matthew Barnaby's brother, along others. The Sabres' Dixon Ward scored with, I think, 18 seconds left to stun the crowd and give Buffalo the win. Of course, we were on cloud nine, and as we exited the building, we ran into that same bunch of knuckleheads...college age or so. I walked up to them, extended my hand, and said... "gee tough loss guys, but it will be a long series may the better team win." (Little did we know then..game 7 OT.. Derek Plante...) The one dude looks me over up and down and spits a huge honker right into my palm. And then the profanities. I was going to swing a punch but decided not to. So we just walked, but not before my brother took his boot and kicked over their little hibachi grill, coals and brats spilling onto the pavement. I thought for sure this would be it, the fight would be on and we'd all be arrested, but these guys just stood there and continued hurling profanities.

It gets better... we find a Kelseys Grill in Nepean (one town away) and go in for some late night brews and appetizers. We're both wearing Sabres jerseys. The place is half empty, but the hostess says it will be a 15 minute wait. Half an hour later, and we ask when can we be seated, and the hostess summons her manager, and Mr. Snooty says that they are closed for the evening, and to please leave... dripping in sarcasm and nastiness (four other parties were seated while we were waiting and the sign on the door said the place was open till 1AM).

At this point we left, shed the Sabres garb and went to another place and got waited on pronto.

I like Ottawa, and for Pete and me it is one of our favourite USRT destinations. And I admire the passionate fans and Lyndon Slewidge is THE best anthem singer in the four major sports. But fair warning...all this myth about polite and friendly Canadians goes out the window when it comes to their Senators... the fans there become real bastards. And having seen Sabres games in both Toronto and Montreal, I would never make the same categorization in those cities.

Buffalo 7, Ottawa 6

An awesome game turn out into a nailbiter... Buffalo scores seven times and is in total command of the game, only to see Ottawa crawl back into it late. But it was good news for our guys in the end as Buffalo takes it and sends Ottawa fans home disappointed.

OK... this is really about the Buffalo Bisons game last night at Lynx Stadium in Ottawa. But I sure as heck wouldn't mind copying and pasting this text into a Sabres recap 14 hours from now.

Keep hope alive!

GAME 2: Senators 4, Sabres 3, 2OT

Maybe it's just not our time.

I am thinking about how exciting and electric these games were a year ago, heart stopping, edge of year seat moments, magical outcomes. When Dan Briere scored in the frenzied closing seconds and the arena erupted in joy, could this be yet another improbable finish in the making?

But here is the painful fact - the Sabres should have never put themselves in that position in the first place. Once again, this team got their "A" game back, came out smoking, dusted off the disappointment of the disallowed Vanek goal ("You hope they get it right" said Lindy Ruff again), and scored two goals. Two goals! Several more scoring chances went for naught; Lydman's bouncer clanged off the post. This game should have been over early.

But the Sabres attack mode seen in these playoffs in occasional spurts was gone by the second period. Shots on net, scoring chances were few and far between. And AGAIN the Sabres found themselves shorthanded by two men, and when Ottawa seized the opportunity late in the second that goal was a real crusher.

Lindy referred to this power player scenario two separate times in his post game comments. "They got handed another five on three. I'm disappointed with that." Then later..."Give us a couple of five on threes. We've had tough calls that leaves us five on three. Zubrus lifting the stick. Campbell with the nudge..."

The third period was dreary, depressing and painful to watch... on several rushes the players seemed out of position. In one sequence to the left of the Buffalo net Afinogenov checked his own player; Once again shots and scoring chances were virtually non existent, and dare I say it, but it was actually fun watching Ottawa win every little battle, making the smart plays, moving the puck to a safe place time and time again. I could only watch in frustation knowing deep down who the better team was.

Once Buffalo scored to tie it, you had to wonder if this would be a deflator in the Sens locker room, just as the Rangers had gone through almost the identical scenario just eight days earlier. The Sens Jason Spezza replies, "We knew we had to put this one behind us fast and regroup. Nobody here panicked. We're figuring we had the upper hand in this one."

Spezza was right. The Senators came out smoking in the first overtime, controlling tempo of play and keeping the puck bottled in the Buffalo zone for most of the period. By the second overtime, they had darkened the shot clock at HSBC Arena. Perhaps it was another errant squirrel that chewed through the wiring, or more likely the team had had enough of displaying this embarassing stat for all to see. Nonetheless, the Sabres started throwing every puck in front of Ray Emery, and at last perhaps something good would happen! But when Spezza won that draw and got it over to Corvo...just like that the Senators had won the game. Said Joe Corvo afterwards, "This was the biggest goal of my career... by far."

Everyone in Buffalo is so heart broken and so disappointed this morning. Since September we have all geared ourselves up for these days, these games, and nothing short of a Stanley Cup parade will suffice. Is this team really that bad? Do these guys really lack what it takes? Yes Ottawa is the team that is "scary good" in these playoffs, but didn't I see the Buffalo Amerks take it to these same guys back in February?

So I will wrap myself in the warmth of this thought - Scotiabank Place is not Buffalo's house of horrors, but the venue of some of our greatest triumphs - 1997, Steve Shields stonewalls the Sens in game 6 to send the series back to Buffalo; 1999, Hasek stops 40 plus shots to secure the opening game 1-0 win, then Miro Satan with his 2OT game winner in game 2; 2006, the crazy track meet in game 1 and a 7-6 overtime win, then Jason Pominville's shorthanded goal in overtime to take this series.

Yes it will be noisy and loud come Monday in Ottawa. They are awesome fans there and love their team and they should be loud.

That being said, see you in Buffalo next Saturday - 2PM faceoff. I will have the AV pressbox chair. Believe.

How can you not love this guy!

An awesome, upbeat article on Sabres owner Tom Golisano in today's New York Times.

These two quotes jumped out at me, first on the financial state of the Sabres:

“We can remain profitable as long as we play decent hockey,” Golisano said. “If the team were to evolve into a lower-echelon team, I think there would be significant concern about losing money.”
It seems, for now, a faraway concern. Golisano considers the young roster of the Sabres perfectly positioned for years of Stanley Cup contention. The importance of profit may be less of a concern for Golisano, who considered his foray into ownership more an act of community service than investor prudence.
“The personal satisfaction of seeing the enthusiasm, the excitement of the people of western New York toward this hockey team, is worth to me a hell of a lot more than the money that we may or may not make,” he said.

More encouragement about the future of the Buffalo Bills:

He has no plans to rescue other ailing sports franchises, unless it means helping western New York.
“The only thing I will say along that line is that I would hate to see the Buffalo Bills leave the area,” Golisano said of the N.F.L. team, owned by the Wilson family since the franchise began in 1959, and not for sale. “And if a situation arose where I needed to be involved in that, I probably would consider it.”

I'm proud to say I voted for this guy for Governor... three times... and that is long before he had a whiff of owning the Sabres.

The media throngs at HSBC Arena

The first hint I got that this would be something different was while hanging out on the Plaza 90 minutes before the faceoff. I was people watching, and paying particular attention to the media types, and the camera guys, who were mingling within the crowd. And I saw the mic flags... TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, The Score, Global, A-Channel. That's when I realized that all of Canada had sent media to Buffalo to cover this event.

Then my next thought...how the hell are they going to fit all these people into the pressbox?

Last year during the Conference Finals series, it was a pretty full pressbox, and that was for the paltry contingent of 'Canes media... the Cletuses, Roscoes and Goobers of the world... and Ned Barnett. Now multiply that visiting contingent by five, and change the names to Gord, Brent, Luc and Lanny. That adds up to a crush of people.

Here''s how the Sabres handled it all... there are two seating tiers in the pressbox, at the west and east ends. Then in the corner right off the elevator is an auxiliary pressbox which is rarely used during the regular season. That one was opened, and then the team did one better... they added a set of risers in all three pressboxes, with a row of tables and chairs, and thus created a third seating tier.

As for how we fared... here is the email we got from Kevin Snow at the Sabres before the series started.
MEDIA CREDENTIALS: Sabres credentials issued for the 2006-07 regular season will be honored for the Eastern Conference Finals, but press box space is limited. Please contact Kevin Snow to verify your attendance. Please include name and affiliation for each request. All individual game requests must be submitted 24 hours prior to the desired game. We will do our best to accommodate each request, but nothing is guaranteed. If a seat is unavailable in the press box, there will be space in the Sabres media room downstairs to view the game (on a big screen TV) and allow for post game access.

So I'm thinking.. no frikkin' way is Artvoice getting our usual spot on media row. The non dailies (Artvoice, Sports and Leisure and Metro Source) are usually relegated to the farthest three seats on the lower tier... seats 2, 3 and 4.

But as I checked in, I looked at the seating chart, and there we were, in SEAT 1! They removed the TV monitor that normally sits in that spot, mounted it on a bracket three feet behind the chair, and created another position. Kick ass!

Memo to Ottawa Citizen, La Presse, RDS and other compatriots... please don't send anyone else to Buffalo... seat 1 is absolutely the end of the food chain!

GAME 1: Senators 5, Sabres 2

What can one say? This was by far the worst effort of the Sabres in the playoffs.

Despite some shoddy play, the Sabres managed to crawl out of a 2-0 hole to tie the game after two, then totally became unhinged in the third period. Oleg Saprykin's tap in 7+ minutes into the third turned out to be the game winner.

Buffalo's power play has been a sore point all season long, but the special teams took the ineptness to a new low tonight, failing to generate any real scoring threat despite numerous opportunities. Buffalo's first power play resulted in a shorthanded goal as Kalinin made one his first dumb plays of the night giving away the puck and allowing a breakaway. "We weren't very good with the puck, and Dmitri wan't the only player who struggled out there. Our puck management wasn't very good." said Coach Lindy Ruff after the game.

With Ottawa clinging to a 3-2 lead with 5 minutes to go, I turned to my seatmate, Matt Ondesko from Metro Source, and said "Matthew, if Ottawa wants to salt this one away, they should now commit a double minor penalty. That would be lights out." He laughed. He didn't argue.

Ruff also criticized his players for the unforced turnovers. "It was a turnover that led to the winning goal." said Ruff, adding "We came out great to start the game, maybe our guys got a little rattled."

If there was one bright spot on the Sabres team, it was the play of the Afinogenov-Roy-Vanek line. Max was absolutely filthy out there, making plays, controlling the puck, taking hits and dishing it right back to the Senators.

Bottom line - special teams! Five on five the Sabres win 2-1.

Peter was in the seats tonight, I was in the very crowded pressbox, and I'll have a story up on all that hubbub tomorrow. But the report from the 100s was that there were only a very small and scattered contingent of Senators fans in the audience. We expect that to increase in game 2.

As always, Peter likes to spot the cool jerseys in the crowd, and tonight he reports that it was a toss up between an Afinogenov Moscow Dynamo and a Hecht Team Deustchland.

Here's a scary stat - Buffalo has dropped the opener in a best of seven series 14 times in franchise history. They have come back to win the series but one of those times.

One could sense a lot of confidence, perhaps even a swagger, among the Sens players after the game tonight. Unless Buffalo figures this team out and fast, this series could be over soon.

The Bruce Garrioch watch is on!

You remember Bruce Garrioch?

This loathsome piece of crap from the Ottawa Sun is lionized up in Canada as some brilliant hockey columnist, but my first and only recollection of him is getting his pudgy ugly mug on MSG two days after Chris Neil blindsided Chris Drury and sent him to the injury list. Garrioch went toe to toe with Kevin Sylvester and Rob Ray justifying the hit and making his weak and lame arguments for his Senators, a discussion which had many WNY Sabres fans fuming and screaming at their TV sets.

Well Garrioch is on his way to Buffalo, and apparently he is hopping in his car and driving, since John Muckler kicked the media off of the team charter.

From Garrioch's blog...
Off to Buffalo.
The Sun team - Don Brennan, Chris Stevenson, Sean McKibbon and your hero - are headed to Buffalo to cover the big series against the Buffalo Sabres. I told Brennan I was bringing my computer and he told me not to forget my cooler. So we packed both. With flight connections tough between Buffalo and Ottawa _ and since Senators GM John Muckler gave the media the boot from the club charter - the five hour drive is the easiest way to get o Buffalo.
Look, I know a lot of people dump on the place, but's actually a good city that we like to visit. Might even drop by the Anchor Bar (the original home of the chicken wing) where my picture is posted on the wall eating wings at 8 a.m. with CFRA's Steve Madely in 1997.
Should be fun.

Garrioch's mug is on the wall at the Anchor Bar? Ewww what an appetite killer that is!

So will Bruce Garrioch be this year's Ned Barnett? Time will tell, and we will be watching and providing updates!

So just move the games to Buffalo!

Last year it was the appearance of "Dora The Explorer" which threatened to disrupt the playoff game schedule between the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators.

This year, it's the possibility of a strike by 61 Scotiabank Place operations employees, and according to this report in the Ottawa Sun, such a walkout could really mess things up as the teams prepare to do battle in Ottawa next week.

Round 3 game tickets can be had... at Scotiabank Place

We all know the ticket situation here in Buffalo... with a season ticket base now capped at 14,800, few "additionals" available to season ticket holders, and no window sales, the single ticket buyer has had to scramble to find their way into HSBC Arena.
"Window prices", which is a bit of a misnomer, has tickets for round 3 starting at $90 and climbing to $250 for 100 level sidelines and clubs.

But the situation in Ottawa is far different. While the Senators have sold out all their playoff games this postseason, it has been a relatively easy ticket, and tickets for game 4 against New Jersey were available to walk up customers the day of the game.

Check out the pricing chart on the Ottawa Senators website. Tickets run from $86.21 - $217.24 (prices in Canadian dollars which these days doesn't mean much). They go onsale Monday at 10 AM. It's a 330 mile hop to Kanata... hope Sabres fans are paying attention and jump on these seats! Because you know damn well that the Ians and Brents and Trevors from Welland and Stevensville are going to be in our building this week cheering on their *harumph* beloved Sens.



I watched almost the entire game at WNYM headquarters on Elmwood and got to enjoy seeing firsthand all the "open thread" comments coming in on Bfloblog. Peter couldn't make it down but joined us on the thread as well. It was a kickass time!

GAME 5: Sabres 2, Rangers 1 OT

On the plaza before the game...


Welcome back The Earl of Bud!!!

It was over....all over. Just 16 seconds remained and then the Sabres would head to New York to face their elimination on Sunday.

At least that's what about 95% or so of me was thinking before that fateful faceoff.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Drury on the ice and thought "you know....maybe."

And then it happened, Drury nailed the tying goal with seven seconds left and in that instant the agony of defeat became the thrill of...ummm....well....extra time. The shock and devastation of the Rangers late third period goal changed to outright euphoria. Much as I love Rick Jennaret, Van Miller's "Fandemonium" call would have been at least as appropriate for that moment.

And "Fandemonium" would strike in the overtime as well when Maxim Afinogenov, he who was relegated to the bench in game four tipped in the game winner to send HSBC Arena into a frenzy and the Sabres into control of this series with a 3-2 series lead. This could easily be called the most electric moment in this postseason, and the crowd replied by practically blowing the roof open.

A loss by the Sabres would have been devastating not just from the standpoint of falling behind in the series but also from the fact that this was their best effort of the round, if not the entire postseason. Buffalo peppered Henrik Lundqvist with forty shots in this one and from the second period on owned this one but couldn't solve the Swedish netminder. And when the Rangers went up with under four minutes left....well one could feel the game, and maybe the season slipping away.

"I knew that there wasn't much time left.....didn't know seven seconds" said Drury when asked about the game tying goal for Buffalo.

A beaming Max told the press, "This was the best goal of my career." Lindy Ruff added, "He got the biggest hug from me on the runway.... Max was himself tonight. He was the old Max and that is what we needed.

Paul Gaustad got his licks and hits in early and was happy to be playing tonight, although he seemed to tire in the late stages, which wouldn't be unusual. Would they have been toast if they had lost tonight? Said Gaustad, "Had we lost we felt we could pick right up and take it to them in game 6. But now we have the chance to put this one away"

Random stuff from tonight.....

Jerseys spotted in the crowd: Drury's BU, Stafford's ND, and Max's Team Russia in the house tonight. The winner is the Lydman Team Finland jersey though.

Game 5! Featuring special guest star.....The Earl of Bud! What a great moment as the Earl made an all too rare appearance in tonight's game and brought the house down with his epic rendition of "Tequila".....could have sworn the dude was dead or something.

Crowd estimate in the Party In The Plaza..about 4500 on a perfect spring night in Buffalo.

As reported to me by Andrew, spotted leaving his seats and exiting the arena with 16.7 seconds left: NYS Senator Bill Stachowski (D-Cheektowaga) and his companion. Hey Billy, hope you at least had the radio on in your car! And "ha-ha" to any of you morons who left the building during the timeout!

So Sunday it is Buffalo's turn to ride into Manhattan on Cloud Nine...puck drops on the MSG slush at 2PM.

Reporting in from the Sabres morning skate

The big attention this morning was on Paul Gaustad, who was the first guy on the ice for what turned out to be an optional skate for the Sabres. Thirteen players, including all the reservists and both goaltenders, participated. Interestingly, a second "morning skate" was on tap for 1PM, as Amerks coach Randy Cunneyworth was bringing his 11 Amerks callups onto the HSBC Arena ice surface to do their paces.

Gaustad was not officially informed that he would be in the lineup tonight, but all indications said that it would be him in the lineup and Drew Stafford out. "This is one of the most exciting games I've ever played in" said Gaustad. "I am looking forward to it."

Does the fact that this is the first time in over a year that the ENTIRE Sabres lineup is intact give the team a psychological boost? Gaustad replied,"I hope it's a boost. I think it's pretty huge for us."

Lindy Ruff was told that Gaustad is excited to be coming back, and he replied. "He'd better be. It's a great time to be excited."
Ruff admitted he was disappointed in the effort in Game 4 and is looking for his team to play their game and generate more scoring chances.

One side story..great watching the media throng looking for somebody...anybody...in the Sabres locker room for a sound bite. I counted 39 reporters and camerapeople all milling about, and scant few players to talk to. Kind of hlarious actually!

Pete has the AV pressbox seat tonight... I will be in our seats in sec 114, and Pete's brother John and John's bud will be driving up from Rochester and joining us as well. Let's keep our fingers crossed... Better Days!

Those snazzy Sabres tickets...

For years and years season ticket holders got their playoff tickets in the mail, and they were the typical, computer spit out dreck which looked like this...

So wasn't I surprised to open my Priority Mail envelope from One Seymour Knox III Plaza yesterday, the package which contained our Round 3 and Round 4 playoff tickets, only to find these beautiful works of art...

If I had known what was inside, I would have tried to recreate that moment from the movie Fever Pitch. The scene where Jimmy Fallon with great pomp and ceremony opens up the Fedex package from the Red Sox containing his precious season tickets is hilarious! And something every die hard fan can identify with.

Goal or No Goal? Different takes from VS and TSN

We're not going to break down last night's game and repeat some of the same analyses offered up by Bfloblog and the other linked capable bloggers, who have offered some excellent points and observations.

Pete and I watched the game separately at our homes, hooked in to each other via AIM, and following the game we were on deadline to have our column into Artvoice for this Thursday's edition, so there was work to be done.

I was watching the game on TSN (yes I get that channel at my home in Cheektowaga); Pete was watching on VS via Time Warner Cable.

When Briere seemingly scored the game tying goal with 17 seconds to go, the commentators on TSN were calling it a goal while the review was going on. "It's a goal. There is no way that could not have crossed the line it's simple geometry" said their color commentator. I'm typing furiously to Peter --- "Hey Bro... we're going to ohhhhhh-ver-time!".

"Not so fast" Peter replied. Over at VS, they were calling the replay "inconclusive". I'm not sure if VS showed that real grainy close up, but over at TSN they had that enhanced shot up, and the commentator was circling the puck on the telestrator and drawing the angle of the camera, stating that if the camera had been directly over the goal, the small swath of white between the puck and the goal line would be clearly visible.

So here at my house in Cheektowaga it was premature jubilation; over at Peter's in North Buffalo - quiet resignation. A minute later the referee made it official with the "no goal" gesture. This series would come back to Buffalo tied at two.

Downtown Buffalo at night

The Electric Building on Roosevelt Square, crowned in Sabres blue and gold at night. One Team - One Goal... this entire city is living life vicariously right now through the fortunes of our hockey team.

Go away Ronan Tynan!

Peter posted on this topic yesterday but I've got my own thoughts and here they are...

The Sabres have formed quite a bond with the “Irish Tenor”, and the story of his return to Buffalo was front page headlines in the Buffalo News.

I’m not buying into it…and it has nothing to do with Tynan.

I grew up hating the Irving Berlin spiritual “God Bless America”. My memories as a teenager was watching that Dead Fat Woman in Philadelphia step out onto the ice at the Spectrum and croak out that song. And that was it. Game over. Flyers win. The Flyers always won.

A generation later, this song holds a much more bitter meaning for me. The Bushies and the Cheneys and the Halliburtons just love to truck out this song whenever the temperature gets too hot wtih criticism of their Iraq misadventure… forget about the half trillion dollars (and counting) for their fucking war, forget about the 3300 (and counting) dead soldiers. Let us sing to the heavens... let our spirits soar... and together we feel so good and all is well with the world! UGH!

As for last night, I could write you the same sorry story… Tynan sings the song, the Jumbotron displays photos of soldiers, dressed in their desert khakis and holding their rifles, sitting on their tanks and displaying their missiles and other instruments of death.

As I look around the seating bowl and see happy children eating their popcorn and cotton candy, my thoughts turned to other children who might not be smiling. I ask, how many Iraqi children had their homes and villages flattened from those very same tanks we’re viewing in those pictures? How many Iraqi children are orphaned from that same missile battery we saw on the screen last night?

The results of the Tynan show was predictable – a collective orgasm from the crowd. Nothing like images of soldiers and armies and war to get a sports audience going.

What did I do? I did what I always do in sports venues when they play the Dead Fat Woman’s song. I took a seat. Hey, I’ll stand for the Star Spangled Banner and sing loud and proud anytime. But I will not pay homage to that piece of propaganda bullshit.

If you don’t like my take on all this, then go ahead and let me have it. I’ve sat my ass down through many a 7th inning stretch and gotten an earful from people around me. I held my ground then. I’m not about to back down now.

GAME 2: Sabres 3, Rangers 2

Giddy-up guys!

For two periods, the Buffalo Sabres played like they were doped up, managing just nine shots on goal and thanks to some very solid play in net by Ryan Miller, they were kept in the game, staring at only a 2-1 deficit after two periods.

Giddy-up guys!

When the third period started, everything changed. Buffalo got an early goal, a Chris Drury tip in on a perfect pass from Toni Lydman. A few minutes later Thomas Vanek jammed in the game winner, after setting up a perfect pass to Campbell on the point and then crashing the net to bury it.

From there the Sabres put on the burners…wave after wave of attacks which had the crowd up on its feet time and time again.

But the real drama was in the last two minutes, as Buffalo was called with a penalty with 1:48 to go. The Rangers pulled their goaltender, giving them a two skater advantage, and from there it was heart in your throat time and gut check time. “I really wasn’t all that panicked” said Ryan Miller after the game. “I didn’t get to see the call on Briere but I certainly did see Avery punching Briere in the face after the whistle and that wasn’t called.”

Buffalo did a bang up job clearing the puck during that last minute, and the officials missed a seeming offsides call with 10 seconds that had Lindy Ruff steaming afterwards. Even the Rangers attackers held up expecting a whistle but none was called. Ruff was awarded a gross misconduct penalty at the end of the game for his bottle throwing rant.

So what happened in the locker room between the second and third periods? Brian Campbell replies "We just needed to get the puck in front of the net more and create scoring chances. We all talked about it and that quick goal early on so totally lifted the entire bench."

On my pedestal - what more can you say aboout Dainius Zubrus? Again he threw his body around, forechecked with total abandon, played puck control in the attack zone and delivered punishing hit after hit. If the Sabres advance and end up playing Ottawa, the Sens will have a handful to deal with and a force they didn't see in Buffalo when the teams last played.

In my doghouse.. Max Mr. Giveaway Afinogenov and the fact that you didn't see him on the third speaks volumes. Oh.. and yoo hoo, Jochen!!! Feel free to show up some night.

Lastly, props to Ryan Miller for not only his stellar play tonight, but not getting sucked in to a war of words with the Rangers. When told that Jagr had remarked "They probably think it's over," Miller calmly replied that the Rangers deserve every bit of respect and that this is only one game.

So on to the Big Apple it is for a Sunday afternoon game on NBC. Score early..take the crowd out of it.. show why you're such a great road team. Can't wait!!!