Archive for the 'NHL' Category

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on July 5, 2007
in Buffalo Sabres, NHL and Puja
. 0 Comments

Sports at Random’s Puja talks Sabres Fans off the ledge. Once again, coming to you raw and unedited:

“i know i’m sabres-biased, but most unlike most of WNY (the sabres & their chances are being crucified on talk radio & in the paper), i agree with the steady optimism of management– their demeanor & message was just very convincing as were the underlying presumptions.

yes, both centers were great, but they each played their best hockey in the wide open buffalo system, with the fastest 12 forwards in the NHL. while many teams had 1 or 2 elite lines (Ottawa, Anaheim & it looks like NYR now too) no other team had the collective speed/talent of the 12 guys buffalo can roll. even now, they are still 3 lines deep without the rochester additions which will surely help. not to say drury or briere will struggle or anything, but neither might ever reach the point totals they hit here. danny has been a pt/gm guy for 2 years, but never even close to that in his 8 years prior.

if you have a system that you believe in, i think you should follow it. in the case of buffalo, that system is shorter/value contracts, building through the draft/minors, & timely trades. huge free agent contracts have just not been a part of the Sabres in the 15-20 years i have been watching. And it’s not like they have been hanging by a thread as an 8 seed using this model. they are pretty consistently in the race for the cup–
1993: Swept 50-win boston in round-one (MAY DAY, MAY DAY). lost to champion Montreal in the 2nd round, but all four losses were by just a goal & the last three in OT
1999: finals, no comment
2006: conference finals, bizarre injuries
2007: president’s trophy, conference finals
^It’s a good model for a small market team. sure, the rangers have their ‘94 cup, but if you stack BUF-PHI-NYR since the early 90s the sabres are right there with them… & with far less operating cash & fewer big salaries.

also, despite winning that one cup the rangers have rolled the dice & lost during the same period. consider the late 90s early 00s rangers– they went out & got a bunch of expensive veterans: Fleury, gretzky, LaFontaine, stevens, macLean, hatcher, Nedved…. then missed the playoffs 7 years in a row. i dont think anyone would compare their latest signings to that situation, but the return might not match the investment. the speculative free agent contracts of 03 didnt exactly work across the league (see lockout)

history says Buffalo can do it. They has an amazing record of getting unwanted/mid-level players, developing them, & unloading them @ just the right time (both in terms of declining production & rising contracts):
1995: BUF traded unhappy/unproductive Alex Mogilny for Mike Peca, a pick (Jay McKee), & Mike Wilson (6′6 garbage finesse D who doesnt hit). Peca was consistent 20 goal scorer & Selke trophy winner in Buffalo– has reached 20 just once since leaving, despite big contracts. Mogilny was up & down but never reached the heights of his 76 goal rookie year in buffalo, & was rarely worth his later contracts
1996: BUF traded pick that became Briere to Winnipeg for Michael Grosek. Grosek played his 4 best seasons– never again got half as many pts as in any 1 of those years. Briere was oft injured & never developed in Winnipeg.
1999: BUF traded garbage D Mike Wilson for D Rhett Warrener & draft pick (Ryan Miller). Warrener/McKee paired together, each having their best years in Buffalo. Since leaving for big money, both have been hampered by injuries– they are bigger, less mobile defensemen
1999: BUF traded tough guy Matthew Barnaby for Stu Barnes
2000: BUF traded Michael Grosek for Doug Gilmour AND JP Dumont.. Grosek played 14 more NHL gms. Gilmour’s 1 season & 50 assists alone were worth it, but Dumont (a throw-in) pumped in 120+ goals for Buffalo
2003: BUF traded Warrener for Chris Drury after money became an issue (surprise). Drury had back-to-back 30 goal seasons… 24 was previous career high.
2003: BUF traded Chris Gratton for Danny Briere– Briere’s development was more impressive than even Drury.
2004: traded an AHL prospect for Mike Grier”

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on July 3, 2007
in NHL and Puja
. 2 Comments

Because of previous complaints, here is Puja, unedited, unfiltered- raw, commenting on this post from Hockey Buzz:

“professional hockey– as it exists now– might be destroying itself. it’s eerily similar to the sugar industry & ethanol situation in this country. by clinging desperately to the existing system, the NHL is ironically strangling the life out of itself long-haul. if you aren’t a nerd, you can think of it this way: only the strong teams should survive.

danny briere would’ve re-signed as recently as january for exactly what buffalo just offered (5y/5m). this was well publicized in the papers & through his representation. same situation last year for jay McKee who got huge money in the offseason from st. louis (then got injured– ugh). buffalo has a public team policy of “no midseason negotiations” on top of an unspoken policy of “no long term deals.” both have been enforced under the new ownership w/o exception so far.

right now, this appears to have hurt them but golisano (owner) is banking on being able to win w/ a style reminiscent of money ball. that can probably work in buffalo b/c if they win at all, the fans will come period. they dont need to to win championships or even be especially successful in the playoffs. plus, buffalo has one of the most stable & successful coaching/management teams (the longest-tenured in the league). they can win w/ blue collar guys (’99) and they can consistently find & develop gold in the draft (Vanek, Miller, Connolly, Roy, etc).

but what about other small market teams who just can’t win with this approach: Nashville, Atlanta, etc. these teams already have fan trouble when they are winning & fielding a bevy of star caliber players. if they attempt to win through the draft & w/ a small cache of value-signings they would likely fail (weaker minor league systems), & would almost certainly not sell tickets. on the flipside, they are twice-damned if they retain the Kariya/Hossa types; (1) by paying outside their means when a large market team bids up the contract and (2) by not getting as much fan return for the $ relative to the competition.

i don’t blame the large market teams– successful organizations, like people will use all means available to them. the hyper-expansion @ the hands of bettman & the board of governor’s are more at fault for establishing these new markets. honestly, i think the league would be better off w/ 22-24 teams.

personally i could do without:
-Columbus
-Atlanta
-Nashville
-Florida
-any one of LA/ANA/SJ
-PHX

and if the NHL “can’t” (won’t) contract i would at least rather have multiple teams in the strongest regions than have a bunch of garbage markets spread out across the country. there is no reason to expand outside of your sphere of influence. the NBA & NFL flourished nationwide in the 1980s & 1990s respectively, because they had nationwide appeal. neither league blasted full force into Europe just because it happened to be there. instead, we had the NFL Europe experiment, which has since failed & the current exhibition basketball games being proposed overseas. even with the more realistic travel times & expenses, the NHL had no business starting teams across america. a smart business plan never includes speculative expansion. even now, (after a lockout) it seems like there is still no plan for the NHL; pittsburgh moving to KC just sounds like a lateral move @ best. they have already tried the NHL in kansas city.

meanwhile there is an existing market already flooded with fans– no conversion required. the golden horseshoe (megalopolis b/w toronto & niagara falls) has over 8M people within about 2 hrs drive of one another– 9 cities of 100K or more. there are another 1.2M in buffalo. it is impossible right now to get Leafs season tickets & technically still very difficult to get Sabres tickets (although there may be some initial backlash from yesterday). canadians already buy up a large portion of sabres season tickets, many even commute the ~4 hrs to detroit games. but all these clubs (BUF, TOR, DET) try to block additional ontario teams as a result of the shared fan base.

meanwhile, ticket demand for all 3 is through the roof. IMO the ceiling has been set too low & the region could easily support one more team. the rivalry factor alone would be amazing. it does nothing for fans to sit through a buffalo-florida game several times a year. even if ticket prices had to initially drop slightly for all 4 clubs (& i dont think they would) it would be better for hockey long-term, as the new franchise established itself. if the NHL is going to support weak links, they should at least give them a chance. take down the barriers to entry for existing clubs looking to relocate to Hamilton or Kitchener-Waterloo.”

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on June 7, 2007
in NHL and Steven Blannelberry
. 0 Comments

The newest Internet sensation, Steven Blannelberry, is back. So here is the former Weird Bar Back and the current disease-free man himself:

“Top 10 Sports Headlines in SoCal - 6-7-07 (in order of relevance and importance to the populace):

1. The NBA Playoffs begin tonight!
2. Kobe Bryant took a crap and it smelt like burnt pancakes.
3. V T B, “Vic the Brick Jacobs” a local sports radio host, was there to wipe his ass.
4. The Yankees are 26-31.
5. The Dodgers are 35-24.
6. David Beckham is a homosexual.
7. Kobe Bryant wants to be traded.
8. Kobe Bryant doesn’t want to be traded.
9. Paris Hilton went to jail; today she was released.
10. Michael Jackson created the coalition for “Baby Danglers.” Apparently, in an attempt to legalize dangling babies, specifically nicknamed “blanket,” out 4-8 story buildings.

Maybe you get the picture, maybe not…

In other, non-related, completely trivial, and ultra mundane sports news, the SoCal Shitbirds, aka the Anaheim Ducks, won the most coveted and arguably the most difficult trophy to attain, in all of sports, the Stanley Cup. Does anyone really care in SoCal… who is actually from SoCal? Answer: NO!

A heartfelt congratulations to the Birds. Hopefully, in time, the SoCal people will appreciate the magnitude of this accomplishment, but that’s as likely as sectarian violence ending in the Middle East.”

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on June 5, 2007
in NHL and Steven Blannelberry
. 0 Comments

Back for some more NHL- a recap (and some incomprehensible ramblings), former Sasquatch and current home owner, Steven Blannelberry:

“Although I was way off in my prediction yesterday (I said the SoCal Shitbirds would win 4-3), the birds beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in a hard fought, but well-earned, battle- despite the absence of the formidable Defenseman, Chris Pronger. While I ascertained this victory yesterday, what is more imminent now is the win on Wednesday, when the Shitbirds will become the Stanley Cup Champions for the first time in their short history.

On a tangential subject, I was extremely excited to see the “Charles Barkley of the NHL,” Don Cherry, make his appearance during the 2nd Intermission. Cherry, who is well known for his idiosyncratic appearance as well as his sputtering, but staunch, commentary, brought up a great point (in addition to calling Governor Schwarzenegger a Tree-hugger) concerning the well-being of the NHL— He stated, “if you want crowds, keep the fights.” A sentiment that does not sit well with NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, who has recently made a concerted effort to mitigate the violence in the NHL, particularly, with regards to fighting.

The fact of the matter is, while Cherry is echoing the platitudes of every maple leaf flying, snaggle-tooth loving, (random reference to Canadian artist Avril Lavigne), and mullet sporting Daryl, Wayne, and Gordie; he is correct— Violence is the answer! That’s right, if the NHL wants to increase their fan base, they will stop repressing the very sacred ritual that makes the sport truly unique- bare knuckle boxing on ice skates- and embrace it! Bottom line, more fights = more fans.

Furthermore, for those of you who think I am some made up persona, I have only this to say: Not even the mixed magic and incantations of the following combined: Harry Potter and the Goblet of AZKABAN, Dustin Diammond, Tom Green, and Ryan Gosling can save King James and his minions from their ultimate annihilation at the hand of the mighty and majestic SPURS!!

- The REAL DEAL S. BLANNELBERRY”

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on June 4, 2007
in NHL and Steven Blannelberry
. 1 Comment

With the hockey season about to close, we here at Sports at Random finally decided to get a hockey correspondent (pro-rated salary, of course). So, here is his first entry, former SAG Actor and 2001 Pontiac Sunfire driver, Steven Blannelberry:

“The SoCal Shitbirds will take the ice tonight against the revitalized Ottawa Senators (thanks to a thrilling 5-3 victory over the Shitbirds on Saturday night) without the help of superstar Chris Pronger. Will the absence of the remorseless, vicious, and brutally physical Pronger really make a difference? Answer, NO. The Shitbirds will win the game 4 (prediction 4-3 Birds).

Pronger‘s disposition is a lot like Ivan Drago of Rocky IV- specifically, what comes to mind, is the the scene in which Drago robotically replies, “If he dies, he dies” referring to the carcass, sprawled out in the ring, formerly known as Apollo Creed. Likewise, Pronger displays stoicism in the face of his critics when questioned about his merciless physicality. Pronger refuses to change his style of play, or even acknowledge its ramifications, he stated this in an ESPN press conference:

“I don’t think I can, for me to be the type of player I can be,” Pronger said. “Obviously, it’s a fine line and getting finer every year, and we have to make subtle adjustments. But I don’t think I can make wholesale changes and still be the type of player I can be.”

In other words, Pronger is unapologetic for his aggressiveness and, more importantly, unwilling to modify his game- which, as we’ve seen, involves forearm shivers and elbows to the head. I say, let him play his game! It is part of hockey and sooner or later a “Rocky” figure will come and knock him on his ass- avenging all his victims (McAmmond, Holdstrom). Who knows, maybe Chris Neil is up for the job?

But back to the main point, the Shitbirds will win Game 4 because they are, quite plainly, the better team. Oh yeah, I have dubbed them the “SoCal Shitbirds” because… well, they’re gonna win the Cup and the Sabres are not… And no one in SoCal follows hockey which is incredibly annoying!”

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on May 21, 2007
in Buffalo Sabres and NHL
. 0 Comments

Don’t cry for Buffalo, Argentina. The truth is… it’s not so bad.

I now reside 3,000 miles away from the great city of Buffalo, but I still feel the pain from the best team (record wise) in hockey going down. Just knowing that there were not only over 18,000 Sabres fans at that game, but several more thousand right outside the arena, makes my stomach actually hurt.

Despite the 3-0 lead, everyone thought the Sabres had a chance. Why not us? Newspapers ran headlines of ‘The Comeback Kids’ after only 1 win. It seemed like the best thing that could have happened. The pain of going down 3-0 would only make the victorious comeback that much sweeter. So when the puck went past Miller in Overtime, an entire city took a breath and just settled back into their normal lives.

Yes, that town has got wrapped up in hockey since the strike (I know this because even my Mother tells me about what happened during regular season games- and she doesn’t even know who Wayne Gretzky is). I remember when they were wrapped up in the Bills, when everyone at South Davis Elementary, including me, wore Bills Zubaz pants every Friday before a game. And they still love the Bills, but since they haven’t made the Playoffs since before Bush took office, the Sabres have stepped right in there, seemingly taking over the first spot in town.

But saying all this- how an admittedly depressed city has been crushed again by their favorite after curricular activity- they will be fine. Yes, it’s going to be a long summer before the NFL starts up and even longer until hockey starts, but Buffalo is beautiful in the Summer. Drinking at your house watching the Sabres is not the only thing to do- it’s like every other City in America. I hate that Buffalo is considered the ‘Losingest Sports City’ and everyone talks about how awful it is to live there, how there is nothing to do- just stop. The city is on a Great Lake so there are beaches and water activities, there’s a Casino, there’s Plays to go to, there’s tons of great bars, there’s Parks everywhere, there’s a large amount of Golf Courses- there’s whatever you want to do. And if you want, you can go to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Toronto, all within 3-4 hours (I haven’t even mentioned Niagara Falls, one of the 7 Wonders of the Wolrd- but no one goes there (other than to the Casino), unless you have family in town that wants to see the Falls).

People will go on with their lives and still enjoy life in their City. So don’t feel sorry for Buffalo after another season ending without a Championship. And if this does anything- it’ll build character.

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on May 15, 2007
in Buffalo Sabres, NHL and Ottawa Senators
. 2 Comments

The so-called best team in the NHL is being dominated.

The Buffalo Sabres, who had the best record in the NHL this season (tied at 113 points with Detroit, but the Sabres had more wins) lost 1-0 to Ottawa last night to go down 3 games to none in their best of 7 series. The score didn’t really reflect how the game was, though. It should have been 6-0.

How can the highest scoring team in the NHL look so bad all of a sudden? Ottawa owns the neutral zone. The Sabres can hardly ever mount an attack, and when they do, they can’t get close to the net and their long shot is usually blocked. Ottawa looks like the much better team. Even when the Sabres are on a Power Play, Ottawa seems to be the one more likely to score. And when Ottawa is on a Power Play or just has the puck in the Sabres’ end, it just feels like the Sabres can never clear it- and when they finally do, they can only ice the puck, they have no counter attack like the Senators.

So this must just be a case of match-ups, right? Like Golden State and Dallas in the NBA, Ottawa just has the Sabres’ number, right? Well, not historically, but this season, yes, that is true. Ottawa won 5 of the 8 games they played in the regular season, with 1 Shoot-Out loss. In those 8 games, they outscored the Sabres by 8 goals, so yes, this could just be a case of the Senators matching up well with the Sabres- but, if you watch the games, you can clearly see that not only is it a bad match-up for the Sabres, but Ottawa is a much better team overall.

Ottawa finished the season only 8 points behind the Sabres, but if you use the scoring of before the lockout (before Shoot-Outs), they would have both finished with 103 points. That, obviously, is still a high point total, but the Sabres really hid their weaknesses by having so many one-goal and overtime games this year. The Sabres had 10 Shoot-Out wins this season and 5 Overtime wins- compared with Ottawa’s 2 Shoot-Out wins and 2 Overtime wins. The Sabres also lost 4 Shoot-Outs and 3 OT games. That is a ton of close games to have in a season. This isn’t like the Dallas Mavericks winning many more games than the nearest challenger. The Sabres basically were a 10-4 Shoot-Out team and that translates to a hell of a lot more points in the new NHL.

A great goaltender wins you those Shoot-Outs and those close games- he hides these weaknesses, too, but when a team is just that much better, you can’t hide them forever. Ryan Miller got them the best record in the NHL, but the team was a fraud.

Now, we as Buffalo fans must admit it and endure another long summer of Triple A Baseball. Go Bisons?

Thoughts at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on May 7, 2007
in NFL Draft 2007, NHL and Thoughts
. 1 Comment

- Everyone is making a big deal out of Joe Thomas’ crazy Aunt who showed up at the Draft, but take a look at someone involved in Gaines Adams’ life (I’m going with his Mother):
Now that is the greatest Black Woman Mullet I have EVER seen (also clearer in this video, at the 2:45 mark).

- I don’t really know how I stumbled across Stuntwoman Hannah Kozak, but check out this signed Lara Flynn Boyle photo she PAID to put on IMDB. She has several other hilarious photos on there. She is now, by far, my favorite Stuntwoman of all time. I’m going to go see Transformers because of her.

- As a Sabres fan, I’m glad Ottawa beat New Jersey. I know Ottawa (despite the regular season record) is a better overall team, but the only thing that can beat the Sabres is a hot goalie (which Lundqvist was). My money would have been on Brodeur getting hot over Emery any day, so this will hopefully work out well.

- I was at Ralphs the other day and a Homeless Woman in front of me paid with an ATM card. All of us in line were just waiting for this thing to get denied- many people behind me left the line to go in other ones when she started the 1st of her several swipes.

She would swipe it, put in her code, then instead of accepting the amount, she would push EVERY button on the ATM keypad. Just sort of smash it. That, obviously, would cancel the transaction. The Cashier walked her through it several times, then the Homeless Woman would push all the buttons once the Cashier turned her back, once again, wiping out the transaction. After the 5th try and a Manager came over, I was the only person left in line behind her (I was next). It was like watching a huge underdog keep shooting themselves in the foot, but the Goliath, to her David, kept giving the underdog another chance at it.

The Manager finally took the card away from her and tried to do the entire thing herself. When the Homeless Woman was told to “Enter your code”, she did the unthinkable- she used this opportunity to push EVERY button on the keypad, putting us back to square one. It was amazing. I’ve never seen workers with this much patience for someone who wanted to buy a pack of smokes.

One last time. The Manager swiped the card. She slowly told her not to push all the buttons, but the code she was putting in before. The Homeless Woman obliged. Then the Manager thrust herself in front of the Homeless Woman- blocking the keypad, accepted the amount- and, lo and behold, IT WORKED. It went through. Her card actually worked. The Cashier looked at me like she had just seen magic. George Mason had won it all, GSW had won the NBA Championship- the person with no billing address had used an ATM card- successfully!

As the Cashier scanned my items, she looked in awe at the Homeless Woman pushing her personal cart (from Vons (another grocery store across the street)) with her blankets and new pack of smokes. I walked outside and saw the Woman sitting at a table outside the Ralphs, smoking away, the only person not shocked at the night’s events. I smiled at her. It was the least I could do- for she had given me the viewing pleasure of the greatest upset in the history of mankind.

And she shone her few yellow chiclets back at me, making me think she performed magic every day.

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on April 25, 2007
in Buffalo Sabres and NHL
. 3 Comments

I left work early, I settled in at my apartment, I got a glass of water and some Cheerios- and I was ready to watch my first full NHL game of the year.

Versus didn’t start me off well:

If you couldn’t understand- that’s “…bright lights, glitz, and glamor- against easy-going, upstate charm.” First- it’s not freakin’ upstate. It’s Western New York. Albany is upstate. People in NYC infuriate me- they think everything north of the Bronx is upstate. Second- did you hear his voice when he talked about Buffalo? It was like he was talking down to Buffalo- like it’s pathetic. And third- what is that 2nd picture they did for Buffalo? New York had the Chrysler Building and then the Statue of Liberty and Buffalo had Niagara Falls (which is in Niagara Falls, not Buffalo) and then some “easy-going”, pristine, nameless lake- it wasn’t even Lake Erie- I have no idea what it was, but they think they can just put some generic lake in there and people will think that’s what Buffalo is- not a regular city with a downtown Arena.

So we didn’t start well, but soon after that I learned one of the referees for the game was named Steve Miller. So that was a plus. But then something bad happened again. I didn’t tivo the game, but I paused it for about 45 minutes and then started watching so I could fast forward through commercials. But, since my Direct TV box is less reliable than Susan Smith as your babysitter, it shut down half-way through the 1st period and I had to go right to live action, which was half-way through the 2nd period. So I missed an entire period, basically. Stupid Direct TV. I hate them more than I hate you, My Roommate. Or more than you hate me. Either way, that’s a lot of hate.

Hockey is such a great sport to watch- possible the best sport to watch in-person (except for maybe college football or basketball- just because of the exciting atmosphere and the pureness of an amateur sport), sometimes I forget that. The Sabres had a 3-1 lead and then this happened:

Jason Pominville was getting pushed into the net and punched the puck in (what I saw). I didn’t see any way they were going to let this goal count when they went to review it. But then this happened:

Daniel Briere, you are a genius. Who knows what Chris Drury actually told the Refs, but whatever it was, it worked. The Sabres got the goal and later added an empty-netter and the final score was 5-2.

So after being insulted by Versus and missing a third of the game, it wasn’t all bad as the Sabres took the 1-0 lead on the Rangers. And that is what is most important. That- and the Cheerios.

NHL at Random

Published
by
Daniel-San
on April 15, 2007
in Buffalo Sabres and NHL
. 8 Comments

The overall #1 seeded Buffalo Sabres split at home and now must go down (and across) to Long Island to face the Islanders for the next 2 games. And 15-year Islander Goalie Rick DiPietro is back from his concussion and 1-0 so far in the playoffs.

The Sabres got out shot early, and then the Islanders’ forechecking in the neutral zone stymied the Sabres… ok, I got nothing. I know hockey, I used to watch a lot of hockey, I can analyze hockey- but I haven’t watched 10 full games in about 7 years.

I used to. I used to go to 5 games a year and watch a bunch more. I went to about 7 games during the 1999 playoffs, the year the Sabres lost to the Stars in the Cup in the famous “No Goal” Game 6 (I was not at that game, but my father was. He was sitting about 10 rows up and still maintains to this day that the Refs never even had a chance to review that goal because one of the Referees got hit in the face with something hard and was bleeding everywhere. The other Refs huddled around him and got him towels to stop the bleeding. There’s no way they were going to review that goal to help out the team who just had a fan hit a Ref in the face- they wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible).

So now that I’ve been away from Buffalo since 2000 and only really check box scores and watch highlights if I can (obviously I don’t get any Sabres games in Los Angeles), is it still ok to bask in their glory? Is it ok to suddenly talk hockey once the playoffs have started? Is it ok to go to Hooters to watch the playoff games and cheer like a loss would ruin my world?

I’m not a fake fan- I’m from Buffalo. I love watching hockey, I just don’t get the chance to anymore. But now I feel like one of those fans that I resent so much that just now start paying attention to the NBA or only tune into the Tournament for College Basketball. I hate people like the hockey me, so I don’t know what to do. I checked the box scores, I looked at the Standings every week. So I didn’t know who any of our call-ups from Rochester were, I don’t get Sabres talk on my radio- all I get is Lakers talk, 24/7. Of course I don’t know these things.

So should I just stop rooting all together? This is a team that I’ve loved since I was 12 years old- I screamed when I found out they traded Alexander Mogilny in 7th grade. It made me beam with pride when Michael Peca refused the Eastern Conference Trophy in ‘99, because we had one more series to win. But now I know more about former NBA fat man Oliver Miller than Sabres Goalie Ryan Miller.

I hate what I’ve become, but I don’t care. I will root for the Sabres. I will watch as many games as I can. I will read up on Drew Stafford. I will listen to Barry Melrose. And if the Sabres and Anaheim Ducks make it to the Stanley Cup Finals- I will go to the games.