Tag / Sabres

by Greg

Playoff Beard Hanging On For Dear Life

Buffalo Sabres hockeyThis time of year, many players in the NHL refuse to shave until they are eliminated from the playoffs. It’s a bit of a good luck charm. A superstition. Not sure that’s it’s really all that effective, but you’ll notice that most players on the Stanley Cup winners are sporting a very hairy face when they hoist the prized trophy in early June.

I do not play hockey. (Well, except for a bit of street hockey with my boys yesterday…) I just watch hockey. But I really don’t like to shave, so… when my team is in the playoffs – or this year, in playoff contention – I also refuse to shave, hoping to bring the Sabres loads of good luck.

OK… I just don’t like to shave. But, this is a fun reason not to!

The playoff beard is hanging around for at least two more days as the Sabres did beat Boston 2-1 in OT yesterday. They are 5 points out of the final playoff spot with three games left. In hockey, you get 2 points for each win, so you do the math. Basically, the Sabres need the Bruins to lose (they’re in the 8th spot right now) and the Caps to lose (they’re in the 9th spot) and they need to win their final three games. It’s kinda like a playoff series already, and we started out down three games to none.

Last night did make it three games to one, but in this case… we don’t control our own destiny, as they say.

So, we are watching the Caps, the Bruins, and the Sabres… and hoping for the best.

And I’m hoping I get to keep this beard a little bit longer… 🙂

by Greg

R.I.P. Big Ten

With State being trounced 92-74 tonight, that completed the “sweep” of the Big Ten teams in the NCAA tourney this year. Two made it to the Sweet Sixteen, none made it past that. Quite uncommon.

State scored 54 points in the second half, and did pretty well in all aspects of the game for that 20 minutes. That should tell you how the first half went. 🙂

In other sporting news…

The Sabres did manage to salvage a point, but gave up another lead to lose in overtime. They basically threw away a much-needed point. That pretty much sums up the Sabres’ 2007-2008 season. Work really hard, get some great goals… then have the other team tie it with 14 seconds to go, only to lose in OT. (I believe it’s our 12th OT loss.) Surprisingly they are still in the hunt for the final playoff spot, but at this point, every game is a win or your out kind of game. Fun stuff.

So, it looks like my teams are either out, or soon to be out of my two favorite annual sporting events. Not a good sports day here!

by Greg

Shorties

Since computer (and especially blogging) time is limited… please allow me to share some fun stories/thoughts using another list-style post…

  • Julia just turned two, but she is the smartest cookie in the bunch sometimes. This week she has been really helpful with the laundry. I don’t always know whose clothes are whose, but she does! Seriously funny. And helpful! Also, she is a great talker (though sometimes hard to understand). Maybe one of the cutest things she says is when she’s really excited about something, she says, “Yay-uh”. (Pronounced like a souther gospel preacher, which I’m pretty sure she’s never heard…) 🙂 Hilarious!
  • The Sabres won tonight. They keep stringing me along. They sit 5 points out of the final playoff spot with only 12 possible points remaining. Thanks to some good scheduling, the team we are chasing (Boston) is our opponent for two of those games, so we can possibly make up 4 points in those two games. There’s still a very outside chance they can make the playoffs, but I’m really not optimistic about any chance of advancing if they do. We shall see…
  • Michigan State has worked their way into the sweet sixteen in the NCAA tournament. (Which is now only the terrific twelve or something after last night’s games…) They really have a good team this year. Solid rebounding (as always) from our big guys, Namick & Suton, and a stellar freshman Kalin Lucas, as well as solid scoring threats in Morgan, Allen, & Gray. Ohh yeah… we also have that guy Drew Neitzel… he’s pretty good. (If you don’t know him, he’s a senior, and he was fanastic as a sophomore at least, and has only kept getting better.) 🙂 They play Friday (and hopefully Sunday). Friday’s game is against the #1 seed in the South region, Memphis. 9:57pm tip off on CBS. Well worth watching!
  • Kirstie just oozes nice. It’s incredible. If there is ever any “not-niceness” between anyone in the family, Kirstie steps in to the edification of the one not-niced. Every time. She’s so great! Such a gentle heart. She’s my little lover. She often tells me, “I just love you, Dad!” And then gives me a big hug, and often a big kiss. Well, as you can guess… I just love her, too. 🙂
  • Sometimes I really can’t believe how old Ian is. He is nine, and definitely becoming his own person. We can see the things he really likes to do. He even talks about it. He’s starting to figure it out too. He’s very creative. He too is a gentle spirit. (Sometimes too gentle. 🙁 Easily crushed.) He’s an artist. He’s such a people person. Loves people. Could be his weakness actually (people pleasing) but it will also be a great strength. I’m honestly a little nervous about this transitional stage. Will I(we) handle it well? Will we be able to encourage Ian as he really begins becoming a unique individual? It’s a very interesting stage for all of us. I think we are merely on the cusp, but we’re definitely there. All we can do is just love him, train him best we know how, and live out what we say. And overall, make sure he knows that he is completely safe with us any time and always. That may be harder than it sounds – or I may just think too much. 🙂
  • Alex is TOO picky! Argh. It’s been quite a struggle with people bringing us food (a bunch of new stuff he hasn’t really seen before) and getting him to eat. Not to mention the great Easter candy he knows we have… that’s quite a distraction as well. 🙂 It was funny today when we were dealing with all that again for the 17,000th time that I actually thought of “the kids in India” when I was so mad at his pickiness. “You know, the kids in India don’t have any food! They just eat rice, if they can find any!!!” (Not sure on the accuracy of that statement… but thought it was funny that I actually thought it, and sorta used it. I am truly a dad, and truly old.) 🙂
  • Emma Caroline couldn’t be cuter. 🙂 Funny story from today… we got a new monitor so Jen can be down here and Emma can sleep upstairs. All of a sudden we heard a screaming baby in the monitor! Yikes! What happened?? That was not normal. (Although, she has had a tendency to “freak out” at times…) So, Jen went to help her – but she was sound asleep. Completely still. Weird. When Jen came back down, Emma started freaking out again! Worse than before! Very, very strange… Jen went back up… Emma was completely still!!!! Finally, we sent Ian up to check while we stayed down to listen… you guessed it.. we were picking up someone else’s baby!!!! Ha! Very weird. Kinda funny… very weird.

Much more to tell, but no time, and no energy with which to tell it. Must sleep.

by Greg

Just When We Thought They Were Finished…

The Sabres continue to surprise us. This team has been very streaky in 2007-2008, and thought replete with talent, they seem to lose to teams they should not lose to.

Partially that is due to an amazing season of equality in the NHL. Every team can beat any other team on any night. Pretty amazing. There are 6-7 teams fighting for the final few playoff spots in each conference, separated by only a handful of points. Pretty spectacular for the fans, for the most part.

But also very frustrating.

Wednesday night the Sabres were hosting the last place Tampa Bay Lightning, very much needing to win due to the teams closest to them in the standings winning the night before. Seemed a perfect opportunity, being on a bit of a winning streak, and playing at home against a seemingly easy opponent. But don’t forget what I said above. This season, every team in the league can beat any other team on any night. The Lightning apparently knew that.

Leading 2-1 after one period, and 4-1 after two (with the Sabres mustering only 2 shots in the second period) the Lightning seemed in complete control, and Sabres’ fans booed their team off the ice into the intermission.

Perhaps that had the desired affect. In the third period, the Sabres looked like the team they really are capable of being (super-talented, high-scoring, fast, aggressive, fun-to-watch, young team) and posted their second and third goals within 16 seconds of each other, then once they tied it, didn’t stop till they tallied six altogether in the third period! Thomas Vanek even had a natural hat trick, scoring the tying goal, the go-ahead goal, and the clincher! Fantastic.

Tonight (Friday) the Sabres host the Toronto Maple Leafs who are closer in the standings to the Sabres, but whom the Sabres have recently had a pretty easy time with. This is a game the Sabres should win, and need to win. Two points are a must.

After the second period Wednesday it seemed the team had given up, and with only 8 games to go, it seemed time for me to face the non-playoff reality. BUT, after that third period… perhaps we are seeing the final streak for our boys in Blue and Gold? A good streak in the final eight games could conceivably get them as high as sixth place. That would pit them against the Southeast division champ (likely Carolina) whom the Sabres have had a pretty good time with this year!

They’re still sitting in a very precarious 9th place for the time being, but this team has a good chance to land a playoff spot, as long as they can be the team that we saw in that third period last night.

Here’s hoping they’ve got one more good streak in them this year! 🙂

by Greg

Too Many Streaks

Buffalo SabresThis is the year of the streak for the Buffalo Sabres. Frustrating to fans, perhaps even more frustrating to the players and coaches.

Just when it looks like the team is getting back to their winning ways, the Sabres seem to match a long winning streak with an equally long losing streak. The result has been hovering about in the middle of the conference standings, with just over a .500 record on the season.

Now three points out of a playoff spot, with key losses to the teams they are chasing in this current losing streak, the Sabres are definitely in danger of not even qualifying for post season play. And they know it. The players held a “players only” meeting following yesterday’s embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

At least they understand that they need to step it up. And I believe they can. But will they? Maybe they can have a nice win streak to make the push for the playoffs, followed by their typical long losing streak, followed by a long winning streak to carry them into the playoffs? Not sure there’s time. Then, wouldn’t they just be saving their losing streak for the first round of the playoffs? 🙂

It looks as if this year’s team may have taken too much of a hit with the loss of Briere and Drury in the summer, and now losing one of their top defensemen, Brian Campbell (who always logged a lot of ice time) in a trade to the Sharks. Time will tell. And it will tell soon.

I remain hopeful, but weary of the streaks.

by Greg

Sabres Deal Campbell to Sharks

Defenseman Brian CampbellAs predicted last night, the Sabres did find a taker for their all-star (super star) defenseman. He will join the San Jose Sharks who are having a very fine season, and look to make a run at the Stanley Cup. He’ll also join former teammate Mike Greer, who joined the Sharks a couple years ago.

The Sabres acquired winger Steve Bernier in the trade, along with the Sharks’ 1st round and 7th round picks in 2008. They are definitely looking at it as getting something instead of nothing for Campbell. This article at NHL.com says that Regier tried to sign Campbell till the last minute here, and then dealt him so they didn’t just lose him.

It’s sad to see him go. That’s three really big name players that we have lost in the past year. Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, and now Brian Campbell. Ouch.

We did sign Thomas Vanek, though…

The Sabres are in a bit of a slump, still riding a ten game streak with no losses in regulation, but only 2-3-1 in their last six. That puts them in 9th place for the moment, and out of the playoffs if they began today. Not sure if Bernier will be enough boost (or compensate for the loss of Campbell?) but perhaps the Sabres are not done dealing just yet.

They are a good team with a lot of talent. But this front office is getting a little annoying. It’s time to hold on to guys like Drury, Briere, and Campbell. Is Ryan Miller the next to go?

Let’s hope not.

by Greg

Trade Deadlines and Free Agency


It’s that time of year again, in fact this year it’s one week of craziness in my two favorite sports.

On the one hand, the NHL has set tomorrow at 3pm as the deadline to deal players. A couple trades have already occurred, more will come tomorrow. The NHL is pretty good at keeping things fresh, to be sure. People get caught up in the frenzy of the deadline as Sabres’ GM Darcy Regier says above.

The main name on the board for the Sabres is all-star defenseman Brian Campbell. (Note: had my sister have been a boy, that would have been her name!) Campbell is fantastic, and could be a foundational piece for the Sabres for years to come, but for some reason, they have not come to terms on an extension. He’s set to be a free agent come July 1st of this year, so the Sabres are certainly considering a trade in order to get something out of losing him (if he were to choose to leave).

On Friday, we have the other side of things. Free agency begins Friday Feb 29th for the NFL. That means players whose contracts have expired can shop around to the highest bidder. Last season the Bills knew exactly who they wanted, and they got them within half a day of the free agency period starting gun! Will that happen again? Not sure. We had some big name guys who were set to leave last year, not so much this year. And there aren’t a lot of big name players on the market who have generated the press you might expect leading up to such a deadline.

One deadline ends with a frenzy, the other begins with a frenzy. And all in one week!

So, stay tuned, I’ll probably have a report here, and definitely on my Buffalo Bills site.

by Greg

Sabres Rolling!

NHL Eastern Conference Standings Feb 11

I’ve mentioned here before that the Sabres were at or near the bottom of the Eastern Conference not that long ago, but since the All-Star break (and I think one game before) the Sabres are one of the hottest teams in the league! 6-0-2 in their last eight games! (They have been AWFUL in the shootouts this year! Those two shoot out losses were games they had very late leads in as well. But as soon as it goes to OT and then the shootout, it’s almost a guaranteed loss of a point!)

The best part about those 14 out of 16 possible points is that most of them came on a long road trip! Seven straight games on the road. Fantastic. So, as you can see above (click for larger view) the Sabres are still on the outside looking in, but only one point out now (and they have played fewer games than most teams), and they are even only 12 points out of FIRST place! Who knows?? 🙂

Go Sabres!

by Greg

Luck

Sabres vs Thrashers
Last night Jen and I played a new card game called Tunge. (Not sure how you pronounce it.) She discovered it on a blog she reads and wanted to play it with me. I’m always game for a new … game. 🙂

So, we figured it out pretty easily and had a good time playing. Mostly. That is until I noticed that this game – as with many card games – is almost entirely won by luck. You just have to get the right card. “By the luck of the draw.” Those aren’t my favorite kind of games. I like knowing that I won (and you lost) because of my skill and cunning and craftiness.

🙂

But what all that reminded me of was my Buffalo Sabres.

See, this year, the Sabres – who last year finished the season with the best overall record – are not doing as well. At a quick glance, you might even think they were bad. I don’t remember if they were ever officially last in their conference… but they were at least second to last. (That in itself is deceiving as they were still only 6 or 8 points or so out of a playoff spot.) Most people do assume that the Sabres are just a shell of their former selves, losing their two captains from last seaons, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere.

It’s true that they miss the leadership and production of those two guys, but it’s not true that they are as bad as their record would indicate. Hockey is certainly a game of skill, on many levels. But it also involves a good bit of luck.

The bounces have not gone the Sabres’ way this year. They have outshot teams many a night, and come up losing by a goal. The goalie has made incredible save after incredible save, only to have a puck bounce off the boards behind him and either into the net, or right to the lucky opponent standing near the crease to cash in. Goal posts have rung, goals have been disallowed, injury after injury after injury have plagued this once-feared team.

We do not have cable this year, and so have only kept up with the team via radio (over the internet) and reading at sabres.com and NHL.com. We have also caught the occasional Sabres game on Versus.com. But from everything I have seen, this team is still very good. Very young, but very good.

I try and catch the post game interview with Lindy Ruff after every game. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes.) I like to hear what he’s got to say. He’s seen this team be the best, and now struggle through a year of seeming mediocrity. When things are bad, he says it. This year he has not said it. Almost every night he has nothing but positive things to say about the players and their effort and the chances they have created. He usually says something like, “It just didn’t bounce our way.” That has been my observation as well. The Sabres have just as much fight in them, just as much skill (though, more injuries to be sure) but they do not have as much “success”.

It will come. Luck works both ways. At least over the course of a whole season. The Sabres are coming out of a horrendous stretch of two wins in fourteen games. They have won three games in a row, looking for four tonight in Atlanta, where they play a Thrasher team that is tied with them in the conference standings.

Perhaps this small streak is the beginning of things starting to go our way. Maybe the Sabres will be on the more fortunate end of bounces, calls, injuries, etc.

If we’re lucky… 😉