Archive for September, 2009

Montreal closed their pre-season schedule out with a come from behind win against the Sabres Saturday night.  Down 2-0 going into the second, the Canadiens sent the game into the third period tied.  The Sabres were not able to spin a victory out of tonights game, as they allowed a goal in the third.  The Sabres are now 3-1-1 in the pre season, and have one more contest to go against the Toronto Maple Leafs. What is more notable about this game was a hit from Patrick Kaleta on Montreal’s Pyatt.  The hit drove Pyatt’s head into the glass.  Montreal [...]

Valhalla has Odin, Mount Olympus has Zeus, and the NHL has Gretzky.  A fair comparison given the gifts and talents of number 99.  But what is next for the prodigal son of the ice rink? After a stellar career on the ice, he turned to owner ship and coaching, which he has been far from succesful at. He has one of the greatest hockey minds for him not to land another job in the NHL.  As part owner of the Coyotes he can’t really take a job right now with another team, but who knows what is going to happen [...]

On the to do list of the Toronto Maple Leafs this season is a big one, stop being the joke of one of the top divisions in hockey.  The Sabres will try and keep them under in tonights matchup.  Maple Leafs games are extremely popular in the Buffalo area, and on many given nights in the regular season, HSBC Arena is invaded in force, and the feel is more like a Toronto home game than a Sabres game.  I have actually stopped going to Toronto games for that reason.  Tonights game should be a good one for Buffalo fans, as [...]

All eyes in the hockey world are on the city of Glendale, as the Pheonix Coyotes are fighting for their lives in bankruptcy court – no one knows what the future holds for the ‘yotes of Arizona. Before that the Coyotes struggled to make it as the Winnipeg Jets, a historic franchise from North of the border that won three WHA championships in its 24 year history, but never anything in the NHL. It does not trouble me that Pheonix cannot hold onto a team and relocation seems inevitable.  It does bother me that Hamilton is first in line. Las [...]

The Sabres continued to have sucess in the preseason beating the Washington Capitals 2-1. The Capitals normally very potent offense was very silent tonight, through the first 20 minutes the Caps had 4 shots on goal, and finished with 20 shots and one goal.  Ovechkin was silent in his exhibition debut for Washington. While there was 60 minutes in this hockey game, the Sabres only needed 11 seconds to defeat tonights opponent, with goals by Stafford and Kaleta coming 11 second apart. The Sabres continue their march to the regular season on Wednesday night, when they host the Toronto Maple [...]

The Sabres will face off tonight against the Washington Capitals.  This is the third preseason game. Buffalo is one of only six teams in the NHL who has yet to lose a regulation game in the preseason. The Sabres will go into tonights contest without star goaltender Ryan Miller, who has a scheduled night off. The Capitals are looking for retribution this season, coming minutes away from a birth in the Stanley Cup Finals.  This fire has led them to a quick 2-0 in the preseason.  The Sabres are still looking to formulize a new system with the same team [...]

The league never gave up on him.  Hell, they practically gave him the key to the league when they retired his number across the league.  Yes, I’m talking about the one and only, Wayne Gretzky. He holds countless records, has one more hardware than any one player can imagine, and he has Stanley Cup rings. With the turmoil in Pheonix and the uncertainty of a team trying to come of age in a league that has really tried to favor expansion or relocated teams, you would think Gretzky would be there to help calm the swell of impending doom among [...]

If there can be one statement about Buffalo sports teams over the last ten years or so, its that they can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Tonight, the Sabres snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat over the Detroit Red Wings. Trailing almost the whole game 1-0, the Sabres used two late goals by Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy and an empty net tally by Paul Gausted to beat the Red Wings and improve to 1-0-1 in the pre season.  While you can give the Sabres credit for not giving up, its not like they were facing [...]

Its a good thing hockey pre season is nothing in comparison to the regular season, because the Buffalo Sabres looked exactly like they have in the previous two seasons. Coming from behind to grab a late 3-2 lead was snuffed before the announcer at HSBC arena could tell in attendance who scored it.  The Capitals tied it with a very quick goal, and late game penatly trouble cost the Sabres an overtime loss. The Sabres continue their preseason march to the regular season Saturday night at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit where they have a 7 PM faceoff with [...]

The Sabres are hoping that the third time is the charm.  Entering into the third season with the same roster, the Sabres will test that theory out tonight against the Washington Capitals.  Now a win or a loss tonight means very little in the grand scheme of things.  Its not even 1 out of 82 games in the regular season, and most starters don’t see much pre season action.  What it does mean is a chance for redemption.  The Sabres are a time honored franchise, young in comparison to other teams, but they are a history filled team with many [...]