Buffalo Sabres Should Add Shoulder Patch to Uniforms
By Tim Redinger
The Buffalo Sabres original (shoulder patches introduced in 1978, first Sabres sweaters had no shoulder emblems) blue and gold uniforms that had shoulder patches that were nothing more than smaller versions of the primary logo that adorned the chest of the young franchise.
1996 brought about a major change in the look of the team, as the new Marine Midland Arena would open up to a new generation of hockey in Buffalo, new home, new team, new colors. With the new primary logo, the Buffalo Sabres added a new secondary logo or shoulder patch to the uniforms, a capital B with the Sabre running through it. That shoulder emblem stayed on until the “original” logo made its return. The secondary logo is still use in promotional materials today, but should be added back onto the shoulder pads of our home and away sweaters.
Of course it is pretty obvious that the B stands for Buffalo – but that is not the only reason this version of the Buffalo Sabres should add the shoulder patch back on the sweaters; the B could stand for so many more things:
BORING – watching so many of our games lately it appears that the same effort continues to plague the bench of the Buffalo Sabres, too muc effort in our own end of the buiding has players spent and looking to dump the puck for a line change with little or no offensive threat from our offensive talents. Lack of offense on our parts has teams getting ahead by a couple and laying low for the win.
BRUISED – so there probably haven’t been a lot of “bruises” that have kept Sabres players out of the lineup; but with the number of injuries the Sabres have sustained this year has this B word gaining plenty of merit.
BOYISH – there really isn’t a could synonym for soft so boyish will have to work here. How many times have we been pushed around and stomped on by another team? We were labelled soft before the Lucic hit, and it has only gotten progresively worse. The Sabres had not one powerplay against the Toronto Maple Leafs the other night, and alot of that had to do with our inability to try and outwork the Leafs for the puck.
BASEMENT – If the losing trends continue, the Buffalo Sabres will be looking up at more teams than they want to. With only a few games seperating them from the playoff pack, a nice winning streak could have them back into the think of the hunt. A continued slide towards the bottom and the only thing the Sabres could look forward too in the first full season in the Pegula era will be a high draft pick for the Rochester Americans to benefit from as well as early tee times.
BASIC – as opponents see the Buffalo Sabres nearing the schedule, gameplanning has to simplify for the foes as the Sabres depth does not provide much threat. Basic gameplanning against the Buffalo Sabres allows for teams to be ready for tougher opponents.
BLACKED OUT – ok, this one is less about the team on the ice and more of a reference to its television market of MSG really limiting the number of households that get to see Buffalo Sabres games on a regular basis.
BEAT – the win attitude has gone out the window. Excuses, duldroms, and poor attitudes plague the locker room, making it even harder to break out of whatever funk the team is in.
BEHIND – see basement. With every loss, the Sabres find themselves behind more and more, making it more difficult to make the post season.
BAD – all totalled together, this current squad of Buffalo Sabres i just plain bad. Rare offensive outputs, a lack of secondary scoring, defensive lapses, subpar goaltending and a lack of chemistry has the Buffalo Sabres with little respect from the other teams in the league.