The Sabres season is over. Another year of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals and another year of not making it to the big show, the Stanley Cup Finals. I would be lying if I didn't say it was depressing. A first place finish in the NHL, the Sabres won the President's trophy which meant that they had home ice throughout the playoffs no matter who they played. It also set them up as an elite team in the NHL. It's a huge accomplishment, but everyone always wants to go to the show. I am insanely proud of the team this year. Happy to support a team especially when they are playing well, but I really did believe that we had it in us to win the whole thing this year. It just wasn't meant to be.
Sabres played well on Saturday. Their power play still wasn't potent, but it was moving at least. It was too little too late I guess. They went into OT and ended up losing it in OT. I must say that NBC's decision to drop the game and send it to Versus sucked. Especially since I was watching the game on TiVo. I didn't have the opportunity to watch the OT since the game was over by that point. Preakness blah blah. I wanted to watch the Sabres. In fact, WGRZ- TV in Buffalo, New York was the only NBC affifilate who stayed with the game. There probably would've been a riot downtown if they had decided to show horse racing.
Anyway, my hat goes off to Ottawa. They played harder and more together than the Sabres did the entire series. The Sabres played the worst in game 3. By going down 3-0, I think that about sealed their fate. I think besides game 5, game 2 had to be the most heart breaking. Sabres at home, looking like they had come from behind lose it in OT. Devastating. I liked that the team didn't look like it was going to quit. I assumed we'd win game 5. It sure looked like it. And then the series would've been 3-2. Anything can happen at that rate.
I wish Ottawa good luck in the race for the cup. It's their first in their franchise's history. They will face a tough West Coast team. Anaheim is currently on top of Detroit, but only by 1 game. Anything can still happen.
I will be watching the Sabres in the off season. It's unclear how it will play out. They will have a tough time keeping the team together. Everyone wants to stay and hopefully they can work on deals for Drury and Briere and get them done before another team tries to lure them away with multi-million dollar dreams. The Sabres aren't a big time and can't afford to overspend, but keeping those 2 guys keeps the team strong and gives them another shot at the big dream of a Stanley Cup win in Buffalo. Here's hoping we can keep them. I'll be paying attention.
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