Teppo Numminen is suspended by Sabres

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I must say that this doesn't make the Sabres look good as an organization. They suspend Numminen to save spending his salary, but that also means the man isn't going to get his paycheck and why, because he is going to need heart surgery. That is just awful. If that was done at my job, I would be appalled, but I guess anything goes in this very business oriented side of sports these days. Especially, the cash strapped NHL.

Good Luck Teppo and God Bless.

Sabres Fans are best in NHL

The Sporting News named Buffalo the best NHL city due to its fan support. Read the article.

Sabres Hockey Update: Sad Times and Looking Ahead

The Buffalo Sabres appear to have their full team signed up and ready to go for the season. We've also had a few heartbreaks into this off season time. Here's a recap of what they've been up to.

Coach Lindy Ruff & General Manager Darcy Regier both signed new mutli-year contracts. I think this is a really good move. I think this gives the club stability and they've been around for all the turmoil over the years. They've also been a big part of why the club has been very competitive the last few seasons.

Two players who have been a big part of the winning ways of the Sabres the last 2 years have now departed. It was a sad day in Buffalo when both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere were lost to free agency. This one upset me a bit, but deep down I knew that the Sabres are a team that can't afford to pay all the really high salaries and I thought that we'd lose at least one of these guys. Plus, I also think that the Sabres weren't smart enough to try to keep them. I think this was a decision high up in the organization, saying we're not paying for superstars. Why didn’t they try to sign them during the season when they were in the mood to keep playing with the team? Why wait until you don’t make it to the Stanley Cup Finals and then drag your feet to start negotiations? It came back to bite them, because I don't think anyone thought we'd lose both of these guys. Briere is moving on to Pittsburgh joining other ex-Sabres Martin Biron & Geoff Sanderson. He signed an 8 year $52 million dollar deal. WOW! Drury is moving on to the Rangers with a 5 year $35 million dollar deal. Rangers were on a buying spree lately and snapped up Scott Gomez from New Jersey too. Both the Rangers and Pittsburgh will be more competitive with these guys next year and I think Buffalo will be a little less competitive without them. It was sad time and I was in Buffalo around the time the deals were announced and no one was happy about it, but like any other hard blows in life, you have to move on.


Sabres organization got a little smarter and finally started to sign some longer term deals with a few of their guys. Just days after losing Drury and Briere, Thomas Vanek was offered a 7 year $50 million dollar deal by the Edmonton Oilers and the Sabres reacted fast by matching the offer and signing Vanek for 7 years. This was a good move overall, but he has been a tempermental player in the past and I just hope he lives up to his expectations. I think he is a solid player, especially last year, but in the past he's had his share of ups and downs. Let's hope he turns into the superstar player that he has the potential to be. Derek Roy also got a long term deal signing for 6 years worth $24 million. This was a decent deal. Roy, Vanek & Afinogenov had a stellar year as a powerhouse line and I'd like to see that continue. But Roy, is a far cry from Drury or Briere.


Sabres also signed up a bunch of folks for 1 year including Teppo Numminen, Daniel Paille, Adam Mair (signed for 3 years), Nathan Paetsch(3 years), Michael Ryan and enforcer Andrew Peters (2 years). Sabres also signed as a backup goalie, Joceyln Thibault. He last played in Pittsburgh. Funny how Marty Biron is there now huh? Anyway, he should be a better backup than Ty Conklin. He didn't play much and when he did wasn't overly impressive. He's a free agent this summer.

Some others leaving the Sabres uniforms include Taylor Pyatt (not such a big deal - he's kind of inconsistent), Dainius Zubrus is going to the New Jersey Devils (he came in late, I figured he was gone).

There could still be some trades, but it looks like for now that the Sabres are ready for the season.

Overall, here's my take. I am hoping for the best and I am excited to see the team play. I think there are a few guys that will step it up and play even better than they did last year. I'm hoping Brian Campbell and young Drew Stafford will play a bigger role in the team this season. Anything can happen, but losing Briere and Drury makes the team a lot less stronger. I wish those 2 guys the best of luck with their new teams, but I will miss them from this team very very much. They were more than just good players, they were players with heart and they should've stayed in Buffalo because they fit in so well. It wasn't in the cards I guess.

Finally, the best news, after the NHL released the 2007-2008 schedules, I discovered that the Sabres will be out to play in Los Angeles twice this year. I'll be going to both those games hopefully. 1 in Honda Center in Anaheim and 1 in Staples Center in LA.

Ducks Win The Cup!

Yes, that's right. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim have won the Stanley Cup. Congratulations to both teams on a job well done. Ottawa just couldn't match up well against Anaheim. I'll try to write more later about my overall opinion on this hockey season. A fantastic season with some amazing hockey. I was fortunate enough to watch a bunch of games this year because they were on VERSUS. I would've rather had my Sabres win the cup, but.....

It's cool that Anaheim won, it's too bad, that I couldn't be there to see the Cup being raised.

So Cool!

No Hasek in the Stanley Cup Finals either

Well, the Dominator won't be playing for the Stanley Cup this year either. Anaheim walked away with a win and a date to play for the Stanley Cup against Ottawa. No offense but Ottawa looks unstoppable. They are playing great and have the hunger. We'll see. Good luck to all. I'll probably watch a little.

Sabres season is history....Ottawa advances waiting for West

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.

Sabres stay alive!!!

Sabres stay alive with a win tonight by 3-2 in Ottawa. This was an extremely important win tonight. They skated better, they passed better and they kept their composure. That's what I like to see. They play again on Saturday. Good luck! Keep up the good work buffalo!

Detroit is up in their series and Pronger is now suspended from the next game for Anaheim. Wow! That's big. We'll see what happens. It would be cool to see Anaheim win. I wouldn't mind Detroit advancing either. There's the old Hasek in net for Detroit.

Anyway, it's late. More later.

Game 4 tonight against Ottawa

Well, it's been a bit depressing for mre the last couple of days. I think the picture says it all. Sabres lost game 3 by a score of 1-0. UGH! They are now down 3 games to none. After the Cinderella season that the Sabres have had, it's hard to think of them not going to the finals. I believe they have a shot tonight and turn this around. I know it's a super long shot, but the Sabres have made those before. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and kind of afraid to look, but we'll see what happens tonight. LET'S GO BUFFALO!

Sabres down 2-0 in series

Well, it was a hard fought game. Buffalo came out swinging. There was an early goal, but that was disallowed due to it going in off the hand of a Sabre. Vanek scored on an excellent play and made his strong effort pay off. Sabres were up 2-0 in the first. I was excited. The wind left my sails when I saw Ottawa come back and score 3 times against my Sabres. Buffalo tied it in thrilling fashion with Briere getting a lucky bounce to him and he snuck it into the empty net. That was pure hard work by the Sabres. Unforutnately, they lost it in double OT to Ottawa. This is not a good sign.

Now, we have to go back to Ottawa having lost 2 games on home ice where we've been unbeatable. It's really disappointing. But it ain't over until the fat lady sings right? She might be warming up, but she ain't singing just yet.

Sabres looked powerful in the first period. Unstoppable really. But their power play has suffered for much of the season and hasn't been any better in the playoffs. Ottawa's power play has been truly amazing. Scoring tons of times and moving the puck well. Sabres moved the puck better on their power play, but still not enough.

I still think the Sabres are capable of playing better hockey. I don't think that they've been able to pull it together for a full 60 minutes yet in the playoffs. That didn't seem to matter until now. They haven't been down yet in the playoffs. All of the sudden they're underdogs again.

Let's hope the underdogs can pull it off. I'm rooting for you Buffalo! I believe! LET'S GO BUFFALO!

Sabres fall in 1st meeting with Ottawa

I'm a little depressed. Ottawa played really well tonight. We didn't play as well. Ottawa scored first and stayed in command from that point on. We need to bounce back in Saturday's game. I'll be watching with intense excitement. I'm a little nervous, Ottawa looked good and made us lose one on our home ice. That doesn't sit well with me.

Ryan Miller played very strong in goal despite the loss. Afinogenov looked good too. Of course, Drury and Briere were good, but everyone was all over them. Lydman showed why he's good to have around.

I believe in Buffalo and I'm looking forward to game 2 in the HSBC Arena. I'm chalking this one up to nerves for some of our guys. Bring it on Ottawa, bring it on...

Buffalo Sabres make it into the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals again

I haven’t posted any hockey news and that’s mostly because I’ve been watching a lot of hockey games. The Buffalo Sabres have once again returned to the Eastern Confernce Finals. I have a good feeling still this year. I am very much looking forward to seeing my Sabres in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Let’s recap a little. The first series in round 1 against the Islanders was fantastic hockey. Islanders played better than expected. Sabres didn’t play as well as I expected. They still managed to pull off some amazing third periods and just managed to pull the games out of their ass. They won the series in five games. Goaltending on both ends of the ice was amazing. Ryan Miller for the Sabres had the edge though definitely. Chris Drury gave us some timely goals as well. But the great part about watching the Sabres this season is that it’s a true team effort and this was evident in the games against the Islanders as we were getting goals by a bunch of different team members.

The second round the Sabres played the New York Rangers. The Rangers had been red hot going into the playoffs and they disposed of the Atlanta Thrashers quickly. I wasn’t sure how the Sabres were going to react. They came out fighting but the goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist. He was out of this world. Miller didn’t disappoint at the other end of the ice either. This was flat out amazing hockey. Highly entertaining and just exciting to watch. I was impressed by the play of both teams. Sabres seemed to handle the Rangers well in the first two games. First game they scored 5 goals and beat them 5-2, but the next game was tighter checking and the Sabres squeaked by with just a 2-1 win. The Rangers took the next 2 games, but fought hard to win. The game went into double OT and was thrilling. Game 4 was more all Rangers and the Sabres just didn’t seem like they could get it together against the Rangers. Maxim Afinogenov was even benched and didn’t play game 4 because of his poor performance. The Rangers were surging and I was worried. But fear not, the Sabres came back home and didn’t want to disappoint their fans. Despite a scoreless first 3 periods, the Rangers finally score one within the last 3 minutes. Drury ties the game with a goal on Lundqvist within the last 17 seconds of the game. This pushes another overtime game and Afinogenov pulls it out and scores the winning goal in OT. That showed heart and determination and I just wanted to finish this series for the sake of my heart. All the OT’s were killing me. Game 6 was all Sabres, but the Rangers wouldn’t die. They kept fighting. Both teams continued to score big in this game and the Sabres won by a score of 5-4. All in all, a really great series and if you’re a hockey fan, this one had it all.


Now, we bring on the Ottawa Senators. This is the team that had the big brawl earlier in the season with the Sabres. These are bitter rivals and both teams have something to prove. The Senators want to prove that they can play well in the playoffs. The Sabres want to prove that they won’t crack. We are healthier than last year, more confident as a team and playing fantastic hockey. In my opinion, the Sabres got this series too, but we’ve got to win 4 first before we go to the finals.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Sabres are a team of destiny this year. It all started last year with their surprising run for the cup. This year, there have been no surprises. We won the President’s trophy for having the most points in the entire NHL this season. That team normally doesn’t win the cup, but the Sabres have proven that their not a normal team. They are on a mission to bring the first professional sports championship to the city of Buffalo. The fans want it, need it maybe even. The energy that I’m feeling when watching the games tell me they can do it. 


LET’S GO BUFFALO!!! I’ll be watching the games.

1 down, 3 to go....

Sabres won game 1 in their first meeting with Islanders tonight. This is so exciting. They won 4-1. Chris Drury scored twice and so did Brian Campbell. Like I said, 1 down, 3 to go. Click here to read all about it.

Watch the video played during the opening of game 1. It's an inspirational video on the season that the Sabres have had. Set to "Better Days" by Goo Goo Dolls. LET'S GO SABRES!

It's Sabres vs. Islanders in Round 1

Yes, the playoff matches have finally been determined. Buffalo Sabres will play the New York Islanders. Led by former Sabres coach Ted Nolan, Islanders should be a tough opponent. I am looking forward to a Sabres win though. We've got some key players back including Maxim Afinogenov. LET'S GO SABRES!

Sabres are #1 in new ESPN the magazine - giving back to fans

Hey,
ESPN the magazine just named the Buffalo Sabres the #1 pro team in sports in what kind of a product is given back to their fans. I whole heartedly agree and what a great comment for the city of Buffalo. Considering just a few years ago the team was in bankruptcy and was almost lost, this is a huge honor.

Check out the article.

Also read this one if you have time. Ales Kotalik should be back in action for tomorrow's game.

Good news indeed all around.

Sabres lose to Toronto

My Buffalo Sabres have got to get their act together. They have shown throughout the season that they can play well and play consistenly well. That's why they're at the top of the standings in the East. But I'm worried as we approach the playoffs that the injuries have gotten to them and they're not giving it their all. They lost Saturday night to Toronto 4-1. They have kept Toronto's playoff hopes alive. This comes on the heels of a 5-4 comeback victory on Friday night. They won that game, but were manhandled by the Leafs for the better part of the game.

I guess we'll have to see, but I have high hopes for this team after such an incredible season so far. I don't want them to run out of gas at the end of the season. Here's hoping they don't. LET'S GO BUFFALO!

Read the story in the Buffalo News about goalie Ryan Miller trying to spark some fire in his team.

Buffalo and Ottawa Brawl

Here's the video of the brawl complete with my play by play man Rick Jeanneret. This is old school hockey my friends and not something that the Sabres have been known for recently. But with the rash of injuries on this team, mostly due to other teams coming in to games and beating on them (while the Sabres try to use their Power Play to gain goals and momentum), I was glad to see them fight back and not take it. Good Luck Sabres and keep playing great hockey.

Sabres win in a shootout

The Buffalo Sabres after being down 2-0 against the always tough Ottawa Senators, fight back to win it in a shootout. These are some great highlights. There were also some fights with nearly the whole team. I can't seem to find a video of that yet, but I'll keep looking and post if I can. But this was a great game with lots of scoring.

Oilers@Sabres highlights from 02-15-07

Highlights from the Sabres win the other night. Enjoy!

Sabres win three in a row at home!

The Buffalo Sabres have won 3 games in a row at home and have 3 more home games in a row coming up. This is good news for fans like me since the Sabres are still at the top of the Eastern Conference in a comfortable position. The Sabres have been palying really well as of late, but there is some bad news.

The Sabres have lost some key players to injuries in the last few games. Paul Gaustad, a forward, is out for the rest of the season with a severed left ankle tendon. Jaroslav Spacek is out for at least a month with a broken left hand. Center Jiri Novotny re-injured his left ankle and is out for awhile. Perhaps most devastating is the loss of Maxim Afinogenov. He scored a goal to tie the game last night and that was after suffering a broken bone in his shooting wrist. He was on pace to score more goals and have more points than last season. He could be out for 6 weeks. Too bad for him and too bad for the Sabres. They will have to dig deep now and have some younger players step up. I really believe in this team this year and I have been really impressed when I've been able to watch them play. There's a game coming up on Versus that I get to watch. I'm pretty excited. I'm not panicking since they are at the top of the division and one of the NHL's big teams this year. I just really want my team to win the Stanley Cup. Good Luck Sabres! Keep up the good work!