Big Saturday

by Ryan

There are too many sports happening today. UB plays at noon. The Sabres play at one in Boston. The NFL has two wild card games at 4 and 8. Then there's the obligatory Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader to top it all off. Plus HSBC Arena gets to see another banner hit the rafters, as the Bandits kick off the 2009 season. That's a full day, and that means we're in front of the television for all of it.

As we said before, Rich and I will be covering the International Bowl for WNYMedia, so check out their live blog if you want to talk to us about some bowl games. It looks to be a great match up for both teams and should make for an interesting game. It looks to be the only college football game on the schedule, so it will have the spotlight before Wild Card Weekend kicks off.

What most of you are more interested in, of course, will by the Sabres taking on the Boston Bruins. I love that this game starts at one because the Bruins probably figured the Patriots would be prominently involved in the playoff schedule and wanted to be out of the way. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Anyway, after getting back on track against the Leafs it will be interesting to see just how well Buffalo plays against the best team in the East. Boston has been on fire all year and has owned the Sabres recently. The start time is odd for sure, but the atmosphere will be the same. If Buffalo can lock it down in their own end they have a good chance to win, but that's not easy task. Savard, Kessel, and Krejci all have 39+ points, and there's plenty of talent to go around on a team that's tough to boot.

The Sabres have talked a big game once again, but there's a big difference between beating the Leafs and taking out the Bruins at home. This is a necessary test for a team that has claimed to turn the corner. If they can compete against Boston then they are worthy of a playoff spot for sure. If things end up the way they are today, they will need to learn how to beat Boston sometime. Might as well start now.

This game won't get the most of attention due to the UB game, so we're taping it with the intention of watching it twice. Either way we hope to hear from you sometime today. Enjoy the big sports day, and go Bulls. And Sabres. And Bandits.

Go sports?