De La Hoya vs. Mayweather? Nope. Drury vs. Briere. Supposedly.

By Chris

I don’t know how true this is, but I thought it was interesting enough to share.

For those too lazy to click on the link, here’s the juicy part:

From what I have been told Daniel Briere was sitting with an unnamed Sabre in the lockeroom talking about possible places he may be playing next season. At this time Chris Drury and Drew Stafford walked through that area of the room and overheard the conversation. Apparently there had been some strife over the earlier reports, especially after a Philadelphia press interview with Martin Biron, that Briere has talked openly about leaving previously and that it had a negative effect on the room. When confronted by Drury on the comments Briere, allegedly, made reference to the rumour, which I have previously reported, that Drury had already reached a handshake deal and that he, and the team, were hiding it. Allegedly, Briere also made a reference that Drury was favored in Buffalo because he was an American and that is why he got all of the credit.

According to my source it escalated from there and some blows, though none damaging, were thrown and they had to be separated by teammates. The Sabres immediately followed this brush-up with possibly the worst performance by the team all year in Game 3. Interestingly after Briere tied game 2 with video clearly shows Drury skating right by Briere without even congratulating him. also in a off day press conference Joe Corvo of the Senators made reference of how it was tough for the Sabres to focus on the Sens when they are fighting themselves.

There’s not much going on with the Sabres right now, and a potential locker room brawl would certainly spark some interest. It got my attention. But the story isn’t full-proof. Like one of the comments mentions, there was no practice session after Game Two. If you recall, the Sabres lost the second game in double overtime and then flew out to Ottawa the next morning. Lindy didn’t hold a practice Sunday morning.

A conflict between the two certainly wouldn’t shock me, but I get the feeling that if anything did happen, this post (or rather the author’s source) seriously blows the incident out of proportion. What I also find interesting, besides the report, is that the media did not pick up on it. I might not expect Versus to be on the ball, but CBC certainly would have been. Any of the Canadian media outlets would have gladly jumped at the chance to crack this story, even if it was just the quietest of rumors. We would’ve heard about it then, not two weeks later on a blog. Right?

For the record, there are about 37 days before both Briere and Drury become free agents. That is if some agreement between the captain(s) and the Sabres isn’t reached sometime before then. The Roost will provide full analysis of the NHL off season in the coming weeks.

But first this very important story with one huge problem:

“Former Rangers cheerleader sues MSG”

Did you read that entire headline? You wasted your time. The first three words are the problem.

Cheerleaders have no place in hockey. I’m not condoning the alleged actions of MSG employees, but then again, cheerleaders shouldn’t be there in the first place. Cheerleaders, along with ice dancers and other promotional squads, are just cheap gimmicks to try to get non-hockey fans in NHL markets to go to games. Sure they’re nice to oogle at, but hockey has survived for over a century without them and hockey will go on for many, many years after they’re gone.

And for Prince to file all of those documents supporting her claims on the same day that Ranger great Brian Leetch retires? Now that’s criminal.