Espanyol and Ointments

I'll start off with an easy one: SportsCenter Deportes is pointless. Honestly, there are times when I can barely comprehend the English speaking anchors SC throws my way at 2 a.m. But no, ESPN has to globalize and broaden my horizons with an anchor with a wicked Spanish accent telling me about "worldly" events.

This bothers me for a few reasons. First of all, I hate that this most often comes before hockey coverage. Why is it necessary to tell me about something happening thousands of miles away when a hockey game just ended in this country? Can't you scroll an international soccer score on the Bottomline and give me some in depth coverage of the Western Conference Finals?

I mean, I love "the beautiful game," and some worldly soccer news is entertaining, but it is certainly something I don't need to hear on SportsCenter every night. If you truly feel the need to tell me about AC Milan, at least let Stu Scott give it to me, just for comedy's sake.



More importantly... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I have been cowering in fear over this since Sunday. Anyone who was fooled by a report of a "torn skin flap" was joking themselves. The only "torn skin flap" I've ever had was on my foot after skating... and was from a blister. Nice try, Red Sox training staff. You almost had us...

But seriously, this is a bad sign for Red Sox Nation. We all know the history Beckett has with blisters. We've heard the stories about all the creams and ointments he has gone through in search of his pitching hand lasting an entire season. To go 7-0 and then go down with skin issues is such a tease. I understand the blessed situation we are in with regards to pitching, but I like the idea of having a healthy Josh Beckett tearing up the AL. (And I see your Rocket, Yankee fans, and raise you Jon Lester...)

Whatever goat semen or "Udderly Smooth" Beckett needs to make his skin heal properly, the boys down on Yawkey Way better order another case of it. Let Jeremy Bonderman take your place as "Mr. Blister Hand." He's well on his way...

The Ten Commandments of Jersey Wearing

By Jon

Every time I go to the arena or any event with a large gathering of sports fans, one of my favorite pastimes include picking out the various jerseys of long forgotten role players or just generally odd jerseys. That being said, there are some jerseys that should never see the light of day. I present to you, The Ten Commandments of Jersey Wearing.

I. Thou shall not apply their own name on a jersey

We've all seen it. You are walking into the arena, and you spot a jersey with a name you don't recognize. You scan your brain, and you finally come to the conclusion that it was custom lettered with the owner's last name. This is despicable. You don't play for the team, you don't get a jersey. It's as simple as that. EXCEPTIONS: 1) If you share a name with a player on the team ( I am the proud owner of a three sizes too small Brian Campbell jersey) 2) If you are under the age of 8. Then your parents are to blame.

II. Thou shall not wear the jersey of a hated player.

Last night I spotted three, count 'em, three Miro Satan jerseys. This is completely unacceptable. Miro was lazy, and left on the worse possible terms. He's booed every time he touches the puck now, and you are going to admit to the world that you spent 100 some odd dollars on his jersey five years ago? Are you insane? Other examples include Doug Gilmore and Rob Johnson, or wearing a Chris Pronger jersey around Edmonton. Bad choices, all around.

III. Thou shall only wear a jersey if it is the replica of one that was actually used in a game.

This commandment is inspired by the influx of white, old-school, Sabres jerseys with a number on the front. News flash... these never existed. Buy a blue one and be done with it, they look better anyways.

IV. Thou shall not steal.

If one of your buddies buys a brand new Marshawn Lynch jersey, he has claimed the rights to that player. Do not steal his idea and buy one for yourself. Nothing looks cheesier than three guys sitting together at a game, all wearing the same jersey. People will begin to suspect things. Also, if a person is talking about buying an obscure throwback jersey (i.e. California Golden Seals), do not buy this behind their back. That's just wrong. (I'm talking to you, JB).

V. Thou shall not bestow an honor upon someone who is honor less.

Wearing a "C" or "A" on a hockey jersey is a huge honor, and this should be respected. Do not apply an "A" on an Andrew Peters jersey. He didn't earn it. What gives you the right to give him that honor? Also, if you MUST put your own name on a jersey, placing a "C" on the front should result in a burning at the stake. That is wrong on so many levels. If a friend of mine did that, I would immediately cease all forms of communication with him/her. I'm not kidding. Try me, I dare you.
(Side note: Earlier this season, I took in a game at Buffalo Wild Wings on Transit Road. There was a gentlemen in his mid-forties with his name on the back of a blue slug jersey. On the front of the jersey, he gave himself an "A". My friends and I found this funny for a few different reasons. First of all, this man was pathetic for having his name on his jersey and deeming himself alternate captain. Second of all, he didn't even find himself good enough to be el capitano. We all came to the conclusion that he was second-in-line to "the Fonz" of his group, and that said "Fonz" must have gotten his own customized jersey with a "C".)

VI. Thou shall not purchase a practice jersey.

This is the strangest trend I have ever seen. They run at about 80 dollars. They don't have a name on them. Why not spend the extra 30 dollars to get a blank version of the real thing? Even worse, buying the baby blue practice jersey, or the obnoxious highlighter yellow color. It's not even the team colors, yet you waste your money on it. Go figure.....

VII. Thou shall not put an old player on a new jersey.

I don't know if I saw the same person twice, or if there are a few of these floating around.... but it is not acceptable to put Rob Ray or any other old Sabre on the back of a new style jersey. Ray never wore the slug, don't put him on one. Granted, this is a take on the Third Commandment, but I think it deserving of its own commandment.

VIII. Thou shall not put a phrase on the back of their jersey

Please. No "LEAFSSUCK" on the back of your jersey, or worse yet "STANLEY" with the number "07". I think this one speaks for itself.

IX. Thou shall not have their jersey autographed by anyone other than the player on the back.

A pet peeve of mine is the person that has dozens of signatures of players on his JP Losman jersey. Not only does it look tacky, most of those players are the ragtag offensive undrafted offensive lineman that never had a shot at making the team in the first place. Get Losman to autograph your jersey, and be done with it. It looks better that way.

X. Thou shall NEVER, EVER buy a pink jersey.

This is the worst trend in the history of sporting apparel. A message to females: This is not cute. It makes men want to vomit. Every time I see one of these on TV at a game, I'm furious that this person has forked over the cash for a seat and I am home. Never buy one of these, they may single-handedly ruin all that is sports apparel. Plus, there is something strangely cute about a girl in an over sized hockey jersey. I don't know, maybe that's just me....

Not Dead Yet

By Chris

We're still alive. Take a deep breath and enjoy the moment.

The Sabres left it all on the ice for most of Wednesday night and came away with a 3-2 victory in Ottawa at Scotiabank Place, the building Don Cherry said we couldn't win in. Guess what, Canada. We're coming for you. The Sabres were loose and came out flying and now the pressure is all on Ottawa.

"We could curl up and cry about it and go home," Chris Drury said after practice yesterday. "Or we could fight like dogs. There's no other way to think about it. We can't save anything for Thursday or Friday or Saturday."

Drury was the alpha-dog in Game Four, scoring the game winner and picking up the lone assist on Derek's Roy goal nine seconds into the contest. Backing up his words is something we've come to expect from Drury, mainly because he doesn't send out public messages like that often. So we notice when the team steps up.

It was the most complete game we've seen from the Sabres so far this playoff season. The Senators came on strong late in the third with their two quick goals and stunned the Sabres a little bit. But they perservered and walked away from a win. The powerplay still wasn't great, but we'll all take the goal. The penalty kill was the story, shutting the Ottawa power play out for the second straight game.

Ruff decided to shorten his bench late in the game, rolling with what was working. Kalinin and Vanek saw just one shift in the third period each. Kalinin didn't touch the ice in the second period and Maxim Afinogenov played just 1:44 in the third. Even Jaroslav Spacek saw a dramatic reduction in ice time, playing only 8:22. The crackdown on ice time is an interesting decision, considering the team was playing without Dainius Zubrus, who left the game late in the first period with what the team is calling a "lower body injury." Hopefully the extra day off will aid in the healing of whatever is ailing Zubrus.

Oh yeah, and Ryan Miller was outstanding again between the pipes.

Among 9,815 fans inside HSBC Arena watching the game on those huge 12 x 9 foot televisions, I got a small taste of what it should feel like in the Arena on Saturday afternoon. I'll be among the lucky fans in attendance and hopefully continue to watch history in the making.

Enjoy tonight. Because another Game Seven is coming up on Saturday.

Remember Red

By Ryan

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.- The Shawshank Redemption

I've seen this before. I'm a Red Sox fan, and anyone who is a real Red Sox fan will tell you when it happened.

I was in my basement on the computer. It was a half hour until Game Four of the American League Championship Series, a series in which the Red Sox trailed 3-0 to the Yankees. Being a Sunday in October, I was clad in my finest Buffalo Bills merchandise, save for a Red Sox cap. Hours ago, the Bills had won, giving a bit of joy to what had to be a sorrowful day.

Not 24 hours before, the Yankees had come into Fenway Park and and murdered Game Three, 19-8. No, really. There were blood stains all over the place. I personally was amazed that the grounds crew had kept the grass green enough to play on after all that bloodshed. Nevertheless, there was still a game to be played the next night, whether a mere formality or otherwise.

As I sat in my basement killing time before the series finale, trying to avoid thoughts of the inevitable, I tried to remember what I hadn't done. What superstition did I mess up? Did I do everything right? It was then that I had a striking revelation.

"There is nothing you can do, Ryan." I said to myself. "The only thing you can do is watch and hope."

It was a revelation to me, yes, but also to many other die hard fans. The problem with us is that we feel way, way too involved. Through this feeling we also believe we can somehow affect the outcome of games. When thinking rationally, this is impossible, and wishful thinking at best. But put an entire regular season and extended playoff run into the equation, and there is no such thing as rational thinking.

And so I looked at Game Four with different eyes. I understood that whatever happened had to, and there was nothing I could do. I watched, and of course I was freaking out the entire time, more nervous than I ever have been in my life, but it was not an impending doom nervousness, it was a hope that it would not end that night.

The rest is history, but a history that starts and ends with one man: Dave Roberts. Without one stolen base, one monumental moment in Red Sox history, one beating of the odds, the comeback would not have happened. What followed Roberts' stolen base is arguably the greatest two weeks of my life, and something I will never forget.

So will the Sabres do the impossible? None of us can answer that question. All we can do is watch. My hope is that somewhere on that roster is a Dave Roberts. Maybe it's Chris Drury. Maybe it's Nathan Paetsch. Maybe it's The Goose. Until it happens, all we can do is hope.

The Trials and Tribulations of a Minor League Sports City

For the first time in my life, I spent an extended period of away from my humble abode in WNY. I heard my calling, so to speak, in the state capital. Four and a half hours of Thruway driving later, I found myself away from Buffalo (home of the Bills and Sabres), and in Albany (home of the Patroons, Conquest, Valley Cats, and who could forget the beloved River Rats).

I was incredibly skeptical about the move from a major-league city to a minor-league city. I had been spoiled with big-league sports my entire life, I wasn't quite sure how I would respond to the sight of two AHL teams duking it out. I told myself that I was going to attend as many games that I could, if for no other reason than to get a feel for the different leagues and levels of competition.

The first team I paid a visit to was the Albany River Rats, AHL dual-affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche. The style of play was similar to the NHL, but the quality wasn't there. Passes weren't as crisp, special teams weren't as smooth, the hitting wasn't as hard. I ended up going to a handful of AHL games, as was just entertaining enough to warrent the ten dollar ticket.

Aside from the play, I was impressed with the River Rat fanbase. Attendence was a bit lacking (The first game I went to was the home opener with an appearance by the Stanley Cup, with 7,000 or so showing up. The second game was lucky to have 1,000), but there was a good amount of diehards, including Nick Carlson, clad in complete River Rat apparel, including (but not limited to) a jersey, a hat with a rat tail, a cheesehead, and the official River Rat cowbell. I was not, however, impressed with "Rowdy," the worst mascot in all of sports. He looks like a stuffed animal that has been passed on as a family heirloom for generations. Needless to say, he needs spruced up again. Also, like many hockey teams today, they had an in-game host, nicknamed "The Big Cheese." This guy was awful. He makes Nicholas Picholas look legendary. I'm not kidding. He was that bad.

Other teams I checked out were the Albany Conquest of the AF2, aka minor-league arena football, and the Albany Patroons of the CBA and USBL, aka third or fourth rate professional basketball. I was hardly impressed with either of these teams.

The Conquest could very well advertise their product as "Football for people with ADD." Play goes like this for two and a half hours: A 3 to 4 second play, followed by 5 to 6 seconds between plays, where the Times-Union Center brass decide it's necessarry to play a small clip of a rap song every time. Repeat this process about four hundred times. It's truly enough to drive you insane. Also, it is a great reminder that you are also watching minor-league officials. The first game I went to, I witnessed a Conquest player whip the ball into the stands, stand on the end boards, jump into the stands, and dance for what seemed like an hour in celebration. An opposing player then returned a kick for a TD, threw the ball against the end board, and was flagged for excessive celebration. Home bias, much?

The Patroons play in the Continental Basketball Association from November until March, and the United States Basketball League from March into the summer. It's truly odd, as they field two completely different teams for the different leagues. I went to the home opener of the CBA season. Upon attending one game, I quickly found that the CBA is much worse than the NBA, the NBADL, the ABA, and your local YMCA league. The style of play was painful to watch, and it seemed as if the players were intent on trying to finish every possession off with a
dunk. It rarely worked. I was not planning on making a return, and these stories cemented that: one, two.

The saving grace for the Capital Region is college sports. The SUNY Albany/Siena rivalry is a sight to be seen. Imagine UB/Niagara playing to a packed house in HSBC Arena. Intense? That's how it is in Albany, with this year's meeting between the two teams being an epic, 2OT battle. There is also several D1 hockey institutions, and Albany hosted the ECAC College Hockey Tourney (albeit in a blizzard).

All in all, a minor-league sports city is what you make of it. It certainly won't dent your pocket book, but you sacrifice in the quality of play. There is plenty to keep you busy, but it won't blow you out of your seat. In the end, I'll take the better athletes for more money. It's worth it.

It's good to be home......

Charity

By Ryan


I just donated $39 to charity for this.

I'm not sure how I feel about it at the moment. My initial thought was that I could have done much better things with that money. Much, much better things, in fact. I could have invested in the stock market, bought some reading material, spruced up my wardrobe. Heck, I could have bought some fabric and stitched the thing myself.

But no, I dropped forty bucks (plus $25 shipping, mind you) on a lot of cloth that may or may not have some history attached to it. (Certificate of Authenticity will say it's real, but not that it wasn't in a closet for 40 years instead of in some rink's rafters)

So here's the kicker: where the heck am I going to put it? My room is the size of a women's shoebox, size 9 wide. This does not leave much room forthe things necessary for sleep, let alone giant hockey memorabilia. Then there's the question of aesthetics: will it clash with the decor? What happens when I have to spring clean? Can you dry clean something 60"X34"? Do I have to Scotch Guard this bad boy?

This purchase has boiled down to either the greatest one of my life, or something that will haunt me forever. Why would anyone drop a week's paycheck on this monstrosity, let alone a Sabres fan on the brink of a sweep? What happens if it's over tomorrow, and I'm stuck with a giant reminder of this team's failure hanging in my room until October?

What will happen is something I certainly don't know, but I'd like to have some faith in the rash purchases I make. No matter what happens tomorrow, I know that I will still love the game of hockey. I know that whatever this team ends up doing this year, I'm not giving up on the game, the team, or this city.

Call it gullible, call it naive, call it pathetic, but it's my life. It's going to be a part of me no matter how many times it rips my heart out and makes another year into mere memories. Those memories, no matter how bittersweet, never leave. It's a world of hockey cards, game programs, and ticket stubs, with no free agency in sight. And yes, sometimes giant, over sized banners emblazoned with an NHL logo.

You know what? I think I'll learn to like living with this thing. I've already learned to live with the memories attached to it.

Apocalypse Now

By Chris

All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses, no expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world

-Tears for Fears, Mad World

It's a depressing time in Western New York right now and we're standing at a crossroads. We can still believe. Or we can jump off the bandwagon. Each seems like the trendy thing to do. I'm in a place somewhere in-between. I want the Sabres to pull a 2004 Red Sox and make history because I want to watch this team succeed. Then again, they haven't played well enough this playoff to deserve to make that history and I hope they get blown out 8-0 on Wednesday night. Try to swallow that going into an off season where all three guys wearing letters on their chests could be gone come September. Game Three in Ottawa was the apex of my frustration with this Sabres team.

They showed no heart. No passion. It felt I was watching the team play just some regular season game on the road. My stomach was in knots and I was doing everything in my power to not throw my full glass of Pepsi across the restaurant I was at. When Briere failed to score early in the first, on a play he waited too long on, we knew we were in for a long night. "That's probably the way the rest of the game will go," my buddy Jay said. How right he was.

It was the first time all year they've been shut out. And they got shut out by Ray Freaking Emery, who made all of 15 saves. They needed to come out and play a great road game and they failed miserably. They don't like to hit. Our two crash-and-bangers, Gaustad and Mair played all of 11:13 combined. They look like they play scared but they look like they expect teams to roll over and die because hey, we're the Buffalo Sabres, we're more talented than you, so just quit now, we'll get our late goal and we'll win.

We've been spoiled here in Buffalo the last two years. We've been on a roller coaster ride and it's been a helluva time. It's looking like our window has closed. Only two teams have ever rallied from an 0-3 deficit in NHL history. This team has the potential to be the third, but whether or not they decide to show up is an entirely different story. Game Three was a demoralizing victory. The Sabres looked stunned leaving the ice and it's a serious question if they're mentally tough enough to come back. Sure they've done it in the regular season but the playoffs are a completely different animal. The pressure of being the favorite seems to have taken over. They're forcing bad passes, losing battles on the boards, and are unable to keep steady pressure in the offensive zone as a result.

It's an all-time let down. If they lose on Wednesday night, we're not going to remember this team ten years from now. They're just going to be another Buffalo team that let us all down. 1975. 1999. 2006. Those are the teams we'll remember and endear forever. The 2007 Buffalo Sabres put the pressure of winning a Stanley Cup on themselves as soon as they got back from Carolina last year. "One team. One goal." Last night was one player (Miller) and no goals. And now they're on the cusp of letting an entire community down. Then again, maybe we all will remember this team. As the biggest disappointment of them all.

Coming into this series, I was OK if we lost in seven games. Ottawa is a great team. Alfredsson is finally stepping up and his line with Heatley and Spezza is unbelievable. The Senators defense has been outstanding. Anton Volchenkov blocked another four shots in Game Three. But the way the Sabres are losing? It's got me thinking about next season, sadly. The heart we thought the Buffalo Sabres had just doesn't seem to be there anymore. It's enough to wonder how much of the Buffalo roster will even be back next season.

Ryan Miller is the only Sabre worth a damn right now. He didn't quit. He played his heart out last night and he's the reason why it was only a one goal game. No one else showed up. Briere played maybe a total of two good minutes all game, most of it coming with only seconds left. His co-captain, the great Chris Drury, wasn't much better, going 7-11 on faceoffs. It just isn't enough. This team thought it knew what it took to win a Conference Final after last season's disappointment. Now we're all not so sure, and it sounds like the players themselves are among the doubters.

Dmitri Kalinin was awful again. I almost wonder if the Sabres didn't pick some random fan from Buffalo, flew him in with the team, slapped a #45 jersey on him and let him play. His pinches into the offensive zone, which have been great at times, were completely off in Game Three. He made a lot of bad decisions and forced Miller to make a lot of tough saves that could have easily been avoided had he just played smarter.

Afinogenov looked like the only guy on his line that was trying. Roy and Vanek looked uninterested most of the game and that's confusing in itself. But when Afinogenov over-tries, that's when trouble comes knocking. The times when he tries to do it himself are the times when he's most useless because he ends up just skating around in circles, taking time off the clock. Not very effective at all when you're down by a goal in the third period in a game that puts your entire season at stake. Roy himself has been a mess. I'd consider benching him if I were Lindy Ruff and putting a little scare in him. Remember, he was in Rochester when last season began. Nothing has ever been gifted to him.

Hecht-Briere-Pominville
Gaustad-Drury-Zubrus
Vanek-Connolly-Afinogenov
Kotalik-Mair-Stafford

Lydman-Tallinder
Campbell-Spacek
Numminen-Paestch

Give it a shot Lindy. What do you have to lose besides one more game?

Corey Griswold on WGR550's Post-Post-Game Show reminded me of a play that I forgot I was so angry about when I originally saw it. Tallinder's selfish and flagrant foul on Alfredsson was inexcusable. There's no other adjective right now to describe it. To take that high sticking penalty is simply uncalled for when you're supposed to be desperately trying to when a hockey game. That play said a lot about that game. The Sabres lost their composure. They made a dumb plays that they normally wouldn't have made. They're falling apart at the seams before our very eyes and there's nothing we can do about it. Sure they might win a game, maybe even two if we're that lucky, but it just appears that this series is out of reach.

If you are one of the few Believers, however, I'll give you two things to hang your rally cap on:
1. The Sabres have played like absolute crap the last three games and have lost two of them because of one bad bounce. One good bounce the other way, and it's a completely different series.
2. Ryan Miller. 'Nuff said.

I want to still believe, but I think it might just be over for Buffalo. I hope to the Hockey Gods that I'm wrong.

It ain't over till it's over

By Chris

The Buffalo Sabres are in trouble. I know it. You know it. Everyone seems to know it. The team is down 2-0 in their series with the Ottawa Senators and history is not on their side. The Sabres are 0-16 all-time when losing the first two games of a best-of-seven series. But history has not seen these Sabres yet. This team jerked fans around so many times in the last two years that it's impossible to ever count them out.

They've done it before, from Briere's late goal on Friday to Drury's miracle against the Rangers, back to that game in Boston on November 2 when the Sabres rallied back from a three goal deficit mid-way through the third period. They came back in stunning fashion in the Game One of the second round last year when Tim Connolly scored on Ray Emery with less than a minute remaining in regulation. There’re probably at least a dozen more comebacks that have all since blurred together. If anyone can pull this thing off, it's this team. And if not? Well then, it's been fun, but we'll have to deal with the fact that the ride's over.

"Over? Did you say 'over?' Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!" -Bluto Blutarsky, Animal House

Who will be the Sabres' Bluto Blutarsky? Who's going to step up and take over tonight and get the job done?

---Daniel Briere finally had his clutch moment. Although he’s averaging about a point a game, his play before Friday just simply wasn’t good enough. Being reunited with Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville after some rocky games in Manhattan seemed to rejuvenate him and he definitely elevated his play in Game Two. Briere needs to continue to skate hard and create offensive opportunities if the Sabres are going to win four out of five games.

---Dainius Zubrus has been invisible since the Rangers series, where he played his best hockey in a Sabres uniform. He controlled the boards and was the hardest working Sabre on the ice. He took the body to Jaromir Jagr and frustrated the Rangers’ captain to the point where he hit Zubrus with a gloved punch. Was the agitator role out of character for Zubrus? Why not try those tactics on Daniel Alfredsson, who up until this year was the poster boy for playoff failure? Get inside his head and maybe he’ll regress to the choker we all know and love.

---Henrik Tallinder might just be the warrior the Sabres need. He took a cheap shot from Alfredsson in the first overtime of Game Two and was down on the ice for a few minutes, writhing in pain. He got up nursing his shoulder and returned later on to literally finish the game (he was on the ice for Joseph Corvo’s second overtime winner).

Now, Lindy Ruff says it’s possible that Tallinder may miss tonight’s game. Granted, he might legitimately be hurt. It was a brutal hit and, as Ruff said, it would probably warrant a suspension if it had happened the regular season. But come on, Hank! This is the playoffs and your team needs its best defenseman now more than ever. The blue line truly fell apart when he broke his arm last year. It’s frightening to think of what will happen if he’s out of the line-up now: more ice-time for the heart-attack pairing of Dmitri Kalinin and Teppo Numminen.

While they played well in the early parts of the post season, this Ottawa series has been most unkind to the Teppo-Tri duo. Kalinin can’t handle the puck and Numminen looks like he’s 70, or ten years older than he actually is. The Numminen turnover on the Game One winner was the worst pass a Sabres defenseman has made all season. These guys do anything in their power to avoid getting hit. It's almost embarrassing to watch and anyone with high-blood pressure needs to turn away from the TV anytime they're on the ice.

If Kalinin is put on the top penalty kill unit, then Dany Heatley must be licking his chops. With the man advantage, Heatley must have burned Kalinin 239,084 times during the regular season. Kalinin is a good defenseman, don’t get me wrong. He flourished when playing with Alexei Zhitnik on the number one pairing before the lock out, but since then, Tallinder and Brian Campbell have blown by him on the depth chart, and Nathan Paetsch might just be next. Kalinin is signed through next season but his time to prove himself as a top defender is running out.

And then there’s the obvious reason as to why Buffalo is down in this series: the power play has been horrendous. Atrocious. Downright terrible. It's been bad all year, dating back to the team's first game of the season. The Sabres went 0-9 with the man-advantage against Carolina in the season opener. So it’s not like this is a new problem. It’s all about execution and it’s a mystery as to why such skilled players can’t put the puck in. Maybe teams are just better penalty killers now against the Sabres system, taking away the low cross ice passes that used to be Buffalo’s bread and butter. But it’s mind-boggling to figure out how a team that scored 308 goals in the regular season can only go on to have only the 17th best power play in the league.

Now, the power play is only operating at a 12.7-percent success rate through 13 playoff games. Six teams that have already been eliminated sit above the Sabres in post-season power play percentage. Of teams remaining, Ottawa has the second best penalty killing unit, and if they continue to take penalties against the Sabres, and it seems reasonable to believe that they will only climb to the top of that list.

It’s also reasonable to believe that the Sabres can win this thing. Ruff has reminded his players that Carolina rallied from a 2-0 hole against Montreal last season. I know how that ended. You know how that ended. And the Sabres definitely remember how that ended. They feel that the Holy Grail was taken from them last year and this season has been sort of a revengeful sequel to what happened in 2006. It’s time for them to show that intensity and that desire they all say they have about winning it all on the ice. Ruff and general manager Darcy Regier have finally been given the tools to finish the job. It’s time they used them.

The Sabres have done things the hard way for two years now. The only thing to stop believing is that they’d take the easy route now.

KEYS TO TONIGHT'S GAME FOR THE SABRES (7 p.m. Versus and CBC)

1. Skate, skate, skate. Play the full 60 minutes like the first period of Game Two. Don’t let up on the gas like in the second period on Friday, when Ottawa was able to climb back into the game.
2. Just get the puck on net. Danny Briere may be the Cookie Monster, but Ray Emery is a Rebound Machine. He never seems to be in position for the second shot and if pucks just keep coming at him, he’ll eventually crack.
3. Ryan Miller. ‘Nuff said.

Anatomy of an Overtime Winner

By Ryan


I have no panic button. No, really. No matter how bad things are looking at the moment, no matter what others may be screaming about, I’m not going to be "that guy." I don’t like how it feels, and I’m not one to jump to conclusions. Besides, David Ortiz destroyed my desire for a panic button in 2004.

That being said, I am okay with the Sabres/Senators series as it is. I am certainly not happy, in fact, I’m furious with how things have developed, but I understand how it happened. In fact, the most surprising part of this series, Corvo’s overtime winner, was something that in a way I expected to happen.

Before the start of the second intermission, I said to the very nice woman sitting next to me "The next goal isn’t going to be pretty. With this ice, it’s going to be a kooky bounce that one team capitalizes on." She politely nodded in agreement.

Now I’m no prophet, almost anyone could have expected that to happen. Ice problems in spring hockey are nothing new, and while the HSBC Arena ice crew did a much better job with the rink last night than they did for Game One, you cannot expect good ice to last five periods. For the record, the ice was in good shape at the start of the game, and even held to form until the end of regulation. (In a related story, the building was freezing last night.)

However, 80 minutes of hockey takes it’s toll on an ice sheet, and to start the second overtime, the ice was noticeably choppy. Within the first 30 seconds of the period, a pass out of the Senators end bounced and rolled up on end with no one around. It wasn’t the first sign of bad ice, but was telling of what was to come.

Couple the disgusting ice with a disgusting play in overtime, and the setting is perfect. The Sabres committed one of the mortal sins of overtime hockey, icing the puck twice in a row. With consecutive face offs in your own zone, even which an ace like Chris Drury taking the draw, you are tempting a fate no coach wants a part of.

And so fate prevailed, Spezza wins the draw. Just like the face off win to open the period, the puck bounces back to the defense. Corvo winds and fires the bouncing puck. Knuckles down, hits the ice, bounces high. Game.

It’s the anatomy of an overtime winner. Fight exhaustion, take advantage of mental mistakes, and have a little luck. Sabres fans know the formula well, we’ve been living by it for a long time. Without bad ice and a rookie mistake Chris Drury doesn’t win Game One against Ottawa last year. (Over-flooding in that case) Without a lucky bounce J.P. Dumont doesn’t win Game Three of the same series, and Briere doesn’t force a Game Seven against Carolina.

So I understand how it happened, and maybe that’s why I’m okay with it. When Corvo’s shot went in I was as shocked as everyone else in the building, but it made perfect sense. Perhaps that’s why I’m okay with this series, and why I’m okay with what is ahead. This team has work to do, and I expect them to take care of business. Work on the power play. Make good, smart plays in your own zone. Dominate the boards and don’t take stupid penalties. Play two good, solid road games.

It all sounds so simple, but it’s never that easy. The important question is this: can this Sabres team do what the Senators couldn’t last year? The Senators couldn’t overcome two gut-wrenching overtime losses in last year’s series. This year, the Sens claim to be a more mentally and physically tough group. Sabres fans will tell you this team has what it takes to overcome anything in their way, but they’ve yet to prove capable of getting past a 2-0 series deficit.

Then again, they haven’t had the chance.

Keep the faith, boys.

Special teams wins championships?!

By Jon

Whether you are a glass half full or half empty kind of person, we can all agree on one thing:

This is not the same Buffalo Sabres team we had the pleasure of watching during the regular season.

While I have come to resent the "sky is falling" fans that are abundant in the Buffalo area, things are looking pretty bleak. Our powerplay is atrocious. There's no other way to put it. You won't win many games going 0-7. Our penalty kill wasn't any better. Dimitri Kalinin can't remember to pass to players in blue.

If anyone knows that digging out of a 2-0 hole is far from impossible, it is the Sabres. Didn't we just watch the Rangers even the series when it looked as if we had it put away? Granted, they won their games at home and eventually lost the series, but the Rangers aren't the Sabres. They don't have a Chris Drury. They don't have a Lindy Ruff. They don't have the chemistry that has become synonymous with Buffalo hockey.

If we win on Monday, things won't be so bleak. Evening a series looks like a much more attainable goal when you are only trailing by one game.

One thing is certain, though. Something has to change. Before the all-star game, the Sabres' powerplay was nearly as terrible as it has been lately. What was the solution? More shots, and more importantly more shots finding their way to the net. Who was most responsible for the play? Nathan Paetsch. He doesn't have a rocket by any means, but the man can put the puck on net. We've seen Emery give up rebounds aplenty, more shots on net exploit that. I've already expressed my views on Kalinin's recent play (although, I thought he had a decent first two rounds), I think it should be a no-brainer to get Paetsch in there, and I'm amazed that there has been virtually no pressure from the mainstream media regarding that issue, other than the rumor that Paetsch would play for an injured Kalinin, not a terrible one.

Is a 2-0 deficit what we expected heading up to Canada's capital? No way. Is this series over? Absolutely not.

Random Observations

--In baseball, when a batter is swinging, his hands are part of the bat. Thomas Vanek was trying to get a stick on the puck on his disallowed first period goal, if he was aware that the puck was even coming his way at all. The NHL Rulebook states that a goal will be disallowed if "the puck has been directed, batted or thrown into the net by an attacking player other than with a stick." If interpreted with the broadest sense of that rule, then "no goal" was the right call. But shouldn't there be a rule that a goal should count if the puck is directed into the net when a player is simply trying to get a stick on it? Vanek hardly went out of his way to hit it with his hand, and if it's two inches higher then that puck goes in off of the shaft of his stick.

--Will someone please tell the man at the bottom of every single TV shot of the Party in the Plaza that his tin foil Stanley Cup is a monstrosity and the worst replica ever made?

Welcome

I'm going to give you a little advice. There's a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball. - Ty Webb, Caddyshack


We aren’t better than you. We don’t know anything that you don’t know or couldn’t find out. We are three guys who realize that there is nothing better than kicking back and spending three hours of your life watching grown men duke it out on the football field, while worrying about nothing more complicated than what play to run on a third-and-one. School? Work? Money? Not now…. the game’s on.

Welcome to the Goose’s Roost, our little corner of the Internet, where we will discuss anything and everything. We’re just really big sports fans, like you, but we just have way too much time on our hands. We also don’t mind writing down our thoughts and letting our opinions be known. So, three simple Buffalo guys decided put their collective heads together and you’re looking at the result: The Roost.

The original Goose's Roost was a restaurant in Niagara Falls, but it closed last year and new ownership has changed the name. More recently, Section 304 of HSBC Arena took on the name to honor Buffalo Sabres fan favorite Paul "Goose" Gaustad. The Goose is hard-hitting and hard-working and we love him for it. It’s the way we want to write this blog. We’re not going to pull any punches and we’re going to try like hell to put forth the best product we can.

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The Goose’s Roost