Archives for April 12, 2001

‘Now residing near Buffalo, in St. Catharines, Ontario, Nolan, through his work with Team Indigenous, is continually working to open doors for Native athletes. One day, he would like to see his people represented in Olympic competition. He isn’t just pushing for youngsters to audition for teams from North and South America. He’d like to see them represent their own nation, the indigenous inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere.’

'Roman Cechmanek got the Philadelphia Flyers this far. They're not turning their backs on him now.'

Like the deranged man who took a hammer to the Liberty Bell last weekend, the Sabres put a serious dent in Roman Cechmanek and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Czech-mate? It certainly seems like Sabres’ veteran Dominik Hasek taught the rookie Roman Cechmanek a lesson in the chess game of hockey pressure.

'The Sabres found just enough holes Wednesday night to squeeze out a 2-1 victory in the series opener before 19,543 fans in the First Union Center. For one game anyway, it appeared the Sabres had found an answer for the one goalie who tormented them like none other in recent history. He looked human.'

'Curtis Brown says he's noticed the change over the last few weeks. He could see it in Doug Gilmour's eyes, the glowing anticipation of an athlete who had been there many times before, and could hardly wait to get back again. "Oh, yeah. He's ready to go," Brown said before Wednesday's playoff opener against the Flyers. "He's been gearing up for this. He's going to get after it, and hopefully we'll follow."'

'Hasek was momentarily shaken up but quickly recovered after he was bowled over with 8:13 remaining in the first period. It appeared Flyers center Peter White pushed Sabres center Curtis Brown into The Dominator during a scrum just outside the crease. The play happened just six seconds after Hasek stopped Mark Recchi on a penalty shot.'

'In his first NHL playoff game, Cechmanek looked more like Snow or the Beezer than Hasek, coughing up two softish first period goals on nine shots after allowing that many on 102 shots in four regular season games against Buffalo.'

'Because while Hasek played the drama queen, his teammates' efforts could best be described as perfunctory. Both Buffalo goals were unspectacular. But Hasek was at his best and the Sabres' stingy defence — tops in the NHL for good reason — handled the rest in a dull, grinding fashion that got the job done.'

'The aging centerman set up one goal and scored what proved to be the game winner Wednesday night as the Sabres took Game One of their best-of-seven series with the Philadelphia Flyers.'