Archives for January 11, 2003

Doug Flutie is often credited for saving the Buffalo Bills franchise. Everyone has been hoping for a "Flutie of hockey" to come around and spark as much interest in the Buffalo Sabres. Out of the dark gloom that has surrounded the Sabres since last summer with the arrest of owner John Rigas, there has emerged a fiery entity known as Ales Kotalik. Could he be the Doug Flutie that could save the Sabres for Buffalo? Only time will tell.

The Buffalo Sabres haven't been able to really count on their “backup” goalie to win them a game since, well, Marty Biron was the backup goalie. Take away Ryan Miller's 4-1-0-2 record, and the team's record the last nine times someone other than Biron started in goal is 0-8-1, dating back to the end of last season. That doesn't even take into account Bob Essensa's 0-5 mark of a year ago. Things have changed dramatically in the New Year, however, with the emergence of Miller. The intriguing question now is: Who is the number-one goalie for the Sabres?

All you need to know about Ales Kotalik's game is that on the shift immediately after he scored the game-winning goal against the Boston Bruins on Friday night, he sent the puck deep into the Bruin zone, blood trickling down his chin from an accidental clip at center ice, and crushed Bryan Berard into the boards behind the net.

'RW Miroslav Satan has one goal in each of his last three games against the Canadiens.'

'"Al's just refreshing," Ruff said. "He goes out there and works extremely hard. He scores a couple goals and immediately afterwards goes and runs somebody through the end of the rink."'

'Connolly hadn't scored since a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 15. Since then, he's been battered more than the New York State budget, stepped on more than the Rockettes' practice floor and trashed more than a landfill.'

'Several state officials raised concerns Friday that the type of loan being requested by Hamister could violate provisions of a 2000 debt-reform law that bans the state from lending money for noncapital purposes.'

'County projections show a minimum loss of $15 million to $20 million just in sales tax revenue over the next 23 years if the Sabres leave. That's money that will have to be made up somewhere, likely through higher taxes or reduced expenses – that is to say, more layoffs.'

'To no one's surprise, given the ineptitude of the two sides (a combined 5-18-2-1 over the last five weeks), the first 40 minutes could not be classified as a barnburner.'

'Following John Grahame's third-period meltdown in net Tuesday night, the Bruins suited up Steve Shields here to face his ex-Sabres teammates.'