Archives for May 2006

'The Sabres are a counterattacking team, which means they count on the goaltender to hold the fort until they can pounce on a mistake and turn it up the ice with an odd-man rush. At the other end of the ice, the smaller Sabres forwards skated hard at the Ottawa defencemen from the moment the series started. The flustered Senators defence, which surrendered seven goals in the … [Read more...] about Goaltending and speed won this race

'Do the Sabres play with the desperation of the dispossessed? Certainly, but they do that in November as well as May. Since Lindy Ruff took over as coach nine years ago, that's been a Buffalo basic. The difference between this team and the one which reached the Stanley Cup finals seven years back is that this is a club still on the way up. And we mean waaaay up.' … [Read more...] about The Sabres really are this good

'The real Buffalo mayor wasn't spared from The Beast's satirical wrath. The newspaper called Brown's office, claiming in a bad imitation of Bronx Italian accent to be Chiarelli, and offering a wife swap if the Sens won.' … [Read more...] about Buffalo pranksters fail to fool Mayor Bob

'"That's the team to beat," Brind'Amour said. "We knew coming in that was the best team out there. Everyone was talking about Ottawa, but we knew that Buffalo was. We thought they would win that series, maybe not as easily as they did, but we predicted them to win and it's going to be a heck of a matchup -- a lot tougher than what we've faced until now."' … [Read more...] about Sabres pose a threat

'The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that individual game tickets for the Eastern Conference Finals will go on sale on Monday at 10 a.m. at the RBC Center box office, all TicketMaster locations in North Carolina and its surrounding states, by phone at 919-834-4000 and via www.CarolinaHurricanes.com.' … [Read more...] about Conference Finals tickets available Monday, 10 a.m.

'Chiarelli told the Toronto Globe and Mail that he recognized the call as a stunt all along. He had spoken with the real Mayor Brown earlier and noticed the difference in voices. "I played along," he said, "and part of the joke was not letting on that I knew it was a spoof."' … [Read more...] about Ottawa mayor looks sharper than Senators did vs. Sabres

'Tickets for the Sabres' home games, 3, 4 and 6, go on sale Wednesday morning @ 9:00AM.' … [Read more...] about Carolina It Is…

Now, bring on Buffalo (Raleigh News and Observer) Superstition keeps Caniacs in the game (Raleigh News and Observer) Battaglia follows Cup run off the ice (Raleigh News and Observer) Canes feel they belong (Raleigh News and Observer) Devils' dream dashed (Raleigh News and Observer) Sabres pose a threat (Raleigh News and Observer) Canes await word on Stillman (Raleigh News … [Read more...] about Monday’s Carolina Coverage (Updated 2:00 p.m.)

The mourning after (Ottawa Sun) Time for Sens to run a Muck (Ottawa Sun) Going, going... Gone! (Ottawa Sun) Kravchuk scored last meaningful goal (Ottawa Sun) Beer and loathing in capital (Ottawa Sun) Buffalo pranksters fail to fool Mayor Bob (Ottawa Sun) Offseason of discontent (Ottawa Citizen) They're not clutch players yet (Ottawa Citizen) Open letter to Mr. Melnyk … [Read more...] about Monday’s Ottawa Coverage

'"In 1999, I felt like we kept surprising ourselves. Each time we won a round, we were kind of like, `Wow, we won again,'" McKee said Sunday, referring to the Dominik Hasek-led team that eventually lost in the finals to Dallas in six games. "This year, we believe we can beat any team in a seven-game series. It's not cockiness, it's just humble confidence."' … [Read more...] about Sabres confidence growing after knocking off top-seeded Senators

'Roughly 5,000 tickets are expected to be available for each game - Games Three, Four and Six in the Eastern Conference finals. Box-office tickets will range from $100 apiece, for available 300 Level tickets, to $200 apiece for the 200 Level.' … [Read more...] about On to Round 3!

'"We had to find ways to win games," Ruff said. "When we started the series, I thought they had a better team. I thought they were deeper with talent up front. We were worried about their power play, which had been running real hot. But we found ways and we got a few bounces."' … [Read more...] about Special delivery

'The Stanley Cup remains very much within their grasp, but this lovable legion of nobodies certainly didn't make it easy for anybody.' … [Read more...] about Maybe this is the year for something big

'"I don't think it's describable," said Pominville, who scored 18 goals in 57 regular-season games. "Getting sent down obviously was disappointing. I thought I had a pretty good training camp and to clear waivers . . . I went down with a good attitude to work my way up, and hopefully I can stick around. I'm enjoying every minute of it. I do kind of pinch myself every day."' … [Read more...] about Pominville’s goal continues a storybook season

'Winning a Stanley Cup won't bring us jobs or make the world see Buffalo as a garden spot. But it would be a neon sign of success and a big step toward shedding our communal inferiority complex.' … [Read more...] about The pain is gone when the game is on