Archives for October 19, 2006

'Teppo Numminen was kept out of practice with a sore groin, but Lindy Ruff says he'll play tomorrow night. Numminen tweaked his groin during Tuesday night's game against Philadelphia.'

‘”His determination to come into camp in tremendous shape and be good with the puck as well as away from the puck,” said Ruff concerning Vanek’s greatest area of improvement this season. “His skating is better, in a sense where he maintains a pretty high level of energy throughout a 45 second shift.”‘

'So when you cut through all the hat tricks and end-to-end rushes, it still gets back to the guy standing between the pipes – or guys, because as long as Martin Biron is here, the Sabres have as solid a tandem as anyone in the NHL. That's why the Sabres are not likely to stumble, why they should continue to perform at a very high level and contend for No. 1 overall in the league.'

'Miller tried as hard as possible to play down anything special about this win, but clearly this one was one to remember. “It’s no big deal beating Hasek. A win’s a win,” said Miller, trying as hard as possible to contain his glee but doing a pretty lousy job. For Miller, this had to be special, having played college hockey just 80 miles to the west for Michigan State, where he wore the number 39.'

'If I had to pay to watch one team on television, Buffalo is the team I'd watch. In Tuesday's 9-1 win over Philadelphia, the Sabres had the slow-footed Flyers defencemen so befuddled they didn't know whether to bail water or jump ship. Lively Buffalo play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret must be hoarse, yet, from screaming "Hee Scccoooooooooress!!!!" times nine.'

'Mair believes the team's major loss in the off-season — the free-agent defection of veteran defender Jay McKee — has been covered. "Jaroslav Spacek is a great puck mover, great skater and a lot more physical player than we thought. There's not a step backwards there."'

'Watching the Sabres slice the Flyers into progressively smaller pieces was entertaining at first but then … well, it got embarrassing. By the time Derek Roy, Jiri Novotny and Thomas Vanek scored Buffalo’s seventh, eighth and ninth goals, respectively, I wanted to look away. Are these really the Philadelphia Flyers — slow, toothless, confused? Where is the fire? Where is the competitiveness?'

'I can't think of another team in any professional league that has capitalized more on the major rule changes than the Sabres in the last two seasons. The NHL wanted to open up the game to showcase the speed and skills of its athletes, and no other team has more players with both.'