Archives for December 30, 2007

'"The rink itself looks fairly well ready to go," Craig allowed himself to say. "We're ready to go, let's drop the puck and play hockey."'

'"I can't think of a real comfortable way otherwise," said Miller, who also played an outdoor game at Michigan State. "As a goalie, you get used to wearing your helmet a certain way. I don't know what I'm going to wear underneath that would make it feel the same and keep warm. That might be a good solution, get some of that carpet tape and tape the tuque to my helmet or something."'

'There is a cartoon that depicts a man hanging upside down in a medieval torture chamber, screaming “Pain! More pain! I love it! I love it!” One of the torturers turns to an accomplice, points his thumb back at the suffering man and says, “Buffalo sports fan.”'

'Beginning at 7 p.m., Miller and Stafford are scheduled to team up with renowned Irish tenor and committed Sabres fan Ronan Tynan and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra during a program of Irish classics, holiday tunes and popular favorites. (Stafford’s recent head injury has him questionable to be in the “starting lineup” for tonight’s concert, and Sabres and BPO officials were unable to determine at press time if he’d make it to the stage.)'

‘“He was pretty good tonight, but you can’t say he was great,” Roy said. “We didn’t have any scoring chances. A lot of the shots were from the outside and they were high, and he just smothered everything.”’

‘Sabres fans might be thinking, “It’s our home game, we should get some breaks.” That logic doesn’t hold true. The NHL purchased the home game from the Sabres, so it’s the league’s show.’

‘“What I’m thinking is everybody’s going out for New Year’s and probably not thinking tailgating, so we’re going to create a tailgate party for those arriving,” said Don Renzulli, National Hockey League senior vice president of events and entertainment.’

'The current Team Sweden goaltender at the World Junior Championships was drafted in the 2nd round, 46th overall and currently has other scouts scratching their heads on why they overlooked him.'

'Still, the underlying question through all of this is "What's the point?" There's lip service paid to things like tradition and fandom and all that good stuff, but the bottom line is that this is all a big publicity stunt for a league desperate for anything to do with TV ratings. But publicity stunts have come and gone before, and it's not like it actually accomplished anything.'

‘It was followed by this quote from Wayne Gretzky: “It’s like the 1972 series. I don’t know that you can ever duplicate this. I can’t describe how magical it was. I don’t know that it could ever be special enough to be able to match this one.” Well, here we are. Now we find out.’