Archives for November 15, 2011

‘His primary responsibility is ensuring that the ice remains as smooth as a pass off the stick of Jason Pominville. This task includes skating into the rink during television timeouts and hurriedly scooping up the snow that has kicked up and accumulated on the ice.’

‘The Sabres got a boost when coach Lindy Ruff put Derek Roy back on the top line between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. That trio scored a pair of goals to get Buffalo even and the Sabres finally pulled out a dramatic 3-2 victory in a shootout.’

‘Myers is struggling in every area in the wake of signing his seven-year, $38.5 million contract extension that kicks in next season. He has no goals and just four assists in 16 games this year after posting 11 and 10 goals, respectively, in his first two years and averaging 42.5 points.’

‘“If (Lucic) isn’t suspended, it just means teams will be able to do exactly what Lucic did,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters Monday in Montreal prior to the ruling. “Their goaltender can play the puck, we can run him over. We can hurt him and all you get is a two-minute minor penalty. That is essentially what that means is that you can concuss the other team’s goaltender. You can run him going at whatever speed he was going. He made no attempt to get out of the way. It means it’s fair game on the goaltenders again.”’

‘I’m not one to condone an-eye-for-an-eye justice, but if the league isn’t going to do anything to protect its star players not named Sidney Crosby, individual teams will have to.’

‘Know something? Enroth was the only Buffalo player who caught my eye on Monday. Calder Trophy winner Tyler Myers surely didn’t, because he was a healthy scractch. As for Enroth, everybody knew he was coming into a hostile environment shortly after the entire team was embarrassed. If he had played something south of very well, no-body could or would have blamed him. Instead, he played like the winner he is.’

‘In the end, Lucic was not suspended, Shanahan saying in his ruling that he was satisfied with the Bruin’s position – and it is utter nonsense – that there was nothing he could do to avoid the collision.’

‘”It opens the door to many things. It is obvious that in this case, we are on the side of Ryan, but tell me what can deserve a suspension if there is not when your goalie is hit in this way.”‘

‘”I like to compare this game to football, you can not hit a quarter or a kicker, Gaustad said. These are positions where players are not equipped to get hit. Lucic clearly wanted to hit him and it’s very disappointing to him. We lose one of the best goalkeepers in the NHL.”‘

‘”The minor penalty imposed on the game was the right decision, Shanahan wrote. It is unfortunate that Miller was injured, but I did not see anything obvious that should an additional award.”‘