Archives for February 2013

‘“It’s unfortunate Lindy can’t be here with us, but it gives us a chance to reset and look at it from a different perspective. We are finding a lot of habits where Lindy was talking about them, but it wasn’t coming around.”‘

‘“How can you have 14 on one side and 16 on the other side? The percentages of making it in the East become that much greater.”’

‘“I had always told him I saw him being an excellent guy to teach pros because he was more current with the guys,” Morris said. “He knew their music. He knew the mindset of a professional athlete. He trained his brother Brian as well in the offseason. So he was familiar with the current player and the types of things that were all the hot buttons for young pros to get the most out of them.”’

Preview: Panthers vs. Sabres, Thursday, 7:30 p.m. (South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Sabres-Panthers Preview (AP)
Buffalo Sabres (7-12-1) at Florida Panthers (6-9-4) (The Sports Network)
Sabres face Panthers seeking second win for coach (NHL.com)

‘His role — his title is hockey analytics assistant — expanded into video and statistical analysis of opposing teams, referees and mapping league trends.’

‘”[Vanek] still has that type of talent. He has proved to be a consistent scorer his whole career and I don’t see him tailing off for some time.”‘

‘If Rolston is just an interim coach, here to teach the young players and develop this team, then it seems the Sabres would be sellers at the deadline. Then again, if Rolston gets them back in the race, isn’t Regier going to want to find out just how good his coach is? Does he care?’

‘Buffalo has just four goals in four games with both Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek hitting the skids. Vanek has one goal in eight games while the captain has one in 10. On the other side their line mate Cody Hodgson has three goals in six games.’

‘One thing Rolston stresses each and every practice is attention to detail. A drill must be done right or it’s done again. As far as how far they’ve come in attention to detail in practice the head coach said, “Yes we’re getting there. That’s a process too. You come into a situation where you’re new to the team and you want to make some adjustments so we’re trying to find balance on how do we go about that. Like teaching, whether it’s video, what we can do on the ice or individual video with the players. It’s getting the proper mix, but making sure that when we get out there to practice, we’re getting down the things that need to be done.”’

‘Everyone knows what needs to be done. Not sod. Not sculptures. Not contract extensions for hockey guys mired in mediocrity. By the time we do this column for the third anniversary, hopefully Terry Pegula can figure it out.’