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Archives for April 5, 2017

Sabres Notebook: Olympic thoughts; Okposo still ill

‘“It’s something the whole world looks forward to, us included,” Eichel said in KeyBank Center. “In terms of trying to grow our game, I think it could have been a good opportunity for us and usually is. I think it’s a good way to bring our country together.’

Sabres players think NHL should stay in Olympics

‘“It’s a little bit disappointing … as a player who takes pride in representing his country and who’s done it before,” he said. “I think I can only speak for myself, I think it’s something the players in the NHL look forward to, and as a young kid just breaking into the league, it’s something I definitely watched growing up and looked forward to every year.”’

Sabres grateful for fans’ rabid support

‘“There’s 19,000 people here,” he said. “I’m sure that if we were in other cities it wouldn’t be the same case. You got to appreciate that as a player. It’s a lot better than coming here to an empty building.”’

Bylsma reserved about his future with Sabres

‘”Coming into this season on Day 1 when Jack [Eichel] got injured for the first 21 games, that certainly played a big part into it,” Bylsma said with Howard Simon and Jeremy White in his final Tuesday visit on WGR. “I thought our team fought through the injuries, and Jack wasn’t the only one. Evander [Kane] went down for three weeks with the broken ribs and Ryan [O’Reilly] was out for a portion of the first 50 games. Our team battled through that and was in that mix right around that playoff mark. We had opportunities several times throughout the year… if we had won those games, it would have put us above those teams and right around the playoff line which we were fighting for through 50 games.”‘

Many Sabres are disappointed with the NHL’s Olympic decision

‘The whole thing seems to be bigger than just the players. Eichel said the NHL in the Olympics makes people aware of the game of hockey, “The Olympics is a great event, it’s something that the whole world looks forward to, so in terms of trying to grow our game, it could’ve been a good opportunity for us.” Eichel added, “I think it’s a good way to bring our country together and it’s tough, to grow up watching it, you get to the point of playing professionally and then it goes away, so a little bit sad.”’

Sabres hope to rebound for fans in final home game

‘”As far as I know, it’s a pretty full building every time we’re here,” Lehner said. “They’re very supportive fans. They deserve better. They deserve better than what they’ve got. We can’t give up, we can’t lie down and give up. You’ve got to keep working. You’ve got to keep going towards the goal and get better as a team. It’s what this town and this city deserves.”‘