R_Dudley

Good stuff. Thank you for highlighting and providing all the snip-its for the best centers for our 7th round selection review. Solid work and community contributions. ?

Well can you blame him, the three big names guys moved last year are all in playoffs and here he is once again cleaning out his locker never having been. It worked last year for Ryan O to act all depressed to get out..

Yeah I am definitely in on watching the TO @ Boston. Watching the last couple of reg season games they played this year was very entertaining and I hope they beat the crap out of each other since I want whoever wins to lose next round anyways. Other series I will watch in curiosity; Canes @ Washington; How real are both teams, The Canes really came on 2nd half under Rod whom I still loathe after that playoff loss and Wash looked beatable down the stretch, do they have another gear they were holding back. Pens @ Isles; Well since I have lived in Pgh since 92 I know the Pens team and have gotten to see them in the Playoffs for the 13th straight season, For the Isles is the Trotz factor real and can it get them through a first round series. Pens aren't as deep as they were last year so flip a coin. Jackets @ Tampa; Just don't see Columbus providing much of a challenge unless Tampa takes them lightly. Out west only really interested in 2 of the series. Blues @ Jets: Well of course with the Blues there is the was Ryan O' Really the factor in our previous losing ways but more about the way these 2 teams played each other hard during the season series. Very entertaining physical all out hockey is what I saw and of Course their is Meyers to see how he has or hasn't matured as a Playoff hockey top 4 Dman. Knights @ Sharks; Since a kid I have had a thing about knights, chivalry and King Arthur but it's really their goalie Marc Andre Fluery I have followed since Pens days. I always liked him(met him here once great person and family man) and I wanted the Sabres to get him when they needed a goalie. Against the old Sabres whipping boy, alleged Mr bad influence Kane who has since turned over new leaf married trying to become a Dad. Wow never saw that coming when he moved closer to home. Maybe there is something terribly wrong with the Or-Gan-i-zation after all ? Last I am curious to see what kind of officiating takes place in these playoffs. Are they swallowing the whistle and back to interference, mugging all over the ice or free skating high scoring action. I think that will definitely help or hurt who makes it to final four. My picks from 1st round From East; the easy maybe lazy picks, Tampa - Wash - Boston - Pens From West; Preds - Jets - Flames - Knights

I think word I would use instead of "scared " of is "respect". The players need to respect the coach, confidence he knows what he is doing and what he is preaching and that begets listening when he tells you something you should be doing that your not.

Grew up on the Buffalo East side/Cheektowaga border. Then spent some time in West Seneca before moving here to PGH in 92 for work as opportunities were very limited there then. Still have a brother, sister's, Mom, In laws, nephews, cousins and friends there. You can take the boy out of Buffalo but not the Buffalo out of the boy. i would love to retire and make it my Summer home on Lake Erie or Chautauqua somewhere but not sure the wife won't want to follow our kids somewhere to be active Grandparents. Regardless it will always be home away from home for me and my wife as we both hail from there.

IMHO given his age and whats to come as you both grew older i would make it a time for starting or continuing the boy to a man discussion. A kind of right of passage vacation on his life journey. Of course this may assume you have not yet already started doing this with treating him more like a man than your boy. Let him make some decisions about what you do or where you go, talk about what goes into making decisions, talk about what he means to you and your family and what you think it means to be a man and how you did or didn't get there. Mistakes you made and learned from. No matter where you go or what you do that's what he will remember Just my .02 cents

Yep, 8-2 in their last 10 games. Playing rookies, playing to win, fast and hard and having fun. I will be flipping between the games (Bflo) and here in PGH tonight as Pens need a win to clinch a playoff spot. Detroit has Dreary Dan as an assistant. Are they that much more talented than our Sabres ? Sabres last game against Nashville I was mildly surprised the Sabres actually played a very solid, looked like a real team, spirited hockey game. Just confusing to me that wasn't present more often when it still mattered in the last 20+ games that I tried to watch if only to see that kind of play. So while some are rooting for a win or a loss here already. I am rooting for good entertaining Hockey. Lets go solid, spirited, remember why you choose this profession, play like you belong and made the NHL your life goal,,, Hockey. And I hope to see it from the Sabre's that will be there next year.

I've stayed away from this mess because I was disappointed awhile back about using that word trust here before. Whats trust got to do with it i was told. I know I could have said I'm skeptical Jbot is the right guy but for me that is a trust issue. I am confident PH right now is not a good coach and maybe with years of experience if ever. I don't personally want to wait to see if that pans out. I realize from years here there are a lot of fan types. The stats guys, the detailed player profile guys, the hometown first guys, etc.. i think you can break that down into 2 main categories, those fans that are more head, x & o's and those that are more heart first with all sort of combinations in between. Being one or the other and what motivates your opinion and feelings are what has made us all Sabres / hockey fans. This is a message board where peoples opinions driven by facts, feelings or combinations of both i thought were welcome but then we get these polarizing threads where one side decries, belittles or calls one person or groups loyalty or hockey smarts because new hockey beats old hockey or stats/facts should drive their posts/understanding of the game or team they follow. I guess a teams pattern of losing and not being together as team can even creep unto a fan message board. I agree with those who posit losing begets losing and creates divide. It's made me realize one thing I am hockey fan first, and Sabres are my favorite team. When they don't pass the eye test and aren't playing good hockey w/o me needing to provide a thesis based on stats or styles to choose from i know what good hockey looks like to me. While there are area's of promise with this team it does not pass the eye test. This is and has not been all that entertaining over the last several months. I have been getting that watching the playoff seeding teams jockey for a better seed in some tight races.

Well then I would say it appears you could have also been the coach this season. ?

Wow really I'm not allowed to like good hockey or other teams. Sometimes it sounds like we are not allowed to have our own opinions w/o people trying to correct you... Yikes the Sabres play has really dragged the purpose of this place down...

Yeah I see him in games enough and he is easy to goad into taking a penalty. He is a baby for such a big boy..

I am shooting no one. Am i having some fun because the game for the sabres isn't yes I am. Note the Pens are my 2nd favorite team and I will be watching Playoff hockey because I like hockey and they are entertaining whether others like them or not..

That's a good approach. Look for the positive.

But aren't you entertained...

Yeah and their passing is a lot better than a lot of the others.

Only get the Pens feed and announcers here in PGH even with my center ice. They said you have to have players in front of the net if you want to score, skilled players and passing won't work regularly w/o it. Can't say they are wrong...

Yeah he stayed out the whole time. Thats how you move a puck with precision passing and movement..

I also went through this with my wife in mid 90's BC(before children). My sympathies go out to him and especially his wife. Thankfully we've been blessed with 3 after that..

Sad but likely true. Of course since I now live here in Pgh. and will be barraged by my friends here I need to watch. The Pens are doing what good playoffs teams do ramping up for the post season. Center Ice allows me to see all the good hard playing hockey teams right now which really drives home whats missing from the Sabres. Yeah talent is still needed but a plan that put everybody in the best position to succeed with some heart and desire across the board would've gone a long way to making these games more entertaining.

My votes; 1. No 2. No 3. Yes, because based on the moves TM had done at that point it was obvious we were set up to fail so why not try and get a number 1. Being Ok with a losing is not something I endorse. Now you do have to accept it does happen and not go bat sh!t crazy over it but I would hope every professional player wouldn't be Ok with it although they know it does happen even when you've played hard and or well. As long as effort and opportunity happened then you look forward for the next game to take the sting out of it. I also agree that the early season games were entertaining up till late November. Because they were playing well as a team and you could see the effort game in and game out especially during the 10 game streak. And if they hadn't won some of those I would have been fine because the efforts and smart team play appeared to be there and getting better. The last 3 months I have not seen close to the same level of entertainment and worse the same efforts or team play. I have noticed players who have improved but I am not convinced that's because of any coaching that's happening and not just experience and talent running its natural course. What I also see overall is less well coordinated/orchestrated team execution and effort. That's my disappointment playoffs or not. It sounds like a bunch of other fans here feel this way as well. I find it a bit odd try and tell others how they should feel because they do not feel entertained or they are concerned or don't think we still have the right coach and have questions about the decision(s) that put us here again. Aren't these boards for that type of discussion?

They were the best their country had to offer so only seems fair should be all stars.

Well having watched some of those games that's sometimes what it did look like... Knowing that I agree today's players would have a distinct advantage and should win 9 out of 10 times. However lets not forget the occasional miracle on ice that happens every now and then. So how about another twist would today's college players beat the Soviet Red army team that was doing all the latest rage training in that same 1975 era?

Listen sure, most of have heard this story for years. Heck its even easy to understand its a solid approach and the right path. But not so easy after so long to trust its all the right people making the right choices and will produce the perennial playoff juggernaut Hockey Heaven promised so long ago. Nothing wrong with some here that would be happy with a perennial hard working, smart playing Hockey Purgatory playoff team. That's a lot closer to heaven then we have been..

Yep and followed watching them Seals in Cleveland for a couple years. We had a solid core and playoffs were an annual expectation. Hard to follow now after years of very limited expectations.