Eric in Akron

When I was hired by The University of Akron back in '97, I hadn't heard from them for about a month before I got the offer. I found out later that my hiring paperwork sat at the EEO office for about 3 weeks before they processed it.

I've been living here for 16 years now and I can't stand the apathy towards hockey in this area. It is just another item in the long list of items that makes me hate living here. My complaint: Not being able to move away from North East Ohio. My wife and I were given (yes given) 10 1/2 acres of land and we built on it. I'm attached to the land but I hate that it is in Ohio.

Squirrel

Do you work at a bank? I have found that financial institutions are the worst at rapid development. I had a two day effort stretched out over 2 1/2 months because of committees and red tape.

I smell distraction. Something else is going on right now and they are diverting our attention to something trivial.

I'm not blaming the game tonight on Marty or the refs (although the refs sucked tonight). I'm blaming tonight's loss on stick handling and passing which is a statement I made about 3 weeks ago. This teams needs a refresher course in the fundamentals. Passes too far ahead, passes to far behind, passes that go 10 feet when they needed to go 15. I love to watch Max but lately he has been losing the puck trying to out manuever the opponent. Stick handling - ugh. And I will say that may statement about Roy last week must be retracted. Tonight he played bigger than he is and he has been hustling the last few games. Eric

I've noticed that over the past 3 weeks the Sabres have not been crisp in their passing. They've been losing pucks in their skates and fanning on shots. I wonder if they need stick handling work. It would definitely improve their ability to close the deal. They've made a couple correct decisions to pass the puck but didn't pass it correctly. They've been either too weak on a pass and it dies before it gets to the intended target or they've been too hard and skipping past the intended receiver. They need to get back to fundamentals! Okay I'm done ranting. Go back to your previously scheduled activities. Eric

Two thoughts: 1 - Should've made a trade for some good D-men. Thanks for not pulling the trigger Darcy. Wait... edit... thanks for not pulling the gun out of the holster Darcy. 2 - I witnessed a Sabre being held right in front of the f**king referee for close to 10 seconds with no call and the split second a Sabre player does something wrong we get called on a penalty. I blame all of Boston's diving whining for this. I think the refs are being tough on the Sabres. This team is trying too hard to make a pretty goal. Trying too hard to get in the best scoring chance. Trying too hard to make the pretty pass. They are not playing the tight vested game they played earlier this season. They seem tenative to just play. It is frustrating to watch right now! I fear worst for next year.

Ok... we got lucky! The Sabres were out skated by a team that was playing their third game in 4 nights... not good. The swordsman should've been out working them and didn't. We better get our crap together for Thursday night. But we did get two points! :D

WOW!!! What a game. The respect that both teams had for each other was obvious, I just didn't expect it from Ottawa. The Sabres were in a way lucky that they didn't lose because our passing was total crap and Tallinder again had trouble clearing the zone unless he skated it out himself. :ph34r: Good thing Miller was on tonight! BTW, did anyone notice how Hasek ducked on Vanek's shootout shot? I don't think he expected that hard of a shot so close. Hehehe! :lol: I'll take the two points. It's a shame we gave one point to Ottawa.

Thanks! I know he's hot headed at times but I think we would be hurting with Maxim gone. He helps to keep other team's D honest. Additionally, with Briere and Connolly out and Dumont not at 100% I think losing Maxim would not be good.

I didn't notice but did Maxim come back in to play after taking that Dumont shot on the knee? If not, any word on his status?

But if LabattBlue likes Miller then shouldn't his name be HighLife?

Whew! I haven't seen that many goals scored since the goalie strike of 1943. :P Sabres didn't let the defensive disaster known as the second period get into their heads. They played a strong third period. What did they used to say about the Bills during the early 90s? Oh yeah, relentless. Cheers!

The Sabres were way off sync tonight. Passing was consistently off the mark and everytime they had a good shot they either wiffed or couldn't handle the feed. Although they were skating better than the last time they played Florida, they were not mentally working. They better work on passing techniques prior to the Tampa game.

WOWWWWWWWW!!!!! What a game. If these two end up in playoffs and face each other then look out! This was a superb game by two equally matched teams.

WOW! Drury's goal was great. He had a clear shot to the water bottle - gotta love those little green targets. :) Nice pass from Connolly to Campbell... Normally that play would've been Connolly losing the puck between his skates or fanned pass attempt. Some reason when the Sabres have an open net they tend to fan out of anxiety. But not on that play! Highly entertaining 3rd and OT. BTW... How 'bout them killing that 4 on 3, 5 on 3, 5 on 4 sequence. Nice job tonight.

I'll take it considering they were supposed to finish 13th in the conference. ;) Besides, I find this club to be entertaining 85% of the time and then down right frustrating the other 15%. They have my support no matter what place they finish this year or how far they get in the playoffs, but I guess that is why I call myself a Sabres fan.

Although I see your point about pulling Mika, I still think that I would've stuck with the goalie whose adrenaline was still flowing from playing the game then to go to the cold goalie. Yes Mika probably would've allowed the other two goals but it was all but guaranteed that Marty was going to. If they were worried about Mika extending his injury then they should've pulled him when he got hurt.

Ok. I have 3 things to say about tonights game. 1. Sabres should've won that game. They were being penalized for the same things the Rangers were doing. Hmm.... 2. Ruff made a HUGE mistake to put a cold goaltender (who is known to allow goals on early shot) in for the last 2 shootout shooters. What was he thinking. I think that move alone should question whether he treats players fairly despite personal differences. :angry: 3. What is up with all these lawyer commerials on Buffalo TV? No wonder the economy is sh#t there. Your only industry is court because everyone is sueing the crap out of each other. :( WOW. I still gotta say, from what I've seen so far this year, this team will make the playoffs and I hope that they are hitting on all cylinders when the playoffs start.

I've noticed that in the last 5 games our defense turns the puck over in our zone way way way too much. We may have some young offensive talent but our defense out right stinks. McKee turns it over way too much but at least he can block shots. Campbell is pretty good. Kotalik (sp?) has a cannon at least but the rest could be replaced.