weehawk

I was 10 yrs old when they entered the league and used to sleep in the Aud. lobby for tickets. Never once did I cheer against this team...except for last night. It was the strangest feeling I've ever had as a Buffalo sports fan. I hope to never be put in that position again. I want them to send the Pens golfing tonight. Will be yelling loudly at the TV for their biggest win in years...and yes, I want Ted back next year.

I kid you not. The game was a Canes blowout and he was hoopin and hollerin everytime the Canes scored.

Tank, tank, tank. What if even a quarter of the league took this approach? What a boring, stupid game they're creating (MLB anyone?). It's easy enough if you watch from home. Turn it off and get a beer froim the fridge. The STHs are the ones who get screwed and they're paying the bills. What if we get McDavid and then he gets concussed in pre-season. What then? I'm in Raleigh and sat next to a Sabres fan last week. All he could do was yell at them to lose and that's pre-season. I'm just blown away by this talk. PLAY TO WIN...ALWAYS Maybe I'm old, but fans agreeing to or supporting a tank are not real fans. The team needs to suck it up and play the cards they're dealt. If they get the pick, it's gravy. If they dont, they hopefully gave paying fans some value for their money. I'd like to take a poll as to how many full season ticket holders agree that the best course of action is to tank. I have to assume that the pro tankers are watching on TV most of the time.

Two words for this thread...Fire Sale! Get 'em while they're hot (or at least luke warm). I'm not hearing about one player on this team who is close to "untouchable." This is pretty bad. A wholesale dismantling that will take years to put back together. I have to assume that salary dumps are coming. That way they can justify lowering ticket prices for next year and hope to God that 12000 people show up. Brutal.

2 cents on the tanking debate. No pro team is going to voluntarily tank the remainder of a season for the sake of their current team. These are pro athletes who are about money first and titles second. Now, if you're a smart pro that wants both money AND championships, the LAST thing you're going to do is be a part of a concerted (and likely obvious) effort to tank any portion of a season for the benefit of your "current" team. Besides, the draft lottery has basically killed the notion of tanking. If I was a pro, I'd immediatelty ask for a trade if my coach/GM even suggested that we tank for the sake of a pick. Part two Darcy; has to go...NOW. The team cant possibly look any worse and TP has to be viewed as a really out-of-touch owner by keeping him on. The team is risking serious attendance (and revenue) issues next year if they dont make an effort to turn this around now. Simply telling Buffaloians to suffer is not going to work for the Sabres. It works for the Bills for some reason, but I've seen HSBC Arena half empty in the past. Joe Crozier was calling me begging me to renew my STs in 05-06 (I think it was). There's going to be some more begging next year.

ouch, that hurt http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=414983

To an extent, you're right. The bulk of the people in the lower bowl are probably corporate types. But where are the real fans that have tix upstairs? Every arena has "suits" in the lower bowl. They're the only ones who can afford them. But you assume the rest of the bldg is filled with real fans who have loud voices. It's just not that way in TO. In other Candian cities they are vocal, but TO just seems really quiet. It's like they put no-doze in the over priced Labatt's. I guess losing for so long just has them super-jaded now. Nothing short of winning 3 Cups in a row will get them excited.

I have to agree about crowds at ACC. I saw Roxy Music there a few years back. The place was setup for a half-house with curtains, but even the 5000 or so that were there were absolutely dead. No one moved, sang, danced, nothing. I also saw wrestling at ACC and it was quiet compared to other large-scale matches I've seen. However, when the Torontonians come down to BUF for for hockey, concerts, football, etc, they act like lunatics. Go figure.

I'm in Raleigh and a full STH for the Canes. (Born and bread blue and gold, but I gotta watch the NHL somewhere). We have a special section of the arena called the Fan Zone. Tickets are $9.99 there. As part of our package, we're supposed to get 4 free game vouchers for each full ST we hold. However, rumor has it the entire section is sold out. It's a big chunk of the upper-level by the way. The fine print says that Fan Zone STHs wont get any vouchers if it's sold out. So I called my ticket rep today and asked if the entire Fan Zone was in fact sold out and that I'll get no vouchers. He said to hold tight. Some annoucement is coming from management. I have to assume that we're getting goodies or incentives like the Pens. Personally, I dont know why teams like PIT or BUF would give anything away. I know the Sabres have a long STH waiting list and I assume the Pens do too. In markets like Raleigh and Nashville, they may need to open the beer stands for a "Free until the taps run dry" promo, but not in the Northeast.

I dont entirely disagree with you. However, I think that's what a lot of this is about. Cities with too many fair-weather fans are not making it and the NHL does not want to contract teams. Doesn't seem to matter whether there's a lockout or not. Cities like Columbus and Phoenix simply have no profit-based futures in the league. I guess I was referring to the Canadian fans that post on the TSN and CBC sites. Every other comment is..."I wont come back." I dont buy it. Not a whole lot to do in Winnipeg or Edmonton in the winter and they are so hockey-crazed in VAN, TOR, and MON that all of those fans will be back. Yes, FLA and NAS stand to lose some fans, but I think they were in line to lose fans this year either way.

Help me out here. I read all the major boards and a common thread is that it's all Bettman's fault. Expalin to me why that is? Bettman works for the owners. If he does not follow their direction, he's out and someone else gets the abuse. Other than screwing us during the "no goal" fiasco, I have no opinion of the guy. He's a tool, he's not a decision maker. It would be great if we could get off of three common themes (not just here, but on all the boards): 1) It's all Bettman's fault 2) Billionaires vs millionaires (we get it, they're rich and we're not) 3) I'll never watch or spend a dime on the NHL ever again if they go out Anyone that claims number 3 is flat-out lying. You'll be back, just like you were the last two times. The owners are not scared by veiled threats. If you'e a STH, get a refund and lose your seating priority. When they start up again, you get the scraps. I talked to my STH rep about all of this. He claims that they have not even gotten to the point of devising a refund/incentive plan. Teams will be doing stuff to entice us to keep our ticket orders alive and will likely punish those that go for refunds.

Sorry, should have been clearer. VAN did not make a qualifying offer to MAGS. He walked as a UFA and CAR signed him to a two-way deal. The speculation here is that CAR took him as part of a future trade package with a yet unknown team. Pure speculation.

Speculation in CAR is that this move is precipitating a trade.

Makers 46 bourbon. yummy