LTS

You are still hanging onto it. As for the rest of the fans who you guarantee they either understand that when you buy a sports team you don't come out and say "Hell, Let me see what I can do with this thing.". If they don't they will probably be happy chasing laser pointer lights around the room too. If you are seriously anchored on meaningless sports speak then perhaps you should take a step back. "Hi, I'm Terry Pegula. I bought the Sabres because I'd like to blow some money and have some fun. Don't really care if we win. Let's just put on a show for the fans." Oh.. are you hanging on the "sole reason for existence" wording? What are hockey teams operated for? Perhaps he was a bit overzealous in saying the "sole reason" but really, that is why a hockey team exists. It exists to win the Stanley Cup. The rest of it is a by product of its existence. We could probably get fairly philosophical on that but why? It's sports speak. Terry Pegula bought a hockey team. He made real estate investments. All of them to help him make more money, satisfy some level of ego, and put his family on solid ground for the future. Buffalo was a great place for him to invest. He had history with the city. His wife had history with Rochester. It's great marketing and it tells a story. We all love stories. When he bought the team he made some decisions on how to proceed. Those didn't work. BFD. He's taken another role now and things appear to be turning around. Will they turn completely? Who knows... all I know is that the center of the hockey universe hasn't won a Stanley Cup since before the Sabres existed so it's safe to say that all the "other" stuff doesn't mean anything when it comes to winning the cup. I dunno.. why are we still talking about Pegula? What's the point? What point am I supposed to concede? I'm confused at this point.

That's the kind of thing that tried to say a lot but means little. The bite is centered on what Broward County gets if the Panthers leave. For a whole $86 million in money it doesn't sound like much. I would think the NHL could afford to move the Panthers. It's a joke really. That kind of attendance is an absolute joke. I feel for any player who has to play there, other than the weather of course.

It's good to see everyone's enjoyment of the team has taken a downturn. You know what has taken hold in this forum? The culture of loosing. Holy crap.. enjoy the improvement and enjoy the ability to actually be competitive.

You know him as Mr. Perkins.

So Foligno leads the team in assists and is tied at the top in points (3) and his assists have been to 3 different players. He's fine. He's right where he needs to be, doing the things he needs to do. The team is still getting used to each other and there are times when you can see what it will be. There are other times when it really hurts. Florida appeared to be doing quite the interesting play for zone entry on the PP. I'd love to see a more overhead view to confirm but the RW player appeared to enter the neutral zone from the offensive zone and receive a pass from the rushing attacker. This routinely forced a Sabre to move to cover and then they would pass back to one or another attacker for zone entry. That attacker was moving at an angle so as to create coverage confusion. It certainly led to Gorges penalty but they did it a few times quite successfully. As far as I am concerned.. if you are Dan Bylsma and you want the puck in the attacking zone by carrying it over the line you give it to Risto or Eichel. Both of them do a great job of carrying the puck in. Still lots to improve upon but at no time does it appear they are outmatched... its still just not all on the same page. Ennis might be trying a bit TOO hard.

There's all kinds of debating evidence on it. I've even found articles on USA Hockey sites that reference there may be SOME benefit. However, in the coaching certification tests you very clearly do not get the question right unless you choose the option that says "No evidence that mouthguards reduce concussion" or something similar. Very strange.. I think there's a lot to it. It might be relevant in that one situation but at the same time I don't think a mouthguard is going to reduce the sudden jerk of the head so much as it will keep the teeth from mashing together and being forced out. You'd think that the reduced force that saves the teeth would somehow also benefit the brain...

I don't quite understand what appears to be surprise to people here. He had money and Buffalo was a great place to invest it. There are insanely loyal fans. The value of the franchise was low. it offered an opportunity to build in a sport that the city loves. He knew that Bills would be for sale one day and depending on how well the Sabres moves were received he might be able to buy them. There's zero doubt in my mind that the Bills will be playing in downtown Buffalo within 10 years. He has taken his money and invested it, wisely, in resources that will allow him to earn additional money while also giving him significant real estate resources. He has placed himself into the conversation of USA Hockey and turned Buffalo into a highly respected hockey development center. He has also helped drive additional business development in a city that had been turning around. None of this is a surprise. He's a business man and he's doing business things. He has savvy business people with him to help him along the way. At the moment no one's losing here...

They know better.

You seem more angry lately... or less tolerant. Something... have you been hanging around with Eleven more? :) You win. I'm done. Also.. first game where I should see the entire thing. YAY!

Indeed!

Well done!

Subbed the other night and had the pure joy of playing a bunch of McQuaid hockey graduates in a D league level game. I mean, if they really belong at that level McQuaid must suck at hockey. But anyway.. scored a shortie after driving into the zone and then laying it back to my forward who covered the rush. Managed to deflect it with my skate while busting butt back to cover D. So imagine me skating away from the goal and having the other team spend a few minutes trying to convince the ref that I kicked the puck into the net (from the high slot no less). Sorry, the shutout was gone. Also.. play at your own level.. and the trash talking.. holy cow... So yea.. point of the story? The beer after the game tasted good.

This picture is classic. I used to run a group of web developers and when they were waiting for content from the marketing group and thing began taking awhile they would use this picture as a placeholder for all graphics. So I just had a good chuckle. USA Hockey will be happy to tell you that mouthguards are not proven to reduce concussion. They are there as protection for the teeth, not the brain. Drilled into me during USA Hockey Coaches Training.

Blaming Lehner's conditioning for him catching a rut and spraining an ankle is like blaming a person's weight as the reason they got hit by a bus. You know.. if you get close enough to Van Gogh's paintings you can critique every stroke he every made. You also won't appreciate his painting.

There is nothing in that McDavid hit that is not suspension worthy. I was surprised that no one tried to light him up right after the hit (or I missed it). Ridiculous by any measure.

You have this strange thing for Foligno. He has 2 assists, both on the power play. I'm thinking he's not as ineffective as you might think he is. It's when the player ends up in a spot where they aren't supposed to be that bad things happen. He's not really supposed to be on the wall. It happens. "Here We Go Now"

It is. Use a VPN service. All I will say about that. They ran a kid's game ticket special. Buy 1 300 level seat, get up to 4 kid's tickets for $15. I almost did it.. but we have hockey practice tonight so it was a no go. You have no evidence as to the preference of the majority of the fans. You know.. you call the guy a knucklehead and perhaps that would be fine if you fact checked yourself. The reality is that kids have off from school. Many parents take off because the kids have off and they don't want to pay for a full daycare session. In addition there are a lot of other businesses that are closed today and since you are only focusing yourself on the US market you are neglecting the fact that the Sabres draw heavily from Canada and that it is Canadian Thanksgiving today so they are setting themselves up for that market as well. But yes.. clearly a knucklehead. Game on. At least I can watch the first period and a half before having to go coach.

Yep... those are awesome.

I suppose here is as good as any place to comment on the opening for last night. Finally able to watch the videos... It's nice to see some quality production value coming to the Sabres. The opening video was done exceptionally well. The on-ice presentation/3D work was engaging but not utterly incredible. I hope they integrate more of that. I think back to when I first saw the use of the 3D ice projections. I think it was the Winter Olympics in Vancouver when they had whales going across the ice. It was fantastic. The technology is amazing. Right now I'm just excited. Though I don't live in Buffalo any more it will always be the place that made me who I am. Granted that being in Rochester is not too far away but there is a world of difference in the sports fandom here. Given my involvement with youth hockey and seeing how my son reacts to these days is something I will always remember. Tomorrow I'll be in the car driving back from Utica when the puck drops on the 2nd game of the season. It's killing me to miss parts of these games but I take solace that I get to watch some 11/12 year old hockey hopefuls create their magic on the ice. One last thought for me on this game.. listening on the radio during the 2nd period I was noticing that I never heard the name Eichel, O'Reilly, or Ennis for most of the period. Not being able to see the game I was relying on RJ for the call and while I heard a lot of other names being called those remained conspicuously absent. Seeing the 3rd period I began to see those players touching the puck. It sounded like Bylsma made some changes to the lines and to the way the Sabres were creating offense to begin getting those players involved more. Man.. I'm still jacked. And you can bet everything you own.. that was intentional.

I hated the review concept from the moment I heard about it. Last night proved exactly why and it has nothing to do with the goal being disallowed. This stoppage in play ruined the entire game atmosphere. It ruined the momentum. It zapped all life from the game. The concept that these reviews somehow enhance the integrity of the game is laughable. There are so many other penalties that occur that never get called in a game. This is what it is. At best.. the review should be possible only if the goal was scored within 10 seconds of entering the zone. Even then, if the officials can't make a decision within 30 seconds of receiving the video they should chalk it up to "too close to call" and move on. This stops the ridiculous nitpicking of things like last night. I didn't hear RJ's call on Eichel's goal... I heard only me. There was a lot of good lats night. New passing angles that were not used before, good cycles, the wingers are setting up a little higher in the D zone for the breakout. It will take time but there is a lot to like.

omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod Sigh. I have to miss the opening of the game as I will be coaching a hockey clinic... but I will record everything so I can see it... Floating on a cloud right now.

Sober grown men perhaps...

You can't have Jack until after Oct. 8th anyway. My guess is that they will have one out on Oct. 9th or 10th once all the NCAA players have played their first games (if they were going to).

And yet.. by NOT carrying the channel they also provide no incentive for people to sign up for their service either. By not offering an alternative to the streaming they are actually raising the value of the streamed content. I should rethink the free streaming as I would suspect the Sabres probably would not get enough in ad revenue alone to support the streaming, but it might be possible. Even then, it could be a nominal fee. I don't have enough information on the back end logistics of that at the moment to comment.

Well, I'd cheer for the Ducks to beat the Lightning because it helps the Sabres. But if the Sabres needed the Leafs, Bruins, or Flyers to win then it's just too damn bad. I'm not rooting for them to win.