LTS

You can believe that.. But Shanny played for Babcock. They have a ton of money to throw at a coach who is an icon in Canada. I'm thinking it's more a possibility that not.

All I want to know is who the hell designed the parking garage. My son played there a few weeks ago and I am pretty sure that I could have designed a much better garage. Beyond the abnormally narrow driving areas it is in dire need of more signage to direct traffic flow. In my one trip up and down from the 5th level I was nearly in 5 accidents and I mean very close as in slamming brakes. The sight lines are horrible as well. That said.. inside is very nice. The locker rooms are a bit tiny, WAY too warm but they are nice. He played on the secondary rink but the ice was beautiful. The bench areas were some of the best I have been on as well. The main rink just SOUNDS cool when a game is going on. Might be back there in another month for another tournament.. we shall see.

I think he's earned it. Frankly you can see when a player is taking a shift off and I think he's working most of the time. This team is abysmal and no single talent will change that. When the other team doesn't have to fear your offense they can take chances that normally don't occur. This can become a misleading look at how a team performs. I think some talent on the Sabres is muffled because the other team simply can play a much more aggressive style without fear of the puck ending up in their net. I watch Grigorenko make smart, quick, passes that are spot on and I feel that when the opposition has to back off (and the people he is passing to are better) there will be this awakening that he has somehow improved. At this point I'm not sure that any single great player from any era of hockey wouldn't look much worse than they actually were if they were in this lineup.

I'd look at it this way. Look at the championship teams over the past 5-10 years and ask yourselves if they were moved to Buffalo.. would they fit the blue collar, hard working bill? I think so.. and therein lies the answer.

Is there even a minus column for Babcock? I fear that Canada's coach will be coaching the blue/white team to the North next year..

For what it's worth.. and perhaps as strange as it may seem.. Marchand being off the ice for the Bruins is actually a bad thing given that he leads the team in Goals scored. So while Stamkos being off the ice is a nice twist it also means the Bruins leading goal scorer is off the ice and their offense is pretty anemic especially compared to Tampa who have 3 scorers ahead of Marchand in Goals and Callahan sitting at 21, 1 behind Marchand.

Yea.. we're definitely leaning heavily that way. Plus, having practices at RIT won't suck. :) Parents of most youth sports participants bother me. As a coach I take a different tact to little Jimmy who I know is out there busting his ass but isn't an all-star. Many other parents will see little Jimmy as the twit who keeps their child from achieving greatness. I see Jimmy who cares and wants to do better and really does try. Some kids aren't as athletic as others. Of course travel is a slightly different beast but even then, the kids are there and they are passionate about things. Oh well.. another year another dollar... errr make that many dollars.

So the parent perspective on choosing a program for your child.. This past week we decided we would venture out of house hockey into travel hockey just to see how it went. We had decided on either of two organizations in Rochester. 1. Monroe County Youth Hockey - we've been affiliated with them for 4 years at the house level. 2. Rochester Red Wings Hockey - run by Jay Kirk and Jason Bonsignore. They are loosely affiliated with the Rochester Grizzlies which are one of those Elite organizations. For MCYH it would be a PeeWee Mixed AA team (my son is 11). For RRWH it would be a PeeWee Minor AA team. It was good during tryouts to see him hold his own against a mix of AA and AAA players at the RRWH location. Especially having only played house hockey. Now the agonizing part comes.. choosing where to go. The amount of feedback out there is incredible but trusting all of it is impossible. Whether it's someone telling me that Jay Kirk and Jason Bonsignore are crooks and horrible people or people telling me that you don't want any part of a Mixed team as its just glorified house hockey. It's insane. The politics and rumor mills are ridiculous. It's literally been one of the more stressful weeks of my life and it had NOTHING to do with my kid actually trying out. I didn't care if he made any team. The pressure to sign your letter of intent and "pledge allegiance" to some hockey team at that level is crazy. It's not just these organizations, that's the state of the sport, but some are on the hard sell more than others. The worst part is that he'll be split from good friends of his no matter what he chooses. That's a facet of life I suppose but it will be strange for him. Oh well.. back to the fun.

What if they play him at Center and but ask him to play as a winger in his own zone? Whoa.

Well played. But you just gotta be that guy that says we aren't going to win the last spot. Sigh.. :)

The Sabres never did get the mumps.. perhaps it's time they return?

The end is always nearer.. unless the tunnel is infinite or you have not moved. Nope, but nothing is perfect. It would be better to have responsible posters than over-arching censorship. But I guess my point stands that people just try and find away around it anyway. Interesting little fact on that word.. I learned the origin one time when I was desperate to make a word in Scrabble. It was challenged and I won. Based on this (dictionary.com): Word Origin and History for monsExpand n. from Latin mons (plural montes) "mountain" (see mount (n.)); used inEnglish in various anatomical senses, especially mons Veneris "mountains ofLove," fleshy eminence atop the vaginal opening, 1690s; often mons forshort.

This is one of the worst things I've read and sadly I am not at all surprised. The proliferation of ignorance in this country is killing me. The concept that everything has to be bigger, louder, more dramatic to get be important is killing me. We need to ratchet things down a few thousand notches and just live life and by happy. Perhaps if some slander lawsuits followed those articles it might stop them from reporting it. I'd rather people take responsibility on their own but if they are unwilling to do it then perhaps they should face a lawsuit. Ugh.

Ted is that you? Perhaps Ted read your posts between periods? Ask Neuvirth about that. All I see is a team that got two points but did not gain any ground in the tiebreaker. Also, I'm beginning to wonder how many backup goaltenders the Sabres will face from here on out. Probably only those in Arizona and Toronto. Here's another question for everyone who wants to secure the last spot so we are assured of the top 2 pick. It seems that we say this because we are almost convinced that the 30th place team will not get the #1 pick. If you are convinced of that then why wouldn't you also be convinced that if the Sabres were 29th they wouldn't get the top pick anyway? I know.. just saying you are assured of a top 2 pick.. I get it. But you are allowing for the strong possibility of not getting #1... :)

Perhaps it was mentioned already but there is a DirecTV original documentary "Bourbontucky" airing on Audience channel. I caught part of it Sunday. It was pretty cool. Check it out if you get a chance. It sure as heck made me want something to drink... :) An Irishman getting upset for how *I* pronounce something? Now that's novel.

Just because he sees red with PMS does not mean you call him a Commie. That's just mean. You never go full :. Size matters dude. bigger is better. no one wants smaller. Since I made reference to the cross-thread sniping I understood the original complaint.. I just did not understand the way it was conveyed. I've never really found going into a full rage to be the best way to encourage a change of behavior, especially since his request was for more civility. It's like shooting people to stop the gun violence. However.. I do have to say the the continued efforts to bypass the language filter is beginning to annoy me. It's there for a reason. If you don't like it, petition the mods. If you can't find a different way of saying it then let the board censor you.. we'll all get it anyway. But, I suppose as long as you don't get warned for it then you are free to persist on that. Oh.. and umm.. Go Sabres?

I wouldn't trade anything for Crosby. I can respect his talent but I don't want him on my team. I think the Penguins are weaker with him in the lineup and not having Malkin. I think Malkin is the better player and I would rather have him over Crosby. It's nothing against Crosby's ability, he's one of the best skilled hockey players to play the game. It's the rest of it I think that fails him. That's just it. No one is going to trade away the 1st this year for Crosby because they have their own version of Crsoby. But Pittsburgh doesn't need another Crosby. They could get a lot in return for him without angling for the first pick. They could get enough to stock the system and make Pittsburgh even more competitive now. I would think they could anyway.. to the right team. Perhaps not.. but I would investigate it. Crosby and Fleury and probably more Fleury than anything else. Keep in mind I am not saying Crosby sucks. He's a great player. He just doesn't strike me as the player that's going to pull everyone along with him all the time. I'd take Stamkos over him anyday. Given his performance this year I would consider Ovechkin over him. But that would not be a done deal for me.

They have the persona of their captain. Can't say as I am too surprised. If I was them and they felt confident in Malkin staying healthy I would trade Crosby. Of course that's me.. but then again Gretzky was traded. :)

Ahh the Rochester parade was today.. I think. Probably smarter to have it on Sunday.. later opening times and people might work the next day. I say might because we know those truly dedicated to the blarney stone aren't thinking about Monday. Why do you always have to be an exception? :)

Lots of people will be drunk for this game. that's my bold prediction.

Hard to believe eh? it's not really the snark so much as the incessant name-calling and cross-thread BS that persists. It's like bringing your domestic dispute to bar. Keep it between yourselves in your thread and stop ruining the good times for everyone else. Yea.. generally. It's what I said above.

With respect to everyone.. I read this whole thread. And at the end all I could say was.. I don't think I want to read threads here anymore. It just seems to have devolved into snark after snark after snark. Sigh. There is no Corsi number for Sabrespace right? Or are we tallying the shots we take in the thread, plus the shots we take in a thread that stem from another thread, plus the shots that completely miss a point? Sigh... Anyway.. I didn't watch much of the game.. but when I did Larsson looked good. His little head fake leading to the two on one and Moulson's goal was nice.

And is something to keep in mind when we keep saying around here that they would suck no matter who you put them with. *cough* Hodgson *cough*

I thought the board generally was surprised Grigorenko was sent down to start the season as he had played well and hard. Frankly, I think every player knows that Nolan is gone so why listen to anything he has to say. They all know what was happening this season. They aren't going to have that extra effort, no matter what. They have to spend the entire season with Nolan so creating controversy only causes more problems in a season that wasn't going to be great anyway. They all know it. They all signed on for it. It was never about this year for them. it's about the next year and the year after. For those like Gionta it was about being closer to home and still getting paid to lead and impart his knowledge to the team. He'll be here. Nolan was left on the staff to absorb the losses and placate fans. He'll be gone. If by some chance he had turned this team around then he might have earned himself another job and that was a far better opportunity he had than if he had just left town last year. I fail to see how Grigorenko has been the headache here. It's been the Sabres use of him. It was flawed at the beginning. He's doing what he should now but the team also have goals and because of his past situation (created by the Sabres) he still has to pay the price. As for Zemgus' development I think everyone seems to forget that he has more time with Nolan than anyone on the team. Plus, he's just that kind of player. He's far better than people gave him credit for to begin with.

So they only like the PGA and not the LPGA? If you think about it it's kind of sad. Life is so slow in that OKC that they find golf fun to watch.