Kruppstahl

Funny how Republicans these days seem to like Russia. Which is making every dead Cold War Republican, particularly Nixon and Reagan, turn over in their graves. I'm glad that Russia's stock seems to be on the decline these days. The Olympics has never been the same since the demise of the USSR. The Olympics was so much better and more fun in the old days, when you had an enemy to hate come Olympic time every 4 years. I'm thinking back to like the '80s and everyone hating on the East German women's swim team. Most of them appeared to be men, had rather well developed beards, and were clearly ingesting every illegal performance enhancing substance known to man at that time! LOL Good times!

Speaking of Sasha... The other day Rob Ray was on Rhett Warrener's radio show in Calgary; I made a thread about it. They were talking about "the old days" and how guys used to smoke a cigarette and drink a beer, in the locker room, after a game. That led to discussion of players smoking in general. Rayzor said: "I remember Mogilny saying to me...[you have to picture Rayzor speaking in a fake Russian accent, mimicking Sasha]...Rayzor! I need a cigarette! I have to open my lungs! I can't skate without a smoke!" Rayzor was saying how he never saw a guy fly around like Mogilny, particularly with the puck on his stick, and yet he loved to smoke. Many moons ago my buddies and I saw him in a bar wearing a jean jacket and smoking...we laughed at the time. Of note: I remember going out to Sabre Land for training camp in Mogilny's first year. Saw him with his car. He didn't waste time buying a Prussian blue Porsche 911 slant nose, with a "parchment" leather interior (kind of grayish off-white) that was horribly cracked and beaten up. The car had a Northtown "Toy Store" license plate frame on the back if anyone remember that place, on Sheridan Drive. This was a 3.2 liter Carrera, probably a 1986 or so. Northtown "Toy Store" used to sell upmarket used cars. Maybe they are still around, I don't know.

The PP is a mess b/c we have too many skilled guys on it who are always looking for the perfect passing play resulting in an empty net goal, b/c that's how skilled guys think/play hockey. Phil and the staff need to hammer into these guys to simplify, and SHOOT the damned puck. Goals usually come from the chaos that ensues after an initial, often mundane shot attempt, with luck playing a major role. It's funny how often the team with the man advantage kills the penalty for the other team, free of charge, through over-movement of the puck. We were doing a lot of that in Vancouver last night.

One of my favorite bits was Rhett asking Rayzor what Vaclav Varada is up to these days, and Rayzor saying "He's coaching the Slovakian World Junior team now." Rhett's reaction was hysterical. "He's WHAAAAT?! Coaching!?!??!" Not exactly a great endorsement! LOL Rayzor then throws in the cheap shot about Varada having the worst breath of all time...

About to listen to this now; I guarantee it'll be a good listen. Rhett is one of my favorite Sabres of all time. https://player.fm/series/boomer-warrener-in-the-morning

We need a vote of confidence around here for Phil Housley. I think most have finally turned on him. The frustrating part is that we are not going to make any interesting trade this season to improve the team, nor is Phil going to get fired, IMO. So what is going to change and what will make it change?

Just watching him you can see he's not 100%. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

About what? The future of Botterill's job? Phil's job? A trade discussion? What are you thinking?

I've been critical of Eichel's ability to check out of games in the past, but there is no way he is right at the moment. No idea what his injury is exactly (ribs? back?) but he's not right. It's hard to be critical of a crap performance if we are to assume he's injured.

What happened tonight? No effort? Soft?

F-ing Lucic. I'm just turning this game on. Anyone want to give me a sentence or 2 to describe the game up to this point?

Cut the brake lines in his car.

What you mention was part of the streak, but not the sole reason for the streak. It wasn't just luck. We got in a groove there where we were playing very consistent, good hockey, for 3 periods each night against good teams. We looked like a good team playing winning playoff type hockey. We can get back into that groove again but we need some players to return from injury. A clever acquisition at the trade deadline could also go a long way. A part of our problem this year is that Casey Mittelstadt is not ready to be one of the big names on the team. I think he will grow into that, but he's not there now. We need more big names than we currently have.

I am in favor of any sort of move that helps us make the playoffs this year, while not sacrificing, at all, our long term development. If there is some acquisition that can be made that fits into those parameters, go for it! I'd love to see us in the playoffs this year.

PS: I watched the NESN broadcast and I have to say: Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley are absolutely insufferable. They are the biggest homers in the entire NHL, and by a wide margin. Their entire approach to broadcasting is biased to the point of being amateurish and ridiculous. Throw in Brickley's chowduh-head accent and I don't think I can listen to those guys anymore! They both know hockey and are much better from a technical perspective than a lot of clueless idiots around the league, particularly in non-traditional markets, but my God! Stop the ridiculous, over the top, pro-Boston shtick! I feel better now.

Uneventful game that looked and felt, from beginning to end, like we would lose.

Absolutely. We were never in this game and Boston controlled the entire thing. About halfway through the first period I realized we wouldn't be winning the game. Risto's goal was nice and the score looked close, but the game wasn't. We can't compete with Boston with Jack out of the lineup and us not playing a phenomenal game.

Steve Smith is one half of the Twin Towers in Edmonton, of course. Along with Jeff Beukeboom. We are on pace to be at least 15 points better than I would have guessed this year. That pace is probably misleading b/c of the big win streak however. At this point, I just want us to qualify for the playoffs any way we can, even if we lose in 4. It's been so long since we enjoyed the magic of a playoff game day I almost can't remember what it feels like.

This is now a couple years old, but I just stumbled across it at Youtube. I found it to be pretty interesting all the way around. #99's comments about "playing on the pond" and lost creativity are especially interesting. About 10 minutes long.

Just wanted to pop in here to say that Skinner's first goal last night was incredible; it literally made me scream "woh!" out loud such that my girlfriend in the other room came over to see what the matter was. He engaged and beat like 4 guys in little 1 on 1 battles with "compete" off the charts, then displayed his typical Mike Bossy-esque finishing ability with a snipe to the upper corner. This dude is more special than Reinhart, and we didn't tank an 82 game season to get him. Makes you wonder. Then again, we never have Eichel or Lidstrom 2.0 without tanking, so there's that.

Back when we were winning 10+ in a row, I said we can't then proceed to lose 10 in a row and even out at .500 hockey over 20 or 24 games, as that just pisses away the streak. I hate to say that is kind of what this team is doing. Secondary scorers! Secondary scorers! My kingdom for secondary scorers!

The building has been horrid for years, but that was when the team sucked. My theory is that far too many people are there for something to do on a crappy Tuesday night in the WNY winter, not watch a hockey game with interest. The camera always shows fans closeups and you see folks looking at cell phones. Then you have all the noise on the PA system, the absurd "goal song", the music blasting... In the good old days in the Aud you knew you were at a hockey game; hockey fans there to watch hockey; no annoying crap over the microphone; organ playing; no TV screens for replays so you had to pay attention; it was unique to be at a hockey game and it was cool. I hate the flavor of these things now. Caveat: it is much better in most buildings come playoff time; it's been so long since we had playoff games, you tend to forget that in a Sabres context.

Someone not from the top line has to step up tonight and put the puck in the net. Preferably a couple of times. That is the weakness of this team to begin with--no secondary scoring. Who is going to do it? They need to suck it up and over-achieve for a few games until Jack is back.

Mittelstadt is still too young and green; I think he'll be OK given time. Can't expect much from this this year however.

If we can get another pretty quick here in the 3rd, it's a new game. Want to see some desperation and a really strong 3rd period.