JoeSchmoe

How many sticks would a U18 kid go through in a season? Interestingly, I bought my son a $200 stick that was on sale for just over $100 that was supposed to be a back / outdoor rink stick. He was shooting so well at the ODR that he tried it out in practice. Sure enough, he shoots better with that than his Super Tacks.

I'm out over $1000 on sticks this year with my U15 AAA son. And I buy the closeout year old model sticks.

I was at that game with my family growing up. My brother and I were just 6 and 7. He was a Bruins fan so we put a whopping $1 wager on the game. By the time it was 6-1 he was dancing, gloating, and just being a regular obnoxious 6 year old whose team is winning. As the comeback began, he got more and more quiet until finally the Sabres went ahead. Being the older brother, I did rub it in quite a bit, mimicking the exact dances and celly's he had been doing when he was ahead. My parents, both Sabres fans were in on it too to some degree as the hole he had dug with each Bruin goal got deeper and deeper. He has a viscous temper back then... And the water works were flowing hard when the game ended. My parents had to force him to give me the dollar. I want to say he also ripped it so I couldn't have it. Great times! I think in another year or so the pain of losing the $1 wore off and the fact he saw such a huge comeback outweighed the fact his team lost. It's a story we both love to tell our kids as well which they think is hilarious.

I'm not. I'll probably read every blog and news outlet that talks about the team and the comeback!

Holy ***** guys, I can't wait until next year. I hope Levi and Power watched that!

Lankinen even looked like a failure hacking away at the post.

Love this team!

Peters and especially Rayzor did well for themselves. Barnaby lost most of them though.

Drunk guy vs baked guy!!!! Haha!!!

I'm not worried about UPLs hurt feelings. Give Levi a shot ahead of him. UPL had had ample time to take the reins and be the team's franchise goalie, but progress has been slow. Under .900 in ROC is pretty underwhelming for a third pro season. Understandably, a goaltender's development path is longer than that of a position player, but it almost seems more likely that he'll never be an NHL calibre goalie than it is that he'll one day be the team's starter. Most importantly, given UPL has had no other prospects in the org to challenge him, maybe giving Levi a shot will motivate him to be better next season.

Maybe once he wins the Hobey Baker he'll announce his decision. Would going pro before the selection hurt his chances?

P8n Crebz

Looking from Levi's perspective is if I don't go pro, I got to FA one season later, and if I have a career ending injury in college, I'm screwed. The only caveat is that his family appears to be loaded and money might not be as big of a factor as lifestyle. And why the heck wouldn't the Sabres splurge the extra couple hundred thousand to give him first round money. I can't believe that is actually a talking point.

Because it perpetuates non-parity in the league. Not having a fair playing field for all teams devalues the product.

Even if you're defensively sound, you still have to get more scoring opportunities that your opposition. Girgs usually fails in this department.

They're 312.

It's been a while since I looked at this since Bjork has been benched, and I was unaware of Hayden being quarantined, but with a bunch more line combos playing together for 100min or more they're now 412 of 412 in expected goal % for.

I get the picture that RJ's version of keeping up on the details is knowing which part of the fridge has the coldest beer. Other than that, he knows the names and numbers of the players and just calls the game as he sees it. In Madden's case, he was a colour analyst. Knowing the details was more critical.

I get the impression he might be getting pushed out the door by the cost conscious Pegulas. No proof, but I seem to recall him saying he enjoys calling games and wouldn't want to be doing anything else. Again, if the team in front of him was good, I could see the motivation level going up.

Not Hayden?

Now that the team is starting to look good again, do you think we can convince RJ and the Sabres brass for him to stick around for one more year? Can we get this trending? Maybe we wait a bit just to see for sure if this little run they're on is legit, but with the reinforcements coming from Roch and the NCAA, we could be scary good sooner than planned. Can it work?

Given this is total speculation, I'm not sure if many people want to invest a lot of energy discussing something that may or may not happen. On a related note, I don't want to see any more JAG 4th lines. I want my 4th line to be a legit threat to score. I'd easily sacrifice a Hayden for an Asplund or some other player that could put up 10 or more a season. So, on that note, draft and development your RHD or go the FA route, but don't sacrifice scoring depth.

I thought about posting this there, but I'm guessing that not many forum members are posting anywhere on these boards other than the Aud club.

I think once you add the fees, it's about the same for the cheap seats. Not having to commit ahead of time when I already lost $ last time is my main goal.

It would be a good game to go to, but I'd rather make a fool of myself crying in front of my family than make a fool of myself crying at the rink. Thinking all the years of listening with my dad who's been gone for 7 years and then the years of listening with my son gets me every time. Sucks that he's gone just as it looks like we could really be getting good again for real this time.