That Aud Smell

The kids winning means something, on some level. Most of the core of the team is here now. I want them to win, even if it is in spite of poor coaching.

Slow you roll, son -- Bill Hoppe chirped the Sabres for not re-signing McGinn!

motherfunkster, the differences are too many to count. TOO MANY, i said. ha. haha. i'm sure that is an essential difference of sorts. but, during the tank years, i was on board (while holding my nose a bit). but the future is here now. i just don't want them to lose.

Oh, mess away. I need to have my assumptions and biases challenged. It's especially helpful when it's done with a light touch. My eye test says the same, but ... those basic fancy stats suggest precisely the opposite. Is that just the Okposo effect? I dunno. I'm stumped. Fair. I feel like we know he's being over-used. But what of his basic #fancystats being SO much better this season than last?

I want the team to win each and every time they take the ice.

I know - it's gotten a little entrenched. I dunno. He just doesn't seem like the same player we saw after he first arrived. I infrequently notice dynamic or quick play from him, and his skating just seems laboured. Maybe I am seeing what I want to see, though. If there isn't an injury, then he's just not playing as well as he had been playing. I also wonder if his basic advanced stats would bear this out. Yeah - eff me. Looks like I need to reevaluate my take on ROR. And probably my life.

Fair points and insight. I will say that I inferred that Peters may foster an environment where stuff like this happens not just because of what he did in the NHL - but because of the way I have seen him act off the ice as well. But your points are fair ones. Food for thought: Look at what Peters is doing at the :11 mark of the video. He's pretty clearly telling one of his players to go get another of Peters' players (who'd just scrapped) away from the potential renewal of an altercation (i.e., "Hey - tell Cody I told him to knock it off").

There's plenty effed up with this situation, but the family's decision not to file a criminal complaint is understandable, given the circumstances. And, again, the circumstances are messed up. And one of the reasons they're messed up is because the kid who got chucked was participating in a line brawl, and maybe going after someone on the opposing team's bench.

My sense too. Also: I still think ROR is playing through a sports hernia.

Here's what he said (this is a lightly edited version of the WGR auto transcript): But first I feel there something I need to address. I think a lot of people have been talking about an incident that occurred surrounding our team this weekend -- I'm the coach of fifteen U junior sabres hockey team. You know, and the game resulted in a lot, you know, a lot of penalties and on ice altercations. I just wanna say that, you know -- first of all -- there's no room for, for what happened, in youth sports. Fighting in youth sports is absolutely unacceptable. All sports, not just hockey. It's about -- it should be about, you know, good sportsmanship, developing skills, and being a good teammate. I didn't -- I didn't do a good good job this weekend communicating any of those skills to my team. Going forward, I need to do a better job. You know, and as coaches in general I think we need to do better job. I can't discuss anything in regard the altercation, the incident. So, I just have to move on from that. I don't think he apologized for anything. He seemed to take responsibility for his team getting out of control, and not staying focused on sportsmanship, skills, and being a good teammate. He also seemed to be laying blame at the feet of what the other team did to precipitate the incident and altercation.

Guy's old and slow. Not sure what there will be to hate.

^ I wanted Peters run out on a rail, but at no point did I think there'd be criminal charges coming from the incident.

Why not both? (Hint: There is no reason not to do both.)

Hey Flagg. A housekeeping thought: Maybe start a thread for this sort of stuff? That assumes you're going to continue doing it.

I also wanted to isolate a couple of my favourites from the post. I notice this about O'Reilly, too. He's pretty faithful about the dump-ins. Also, Moulson. Lulz.

Good stuff, Randall. And I have to agree, yet again, on Reinhart. What does the future hold? Does O'Reilly move to wing?

As coach of a U-15 team that was engaged in a line brawl, he initially oversaw the mayhem as though he were the coach of a pro team - arms crossed, outwardly impassive. So, even before he chucked that kid to the ice, I think he did plenty wrong (and I mean from his conduct behind the bench, to his conduct/teaching as a coach leading up to that game). Probably not enough to warrant a suspension from his on-air duties, but probably enough to warrant his dismissal from the the coaching position. I'm also not sure it's an either/or proposition with what he did to the other kid. My sense is that he wanted the opposing player away from, out of his bench. Where a torch likely would've done the job, he busted out a flame thrower.

I'm not sure Kevyn Adams was yawning when he announced that Peters was being suspended as coach pending a full investigation. FWIW, I've seen plenty of chatter on Twitter to the effect that what Peters did was acceptable under the circumstances. I can't agree. Also, I think that particular view conveniently ignores the key contribution Peters made, as coach, to those "circumstances" existing in the first place.

It is surprising.

Well, he's a jackass who laid hands on a kid with hundreds of eyes watching. I think you're right about the team - Peters apparently has the U-15 group, which is presumably a feeder to the older team that is the Buffalo Jr. Sabres (?).

Oh, yeah. He's a veritable genius. Ah, right - Adams. Maybe Adams likewise hired Peca? On the subject of Larsson, my guess is that Peters' antipathy or lack of enthusiasm has its roots in an anti-Euro bias. Looked at the Wiki page: Adams is listed as president, and Peca is the GM.

Interesting. And, yes - he was on air today.

Word. Who hired him? Would it have been Peca?

Well, wait a second. Peters violently shoved/punched/chucked a 15 year-old kid over the weekend. It's not unfair to infer from that, albeit fairly speculatively, that, as a coach, he may not be shy about laying hands on his players. And, if you've met Peters or spent time near/around him, the impression he gives would tend to further substantiate the theory. The stuff to which you allude was much more in the realm of total speculation, with absolutely no basis in fact. Yeesh. All I can say is that I disagree. He's got a blunt and somewhat direct manner about him, but he's always been a genuine and good dude when I've dealt with him. Full disclosure: Ray may have tracked down my crew 2 years ago as we left his kid's school grounds in order to congratulate my kid on a "helluva game." That went a long, long way with me.

Yep, yep, and yep.