Dead Horse Poll: What *should* the Sabres response have been to the hit on Tage Thompson?

[Slack_in_MA]

After reading through the other thread on the topic, it felt like a good topic for a poll to try to sum up the feelings of the group. Since a lot has already been said in the other thread, there’s probably not much need for additional commentary, unless you chose “Other”, in which case your take is most welcome.

Edit: sorry for a couple typos/omissions...

Edited February 4 by Slack_in_MA

[JP51]

To me it is 1 and 3.... but I chose 3 because I think that is the most important..  now we are going after your stars... game on. 

[Doohickie]

[shrader]

[GoPuckYourself]

Any sign of life would have been nice.

[LGR4GM]

Quote

What *should* the Sabres response have been to the hit on Tage Thompson?

 

[Flashsabre]

Someone on the ice should have went over and dropped the gloves with Noesen. The result of the fight is irrelevant. Just show up and stand up for your teammates. 

 

Do the Sabres need a Matt Rempe? Play sometimes on the 4th line and be an enforcer? The fanbase at large would appreciate it.

[In The Buff]

if you're unsure of who caused the hit, you at least grab the guy next to you & give him the business. That should be the bare minimum response for a cheap shot on your teammate. It shouldn't even be something that's needed to be said or coached up. Should just be instinctual. You should have some pride in your team & want to stick up for one another. But theres no fight in these dogs.

Dropping the gloves is what should've happened but i'm more answering this question while thinking of the guys we currently have.

[matter2003]

 

An invite for them all to go to the club after the game - settle it like real men... on the dancefloor!!

 

"Oh!!  Look at this folks! Tage stepping out, shifting gears, driving that Disco Big Rig, blowing that funky horn!  Pull into the truck stop and get yourself a Scrapple full of sexy!"

 

 

Edited February 4 by matter2003

[DarthEbriate]

Crosscheck Noesen. Take your Roughing penalty. Force an ensuing scrum. Rev up the crowd. Rev up your teammates. Yell some profanity. If they want to escalate further, so be it.

Skate 4 on 4 with the juice afforded by a raucous crowd and bench, score one more on the PP.

Win it going away.

 

Several folks have pointed at the scoreboard as the reason not to respond. You point at the scoreboard when you're up 7-1 and the other team scores a goal and goes into a wild celebration dance, not when they cheapshot your leading scorer. Good teams respond like a hockey team and make the remainder of the opposing team's best players' touches painful, and win the game anyway.

Edited February 4 by DarthEbriate

[mjd1001]

I'd be happy with either first or the 2nd.

Do the first. If you don't, do the 2nd.  

I slightly favor the 2nd (takign a shot at one of their top guys).  Dropping the gloves with Noesen...does that really do anything to prevent this from happening again? I don't think so.

Taking a shot at Hughes every chance you get...THAT will get noticed more.

Honestly the more I write this and think about it....if an enforcer for the other team was on the ice and took a shot at one of my players..I'd rather NOT challenge him but right away find who is the most skilled player on the ice for the team and go drop the gloves with him...and when that fight is done on the way to the box yell at the enforcer guy that started it something like "how do you like that response".

Edited February 4 by mjd1001

[mjd1001]

2 minutes ago, In The Buff said:

if you're unsure of who caused the hit, you at least grab the guy next to you & give him the business. That should be the bare minimum response for a cheap shot on your teammate. It shouldn't even be something that's needed to be said or coached up. Should just be instinctual. You should have some pride in your team & want to stick up for one another. But theres no fight in these dogs.

Dropping the gloves is what should've happened but i'm more answering this question while thinking of the guys we currently have.

I remember a lot of similar talk in baseball like that. I'm sure it happens a lot (don't watch baseball anymore) but it was a big deal in the early 2000's Yankees-Red Sox games. You throw at our guy, it doesn't matter if I can't throw at you because you are a pitcher..I'll throw at YOUR best player.

Not sure if it worked, but the logic is, the BEST way to prevent cheap shots taken at your team is to take a shot back...not at the offending guy (who often is likely not going to be missed much) but at one of THEIR best players.

If the Sabres had the reputation of responding to cheap shots by taking them at the other teams top guys....you may have the coach of the other team tell them to lay off more than by doing anything else.

[GoPuckYourself]

The fact that they had to take a day off to address sticking up for your teammates says it all. This shouldn’t need to be addressed it should be natural but nothing about this team is natural imo.

[Doohickie]

19 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

The result of the fight is irrelevant.

For real?  If Krebs had been out there he woulda gone, gotten his ass kicked, and then we'd still be complaining about how pathetically soft this team is.

I really think they need to room Krebsie with Rob Ray on the road and let Rayzor teach him some stuff.

Edited February 4 by Doohicksie

[EM88]

Go after one of the stars of the other team.

When a lesser player takes out one of your stars and your response is to go after that lesser player, it is not the smartest solution.

[CallawaySabres]

Since they don't know how to win and most likely miss the playoffs for the next 5 years, can they at least sign an enforcer so that MAYBE there is something worth watching every once in a while?

[bunomatic]

Rock, paper,scissors would have solved it immediately.

[Thorny]

They should harass him on Facebook and various other social media 

[PromoTheRobot]

Start a fight 3 seconds into the Columbus game.

[Richard Noggin]

7 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I'd be happy with either first or the 2nd.

Do the first. If you don't, do the 2nd.  

I slightly favor the 2nd (takign a shot at one of their top guys).  Dropping the gloves with Noesen...does that really do anything to prevent this from happening again? I don't think so.

Taking a shot at Hughes every chance you get...THAT will get noticed more.

Honestly the more I write this and think about it....if an enforcer for the other team was on the ice and took a shot at one of my players..I'd rather NOT challenge him but right away find who is the most skilled player on the ice for the team and go drop the gloves with him...and when that fight is done on the way to the box yell at the enforcer guy that started it something like "how do you like that response".

You can't force most Hughes-level guys into an actual fight without either a) taking an obvious instigator penalty by jumping him while he keeps his gloves on AND/OR b) getting urgently intercepted/engaged by a bigger/grittier guy on the ice who will have a brief window of advantage to do damage against whichever distracted Sabre is assaulting a reluctant Hughes (and STILL the Sabres would be conceding a penalty disadvantage).

7 hours ago, EM88 said:

Go after one of the stars of the other team.

When a lesser player takes out one of your stars and your response is to go after that lesser player, it is not the smartest solution.

Agree with the baseball-style retaliation mindset, except that the Sabres are poorly constituted for that kind of escalation, and there aren't similar disadvantageous penalties/power-plays in baseball...

[mjd1001]

31 minutes ago, Richard Noggin said:

You can't force most Hughes-level guys into an actual fight without either a) taking an obvious instigator penalty by jumping him while he keeps his gloves on AND/OR b) getting urgently intercepted/engaged by a bigger/grittier guy on the ice who will have a brief window of advantage to do damage against whichever distracted Sabre is assaulting a reluctant Hughes (and STILL the Sabres would be conceding a penalty disadvantage).

Agree with the baseball-style retaliation mindset, except that the Sabres are poorly constituted for that kind of escalation, and there aren't similar disadvantageous penalties/power-plays in baseball...

If you can't force him to drop the gloves, then you do it anyway and let him turtle.  If that is too harsh, then you follow through on the checks, even if that means its borderline illegal. You might have to take an extra penalty but you hit, 'abuse' their stars one way or the other.

[lothar]

They just have to get bigger and stronger as individuals. That game where Cozens got his head bashed in completely changed his trajectory as a player. He was pretty fearless as a player, maybe the best defensive forward on the team. Something got scrambled in his psyche since that event. I'm not sure he'll ever get back to who he was. I'm always wary of the just go punch some dude response. You need to have a good mix of players on the team to deal with the rough stuff. We don't have it right now.