Happy New Year

[Corp000085]

I'm not so sure as to my own choice. There were so many events LAST season and during the playoffs, however this season has been too great to overlook. Who knows...

 

 

Anyhow, this has been one great year, but i just have this feeling that 06 is just the setup for 07. PLENTY MORE COMING UP IN A MOMENT ON THE SABRESPACE HOCKEY NETWORK!

[Crestwood]

I'm not so sure as to my own choice. There were so many events LAST season and during the playoffs, however this season has been too great to overlook. Who knows...

Anyhow, this has been one great year, but i just have this feeling that 06 is just the setup for 07. PLENTY MORE COMING UP IN A MOMENT ON THE SABRESPACE HOCKEY NETWORK!

I'm with ya, Corp. I don't want to disregard last season, but I'm almost leaning toward the standing O after the 10-game streak coming to an end. It showed the uncanny connection Buffalo has with its team. I'm gonna have a few of these ( :beer: ) tonight and mull it over. :thumbsup:

[Bmwolf21]

I voted for the Sabres Alley one, because that was the best time I have ever had tailgating for a hockey game (game 5.) Great atmosphere, great fans, great game - bad result.

 

 

EDIT: Just wanted to say Happy New Year to all the SabreSpace regulars, and to some of you newbies as well. Everyone be safe tonight when you ring in the New Year...

[elcrusho]

My Defining Moment...

 

Round 1 - Game 1 - 12:29 left of 2nd OT

 

This - http://www.mikelynaugh.com/sabres-flyers/pages/IMG_1374.htm

And this - http://www.mikelynaugh.com/sabres-flyers/pages/IMG_1385.htm

[GrimFandango]

The standing- O was my moment of the year. The connection with this team and the community was palpable. I myself, watching at home 500 miles away, was ALMOST brought to tears. Furthermore, it changed how i watch this team this season. Up until that point, every game felt like a playoff game, i couldn't sit back and relax and enjoy. I was on the edge of my seat every minute with a ridiculous nervousness. After the loss that night, it felt like the end of a playoff series. After being upset for an hour, i began to calm down and remembered it was just the regular season. I just hate to see these guys lose, for themselves as much as for all of us, the fans.

 

That moment just showed how much they appreciate all of us, and us them.

[binghamton_sabres_fan]

Beating Ottawa with the game one OT goal and Pominville's OT winner. That launched us on our way

[ThePolishSabre]

I voted for Sabres Alley. I was there in Raleigh, NC and it was great. Sabre fans also took over the hotel across the street. Just a crazy ass time.

[JujuFish]

My favorite moment of 2006 was finishing off the Sens in 5 games with the rookie Jason Pominville netting the shorthanded overtime goal.

[wjag]

I also think beating Ottawa to clinch the game, set and match, short-handed, in OT has to be the defining moment of 2006.

[drnkirishone]

Gotta be the hit on Umburger. That hit put the Sabres on every sports show for weeks and it sent a clear message that you can play us physical all you want but we ain't gonna back down. All the choices are good this one just stands out to me cause I literally jumped outta my chair and me and my nephew started going nuts lol. Gotta love RJ's call of the hit :D

[binghamton_sabres_fan]

Gotta be the hit on Umburger. That hit put the Sabres on every sports show for weeks and it sent a clear message that you can play us physical all you want but we ain't gonna back down. All the choices are good this one just stands out to me cause I literally jumped outta my chair and me and my nephew started going nuts lol. Gotta love RJ's call of the hit :D

I thought it was great to. I love seeing people get really hurt. When Connelly got hit I acted liked I hated it but it was still cool. What's great about you is that you are teaching children to love others getting hurt. Maybe he will beat up a smaller classmate at school and you can give him a few drinks to celebrate, right before you teach him to discipline his mouthy girlfriend

[drnkirishone]

binghamton just got your mother didn't love you don't take your #%^$#! out on others we didn't tell her to be a crack

[binghamton_sabres_fan]

binghamton just got your mother didn't love you don't take your #%^$#! out on others we didn't tell her to be a crack

What's a matter, your bottle run dry? :nana: :nana: :nana:

[drnkirishone]

na your mom's mouth went dry :nana:

[Corp000085]

I thought it was great to. I love seeing people get really hurt. When Connelly got hit I acted liked I hated it but it was still cool. What's great about you is that you are teaching children to love others getting hurt. Maybe he will beat up a smaller classmate at school and you can give him a few drinks to celebrate, right before you teach him to discipline his mouthy girlfriend

 

 

teach your kids that hockey is a violent sport and if you play, keep your head up. Campbell's hit on umberger was clean. Shafer's on connolly was an elbow to the head... dirty. Teach your kids to play clean.

[binghamton_sabres_fan]

teach your kids that hockey is a violent sport and if you play, keep your head up. Campbell's hit on umberger was clean. Shafer's on connolly was an elbow to the head... dirty. Teach your kids to play clean.

I agree 100%. But do not cheer when another human being is lying on the ice and hurt. He really might have been dying for all anyone knew and that drunken Irish guy was cheering. He said it was the best thing to happen all year. He also made a kid feel it was ok to revel in someone else getting brutally hurt. Did you see Campbell cheering the hit?

[BuffalOhio]

Pominville. OT. Series clincher. Yes, I believe.

[blugold43]

pominville's goal skating right around alfredsson...easy #1 moment of the season for me.

 

#2 was eliminating the flyers.

[drnkirishone]

first troll who said my nephew is a kid still? Second of course i cheered as did most fans. What you want me to believe that its wrong to? what else want me to beleive that people go to watch the noble sport of boxing for reasons other then to see someone get jacked up? And Umburger was so brutaly hurt right? He missed what? 1- 2 games? and yes Campbell liked the hit he said it was clean and would be a highlight reel hit. But I guess me and the 18,000+ fans that were at the game are all bloodthrusty drunk manics, but at least I'm not you and that makes me sleep good at night :nana:

[slapshot1619]

While Sabres Alley was great, the Game 5 loss which I was part of hurt ALOT. But, My vote goes to the Game 1 Barn Burner we got treated to against Ottawa. I actually sat there and said there is still time we can still tie it up... and sure enough Timmy pulls one out of his ass to tie the game. And less than a minute later Drury send Ottawa home a broken team. One choice that wasn't on there...(and I didn't notice the vote for your own moment part... :/) was the game 5 clincher against Ottawa. I was down at the Arena with about 300 - 400 leftovers from the Bandits pathetic excuse for a championship game. They turned on the Jumbo-Tron as the game entered the third period. and when Pommer netted the Game winner the place roared like it was filled 18,690 strong.

[Corp000085]

well, i said in the original post that i couldn't vote. Well, i've decided to cast my own vote for the defining moment of 06. Before I get there, applologies to steve for leaving off the pominville goal. I guess i did that because, at that point in the series, it was ho hum to me. Sorry.

 

 

 

Anyhow, my defining moment has to be yet another event that i left off: the 9-1 thumping of philly. Let's look back... the sabres were still in the midst of the 10-0 run but they hadn't really dominated anyone yet. They had just strung a few wins together, probably still on a high from last year's playoff run. We all knew they'd come crashing down soon. This game was on national tv, versus in the USA and tsn in canada and it was the rematch where the big bad flyers would come to town and win it to yet again be the media darlings. True to form, the game was scoreless in the 1st period. Unfortunately for the true fans of the flyers, not the phans, but the old guard who has been there since 1967, what they witnessed on tv was the most overpowering performance ever displayed. There have been 9-1 victories before, there will be 9-1 victories since, but not to the magnitude of that. When casual fans can actually see the sabres pulling up and mercy playing the flyers because its so obvious, there's something to be said... The sabres went up 6-0 in the 2nd period and it was embarrassing. Then the flyers scored in the 3rd, early. the sabres then rattled off 3 quickies, not because they were good goals, but simply because they could. When the game was over, the coach and GM were fired, 2 players were waived, and the flyers are still in the basement because of it. The sabres on the other hand were for real and used that win to spring board them to the best start in the Eastern Conference. The fact that the sabres, who to that point had been dismissed by the national media as a playoff fluke, buried an entire city is my defining moment of 2006.

[nfreeman]

There are plenty of good choices, but for me it's 7-6. That game was incredible. It also encapsulated a few essential characteristics of this team:

 

1. We never quit.

 

2. Our wide-open game is just thrilling.

 

3. Connolly magic -- the shorthanded goal in the 2nd period was a top 5 goal of the year, the head fake and sweet dish to Roy for the shorthander with 1:50 left to tie it up, and of course the miracle backhander to tie it up again with 10 seconds left.

 

4. We aren't intimidated by anyone -- Ottawa put a GD all-star team on the ice last year, spanked us several times in the regular season, and was the top seed in the conference. It didn't matter. We knew we could beat them and we kept coming.

 

5. Drury is money in the clutch.

 

6. We never quit (worth repeating).

 

The only thing that game was missing was great goaltending, but so be it. Until we win the last one this year, it's my favorite Sabres game of all time.

 

Runner-up: Briere's OT winner in game 6 of the conf. finals. Not in our house.

 

Honorable mention: hitting this board after every game. Being a fan wouldn't be nearly as sweet without the knowledgeable, witty, like-minded comrades hanging out here.

 

And with that, I bid you all happy new year.

 

PS: Corp -- 2 other great things about the 9-1 spanking of Philly: (i) payback for our 2 finals losses in one game -- ie humiliating the Flyers and getting Hitchcock canned and (ii) they wore the throwback jerseys.

[Taro T]

My favorite moment had to be Pominville's goal. That or winning Game 3 to go up 2-1 vs. the Canes (unfortunately, on the ride home that one got dampered quickly hearing about Tallinder walking out with his arm wrapped up).

 

The most important one, I may go off the board and say Opening Night '05. The Sabres had just dumped Ziro and lost Alexei to the Isles as well. I really expected those 2 to come out and play outstanding games. We also didn't know how Ryan would handle the load (he hadn't handled it well the last time he was brought up). I had expected the Sabres to be a playoff caliber team, but really thought that would be a very tough one to win. They came out and smoked 'em. Heck, if Zhitnik didn't score the fluke goal, the game would not have even been close.

 

We didn't realize it at the time, but that was their coming out party.

[Eleven]

That was a great poll, and it took some thought to include all of those choices. Cool.

[Goodfella25]

For me, the Pominville goal that finished off Ottawa was a perfect example of what the last year of Sabres hockey was about. Simply incredible. I got the "Top Shelf" DVD for Christmas and just seeing a replay of that goal gives me chills. Great poll BTW.