The 2011 version of the Big Bad Boston Bruins comes rolling into the F'N Center tonight.
The spoked B's are red-hot having won nine in a row and they're looking to make it 10 vs. a team that they smoked less than two weeks ago.
We all remember the game, we all remember the Milan Lucic hit on Ryan Miller. We also remember how the Sabres reacted, or more precisely, failed to react. Every team in the NHL knows that the Sabres can be thrown off of their game. They know that they can get inside of Miller's head, and the collective Sabres head, with some old-school intimidation.
In defense of Lindy Ruffs club, they're not total pantie-waists. They've managed, on a few occasions, to stand up for themselves to various degrees. But the epic fail in the first Bruins/Sabres meeting furthers the point that the Sabres are merely a soft-but-skilled team lacking the proper amount of testosterone to be anything more than a pretender.
So how do the Sabres approach this game?
Quite the quandary for Ruff. He does not have the tools with which to pull off a UFC-style grudge match. The closest thing he has to an enforcer would be Cody McCormick, and he's out with an injury as is another no-nonsense guy, Mike Weber.
There's mention of Paul Gaustad. He, like the team, shows up on occasion to drop the gloves and basically take one for the team. He was disappointed with his own reaction to the events that occurred previously and surely would like to show that he actually has a set.
With all due respect to "Goose," I'm not sure that he has enough internal fury to look at Lucic with shear hatred and embark on a "knock-down-drag 'em-out" with one of the toughest customers in the league. Being infuriated and fighting Lucic would probably mean a sound ass-kicking for Gaustad, but fans would give him props for the effort.
Patrick Kaleta might engage. But, Lucic would like nothing more than to put a severe beating on a player like Kaleta who's universally hated outside of Buffalo for his style of play.
Let's face it, the Sabres can't even come close to matching what Lucic, Shawn Thorton, Adam McQuaid and even Zdeno Chara bring to the cage-match.
So if you can't beat them down, what's the next approach?
How about trying to play your game? How about going for the two points playing an up-tempo game in attack-mode?
That could work. But the Sabres would need to show that they can beat a hot goalie. And Tim Thomas is red-hot with three shutouts in his last five starts.
Even so. Let's say the Sabres do manage to pot a few goals early. There's always the original premise of the Lucic hit: the Sabres can be thrown off of their game with some brute physicality.
To say the Bruins are a tough team would be putting it mildly. And not only that, they are the king of the hill, the defending Stanley Cup Champions. They have all the tools to repeat and the confidence that goes along with being champion.
The Sabres, on the other hand, have 13 playoff games to their resume' in the last four years.
It's a daunting task in front of the Sabres, so maybe it would be best if they forget the hype, forget about the token fight to start the game, and just lay the body on the B's when the opportunity arises.
Physicality has a way of bringing out a fire within that normally lays dormant in passive play. It also has a way of getting the adrenaline pumping which is a good thing on both ends of the ice.
A player that has gotten little print in this whole thing, Robyn Regehr, put it this way, "There's certain things that happen spontaneously and so be it. It happens when you're playing a good hard physical aggressive game. I don't think there's going to be any sort of premeditated stuff."
Regehr is not a fighter, per se, but he's never backed down from fisticuffs. And although he doesn't have a letter stitched to his jersey in Buffalo, he is a leader and will do what's necessary for the team.
Even though the hype-machine will be cranking, and the call will be for Buffalo to go old-school and show their manhood, in the end the Sabres need to score one more goal than the Bruins.
After all, that's what it comes down to. It's a four-point game for the division lead tonight, and a victory against a red-hot division rival can only be a good thing.
Eventually, the opportunity for redemption will reveal itself. Whether it's tonight or in any of the remaining games between the clubs the rest of the season.
One can only hope that when the opportunity arises, the team will show it has the courage to stand up for themselves and their teammates. They're not going to wipe the collective smirk off of the Bruins face tonight, but a hard-fought win will at least garner them some respect and give a boost to their confidence.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Lucic and Shanahan, Two "Original-Six-Style" Players Expose the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres fans should thank Milan Lucic and Brendan Shanahan for what has transpired over the course of the last few days.
With all due respect to Ryan Miller, who I hope is not seriously injured, the pair exposed the Sabres for what they are--a very talented, very soft team.
It's been that way for years as the John Muckler era gave way to the Darcy Regier era for Buffalo.
The Boston Bruins are one of the Original Six teams in the NHL, as a team they've been through all of the NHL-era's. In the 70's they were the Big Bad Bruins. A donnybrook was common place in that "Slapshot" era where benches cleared, you grabbed a partner and danced amidst the gloves, sticks, sweaters and wild punches being thrown.
As an Original Six team, the Bruins still have that old-school intimidation factor ingrained deep within their psyche. Lucic embraces that. As do teammates, Zdeno Chara, Shawn Thorton and Adam McQuaid. Even diminutive Brad Marchand has a serious edge to his game.
This edition of the Buffaol Sabres? Meh. The Lucic hit proved that they do not.
The 2011/12 Sabres are eerily similar to another Sabres team that played in a different era, that of the Scotty Bowman years.
Bowman took over the team and proceed to move aging vets for high draft picks.
The team he built was high on skill, or supposedly highly skilled, with a few "tough guys" throw in for backbone. But that team proved that they didn't have Original Six sensibilities.
The Detroit Red Wings are another Original Six team who had of one of the greatest hockey players ever, Gordie Howe. Howe was as old-school as they came and he's immortalized with "the Gordie Howe Hat Trick": a goal, and assist and a fight.
During the 80's the Wings were slowly coming out of the "Dead Wings" era of the previous decade with the Steve Yzerman leading the way. Yzerman, by the way was drafted 4th overall in 1983, one spot ahead of Buffalo Sabres goalie, Tom Barrasso. Those two would be a part of a melee four years later as Yzerman would define himself as a leader.
Another quick note on Yzerman, he took over the captaincy of the Wings from former Sabre Danny Gare. The diminutive Gare hit the 50-goal mark twice for the Sabres and once jumped out of the penalty box to join a melee, was in the mold of Wings legend "Terrible Ted" Lindsay who was also small, but old-school tough with a mean-streak.
Bowman had loaded his team with highly touted, skill players taken in the first round. Players like Norm Lacombe, Adam Creighton, Paul Cyr and Phil Housley.
In 1987, those players along with the likes of rookie #1 overall pick Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruutu, Dave Andreychuk, John Tucker and Uwe Krupp formed "the core" of Scotty Bowman's Buffalo Sabres. That "soft-but-skilled" core was balanced by "tough-guys" Lindy Ruff and waiver acquisition, Kevin Macguire.
Yzerman, Barrasso, Macguire and legendary Wings tough-guy Bob Probert, all came together in a game between the Wings and the Sabres back in 1987. And it starts with this hit.
Bob Probert nails Sabres goaltender Tom Barrasso behind the net. Sabres color-commentator Mike Robitaille sheds light on the subject when he says "Somebody's got to jump in there...it happened the other night with [Jacques] Cloutier when everybody looked the other way."
"When everybody looked the other way." Sound familiar?
Unlike the recent Lucic-on-Miller hit, one Sabre came back and pulled a little old-school payback on Red Wings goalie Greg Stephan. Kevin Macguire proceeded to run Stephan:
Four Red Wings jump Macguire behind the net for his "payback."
One of the defining moments was Steve Yzerman, a player not known for fighting, goes after Macguire in defense of his teammates. This from NHL.com fan blog: "A big melee ensues on the ice. Battles with goalies going head to head. Bob Probert being restrained by the referees, all the players are tied up except Stevie Y and Kevin Maguire; the Sabres heavyweight (aka Buffalo's answer to Probert). Not to be outdone and give Maguire a chance of hurting one of his players, the selfless Yzerman charges Maguire and starts a fight; a fight Maguire clearly finishes. But kudos to Yzerman because he wasn't about to let Maguire contribute to a gang up on one of his teammates. Team first."
Probert knew his role as well. He was the enforcer, there to protect his teammates, especially his captain, Steve Yzerman. The reckless abandon with which he pursues Macguire from start to finish is something to be seen. The cheap-shot he delivered to the restrained Macguire was a payback for running his goalie and fighting his ill-equipped captain. He would not be denied and no Sabres player denied him.
The NHL is different these days. But there are still players who eschew personal safety in defense of their players, especially their goaltenders. It's woven into the fabric of their hockey existence.
Nearly every team, it seems, has these moments where another team exerts their will through intimidation, and dominates them. A moment where they realize they aren't as tough as they thought they might be and/or they'll need to dig deeper in order to beat the big kid on the block.
Take the Red Wings.
In a most unusual rivalry, the Wings and the Colorado Avalanche, two teams with no history and no proximity to speak of, grew to hate each other to the point where it was the toughest, meanest rivalry in hockey during the mid to late 90's and into the 2000's.
In 1996, the Avs, who had just been relocated from Quebec, played the Wings, the President's Trophy winner for best record in the NHL, in the Western Conference Finals.
The Avs boasted some highly skilled players like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Valerie Kamensky and Sandis Ozolinsh. But they also tough-players like Adam Foote and Mike Keane along with legendary uber-pest (and recognized cheap-shot artist) Claude Lemieux.
The 1996 Western Conference Finals between the Red Wings and the Avalanche represented the Avs casting the Wings aside to claim king of the hill. In game six, Claude Lemieux took a cheap shot on the Wings Kris Draper that sent him to the hospital with a broken jaw (1:20-mark):
With that hit the rivalry was on.
It took a little while for the Wings to establish their machismo vs. the Avalanche. They had played three times prior to March 26, 1997, but not much happened. With the playoffs on the horizon, and an eventual Wings/Avs playoff series pretty much a formality, two unlikely candidates, the Wings Igor Larionov and the Avs Peter Forsberg, started what has become and NHL classic brawl (interesting to note that former Sabres coach and GM, Scotty Bowman was behind the Wings bench):
Wings enforcer Darren McCarty saw the opportunity to exact some revenge upon Claude Lemieux for his cheap-shot on Draper. And Brendan Shanahan provided one of the all-time great goalie checks as the Avs Patrick Roy came flying up ice to defend his teammate only to be hit by a full-speed Shanahan.
Shanahan, not known for his fighting, dropped the gloves with Foote, a player who has held his own on many occasions, four seconds after play resumed.
So what does this all mean? Well we do know one thing. The Red Wings ended a 42-year cup drought that year by sweeping Philadelphia in the Finals. They repeated the next season sweeping the Washington Capitals in the Finals as well.
Hockey is the only of the four major professional sports in America where your manhood can be challenged and you can answer the bell immediately as part of "the code." Or, in some cases, injustices and stupidity can be addressed further down the road. But you have the opportunity to answer it.
The Boston Briuns were challenged by the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in 2010. Milan Lucic was on the ice when the Pens' Matt Cooke flatten unsuspecting Bruins center Mark Savard with an elbow to the head. The Bruins did nothing immediately after the hit, much like the Sabres after the Lucic hit on Miller:
Over the course of the last two post-seasons after the Cooke/Savard incident, the Boston Bruins have developed an "Original Six" mentality in that they play that old-school, intimidating brand of "man-hockey." Hockey that Gordie Howe and Terry O'Reilly would be proud of. A sense of team is more important than self-preservation. Hockey that would eventually end a 39-year Stanley Cup drought in 2011.
After his hit on Miller, Lucic summed up where the Bruins mentality was when saying, "Definitely," when asked if the response would have been different if Thomas had been hit like that. "We wouldn't accept anything like that. We would have taken care of business, but we're a different team than they are."
They are a different team than they once were only a year and a half ago.
Looking back on history, it's no wonder that Shanahan did not suspend Lucic. He's seen enough to know that it should have been taken care of on the ice (or eventually will be) and he's smart enough to know the there was no iron-clad case for a suspension. In fact, I could probably see those two talking more about old-school hockey than the hit.
The fact that there was no suspension is a good thing for the Sabres and even though the NHL GM's are in their annual meetings with goalie protection in the forefront, not too much will happen except some more definition. So, in reality, this Sabres team will need to fend for themselves. And if the desired goal is the Stanley Cup, they'll need much more than NHL-intervention to protect their manhood.
For the Sabres, or any Eastern Conference team, the road to the Stanley Cup Finals will probably go through either Boston or Philadelphia, both of whom know how to intimidate. And if they even want a chance to make it there, much less win the Cup itself, they need to reach deep down to find that intestinal fire. That's if they even have it.
The bullying of Lucic is nothing new, and the only way the victim will get any respect is to fight back. What it takes to bring out that inner fury is something only the individual knows. But there comes a time where you say enough is enough and the inner warrior comes out with a vengeance. The pain of humiliation is much worse than a punch to the face. And usually good things follow.
Darcy Regier and other GM's of his ilk are having their Tipper Gore/PMRC-moment trying to protect their players (children.) Go ahead. But bullies will always remain and be a threat until the players themselves--individually--man-up and do something about it.
With all due respect to Ryan Miller, who I hope is not seriously injured, the pair exposed the Sabres for what they are--a very talented, very soft team.
It's been that way for years as the John Muckler era gave way to the Darcy Regier era for Buffalo.
The Boston Bruins are one of the Original Six teams in the NHL, as a team they've been through all of the NHL-era's. In the 70's they were the Big Bad Bruins. A donnybrook was common place in that "Slapshot" era where benches cleared, you grabbed a partner and danced amidst the gloves, sticks, sweaters and wild punches being thrown.
As an Original Six team, the Bruins still have that old-school intimidation factor ingrained deep within their psyche. Lucic embraces that. As do teammates, Zdeno Chara, Shawn Thorton and Adam McQuaid. Even diminutive Brad Marchand has a serious edge to his game.
This edition of the Buffaol Sabres? Meh. The Lucic hit proved that they do not.
The 2011/12 Sabres are eerily similar to another Sabres team that played in a different era, that of the Scotty Bowman years.
Bowman took over the team and proceed to move aging vets for high draft picks.
The team he built was high on skill, or supposedly highly skilled, with a few "tough guys" throw in for backbone. But that team proved that they didn't have Original Six sensibilities.
The Detroit Red Wings are another Original Six team who had of one of the greatest hockey players ever, Gordie Howe. Howe was as old-school as they came and he's immortalized with "the Gordie Howe Hat Trick": a goal, and assist and a fight.
During the 80's the Wings were slowly coming out of the "Dead Wings" era of the previous decade with the Steve Yzerman leading the way. Yzerman, by the way was drafted 4th overall in 1983, one spot ahead of Buffalo Sabres goalie, Tom Barrasso. Those two would be a part of a melee four years later as Yzerman would define himself as a leader.
Another quick note on Yzerman, he took over the captaincy of the Wings from former Sabre Danny Gare. The diminutive Gare hit the 50-goal mark twice for the Sabres and once jumped out of the penalty box to join a melee, was in the mold of Wings legend "Terrible Ted" Lindsay who was also small, but old-school tough with a mean-streak.
Bowman had loaded his team with highly touted, skill players taken in the first round. Players like Norm Lacombe, Adam Creighton, Paul Cyr and Phil Housley.
In 1987, those players along with the likes of rookie #1 overall pick Pierre Turgeon, Christian Ruutu, Dave Andreychuk, John Tucker and Uwe Krupp formed "the core" of Scotty Bowman's Buffalo Sabres. That "soft-but-skilled" core was balanced by "tough-guys" Lindy Ruff and waiver acquisition, Kevin Macguire.
Yzerman, Barrasso, Macguire and legendary Wings tough-guy Bob Probert, all came together in a game between the Wings and the Sabres back in 1987. And it starts with this hit.
Bob Probert nails Sabres goaltender Tom Barrasso behind the net. Sabres color-commentator Mike Robitaille sheds light on the subject when he says "Somebody's got to jump in there...it happened the other night with [Jacques] Cloutier when everybody looked the other way."
"When everybody looked the other way." Sound familiar?
Unlike the recent Lucic-on-Miller hit, one Sabre came back and pulled a little old-school payback on Red Wings goalie Greg Stephan. Kevin Macguire proceeded to run Stephan:
Four Red Wings jump Macguire behind the net for his "payback."
One of the defining moments was Steve Yzerman, a player not known for fighting, goes after Macguire in defense of his teammates. This from NHL.com fan blog: "A big melee ensues on the ice. Battles with goalies going head to head. Bob Probert being restrained by the referees, all the players are tied up except Stevie Y and Kevin Maguire; the Sabres heavyweight (aka Buffalo's answer to Probert). Not to be outdone and give Maguire a chance of hurting one of his players, the selfless Yzerman charges Maguire and starts a fight; a fight Maguire clearly finishes. But kudos to Yzerman because he wasn't about to let Maguire contribute to a gang up on one of his teammates. Team first."
Probert knew his role as well. He was the enforcer, there to protect his teammates, especially his captain, Steve Yzerman. The reckless abandon with which he pursues Macguire from start to finish is something to be seen. The cheap-shot he delivered to the restrained Macguire was a payback for running his goalie and fighting his ill-equipped captain. He would not be denied and no Sabres player denied him.
The NHL is different these days. But there are still players who eschew personal safety in defense of their players, especially their goaltenders. It's woven into the fabric of their hockey existence.
Nearly every team, it seems, has these moments where another team exerts their will through intimidation, and dominates them. A moment where they realize they aren't as tough as they thought they might be and/or they'll need to dig deeper in order to beat the big kid on the block.
Take the Red Wings.
In a most unusual rivalry, the Wings and the Colorado Avalanche, two teams with no history and no proximity to speak of, grew to hate each other to the point where it was the toughest, meanest rivalry in hockey during the mid to late 90's and into the 2000's.
In 1996, the Avs, who had just been relocated from Quebec, played the Wings, the President's Trophy winner for best record in the NHL, in the Western Conference Finals.
The Avs boasted some highly skilled players like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Valerie Kamensky and Sandis Ozolinsh. But they also tough-players like Adam Foote and Mike Keane along with legendary uber-pest (and recognized cheap-shot artist) Claude Lemieux.
The 1996 Western Conference Finals between the Red Wings and the Avalanche represented the Avs casting the Wings aside to claim king of the hill. In game six, Claude Lemieux took a cheap shot on the Wings Kris Draper that sent him to the hospital with a broken jaw (1:20-mark):
With that hit the rivalry was on.
It took a little while for the Wings to establish their machismo vs. the Avalanche. They had played three times prior to March 26, 1997, but not much happened. With the playoffs on the horizon, and an eventual Wings/Avs playoff series pretty much a formality, two unlikely candidates, the Wings Igor Larionov and the Avs Peter Forsberg, started what has become and NHL classic brawl (interesting to note that former Sabres coach and GM, Scotty Bowman was behind the Wings bench):
Wings enforcer Darren McCarty saw the opportunity to exact some revenge upon Claude Lemieux for his cheap-shot on Draper. And Brendan Shanahan provided one of the all-time great goalie checks as the Avs Patrick Roy came flying up ice to defend his teammate only to be hit by a full-speed Shanahan.
Shanahan, not known for his fighting, dropped the gloves with Foote, a player who has held his own on many occasions, four seconds after play resumed.
So what does this all mean? Well we do know one thing. The Red Wings ended a 42-year cup drought that year by sweeping Philadelphia in the Finals. They repeated the next season sweeping the Washington Capitals in the Finals as well.
Hockey is the only of the four major professional sports in America where your manhood can be challenged and you can answer the bell immediately as part of "the code." Or, in some cases, injustices and stupidity can be addressed further down the road. But you have the opportunity to answer it.
The Boston Briuns were challenged by the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in 2010. Milan Lucic was on the ice when the Pens' Matt Cooke flatten unsuspecting Bruins center Mark Savard with an elbow to the head. The Bruins did nothing immediately after the hit, much like the Sabres after the Lucic hit on Miller:
Over the course of the last two post-seasons after the Cooke/Savard incident, the Boston Bruins have developed an "Original Six" mentality in that they play that old-school, intimidating brand of "man-hockey." Hockey that Gordie Howe and Terry O'Reilly would be proud of. A sense of team is more important than self-preservation. Hockey that would eventually end a 39-year Stanley Cup drought in 2011.
After his hit on Miller, Lucic summed up where the Bruins mentality was when saying, "Definitely," when asked if the response would have been different if Thomas had been hit like that. "We wouldn't accept anything like that. We would have taken care of business, but we're a different team than they are."
They are a different team than they once were only a year and a half ago.
Looking back on history, it's no wonder that Shanahan did not suspend Lucic. He's seen enough to know that it should have been taken care of on the ice (or eventually will be) and he's smart enough to know the there was no iron-clad case for a suspension. In fact, I could probably see those two talking more about old-school hockey than the hit.
The fact that there was no suspension is a good thing for the Sabres and even though the NHL GM's are in their annual meetings with goalie protection in the forefront, not too much will happen except some more definition. So, in reality, this Sabres team will need to fend for themselves. And if the desired goal is the Stanley Cup, they'll need much more than NHL-intervention to protect their manhood.
For the Sabres, or any Eastern Conference team, the road to the Stanley Cup Finals will probably go through either Boston or Philadelphia, both of whom know how to intimidate. And if they even want a chance to make it there, much less win the Cup itself, they need to reach deep down to find that intestinal fire. That's if they even have it.
The bullying of Lucic is nothing new, and the only way the victim will get any respect is to fight back. What it takes to bring out that inner fury is something only the individual knows. But there comes a time where you say enough is enough and the inner warrior comes out with a vengeance. The pain of humiliation is much worse than a punch to the face. And usually good things follow.
Darcy Regier and other GM's of his ilk are having their Tipper Gore/PMRC-moment trying to protect their players (children.) Go ahead. But bullies will always remain and be a threat until the players themselves--individually--man-up and do something about it.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sabres Are "Gutless" In (non) Reaction To Lucic Bowling Miller Over
Back in November of last year, when rumors that were once swirling about a billionaire Sabre-fan interested in buying the team, Bucky Gleason did a background piece on said billionaire, Terry Pegula.
Everyone wanted to know about this guy and Gleason gathered as much info as he could--second-hand, third-hand, whatever.
Seems as if Pegula fell in love with hockey in the early-mid Seventies and was torn between the Broadstreet Bullies and the French Connection, especially in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals when the Flyers and the Sabres met.
WBEN once quoted Pegula as saying that "It was the Philadelphia Flyers style of hockey that got me into it."
Did he mean stuff like this?
Maybe.
Probably the fact that those Flyers were a tough bunch who never backed down from a fight, a group that always stuck up for each other.
The Boston Bruins/Buffalo Sabres rivalry goes back to that era when a fledgling Sabres club was trying to earn some respect against their divisional rival. The Bruins were two-time Cup winners in the early 70's (1970, 1972,) and the Sabres didn't care.
Sabres d-man Jim Schoenfeld was a rookie in 1972. In December he got into three fights with the Big Bad Bruins. He fought Bobby Orr, Carol Vandais and had this legendary go with Wayne Cashman:
The "Slapshot-era" for hockey is long gone. No longer do we see thuggery and donnybrooks on a nightly basis. You know, the old cliche', "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."
But, there's still that intensity, that unbridled anger and ferocity that manifests itself on the ice in the heat of the moment. There are still thugs on the ice and they're still doing things that thugs have always done, namely, intimidating the opponent.
What took place last night in the Bruins 6-2 manhandling of the Buffalo Sabres was just that, a big, bad-ass player intimidating the Sabres by taking out Ryan Miller. And the most distressing part is that this Sabres team, perhaps just like the Sabres teams of the last five or six years, did nothing to protect their goalie.
To this blogger who has been wanting some ferocity and pure anger for a number of years, it was no surprise. To Milan Lucic, the Bruin who made the hit, it came as a surprise that no one on the Sabres meaningfully defended their goalie. He had this to say, on how the Bruins would react, ""Definitely," Lucic said when asked if the response would have been different if Thomas had been hit like that. "We wouldn't accept anything like that. We would have taken care of business, but we're a different team than they are."
The above quote was taken from nesn.com and they also pointed out that the Bruins were once a team like Buffalo, in that no one defended Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke's hit on Marc Savard. It's a blistering article lambasting the Sabres for being gutless. Goalie Tim Thomas said he was "on his toes" for retaliation, calling it an "old-school way." The author, Douglas Flynn, uses that to set this up, "But the Sabres are a new school type of team. They tucked their tails between their legs and let themselves be run out of the building."
Lucic was smirking all the way into the post-game interviews which can be found here in a Jon Vogl piece that is right on with the way I see it. Vogl adds a couple of video clips, some old-school hockey where the goalie was protected at all costs.
The Sabres are known for wilting when the hitting and intensity-level rises, teams have known that for years, and they also know that the team Darcy Regier built will not defend their goalie with meaning, it's just not in their character.
I'd assume that Pegula's initiation via the Broadstreet Bullies is ingrained in his hockey being. As a fan he's watched the game evolve into a more skillful game, and he's watched the NHL attempt to weed out intimidation and unnecessary thuggery. But hockey is hockey, and plays like the one Lucic pulled on Miller will always be around.
One would also think that he's not thrilled with what his team did not do following the hit.
Pegula has some very sharp hockey minds surrounding him and, to my knowledge, has kept his hands off of the day-to-day operations. He has given them all free-reign to do what it takes to win the Stanley Cup. But, it's pretty plain to see that no matter how good this Sabres team is, teams like the Bruins and the Flyers know how to get them off of their game, simply get physical and harass and/or hit Miller to the point where he loses focus.
It would be welcomed if Pegula demanded some old-school toughness to balance out the vanilla group of skill-players that the Sabres ice. Robyn Regehr was a good addition. Mike Weber should be looked to as another one. And Zack Kassian is having a real good season in Rochester thus-far. He was drafted for his skill and toughness (a Lucic-type power forward.)
Yet they may need to look outside for that savvy veteran with the balls to stand up to a player like Lucic. They may need to add a tough guy sometime during the season so that hits like Lucic on Miller and the Bruins Johnny Boychuk on Thomas Vanek in the 2010 playoffs will be answered.
Peugula has tens of millions of dollars invested in those two players and he can use that as the impetus for directing his hockey men to toughen up the team.
Not that he really needs anything to direct the likes of Ted Black and Regier to make a move. He's the owner, he can do as he sees fit. And if he really did fall in love with hockey because of the Broad Street Bullies, and believes that there needs to be more "old-school" and less "new-age/new-NHL," methinks we'll see a team heading in that direction.
It's a long year, but one thing Pegula should never want to here is that the Sabres are "gutless."
After all, you never heard that about the Broadstreet Bullies. Nor did you here that about the French Connection-era Sabres either.
Everyone wanted to know about this guy and Gleason gathered as much info as he could--second-hand, third-hand, whatever.
Seems as if Pegula fell in love with hockey in the early-mid Seventies and was torn between the Broadstreet Bullies and the French Connection, especially in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals when the Flyers and the Sabres met.
WBEN once quoted Pegula as saying that "It was the Philadelphia Flyers style of hockey that got me into it."
Did he mean stuff like this?
Maybe.
Probably the fact that those Flyers were a tough bunch who never backed down from a fight, a group that always stuck up for each other.
The Boston Bruins/Buffalo Sabres rivalry goes back to that era when a fledgling Sabres club was trying to earn some respect against their divisional rival. The Bruins were two-time Cup winners in the early 70's (1970, 1972,) and the Sabres didn't care.
Sabres d-man Jim Schoenfeld was a rookie in 1972. In December he got into three fights with the Big Bad Bruins. He fought Bobby Orr, Carol Vandais and had this legendary go with Wayne Cashman:
The "Slapshot-era" for hockey is long gone. No longer do we see thuggery and donnybrooks on a nightly basis. You know, the old cliche', "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."
But, there's still that intensity, that unbridled anger and ferocity that manifests itself on the ice in the heat of the moment. There are still thugs on the ice and they're still doing things that thugs have always done, namely, intimidating the opponent.
What took place last night in the Bruins 6-2 manhandling of the Buffalo Sabres was just that, a big, bad-ass player intimidating the Sabres by taking out Ryan Miller. And the most distressing part is that this Sabres team, perhaps just like the Sabres teams of the last five or six years, did nothing to protect their goalie.
To this blogger who has been wanting some ferocity and pure anger for a number of years, it was no surprise. To Milan Lucic, the Bruin who made the hit, it came as a surprise that no one on the Sabres meaningfully defended their goalie. He had this to say, on how the Bruins would react, ""Definitely," Lucic said when asked if the response would have been different if Thomas had been hit like that. "We wouldn't accept anything like that. We would have taken care of business, but we're a different team than they are."
The above quote was taken from nesn.com and they also pointed out that the Bruins were once a team like Buffalo, in that no one defended Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke's hit on Marc Savard. It's a blistering article lambasting the Sabres for being gutless. Goalie Tim Thomas said he was "on his toes" for retaliation, calling it an "old-school way." The author, Douglas Flynn, uses that to set this up, "But the Sabres are a new school type of team. They tucked their tails between their legs and let themselves be run out of the building."
Lucic was smirking all the way into the post-game interviews which can be found here in a Jon Vogl piece that is right on with the way I see it. Vogl adds a couple of video clips, some old-school hockey where the goalie was protected at all costs.
The Sabres are known for wilting when the hitting and intensity-level rises, teams have known that for years, and they also know that the team Darcy Regier built will not defend their goalie with meaning, it's just not in their character.
I'd assume that Pegula's initiation via the Broadstreet Bullies is ingrained in his hockey being. As a fan he's watched the game evolve into a more skillful game, and he's watched the NHL attempt to weed out intimidation and unnecessary thuggery. But hockey is hockey, and plays like the one Lucic pulled on Miller will always be around.
One would also think that he's not thrilled with what his team did not do following the hit.
Pegula has some very sharp hockey minds surrounding him and, to my knowledge, has kept his hands off of the day-to-day operations. He has given them all free-reign to do what it takes to win the Stanley Cup. But, it's pretty plain to see that no matter how good this Sabres team is, teams like the Bruins and the Flyers know how to get them off of their game, simply get physical and harass and/or hit Miller to the point where he loses focus.
It would be welcomed if Pegula demanded some old-school toughness to balance out the vanilla group of skill-players that the Sabres ice. Robyn Regehr was a good addition. Mike Weber should be looked to as another one. And Zack Kassian is having a real good season in Rochester thus-far. He was drafted for his skill and toughness (a Lucic-type power forward.)
Yet they may need to look outside for that savvy veteran with the balls to stand up to a player like Lucic. They may need to add a tough guy sometime during the season so that hits like Lucic on Miller and the Bruins Johnny Boychuk on Thomas Vanek in the 2010 playoffs will be answered.
Peugula has tens of millions of dollars invested in those two players and he can use that as the impetus for directing his hockey men to toughen up the team.
Not that he really needs anything to direct the likes of Ted Black and Regier to make a move. He's the owner, he can do as he sees fit. And if he really did fall in love with hockey because of the Broad Street Bullies, and believes that there needs to be more "old-school" and less "new-age/new-NHL," methinks we'll see a team heading in that direction.
It's a long year, but one thing Pegula should never want to here is that the Sabres are "gutless."
After all, you never heard that about the Broadstreet Bullies. Nor did you here that about the French Connection-era Sabres either.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Nate Gerbe Abuses the Sens Stephane DaCosta
Man.
Nathan Gerbe takes Sens forward Stephane DaCosta's lunch-money.
Not a bad baseball swing by Jordan Leopold either.
Nathan Gerbe takes Sens forward Stephane DaCosta's lunch-money.
Not a bad baseball swing by Jordan Leopold either.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Rex Ryan Loves the Leaves
Just something I came across with an extra hour on my hands.
From the Toronto Sun, "Rex Ryan Bleeds Blue and White."
Yet another reason for Buffalo fans to hate the Jets.
 |
| NY Jets head coach Rex Ryan is all giddy as he proudly displays his signed Daryl Sittler hockey stick. |
Gotta love the hockey promotion, though.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Lindy Ruff Needs To Take This Goalie "Controversy" Upon His Shoulders
The numbers:
Ryan Miller--4 wins, 5 losses, 2.48 gaa, .922 sv%
Jhonas Enroth--3 wins, zero losses, 1.29 gaa, .958 sv%
The rumblings have been going on for nearly a year, and an impatient, unsympathetic fan base is fast approaching a mob mentality with pitchforks in hand and a match to the torches.
Not that this all really matters to the Buffalo Sabres brain-trust. Can they really afford to have their #1 goalie face a hostile environment on home ice, though? This is something that happens in Montreal, but at the foot of Washington Street?
Whoda thunk it?
For years the fan-base, not to mention everyone within the Sabres organization, has been clamoring for a dependable back-up goalie. We know the names of Enroth's predecessors post Martin Biron and what they did not do for the team, and how the Sabres missed the playoffs two out of three seasons.
The Sabres finally have a capable--outstanding--back up and within 20 game span, Enroth is being anointed starter and Miller is being shipped out by fans.
Not that the fans pointing out various flaws are baseless. What's baseless is anointing Enroth the starter, shipping out Miller and bringing in the Rochester Americans David Leggio or Drew MacIntyre as a back-up.
Regardless, fact of the matter is, this is getting way out of hand and Lindy Ruff needs to place this one squarely upon his shoulders and work it out.
And he needs to do this through his skaters.
As evidenced by the Philly game where the team tightened up after Miller was pulled, the players must take care of their own end while cutting back on the "high-risk" part of the equation.
When Miller has been in net, dating back to the days of Drury and Briere--save for the 2009/10 season and the second half of last season--the team has had a "high-risk, high-reward" approach to the game. Too many mistakes and too much cheating have ended up in odd-man rushes the other way and pucks ending up in their own net.
That approach stretched into the early part of last season, especially at home, and reared it's ugly head this season, at home
There's no reason for this team to play that loose, especially when they still have trouble finishing.
The whole team plays different on the road, in fact it plays different when Enroth is in net. They keep it simple, play good team defense, get the puck up ice in transition and generally work hard at both ends of the ice.
Lindy Ruff needs pull back on his d-men joining the rush and have his players be more conscious of playing a complete game. And he needs them to do it consistently for a prolonged period. They will eventually return to that high-risk, high-reward style, but they'll do it smarter.
That should help Miller get out of his home funk and it should keep Enroth and his numbers where they presently are.
Secondly, Ruff said that he gave each goalie their games at the beginning of the week and that he would not alter it. As far as we know, he did not. But it would make sense that he'd have Enroth vs. the western Conference and Miller vs. a division foe.
He should do the same thing for this upcoming stretch of games which, starting with Winnipeg on Nov. 8, will end up being seven games in 12 nights.
He doesn't need to reveal the starter before the actual game, no matter how much the media and/or fans want to know. If things get unravelled on a particular night, then he should shoulder the blame and stick to his guns.
My guess is that there won't be a lot to worry about if the skaters play a smart game, play sound defense and continue to work their butts off for a goal.
Should this occur, the entire team should be able to get into a rhythm, including one particular goalie.
Just for fun, I'd like to play the "Guess What Lindy Will Do" game.
Goalies for the seven games after tonight:
Ryan Miller--4 wins, 5 losses, 2.48 gaa, .922 sv%
Jhonas Enroth--3 wins, zero losses, 1.29 gaa, .958 sv%
The rumblings have been going on for nearly a year, and an impatient, unsympathetic fan base is fast approaching a mob mentality with pitchforks in hand and a match to the torches.
Not that this all really matters to the Buffalo Sabres brain-trust. Can they really afford to have their #1 goalie face a hostile environment on home ice, though? This is something that happens in Montreal, but at the foot of Washington Street?
Whoda thunk it?
For years the fan-base, not to mention everyone within the Sabres organization, has been clamoring for a dependable back-up goalie. We know the names of Enroth's predecessors post Martin Biron and what they did not do for the team, and how the Sabres missed the playoffs two out of three seasons.
The Sabres finally have a capable--outstanding--back up and within 20 game span, Enroth is being anointed starter and Miller is being shipped out by fans.
Not that the fans pointing out various flaws are baseless. What's baseless is anointing Enroth the starter, shipping out Miller and bringing in the Rochester Americans David Leggio or Drew MacIntyre as a back-up.
Regardless, fact of the matter is, this is getting way out of hand and Lindy Ruff needs to place this one squarely upon his shoulders and work it out.
And he needs to do this through his skaters.
As evidenced by the Philly game where the team tightened up after Miller was pulled, the players must take care of their own end while cutting back on the "high-risk" part of the equation.
When Miller has been in net, dating back to the days of Drury and Briere--save for the 2009/10 season and the second half of last season--the team has had a "high-risk, high-reward" approach to the game. Too many mistakes and too much cheating have ended up in odd-man rushes the other way and pucks ending up in their own net.
That approach stretched into the early part of last season, especially at home, and reared it's ugly head this season, at home
There's no reason for this team to play that loose, especially when they still have trouble finishing.
The whole team plays different on the road, in fact it plays different when Enroth is in net. They keep it simple, play good team defense, get the puck up ice in transition and generally work hard at both ends of the ice.
Lindy Ruff needs pull back on his d-men joining the rush and have his players be more conscious of playing a complete game. And he needs them to do it consistently for a prolonged period. They will eventually return to that high-risk, high-reward style, but they'll do it smarter.
That should help Miller get out of his home funk and it should keep Enroth and his numbers where they presently are.
Secondly, Ruff said that he gave each goalie their games at the beginning of the week and that he would not alter it. As far as we know, he did not. But it would make sense that he'd have Enroth vs. the western Conference and Miller vs. a division foe.
He should do the same thing for this upcoming stretch of games which, starting with Winnipeg on Nov. 8, will end up being seven games in 12 nights.
He doesn't need to reveal the starter before the actual game, no matter how much the media and/or fans want to know. If things get unravelled on a particular night, then he should shoulder the blame and stick to his guns.
My guess is that there won't be a lot to worry about if the skaters play a smart game, play sound defense and continue to work their butts off for a goal.
Should this occur, the entire team should be able to get into a rhythm, including one particular goalie.
Just for fun, I'd like to play the "Guess What Lindy Will Do" game.
Goalies for the seven games after tonight:
- Nov. 8 vs. Winnipeg--Miller
- Nov. 11 vs. Ottawa--Enroth
- Nov. 12 @ Boston--Miller
- Nov. 14 @ Montreal--Miller
- Nov. 16 vs. Devils--Miller
- Nov. 18 @ Carolina--Enroth
- Nov. 19 vs. Phoenix--Miller
Friday, November 4, 2011
When In Doubt, Drop Back Ten Yards And Punt
That first seven minutes at First Niagara Center was about as ugly as it gets.
You could tell that it was gonna be that way. Lindy Ruff trotted out Luke Adam flanked by Nathan Gerbe and Drew Stafford and for 1:13 seconds they, along with defensemen Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera represented the Keystone Cops. Although Philly didn't score, they certainly set the tone.
Thirty seconds later Ryan Miller serves up a juicy rebound which Flyer rookie Sean Couturier buries. On the play, Patrick Kaleta loses his man on he back-check, and Brad Boyes is caught cheating a bit up-ice on the weak side leaving Couturier wide open.
OK, fine. It was not a very good way to start. You can trust that vets Paul Gaustad, Cody McCormick and Matt Ellis will at least hold the fort for a shift. Right?
Ummm. Well...no.
Couturier is still on the ice, so is young stud James van Riemsdyk. The duo end up with a two on one a mere seconds later and van Riemsdyk rifles one top-shelf, glove-side. Christian Ehrhoff was back on the play and was in no-man's land as he neither played the shooter or the pass definitively. Miller was stuck back deeper in his net than he shoulda been. Pow! 2-0 Philly.
It doesn't get better over the next five minutes either as the Flyers completely dominate and score their third goal as Scott Hartnell blasts one past Miller with just 6:23 gone in the game.
The damage card? Philadelphia-3, Buffalo-0. Shots on goal, Philadelpia-11, Buffalo-2. Miller out, back-up Jhonas Enroth in.
The Sabres settled down and got back to basics the rest of the game to make it interesting scoring two goals, but, as they say, the damage was done.
Everything was a complete disaster from the get-go. From Ruff's line combinations, to his defense pairings, to his match-ups, to his goalie. Everything imploded.
Probably the best thing to happen to this team. The Flyers blew the fairy dust off of Pegulaville and left it standing there naked and exposed.
I've heard the term "Sabres-hockey" thrown around often. Just what is, "Sabres-hockey?" What defines this team?
Well it's changed over the last 14 years under Ruff. In '99 it was "the hardest working team in hockey." In 2006 it was "the team built for the new NHL."
Since the summer of 2007 this core of players has yet to define itself, except for the second half of last season. That was a hard-working bunch who battled hard to get into the playoffs after an atrocious start. They played solid d, and although they had some trouble finishing, they still made it work. They were relatively young, especially on the back end which was ultimately exposed in their hard-fought playoff loss to the same Flyers.
This new group started off strong looking fast and focused. Wednesday night at the F'N Center they looked like crap for the first seven minutes and failed in their comeback bid.
So now what?
Drop back ten yards and punt and play defense.
It's back to basics and this team from the coach on down should have learned a few things.
Lindy Ruff needs to realize that no matter how much firepower, either perceived or real, he has on the wings, the center position still has holes. And centers drive the team. He can't open things up like he did back in 2006.
As much as he wants his d to pinch and join the rush, they can't. They're giving up way too many odd man rushes with ill-advised pinches. And they're leaving Ryan Miller hung out to dry too much. High-risk, high-reward is a good concept, if you have three lines like they once did, but they don't. They cannot comeback from any deficit at any time like they did in 2006.
Miller is not a Dominic Hasek or Martin Brodeur. When he's in his zone, like many goalies, nothin' will get by him. But more often than not, his positional, butterfly style is more suited to a team concept where the defense limits angles and he's out there challenging shooters.
All-in-all this team needs to get back to basics. Play good, solid defense, collapse, get the puck and move it up ice. Each player must take responsibility for that. No cheating.
It was a humbling game vs. Philly the other night. Lindy Ruff chastised himself for juggling the lines unnecessarily and hopefully he had an epiphany. One of his weaknesses has been line-juggling. Maybe he'll chill on that and allow players to develop chemistry.
Sometimes a humbling experience that leaves you exposed is a good thing.
We'll see what happens.
You could tell that it was gonna be that way. Lindy Ruff trotted out Luke Adam flanked by Nathan Gerbe and Drew Stafford and for 1:13 seconds they, along with defensemen Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera represented the Keystone Cops. Although Philly didn't score, they certainly set the tone.
Thirty seconds later Ryan Miller serves up a juicy rebound which Flyer rookie Sean Couturier buries. On the play, Patrick Kaleta loses his man on he back-check, and Brad Boyes is caught cheating a bit up-ice on the weak side leaving Couturier wide open.
OK, fine. It was not a very good way to start. You can trust that vets Paul Gaustad, Cody McCormick and Matt Ellis will at least hold the fort for a shift. Right?
Ummm. Well...no.
Couturier is still on the ice, so is young stud James van Riemsdyk. The duo end up with a two on one a mere seconds later and van Riemsdyk rifles one top-shelf, glove-side. Christian Ehrhoff was back on the play and was in no-man's land as he neither played the shooter or the pass definitively. Miller was stuck back deeper in his net than he shoulda been. Pow! 2-0 Philly.
It doesn't get better over the next five minutes either as the Flyers completely dominate and score their third goal as Scott Hartnell blasts one past Miller with just 6:23 gone in the game.
The damage card? Philadelphia-3, Buffalo-0. Shots on goal, Philadelpia-11, Buffalo-2. Miller out, back-up Jhonas Enroth in.
The Sabres settled down and got back to basics the rest of the game to make it interesting scoring two goals, but, as they say, the damage was done.
Everything was a complete disaster from the get-go. From Ruff's line combinations, to his defense pairings, to his match-ups, to his goalie. Everything imploded.
Probably the best thing to happen to this team. The Flyers blew the fairy dust off of Pegulaville and left it standing there naked and exposed.
I've heard the term "Sabres-hockey" thrown around often. Just what is, "Sabres-hockey?" What defines this team?
Well it's changed over the last 14 years under Ruff. In '99 it was "the hardest working team in hockey." In 2006 it was "the team built for the new NHL."
Since the summer of 2007 this core of players has yet to define itself, except for the second half of last season. That was a hard-working bunch who battled hard to get into the playoffs after an atrocious start. They played solid d, and although they had some trouble finishing, they still made it work. They were relatively young, especially on the back end which was ultimately exposed in their hard-fought playoff loss to the same Flyers.
This new group started off strong looking fast and focused. Wednesday night at the F'N Center they looked like crap for the first seven minutes and failed in their comeback bid.
So now what?
Drop back ten yards and punt and play defense.
It's back to basics and this team from the coach on down should have learned a few things.
Lindy Ruff needs to realize that no matter how much firepower, either perceived or real, he has on the wings, the center position still has holes. And centers drive the team. He can't open things up like he did back in 2006.
As much as he wants his d to pinch and join the rush, they can't. They're giving up way too many odd man rushes with ill-advised pinches. And they're leaving Ryan Miller hung out to dry too much. High-risk, high-reward is a good concept, if you have three lines like they once did, but they don't. They cannot comeback from any deficit at any time like they did in 2006.
Miller is not a Dominic Hasek or Martin Brodeur. When he's in his zone, like many goalies, nothin' will get by him. But more often than not, his positional, butterfly style is more suited to a team concept where the defense limits angles and he's out there challenging shooters.
All-in-all this team needs to get back to basics. Play good, solid defense, collapse, get the puck and move it up ice. Each player must take responsibility for that. No cheating.
It was a humbling game vs. Philly the other night. Lindy Ruff chastised himself for juggling the lines unnecessarily and hopefully he had an epiphany. One of his weaknesses has been line-juggling. Maybe he'll chill on that and allow players to develop chemistry.
Sometimes a humbling experience that leaves you exposed is a good thing.
We'll see what happens.
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