Buffalo - Philly rivalry heating up?

It would be no surprise if Buffalo fans take to loathing the Flyers even more than the Leafs, thanks to the loss of former (wow -- I still have to take a deep breath when saying that) Captain Daniel Briere to Philadelphia for big bucks. (That it was a bad business move by Buffalo's front office won't be forgotten anytime soon, but that's another story.)

Buffalo has always been a hockey city -- it's the thing to do in the winter -- and truly re-embraced its team after the Lockout. So to call any Buffalonian a 'bandwagoner' is asking to pick a fight (and we're nice people, ok, so don't do that). But we can be witty and clever also, as was seen in the YouTube response by a guy named Brian to this video of Buffalo fans taking over a Philadelphia bar:



"Bandwagon fans i do agree we have. they buy a teeshirt watch half of a period out of the whole game,and cant name more then the top 10 players. But let me tell you my friend. People that were spending 100$'s of dollars to travel to your city,take over your bars and then try to fill your arena because your own fans cant are far from bandwagon fans."

Ouch. But like I always say: It's not mean if it's true.

The Ice Bowl

So, it's true! Allegedly the press conference will be at 2 p.m. on the 17th. Guess where I'm spending New Year's?
This is so going to rock.

Raising Kane?

With just a few days to go until the first puck drop for the preseason, I'm still wondering where on television I'm going to watch the first game. The CBC is showing a few of the games, but unfortunately I don't live in Canada so that's not really an option. iN DEMAND hasn't even posted any information on the regular season Center Ice package yet, so I'm waiting with bated breath to figure all these games into my schedule.

The Panthers are playing their first game at noon on the 25th against Chicago, which means I will have to skip class to see it and that hardly seems like a good idea. But then again, it is hockey, and, it is my first shot to see first round draft pick and Buffalo native Patrick Kane play.

Best NHL City: Buffalo

Here's how good the hockey fans are in Buffalo: While TV ratings in the rest of the U.S. pushed to reach numbers posted by drunken drivers, the citizens of this mid-market media area were watching the Stanley Cup finals at five times the national rating.

And the Sabres weren't even in the finals.

Such is the passion for pucks in greater Buffalo. These fans even surpassed the Game 5 rating in the L.A. market, where the Ducks were winning the Cup.

There's no Disney Land in Buffalo; Niagara, Ontario, is nice but you can only see Ripley's so many time. There's no surf in Buffalo; the closest thing is where the Niagara River goes downhill real fast. Goat Island will never be confused with Long Beach.

So, OK, there aren't the distractions in Buffalo there are in Anaheim, where the Cup landed. Other than hockey, the only thing these cities have in common is James Cameron. The Titanic man is from an Ontario burg on the north shore of the Niagara.

And although both cities have hockey, Buffalo's passion for it is unsurpassed. Anywhere.

America's Best Sports City, NHL category, even loves its team when it loses. Example: Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, won by the Senators to eliminate the Sabres, drew a 28.4 rating for NBC. And games 1-4, all on Versus, drew ratings between 21.9 and 27.6.

Now chew on this: NBC's three games in the finals had a rating of ... 1.6. Repeat: 1.6.

Anomaly? Not considering Buffalo's rating for the All-Star Game was 7.1, while the next-best market number was Pittsburgh's 2.8.

If the NHL posted numbers one-tenth as good across the U.S. as it does in Buffalo it would be giddy. Gary Bettman would Riverdance from Erie to Ontario.

And these folks aren't staying home, either. Every Sabres home game last season was a sellout. That's 18,690 for 41 nights at HSBC Center. And of course, with Cup hopes sky-high, every playoff game was a sellout, too.

There was such demand for the playoffs, Time Warner Cable added Versus HD to its lineup.

'Nuff said. Buffalo, you rule.

The Sporting News

August 2, 2007

Beezer

Vanbiesbrouck To Enter U.S. Hockey Hall Of Fame

Florida Panthers

Aug 15, 2007, 5:04 PM EDT

By Dave Joseph for floridapanthers.com

Goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who helped lead the Panthers to the 1996 Stanley Cup finals, was one of four players announced Wednesday who will be enshrined come October into the US Hockey Hall of Fame.

Vanbiesbrouck, a native of Detroit, Mich., will be inducted Oct. 12 along with Bobby Carpenter, Aaron Broten and the late John MacInnis as a member of the Class of 2007 during a dinner ceremony at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, ND.

“It’s a truly a humbling time,” Vanbiesbrouck said Wednesday during a conference call.

Vanbiesbrouck’s 20-year, NHL career (1982-2002) represents the longest tenure for an American-developed goaltender in NHL history. In total, he played in 882 games and recorded 374 wins, the most by any American-born goalie.

During his five seasons with the Panthers, Vanbiesbrouck, selected in the Expansion Draft, played in 268 games, winning 106. During the 1995-96 season, Vanbiesbrouck was 26-20-7 with a 2.68 goals against average. He was 12-10 in the playoffs with a 2.25 goals against average.

It was early during the 1995-96 season that Vanbiesbrouck used the term ‘Rat Trick’ to describe teammate Scott Mellanby scoring two goals in a game after killing a rat in the Panther dressing room. It officially kicked off the Panthers’ ‘Year of the Rat.’

>>OK, I've got to say that "the Beezer" is one of my all time favorites. Seems to be a "heck" of a nice guy and by far the best goaltender the Panthers have ever had. Wish we had a guy like this back in the net this season.

I'm still hoping for the best this season. At least we'll have "good eats" and a the club lifestyle as we enjoy the half season of games.

Go Panthers!!! (I hate the new "go cats")

-Tick2

Rat Reunion Game

Ok here's the info...

Vanbiesbrouck, Laus, Scott Mellanby, Billy Lindsay, Ray Sheppard, Gord Murphy, Ed Jovanovski, Terry Carkner and Geoff Smith are just some of the former Panthers who will attend the ’96 Panthers Reunion scheduled for July 26-29.Presented by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the reunion will include an Alumni Hockey Game July 28 at BankAtlantic Center. The game will be part of an Open House that will include family activities, games, autograph sessions, and a scrimmage between the ’96 Panthers and other Panther alumni from the past 13 seasons.

Can I BE any sicker that I am missing this game???? It's SO not fair!!! I guess I have to draw the hockey fanatic line somewhere, getting club seats, not changing jobs to support the club seats is one thing, but rescheduling or shortening my vacation for hockey is another!!!

I suppose as long as its taking Tick1 to get over black sunday, it'll take ME Tick2 to get over this game. I've been a fan a long time and I remember those glory days. Sure would be nice to see a season even close to that. I have no idea if our new goalie can even hold a candle to the Beezer, but sure would be nice to secure something like that. Of course we learned that having a decent goalie (like Luongo) isn't everything. If we can't play as a true TEAM, passing making plays rather than dumping it in the end zone, we don't really have a shot at the payoffs none the less, the cup.

Ah, but as a bloated tick I'll enjoy my favorite sport to the feast and festivities of the club, hopefully making the season a softer blow. It's gotta be a step up from the 5 yr old bouncing off me from last season.

Tick2 out!

Seven years, $50 million.

'We're not happy with Edmonton?' That's the best these nitwits can come up with? We let Chris Drury go to New York for $35.25 million for five years when we could have had him last fall for $21.5 million for four years? Now we're paying a guy two seasons out of Rochester $50 million dollars?

But really, what choice did Buffalo have? Let the entire offensive line walk and start rebuilding off of Edmonton's notoriously bad first-round picks? It will be interesting to see the Vanek-Roy-Afinogenov line against even one of the Rangers' lines: Drury or Gomez or Jagr. Shit. This kind of nonsense has Sabre fans saying things like, "let's just burn this mother f-er down" (a la Harold & Kumar) and "What's everybody worried about? Once Vanek and Roy bolt, we still have our #1 line in place: Peters-Ryan-Mair. They should be good for about a total of 5 goals, 6 assists, and 425 PIM next season. Oh, and when they fail to get back on defense, we'll have my grandpa Teppo back there to prevent a goal on my other grandpa Thibault."

I have to say that I'm really looking forward to the Panthers' cookout on Monday. Even Florida's Luongo debacle doesn't come close to Buffalo's Black Sunday.