Oh for Two!

The Sabres, so far this season, suck. I don't need statistics to tell me that it's not a great sign when Spacek seems to be the only one getting pucks in the net. I am loathe to even speak the words, but Drury and Briere were both an aberration in their own right. They are now leading their respective teams, despite the lack of a 'C' on either's sweater.

There's a lot of yakking from the 'fans,' calling any criticism a sign of bandwagoning or fair-weather friendliness. I have been a Sabres fan since I was old enough to stand in line and wait for Alexander Mogilny's autograph at a sports shop in Lockport back in the day, and I sat in an empty HSBC arena the year before the Lockout watching Miro Satan and Max Afinogenov lose to mediocre teams.

But thinking that this is going to be as strong a team without either Drury or Briere (And, uh, folks? We're missing both) is wishful thinking, of which I'd love to be a part of if I could muster a false sense of enthusiasm. I, as much as anyone, want to see them do well this year -- but if this past weekene is any indication of how the season will go, then let's not hold our breath. We need our $50 million dollar man to step up, and the blue-liners to wake up already. I hope Ryan gave them a good ass-kicking after the game. All IMHO. Let's go, Buffalo...

A "Bloated" start to the season

Oh yeah!!! It was a bloated start to the season as Tick 1 and Tick 2 hit the club and enjoyed ALL its luxuries!!! :-)

I have to say it was a CRAZY night!! Pantherland was chaos!! We took the plunge and each purchased new blue jerseys and had Tick 1 and 2 put on them respectively. Of course, Tick took the role of Captain while Tick 2 took the assistant. Bottomline...WE LOOK AWESOME!

Crazy night of giveaway stuff, running up and down to the store, checking out the arena, etc... What a place!! I think I might actually purchase a thread on the floor and put a link to our blog spot on it.. Figure the arena can use more advertising dollars. Uh right...

ok, so the Stanley area of Lexus level is gone and AVMed is in. Hmm... wonder who's making money these days.. maybe healthcare huh? WOW... well I see Dunkin Donuts as a sponser on the side of the rink, maybe we can get dunkin in the arena! That would be SWEET.

Highlight of the game had to be the fight with Horton. At least he earned a bit of his money on the fight, but not on much else... these guys need to get themselves together.

Another highlight of the night was getting an autographed puck of Mike Van Ryn from my buddy Ryan. Need to score him some tickets to the club for that one! Keeping it on my desk - love it!!

ok, so I'll mention the obnoxious couple in front of us. even if its just for tick 1's benefit... this couple "looked" to have money. seemed like they were there with the "pediatric anesthesiologist". they first sat 2 rows in front of us, then RIGHT in front of us. I just have a feeling they are NOT season ticket holders, but that they are mooching of Dr. Kildare. We'll see if they're there next game. ALSO, I should add that I HOPE they're not there ever again, as they were totally out of control AND the husband caught MY Panera bread shirt.

ok, I think I've cleared my chest on all this. :-) keep ya posted on the details of the next game.

WAIT I cant forget the regular coke I got instead of diet... happened from 2 bartenders so maybe they screwed up what was plugged into what on the gun aparatus. who knows...

ok, I'm done NOW.
Peace
Tick 2

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