Caffeinated Gonzo!

My favorite commercial from this past hockey season’s TV coverage…

Until next year… enjoy your Labatt Blue Light on YouTube !

How can a puck be considered to be “batted in” with a glove of a player when the gloves of both hands were closed around the hockey stick?

That is my question.

Sabres fans hope that that this disallowed goal will not be the difference in Game Two of the 2007 NHL Eastern Conference Finals. 

An now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Game on!

Of course it’’s been circulating a while now, but I would like to add my note of thanks to the Goo Dolls for sharing with us their Buffalo Sabre’s tribute in time for the NHL Playoffs.  

“Better Days” Lyrics 
And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better days
Cuz I don’t need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better daysSo take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight’s the night the world begins again

Well by now anyone who follows NHL hockey knows that the Stanley Cup teams are set and that the Buffalo Sabres aren't in it this year. Last night Buffalo lost in the seventh game to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2. It was a heartbreaking loss for Buffalo fans and more so for the players.
That being said…

Buffalo has a lot to be proud for regarding it's team this year and should take heart and a lesson away from the experience. This year's Sabres team was one of the hardest working class of players I have seen Buffalo produce in a long while. The lessons to take away from this season are many but the one I feel Buffalo as a city and it's people needs most is:

If you work hard, make no excuses and show yourself some respect, the world will come to respect you.

At the beginning of the year, no one (outside, perhaps the Buffalo organization) expected the Sabres to make it to the playoffs, little alone the Eastern Conference Finals. They got there just the same. They got there playing one game at a time.

It would have been great to see the hardest working men in show business give the business to their critics by making it to the Cup, but in my opinion they proved themselves already — one game at a time.

The Eastern Conference run was some of the toughest series in the NHL Playoffs this year. Buffalo stood up and played their best. Despite a fair amount of adversity and injuries along the way, they pushed on and kept the effort going until the very end

The Buffalo Sabres worked hard, made no excuses along the way when things got tough and their fans should be and indeed are, very proud of their team.

Along the way the Buffalo Sabres through team effort, individual sacrifice, and shear will gained the respect of a lot of people on and off the ice. Although this team won't see their names etched on Lord Stanley's Cup, their names and their efforts will be etched in many a fan's memory for a long time to come.

As proud as we are of our team, it's now time for Buffalo to stand up for it's own sake and be proud! … Take a lesson from your team and be proud of yourself, your history, and your people!

Tags: Buffalo, sports, hockey, wiredgonzo

Oh what to do, what to do?

My wife and I were planning on going down to Lafayette Square in Downtown Buffalo this Thursday to see Smash Mouth play at Thursday in the square. The 13 year old was even excited about going with us. Now with the Buffalo Sabres extending their playoff run to a game 7 do our die in the Eastern conference finals, life comes to a stop for another night of nail biting hockey.

Thursday's game is an away game so most people will be watching the game on a TV near and dear to their hearts. Some will venture downtown to their favorite watering hole, or maybe Dunn Tire Park to watch it on the ball park's score board of course, and unless I completely miss my guess, their will be plenty of room on the grass around the stage in the square for watching the bands come 7:30.

Personally I won't be straying too far from my own TV until the final buzzer sounds late in the evening. No matter how great the weather will be my heart will be in watching the Sabres fight their way on, not in attending the concert. Too bad, cause I fully expect would have been a good time.

I am afraid Summer is just going to have to wait until the ice melts in HSBC Arena.

Go Sabres!

The Buffalo Sabres won their first game against the Canes in the Eastern Conference Finals on the NHL today. My wife's nails took a figurative beating as mine would've if I had any in this 3-2 game. Ryan Miller was great in goal. Buffalo did it's job on defense. Can't wait until Monday's Game Two on OLN.

Buffalo area Sabres fans rejoice!

Adelphia has just announced late this afternoon that it is moving OLN from it's Digital+ channel line up to basic cable (channel 71) just in time for the 2nd game in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Cup.

Whew! With the Canadian CBC network only showing games 3 and 4 and one other (I forget). It was beginning to look like we would get to see our boys play from the comfort of our own homes.

Thankfully Adelphia came through!

Jerry Sullivan in a recent sports editorial in the Buffalo News gave Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff his due.

As a fan, I have watched quite a few NHL coaches over the years. Many of them have come and gone, and many were celebrated or derided (justly or unjustly) along the way. Lindy Ruff has quietly been one of the best coaches around and very few have noticed. Very few have noticed Ruff’s consistency, confidence or his record because he doesn’t yet have a Stanley Cup to his credit.

Soon enough, whether 2006 is the year to be or not, Ruff will have his cup and the critics (or those who just ignored him) will eat it to.

I am very much looking forward to the Eastern Conference Finals in the NHL coming up at the end of this week. My adopted hometown team the Buffalo Sabres is playing the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final.

The Sabres have had a season to be proud of this year. Sabres fans around Buffalo and all over have been waiting a long time to get back to playing at this level.

Buffalo is a proud sports city despite the fact that when invited to the party in the past we have always found our teams having to sneak out the back door when it’s all over. It remains to be seen this year whether in the end the Sabres will end up strutting out the front door in style or sneaking out through the alley, but as a fan I feel that the Sabres based on this seasons performance can walk tall wherever they end up.

Here’s hoping that the Sabres walk all over Carolina.

Just in time for the Stanley Cup playoffs, here are two or three "official blogs" to peruse while waiting for the puck to drop. Check out NHL.com for more.

My two favorite teams are the Sabres and the Stars.
Check out Razor with an Edge.
The Sabres blog featuring JP Dumont is also fun to read.

And for my wife and stepdaughter, the Tampa Bay Blog

Drop the blog, err puck already!