Some of my Favorite Moments

I began watching the Sabres in the 2005-2006 season, and since then, there have been moments that have sucked me in to the sport and caused me to follow it as crazily as I do today.

06 Playoffs


The Sabres entered the playoffs that year expected to get knocked out in the first round. In fact, they weren't really expected to even make the playoffs that year.
After being bottom dwellers for the past few years, they almost lost their franchise before Tom Galisano saved the team by buying them the summer before.
Coming out of the lockout, they played a pretty good season and weren't expected to go very far but what they ended with was what longtime Sabres broadcaster Rick Jeanneret called "the best season of hockey I've ever seen."

The first round was against the Philadelphia Flyers, and was quickly ended in five games and included an 8-2 blowout.



What came next was absolute domination against the Ottawa Senators, who feasted on Buffalo over the years and one of the games during the regular season ended with the final score of 10-4 in Ottawa's favor.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, including me, believed that the Sabres would pass Ottawa.

But when Buffalo won it in five, I was just as shocked as anyone.



Some of my favorite goals from that series are below.















The last one, that being Jason Pominville's series-clinching overtime winner, really made me believe that the Sabres were a Stanley Cup contender, and after seeing them play like that, I was convinced they would win.

That moment also made me realize that I was a true Sabres fan. A lot of people don't like hockey and don't really get as in to it as i do, but when a sport can pump you up that much, give you chills when such goals as that are scored, and spark some sort of emotional response out of you, it's almost like a drug.



The Sabres went on to lose to Carolina in 7 games in the Eastern Conference Finals.



There's no doubt that the Sabres were a better team than the Hurricanes going into the series. But it seemed that every game two more Sabres were placed on the injury list. Key defenseman such as Jay McKee were lost and eventually led to the team's downfall.

When a team can play at that high a level of intensity with maybe half of the roster being call-ups from a lower level league, you know that's when you have a great organization. The Sabres seemed possesed in those playoffs. If the roster wasn't ravaged with injuries, they would have won the Cup, no doubt in my mind.

The next season, people were calling it the "revenge" season. The Sabres were expected to once again compete for the cup or at least go deep into the playoffs.
A Cup was not one that year, in a disappointing loss to the Ottawa Senators in the Conference finals, but that season went down as the all-time best regular season in Buffalo Sabres' history.

It started out with ten straight wins, which tied the leauge record for wins to begin a season (the first one of those wins a shootout win over Carolina to open the season).

That season was probably the best I've ever seen, so many things happened that year, the blowout games, the amazing comebacks, the emrgence of many young players into our team, a full-on line brawl, and even a goalie fight.

The fist game I want to take notice of is a game on March 23, 2007, in which the Sabres were trailing 4-1 in the third period.

Incredibly, the Sabres came out with the victory, 5-4, In Regulation!




The next is personally my favorite moment in the past four years.

In a game on February 24, 2007, against the Ottawa Senators, Chris Drury was blindsided with a late hit from rugged forward Chris Neil.
This responded with Drury laying face down on the ice, bleeding from his forehead, and soon to be concussed.
Drew Stafford, a rookie at the time, dropped the gloves with Neil to stand up for his teammate and captain, and everything just erupted from there. After a long review of he hit, Neil was not penalized for the play, only for the fight he had with Stafford right after.

Lindy Ruff responded by sending out his three goons, Andrew Peters, Adam Mair, and Patrick Kaleta, against the top scoring line of the Ottawa Senators.

Immediately off the faceoff Mair dropped his gloves and sucker punched Jason Spezza right in the mouth and Peters went right after Dany Heatly. All hell erupted when the coaches had to be restrained and Lindy Ruff was in the press box screaming at Bryan Murray, who in my opinion, could use a good beating.

The goalies also dropped the gloves as Ray Emery went at it with Sabres goalie Martin Biron, and after Biron had his lunch fed to him, Peters went after Emery and tossed a few punches his way.

This led to a long, long review and hundreds of minutes in penalties.









I'll continue this "favorite moments" blog at a later time. Stay connected for part 2.

There's no "I" in team

Thomas Vanek was on pace for almost 60 goals last year before he was struck in the face with a puck in a game against the Ottawa Senators last year. He ended the year with 40, but was definitely one of the hottest goal scorers in the game.
He's the only player to register at least 25 goals in his first four seasons for the Sabres since all-time great Gilbert Perreault.
This season, not so much. Vanek has 12 goals after the midway point and is on pace for about 22. Personally, I'm extremely disappointed with his play. Coach Lindy Ruff has always had problems with his consistency but this year there seems to be an extreme lack of any effort from the Austrian-born goal scorer.
The Sabres seem to lack a "superstar," yet they have a commanding 10 point lead in the Northeast Division and are 2 points behind New Jersey for the conference lead.
How is this possible you ask?
Well, Buffalo is as healthy as a team could be at this point in the season. Aside from the injuries plaguing rough winger Patrick Kaleta, none of the team has come down with a serious injury yet.
Note too that Patrick Kaleta scored the opening goal in Thursday's game against Atlanta, his first game back after one of his many trips to the injury list.
Also, the Sabres have some of the best balanced scoring in the league.
They bring to the table a lineup of ten different 20 point scorers, and eight different players with at least ten goals. Just because there isn't a superstar such as Sidney Crosby or Patrick Marleau (the first players to 30 goals this season) on the team doesn't mean that the points won't come.
Tim Connolly, signed last year to a 2 year, $9 million contract, has managed to stay perfectly healthy all year. This is very good seeing as Connolly is known around the league as one of the most injury-prone players, especially with his past concussion problems.
Connolly is currently second in goal scoring for the Sabres and leads them in points with 38, four above Derek Roy, who is another player that could definitely step up his play this season.
There are definitely some bright spots for years to come with the new batch of rookies that have been granted the honor of playing in the big leagues.
Tyler Myers who, in my opinion, could be a serious contender for the Calder trophy come April, has surprised every Buffalo fan and fans around the league.
He is fourth in team point scoring and recently had a two goal performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Zdeno Chara is 6'9" and one of the best defensemen in the league (not to mention the tallest ever) but when he was young it took him three or four years to assimilate into the NHL's system and develop his skating to become one of the elite.
Myers, however, has some of the smoothest skating on the team, despite his 6'8" stature, it seems he has greatness in him to become a wonderful offensive defenseman for many years to come.
Oh yeah, he's only 19 too.
Tim Kennedy is a hometown favorite as well and while the scoring may not be too high this season, he definitely has potential in him.
Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe have also scored a goal each in the only game they've played this season.
Rookies galore, other veterans such as one of my personal favorites, Mike Grier, are stepping it up.

There's no question that the Sabres could use a little more jump in their game, but with the solid goaltending of USA starting goalie Ryan Miller and a sound simple game with balanced scoring and good health, the Sabres could easily make the playoffs.

Once they're in however, that's another story...

Introduction

Hello, this is the introduction to the best Buffalo Sabres coverage on the planet Earth. Each week I'll post an update on any activity of the Sabres, such as game recaps, trades, movements, and plays of the week. I've been a fan of the Sabres and hockey since their 2006 playoff run and since that, I've followed hockey extensively.
Sabres fans have suffered through anger and frustration in the last two years, especially since that after a great run in the 2006-2007 season where a President's Trophy was won and a run to the Conference Finals acheived, the playoffs were missed for the next two years.
Blame it on management, blame it on the leaving of out two biggest players, blame it on a simnple lack of consitency within the players. The fact is, what's done is done and people are now looking ahead to the future.
As of now, the Sabres are only two points out of first place in the Eastern Conference and keep racking up the wins.
However, many fans still complain of the Sabres lacking consitency and not playing to their full potential.

I'll keep you up to date on all actions of the Sabres throughout the rest of the season and I hope you come back to read more!