Ultimate Sports Road Trip - Pics from the Ice Bowl

The Ultimate Sports Road Trip has new pictures from the Ralph.

Survivorman - Tips For Surviving The Winter Classic

The NHL had TV’s ‘Survivorman’ Les Stroud give a somewhat tongue-in-cheek survival guide for the Ice Bowl.

The first thing you always want to do in a real survival situation is assess your situation. You need to stop, calm down, look around for imminent dangers and take inventory of what you have around you that you can use to help your chances of survival. You also have to figure out just how utterly lost you are and what your chances are for surviving and for how long you can hang on under the current situations.

At the Winter Classic, you need to assess your seat location. What view do you have of the ice? Are you within yelling distance of the players’ benches? Are you in a section dominated by fans of the other team? Are you near any heat source? Are you close to the bathrooms and the concession stands?

Pretty funny stuff, even for a Leafs fan.  Is it Tuesday yet?

Gameday - Sabres/Devils

Buffalo is in New Jersey tonight for a 7pm game against the New Jersey Devils.  The Sabres slipped to 8th in the standings, but a win tonight (combined wit some losses from other teams) gets them back into the 5th spot.  They’ll have to do it without Drew Stafford, who has a concussion and must be symptom-free for seven days before he can return to the ice.  Paul Gaustad has an arm strain and is iffy as well, and Maxim Afinogenov missed practice after he “felt his groin” according to Lindy Ruff.  Hey coach, you could phrase that one better next time, okay?

Kevin at BfloBlog postulated all this could mean the return of Clarke MacArthur.  I’ve yet to hear if he has made the trip but I love his game and wouldn’t mind seeing him against the trap-happy Devils.

On a personal note, I’m leaving for Pittsburgh after work tonight so I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to respond to any of your comments or fan mail until Sunday evening.  No, I don’t have tickets to the game.  Here’s hoping that the weekend is the start to a new winning streak!

24 ways - Performance On A Shoe String

Drew McLellan has posted a very good run down of how to improve blog (and general website) performance.  It covers caching, outsourcing of feeds, and using something like Amazon’s S3 to host large files, just as an example.

Heck, there are (amazingly enough) 24 different articles on the 24ways site that deal with all sorts of web design quirks.  Very good stuff there, check it out.

They Said It - Soupy Edition

Brian Campbell answered some questions over at Sabres.com, and as usual he goes for the funny when possible.

Q.   What was the most memorable speech a coach ever gave you?

A.  There was one back in juniors that was pretty good. It was Brian Kilrae’s in the playoffs. He told us if we won he was going to take us out to a restaurant to have a good time. It got everybody fired up pretty good.

Q.  If you could change one NHL rule, which one would it be?

A.  Shooting the puck over the glass.

Q.  What was your most embarrassing moment that’s hockey related?

A.  [Laughs]  Shooting the puck over the glass.

Winter Classic - Rinkbuilding

The Ultimate Sports Road Trip folks have some snaps up of the rink being constructed at the Ralph. There are some different angles than have been seen before, so if you were lucky enough to score tickets you can get a feel for what your view may be (if you manage to stay sober long enough to get to your seats, that is).

WJC - Canada And US Cruise

Team Canada, led by John Tavares’s 2 power play goals, shut out the host Czech Republic 3-0. The defending champs ran their win streak at the WJC to 19 games. Steve Stamkos, currently the number 1 prospect according to International Scouting Services, had 3 assists. Tavares would be pushing for numero uno but is not draft eligible this year. In a Buffalo connection, Tavares is the nephew of Buffalo Bandits lacrosse legend Johnny Tavares.

Team USA beat Kazakhstan 5-1, led by Kyle Okposo (former Gopher and future Islander). After giving up the opening goal, it was all USA. Russian and Sweden also won their opening matchups.

Late Rally Not Enough For Sabres

The boys did not play their best game, and that’s pretty much what they need to beat the Senators.  The Sabres scored 2 goals in the third to get to 4-3 but had no more heroics.  Connolly played well in his return, getting 2 assists but was also involved in a scary play when he cranked a slapshot off Martin Gerber’s mask.  Thankfully, Gerber peeled himself off the ice and was able to finish the game.  Hecht, Campbell and Mair were the goal scorers for Buffalo.  Next up is a trip to New Jersey.

Deadspin’s Take On The Winter Classic

I think this is my favorite part:

And while there’s nothing like the plunging temperatures of a January sporting event in Buffalo, analysts are predicting that most players will choose to huddle around the Pens’ Sidney Crosby, who brings light, warmth and salvation to the world.

The rest is here.

Gameday - Sabres/Senators

The Buffalo Sabres are coming off the two big wins against the Philadelphia Flyers, hosting the Senators tonight at HSBC Arena.  Sounds like they are pretty loose today, as Pominville and Peters were goofing off during practice today.  The Sabres trail the Sens by 11 points in the standings, but a win tonight would put Buffalo in 4th place, which is as high as they can get without catching Ottawa.  Stafford should be in the lineup, possibly Connolly as well.  Miller will be in net.  It’ll be nice to get back into a hockey game, warming up for the Ice Bowl.

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